A comparison of non-fi nancial strategy disclosure in the annual reports of South African and Indian listed companies

This study focuses on non-fi nancial strategy disclosure in the annual reports of listed companies in South Africa and India. South Africa and India are both developing nations that face similar socioeconomic conditions, including the threats presented by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and affi rmative action policies and regulations. The fact that integrated reporting is fast becoming a necessity for emerging markets to gain entrance to developed economies validates the contribution of this research. This study, which replicated the studies of Santema and Van de Rijt (2001) and Padia and Yasseen (2011), compared the top 40 listed companies in South Africa with the top 40 listed companies in India based on market capitalisation for the year 2012. The results were statistically analysed using principal component analysis and Hotelling’s t-square tests. The fi ndings concluded that South African companies divulge more information in terms of their non-financial strategy disclosure than their Indian counterparts. In addition, the Hotelling’s t-square test found that there were no signifi cant differences in terms of four of the variables when comparing South African companies with Indian companies. Overall, however, there are vast differences in the levels of non-fi nancial strategy disclosure in both countries, which is attributed to stock exchange regulation in the respective countries.Key words: affirmative action, annual reports, HIV/AIDS, India, integrated reporting, nonfinancial disclosure, South Africa, strateg

Clues to multiple exposure history of some meteorites

This article does not have an abstract

Balloon-occluded middle adrenal artery embolization and percutaneous microwave ablation of a metastatic adrenal tumor from renal cell carcinoma

Renal cell carcinomas present with locally advanced or metastatic disease in 25% of patients. Thermal ablation may be considered in selected patients with single-site or oligometastatic disease in selected patients. We describe single-session transarterial particle embolization with the assistance of a balloon-occlusion catheter and microwave ablation of a large hypervascular adrenal metastasis using cone beam CT and fluoroscopic XperGuide needle guidance

Zero tillage has important consequences for soil pore architecture and hydraulic transport: A review

Following the adoption of zero-tillage (ZT) from conventional tillage (CT), the soil pore network undergoes immediate and significant changes. As soil remains undisturbed for an extended period, a soil structure emerges that is primarily generated and stabilised by both biotic and abiotic processes. There is limited understanding concerning how the adoption of ZT influences the soil porous architecture and associated soil hydraulic properties, and specifically over what timeframe these changes occur. Since a previous synthesis of such information over 20-years ago, there has been a substantial number of new investigations aimed at addressing this knowledge gap. Here we review 34 papers that illustrate ZT can influence porosity depending on soil texture, pore size class, depth and time, and also influence important transport mechanisms likely to impact the fate of agrochemicals in soils. We found decreased macroporosity in surface layers of soil under ZT when compared with CT. In addition, soil pore connectivity tended to increase in soil under ZT though the associated effects on hydraulic transport were less clear. Our investigation reveals the value of a prospective examination of an evolving ZT pore network both visually and functionally across temporal and spatial scales. We also highlight the necessity for standardised methodology to aid in future data compatibility and quantitative analysis

Using non-invasive biomarkers to identify hepatic fibrosis in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus: the Edinburgh type 2 diabetes study

BACKGROUND & AIMS: It is difficult to determine the different stages of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease without the use of invasive liver biopsy. In this study we investigated five non-invasive biomarkers used previously to detect hepatic fibrosis and determined the level of agreement between them in order to inform future research. METHODS: In the Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study, a population-based cohort aged 60-74 years with type 2 diabetes, 831 participants underwent ultrasound assessment for fatty liver and had serum aspartate aminotransferase to alanine aminotransferase ratio (AST/ALT), aspartate to platelet ratio index (APRI), European Liver Fibrosis panel (ELF), Fibrosis-4 Score (FIB4) and liver stiffness measurement (LSM) measured. RESULTS: Literature based cut-offs yielded marked differences in the proportions of the cohort with probable liver fibrosis in the full cohort. Agreement between the top 5% of the distribution for each biomarker pair was poor. APRI and FIB4 had the best positive agreement at 76.4%, but agreement for all of the other serum biomarker pairs was between 18% and 34%. Agreement with LSM was poor (9-16%). CONCLUSIONS: We found poor correlation between the five biomarkers of liver fibrosis studied. Using the top 5% of each biomarker resulted in good agreement on the absence of advanced liver disease but poor agreement on the presence of advanced disease. Further work is required to validate these markers against liver biopsy and to determine their predictive value for clinical liver-related endpoints, in a range of different low and high risk population groups

On the variation of cosmic ray composition in the past

The fossil-track technique is used to determine the abundance of cosmic-ray nuclei with atomic number of at least 30 (VVH group) relative to the iron group in a number of lunar samples and meteorites. This study was undertaken to obtain information about time variations, energy dependences, and spatial variations in the flux of heavy galactic cosmic rays. It is found that for kinetic energies of at least 0.1 GeV/n, variations of the VVH abundance in galactic cosmic rays have remained within a very narrow range, suggesting that the sources of these particles are very similar in their heavy-element abundances. The VVH abundances in the lunar samples and meteorites are also found to exhibit little variation with time or distance from the sun, indicating that these nuclei are probably produced by the same process of nucleosynthesis

Solar proton fluxes during the last million years

The solar flare proton fluxes, averaged over different periods of time, have been determined from Al-26 measured in five selected lunar rocks. The time of exposure of these rocks, ranging from 0.5 to 3.8 million years, were deduced from track profiles due to galactic-cosmic-ray heavy nuclei and from rare-gas data. The observed production rates of Al-26 in all the rocks is in close agreement, implying little variation in average solar flare proton intensity during the past 0.5-, 1-, and 1.5-million-year periods. If the fluxes of solar flare protons and thermal radiation are related, these data exclude any significant changes in solar luminosity during the Pleistocene

The surface radioactivity of lunar rocks-implications to solar activity in the past

A nondestructive beta-gamma coincidence technique was used to measure the radioactivity of lunar rocks both at and near the top surface. The surface of the Apollo 16 rock 61016 has a four times higher positron emitter concentration than does the rock at a depth corresponding to 4 g/sq cm. The activity is attributed to the solar-flare-produced radionuclide Al-26. The surface exposure age and the erosion rate for 61016 were estimated from track density profile and microcrater size distribution studies. The Al-26 depth profile (corrected for surface erosion) indicates an average solar-flare activity during the last 1.5 m.y. which can best be represented by a stated exponential rigidity spectrum

Radioactivity and morphology of Luna 24 samples

This article does not have an abstract