First-Generation College Students: How Co-Curricular Involvement Can Assist with Success

First-generation college students are students whose parents do not have any postsecondary education (Choy, 2001). These students differ from continuing-generation students in many ways including race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender. When compared to continuing-generation students, first-generation students face greater challenges in the areas of access to college, persistence throughout college, and attainment of a degree. Research positively links students’ co-curricular involvement with attainment (Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991) and persistence (Astin, 1977). Although this positive link has been discovered, there is minimal research that specifically addresses first-generation students and their involvement. This article will discuss characteristics and challenges that first-generation students experience as well as how involvement may result in positive links to their attainment and persistence

Interns Matter: Maximizing Integration of Interns into Community Agencies

Hope Services is a non-profit agency serving individuals with developmental disabilities in six counties. Over the years, there have been many agencies that have formed connections with Hope Services. One of these collaborative partnerships has been with CSU Monterey Bay’s (CSUMB) integration of interns through their field placement program. However, recently former Hope Services South District Manager, Greg Dinsmore, witnessed a lack of utilization and integration of interns across all Hope Services agencies. Through firsthand experience as a mentor, he witnessed the benefits of utilizing interns and saw the need for further advocacy and support for the integration of interns at all field offices. As a means of informing managers about the benefits of utilizing interns a PowerPoint presentation, “Interns Matter: Maximizing Integration of Interns into Community Agencies,” was created and presented November 1st to twelve Hope Services managers and supervisors from five different offices. The presentation included an overview CSUMB’s Field Placement and Capstone Program, an overview of the Collaborative Health and Human Services (CHHS) Major Learning Outcomes (MLO), information about the benefits of intern integration, and personal testimonies from former and current field placement students. Increased awareness and interest in the requirement of interns was measured by a post survey. Based on the results from the survey, the presentation was deemed successful. Of the twelve managers present at the training, eight completed the post survey and four of those who completed the survey agreed to recruit and utilize interns at their individual field sites

Engineered Carbon Materials With Nano-Graphitic Domains Derived From Lignin

This work focuses on establishing a comprehensive understanding of lignin-derived materials as a function of carbonization with the goal of identifying processing-structure-property-performance relationships. A combination of modeling, statistical, and empirical materials characterization techniques are applied to lignin materials varying in feedstock source, extraction method, and processing conditions. The first part of this study evaluates the structure of carbon composite materials, possessing both crystalline and amorphous domains, using scattering techniques. One approach performs atomistic simulations of a proposed structure, from which the analogous scattering pattern can be obtained for validation. An alternative approach based on a hierarchical decomposition of the radial distribution function is used to generate a physics-based model allowing rapid interpretation of scattering data. The model is compared with atomistic simulation results in order to demonstrate that the contributions of the crystalline and amorphous domains, as well as their interfaces, are correctly captured. Present-day challenges exist in understanding how the distribution of monomeric units in lignin feedstocks impacts the structure and properties of carbon composites as a function of processing. The effect of lignin feedstock and processing conditions on the structure of carbon composites is studied. X-ray data was collected at a synchrotron source for lignin from hardwood, softwood, and grass feedstocks, processed under varying temperature and environmental conditions. The changes in the pair distribution function correspond to changes in material structure and it supports the observation that graphitic structures form and grow in size with increasing reduction temperature. The third part of this study resolves the structure of lignin carbon composites using small and wide angle x-ray scattering techniques. The study will help describe particles and aggregates in the lignin carbon structure. In this experiment complementary SAS techniques helps visualize voids and lignin structure as function of carbonization. Ultimately, this work enriches the understanding of controlling lignin feedstocks derived carbon product to support and develop products from systems that are sustainable and based on renewable resources. Results will help tune lignin carbon production to enable high-quality materials with targeted nanostructure for application in areas that are rapidly expanding such as advanced materials, energy storage, and biochemicals

Potential of radio telescopes as high-frequency gravitational wave detectors

In the presence of magnetic fields, gravitational waves are converted into photons and vice versa. We demonstrate that this conversion leads to a distortion of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which can serve as a detector for MHz to GHz gravitational wave sources active before reionization. The measurements of the radio telescope EDGES can be cast as a bound on the gravitational wave amplitude, $h_c < 10^{-21} (10^{-12})$ at 78 MHz, for the strongest (weakest) cosmic magnetic fields allowed by current astrophysical and cosmological constraints. Similarly, the results of ARCADE 2 imply $h_c < 10^{-24} (10^{-14})$ at $3 - 30$ GHz. For the strongest magnetic fields, these constraints exceed current laboratory constraints by about seven orders of magnitude. Future advances in 21cm astronomy may conceivably push these bounds below the sensitivity of cosmological constraints on the total energy density of gravitational waves.Comment: Version accepted for publication in PR

Positive regulation of meiotic DNA double-strand break formation by activation of the DNA damage checkpoint kinase Mec1(ATR)

During meiosis, formation and repair of programmed DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) create genetic exchange between homologous chromosomes-a process that is critical for reductional meiotic chromosome segregation and the production of genetically diverse sexually reproducing populations. Meiotic DSB formation is a complex process, requiring numerous proteins, of which Spo11 is the evolutionarily conserved catalytic subunit. Precisely how Spo11 and its accessory proteins function or are regulated is unclear. Here, we use Saccharomyces cerevisiae to reveal that meiotic DSB formation is modulated by the Mec1(ATR) branch of the DNA damage signalling cascade, promoting DSB formation when Spo11-mediated catalysis is compromised. Activation of the positive feedback pathway correlates with the formation of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) recombination intermediates and activation of the downstream kinase, Mek1. We show that the requirement for checkpoint activation can be rescued by prolonging meiotic prophase by deleting the NDT80 transcription factor, and that even transient prophase arrest caused by Ndt80 depletion is sufficient to restore meiotic spore viability in checkpoint mutants. Our observations are unexpected given recent reports that the complementary kinase pathway Tel1(ATM) acts to inhibit DSB formation. We propose that such antagonistic regulation of DSB formation by Mec1 and Tel1 creates a regulatory mechanism, where the absolute frequency of DSBs is maintained at a level optimal for genetic exchange and efficient chromosome segregation

Meiotic DSB patterning: A multifaceted process

Meiosis is a specialized two-step cell division responsible for genome haploidization and the generation of genetic diversity during gametogenesis. An integral and distinctive feature of the meiotic program is the evolutionarily conserved initiation of homologous recombination (HR) by the developmentally programmed induction of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). The inherently dangerous but essential act of DSB formation is subject to multiple forms of stringent and self-corrective regulation that collectively ensure fruitful and appropriate levels of genetic exchange without risk to cellular survival. Within this article we focus upon an emerging element of this control—spatial regulation—detailing recent advances made in understanding how DSBs are evenly distributed across the genome, and present a unified view of the underlying patterning mechanisms employed

Got Mercury?

Many lamps used in various spacecraft contain elemental mercury, which is efficiently absorbed through the lungs as a vapor. The liquid metal vaporizes slowly at room temperature, but may be completely vaporized when lamps are operating. Because current spacecraft environmental control systems are unable to remove mercury vapors, we considered short-term and long-term exposures. Using an existing study, we estimated mercury vapor releases from lamps that are not in operation during missions lasting less than or equal to 30 days; whereas we conservatively assumed complete vaporization from lamps that are operating or being used during missions lasing more than 30 days. Based on mercury toxicity, the Johnson Space Center's Toxicology Group recommends stringent safety controls and verifications for any hardware containing elemental mercury that could yield airborne mercury vapor concentrations greater than 0.1 mg/m3 in the total spacecraft atmosphere for exposures lasting less than or equal to 30 days, or concentrations greater than 0.01 mg/m3 for exposures lasting more than 30 days

The Rad4TopBP1 ATR-Activation domain functions in G1/S phase in a chromatin-dependent manner

DNA damage checkpoint activation can be subdivided in two steps: initial activation and signal amplification. The events distinguishing these two phases and their genetic determinants remain obscure. TopBP1, a mediator protein containing multiple BRCT domains, binds to and activates the ATR/ATRIP complex through its ATR-Activation Domain (AAD). We show that Schizosaccharomyces pombe Rad4TopBP1 AAD–defective strains are DNA damage sensitive during G1/S-phase, but not during G2. Using lacO-LacI tethering, we developed a DNA damage–independent assay for checkpoint activation that is Rad4TopBP1 AAD–dependent. In this assay, checkpoint activation requires histone H2A phosphorylation, the interaction between TopBP1 and the 9-1-1 complex, and is mediated by the phospho-binding activity of Crb253BP1. Consistent with a model where Rad4TopBP1 AAD–dependent checkpoint activation is ssDNA/RPA–independent and functions to amplify otherwise weak checkpoint signals, we demonstrate that the Rad4TopBP1 AAD is important for Chk1 phosphorylation when resection is limited in G2 by ablation of the resecting nuclease, Exo1. We also show that the Rad4TopBP1 AAD acts additively with a Rad9 AAD in G1/S phase but not G2. We propose that AAD–dependent Rad3ATR checkpoint amplification is particularly important when DNA resection is limiting. In S. pombe, this manifests in G1/S phase and relies on protein– chromatin interactions