Suchergebnisse

The State of California has successfully implemented an employment application and civil service testing process on the Internet for its largest entry level professional classification, Staff Services Analyst. This innovative selection process, the first of its kind is available to the public twenty-four hours a day via the Internet or telephone. Since its debut in June 1996, this examination has been well received by candidates and state departments and has helped the state to realize a considerable savings in staff time and money as compared to a traditional written examination. This technology is already being applied to other examinations and is well on its way to becoming a common testing format. This paper describes the development and implementation of the Staff Services Analyst examination as well as some of the many issues to be considered when exploring the new frontier of Internet civil service testing. For the past several years, the California State Personnel Board (SPB) has been exploring ways to utilize new technology to streamline the process of recruiting and selecting candidates for employment. An interdepartmental task force was created to explore cost effective, efficient, flexible ways to administer quality testing procedures. The task force focused on the Staff Services Analyst (SSA) classification since this is one of the few entry level professional classifications tested on an open basis (open to members of the public). The resulting new exam consists of a scored life experience questionnaire and is available on a continuous basis on both the Internet and telephone. This nearly paperless examination represents a quantum leap forward in the application of new and innovative technologies, which significantly improves the effectiveness and efficiency of civil service testing procedures.

Renaissance Papers collects the best scholarly essays submitted each year to the Southeastern Renaissance Conference. The 2014 volume opens and closes with essays on historically based explorations of identity: the first on the circle of Jane Scroop in Skelton's 'Philip Sparrow', and the last on dogs and horses as symbols of national identity in early modern England. The heart of this year's journal is English drama, especially Jonson and Marlowe: there are essays on Puritan logic in Jonson's 'Bartholomew Fair'; grotesque sex in Jonson's 'Volpone'; the role of anti-Catholicism in the creation of Marlowe's 'Dr. Faustus'; and the relationship between puppetry and the Faust legend. Marlowe and Jonson also surface in two reconsiderations of their non-dramatic works; first an essay on Ovidian resonances in Marlowe's 'Hero and Leander', and second a reflection on Spenserian echoes in Jonson's 'Epode'. The next essay shifts to the poetics of religious literature, arguing for clothing as an important metaphor for renewal in Herbert's 'The Temple', and the penultimate essay addresses imaginative resources in the Martin Marprelate pamphlets

Plasma samples collected in tubes containing separator gels have replaced serum samples for most chemistry tests in many hospital and commercial laboratories. Use of plasma samples for blood tests in the dialysis population eliminates delays in sample processing while waiting for clotting to complete, laboratory technical issues associated with fibrin formation, repeat sample collection, and patient care issues caused by delay of results because of incompletely clotted specimens. Additionally, a larger volume of plasma is produced than serum for the same amount of blood collected. Plasma samples are also acceptable for most chemical tests involved in the care of patients with ESRD. This information becomes very important when United States regulatory requirements for ESRD inadvertently limit the type of sample that can be used for government reporting, quality assessment, and value–based payment initiatives. In this narrative, we summarize the renal community experience and how the subsequent resolution of the acceptability of phosphorus levels measured from serum and plasma samples may have significant implications in the country's continued development of a value–based Medicare ESRD Quality Incentive Program.