Impact of Intellectual Capital on Financial Reporting Quality of Selected Banks in Nigeria

The study examined the impact of intellectual Capital on Financial reporting quality of selected Banks in Nigeria. The specific objective of the study was to investigate the impact of Intellectual capital on financial reporting quality on selected Banks. A total of ten banks were selected for the study from 2006-2017. Regression analysis was used to do the analysis. They study made use of Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) to ascertain the extent of intellectual capital indices while Fincial reporting quality is proxy by accrual which was calculated using Dechow and Dichev’s(2002) model. The result indicated a positive impact on Fincial reporting quality. The study therefore concludes that Banks should pay more attention to the three intellectual capital variables to improve their financial reporting quality. The study recommends that the three variables of intellectual capital should be well handled in other to have higher quality of financial reporting quality and also provide enabling environment needed to achieve a vital human capital in their system. Keywords: Intellectual Capital, Financial Reporting Quality, Nigeria Banks, Value Intellectual Coefficient, Dechow and Dichev model (2002) DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-16-09 Publication date:June 30th 201

Experimental Investigation of Cutting Parameters on a Turning Tool Flank Wear (Industrial and Production Engineering)

Tool life has been a major source of concern to manufacturers, the extent of usefulness of any tool depends on it. The major cause of tool failure is tool wear and the most important aspect of wear to a machinist is the flank wear as it is the flank that is in direct contact with the work piece. This research investigates various cutting parameters and how they contribute to tool wear. The model used is the new wear model proposed by Palmai. The research involved the experimental investigation of turning on the Sumore SP 2110 lathe machine using ISOP Tungsten Carbide and High Speed Steel (HSS) as tools and Bright Mild Steel and Stainless Steel as work piece. The experimental data were used to calibrate the Palmai model for the various cutting tool and work piece pair, at different cutting parameters of spindle speeds depth of cut and feed rate. Experimental and Paimai wear results show good correlation, with about 1.5% to 5.4% deviation

Seen but not heard: the voice of women at work and the mediating role of culture

While there is now an extensive body of literature on employee voice behaviour in the global North, research evidence from the global South is limited. This has constrained our understanding of the barriers that female workers face in expressing their views and concerns in developing countries such as Nigeria. This article examines the cultural factors that shape female employee voice behaviour in Nigerian workplaces. Using a meta-synthesis of 52 semi-structured interviews and approximately 200 h of non-participant observation, we identify a high-power distance orientation and patriarchal norms as two cultural factors that contribute to gender imbalance in the workplace, making it difficult for female employees to express their opinions, suggestions, ideas, or complaints about important workplace issues. Our findings highlight a system of patriarchal hegemony and gender inequality that makes voice behaviour difficult for female workers. The findings also show that contextualised religious norms and teachings encourage silence among female employees. We provide valuable insights into the cultural norms that inhibit female employee voice behaviour in the Global South context

Understanding the healthcare experiences and needs of African immigrants in the United States: a scoping review

Background: Africans immigrants in the United States are the least-studied immigrant group, despite the research and policy efforts to address health disparities within immigrant communities. Although their healthcare experiences and needs are unique, they are often included in the “black” category, along with other phenotypically-similar groups. This process makes utilizing research data to make critical healthcare decisions specifically targeting African immigrants, difficult. The purpose of this Scoping Review was to examine extant information about African immigrant health in the U.S., in order to develop lines of inquiry using the identified knowledge-gaps. Methods: Literature published in the English language between 1980 and 2016 were reviewed in five stages: (1) identification of the question and (b) relevant studies, (c) screening, (d) data extraction and synthesis, and (e) results. Databases used included EBSCO, ProQuest, PubMed, and Google Scholar (hand-search). The articles were reviewed according to title and abstract, and studies deemed relevant were reviewed as full-text articles. Data was extracted from the selected articles using the inductive approach, which was based on the comprehensive reading and interpretive analysis of the organically emerging themes. Finally, the results from the selected articles were presented in a narrative format. Results: Culture, religion, and spirituality were identified as intertwined key contributors to the healthcare experiences of African immigrants. In addition, lack of culturally-competent healthcare, distrust, and complexity, of the U.S. health system, and the exorbitant cost of care, were identified as major healthcare access barriers. Conclusion: Knowledge about African immigrant health in the U.S. is scarce, with available literature mainly focusing on databases, which make it difficult to identify African immigrants. To our knowledge, this is the first Scoping Review pertaining to the healthcare experiences and needs of African immigrants in the U.S

Workforce diversity in specialist physicians: Implications of findings for religious affiliation in Anaesthesia & Intensive Care

BACKGROUND: Minority ethnic identification between physician and patient can reduce communication and access barriers, improve physician-patient relationship, trust, and health outcomes. Religion influences health beliefs, behaviours, treatment decisions, and outcomes. Ethically contentious dilemmas in treatment decisions are often entangled with religious beliefs. They feature more in medical specialties such as Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, with issues including informed consent for surgery, organ donation, transplant, transfusion, and end-of-life decisions. METHODS: We investigate diversity in religious affiliation in the UK medical workforce, using data from the General Medical Council (GMC) specialist register and Health Education England (HEE) trainee applications to medical specialties. We performed conservative Bonferroni corrections for multiple comparisons using Chi-squared tests, as well as normalised mutual-information scores. Robust associations that persisted on all sensitivity analyses are reported, investigating whether ethnicity or foreign primary medical qualification could explain the underlying association. FINDINGS: The only significant and robust association in both GMC and HEE datasets affecting the same religious group and specialty was disproportionately fewer Anaesthesia & Intensive Care physicians with a religious affiliation of “Muslim”, both as consultants (RR 0.57[0.47,0.7]) and trainee applicants (RR 0.27[0.19,0.38]. Associations were not explained by ethnicity or foreign training. We discuss the myriad of implications of the findings for multi-cultural societies. CONCLUSIONS: Lack of physician workforce diversity has far-reaching consequences, especially for specialties such as Anaesthesia and Intensive Care, where ethically contentious decisions could have a big impact. Religious beliefs and practices, or lack thereof, may have unmeasured influences on clinical decisions and on whether patients identify with physicians, which in turn can affect health outcomes. Examining an influencing variable such as religion in healthcare decisions should be prioritised, especially considering findings from the clinician-patient concordance literature. It is important to further explore potential historical and socio-cultural barriers to entry of training medics into under-represented specialties, such as Anaesthesia and Intensive Care

Experimental Investigation and FE Simulation of the Effect of Variable Control on Temperature Distribution in Orthogonal Metal Cutting Process

The study aimed at building a 3-Dimensional finite element simulation to monitor orthogonal machining process under a dry machining environment. The study was conducted in two stages of experimentation and finite element modelling and simulation (FEMS). The purpose of the experimentation was to obtain data which will be used to validate the FEMS result. The FEMS was carried out with a commercially available solver. The workpiece material employed for the study was mild steel in the form of round bar of solid shaft having 45 mm diameter and length of 500 mm. Mild steel was selected due to its wide range of applications in the fields of manufacturing tools and mould industry. The tool material used was tungsten carbide of DIN4980R 20 mm x 20 mm, with cutting angle of 80-degree tool steel, which was modelled in the FEMS as a rigid body. Various cutting conditions such as speed, feed rate and depth of cut were considered to obtain the tool chip temperature. Different values of temperature were recorded at interval of 10 seconds and ranged from 10 to 100 seconds. The FEMS was carried out by making one of the conditions vary while the others were constant. The temperature values measured with a digital thermocouple were used to validate the FEMS data obtained. The result show that the cutting temperature predicted by the FEMS is within 20% of the real experimental value and followed the same trend. It was discovered that the values of temperature obtained from simulation were also much higher than that of experimentation. Therefore, the experimental value might not be accurate, due to some experimental errors and environmental effects like partial contact between the measuring device and the cutting tools, fluctuation in the magnitude of air flow around the surrounding which may affect the cutting temperature, room temperature and pressure effect. Generally, with an increase in the cutting speed, feed rate and depth of cut, the tool temperature also increased and the cutting speed was found to be the most effective parameter when consideration is given to temperature effects, especially in high range of cutting conditions

Development of Thermomechanical Model for the Analysis of Effects of Friction and Cutting Speed on Temperature Distribution around AISI 316L During Orthogonal Machining

In metal cutting,severe deformation takes place in the vicinity of the cutting edge of the high strain-rate and an increase in temperature is observed. Deformation behaviour of the work material in the primary and secondary zones is highly sensitive to the cutting conditions. Also, the frictional conditions between the tool and the chip and tool and the workpiece are highly complex and sensitive to the cutting conditions. As a result, the stresses and temperatures at tool-chip interface and around the cutting edge can be critically high in some cutting conditions and can cause excessive tool wear or premature tool failure. This research work focuses on the accurate prediction of the distribution of the process variables such as stresses and temperatures with the Finite Element (FE) Analysis to identify optimum cutting conditions, tool material, edge geometry and coating in order to help improve productivity and quality of machining operations. Effects of work material flow stress and interfacial friction at chip-tool interface on the accuracy of the predicated process variables in FE simulations are also analyzed. Specifically, friction models and cutting speed are varied to predict the effect on the temperature distribution, stresses and strain on the workpiece and tool chip during orthogonal cutting process. The result showed that an increase in coefficient of friction will cause an increase in thermal, force and mechanical variables during machining. Thus, the higher the coefficient of friction, the higher, the cutting forces, temperature, stress, and strain

Modelling and Control of Flow Induced Vibration of Top–Tensioned Marine Risers Using Analytical Methods

For a riser array in deep waters, interference between individual risers in strong ocean current is of operational concern and thereby a key design issue. The lateral deflection is likely to be large, and the risers may experience collision with fatigue or coating damage as a consequence. In this paper, active control of flexible marine riser angle and the reduction of flow induced (forced) vibration under a time varying distributed load were considered using boundary control approach. A torque actuator was introduced in the upper riser package and a boundary control was designed to generate the required signal for riser angle control and vibration reduction with guaranteed closed-loop stability. The design is based on the partial differential equations of the system, which are developed using energy principle. Analytical method of solution was deployed with the aid of a program, developed within the framework of MATLAB, to predict the riser's behaviour by top tensioning. A sensitivity analysis for different values of the control variables was carried out. The results of this work showed that active control of flexible marine riser by top-tensioning reduced flow induced vibration

Carrot intake is consistently negatively associated with cancer incidence: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective observational studies

\ua9 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Carrots are main dietary sources of several potential anti-cancer compounds, including polyacetylenes, while β-carotene has shown no benefits in controlled cancer trials. Accordingly, associations between carrot intake and cancer incidence were quantified, where necessary using α-carotene as a non-causal biomarker of carrot consumption, by searching for studies published before June 2022 reporting risk estimates for relationships of cancer incidence with carrot intake or α-carotene intake or α-carotene plasma concentration, supplemented with hand searches of included studies and reviews. Meta-analyses comparing highest and lowest reported intakes in prospective studies using a random-effects model estimated summary relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs), separately for carrot intake or α-carotene plasma concentration, and the corresponding dose-responses. Of 198 observational studies, in 50 prospective studies with 52000 cases recording carrot intake, the cancer-risk was substantially reduced (RR 0.90, 95% CI 0.87–0.94, p ˂ 0\ub700004). In 30 prospective studies with 9331 cases reporting plasma α-carotene levels, summary RR was 0.80 (0.72–0.89, p ˂ 0\ub700006). For both exposure types, inter-study heterogeneity was moderate, interaction with cancer types insignificant, and the dose-response significant (p ˂ 0\ub701). In conclusion, carrot consumption is robustly associated with decreased cancer-risk; carrot consumption should be encouraged, and the causal mechanisms further investigated

Development of a Reciprocating Motion Cassava Slicing Machine

The development of cassava reciprocating slicing machine was achieved using locally sourced materials that is affordable and effective. Although hand slicing is the cheapest form of slicing operation, but it has posed to be labour intensive, time-wasting, and hazardous. This necessitated the design and development of a cassava slicing machine. The machine's capacity for boiled and unboiled cassava root was calculated as 22.8kg/hr, with an average slicing time of 0.005hr for boiled and 0.00455hr for unboiled cassava root. The machine has low labour requirements and power consumption. The cassava reciprocating slicing machine use electric motor of 0.75kw (1hp) rating, with a speed of 99rpm. The machine is made with stainless steel for the slicing section and other components with mild steel and has an overall efficiency of 91.05%. The machine reduces drudgery and also enhances mass production of cassava chips, implying more profit