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The winner of the 2020 TPS Best Paper Award has been selected (please refer to our TPS home page for details about the award at https://ieee-npss.org/publications/transactions-on-plasma-science/). This year is the second year that the award is being given, and I am pleased to announce that Prof. Chandrashekhar Joshi, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA, is the winner for his article “Laser-driven plasma accelerators operating in the self- guided, blowout regime.” This article appeared in IEEE TPS, vol. 45, pp. 3134–3146, in December 2017. The award plaque, certificate, and cheque will be presented to Prof. Joshi at an upcoming International Conference on Plasma Science in South Lake Tahoe, CA, USA, in June 2021. This is an open-access article and is freely available to our readers. Congratulations to Prof. Chan Joshi on this accomplishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author presents commentary on his earlier article, "Jobshop-Like Queueing Systems," published in the November 1963 issue of the periodical "Management Science." He notes that his interest in jobshop manufacturing provided the subject matter of the article, which stemmed from his work with the Management Science Research Project at the University of Los Angeles in Los Angeles, California. The author discusses his position on doctorial committees headed by Professor Leonard Kleinrock, whose work was instrumental in the development of the Internet.

Abstract: This paper presents the first results obtained in a facility constructed at the University of California, Los Angeles to study the interaction of ceramic breeder pebble beds with structural materials in conditions relevant to fusion energy power plant blanket operations. The experiments study the thermo-mechanical performance of lithium meta-titanate oxide (Li2TiO3) pebbles and silicon carbide clad constrained by a low thermal expansion alloy in vacuum and He atmosphere. The results show that large deformations due to induced thermal stresses are present during the first heat cycle but afterward are accommodated by a combination of pebble re-arrangement within the bed and thermally induced creep deformation. Initial results of a numerical simulation of the experiments using a finite element code that includes creep deformation is also presented. Planned operation of the UCLA thermo-mechanics test facility is summarized to conclude the paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article focuses on research works on organization, conducted at the University of California, Los Angeles, California. Economist Ichak Adizes will be reporting and analyzing the results in organizations in which he has acted as, or has trained others to be, agents of change in applying his methodology. Economist Kenneth W. Thomas is guest-editing a special issue of the California Management Review whose purpose is to re-examine the collaborative ethic prevalent in the field of organization behavior. Four articles present different perspectives on organization conflict and the functionality/dysfunctionality of collaboration. The papers highlight the importance of recognizing the costs and infeasibility of collaboration in many situations, the value of stimulating optimal levels of conflict in organizations, the role of power tactics and identification of different interest groups in organizations that stand to gain or lose differentially with increase in collaboration. Thomas is also developing a cost-benefit model of organizational conflict. A paper examining the implicit assumptions about the functionality/dysfunctionality of conflict that have been predominant in the literature on organization conflict is in preparation.

This article provides information on the Center for Quality of Working Life established within the Institute of Industrial Relations at the University of California in Los Angeles. The center aims to enhance the quality of life at the workplace and seeks collaborative relations with private and non-private institutions including professionals. The center's action-research approach is geared towards the development of better techniques for investigating the expectation of workers bring to the job and in distinguishing between economic and psychological work satisfaction.

The article presents the author's views on Antony John Kunnan's research paper on Differential Item Functioning (DIF) in native language and gender groups in an ESL placement test. While the author admires the intention behind Kunnan's paper, he is also of the view that the fact that the statistical and subjective procedures for identifying DIF cannot be relied upon dilutes the significance of his conclusions. The author does not see anything inherently wrong with Kunnan's method of identifying biased items, which relies on selecting items which lie outside the 95% confidence interval, since all statistical tests of significance and hypothesis tests involve comparing data in order to known distributions and deducing the likelihood of those data occurring by chance alone. However, in the social sciences, if such results occurred by chance no more than 1 time out of 20, the results are considered to be significant. While no one can oppose eliminating test items which display DIF, Kunnan cannot be justified in drawing the conclusions about the sources of DIF in the Los Angeles, California-based University of California's ESL placement examination.

Background: Large medical centers in urban areas, like Los Angeles, care for a diverse patient population and offer the potential to study the interplay between genetic ancestry and social determinants of health. Here, we explore the implications of genetic ancestry within the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) ATLAS Community Health Initiative—an ancestrally diverse biobank of genomic data linked with de-identified electronic health records (EHRs) of UCLA Health patients (N=36,736). Methods: We quantify the extensive continental and subcontinental genetic diversity within the ATLAS data through principal component analysis, identity-by-descent, and genetic admixture. We assess the relationship between genetically inferred ancestry (GIA) and >1500 EHR-derived phenotypes (phecodes). Finally, we demonstrate the utility of genetic data linked with EHR to perform ancestry-specific and multi-ancestry genome and phenome-wide scans across a broad set of disease phenotypes. Results: We identify 5 continental-scale GIA clusters including European American (EA), African American (AA), Hispanic Latino American (HL), South Asian American (SAA) and East Asian American (EAA) individuals and 7 subcontinental GIA clusters within the EAA GIA corresponding to Chinese American, Vietnamese American, and Japanese American individuals. Although we broadly find that self-identified race/ethnicity (SIRE) is highly correlated with GIA, we still observe marked differences between the two, emphasizing that the populations defined by these two criteria are not analogous. We find a total of 259 significant associations between continental GIA and phecodes even after accounting for individuals' SIRE, demonstrating that for some phenotypes, GIA provides information not already captured by SIRE. GWAS identifies significant associations for liver disease in the 22q13.31 locus across the HL and EAA GIA groups (HL p-value=2.32×10−16, EAA p-value=6.73×10−11). A subsequent PheWAS at the top SNP reveals significant associations with neurologic and neoplastic phenotypes specifically within the HL GIA group. Conclusions: Overall, our results explore the interplay between SIRE and GIA within a disease context and underscore the utility of studying the genomes of diverse individuals through biobank-scale genotyping linked with EHR-based phenotyping. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A biography of George Barlow, a scientist recognized for his contributions to the field of ethology, is presented. Barlow was born in Long Beach, California in 1929. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1951. Barlow is an athletic person and excels in football, avid surfing and waterpolo. He died on July 14, 2007. His contributions to ethology are highlighted.

Reports on the symposium on atmospheric general circulation modeling held at the University of California, Los Angeles. Guest of honor; Participants; Papers presented.

The Atlantic Niño or Atlantic Equatorial Mode (EM) is the dominant coupled variability phenomenon in the tropical Atlantic basin during boreal summer. From the 1970s, the mode has changed, evolving in time from east to west and without persisting until the following winter. In a previous observational work, the authors have studied the atmospheric response to the EM during the 1979--2005 period, proposing three main issues along the decaying phase of this mode: 1) the continuous confinement of the anomalous deep convection over northeastern Brazil following the thermal-forcing decay; 2) an increasing dipole-like precipitation anomaly with dry conditions in the Florida--Gulf of Mexico region; and 3) the excitation of Rossby waves forced by the remaining upper-tropospheric divergence that are trapped into the subtropical jet but do not show a robust impact on the European sector. In this work, a 10-member ensemble simulation for the recent EM with the University of California, Los Angeles AGCM model has been analyzed for assessing the evolution of the atmospheric response to the summer Atlantic Niño decay. Results from the sensitivity experiment support that the former and the latter findings can be interpreted in terms of the Atlantic thermal forcing; while the negative rainfall anomalies in the western subtropical basin require an external forcing outside the tropical Atlantic. Prior studies point at the peaking Pacific El Niño as a potential player. An important conclusion of this work is that the seasonal atmospheric response to the Atlantic Niño decaying phase is mainly determined by the climatological jet stream''s position and intensity. In this way, this response shows an arching pattern over the North Atlantic region during summer--autumn and a zonally oriented wave train during autumn--winter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A contemporary radiation parameterization scheme has been implemented in the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), atmospheric GCM (AGCM). This scheme is a combination of the delta-four-stream method for solar flux transfer and the delta-two-and-four-stream method for thermal infrared flux transfer. Both methods have been demonstrated to be computationally efficient and at the same time highly accurate in comparison with exact radiative transfer computations. The correlated-k distribution method for radiative transfer has been used to represent gaseous absorption in multiple-scattering atmospheres. The single-scattering properties for ice and water clouds are parameterized in terms of ice/liquid water content and mean effective size/radius. In conjunction with the preceding radiative scheme, parameterizations for fractional cloud cover and cloud vertical overlap have also been devised in the model in which the cloud amount is determined from the total cloud water mixing ratio. For radiation calculation purposes, the model clouds are vertically grouped in terms of low, middle, and high types. Maximum overlap is first used for each cloud type, followed by random overlap among the three cloud types. The preceding radiation and cloud parameterizations are incorporated into the UCLA AGCM, and it is shown that the simulated cloud cover and outgoing longwave radiation fields without any special tuning are comparable with those of International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project (ISCCP) dataset and derived from radiation budget experiments. The use of the new radiation and cloud schemes enhances the radiative warming in the mid- to upper tropical troposphere and alleviates the cold bias that is common to many AGCMs. Sensitivity studies show that ice crystal size and cloud inhomogeneity significantly affect the radiation budget at the top of the atmosphere and the earth’s surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes how librarians at the University of California Los Angeles Louise M. Darling Biomedical Library adapted to changes in the medical school's curriculum. Challenge faced by reference librarians at the library; Impact of deciding on the Web as the primary mode of delivering instruction; Lessons learned from the changes and methods used in the curriculum.

In a discipline in which departments are often characterized by Irreconcilable controversies and factional disputes, UCLA'S department stands out as a pluralistic communication that fosters interaction, communication, and mutual understanding. At UCLA the micro and macro meet: leading ethnograpbers and survey researchers work side by side; noted Marxists, functionalists and phenomenologists participate in the same colloquia, and persons with a variety of outlooks share membership on the same student committees. Ambitious students committed to obtaining the Ph.D. experience a stimulating educational career in a department that prides itself on diversity, but whose faculty understands that its program must be structured and coherent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents news relating to biologists. Presentation of the Henry Medal by the Smithsonian Institution to David Challinor, a specialist in forest ecology; Award of the Bicentennial Medal of Distinction by the University of Pittsburgh to Mary E. Clutter, director of the cellular bioscience division of the National Science Foundation; Presentation of the Wolf Prize in Medicine to Elizabeth Neufeld of the University of California, Los Angeles and to Henri-Gery Hers of the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, Belgium; Creation of the Arthropod-Borne and Infectious Diseases Laboratory at Colorado State University; Appointment of Mohamed T. El-Ashry as vice president for research and policy affairs at the World Resources Institute.

Two never-smoking cohorts in Southern California, one in Lancaster (N = 2340) exposed only to moderate levels of oxidants and the other in Long Beach (N = 1326) exposed to high levels of SOx, NO2, hydrocarbons and particulates completed spirometry and the single-breath nitrogen test five to six years apart. Forty-seven percent and 45 percent of the participants were retested. Mean results at baseline for those tested and not retested were similar. Loss to follow-up was primarily the moving (39 percent and 47 percent). Every difference of consequence indicated greater deterioration in lung function in Long Beach. The level of significance of the difference was greatest, even in the youngest age groups, for ΔN2750-1290, suggesting that the earliest site of impairment may occur in the small airways. Greater deterioration in spirometric parameters was observed in every age group in Long Beach females above seven years of age at baseline and in Long Beach males above 15 years of age, suggesting that chronic exposure to the pollutant mix occuring in Long Beach ultimately adversely affects the large airways as well as small airways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the problems related to using school district evaluations. The main thrust is on increasing the utilization of programs such as compensatory education. It explores some of the contextual characteristics of school districts that might impede or enhance utilization. The approach is positive-exploring evaluator traits and actions that could improve the extent to which evaluations are used. It presents a conversation, between one of the leading researchers on evaluation utilization and a highly respected evaluation practitioner that actually took place during a seminar at the University of California, Los Angeles, Graduate School of Education. Subsequently, the transcript of that conversation was edited and adapted for publication. The district will need to define a process that is continuous. A person should have continuing responsibility for evaluation, and that person should be identifiable. The evaluation person should not be program dependent, but should be knowledgeable of the program and have rapport with program implementers.

Presents news briefs on several universities and colleges in the United States as of January 1974. Election of Doris Cook to the National Council of Β Α Ψ; Retirement of Professor A.B. Carson from the University of California, Los Angeles; Promotion of Gene McClung and Robert J. West at the University of South Florida; Staff members at the Georgia State University that have joined the Department of Accounting.

The article presents a comparison of traditional high school biology courses and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study program adopted by the secondary schools in the school districts near University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA), California. It reports that interdisciplinary courses and a Core-Studies Program for undergraduate majors in botany, zoology, and bacteriology has been created at the UCLA. It discusses the impact of the two programs upon the introductory biology course at the University and the biology courses of the secondary school, relative to changes in instructional methodology, content, and discipline emphasis.

The article profiles Robert B. Goldberg, biology professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, California. It states that Goldberg was born in 1944 and was raised in Cleveland, Ohio. It mentions that Goldberg pursued a dual major in botany and political science and a doctorate degree in genetics. It also discusses his study on tobacco plant to characterize the spatial and temporal regulation of gene activity during plants' life cycle.

In this article the author examines how the ARPANET has shaped the online world. He explores the internet evolution that began on October 29, 1969 when Network Measurement Center's student Charley Kline of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has sent the first message from one computer to another on the ARPANET. The author emphasizes that the internet persists despite the coming and going of many constituents because it is an architecture from interoperability than a fixed network.

The article focuses on research about addiction involving brain scans of adolescents at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), to be funded by Philip Morris (PM). It notes that the amount of the initial research grant from PM is $6 million and lead researcher professor Edythe London hopes for more fund, though not necessarily tobacco money. According to the article, disapproval on the funding cannot came as a surprise, as health advocates have been campaigning for UCLA to stop taking tobacco company profit condensate for years.

The author reflects on the evolution and biodiversity of different species. The author outlines the identification of species with several branches and the implications of diverse radiations to the vertebrate fauna. Furthermore, the author highlights a textbook about the substantial changes from the background tempo of vertebrate evolution written by author Michael Alfaro and colleagues from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Discusses the use of two-tier bidding system to streamline the purchasing procedures at the University of California in Los Angeles. Advantages of the system; Price bidding for a single small-volume order and for a single large-volume order.