WHAT FACTORS MOTIVATE THE CORPORATE DIVIDEND DECISION?

What motivates a corporation to issue cash dividends? What specific financial factors lead management to make a decision as to the creation or amendment of theirfirm \u27s dividend policy? Whatfactors are common among firms issuing a dividend to their shareholders, and do these factors share a commonality across sector boundaries and market capitalization ? This study attempts to identify the impact of certain financial variables on the dividend decision/policy of a corporation by analyzing the financial data of over 10,000 publicly traded firms found through the Multexinvestor.com database using Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) Regression. The study tests the effects of financial variables (deemed appropriate by thefinance literature) on dividend policy (as measured by the firm \u27s payout ratio) for a sample of firms screened from the Multexinvestor.com database. By analyzing these selected financial factors on a large sample of firms , this study will also identify those financial variables that have proven historically significant in explaining the dividend decision. The study results add to the body of dividend policy literature by either supporting or rejecting the theories advanced in the literature

Complex Adaptive Systems and Quantitative Reasoning in an Interdisciplinary STEM Mathematics Classroom

In this presentation we will share outcomes from the Real STEM project, which provides professional development for rural teachers in the Georgia Coastal Plains supporting implementation of interdisciplinary STEM courses as well as STEM modules in mathematics and science courses. Real STEM includes a number of innovative student-active strategies for teaching including: Understanding by Design (UbD) approaches to teaching for understanding, problem-based learning (PBL), place-based education (PBE), complex adaptive systems (CAS) thinking, and quantitative reasoning (QR). QR is the mathematical underpinning of the projects. The projects are ongoing so we will report our results on impact on teacher practice and student learning to this point. We will conclude with a discussion of how the projects may address issues of engagement for rural, low socio-economic status student populations in STEM in Central America and the Caribbean

Developing Collaborative Partnerships: STEM on a Mission

The Institute for Interdisciplinary STEM Education at Georgia Southern University seeks to develop partnerships with schools, businesses, and research institutes to improve STEM Education in rural Georgia. This is not without it’s challenges. This session will focus on an overview of the Institute and then engage participants in a round table discussion of best practices to improve partnerships

Foxp1 and lhx1 coordinate motor neuron migration with axon trajectory choice by gating Reelin signalling.

Topographic neuronal maps arise as a consequence of axon trajectory choice correlated with the localisation of neuronal soma, but the identity of the pathways coordinating these processes is unknown. We addressed this question in the context of the myotopic map formed by limb muscles innervated by spinal lateral motor column (LMC) motor axons where the Eph receptor signals specifying growth cone trajectory are restricted by Foxp1 and Lhx1 transcription factors. We show that the localisation of LMC neuron cell bodies can be dissociated from axon trajectory choice by either the loss or gain of function of the Reelin signalling pathway. The response of LMC motor neurons to Reelin is gated by Foxp1- and Lhx1-mediated regulation of expression of the critical Reelin signalling intermediate Dab1. Together, these observations point to identical transcription factors that control motor axon guidance and soma migration and reveal the molecular hierarchy of myotopic organisation

Pengembangan Keterampilan Sosial dan Kewirausahaan pada Organisasi Pemuda Keagamaan di Depok

Penelitian ini mengkaji kelompok pemuda dalam organisasi Muhammadiyah sebagai Faith Based Organization (FBO) menjadi agen Perubah dalam pengembangan masyarakat lokal di Kelurahan Cinangka, Depok, Jawa Barat. Penelitian ini membahas tentang proses intervensi kelompok pemuda dengan mempergunakan strategi penelitian aksi (participatory action research). Tahapan penelitian aksi terdiri dari tiga tahap, yaitu mengidentifikasi kebutuhan dan potensi (look), merancang program intervensi (think), dan mengimplementasikan program intervensi (act). Berdasarkan identifikasi masalah dan kebutuhan pada tahap look, penelitian ini menemukan potensi masyarakat dalam upaya menyelesaian permasalahan lingkungan. Selain pemuda yang tergabung dalam FBO, ada juga kelompok ibu yang terlibat. Tahap look memperlihatkan bahwa potensi pemuda dari FBO dapat maksimal apabila mendapatkan dukungan dari elemen lain, terutama orang tua di dalam komunitas sasaran. Kemudian melalui proses perencanaan kegiatan dalam tahap think bersama komunitas sasaran, terdapat beberapa kegiatan yang diimplementasikan dalam penelitian ini, yaitu pengembangan keterampilan sosial dan kewirausahaan. Penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa intervensi kelompok pemuda dalam pengembangan komunitas melalui pengembangan keterampilan kewirausahaan, tidak dapat menanggalkan urgensi keterampilan sosial guna memperkuat peran pemuda dari FBO di komunitas.Kata Kunci: pengembangan masyarakat, intervensi kelompok pemuda, pengelolaan lingkungan, Faith Based Organization, keterampilan mikro.This study examines the youth groups in the Muhammadiyah organization as an Faith Based Organization (FBO) as agents of change in community development at Cinangka Village, Depok, West Java. By using a Participatory Action Research, this study discusses the process of youth group intervention in three stages, which covers needs and potencies assessment (look), action plan (think) and implementation (act). Based on ‘look' phase, this study found people's potential at their community which are youth in FBO and groups women. In this phase has identified that youth's potencies in FBO could be maximized if supported by parents. In the next stage through planning process, there were some activities that are implemented in this study which are development of social skills and entrepreneurship. This study has found that youth group intervention should also recognize social skills on strengthen the role of youth in FBO

Capsule HRB-21 postirradiation examination plan

Irradiation capsule HRB-21 is a test capsule designed to provide Modular High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor (MHTGR) coated particle fuel performance data under test reactor conditions representative of normal MHTGR operation. The irradiated fuel will also be used for postirradiation heating in a controlled atmosphere allowing acquisition of fission product release data at sustained high temperatures. The in-reactor performance data, the postirradiation examination data, and the postirradiation heating data will be used for the validation of fuel performance models under normal and off-normal operating conditions. The accelerated irradiation is to take place in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at ORNL. This report identifies the procedures to be followed in carrying out the postirradiation disassembly and examination of HRB-21. Included is a description of the capsule, a detailed sequence of steps for disassembly of the capsule, a description of the postirradiation examination techniques to be employed, and specifications for the storage of capsule components and the reporting of results. 9 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs

Inferring gene coexpression networks for low dose ionizing radiation using graph theoretical algorithms and systems genetics

Background Biological data generated through large scale -omics technologies have resulted in a new paradigm in the study of biological systems. Instead of focusing on individual genes or proteins these technologies enable us to extract biological networks using powerful computing and statistical algorithms that are scalable to very large datasets. Materials and methods We have developed a tool chain using novel graph algorithms to extract gene coexpression networks from microarray data. We highlight implementation of our tool chain to investigate the effects of in vivo low dose ionizing radiation treatments on mice. We are using systems genetics approach to investigate the biological effects of low dose (10 cGy) ionizing radiation. We measured the base line gene expression profile from spleen tissue of BXD recombinant inbred mice using Illumina microarrays. The data was filtered using coefficient of variance after robust spline normalization and variance stabilizing transformation. A graph was then derived from this data, with probes as vertices and edges between them representing correlations. The graph was analyzed using our toolkit to find the size and number of maximal cliques. We deployed another tool called paraclique that relaxes clique’s requirement that every edge be present between all vertices. Paraclique enables us to account for inherent noise in the microarray data and stochastic nature of biological processes. Using immunophenotype data from the baseline BXD mice, we employed biclique analysis to determine interactions between genotypes and immunophenotypes (%CD4, %CD3, LN T:B, %CD8, and LN CD4:CD8). We also extracted eQTLs from BXD data using QTL-Reaper from base line gene expression profiles. 1881 transcripts were associated with 686 loci. The eQTLs were classified as cis or trans according to their genomic positions. Besides population level studies we also investigated the differential effect of low dose and high dose (1Gy) of ionizing radiations on spleen gene expression in inbred parental strains (C57BL/6J and DBA/2J) of BXD recombinant inbred mice as well as BALB/c mice, a known radiation-sensitive strain