Testing Local Municipality Hiring Procedures and Local Forms of Government: Are Search Engines and Social Media Sites Used to Collect Supplemental Information about Applicants?

The relationship between the government and the governed is transforming into a digital collaboration of operations. The level of intensity for this collaboration between government and citizens have fallen behind that of the private sector. Web 2.0 tools, otherwise known as social media, internet search engines, and e-Government are now a stimulant for citizens to become informed about their government actions and to also interact with government in order to provide input to elected officials and appointed officials from citizens to the government concerning public policy making and other public concerns. This research seeks to examine the question of whether forms of local government and their hiring practices have any effect on the way local municipalities conduct their background checks using social media and search engines as supplemental information to traditional background checks. The author examines a representative sample of 871 municipalities within the U.S. having a population of 2,500 or greater. The local form of government hiring procedures characteristics of these 871 municipalities are measured using two separate independent variables. The effects of the forms of local government hiring procedures are measured using independent T-tests and Z-tests for regions selected by the U.S. Census Bureau and population size of these municipalities, municipalities that offer e-Government, and the total forms of e-Government offered. The first four hypotheses, which are especially central to this dissertation, were all rejected. Local government form, population, and region are not correlated with use of social media and search engines to obtain supplemental information about applicants. There were 448 out of 871 hiring managers in municipalities responding to this survey, 51 percent, that confirm searching social media to find supplemental information about applicants. Characteristics of the hiring managers for this study show a correlation between social media and search engines being used to obtain supplemental information about applicants, however, statistical significance was not obtained for these core hypotheses. Minor hypotheses in this study did prove to show significance between hiring managers and the use of social media and search engines to obtain supplemental information about applicants

A Brief History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints with Emphasis on the Charismatic Roots of the Race-Based Priesthood Denial

This dissertation provides an overview of the history of race relations and the evolution of authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). It traces the early charismatic leadership of Joseph Smith and his liberal racial views, which increased tension between the LDS church and broader American society. After Smith\u27s death, Brigham Young instituted racist policies like slavery in Utah and a priesthood ban for black members to reduce tensions. In the Progressive Era, LDS scholars theologically entrenched the priesthood ban despite their progressive leanings. A push towards correlation and centralized control of doctrine in the twentieth century led to whitewashing of problematic racial history in church curriculum. The dissertation examines the tensions that ultimately forced church leaders to lift the priesthood ban in 1978 as an assimilation effort, though correlated church materials continued to avoid transparent discussions of the topic. Overall, it argues declining charismatic authority and increased bureaucratization in the LDS church hierarchical structure dictated the proliferation of the priesthood ban for 126 years

Discontinued Operations Recognition, Initial Provisions, And Subsequent Adjustments

This study extends our understanding of why firms choose to take discretionary write-offs and identifies factors that influence the measurement of the charges taken. We focus on segment disposals, initial provisions recorded upon discontinuance of those segments, and adjustments to initial provisions that accompany the segment disposals. We partition our sample into those disposals that were substantially completed at the time of recognition (nondiscretionary disposals) and those that were recognized prior to disposal completion (discretionary disposals). With respect to motivations for taking discretionary rather than nondiscretionary disposals, we find that firms electing discretionary disposals discontinue segments that experience sharp declines in earnings and that require more negative initial provisions; the continuing portion of these firms are less profitable and are in weaker financial condition when compared to firms recognizing disposals upon completion. Further, they are more likely to announce the disposal in the fourth quarter, and they are more likely to underestimate the cost of disposal. With respect to measurement issues, we find that subsequent adjustments to initial provisions for discretionary disposals relate both to firms’ abilities to estimate losses on disposal at the plan date and to management incentives to manage disclosures. In contrast, subsequent adjustments accompanying nondiscretionary disposals relate primarily to uncertainties contained in the disposal agreement

Effect of Tyrosyl Reagents upon the Activity of Alpha-lactalbumin in the Lactose Synthetase Reaction

Biochemistr

Fact sheet: Using a terrestrial ecosystem survey to estimate the historical density of ponderosa pine trees in northern Arizona

The Terrestrial Ecosystem Survey (TES) delineates ecosystems according to their climate, geology, soils, and potential natural vegetation (U.S. Forest Service 1986). Land managers and planners can use this information to help interpret site suitability for natural regeneration, reforestation, and revegetation potential as well as site suitability for road building, range and timber, range structures (watering sources), and other land uses. However, the TES can be used for other purposes as Ganey and Benoit (2002) demonstrated in their report about identifying potential habitat for Mexican spotted owl on national forest lands. Similarly, Bell and colleagues (2009) used the TES and its specific survey units (TESU) to analyze the characteristics of the Woolsey plots in northern Arizona - plots the Forest Service established in the early 1900s to examine tree regeneration. In our study, we identified historic ponderosa pine densities on various TES mapping units and then correlated our findings with what the TESU predicted we should find

Mojave Applied Ecology Notes Summer 2011

Thoughts on fire possibilities on Mount Charleston, estimating historical densities of Ponderosa pine in northern AZ, over-understory changes in the Spring Mountains, seeding effectiveness in Red Rock Canyon, workshop announcements

Complete genome sequence of rhizobium leguminosarum bv. trifolii strain WSM1325, an effective microsymbiont of annual Mediterranean clovers

Rhizobium leguminosarum bv trifolii is a soil-inhabiting bacterium that that has the capacity to be an effective nitrogen fixing microsymbiont of a diverse range of annual Trifolium (clover) species. Strain WSM1325 is an aerobic, motile, non-spore forming, Gram-negative rod isolated from root nodules collected in 1993 from the Greek Island of Serifos. WSM1325 is manufactured commercially in Australia as an inoculant for a broad range of annual clovers of Mediterranean origin due to its superior attributes of saprophytic competence, nitrogen fixation and acid-tolerance. Here we describe the basic features of this organism, together with the complete genome sequence, and annotation. This is the first completed genome sequence for a microsymbiont of annual clovers. We reveal that its genome size is 7,418,122 bp encoding 7,232 protein-coding genes and 61 RNA-only encoding genes. This multipartite genome contains 6 distinct replicons; a chromosome of size 4,767,043 bp and 5 plasmids of size 828,924, 660,973, 516,088, 350,312 and 294,782 bp.<br /

Complete genome sequence of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv trifolii strain WSM2304, an effective microsymbiont of the South American clover Trifolium polymorphum.

Rhizobium leguminosarum bv trifolii is the effective nitrogen fixing microsymbiont of a diverse range of annual and perennial Trifolium (clover) species. Strain WSM2304 is an aerobic, motile, non-spore forming, Gram-negative rod, isolated from Trifolium polymorphum in Uruguay in 1998. This microsymbiont predominated in the perennial grasslands of Glencoe Research Station, in Uruguay, to competitively nodulate its host, and fix atmospheric nitrogen. Here we describe the basic features of WSM2304, together with the complete genome sequence, and annotation. This is the first completed genome sequence for a nitrogen fixing microsymbiont of a clover species from the American center of origin. We reveal that its genome size is 6,872,702 bp encoding 6,643 protein-coding genes and 62 RNA only encoding genes. This multipartite genome was found to contain 5 distinct replicons; a chromosome of size 4,537,948 bp and four circular plasmids of size 1,266,105 bp, 501,946 bp, 308,747 bp and 257,956 bp