An Indirect Impact of the Price to Book Value to the Stock Returns: an Empirical Evidence From the Property Companies in Indonesia

This research empirically examines the influence of Dividend Payout Ratio (DPR), Return on Equity (ROE), Growth, and Degree of Financial Leverage (DFL) on the Price to Book Value (PBV) of the property companies in Indonesia. It also attempts to explore the indirect effects of the DPR, ROE, Growth, and DFL on the stock returns via the PBV. 36 property firms, which are listed in the Indonesian Stock Exchange from 2007 to 2013, were selected to be analyzed using the Path Analysis. The result of this research indicates that the variable of growth is found to have a significant impact on PBV. Meanwhile, the DPR, ROE, and DFL were found to be insignificant. The DPR, ROE, Growth, and DFL were found to affect PBV simultaneously. This study also proved that the PBV has a significant effect on the stock returns, while the DPR and DFL were not. The study also found that the DPR, PBV, and DFL have simultaneously affected stock returns of the property companies in Indonesia. The finding of this study implied that to predict the stock returns of the property companies, the investors and companies should take into account the changes in the growth and PBV

Bioremediation of chromium in tannery effluent by microbial consortia

Chromium is the most toxic and common among the heavy metal pollutants of industrial effluents. In the present work the chromium remediation ability of Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Saccharomyces cerevisiae in consortia and in their immobilized forms was studied and their efficiencies were compared. Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy and diphenyl carbazide method was used to quantify chromium in the effluent. The chromium content of the effluent was around 770 mg/l before remediation, after which it reduced to 5.2 – 5.7 mg/l. The best activity was observed by S.cerevisiae - P. aeruginosa consortia, followed by immobilized beads of S. cerevisiae and S. cerevisiae - B. subtilis consortia

Influence of reaction time and synthesis temperature on the physical properties of ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by the hydrothermal method

Influence of synthesis temperature and reaction time on the structural and optical properties of ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by the hydrothermal method was investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray, Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy, and UV–visible and fluorescence spectroscopy. The XRD pattern and HR-TEM images confirmed the presence of crystalline hexagonal wurtzite ZnO nanoparticles with average crystallite size in the range 30–40 nm. Their energy gap determined by fluorescence was found to depend on the synthesis temperature and reaction time with values in the range 2.90–3.78 eV. Thermal analysis, thermogravimetric and the differential scanning calorimetry were used to study the thermal reactions and weight loss with heat of the prepared ZnO nanoparticles

To see or not to see: investigating detectability of Ganges River dolphins using a combined visual-acoustic survey

Detection of animals during visual surveys is rarely perfect or constant, and failure to account for imperfect detectability affects the accuracy of abundance estimates. Freshwater cetaceans are among the most threatened group of mammals, and visual surveys are a commonly employed method for estimating population size despite concerns over imperfect and unquantified detectability. We used a combined visual-acoustic survey to estimate detectability of Ganges River dolphins (Platanista gangetica gangetica) in four waterways of southern Bangladesh. The combined visual-acoustic survey resulted in consistently higher detectability than a single observer-team visual survey, thereby improving power to detect trends. Visual detectability was particularly low for dolphins close to meanders where these habitat features temporarily block the view of the preceding river surface. This systematic bias in detectability during visual-only surveys may lead researchers to underestimate the importance of heavily meandering river reaches. Although the benefits of acoustic surveys are increasingly recognised for marine cetaceans, they have not been widely used for monitoring abundance of freshwater cetaceans due to perceived costs and technical skill requirements. We show that acoustic surveys are in fact a relatively cost-effective approach for surveying freshwater cetaceans, once it is acknowledged that methods that do not account for imperfect detectability are of limited value for monitoring

Causes and incidence of community-acquired serious infections among young children in south Asia (ANISA): an observational cohort study.

BACKGROUND: More than 500 000 neonatal deaths per year result from possible serious bacterial infections (pSBIs), but the causes are largely unknown. We investigated the incidence of community-acquired infections caused by specific organisms among neonates in south Asia. METHODS: From 2011 to 2014, we identified babies through population-based pregnancy surveillance at five sites in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. Babies were visited at home by community health workers up to ten times from age 0 to 59 days. Illness meeting the WHO definition of pSBI and randomly selected healthy babies were referred to study physicians. The primary objective was to estimate proportions of specific infectious causes by blood culture and Custom TaqMan Array Cards molecular assay (Thermo Fisher, Bartlesville, OK, USA) of blood and respiratory samples. FINDINGS: 6022 pSBI episodes were identified among 63 114 babies (95·4 per 1000 livebirths). Causes were attributed in 28% of episodes (16% bacterial and 12% viral). Mean incidence of bacterial infections was 13·2 (95% credible interval [CrI] 11·2-15·6) per 1000 livebirths and of viral infections was 10·1 (9·4-11·6) per 1000 livebirths. The leading pathogen was respiratory syncytial virus (5·4, 95% CrI 4·8-6·3 episodes per 1000 livebirths), followed by Ureaplasma spp (2·4, 1·6-3·2 episodes per 1000 livebirths). Among babies who died, causes were attributed to 46% of pSBI episodes, among which 92% were bacterial. 85 (83%) of 102 blood culture isolates were susceptible to penicillin, ampicillin, gentamicin, or a combination of these drugs. INTERPRETATION: Non-attribution of a cause in a high proportion of patients suggests that a substantial proportion of pSBI episodes might not have been due to infection. The predominance of bacterial causes among babies who died, however, indicates that appropriate prevention measures and management could substantially affect neonatal mortality. Susceptibility of bacterial isolates to first-line antibiotics emphasises the need for prudent and limited use of newer-generation antibiotics. Furthermore, the predominance of atypical bacteria we found and high incidence of respiratory syncytial virus indicated that changes in management strategies for treatment and prevention are needed. Given the burden of disease, prevention of respiratory syncytial virus would have a notable effect on the overall health system and achievement of Sustainable Development Goal. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Model Strategi Komunikasi Politik Sosialisasi Kebijakan Masyarakat Ekonomi ASEAN di Bandung Barat

Sejak tahun 2016, Indonesia memasuki Fase baru tatanan kehidupan bermasyarakat dalam lingkup kawasan ASEAN yakni dengan mulai efektifnya ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) atau yang lebih dikenal dengan Masyarakat Ekonomi ASEAN (MEA). Konsekuensinya, Indonesia harus membuka perdagangan barang, jasa, dan pasar tenaga kerja dengan negara ASEAN lainnya. Pemerintah, baik pusat maupun daerah, perlu menyosialisasikan kebijakan terkait MEA kepada seluruh stakeholders termasuk kepada masyarakat luas guna menyiapkan masyarakat menghadapi Fase baru kehidupan perekonomian nasional akibat pemberlakuan MEA. Studi ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui model ideal strategi komunikasi politik bagi pemerintah daerah Kabupaten Bandung Barat dalam menyiapkan masyarakat menghadapi pemberlakuan MEA. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan deskriptif kualitatif dengan metode studi kasus. Pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui kegiatan observasi, wawancara mendalam dan studi literatur. Pendekatan kualitatif dipandang relevan karena peneliti ingin mengkaji dan menganalisis secara mendalam strategi komunikasi politik pemerintah Kabupaten Bandung Barat dalam menyiapkan masyarakatnya menghadapi MEA. Hasil Penelitian menunjukkan bahwa model strategi komunikasi politik yang ideal bagi pemerintah Kabupaten Bandung Barat dalam mengkomunikasikan kebijakan terkait MEA harus dimulai dari komunikasi politik internal pemerintah Kabupaten Bandung Barat dalam rangka menyamakan persepsi dan menciptakan kesepahaman akan visi pemerintah terkait kebijakan-kebijakan MEA. Dengan demikian, komunikasi politik pemerintah kepada masyarakat pun dapat dilakukan secara lebih terarah dan terprogram melalui koordinasi dan kerjasama dinas-dinas dan badan-badan terkait pemerintah Kabupaten Bandung Barat

Sosialisasi Bahaya Media Sosial sebagai Modus Perdagangan Orang pada Remaja di Jatinangor

In the period of January to April 2021, 234 children were found to be the victims of the children trafficking and 60% of them were recruited through the social media. Children and young adults were told that they will be hired as employee and earn sophisticated salary while in fact they were tricked into sexual exploitation. Pandemic and high internet penetration results in increasing internet use for children and young adults. Hence, both children and young adults are prone to the human trafficking practices. Therefore, it is urgent to conduct socialization and education towards children and young adults regarding the high risks of social media use as the recruitment tools for human trafficking perpetrators. This community service aimed to increasing knowledge and rising awareness of the young adults in Jatinangor with regard to the threat of social media as the human trafficking modus of practices. The data collection comprised of online survey before and after the socialization. Because of the pandemic, the socialization took place online or known as Webinar. The webinar was divided into three session which consisted of polling session (pre-test), talks and discussion session, then post-test session. The objectives of this webinar were to socialize, educate, and develop social awareness with regard to the human trafficking threats. The online survey results were analyzed using quantitative descriptive technique. The results indicate that after the webinar the participant succeed in gaining knowledge and understanding of the human trafficking recruitment modus and how the social media used as one of the modus

Schizophrenia polygenic risk during typical development reflects multiscale cortical organization

Schizophrenia is widely recognized as a neurodevelopmental disorder, but determining neurodevelopmental features of schizophrenia requires a departure from classic case-control designs. Polygenic risk scoring for schizophrenia (PRS-SCZ) enables investigation of the influence of genetic risk for schizophrenia on cortical anatomy during neurodevelopment and prior to disease onset. PRS-SCZ and cortical morphometry were assessed in typically developing children (3 – 21 years) using T1-weighted MRI and whole genome genotyping (n=390) from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition and Genetics (PING) cohort. Then, we sought to contextualise the findings using (i) age-matched transcriptomics, (ii) gradients of cortical differentiation and (iii) case-control differences of major psychiatric disorders. Higher PRS-SCZ was associated with greater cortical thickness in typically developing children, while surface area and cortical volume showed only subtle associations. Greater cortical thickness was most prominent in areas with heightened gene expression for dendrites and synapses. The pattern of PRS-SCZ associations with cortical thickness reflected functional specialisation in the cortex and was spatially related to cortical abnormalities of patient populations of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depression. Finally, age interaction models indicated PRS-SCZ effects on cortical thickness were most pronounced between ages 3 and 6, suggesting an influence of PRS-SCZ on cortical maturation early in life. Integrating imaging-genetics with multi-scale mapping of cortical organization, our work contributes to an emerging understanding of how risk for schizophrenia and related disorders manifest in early life