Value relevance of intellectual capital reporting in top Nigerian firms

The purpose of this study is to examine the link between corporate financial performance and Intellectual capital disclosures among top Nigerian companies for a four year period from 2006 to 2009. Return on capital employed was utilized as a proxy for financial performance while an Intellectual capital disclosure index was developed to capture the extent to which such voluntary disclosure was made. The study employed board nationality diversity as a moderating variable in the investigated relationship. This was denoted as the number of nationalities found on the board. A multiple regression analysis was used to investigate the potential relationship existing among the variables. Results of this study show that intellectual capital disclosures have a positive significant impact on financial performance while board nationality diversity has no impact on financial performance. The findings in this study provide some evidence supporting the signals theory whereby voluntary disclosure practices inform stakeholders of certain vital information which are critical in investment decision making and consequently have a return effect on corporate financial performance. The study thus recommends that firms adopt a holistic voluntary disclosure framework in order to enjoy associated economic benefits that accrue in this vein

Improving institutional memory on challenges and methods for estimation of pig herd antimicrobial exposure based on data from the Danish Veterinary Medicines Statistics Program (VetStat)

With the increasing occurrence of antimicrobial resistance, more attention has been directed towards surveillance of both human and veterinary antimicrobial use. Since the early 2000s, several research papers on Danish pig antimicrobial usage have been published, based on data from the Danish Veterinary Medicines Statistics Program (VetStat). VetStat was established in 2000, as a national database containing detailed information on purchases of veterinary medicine. This paper presents a critical set of challenges originating from static system features, which researchers must address when estimating antimicrobial exposure in Danish pig herds. Most challenges presented are followed by at least one robust solution. A set of challenges requiring awareness from the researcher, but for which no immediate solution was available, were also presented. The selection of challenges and solutions was based on a consensus by a cross-institutional group of researchers working in projects using VetStat data. No quantitative data quality evaluations were performed, as the frequency of errors and inconsistencies in a dataset will vary, depending on the period covered in the data. Instead, this paper focuses on clarifying how VetStat data may be translated to an estimation of the antimicrobial exposure at herd level, by suggesting uniform methods of extracting and editing data, in order to obtain reliable and comparable estimates on pig antimicrobial consumption for research purposes.Comment: 25 pages, including two Appendices (pages not numbered). Title page, including abstract, is on page 1. Body of text, including references, abbreviation list and disclaimers for conflict of interest and funding, are on pages 2-18. Two figures embedded in the text on pages 3 and 5. Appendix 1 starts on page 19, and Appendix 2 on page 2

Technical-Economic Prefeasibility Assessment of an off-grid Mini-Hydro Power Plant for an Agribusiness Resort in Kaduna Nigeria

Clean energy technologies are beginning to receive attention in Nigeria to offset the increasing greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions are associated to the wide use of small-scale fossil-fuel-powered generators by about 55% of its 180-million people yet to be connected to the grid. While a large hydropower potential exists in Nigeria, even above the total electricity demand of the country, by 2013 this technology only accounted for about 32% of the total installed generation capacity connected to the grid. Previous studies have limited results in terms of technical, economic and environmental evidences that can drive choices towards small hydro and other clean energy projects for users and technology providers in Nigeria. This study uses the RETScreen Software to analyse the technical, economic and environmental aspects of a proposed mini-hydro power plant on the Tuwan River, to supply part of the energy needs of Tuwan Agribusiness Resort (TAR) located in Madakiya district, a rural community in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The volumetric flow and gross head of the chosen river were measured and the power generation system design yielded a 21kW power output, capable to partially offset the present use of diesel generators and achieve a 307.4 tCO2 equivalent GHG emission reduction. The financial analysis showed an attractive Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 68.1% and NPV of 568,178 USD (11% discount rate), owing to the high potential of the project to attract grants and tax rebates, which were put into consideration in the financial analysis. This study is important for Tuwan Agribusiness Resort, an agribusiness service provision outfit with a potential to create over 1000 jobs when fully operationa

Technical-Economic Prefeasibility Assessment of an off-grid Mini-Hydro Power Plant for an Agribusiness Resort in Kaduna Nigeria

Clean energy technologies are beginning to receive attention in Nigeria to offset the increasing greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions are associated to the wide use of small-scale fossil-fuel-powered generators by about 55% of its 180-million people yet to be connected to the grid. While a large hydropower potential exists in Nigeria, even above the total electricity demand of the country, by 2013 this technology only accounted for about 32% of the total installed generation capacity connected to the grid. Previous studies have limited results in terms of technical, economic and environmental evidences that can drive choices towards small hydro and other clean energy projects for users and technology providers in Nigeria. This study uses the RETScreen Software to analyse the technical, economic and environmental aspects of a proposed mini-hydro power plant on the Tuwan River, to supply part of the energy needs of Tuwan Agribusiness Resort (TAR) located in Madakiya district, a rural community in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The volumetric flow and gross head of the chosen river were measured and the power generation system design yielded a 21kW power output, capable to partially offset the present use of diesel generators and achieve a 307.4 tCO2 equivalent GHG emission reduction. The financial analysis showed an attractive Internal Rate of Return (IRR) of 68.1% and NPV of 568,178 USD (11% discount rate), owing to the high potential of the project to attract grants and tax rebates, which were put into consideration in the financial analysis. This study is important for Tuwan Agribusiness Resort, an agribusiness service provision outfit with a potential to create over 1000 jobs when fully operationa

ANALISIS PERTANDINGAN OLIMPIADE OLAHRAGA SISWA NASIONAL CABANG KARATE TINGKAT SMA KOTA PONTIANAK

AbstrakThe purpose of this research is  how to analyze the National Student Sports Olympic Games (O2SN) Karate Branch of the High School in Pontianak City.This study aims to determine the success of the attack to face the next match. The research method used is a survey technique taking with descriptive analysis research. The subject of this research 14 matches. analysis techniques were quantitative percentages. The results of the study showed that the success of the attack technique on O2SN karate branch in the high school level in Pontianak City was as follows: 1) the punch attack technique that gained kizame points 43.37% and the tsuki gyaku 28.57% and the blow attack technique that did not get kizame points 56.53% and gyaku tsuki 71.43%. Kick attack techniques that get maegeri points 0%, mawashi scores 12.12% and ushiro 15%. Kick attack techniques did not get maegeri points 100%, mawashi geri 187.88% and ushiro 85%. at the National Student Sports Olympic Games (O2SN) Karate Branch in the City of Pontianak high-level attack techniques were more effective against the acquisition of points in the kumite men's match, namely the kizame attack technique.Keywords:  Match Analyze, Karat

A novel S-sulfhydrated human serum albumin preparation suppresses melanin synthesis

Products of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) stimulate melanin synthesis. Reactive sulfur species (RSS) have been shown to have strong ROS and NO scavenging effects. However, the instability and low retention of RSS limit their use as inhibitors of melanin synthesis. The free thiol at Cys34 on human serum albumin (HSA) is highly stable, has a long retention and possess a high reactivity for RSS. We report herein on the development of an HSA based RSS delivery system. Sulfane sulfur derivatives released from sodium polysulfides (Na2Sn) react readily with HSA. An assay for estimating the elimination of sulfide from polysulfide showed that almost all of the sulfur released from Na2Sn bound to HSA. The Na2Sn-treated HSA was found to efficiently scavenge ROS and NO produced from chemical reagents. The Na2Sn-treated HSA was also found to inhibit melanin synthesis in B16 melanoma cells and this inhibition was independent of the number of added sulfur atoms. In B16 melanoma cells, the Na2Sn-treated HSA also inhibited the levels of ROS and NO induced by UV radiation. Finally, the Na2Sn-treated HSA inhibited melanin synthesis from L-DOPA and mushroom tyrosinase and suppressed the extent of aggregation of melanin pigments. These data suggest that Na2Sn-treated HSA inhibits tyrosinase activity for melanin synthesis via two pathways; by directly inhibiting ROS signaling and by scavenging NO. These findings indicate that Na2Sn-treated HSA has potential to be an attractive and effective candidate for use as a skin whitening agent

Incidence of falls among adults with cerebral palsy: a cohort study using primary care data

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154463/1/dmcn14444_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154463/2/dmcn14444-sup-0001-AppendixS1.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154463/3/dmcn14444.pd

Antimycobacterial, antibacterial and antifungal activities of Terminalia superba (Combretaceae)

The methanol extract from the stem bark of Terminalia superba (TSB), fractions (TSB1 - 7) and two compounds isolated following bio-assay guided fractionation namely 3,4'- di-O-methylellagic acid 3'-O-β-D-xylopyranoside (1) and 4'-O-galloy-3,3'-di-O-methylellagic acid 4-O-β-D-xylopyranoside (2) were evaluated for their antimycobacterial, antibacterial and antifungal activities. The broth microdilution, microplate Alamar Blue assay (MABA) and agar disc diffusion methods were used for the investigations. The results of the antimycobacterial assays showed that the crude extract, fraction TSB5-7 and compound 1 were able to prevent the growth of all the studied mycobacteria. The lowest minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) value of 39.06 μg/ml for this extract was recorded on both M. smegmatis and M. tuberculosis MTCS2. The corresponding values were 19.53 μg/ml and 4.88 μg/ml for fractions and compounds respectively. The MIC determinations results on other organisms indicate values ranging from 19.53 to 78.12 μg/ml for TSB and compound 2 on 90.9% of the tested organisms, meanwhile compounds 1 as well as fractions TSB 6 and 7 exhibited detectable MIC values on all studied microorganisms. The overall results provide promising baseline information for the potential use of the crude extract from Terminalia superba, fractions 6-7 and the tested compounds in the treatment of tuberculosis, bacterial and fungal infections

Short-term and long-term cost-effectiveness of a pedometer-based exercise intervention in primary care: A within-trial analysis and beyond-trial modelling

Objectives A short-term and long-term cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) of two pedometer-based walking interventions compared with usual care. Design (A) Short-term CEA: Parallel three-arm cluster randomised trial randomised by household. (B) Long-term CEA: Markov decision model. Setting Seven primary care practices in South London, UK. Participants (A) Short-term CEA: 1023 people (922 households) aged 45-75 years without physical activity (PA) contraindications. (b) Long-term CEA: A cohort of 100 000 people aged 59-88 years. Interventions Pedometers, 12-week walking programmes and PA diaries delivered by post or through three PA consultations with practice nurses. Primary and secondary outcome measures Accelerometer-measured change (baseline to 12 months) in average daily step count and time in 10 min bouts of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA), and EQ-5D-5L quality-adjusted life-years (QALY). Methods Resource use costs (£2013/2014) from a National Health Service perspective, presented as incremental cost-effectiveness ratios for each outcome over a 1-year and lifetime horizon, with cost-effectiveness acceptability curves and willingness to pay per QALY. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses evaluate uncertainty. Results (A) Short-term CEA: At 12 months, incremental cost was £3.61 (£109)/min in ≥10 min MVPA bouts for nurse support compared with control (postal group). At £20 000/QALY, the postal group had a 50% chance of being cost saving compared with control. (B) Long-term CEA: The postal group had more QALYs (+759 QALYs, 95% CI 400 to 1247) and lower costs (-£11 million, 95% CI -12 to -10) than control and nurse groups, resulting in an incremental net monetary benefit of £26 million per 100 000 population. Results were sensitive to reporting serious adverse events, excluding health service use, and including all participant costs. Conclusions Postal delivery of a pedometer intervention in primary care is cost-effective long term and has a 50% chance of being cost-effective, through resource savings, within 1 year. Further research should ascertain maintenance of the higher levels of PA, and its impact on quality of life and health service use. © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2018. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ