Educational Careers of Hmong American Students

Hmong American college students are an underrepresented and understudied college student population. The Hmong are often described as a preliterate, semi-nomadic, and agrarian ethnic hill tribe from Southeast Asia that have had little contact with formal education before coming to the United States some four decades ago. In this descriptive and exploratory study, we analyze the demographic characteristics and educational achievement of one hundred ninetyfour (n=194) Hmong students who were admitted to and attended a four-year state university in the Midwest from 2002–2010. We summarize their demographic data and academic achievement, and we compare their academic achievement to that of their college peers. We also examine correlations between their high school academic achievement and their college academic progress, and we report on their post-secondary outcomes

On Providing Engineering Students with Ministry and Culturally-Appropriate Design Experiences in Developing Countries

Academic institutions are encouraged to instill the impact of engineering solutions in a global and societal context. This paper summarizes the structural, planning, and logistical aspects of offering senior-level capstone and underclass extra-curricular design projects targeted for developing countries. These projects engage the students in year-long design and fabrication, and culminate in taking students to foreign soil for delivery and installation. The necessary infrastructure and culture at the academic institution, relationships with appropriate intermediaries, and the role of a receptive national host that needs engineering services are identified. The goal is to continue an on-going collaborative relationship that takes students and faculty abroad annually, who in turn help to identify new projects for future teams. The criteria by which projects are selected and staffed (i.e., academic merit, field need, and student interest) are discussed. A case study is presented that evaluates our pilot program. The projects that were selected focused on an organization\u27s infrastructure that provides mechanical services (e.g., electric power generation, water, and sanitation) to support a radio station, a hospital, a school and a host of Non Governmental Organizations. Additional projects were focused on needs of rural people. The results of our first team, which traveled to Liberia, West Africa in May 2007 are documented. They successfully installed a student-designed cooling system for diesel-powered generators, built a medical waste incinerator for the hospital, and distributed solar-powered reading lamps to rural dwellers. They also began a new senior capstone project - to improve the water distribution network - by collecting appropriate data and preparing CAD drawings of the facilities. Overnight trips to remote villages provided engineering students and faculty an opportunity to see how the rural dweller lives. These experiences provided rich insight for the students to see basic needs of people on a new level, and how they might develop engineering solutions which blend into the culture. The Bible gives mandates to subdue the earth and to make disciples in all the nations. This paper describes our pilot program for engaging undergraduate engineering students to enable and encourage African believers in their ministry of meeting humanitarian needs and propagating the gospel in Liberia. This program helps undergraduate students discern God’s call on their lives as they complete engineering projects targeted for a developing country. Important components for the program\u27s success were: 1) infrastructure and culture at the academic institution, 2) relationships with appropriate intermediaries, and 3) a receptive national host that needs engineering services. These components were similar to those identified by others in recent literature. A case study is presented that evaluates our pilot program which took a team of students and faculty to Liberia, West Africa in May 2007. ELWA Ministries comprises a Christian radio station, a Christian hospital, and a Christian school; the 134-acre campus is also home to many families and provides housing for Non-governmental organizations. Four projects were selected focusing on ELWA’s physical plant that provides mechanical services. The team successfully installed a student-designed cooling system for diesel-powered generators and built a medical waste incinerator for the hospital. Students also prepared CAD drawings of the campus and documented the water system by taking many measurements. An additional project helped rural pastors; the students designed and distributed solar-rechargeable reading lights. Overnight trips to remote villages provided engineering students and faculty an opportunity to see how the rural dweller lives. These experiences provided the students intercultural worship opportunities and insight how to develop engineering solutions which blend into the culture. The ELWA services personnel and Liberian pastoral leadership expressed profound gratitude for the team’s ministry; student assessment also confirmed the value of the experience

Effects of naltrexone on cortisol levels in heavy drinkers

The primary objectives of this study were to: (a) examine the neuroendocrine effects of naltrexone vs. placebo by comparing serum cortisol levels; and (b) test the biobehavioral correlates of naltrexone-induced changes in cortisol. Non-treatment seeking heavy drinkers (n = 37) completed two intravenous alcohol administrations, one after naltrexone (50 mg) and one after placebo. Cortisol levels were measured at baseline and after alcohol intake (BrAC = 0.06 g/dl) on both sessions, as were subjective responses to alcohol. Analyses revealed that naltrexone significantly raised overall cortisol levels compared to placebo. Cortisol levels decreased during alcohol administration and a stronger decrease was observed in the naltrexone condition. Cortisol levels were, in turn, inversely related to some of alcohol's the reinforcing effects (i.e., alcohol 'high,' vigor) and positively associated with some of its unpleasant effects (i.e., sedation and subjective intoxication). These results suggest that naltrexone alters cortisol levels in heavy drinkers and that its effects on subjective responses to alcohol may be related, in part, to naltrexone's ability to activate the HPA-axis

Subjective response to alcohol and associated craving in heavy drinkers vs. alcohol dependents: An examination of Koob's allostatic model in humans

BACKGROUND: Koob's allostatic model of addiction emphasizes the transition from positive reinforcement to negative reinforcement as dependence develops. This study seeks to extend this well-established neurobiological model to humans by examining subjective response to alcohol (SR) as a biobehavioral marker of alcohol reinforcement. Specifically, this study examines (a) differential SR in heavy drinkers (HDs) vs. alcohol dependent individuals (ADs) and (b) whether HDs and ADs differ in terms of the association between SR and craving. METHODS: Data was culled from two alcohol challenge studies, totaling 91 participants (oversampled on OPRM1 Asp40 carriers). Alcohol was administered intravenously and participants completed standard measures of SR and craving at BrAC's of 0.02, 0.04, and 0.06 g/dl. SR was modeled as a multidimensional construct consisting of stimulation, sedation, and tension relief. RESULTS: ADs reported significantly higher sedation and craving initially and exhibited a blunted response to alcohol along escalating BrACs. ADs exhibited greater initial tension but did not differ from HDs in tension reduction across rising BrACs. Further, alcohol-induced stimulation was associated with alcohol craving to a significantly greater degree in HDs, as compared to ADs. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides initial evidence that HDs and ADs differ in their subjective experience of alcohol and in the association between dimensions of SR and craving for alcohol. Hypotheses derived from the allostatic model were partially supported, such that, while ADs and HDs did not differ on stimulation response, there was a relative dissociation between positive reinforcement and craving in ADs as compared to HDs

Cloning whole bacterial genomes in yeast

Most microbes have not been cultured, and many of those that are cultivatable are difficult, dangerous or expensive to propagate or are genetically intractable. Routine cloning of large genome fractions or whole genomes from these organisms would significantly enhance their discovery and genetic and functional characterization. Here we report the cloning of whole bacterial genomes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as single-DNA molecules. We cloned the genomes of Mycoplasma genitalium (0.6 Mb), M. pneumoniae (0.8 Mb) and M. mycoides subspecies capri (1.1 Mb) as yeast circular centromeric plasmids. These genomes appear to be stably maintained in a host that has efficient, well-established methods for DNA manipulation

CEERS: Diversity of Lyman-Alpha Emitters during the Epoch of Reionization

We analyze rest-frame ultraviolet to optical spectra of three $z\simeq7.47$ - $7.75$ galaxies whose Ly$\alpha$-emission lines were previously detected with Keck/MOSFIRE observations, using the JWST/NIRSpec observations from the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) survey. From NIRSpec data, we confirm the systemic redshifts of these Ly$\alpha$ emitters, and emission-line ratio diagnostics indicate these galaxies were highly ionized and metal poor. We investigate Ly$\alpha$ line properties, including the line flux, velocity offset, and spatial extension. For the one galaxy where we have both NIRSpec and MOSFIRE measurements, we find a significant offset in their flux measurements ($\sim5\times$ greater in MOSFIRE) and a marginal difference in the velocity shifts. The simplest interpretation is that the Ly$\alpha$ emission is extended and not entirely encompassed by the NIRSpec slit. The cross-dispersion profiles in NIRSpec reveal that Ly$\alpha$ in one galaxy is significantly more extended than the non-resonant emission lines. We also compute the expected sizes of ionized bubbles that can be generated by the Ly$\alpha$ sources, discussing viable scenarios for the creation of sizable ionized bubbles ($>$1 physical Mpc). The source with the highest-ionization condition is possibly capable of ionizing its own bubble, while the other two do not appear to be capable of ionizing such a large region, requiring additional sources of ionizing photons. Therefore, the fact that we detect Ly$\alpha$ from these galaxies suggests diverse scenarios on escape of Ly$\alpha$ during the epoch of reionization. High spectral resolution spectra with JWST/NIRSpec will be extremely useful for constraining the physics of patchy reionization.Comment: Submitted to ApJ (18 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables