How do Shareholders Use Their Say-on-Pay Votes in the United States? Evidence from 2011 and 2012

This paper examines shareholder disapproval of CEO compensation as expressed through their advisory vote on executive compensation (say-on-pay) as required by Section 951 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Using a sample of 884 votes by S&P 500 firms in 2011 and 2012, I find that higher CEO salary, a weak link between pay and performance, and higher dilution from stock option grants are associated with lower say-on-pay approval. In addition, I find evidence that shareholders are sophisticated in their examination of CEO compensation by voting against excess compensation over what is deserved due to performance and other determining factors

Parallel analysis of tri-molecular biosynthesis with cell identity and function in single cells.

Cellular products derived from the activity of DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis collectively control cell identity and function. Yet there is little information on how these three biosynthesis activities are coordinated during transient and sparse cellular processes, such as activation and differentiation. Here, we describe Simultaneous Overview of tri-Molecule Biosynthesis (SOM3B), a molecular labeling and simultaneous detection strategy to quantify DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis in individual cells. Comprehensive interrogation of biosynthesis activities during transient cell states, such as progression through cell cycle or cellular differentiation, is achieved by partnering SOM3B with parallel quantification of select biomolecules with conjugated antibody reagents. Here, we investigate differential de novo DNA, RNA, and protein synthesis dynamics in transformed human cell lines, primary activated human immune cells, and across the healthy human hematopoietic continuum, all at a single-cell resolution

The Nemean Wells : sanctuary context and ritual activities in the northeast Peloponnese

Field of study: Art history and archaeology.Dr. Susan Langdon, Dissertation Supervisor.Includes vita."December 2017."Nemea is known as the site of the panhellenic Sanctuary of Zeus and yet can also be considered a place of rural cult activity due to its location within the Nemea Valley, removed from large polis centers. The sanctuary is often overlooked in the study of Greek religion and sanctuaries. As one of the lesser known panhellenic sanctuaries, discussion of the site is often incorporated only into larger dialogues of the panhellenic cycle assuming that the site functioned in a similar way. My dissertation uses a chronologically restricted study that includes the archaeological record, the architectural programs, and the landscape to refine the history of the sanctuary and reconstruct visitors' experiences. I specifically look at the archaeological record of ten well assemblages to propose a new methodology for the study of sanctuary religion. This methodology breaks new ground in recognizing the usefulness of wells within the discussion of Greek sanctuaries and religion.Includes bibliographical references (pages 445-462)

Paul Wittgenstein: Patron of Composers? His Influence in the Composition of Three Left Hand Piano Concertos

The role of the left hand in playing the piano has traditionallybeen that of accompanist to the melodic ideas presented by theright hand. This role has gone redefinition in the playing of a fewvirtuosi, who, for one reason or another, have been disabled in the right hand and thus forced to perform music for the left hand alone. This music, surprisingly enough, exists in abundance: more than 600 solo works have been written including 15 concertos. Some of the composers that have realized the potential and challenge of writing works exclusively for the left hand are Leopold Godowsky, Camille Saint-Saens, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Prokofiev, Richard Strauss, Alexander Skriabin, Benjamin Britten, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Franz Schmidt, Hans Gil, Max Reger and Paul Hindemith.</p

Elementary School Use of the Sidekick Basic Kit for TI LaunchPad™

Despite the fact that the Sidekick basic kit for TI LaunchPad™ is intended for a much more experienced group of students, engineers, and makers, we have successfully introduced it into four classes of 5th grade elementary school students. This system mapped well onto the existing science standards of learning established by the State of Virginia. Additionally, the assessment of this process clearly demonstrated that effective learning is occurring

Second Year of Using the Sidekick Basic Kit for TI LaunchPad with Elementary School Students

This paper describes a second year, follow-on study in which 4th and 5th grade students were exposed to engineering-related topics using a microcontroller, input/output circuitry, sensors, and the associated software coding needed to achieve a desired functionality of the hardware. The first year study was described in a paper presented at the 2017 ASEE Annual Conference. This second year study took students to the “next level,” and showed very promising results

TRAIL-induced variation of cell signaling states provides nonheritable resistance to apoptosis.

TNFα-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), specifically initiates programmed cell death, but often fails to eradicate all cells, making it an ineffective therapy for cancer. This fractional killing is linked to cellular variation that bulk assays cannot capture. Here, we quantify the diversity in cellular signaling responses to TRAIL, linking it to apoptotic frequency across numerous cell systems with single-cell mass cytometry (CyTOF). Although all cells respond to TRAIL, a variable fraction persists without apoptotic progression. This cell-specific behavior is nonheritable where both the TRAIL-induced signaling responses and frequency of apoptotic resistance remain unaffected by prior exposure. The diversity of signaling states upon exposure is correlated to TRAIL resistance. Concomitantly, constricting the variation in signaling response with kinase inhibitors proportionally decreases TRAIL resistance. Simultaneously, TRAIL-induced de novo translation in resistant cells, when blocked by cycloheximide, abrogated all TRAIL resistance. This work highlights how cell signaling diversity, and subsequent translation response, relates to nonheritable fractional escape from TRAIL-induced apoptosis. This refined view of TRAIL resistance provides new avenues to study death ligands in general

Researching a Practice of Teaching Elementary Mathematics Aimed at Disrupting Inequity and Promoting Justice

What is the work of an elementary teacher attempting to teach mathematics in ways that disrupt pervasive patterns of inequity and promote justice and success for children from historically marginalized groups? What problems or tensions arise at the beginning of the school year in pursuing these goals and seeking to build community in a heterogeneous classroom? This study examines one teacher’s work in starting the year as she sets out to disrupt normalized patterns of practice and teach in ways that advance justice. Using the tools of first-person research, this study focuses on how the teacher thinks about these aims and examines the tensions that arise for the teacher as she pursues them. Analysis was conducted through a close examination of the teacher’s daily journal, which was supplemented with examination of videos of all mathematics lessons and student work from the first trimester of the school year. The findings suggest that the work for this teacher coalesced around centering children. What I name centering children refers to the teacher’s intentional moves to understand children’s multiple identities, children’s thinking, and children’s interactions, as she aimed to disrupt historical patterns of inequity, make instructional decisions, and position children from marginalized groups as capable learners and doers of mathematics. This study also takes up the tensions and dilemmas that accompanied this work for the teacher at the beginning of the school year in a diverse elementary classroom. The findings of this study provide insight into the nuanced complexities of the decisions that one teacher made, as well as the tensions that the teacher faced when intentionally striving to disrupt systemic patterns of inequity to center children. The findings have implications for teachers, teacher educators, mathematics educators, and those who provide professional support for teachers. Through detailed examination of a single case, this study seeks to make explicit how some of the most pressing issues that occur at the beginning of the school year are thought about and approached by a capable, experienced, justice-focused teacher. The findings highlight implications surrounding the dilemmas that other justice-focused teachers are likely to face and suggest supports that are likely to help such teachers.PHDEducational StudiesUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167922/1/ekimmey_1.pd

Decomposition of coarse woody debris in a long-term litter manipulation experiment: A focus on nutrient availability

The majority of above-ground carbon in tropical forests is stored in wood, which is returned to the atmosphere during decomposition of coarse woody debris. However, the factors controlling wood decomposition have not been experimentally manipulated over time scales comparable to the length of this process.We hypothesized that wood decomposition is limited by nutrient availability and tested this hypothesis in a long-term litter addition and removal experiment in a lowland tropical forest in Panama. Specifically, we quantified decomposition using a 15-year chronosequence of decaying boles, and measured respiration rates and nutrient limitation of wood decomposer communities.The long-term probability that a dead tree completely decomposed was decreased in plots where litter was removed, but did not differ between litter addition and control treatments. Similarly, respiration rates of wood decomposer communities were greater in control treatments relative to litter removal plots; litter addition treatments did not differ from either of the other treatments. Respiration rates increased in response to nutrient addition (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) in the litter removal and addition treatments, but not in the controls.Established decreases in concentrations of soil nutrients in litter removal plots and increased respiration rates in response to nutrient addition suggest that reduced rates of wood decomposition after litter removal were caused by decreased nutrient availability. The effects of litter manipulations differed directionally from a previous short-term decomposition study in the same plots, and reduced rates of bole decomposition in litter removal plots did not emerge until after more than 6 years of decomposition. These differences suggest that litter-mediated effects on nutrient dynamics have complex interactions with decomposition over time