dO©i% trojan
Volume XCV, Number 38	University of Southern California	Monday, March 5, 1984
New computer system to raise efficiency
By Sheldon Ito
Assistant Gty Editor
The efficiency with which students are serviced will increase significantly after plans to upgrade the student information computer system are implemented, said administrators from the registration and records, admission and financial aid and student financial operations offices.
Charles Wolfkill, executive director of financial services, said the plan, currently scheduled to be in operation by the fall 1985 semester, essentially calls for two things — the upgrading of
the areas that need it, such as admissions, financial aid and student accounts, and the integration of all the areas into a single centralized data base.
Wolfkill said the centralized data bank will give each module of the system access to the most current information available on each student.
He is overseeing the development of the new system with Michael Halloran, associate director of admission and financial aid and Terry Dillow, technical director of the University Computing Center.
"One of the objectives of the
current modifications .is to have those modules better communicate with one another," he said.
Currently, because each module has its own data base, one does not have immediate access to the others' information and must transfer data "tape-to-tape," a slow and obsolescent process, he said.
He said, for example, that under the upgraded system, a student can change his address with any one office, and the change will be registered with each of the other offices because they will draw from the same data base.
University report stresses student, community rapport
By Catalina Camia
Assistant Qty Editor
A study describing the changes within the Central Park 5 area of South-Central Los Angeles was released in February, emphasizing the importance of a partnership between university students and community associations.
Central Park 5 is the area bordered by Olympic Boulevard to the north, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to the south, Western Avenue to the west and San Pedro Street to the east.
The Community Progress Study was prepared by the Urban Project, a program of the office of Urban Affairs in the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
The Urban Project is a program in which university students can volunteer to conduct research within the community and still receive course credit.
said Barbara Gardner, director of Urban Affairs.
Students enrolled in classes where the professor felt community research would contribute to the course were asked to participate.
"This report is significant because it was done by students for community use/' she said. "Previous research by students about the community has always been unilateral."
The Community Progress Study is also significant because it represents student research and community efforts in a non-traditional way, Gardner said.
Gardner said the difference between this study and the University Task Force report, which was commissioned by university President James Zumberge, is seen in the "product of effort."
■"This study is information and an analysis that the community uses," she said.
Employees to receive Olympic accreditation
By Harvey Drut
Qty Writer
The university has sent accreditation forms to all employees w’ho will be working inside the Olympic Village this summer, said Duane Hickling, executive administrator of the university's Olympics planning office.
All accreditations will be completed by the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee before the end of.June, Hickling said.
"Preparations continue to go well in anticipation of the beginning of the Games, and I am convinced that this Olympics will be prepared for in such a way that the significance of the event will come across to the public. The university is working hand in hand with LAOOC officials to make sure this is what happens," Hickling said.
"Approximately 900 USC personnel will need the special accreditation clearance, 500 of whom will remain during the actual competition (July 28 to Aug. 12), with the rest being on vacation during that time. Their responsibility will be mainly to prepare the Village area for the arrival of the athletes and international Olympic officials," he added.
Hickling said the Village area will mainly consist of campus buildings north of Child's Way, but will not include Bovard Administration Building, Von KleinSmid Center and Doheny Memorial Library.
Jon Strauss, senior vice president for administration, said primarily essential personnel will be on campus during the worst part of the Olympic period and these employees will serve to "keep the university functioning at a time when the surrounding area will undoubtedly be more concerned with the Games themselves."
However, Strauss said the university must be concerned with its own future after the Olympics are gone.
"We have taken into consideration the possibility of the Games causing problems for the university when the fall semester begins, especially since so much work takes place over the summer when the students are away. However, steps have been taken to reduce the number of things that can go wrong, especially in student-related areas such as housing, admissions and financial aid," he said.
(Continued on page 2)
Gardner explained that many student reports that are assigned by instructors for class projects are just placed on shelves and not put to practical use.
The research done in this study is different because the students are accountable to a source, she said.
The Urban Project was asked by the Central Park 5 Council to (Continued on page 2)
The student information system basically consists of five modules — the enrollment system, which handles registration and fee bills; the academic records system; the financial aid system; the student accounts system; and the auxiliary services system, of which the housing system is the most important component, Wolfkill said.
He said the reason behind the upgrading project is the relatively short lifetime of computer systems because of increasing technology.
"No matter how modem (the system) is today, by definition, seven years from now it is going to be pretty antiquated," Wolfkill said.
He said the university started seriously thinking about upgrading the system about a year ago, and the plan's specifications were completed by Dec. 31 of last year.
The specifications are now being reviewed by a group of people who will be working with the system.
He said the upgraded system is currently scheduled to be implemented sequentially for the fall 1985 semester — admissions first, financial aid second, registration third, etc.
Wolfkill said in order to be of use for the fall 1985 semester some of the modules will have
to be in operation much earlier. The pre-admissions and financial aid modules, for example, will have to be operational in a few months, he said.
Here are some of the changes the upgraded system will bring: Student Accounts
Rick Silverman, assistant to the executive director of financial services, said, "It's going to be a whole different philosophy of billing."
Silverman said he does not know the specific details, because although financial services has just spent the past six to seven months "designing and developing what we want," it cannot work on specific details until the system is actually implemented.
"You have to start big and work down to small," he said. "Dotting the i's and crossing the t's aren't there yet."
Wolfkill said the student accounts office currently uses a batch system in which data is updated on a weekly basis and printed on paper reports.
He said that under this system, students' financial information is not readily available and not up-to-date.
Silverman said the aim of the student accounts office is to eventually have all student fees and credits assessed on one bill.
(Continued on page 2)
Alzheimer’s disease studied
Gerontology Center researches devastating disorder of the elderly
By Ramona Hattendorf
Feature Writer
Irreversible and untreatable, senile dementia of the Alzheimer's type is the most devastating and tragic disorder of later life. Family and friends helplessly watch as the disease slowly destroys the sense of time, memory and coordination of their loved ones. And while the disease culminates in total incapacitation and indirectly leads to death, doctors know little about it.
The Norman Andrew Institute, one of the divisions of the Ethel Percy Andrus Gerontology Center, has undertaken as its annual topic of research the study of all the ramifications of this mysterious disease and its counterparts.
First described by the German physician Alois Alzheimer in 1907, the disease was labeled pre-se-nile dementia and thought to attack only those under 65. With the advance in research, however, it is now believed that Alzheimer's can strike anyone from 30 to 70 years of age, with the risk dropping at age 80.
It strikes 10 percent of the population over 65. Contrary to popular belief, it is not a natural occurrence of aging, but rather a cause of an irreversible dementia.
Doctors do not yet know what causes Alzheimer's. Initial research led some to suspect either a viral disease or a defect in the immune system, but no substantiating evidence has been found to support either of these theories.
Other studies have been researching blood flow to the brain and histories of the diseased patients. Another point being studied is the heredity factor. There is much documented evidence that certain types of Alzheimer's disease seem to be genetically determined.
Currently it is believed that one's chances of get-. ting Alzheimer's are increased as the number of family members with Alzheimer's increase. For instance, if both parents and a sibling have the disease, the odds are approximately 50 percent.
"There's always some type of gene interaction on any type of disease or behavior," said Dr. Clyde Pentz of the university's medical school and fellow of the Norman Andrew institute. "In most cases it's obvious. It's either very genetic in its orientation or it's very environmental in its orientation. In something like this we're not sure yet so there's
Last in a series
going to be some interaction."
The most successful research has been in regard to structural brain changes. Scientists are currently analyzing microscopic changes in the brains of Alzheimer victims, and have found it has a particular brain pathology marked by abnormalities in cells and cell loss.
Though nothing has been found to prevent the inevitable cell decay, replacement therapy is being tested. While there, have been encouraging results with some drugs, doctors stress that changes are modest and in no way do the drugs slow down or prevent the process which inevitably ends with death.
Alzheimer's disease, involving up to 60 percent of dementia cases, is often confused with being senile dementia, when, in fact, it is only a cause.
Depression, improper medication and even malnutrition, are all treatable dementia causes, while delirium, a symptom of certain illnesses or medications, is often confused with dementia, and is also treatable.
The primary difference between these treatable causes and Alzheimer's is that symptoms of these can usually be dated to a specific time or event, while Alzheimer's disease is gradual. Nonetheless, misconceptions often occur when early symptoms, which are very slight, are overlooked.
As advancements in treatment for dementias come to light, the ability to ascertain the various types is becoming increasingly vital.
(Continued on page 5)