Improving Completion Rates Among Disadvantaged Students (review)

Recently Published Dissertations on Community and Junior Colleges

Characteristics of anatomic and reverse total shoulder arthroplasty patients who achieve ceiling scores with 3 common patient-reported outcome measures.

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This public lecture on the Mexican/Chicano corrido delivered by Professor Americo Paredes at UCLA May 13, 1981, was recorded during the event by Maria Herrera-Sobek. She recently transcribed and edited the public lecture specifically for its publication in this volume. The lecture presents an overall view of the Mexican/Chicano corrido. It expounds and offers original insights regarding its formal structure, theories about its origins, development, and evolution, as well as the different influences from Spain, Mexico, and indigenous cultures. Paredes not only enlightened those present with his scholarly exposition but entertained them as well with his performance of corridos and Spanish ballads (romances) accompanied by his guitar, which served to illustrate the theoretical and structural points he was making.IntroductionTHE PRESENT LECTURE, TRANSCRIBED from a public presentation I recorded May 13, 1981, at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), dealt specifically with the corrido. The year-long Lecture Series on Music in Culture, sponsored by various units at UCLA, featured outstanding ethnomusicology scholars as well as musicians, and presented the opportunity for those invited to elaborate on the issue of music and its relationship to culture. Dr. Americo Paredes was invited to speak by Raymund Paredes (no relation), at the time Associate Professor in the English Department at UCLA.Americo Paredes entertained the public with a spirited historical discussion on the corrido. This he did by tracing the historical origins of the corrido and highlighting its characteristics both with respect to music as well as poetic structure. He demonstrated his prowess as a scholar but, most surprisingly to most of us in the audience, he startled us with his ability to sing corridos and accompany himself with his guitar. Paredes illuminated the scholarly points he was trying to make about the corrido by singing and playing various stanzas from the great number of romances and corridos in his personal repertoire. He discussed the early theories posited by Mexican ballad scholars such as Vicente T. Mendoza in the twentieth century, and others, while providing us with his own theories related to the origins and development of this musical genre. He spoke about the corrido and its relationship to the Spanish romance and sang early romances to the delight of those present in the audience.We all thoroughly enjoyed don Americo's lecture due to his impressive erudition as exemplified by his discussion on the corrido, the singing that accompanied the lecture, and also, one must not forget, the humorous style in which it was delivered. Paredes had a wry sense of humor, and in spite of his tremendous accomplishments, he was a humble man and self-deprecating in a humorous manner. The audience's laughter can be heard throughout the recording, demonstrating how delighted and entertained the public was with his talk. Professor Paredes received a well-deserved prolonged standing ovation at the end of his lecture. It was indeed an unforgettable experience.In this transcription of the Paredes lecture, I tried to capture verbatim his words as faithfully as I could, although I did remove occasional repetitions and hesitations to create a smooth and coherent flow in the written form. All editorial additions are placed in square brackets and italicized, such as, for example, when I am indicating a specific feature of the lecture: [Paredes sings and strums guitar]. There are also a few places where it is difficult to decipher what Paredes is saying and these are marked by [ . . . ].Dr. Juan Gomez-Quinonez Speaks1It's fitting that in this year at UCLA when there seems to be a florescence, once again, of Mexican activities, of Mexican concern on this campus, we have, what to some of us is the most respected Chicano scholar in the United States. It is also fitting that he comes during a year when our center [the Chicano Studies Research Center], as a result of the work of many people across the country, is putting together what we hope will be a very important issue on Mexican folklore in the United States, in which we have the honor to dedicate to Dr. …

Background: A few studies have compared high-grade partial-thickness articular- and bursal-side rotator cuff tears postoperatively. Purpose: To compare the clinical and radiological outcomes of high-grade partial-thickness rotator cuff tears treated with arthroscopic conversion to full-thickness tears, followed by repair. Study Design: Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3. Methods: Forty-three consecutive shoulders with high-grade partial-thickness rotator cuff tears (20 articular- and 23 bursal-side lesions) treated with arthroscopic conversion to full-thickness tears, followed by repair using the suture-bridge technique, were evaluated. The final functional evaluation was conducted at a mean of 35.53 months (range, 24-54 months). Radiological outcomes were evaluated at a minimum of 1 year postoperatively. The following outcome measures were used in this study: the American Shoulder and Elbow Surgeons (ASES) score, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Shoulder Rating Scale, the Constant score, and range of motion. Results: At the final follow-up, the mean ASES, UCLA, and Constant scores improved significantly to 91.80, 32.70, and 75.85, respectively, in the articular-side group (all P < .001). The mean ASES, UCLA, and Constant scores improved significantly to 90.80, 32.52, and 83.00, respectively, in the bursal-side group (all P < .001). The UCLA and ASES scores did not differ significantly between the 2 groups (P = .821 and .869, respectively), while the Constant scores did (P = .048). The retear rate was 0% in the articular-side group and 9.5% in the bursal-side group; this difference was not significant (P = .204). Conclusion: The arthroscopic repair of partial-thickness bursal-side tears resulted in comparable or superior postoperative functional outcomes compared with that of articular-side tears. However, the postoperative retear rate did not differ significantly between the 2 groups.

The Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO) at the University of California, San Diego maintains one of the largest combined oceanographic collections in the world comprising four collections: Geological (sediment cores and dredged rocks), Pelagic Invertebrates, Benthic Invertebrates and Marine Vertebrates. After surviving threats of dissolution, the SIO Collections are now securely funded and have been able to make other collections available to the scientific community. Over the last few years, both the Marine Vertebrate (SIO-MVC) and Benthic Invertebrate (SIO-BIC) Collections have received National Science Foundation (NSF) and institutional funding to integrate important at-risk collections from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) and the University of Victoria. The UCLA Ichthyological Collection, around 9000 lots, was at risk of disposal due to hazardous material concerns and lack of institutional support. The collection, accumulated primarily under Boyd Walker (1949-1980) and later Don Buth (1980-), contains material from extensive surveys of the near-shore fishes of Southern California, Baja California and the Tropical Eastern Pacific including remote oceanic islands such as the Revillagigedos, Clipperton and the Galapagos. The UCLA collection also contains over 150 secondary types and over 100 species new to the SIO-MVC. Due to lack of support, the collection records were never digitized and the collection was minimally curated and its holdings were poorly known. For over two years, the collection manager and student employees have physically re-curated and integrated this material into the SIO-MVC. These data are now available online via iDigBio and VertNet and have already been used in numerous studies. The SIO-BIC, holding 45,000 lots, is accepting ownership of two deep-sea animal collections from Verena Tunnicliffe at the University of Victoria and Robert Vrijenhoek at MBARI. These collections include 10,900+ lots, largely from hydrothermal vents across the Pacific. Collected over 35 years from remote deep-sea sites that are difficult and expensive to access, these collections represent a major resource for systematics, genetics, and ecology. With Dr. Vrijenhoek now retired and Dr. Tunnicliffe nearing retirement, their collections were at risk of being lost. This material will be made discoverable online through the SIO-BIC database and iDigBio, and will be available for loan and examination. In the last year, the collection manager and five undergraduate employees have integrated some 3,000 lots. With support from the institution and the NSF, the SIO collections are solidifying their roles as central repositories for deep-sea and Eastern Pacific fauna.

Editorial introductions.

Establishing the minimal clinically important difference for the UCLA functional scale in patients undergoing clinical treatment for adhesive capsulitis.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the rate of traumatic experiences and the relationship between traumas and anxiety, loneliness, depression, posttraumatic growth and pain, in refugee university students. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted at the Gaziantep University between September 2017 and September 2018. UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Loneliness Scale, Posttraumatic Growth Inventory (PTGI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Traumatic Events Checklist (T.E.C) were used for assessment purposes. Results: A total of 71 students were included in our study. There was a positive correlation between UCLA and BDI, T.E.C and a negative correlation between UCLA and PTGE. There was a positive correlation between BDI and BAI, T.E.C. A negative correlation was determined between PTGE and BDI and also T.E.C. A significant and positive correlation was observed between duration of pain felt during a day and T.E.C, BDI, and a negative correlation between duration of pain and PTGE. Conclusion: Excessive traumatic experiences were positively related with depression and negatively related with traumatic growth. The duration of pain felt during a day was positively related with the excess of depressive symptoms and traumatic events, however there was no relationship between the presence of pain/localization of pain and assessment scales.

Christopher Spencer Foote, professor of chemistry at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), passed away at the age of 70 on June 13, 2005. Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Foote grew up in an intellectual environment. His father was the editor of the local newspaper, while his mother was a descendant of the Benjamin Sillimans (father and son), who were eminent chemists at Yale University. Foote graduated from Kingswood School in West Hartford, Connecticut, and obtained a Bachelors degree in chemistry from Yale University in 1957. He spent the following year as a Fulbright scholar with G. O. Schenck at the University of Göttingen in Germany. In retrospect, this year in Germany clearly set the stage for his life's work. Foote's first scientific paper, on the “Photosensitized Autooxidation of Menthofuran”, with Schenck as a coauthor, was published in Angewandte Chemie in 1958.1 Foote took “time off” from the study of photooxygenation reactions to obtain a PhD: He joined the research group of R. B. Woodward at Harvard University in 1958 and graduated in 1962 with a thesis entitled “Angle Strain and Solvolytic Reactivity in Bridged Bicyclic Systems.” Immediately after leaving Harvard, Foote joined the chemistry faculty at UCLA. It was here that he returned to the study of photooxygenation reactions, establishing the lifelong program for which he is now recognized. Foote was associated with UCLA throughout his entire academic career. He attained the rank of full professor in 1969 and served as department chairman from 1978 to 1981. Foote arguably established his career with two communications of his results that appeared in J. Am. Chem. Soc. in 1964.2 In these reports, he proposed that the lowest excited electronic state of molecular oxygen, singlet molecular oxygen, O2(a1Δg), was the pertinent reactive intermediate in a solution-phase dye-sensitized photooxygenation reaction. In effect, Foote was confirming a hypothesis originally made by H. Kautsky in 1931 which was subsequently dismissed by, among others, G. O. Schenck. The final sentence in the latter of these two communications was, “Further experiments are in progress”; a statement that essentially presaged the next 40 years of his life. Foote's primary research interest centered on reactive oxygen species, with singlet oxygen being the most prominent.3, 4 Despite its reactivity and short lifetime in condensed phases, singlet oxygen displays many selective reactions, some of which are synthetically useful. The reaction with dienes to form endoperoxides is still one of the most selective and mild reactions to form these types of compounds. The singlet-oxygen-mediated formation of allylic hydroperoxides from unsaturated hydrocarbons and the oxidation of sulfur-, nitrogen-, and phosphorus-containing compounds have important biological ramifications. Indeed, singlet oxygen is an acknowledged intermediate in processes that result in cell death, a phenomenon that forms the basis for photodynamic therapy, a medical procedure used to destroy undesired tissue in the treatment of cancer, for example. Likewise, the process of ageing involves the destruction of key biochemical compounds by reactive oxygenating species. The mechanistic aspects of these oxygenation reactions are often complex, involving one or more reactive intermediates. One of Foote's scientific achievements was to methodically elucidate many of these reaction mechanisms. It was through these studies that he established his reputation as the foremost authority on the reactions of singlet oxygen. In his latter years, Foote expanded his research program to include studies on the photophysical properties of fullerenes. Foote's research covered a broad spectrum of science. Although formally an organic chemist, his interests and tools ranged from biology to physics and from experimental to computational. He was a cross-disciplinary chemist of the highest level. In addition to an extensive list of research publications, Foote was coauthor of a textbook now in its fourth edition.5 He was president of the American Society for Photobiology during 1988–89 and was a senior editor of Accounts of Chemical Research during the last 10 years of his life. In 1994, the American Chemical Society acknowledged his contributions with the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award. Foote always allowed members of his research group to pursue their own ideas, thereby creating a stimulating environment for the large number of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows for whom he served as mentor (the authors of this article are two of his former PhD students). He was very tolerant and patient when listening to research presentations, but always asked sharp questions at the end. In his private life, Foote particularly enjoyed music. He was a noted fan of Bach and never tired of Wagner's “Der Ring des Nibelungen”. He had the amazing nose of a good old-fashioned qualitative organic chemist; one that could readily distinguish an aldehyde from a ketone. This characteristic was frequently put to good use in distinguishing a good merlot from a bad merlot. It was a privilege and a pleasure to have known and worked with Chris. His brilliance, insight, companionship, and warmth will be missed. Christopher S. Foote passed away having earned the deep-seated respect of his colleagues. No higher award can be achieved.

In 2002, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) defined health services research as ''research [that] examines how people get access to health care, how much care costs, and what happens to patients as a result of this care. The main goals of health services research are to identify the most effective ways to organize, manage, finance, and deliver high quality care; reduce medical errors; and improve patient safety'' (http://www.academy health.org). AcademyHealth's (AH) definition is parallel but focuses more explicitly on the factors studied. Thus AH defines health services research as ''the multidisciplinary field of scientific investigation that studies how social factors, financing systems, organizational structures and processes, health technologies, and personal behaviors affect access to health care, the quality and cost of health care, and ultimately our health and well-being. Its research domains are individuals, families, organizations, institutions, communities, and populations'' (http://www.academyhealth.org). Explicit in both definitions is the notion that health services researchers should strive to identify and estimate the causal effects on outcomes of interest of alternative organizational structures, management approaches, financing systems, provider practices, and personal choices regarding lifestyle and behavior. Without a focus on causal effects, it would be impossible to identify the most effective ways to achieve the outcomes we seek through clinical, management, or policy interventions.

The authors reviewed 164 cases of head and neck sarcoma from adult patients seen at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), between 1955 and 1988. The median follow-up was 70 months. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that tumor grade, size, and surgical margin status were the most important independent prognostic factors. Thirty-one percent (27 of 85) of patients with high-grade lesions were free of disease versus 81% (44 of 55) with low-grade lesions at last follow-up. Sixty-seven percent (50 of 76) of patients with lesions smaller than 5 cm were free of disease versus 38% (33 of 88) with lesions larger than 5 cm. In 16 patients, low-grade lesions, measuring less than 5 cm and with negative margins histologically, were controlled with surgery alone. For the 94 patients whose primary tumors were treated at UCLA, local control was achieved in 52% (26 of 50) of patients treated with surgery alone and 90% (20 of 22) with combined therapy (surgery and radiation therapy [RT] with or without chemotherapy). Seventy-five percent (6 of 8) of patients with positive surgical margins treated with postoperative RT achieved local control versus 26% (5 of 19) of patients receiving no additional treatment. In conclusion, surgery alone appears to be adequate treatment for small, low-grade tumors and negative surgical margins. Patients with incomplete resection or high-grade tumors should receive aggressive treatment--surgery and RT.

The Dawn science operations team has designed the Vesta mission within the constraints of a low-cost Discovery mission, and will apply the same methodology to the Ceres mission. The design employs proactive mapping mission strategies and tactics such as functional redundancy, adaptability to trajectory uncertainties, and easy sequence updates to deliver reliable and robust sequences. Planning tools include the Science Opportunity Analyzer and other multi-mission tools, and the Science time-ordered listings. Science operations are conducted jointly by the Science Operations Support Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the Dawn Science Center at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The UCLA Dawn Science Center has primary responsibility for data archiving while the JPL team has primary responsibility for spacecraft and instrument operations. Constraints and uncertainties in the planning and sequencing environment are described, and then details of the science plan are presented for each mission sub-phase. The plans indicate that Dawn has a high probability of meeting its science objectives and requirements within the imposed constraints.

Delvecchio S. Finley, FACHE, is CEO of Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, California. Harbor-UCLA is one of only five Level I trauma centers in Los Angeles County, and its 300 full-time faculty hold academic appointments at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Geffen School of Medicine. Approximately 500 residents and fellows are completing their graduate medical education at the facility, and it serves as a major training site for medical students from UCLA and the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. The Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute is also housed at Harbor-UCLA.Mr. Finley started his professional career with the San Francisco Department of Public Health in 2003. He then joined the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) as an administrator in its hematology and oncology division and, soon after, added to his responsibilities the management of the university's occupational and environmental medicine division. In 2005, Mr. Finley became administrative director of the organtization's HIV/AIDS division, and in 2006, he was named associate administrator at San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. In 2010, he became vice president of operations, support, and professional services at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, and in 2011, he was named CEO of HarborUCLA Medical Center.A member of the California Association of Public Hospitals and Health Systems board of directors and the Hospital Association of Southern California, Mr. Finley is also active in Health Care Executives of Southern California, his local ACHE chapter, for which he served as secretary in 2013. From 2007 to 2008, he was president of the California Association of Healthcare Leaders. He is a recipient of the ACHE Service Award, the ACHE Distinguished Service Award, and the Regent's Award. In 2014, he received ACHE's Robert S. Hudgens Memorial Award for Young Healthcare Executive of the Year, which recognizes early careerists for outstanding achievements in the field of healthcare management.Mr. Finley earned an undergraduate degree from Emory University and a master's degree in public policy from Duke University.Dr. O'Connor: Congratulations on winning the Hudgens Award! Within several years of beginning your career in healthcare management, you became director of the well-known HIV/AIDS division at UCSF. Comment on your rapid rise as an early careerist and how prepared you felt for that responsibility. When you transitioned from UCSF to assume the post of associate administrator of San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center, what prompted you to see this as a stepping stone for advancing your career?Mr. Finley: Prior to becoming the director of the HIV/AIDS division at UCSF, I had managed small and medium-sized divisions within the Department of Medicine, all based at San Francisco General. These were great training grounds for preparing me to eventually run the HIV/AIDS division. The first of these was a newly created hematology and oncology division, which at the time had three physicians and a staff of about five individuals. It had the traditional tripartite mission of patient care delivery, research, and teaching. This was a small division, and a year later I was asked to also assume oversight of a division for occupational and environmental medicine, which was larger in size, with more complex fiscal and personnel responsibilities, particularly with respect to its research activities. This larger division conducted a lot of research on musculoskeletal disorders, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and repetitive stress injuries and disorders of the upper airway. Because of my experience with the large research component, I was well prepared to direct the HIV/AIDS division. That division-one of the oldest in the country-offered numerous clinical services and operated a huge research department that included both domestic and international clinical trials. …

I moved to Los Angeles from Chicago in order to work with Edward Telles in the Sociology department at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). I knew that I wanted to study race relations in Brazil and would probably do research on affirmative action policies that had recently been implemented there targeting the poor as well as people of African descent. I had never been to Brazil, but was interested in the African diaspora in Latin America for a long time and had studied Portuguese for a semester at Harvard. I spent my first year at UCLA fulfilling Sociology department requirements as well as using my fluency in Spanish to learn Portuguese.