Dividend policy as determinant for investment decision

A company‘s dividend policy is the choices the company makes about whether to pay shareholders cash dividend, about how large the cash dividend should be and about how frequently it should be distributed. Dividend policy still remains one of the most vital financial decisions faced by management of corporate organization such insurance firms.  Allen, Bernardo and Welch (2000) summarized the current consensus view when they concluded that “Although a number of theories have been put forward in the literature to explain their persistent presence, dividends remain one of the thorniest puzzles in corporate finance”.  Organizations is always confronted with the decision on how much of the net earnings are to be distributed and how much of the dividend should be reinvested.  Dividend payment directly affects shareholders wealth maximization therefore it is extremely an important issue for every company in a vital decision making. It encompasses decision such as whether to distribute cash to investors in form of share repurchases or specially designated dividends rather than regular dividends, and whether to rely on stock or cash distribution.  Dividend policy is the guiding principle that a company uses to decide to make dividend payment to shareholders.  The decision to increase the company’s regular dividend still lies on the management.&nbsp

Physico-chemical properties of wheat-yam flour composite bread

AbstractThis work investigated the effect of yam flour substitution on characteristics of wheat bread and also determined the functional properties of the experimental flour samples. Flours were obtained from three varieties of yam (Dioscorea rotundata, Dioscorea alata and Dioscorea bulbifera) and blended with wheat flour at 25, 50 and 75 percent levels of substitution for bread production. Wheat flour (WF) and each of the yam flours were used as the positive and negative controls respectively. The functional properties (bulk density, water/oil absorption capacities, emulsion activity) of the flour samples were determined while the proximate, physical and sensory characteristics of loaves were also determined. The functional properties of the flour samples ranged from 0.42g/ml to 0.67g/ml packed bulk density; 0.39g/ml to 0.47g/ml loose bulk density; 0.88ml/g to 2.10ml/g oil absorption capacity; 1.50ml/g to 3.90ml/g water absorption capacity and 43.75% to 49.37% emulsion activity. The proximate composition of the bread samples ranged from 26.82% to 38.90% moisture, 4.23% to 5.10% fat, 6.10% to 9.25% protein, 1.90% to 2.45% ash, 0.12% to 0.64% crude fiber and 46.43% to 56.71% carbohydrate. The volume, weight and specific volume of loaves varied from 200ml to 400ml, 142.6g to 170.2g and 1.18ml/g to 2.81ml/g respectively. The crack formation of bread samples showed that there were no cracks on wheat bread (WF) and 25% yam flour substituted breads while 100 percent yam flour breads had large cracks. The sensory properties of the 25% yam flour substituted breads were statistically (p>0.05) the same with the 100% wheat bread but differed from all the other bread samples. The mean score of the sensory attributes decreased as yam flour increased in the formulation. Sensory Evaluation of the bread samples showed that substitution level of 25% yam flour produced bread that was acceptable to the consumers whereas up to 50% and above were not acceptable. It is therefore recommended that substitution level of not more than 25% yam flour be used for yam/wheat composite bread production

Photostress Recovery Time Among Welders in Owerri Municipal Council, Southeast, Nigeria

Purpose: The photostress recovery time (PSRT) scores of welders were measured based on age, workexperience and welding-method.Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted among 50 purposively sampled welders, who had clear ocular media, healthy fundi and visual acuities of 6/6 or better in the tested eyes. The pre-bleach distant visual acuity of the right eye was determined with the Snellen’s visual acuity chart, while direct ophthalmoscopy was done to rule out media opacities, retinopathies and maculopathies. The  right eye was dazzled for 10 seconds with the light of a direct ophthalmoscope held at 2cm from the eye. The time required in seconds to read at least, three optotypes on the line directly above the baseline acuity was recorded as the PSRT.Results: The 22-31 years age group recorded the least mean PSRT (16±8.8seconds), followed by the 32-41 age group (19.9±6.8 seconds), while the 42-51 years category had the highest mean PSRT (31.4±10.5seconds). Age associated significantly (p˂0.05) with mean PSRT. Welders within the 1-12 years’ work experience had the least mean PSRT (15.9±8.1seconds) while those within the 25-36 years recorded the highest mean PSRT (33.4±9.3seconds). The observed difference in mean PSRT with years of work experience was statistically significant (p˂0.05). Gas welders had significantly (p˂0.05) higher mean PSRT (26.6±9.9secs) than electric arc welders (16.6±9.2secs).Conclusion: Gas welding, increasing age and work-experience were found to be predictive markers of elevated photostress recovery time (PSRT) among welders. This underscores the need for eye-care practitioners to routinize PSRT tests in the ocular assessment of welders. Keywords: Photostress recovery time (PSRT); electric-arc; gas welding; welders; age

Sustainable Adaptation Plan in Response to Climate Change and Population Growth in the Iraqi Part of Tigris River Basin

Climate change and population growth play crucial roles in the planning of future water resources management strategies. In this paper, a balancing between projected water resources and water demands in the Iraqi Part of the Tigris River Basin (TRB) was evaluated till the year 2080 based on RCPs 2.6, 4.5 and 8.5 and population growth. This paper examined a sustainable adaptation plan of water resources in the TRB considering three scenarios; (S1) as no change in the current strategy, (S2) as improved irrigation efficiency and (S3) as improved irrigation and municipal water use efficiency. The results showed a decline in streamflow will occur in the range from 5 to 18.4% under RCP 2.6 and RCP 8.5, respectively. The minimum increase in water demand is expected for RCP 2.6 (maximum increase for RCP 8.5) by 51.8 (208.2), 9.9 (42) and 1.2 (7)% for the municipal–industrial, irrigation and environmental water demands, respectively, compared with the RP. The main finding indicated that S1 is the worst scenario, with water stress in four provinces, especially on the warmest RCP. Whereas, under S2 and S3 conditions, water stress can be eliminated. Increasing ambition towards adaptation becomes obligatory for developing sustainable water sources, supporting water food securities and increasing resilience towards climate change

Sustainable drainage system site assessment method using urban ecosystem services

The United Kingdom's recently updated approach to sustainable drainage enhanced biodiversity and amenity objectives by incorporating the ecosystem approach and the ecosystem services concept. However, cost-effective and reliable methods to appraise the biodiversity and amenity values of potential sustainable drainage system (SuDS)sites and their surrounding areas are still lacking, as is a method to enable designers to distinguish and link the amenity and biodiversity benefits that SuDS schemes can offer. In this paper, therefore, the authors propose two ecosystem services- and disservices-based methods (i.e. vegetation structure cover-abundance examination and cultural ecosystem services and disservices variables appraisal) to aid SuDS designers to distinguish and link amenity and biodiversity benefits, and allow initial site assessments to be performed in a cost-effective and reliable fashion. Forty-nine representative sites within Greater Manchester were selected to test the two methods. Amenity and biodiversity were successfully assessed and habitat for species, carbon sequestration, recreation and education ecosystem services scores were produced,which will support SuDS retrofit design decision-making. Large vegetated SuDS sites with permanent aquatic features were found to be most capable of enhancing biodiversity- and amenity-related ecosystem services. Habitat for species and recreation ecosystem services were also found to be positively linked to each other. Finally, waste bins on site were found to help reduce dog faeces and litter coverage. Overall, the findings presented here enable future SuDS retrofit designs to be more wildlife friendly and socially inclusive

Efficacy of three organic Compounds as Antimould Agents in Bread under Humid Tropical Weather

The efficacy of three organic compounds - sodium acetate (SA), ascorbic acid (AA) and citric acid (CA) as well as combinations of SA/AA and CA/AA as antimould agents in bread when stored at ambient temperature (280C) under humid tropical weather was investigated. SA, CA and AA were added as sole agents at 0.08, 0.09, 0.10, 0.20, 0.30, 0.40, 0.50 and 0.60% rates of inclusions. The combined forms consisted of a fixed concentration of AA (0.30%) added to the varied concentration of SA (SA/AA) and CA (CA/AA). A 0.00% inclusion was prepared to serve as control. A mean shelf life of 5 days was observed for the control samples, while the values for samples containing SA, CA and AA at 0.30% concentration were 13, 11 and 9 days respectively. The effect of SA/AA and CA/AA at 0.20% concentration gave a mean shelf life of 9 days each. The results obtained showed that shelf life of sample with SA and CA was significantly different (

Degradation Of Dietary Fiber By Faecal Bacteria And Potential Physiological Effects

Dietary fiber was extracted from Nigerian ‘gari’, Ex Mannihot esculenta ; plantain, Musa paradisiaca ; Gnetum africana and Telfaria occidentalis and these fiber sources were referred to as GAF, PLF, GF and TF, respectively. Mannihot esculenta and Musa paradisiaca are rich sources of carbohydrate and the fiber extraction was done using termamyl 120L and amyloglucosidase. Gnetum africana and Telfaria occidentalis are vegetables and the acetone dried powder method was employed for fiber extraction. The fiber extracted from each source was subjected to degradation by the gut microbial flora and the extent of degradation after 72 h was determined. Water holding capacity (WHC) of each fiber was measured before and after the degradation. The short chain fatty acids (SCFA) produced during degradation were measured chromatographically. Exposure of the fibers to the gut microflora showed that the non-vegetable fibers (GAF, PLF) were more readily degraded than the vegetable fibers (GF and TF). Consequently, the percentage of the undegraded fiber after 72 h of incubation was highest with the vegetable fibers; GF, 80.0 % and TF, 83.3 %, while that of the non-vegetable fibers (GAF and PLF) was 62.0 % and 72.5 %, respectively. The degradation by the microflora affected the WHC of the fibers (except TF). Water holding capacity (WHC) for GF was 11.1 ± 3.3 g H2O / g fiber, before degradation and 6.3 ± 2.5 g H2O / g fiber after degradation, indicating a percent decrease of about 43.2%. Similar decrease was observed for GAF (30.4 %) and PLF (13.9 %). Only acetic and butyric acid were detected in the fermenting slurry. The relative composition of acetic acid from each of the fiber source (GAF, 62.0 %; PLF, 70.4%; GF, 62.5%; TF, 52.9%) was found to be greater than that from the slurry (control) (42%). The low pH created by the actions of the microflora in the caecal lumen will decrease the toxicity of luminal contents to the gut mucosa and protect against cancer of the colo

Degradation of dietary fiber by faecal bacteria and potential physiological effects.

Dietary fiber was extracted from Nigerian ‘gari’, Ex Mannihot esculenta; plantain, Musa paradisiaca; Gnetum africana and Telfaria occidentalis and these fiber sources were referred to as GAF, PLF, GF and TF, respectively. Mannihot esculenta and Musa paradisiaca are rich sources of carbohydrate and the fiber extraction was done using termamyl 120L and amyloglucosidase. Gnetum africana and Telfaria occidentalis are vegetables and the acetone dried powder method was employed forfiber extraction. The fiber extracted from each source was subjected to degradation by the gut microbial flora and the extent of degradation after 72 h was determined. Water holding capacity (WHC) of each fiber was measured before and after the degradation. The short chain fatty acids (SCFA) produced during degradation were measured chromatographically. Exposure of the fibers to the gut microflora showed that the non-vegetable fibers (GAF, PLF) were more readily degraded than the vegetable fibers (GF and TF). Consequently, the percentage of the undegraded fiber after 72 hof incubation was highest with the vegetable fibers; GF, 80.0 % and TF, 83.3 %, while that of the non-vegetable fibers (GAF and PLF) was 62.0 % and 72.5 %, respectively. The degradation by the microflora affected the WHC of the fibers (except TF). Water holding capacity (WHC) for GF was 11.1 ± 3.3 g H2O / g fiber, before degradation and 6.3 ± 2.5 g H2O / g fiber after degradation, indicating a percent decrease of about 43.2%. Similar decrease was observed for GAF (30.4 %) and PLF (13.9 %). Only acetic and butyric acid were detected in the fermenting slurry. The relative composition of acetic acid from each of the fiber source (GAF,62.0 %; PLF, 70.4%; GF, 62.5%; TF, 52.9%) was found to be greater than that from the slurry (control) (42%). The low pH created by the actions of the microflora in the caecal lumen will decrease the toxicity of luminal contents to the gut mucosa and protect against cancer of the colo

Assessment of the Safety of Some On-The-Shelf Canned Food Products Using PCR-Based Molecular Technique

Study on the assessment of bacteria load of some on-the-shelf canned food  products bought from different shops in the open markets in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria was undertaken. Eleven canned food products including 2 cans of tomato paste (TP), 2 of fish-in-tomato-sauce (FTS), 3 of sweet corn (SC), baked beans (BB), 1 of green peas (GP) and 2 kidney beans (KB) were collected randomly and used for the analysis. Culture-based identification depicts the presence of Bacillus sp., Staphylococcus sp., Vibrio parahaemolyticus, Salmonella sp., Klebsiella sp., Proteus sp., Pseudomonas sp. and Escherichia coli. Plasmid profiling of culture-dependent isolates showed visible bands except Staphylococcus sp., Klebsiella sp. and Bacillus sp. Randomly amplified polymorphism DNA [RAPD] profiling using varying oligonucleotide primers specific for identification of 16SrRNA genes of some organisms of public health concern, confirmed the presence of coliforms, Staphylococcus sp., Vibrio sp., S. typhi and S. enteritidis on gel electrophoresis field. In the context of possible risk of consuming contaminated canned food products, this study was designed to show that most onthe- shelf canned food products can possibly habour organisms of public health importance which can be ascertained through molecular characterization using PCR-based technique. There is also the possibility of these organisms posing food safety issues and pharmaceutical risks in case of possible out break, assayed through plasmid profiling of the culture-dependent isolates. A major concern in this study is the lack of adherence to food safety regulations. The products still been marketed on the shelves and analyzed in this study must have outlived the shelf stability period.Keywords: RAPD, canned food, bacteria load, plasmid profiling, oligonucleotide primers

Vitamin A retention in \"palm oil-gari\" during processing and storage

Gari samples from six different locations in Imo state of Nigeria, were assessed for vit A activity for a period of 4 weeks. Five samples were randomly selected from each location and stored at 28°C under the usual household storage conditions. Gari sample enriched with vit A stored for 6 weeks under similar conditions but kept in a tightly covered amber coloured bottle, to minimize contact with oxygen and light, was also assessed. The initial status of vit A activity (IU/100g) ranged from 183-723 in location A; 33.3-906 in B; 93-143 in C; 51.2-71.1 in D; 37.5-39.5 in E and 13.2-59.2 in F. The result showed remarkable losses in activity during storage. All the samples in locations A, B and E recorded over 25% loss in activity after the 2nd week of storage and over 50% by the 3rd week of storage. Samples from location F showed very poor retention of vitamin A and less than 10% activity was detected at the end of the 2nd week. Vitamin A activity of the enriched palm oilgari (EPOG) having an added level of 40,000 IU/100g, decreased to 992 IU/100g immediately after toasting. However, the EPOG showed only 7% loss in activity after a storage period of 6 weeks. The result of this study suggests that vit A retention in the traditionally processed palm oil-gari is very poor and the usual storage conditions may enhance further losses. However the enriched palm oil-gari stored under conditions that reduce contact with light and oxygen exhibited greater vit A retention. Keywords: vitamin A retention, palm oil, gari Nigerian Food Journal Vol. 23 2005: 69- 7