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

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

Does Social Capital Have a Role in Environmental Kuznets Curve? Spatial Panel Regression Approach

We advance a case for an inclusion of social capital in the environmental Kuznets curve analysis using highly disaggregated data on water pollution in Louisiana. A social capital index and other variables are used in parametric and spatial panel regression models to explain water pollution dynamics.social capital, principal component analysis, environmental Kuznets curve, spatial regression, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Rearrangements and Dilatancy for Sheared Dense Materials

Constitutive equations are proposed for dense materials, based on the identification of two types of free-volume activated rearrangements associated to shear and compaction. Two situations are studied: the case of an amorphous solid in a stress-strain test, and the case of a lubricant in tribology test. Varying parameters, strain softening, shear thinning, and stick-slip motion can be observed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

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&nbsp;(84%) while CCW is majorly Calcium oxide (CaO(66%).The optimum saturation dosage of &nbsp;High Range Water Reducer &nbsp;(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; &nbsp; &nbsp

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