Perceived Equity, Motivation and Final Offer Arbitration in Major League Baseball

Final offer salary arbitration in major league baseball offers a unique institutional arrangement that creates a naturally occurring non-equivalent groups repeated measure research design. The structural arrangements allow for examination of anticipatory expectancy effects and for assessment of behavioral responses consistent with equity theory predictions. Additionally, equity theory can be tested without the methodological problems inherent in defining the referent other. Performance and mobility were examined for major league baseball position players who won and lost their arbitration hearings. Pre-arbitration performance was found to significantly predict arbitration outcome. Despite similar patterns of post-arbitration performance between winners and losers, a significant relationship was noted between losing arbitration and postarbitration performance declines. Analyses also suggested that losers were also significantly more likely to change teams and leave major league baseball. The causality of the relationship between performance and arbitration outcome is discussed along with expectancy and equity effects as they relate to performance and mobility following the arbitration intervention

The Importance of Recruitment in Job Choice: A Different Way of Looking

Recent literature reviews have called into question the impact of recruitment activities on applicants\u27 job choices. However, most previous findings have been based on cross-sectional ratings obtained immediately after initial screening interviews, thus raising questions about the degree to which prior conclusions are bound to that particuJar methodology. In contrast, the present study used longitudinal structured interviews to let job seekers explain, in their own words, how they made critical job search and choice decisions. Interview transcripts revealed that recruitment practices played a variety of roles in job seeker decisions. For example, consistent with signalling theory, subjects interpreted a wide variety of recruitment experiences (recruiter competence, sex composition of interview panels, recruitment delays) as symbolic of broader organizational characteristics. In addition, a number of contingency variables emerged that seemed to affect the perceived signalling value of recruitment experiences (e.g., prior knowledge of the company, functional area of the recruiter). Also notable were the strongly negative effects of recruitment delays, particularly among male students with higher grade point averages and greater job search success. Finally, our results suggest that certain applicant reactions may be systematically related to sex, work experience, grade point average, and search success. The article concludes with practical and research implications

Recruiter Perceptions of Applicant Fit: Commonalities and Differences

To date, normative selection models have focused primarily on matching individual knowledges, skills, and abilities to job requirements. However, it has increasingly been argued that people should also be selected for fit to broader organizational characteristics such as strategy, culture and values. Despite the apparent reasonableness of these claims, there has been little research on how employers actually go about the task of screening or selecting for broader organizational fit. Accordingly, the present study examined how organizational recruiters assess applicant fit. Fifty-four campus recruiters in four colleges provided examples of best-fitting and worst-fitting applicants from just-completed interview schedules, along with specific descriptions of what it was that made each applicant fit or not fit . Examination of interview transcripts suggested that despite the recent emphasis on unique organizational values, strategies, or cultures in discussions of fit, by far the most frequently-mentioned determinants of fit were either (1) job-related coursework or experience, or (2) generally (rather than uniquely) desirable personal characteristics such as articulateness, positive personal appearance, and good general communication skills. However, some systematic differences were detected in the extent to which particular characteristics were sought by recruiters in different colleges or by those recruiting for different types of vacancies. Findings are related to previous research, and implications for applicants, employers, and future researchers are offered

Transcription-driven DNA methylation setting on the mouse Peg3 locus

© 2017 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. The imprinting of the mouse Peg3 domain is controlled through the Peg3-DMR, which obtains its maternal-specific DNA methylation during oogenesis. In the current study, we deleted an oocyte-specific alternative promoter, termed U1, which is localized 20 kb upstream of the Peg3-DMR. Deletion of this alternative promoter resulted in complete removal of the maternal-specific DNA methylation on the Peg3-DMR. Consequently, the imprinted genes in the Peg3 domain become biallelic in the mutants with maternal transmission of the deletion. Expression levels of the imprinted genes were also affected in the mutants: 2-fold upregulation of Peg3 and Usp29 and downregulation of Zim1 to basal levels. Breeding experiments further indicated under-representation of females among the surviving mutants, a potential sex-biased outcome from the biallelic expression of the Peg3 domain. Overall, the results suggest that U1-driven transcription may be required for establishing oocyte-specific DNA methylation on the Peg3 domain

Economic Analysis of Manure Harvesting Equipment in Feedyards for Dust Control

This study concentrated on one method of dust control which is harvesting manure with equipment. An economic analysis including hourly fixed and operational costs were performed on the following: tractor-pulled box scraper, front-end loader, dump truck, spreader truck, elevating scraper and tractor-pulled end dump. The purpose of this study was to generate cost data for feedyard owners/operators to reference when making manure management and equipment purchasing decisions.manure harvesting equipment, tractor-pulled box scraper, front-end loader, dump truck, spreader truck, tractor-pulled end dump, Agribusiness, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Measurement of Magnetic Fluctuations by O-X Mode Conversion

The possibility of measuring magnetic fluctuations in a fusion plasma is considered by examining the O→X mode conversion. Under certain conditions and with good angular resolution, this mode conversion can be attributed to the presence of magnetic fluctuations even though the level of these fluctuations is much lower than that of density fluctuations. Some nonideal effects such as mode polarization mismatch at the plasma edge are also discussed

Epigenetic instability of imprinted genes in human cancers

© The Author(s) 2015. Many imprinted genes are often epigenetically affected in human cancers due to their functional linkage to insulin and insulin-like growth factor signaling pathways. Thus, the current study systematically characterized the epigenetic instability of imprinted genes in multiple human cancers. First, the survey results from TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas) revealed that the expression levels of the majority of imprinted genes are downregulated in primary tumors compared to normal cells. These changes are also accompanied by DNA methylation level changes in several imprinted domains, such as the PEG3, MEST and GNAS domains. Second, these DNA methylation level changes were further confirmed manually using several sets of cancer DNA. According to the results, the Imprinting Control Regions of the PEG3, MEST and GNAS domains are indeed affected in breast, lung and ovarian cancers. This DNA methylation survey also revealed that evolutionarily conserved cis-regulatory elements within these imprinted domains are very variable in both normal and cancer cells. Overall, this study highlights the epigenetic instability of imprinted domains in human cancers and further suggests its potential use as cancer biomarkers