Minds Online: The Interface between Web Science, Cognitive Science, and the Philosophy of Mind

Alongside existing research into the social, political and economic impacts of the Web, there is a need to study the Web from a cognitive and epistemic perspective. This is particularly so as new and emerging technologies alter the nature of our interactive engagements with the Web, transforming the extent to which our thoughts and actions are shaped by the online environment. Situated and ecological approaches to cognition are relevant to understanding the cognitive significance of the Web because of the emphasis they place on forces and factors that reside at the level of agent–world interactions. In particular, by adopting a situated or ecological approach to cognition, we are able to assess the significance of the Web from the perspective of research into embodied, extended, embedded, social and collective cognition. The results of this analysis help to reshape the interdisciplinary configuration of Web Science, expanding its theoretical and empirical remit to include the disciplines of both cognitive science and the philosophy of mind

Over the Rim

Over the Rim is the first book about an important but little-known expedition sent by Brigham Young to explore southern Utah. Led by Mormon apostle Parley P. Pratt, the party traveled from Salt Lake City south across the rim of the Great Basin to the Virgin River near future St. George. They brought back to Mormon leaders their first detailed portrait of the country to the south that the church planned to settle. By 1849, the new Mormon settlement at Great Salt Lake City was taking on an air of permanence as companies of Latter-day Saints continued to arrive. Brigham Young and other leaders needed to find homesites for the growing body of settlers and to learn more about the expansive region, extending as far south as the coast, they had selected for colonization. Pratt\u27s party of fifty set out in the winter of 1849-50. They followed the Spanish Trail and other existing paths but also found new routes. As they went, they noted possible town sites, agricultural and mineral potential, water supplies, and other resources, creating an often-followed blueprint for the Mormon push south. Their descriptions of the Utes and Paiutes, including leaders Walkara and Arapeen, are among the most valuable parts of the journals. The Indians welcomed the travelers but were suffering from disease, increasing white settlement and travel in their territories, and trade in Indian slaves. Such encounters helped shape future relations with the tribes. Made in the depth of winter, the arduous journey included many hardships and adventures but had a permanent impact on Utah history.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1101/thumbnail.jp

A Critical Literature Review: Reasons Why Illegal Extra-budgetary Expenditures Are Incurred by Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in Nigeria

Nigeria’s extra-budgetary or off-budget activities which did not pass through the usual legislative process of appropriation between 2006 and 2015 amounted to N21.8 trillion (about $109 billion)! In order to discover areas for further research, this study critically reviews the reasons why illegal or unauthorized extra-budgetary expenditures incessantly occur in Nigeria’s public sector. The findings from the literature show that the occurrence of illegal or unauthorized extra-budgetary expenditures in Nigeria is due to the following factors: insincerity, lack of knowledge and experience in budgeting and financial management, political considerations, lack of consistent legal framework, non-disclosure of extra-budgetary funds and audit failure. These findings consequently revealed the following critical areas in the existing literature that require further research: funding of the supreme audit institution, legislative oversight functions and use of government sanctions. Key words: Illegal extra-budgetary expenditures, extra-budgetary expenditures, extra-budgetary funds, legislative process of appropriation, fraud triangle theory and agency theory

Under-funding the Supreme Audit Institution Amidst the Rising Unauthorized Extra-budgetary Expenditures in Nigeria: Is Deliberate Under-funding a Fraud-concealing Device?

The executive (federal government of Nigeria) has recently been accused by the lower legislative house of deliberately underfunding SAI (office of the Auditor-General of the Nigeria federation) in order to conceal fraud. The legislature was reacting to the erratic reduction of SAI’s budget from N1.9 billion to N100 million when illegal extra-budgetary expenditure of about N16 trillion occurs annually. This study was therefore, carried out to determine whether the executive can conceal fraud by deliberately underfunding the supreme audit institution. In order to fulfil the study objective and answer the question posed by the study problem, internet sources, journal articles and literature review were used to generate relevant data for the research. The study revealed that deliberate underfunding of SAI to conceal fraud and other emerging fraud concealing devices are additional challenges to the existing ones and that the accusation of the executive (the auditee) of deliberately underfunding SAI to conceal fraud is true only to the extent that SAI’s budget and finances are controlled by the executive. The study recommended that financial autonomy, improved executive capacity, use of proactive approaches to eliminate fraud concealing devices will minimize audit challenges ensuring that SAI is not also contributing to the challenges it is currently facing. Keywords: Deliberate underfunding, supreme audit institution, unauthorized extra-budgetary expenditure, fraud-concealing device, the executive and the legislature

Mormonism\u27s Last Colonizer: The Life and Times of William H. Smart

By the early twentieth century, the era of organized Mormon colonization of the West from a base in Salt Lake City was all but over. One significant region of Utah had not been colonized because it remained in Native American hands--the Uinta Basin, site of a reservation for the Northern Utes. When the federal government decided to open the reservation to white settlement, William H. Smart--a nineteenth-century Mormon traditionalist living in the twentieth century, a polygamist in an era when it was banned, a fervently moral stake president who as a youth had struggled mightily with his own sense of sinfulness, and an entrepreneurial businessman with theocratic, communal instincts--set out to ensure that the Uinta Basin also would be part of the Mormon kingdom. Included with the biography is a searchable CD containing William H. Smart\u27s extensive journals, a monumental personal record of Mormondom and its transitional period from nineteenth-century cultural isolation into twentieth-century national integration.https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs/1044/thumbnail.jp