Popular Financial Reports: Tools for Transparency, Accountability and Citizen Engagement

Most governments issue annual financial reports; in the US, state and local governments issue the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, or its equivalent. However, these reports have been found to be neither readily accessible nor particularly informative to non-financial experts such as the general public. In response, professional associations such as AGA, the Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB), and the Government Financial Officers Association, have promoted the use of different types of popular financial reports as an alternative reporting mechanism. According to GASB, financial reporting plays a critical role as a tool for public accountability in a democratic society. Yet, various statistics point to citizens\u27 general distrust of and dissatisfaction with financial reporting and the information provided by their governments. Surveys conducted by AGA have found that the majority of citizens believe that government needs to be responsible for providing financial and accounting information, but that government, at all levels, have failed to be transparent

Effective Popular Financial Reports: The Citizen Perspective

The article presents a study that investigates the views of citizens on the efficiency of financial reports in the U.S. Researchers did a survey to discern the perspectives of respondents about the effectiveness of the said reports in informing other individuals about government finances. Moreover, results reveal that 80% of respondents believed that the reports are effective. [Associates Programs Source, EbscoHost database

Melanotan-II reverses autistic features in a maternal immune activation mouse model of autism

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social interactions, difficulty with communication, and repetitive behavior patterns. In humans affected by ASD, there is a male pre-disposition towards the condition with a male to female ratio of 4:1. In part due to the complex etiology of ASD including genetic and environmental interplay, there are currently no available medical therapies to improve the social deficits of ASD. Studies in rodent models and humans have shown promising therapeutic effects of oxytocin in modulating social adaptation. One pharmacological approach to stimulating oxytocinergic activity is the melanocortin receptor 4 agonist Melanotan-II (MT-II). Notably the effects of oxytocin on environmental rodent autism models has not been investigated to date. We used a maternal immune activation (MIA) mouse model of autism to assess the therapeutic potential of MT-II on autism-like features in adult male mice. The male MIA mice exhibited autism-like features including impaired social behavioral metrics, diminished vocal communication, and increased repetitive behaviors. Continuous administration of MT-II to male MIA mice over a seven-day course resulted in rescue of social behavioral metrics. Normal background C57 male mice treated with MT-II showed no significant alteration in social behavioral metrics. Additionally, there was no change in anxiety-like or repetitive behaviors following MT-II treatment of normal C57 mice, though there was significant weight loss following subacute treatment. These data demonstrate MT-II as an effective agent for improving autism-like behavioral deficits in the adult male MIA mouse model of autism

Budgeting by Priorities: Balancing Stability with Economic Responsiveness

This article investigates how the budget priorities of Arkansas state government departments vary with changes in economic conditions. The Arkansas Revenue Stabilization Act (ARSA) of 1945 established a formalized method of state budgeting by priorities. State funds are allocated, meaning the funds are legally made available, according to priority levels established each year by the Governor and the General Assembly. Those allocated funds are later distributed, meaning released for spending, according to priority levels as funds become available. In this study, we ask the research question: Are departmental budget priorities driven by stability or are they responsive to economic condition? Incrementalism suggests that incremental annual changes in the budget are based on the previous year \u27s budget, they take place across-the-board, and that there lacks an in depth consideration of priorities. However, ARSA requires explicit prioritization within each department. Perceptions of economic conditions are likely to play into this prioritization. We hypothesize that the higher priority items will follow a more incremental pattern of mostly being based on the previous year \u27s budget in favor of stability. We also hypothesize that the economy has a greater impact on the lower priority items in favor of economic responsiveness. Our findings suggest that incrementalism is a persistent influence across priority levels. However, there is rational consideration during an economic downturn that results in a decline in funding for lower priority budget items

THE SOPRANO VOICE TYPE AND IT’S IMPORTANCE WITHIN THE OPERETTA GENRE

This hereby study has two main parts, uneven in length. In the first part we have attempted to classify the types of voices within the genre of operetta, while detailing their functional aspects, focusing on the analysis of the use of the soprano voice for the roles of prima donna and grande dame. In our second part, we have presented the main female roles of the 14 operettas that we will analyze within our doctoral research, classified from the standpoint of their authors. We have also added some interesting facts concerning the great Hungarian operetta composers, as well as mentioned famous performers who portrayed the main roles of these operettas during the time they were performed

High-resolution Doppler laser spectroscopy of the laser cooling candidate La‾

The bound-bound transition from the 5d²6s² ³F_2 ground state to the 5d6s²6p ³D_1 excited state in negative lanthanum has been proposed as a candidate for laser cooling, which has not yet been achieved for negative ions. Anion laser cooling holds the potential to allow the production of ultracold ensembles of any negatively charged species. In this work the aforementioned transition was studied in a beam of negative La ions by high-resolution laser spectroscopy. The center-of-gravity frequency of the transition was measured to be 96.592 80(10) THz. Seven of the nine expected hyperfine structure resonances were resolved. The observed peaks were unambiguously assigned to the predicted hyperfine transitions by a fit. From the determined hyperfine structure for this transition it was concluded that only three lasers would be required to cool and re-pump all hyperfine levels. Furthermore, the observed relative transition amplitudes suggest that in resonance the transitions are saturated at a laser power of 45 W/m². A rough estimate of the transition cross section confirms that La‾ is a promising candidate for the first laser cooling of negative ions

OPERETTA AS A GENRE FROM ITS BEGINNINGS TO ITS FAMOUS HUNGARIAN REPRESENTATIVES

This work comprises three uneven parts. In the first part we have attempted to offer an abbreviated history of the operetta genre, from the beginning of the 17th century to its Hungarian composers at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Instead of an exhaustive historical presentation, we focused on pursuing a line of argumentation that would explain the emergence of the Hungarian composers from Budapest and Vienna, whose operettas successfully entertain audiences until this day. In the second part, we reviewed the specific topics approached by the Hungarian operetta composers, exemplifying these by briefly presenting the contents of the 14 operettas that we will analyze during our doctoral research. In the third part we compared the genres of opera and operetta, in terms of their elements. We considered this to be necessary in order to be able to demonstrate the specific features of the operetta genre and also emphasize the fact that they are very elaborate works created by talented and well-trained composers, and their staging required just as much talent, work and dedication throughout history, as their great operatic counterparts