Advancements in Higher Education for Latino(a)/Chicano(a) Doctorates

Latinos(as)/Chicanos(as) are one of the minorities least represented in graduate school (Ramirez, 2016). Although there are few studies that primarily focus on the limitations Latinos(as)/Chicanos(as) students encounter in undergraduate and graduate studies, the overall goal of this study was to focus on the strategies Latinos(as)/Chicanos(as) use to counteract these limitations. These areas of limitations fall into seven categories: educational programs, family support, stress, financial support, mentors, school involvement, and exclusion. A 70-question online survey was administered to those who met the following eligibility requirements: completed a PhD, reside in California, and identify as Latino(a) and/or Chicano(a). This survey analyzes the impact educational programs have on first-generation students in undergraduate and graduate school. The questions on family support compare first-generation and non-first-generation college students who completed a PhD program. The questions on stress analyze how the PhD holders overcame stressful situations. For financial support, the survey asks one to comment on the financial resources they utilized. The questions in the section about mentors analyze a mentor’s moral, academic, personal, and financial support. For school involvement, the questions analyze the campus resources utilized by respondents and the benefits of utilizing those resources. The questions on exclusion addressed three concepts: discrimination, feelings of not belonging, and gender disparity. In family support questions, results suggest that both first-generation and non-first-generation Latino(a)/Chicano(a) PhD holders received parental support during their undergraduate and graduate studies; however, first-generation PhD holders mentioned that parents would listen but not understand academic context, while non-first-generation PhD holders had academic conversations with parents

Film Adaption and Transnational Cultures or Production: The Case of Guillermo Arriaga

The circulation of Latin American cinema in a transnational context has widened the options that actors and directors from the region have regarding their involvement in the different aspects of film production. In order to analyze Guillermo Arriaga’s transnational career as a writer of novels and screenplays I contrast his work with that of other writers and filmmakers who have participated in both the cinematic and literary fields. The fact that Arriaga has crossed the lines between writing, adapting, and directing his own works in Spanish and English leads me to review the current relations of film and literature in general. Finally, by comparing Arriaga’s novels and films, I propose that the contemporary practice of film adaptation contributes to the “flexibilization” in the roles writers, actors, and directors play in filmmaking and in the circulation of cultural capital between film and literature in the current media markets

The Eagle and the Serpent on the Screen, the State as Spectacle in Mexican Cinema

Recent studies of the history of Mexican cinema continue to speak of the complex relations between the state and the film industry, and the most frequently analyzed aspects tend to be the same: the reach and forms of censorship, as well as the financial dependence on the state. To broaden this perspective, I propose a classification of cinematic discourses that represent the relations between film characters and state powers. I discuss four basic modes of representation that, determined by historical and economic circumstances, reflect and mediate the attitudes and dispositions of viewers toward the political regime. For each mode, I discuss a sequence in a paradigmatic film, analyzing visual and ideological aspects in relation to the political moment at the time of the film\u27s release. Finally, I argue that, despite the resurgence of the Mexican cinema and a more critical tone in its approach to state institutions, fictional films still rest on indirect and allegorical representations of recent events. This is due to the uncertainty of the prolonged and still-incomplete transition to institutional democracy in Mexico

A Spectrum of Service: Combining Paid Service and Volunteerism: Strategies for Effective Practice in School Settings

This is the second report in a series from P/PV's Spectrum of Service (SOS) project. P/PV has created a learning community by giving two-year grants to seven sites, supporting the expansion of efforts to combine the work of paid and unpaid service providers in enhancing youth's educational outcomes. Sites gather in a series of cross-site conferences to provide peer support and to exchange information and program data. This report shares the experiences of these sites as they endeavor to develop partnerships with, and work within, public schools to support young people's educational achievement, and describes the strategies that the SOS sites have used not only to combine the work of volunteers and paid service providers, but to do so in a public school setting

Caught Between Superpowers:Alaska’s Economic Relationship with China Amidst the New Cold War

In recent years, Alaska has developed an increasingly robust economic relationship with China. China is the largest foreign buyer of Alaskan goods and China continues to invest in Alaska and promote Alaskan tourism. Meanwhile, the U.S. federal government’s relationship with China has deteriorated over concerns that China poses a danger to U.S. national security. As the U.S. federal government continues to scrutinize Chinese investment and trade with the United States, Alaska’s economic relationship with China increasingly hangs in the balance. Alaska’s relationship with China thus joins a long history of economic ties between states and foreign nations that pose conflicts of interest for the U.S. federal government. Beginning with the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and leading up to the present, the states have staked out a role as advocates on behalf of their citizens in promoting economic ties with foreign nations. This Note argues that the anti-commandeering doctrine provides constitutional protection for Alaska’s promotion of its economic relationship with China from interference by the U.S. federal government. While the federal government may itself regulate commerce between Alaska and China, the federal government may not muzzle the Alaska state government and prevent it from promoting commerce with China. While this state of play might seem like a hollow victory for Alaska, the anti-commandeering doctrine requires the federal government to take action itself — rather than coerce Alaska to take action — and thus forces the federal government to expend greater political capital in passing a law or regulation. The anti-commandeering doctrine thus properly apportions political accountability among the state and federal governments and makes federal intervention less likely

Discontinuous Almost Automorphic Functions and Almost Automorphic Solutions of Differential Equations with Piecewise Constant Argument

In this article we introduce a class of discontinuous almost automorphic functions which appears naturally in the study of almost automorphic solutions of differential equations with piecewise constant argument. Their fundamental properties are used to prove the almost automorphicity of bounded solutions of a system of differential equations with piecewise constant argument. Due to the strong discrete character of these equations, the existence of a unique discrete almost automorphic solution of a non-autonomous almost automorphic difference system is obtained, for which conditions of exponential dichotomy and discrete Bi-almost automorphicity are fundamental