Funding Business Development Services for Women Microentrepreneurs in the Philippines

After lending small sums of money to poor people in Bangladesh in the 1970s, economics professor Muhammad Yunus was onto a new way to finance the poor and fight poverty: through microfinance. Since then, many approaches have been taken to lend to those in poverty, help them save money, and help them start businesses. Microfinance organizations provide loans, business advisory services, marketing help, insurance, and more. Business development services especially complement loan assistance because they provide nonfinancial help essential to running a business, such as accounting skills, product development, supply chain management, and more. In 2017, I traveled to San Pablo City, Laguna, Philippines to research at the Center for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD), a global leader in microfinance. With funding from a Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF), I studied at one of CARD’s institutions, the Business Development Service Foundation, Inc. (BDSFI), to research financially sustainable business models for providing high-quality business development services to microentrepreneurs. After reviewing literature in the field and interviewing clients, I found that a market facilitation model that incorporates fees or a percentage of sales would be the most feasible model. This validated BDSFI’s existing practices and affirmed that they could charge clients for business development services. I also presented the organization with several other models as options

Which finite simple groups are unit groups?

We prove that if $G$ is a finite simple group which is the unit group of a ring, then $G$ is isomorphic to either (a) a cyclic group of order 2; (b) a cyclic group of prime order $2^k -1$ for some $k$; or (c) a projective special linear group $PSL_n(\mathbb{F}_2)$ for some $n \geq 3$. Moreover, these groups do (trivially) all occur as unit groups. We deduce this classification from a more general result, which holds for groups $G$ with no non-trivial normal 2-subgroup

The Effects of Coworker Relationships, Involvement, and Supportiveness on Job Satisfaction and Performance

Past research has indicated that relationships, involvement, and supportiveness have an effect on job satisfaction and performance. A study was done on Gettysburg College students who have had experience with group work. Sixty-four (29 males, 35 females) Gettysburg College students were used as participants in the study. The study was split fairly evenly between sophomores, juniors, and seniors. To start, the survey included two demographic questions: gender and class year. Participants completed an online survey about the relationships among group mates, group involvement, and group support experience. Questions about the overall satisfaction and performance were also included. A correlational design was used to analyze the data. The results of this study concluded that there was significant association between positive relationships and involvement and job satisfaction and group performance in a group scenario. There was a significant association between group support and job satisfaction, but not performance

The treaty of alliance between Athens and Carystus: Supplements for lines 2-3 and 4-6 and further historical considerations

This paper discusses the content and background of the treaty of alliance signed by Athens and Carystus in 357 BC, giving a new reading of the connections that were established between Athens and Euboea during the first half of the fourth century BC. It suggests new supplements for lines 2-3 and 4-6 of that treaty, a time frame to date Carystus’ admission to the Second Athenian league, as well as her re-admission in 357, after she had left the league in 371. Furthermore, according to this study, in 357 bilateral treaties of alliance were signed between Athens and several Euboean cities, on the model of the alliance with Carystus

ONLINE VS. BLENDED LEARNING: DIFFERENCES IN INSTRUCTIONAL OUTCOMES AND STUDENT SATISFACTION

Satisfaction of delivery models between online and blended doctor of education courses were examined. Graduate students were generally satisfied in online and blended courses in relation to the instructor and the course, but the blended model was preferred and statistically significant compared to the fully online model. No relationship was found between cumulative grade point average and student satisfaction with the instructor, the course, and delivery models; however, cumulative grade point averages (CGPAs) were found to be high for both delivery models. When overall student satisfaction and instructor ratings were compared from blended and online courses, significant differences were found in relation to the course, the instructor, and delivery models. There was a statistically significant difference between overall student satisfaction with the course for the blended model and no significant difference was found between the overall student satisfaction with the instructor. Together, these findings reveal that doctorate students are generally satisfied in online and blended courses which suggest both student satisfaction in the program as well as persistence and success