Disclosure measurement in the empirical accounting literature: A review article

This is the first study to provide an extensive and critical review of different techniques used in the empirical accounting literature to measure disclosure. The purpose is to help future researchers to identify exemplars and to select suitable techniques or to develop their own techniques. It also provides in depth discussion of current measurement issues related to disclosure and identifies gaps in the current literature which future research may aim to cover

Properties of Self-Compacting Mortar made with Sorghum Husk Ash and Calcium Carbide Waste as Binder

The quest for the development of alternative and more sustainable construction material stemmed out from the current global concern on issues relating to global warming and green house effect. In recent time, research direction has shifted towards the use of agro-industrial waste as complete replacement of ordinary Portland cement. In this study the effects of the blends of sorghum husk ash (SHA) and calcium carbide waste (CCW) on the fresh properties of self compacting mortar was investigated where various tests were carried out which included physical and chemical properties of the constituents materials, Flow cone test for paste, Mini v-funnel flow time and Mortar flow spread test for determination of saturation dosage of HRWR for self compacting mortar made with sorghum husk ash and calcium carbide waste as binder, were carried out. Then developments in the compressive strength of the hardened mortar were determined at 3, 7, 14, 28, 56 and 90 days. The study revealed that SHA sample have high Silicon dioxide (SiO2 (84%) while CCW is majorly Calcium oxide (CaO(66%).The optimum saturation dosage of  High Range Water Reducer  (HRWR) determined from Flow cone test and Mini-v-funnel was 3.5%. The 70/30 (SHA/CCW) shows the highest mortar flow spread of 290 mm compared to the control (295mm).The agro-industrial binder exhibited good binding properties at a slow hydration rate. Analysis of the compressive strength results show that 70/30 (SHA/CCW) proportion has the highest value of 14.08 N/mm2 at 90 days. Self compacting mortar made with SHA/CCW combinations as binder can be adopted for use in masonry work as it conforms to type N of ASTM C270 morta

ECONOMIC GROWTH AND INCOME INEQUALITY IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Economies of Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries have been growing slowly in recent time. Economic growth is thought to affect inequality but not much is known about the nature of such relationship in SSA and there is no concordance among the few available. This paper examined the relationship between economic growth and inequality in the region using data from 1990 to 2017estimated with the Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) Model and Granger Causality. Hausman’s test suggested the superiority of the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) over the Mean Group (MG) Model. The PMG results showed that economic growth had significant and negative effect on income inequality (proxy by GINI-coefficient) in the long run suggesting a state of the later part of the Kuznet curve. This is in addition to the negative effect in the short run which is contrary to the theory. Furthermore, the result of the Granger Causality test revealed evidence of unidirectional relationship running from economic growth to income inequality in the region. Therefore, the study recommended that governments of Sub-Saharan African countries should implement policies and programmes capable of sustaining and improving inclusive growth in order to avoid high income inequality in the region.     &nbsp

Mortality following a brain tumour diagnosis in patients with multiple sclerosis

Objectives: As brain tumours and their treatment may theoretically have a poorer prognosis in inflammatory central nervous system diseases such as multiple sclerosis (MS), all-cause mortality following a brain tumour diagnosis was compared between patients with and without MS. The potential role of age at tumour diagnosis was also examined. Setting: Hospital inpatients in Sweden with assessment of mortality in hospital or following discharge. Participants: Swedish national registers identified 20 543 patients with an MS diagnosis (1969-2005) and they were matched individually to produce a comparison cohort of 204 163 members of the general population without MS. Everyone with a primary brain tumour diagnosis was selected for this study: 111 with MS and 907 without MS. Primary and secondary outcome measures: 5-year mortality risk following brain tumour diagnosis and age at brain tumour diagnosis. Results: A non-statistically significant lower mortality risk among patients with MS (lower for those with tumours of high-grade and uncertain-grade malignancy and no notable difference for low-grade tumours) produced an unadjusted HR (and 95% CI) of 0.75 (0.56 to 1.02). After adjustment for age at diagnosis, grade of malignancy, sex, region of residence and socioeconomic index, the HR is 0.91 (0.67-1.24). The change in estimate was largely due to adjustment for age at brain tumour diagnosis, as patients with MS were on average 4.7 years younger at brain tumour diagnosis than those in the comparison cohort (p<0.001). Conclusions: Younger age at tumour diagnosis may contribute to mortality reduction in those with highgrade and uncertain-grade brain tumours. Survival following a brain tumour is not worse in patients with MS; even after age at brain tumour diagnosis and grade of malignancy are taken into account

Solar Electricity System Design for Administrative Buildings

Regular availability of electricity is fundamentally important for everyday running and productivity of any organisation. In any modern society, stable and reliable electric power is a basic need, without which living condition becomes substandard and smooth business operations become difficult. Unreliability of power services in Nigeria is taking its toll on administrative, academic and research activities at Federal Polytechnic, Ede, just like other institutions in the country. Diesel generator on which the institution depends for alternative power source during outage is not sustainable as outage is too frequent and the duration is usually long, at times for days. This results in a very high running cost if normal activities in the institution are to go unimpeded. This work is on the design of 172.84kWP Solar Photovoltaic (PV) System aimed at permanently addressing the electric power challenges at the Administrative Blocks of the Federal Polytechnic, Ede. The proposed project’ design was simulated and the results show that its real life performance is highly promising. The least energy yield of the PV system occurs in June with 549.93kWh/day as against the maximum demand of 457.30kWh/day. The system performance is much higher in the months of September to March as solar irradiance is higher in these months. The PV plant has active service life of over 25years without significant change in its efficiency. The benefits of the proposed project are manifold. The project if implemented will solve the electric power problem of the institution at the Administrative’ Building by providing stable, adequate and reliable 24-hour a day electricity. The estimated cost of the proposed project is N45, 000,000  which is much cheaper than diesel generator and interestingly, is appreciably less than the cost of unreliable power supply from the grid. Keywords: Energy yield, off-grid, photovoltaic system, solar electricity, solar photovoltai

Characterisation of Agbabu Natural Bitumen and Its Fractions Using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometry

Physico-chemical characterization of bitumen is very germane to its applications. There have been many physico-chemical investigations on Agbabu natural bitumen (ANB), but there appears to be some discrepancies in the results of some of the findings. Thus, the need to re-examine some of the physico-chemical parameters of the ANB. Raw sample of ANB was obtained from one of the observatory wells in Agbabu, Ondo State, Nigeria. The sample was dehydrated, purified and asphaltene component precipitated through addition of n-pentane to the sample. The maltene component was fractionated into saturate, aromatics and resin using column chromatographic method. The purified ANB sample and its fractions were each subjected to infrared analysis. In addition, the elemental composition and trace metals in the whole purified ANB were quantified using CHNS-O Analyzer (FlashEA® 1112) and Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS) respectively. Infrared spectral features obtained for the whole bitumen and its fractions bear a good degree of resemblance to the results of earlier workers on the subject with some minor differences. The values obtained for structural indexes from Infrared (IR) spectra showed that all the fractions contained branch and straight chain hydrocarbons. The structural indexes also showed that asphaltenes and resin fractions are strongly polar, both of which contain hetero–atomic compounds. Results of compositional analysis are: C (86.62%), H(10.98%), S (0.92%) N (0.48%), O (0.83%), Maltene (78.34%) aand Asphaltene (21.67%). The concentrations of the trace metals are: Mg (792.00 ppm), Mn (28.40 ppm), Fe (3633.10 ppm), Ca (1082.10 ppm), Zn (17.50 ppm), Cu (17.90 ppm), Cr (153.90 ppm), Pb (93.78 ppm), Ni (103.65 ppm), V (156.53 ppm) and Na (3740.00 ppm). Results of compositional and trace metals analyses of this study are at variance with the earlier results on characterization of ANB in the literatures. The differences in the results might be attributed to variation in the method of sample preparation especially the inclusion of dehydration of the raw ANB in the purification step prior to characterization as introduced in this study. Keywords: Aromatics, Asphaltenes, Agbabu Natural Bitumen, IR, Resins, Saturate

Soft Real Analysis

The Soft Real number is a parameterized collection real numbers. And by this relation, every properties of real numbers can be discussed in soft real numbers. In this paper, we introduce the operations on soft real numbers and define countable and uncountable soft real sets. Also, some concepts of real numbers such as( upper bound, lower bound, supermum and infimum) are introduced

An Assessment of the Performance of a Group of Entrepreneurs In the South Western Part of Nigeria

This paper reports the study of seventy-four (74) private entrepreneurs (PEs) in the South-Western part of Nigeria. Five ( 5) hypotheses were tested. The five independent variables were survival, measures of control over the environment, growth, size of the organization and innovation. Performance was the dependent variable. It was discovered that entrepreneurial performance was significantly influenced by several factors such as political factor, relevant experiences, formal education, innovation, social relations, capital availability and level of delegation of authority. However, four of the hypotheses were tested in the predicted direction. The prediction that large-sized organizations would have more high performers than others was not supported. The study concluded that any programme designed for the benefit of indigenous entrepreneurs must have multiple rather than single approach to achieve the desired outcomes