Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Human Capital Reporting and Corporate Earnings: Evidence from Nigeria

This study investigated the influence of human capital reporting on earnings of quoted manufacturing companies in Nigeria. The study used secondary data from 2007 to 2014 collected from selected Annual Report and Accounts of 50 listed manufacturing companies, and Fact Books published by the Nigeria Stock Exchange. Pooled least squares were used in the analysis. The results indicate that total earnings present a positive relationship with all the components of human capital but a significant one with salaries and wages and labour turnover. This then suggests that capitalization of corporate investment on its human resource has the aptitude of increasing the total earnings of quoted manufacturing companies in Nigeria
Fundamentals of Electromagnetic Units and Constants

Measurements are fundamental to the advancement of knowledge. In turn, measurements in general need equations that relate measurable physical quantities. The requirement that measured results be widely understandable needs the employment of units, and hence constants. An understanding of the concept of units can thus be of significant help in appreciating the fundamentals of science. With this background, this paper discusses units within the overall context of measurements, and presents the fundamentals of electromagnetic units. The discussion naturally involves a consideration of the electromagnetic constants, namely ε0 (generally called the permittivity of free space), μ0 (generally called the permeability of free space), and c (the velocity of light).
Rubella: reinfection of vaccinated and naturally immune persons exposed in an epidemic.

Abstract The protective efficacy of vaccine-induced and naturally acquired immunity was compared in a prospective study of a rubella epidemic among military recruits. The population consisted of 190 men in the following categories with respect to immunity to rubella: 26 who were susceptible, 15 vaccinees who had been immunized two to three months previously and 149 who were naturally immune. As a result of the epidemic all 26 susceptible men were infected; rubella virus was recovered from the throats of 11. On the basis of hemagglutination-inhibiting and complement-fixing antibody responses, 80 per cent of those vaccinated and 3.4 per cent of those who were naturally immune were reinfected. Virus was recovered from the throat of one vaccinee, but from none of the reinfected naturally immune men. If precipitin antibody results are included, 100 per cent of vaccinees responded serologically. None of those reinfected became ill; among the susceptible men the ratio of inapparent to apparent infections was app.
Income breeding and temperature-induced plasticity in reproductive traits in lizards

SUMMARY We used the northern grass lizard Takydromus septentrionalis as a model animal to examine the energy allocation strategy and whether body temperature can affect maternal reproductive traits in lizards. We maintained adult females collected from the field soon after winter dormancy under three thermal conditions (24.0±1.0°C, 28.0±1.0°C and 32.0±1.0°C) throughout the subsequent reproductive season, and then recorded their energy intake, digestive efficiency, body size and mass changes, and reproductive parameters. Manipulation of body temperature in reproducing females affected energy intake and several maternal reproductive characteristics. Females allocated energy to reproduction following the fulfillment of energetic requirements for metabolism and growth. The reduced energy availability for reproduction constrained females at low or high body temperatures to produce fewer and smaller eggs per season but had no role in influencing the number of eggs produced in single reproductive bouts. Females used currently acquired energy to fuel reproduction, and this strategy did not shift seasonally from the first to subsequent clutches. Our study supports the idea that the use of currently acquired energy for reproduction may be more widespread in ectotherms than thought before, and shows for the first time that egg size is thermally plastic in T. septentrionalis, where eggs produced in single reproductive bouts are believed to be well optimized for size.
Does Verifying Uses Influence Rankings? Analyzing Booking.Com and Tripadvisor

Electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is of recent and considerable importance in tourism, particularly because of the intangible nature of the industry. Users' online reviews are a source of information for other consumers, who take them into account before making a reservation at a lodging property. The aim of this study is to establish whether or not the anonymity of the reviews on TripAdvisor alters hotel rankings by comparing them with verified users' reviews on Booking.com. Moreover, the study analyzes whether or not the differences in the rating scales of both websites favor some hotels over others. A large amount of data is used in this study, with more than 40,000 hotels on Booking.com and 70,000 on TripAdvisor in 447 cities around the world, comparing the rankings of about 20,000 hotels matched on both websites. Our findings suggest that the behavior of both rankings is similar and the lack of veracity on TripAdvisor due to the anonymity in the user's verification system is baseless. In addition, some differences are found depending on the hotel category and region, due mainly to the unique rating scale on Booking.com (from 2.5 to 10) compared with the rating scale on TripAdvisor
Essays on Asset Pricing

We characterize when physical probabilities, marginal utilities, and the discount rate can be recovered from observed state prices for several future time periods. We make no assumptions of the probability distribution, thus generalizing the time-homogeneous stationary model of Ross (2015). Recovery is feasible when the number of maturities with observable prices is higher than the number of states of the economy (or the number of parameters characterizing the pricing kernel). When recovery is feasible, our model allows a closed-form linearized solution. We implement our model empirically, testing the predictive power of the recovered expected return and other recovered statistics. We are grateful for helpful comments from Jaroslav Borovicka, Peter Christoffersen, Horatio Cuesdeanu, Darrell Duffie, Lars Peter Hansen, Jens Jackwerth, Pia Mølgaard, Stephen Ross, Jose Scheinkman, Paul Schneider, Paul Whelan as well as from seminar participants at London Business School, University of Zurich, University of Konstanz, University of Toronto, ATP, HEC-McGill winter finance workshop 2015, SED summer conference 2016, EFA 2016, AFA 2017, and especially to Dan Petersen for guiding us through Sard’s theorem. All three authors gratefully acknowledge support from the FRIC Center for Financial Frictions (grant no. DNRF102) and Jensen and Pedersen from the European Research Council (ERC grant no. 312417).
The Transcriptional Repressor cAMP Response Element Modulator α Interacts with Histone Deacetylase 1 to Repress Promoter Activity1

Transcriptional repression is a fundamental mechanism of gene regulation. cAMP response element (CRE) modulator (CREM)α is an ubiquitously expressed transcription factor and a counterpart of the activator CREB. In T cells, CREM is responsible for the termination of the IL-2 expression by a chromatin-dependent mechanism. We demonstrate in this study that CREMα associates with histone deacetylase (HDAC)1 through its H domain, which is located between the kinase inducible and DNA binding domains. The CREMα-mediated recruitment of HDAC1 to the CRE sites of the IL-2 and c-Fos promoter causes histone deacetylation and inaccessibility to restriction enzymes and limited transcriptional activity. Importantly, the CRE sites of these promoters are crucial for the activity and binding of HDAC1. Therefore, CREMα exerts its repressor activity by a mechanism that involves recruitment of HDAC1, increased deacetylation of histones, and repression of promoter activity.
Sun Exposure and Vitamin D Status as Northeast Asian Migrants Become Acculturated to Life in Australia

Vitamin D deficiency is more common in Northeast‐Asian immigrants to western countries than in the local population; prevalence equalizes as immigrants adopt the host country's culture. In a community‐based study of 100 Northeast‐Asian immigrants in Canberra, Australia, we examined predictors of vitamin D status, its association with indicators of acculturation (English language use; time since migration) and mediators of that association. Participants completed a sun and physical activity diary and wore an electronic ultraviolet radiation (UVR) dosimeter for 7 days. Skin colour was measured by reflectance spectrophotometry. Serum concentrations of 25‐hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and cardio‐metabolic biomarkers were measured on fasting blood. In a multiple linear regression model, predictors for 25(OH)D concentration were season of blood collection, vitamin D supplementation, UVR exposure, body mass index, physical activity and having private health insurance (R2 = 0.57). Greater acculturation was associated with lower risk of vitamin D deficiency (de‐seasonalized 25(OH)D level <50 nmol L−1) (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR): 0.22 [95%CI 0.04–0.96]); this association was statistically mediated by physical activity and time outdoors. Vitamin D deficiency was associated with higher total cholesterol levels (>5.0 mmol L−1) (AOR: 7.48 [95%CI 1.51–37.0]). Targeted public health approaches are required to manage the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in migrants retaining a traditional lifestyle.
Precocious Puberty in the McCune‐Albright Syndrome Progression from Gonadotrophin‐Independent to Gonadotrophin‐Dependent Puberty in a Girl

A 5‐year‐old girl with McCune‐Albright syndrome, was observed over a 7‐year period. She presented with gonadotrophin‐independent puberty and later developed gonadotrophin‐dependent puberty. Hormonal signs of central puberty remained unchanged over the last 2 years.
Nutritional factors and immunological ageing

Undernutrition profoundly affects immune responses, particularly at the extremities of life: in infants and in the elderly. The present review focuses on this interrelationship in the elderly. It describes three different stages of ageing: stage 1, healthy ageing, which is observed in very healthy elderly individuals who have no nutritional deficit; stage 2, common ageing, which is observed in most elderly individuals in whom various micronutrient deficits are found; stage 3, pathological ageing, which is observed in patients with protein–energy deficiency. Stage 1, primary immune ageing, is essentially characterized by changes in T-cell subsets but no change in T-cell function; T-cell function is reduced only in the very elderly (>90 years old). Stage 2, secondary immune ageing, is influenced by micronutrient deficits that may be corrected by providing nutritional supplements. Furthermore, immune responses may also be enhanced by supplementation of subjects who have no micronutrient deficits, indicating that the immune system of elderly individuals is highly susceptible to the influence of micronutrients. In stage 3, tertiary immune ageing, the immune responses are strongly related to the decreased nutritional status. In these patients decreased immune responses lead to long-lasting acute-phase responses, which induce greater use of nutritional reserves during disease and lead to increased frailty. As nutritional status has a marked effect on immune responses in elderly individuals, nutritional therapy should be given to elderly individuals who have nutrient deficits, and perhaps also to individuals who do not have nutrient deficits in order to promote healthy ageing and extend the lifespan.
Modulation of the 5′-Deoxyribose-5-phosphate Lyase and DNA Synthesis Activities of Mammalian DNA Polymerase β by Apurinic/Apyrimidinic Endonuclease 1*

The Ape1 protein initiates the repair of apurinic/apyrimidinic sites during mammalian base excision repair (BER) of DNA. Ape1 catalyzes hydrolysis of the 5′-phosphodiester bond of abasic DNA to create nicks flanked by 3′-hydroxyl and 5′-deoxyribose 5-phosphate (dRP) termini. DNA polymerase (pol) β catalyzes both DNA synthesis at the 3′-hydroxyl terminus and excision of the 5′-dRP moiety prior to completion of BER by DNA ligase. During BER, Ape1 recruits pol β to the incised apurinic/apyrimidinic site and stimulates 5′-dRP excision by pol β. The activities of these two enzymes are thus coordinated during BER. To examine further the coordination of BER, we investigated the ability of Ape1 to modulate the deoxynucleotidyltransferase and 5′-dRP lyase activities of pol β. We report here that Ape1 stimulates 5′-dRP excision by a mechanism independent of its apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease activity. We also demonstrate a second mechanism, independent of Ape1, in which conditions that support DNA synthesis by pol β also enhance 5′-dRP excision. Ape1 modulates the gap-filling activity of pol β by specifically inhibiting synthesis on an incised abasic substrate but not on single-nucleotide gapped DNA. In contrast to the wild-type Ape1 protein, a catalytically impaired mutant form of Ape1 did not affect DNA synthesis by pol β. However, this mutant protein retained the ability to stimulate 5′-dRP excision by pol β. Simultaneous monitoring of 5′-dRP excision and DNA synthesis by pol β demonstrated that the 5′-dRP lyase activity lags behind the polymerase activity despite the coordination of these two steps by Ape1 during BER.
Asynchronous hatching provides females with a means for increasing male care but incurs a cost by reducing offspring fitness

In species with biparental care, sexual conflict occurs because the benefit of care depends on the total amount of care provided by the two parents while the cost of care depends on each parent's own contribution. Asynchronous hatching may play a role in mediating the resolution of this conflict over parental care. The sexual conflict hypothesis for the evolution of asynchronous hatching suggests that females adjust hatching patterns in order to increase male parental effort relative to female effort. We tested this hypothesis in the burying beetle Nicrophorus vespilloides by setting up experimental broods with three different hatching patterns: synchronous, asynchronous and highly asynchronous broods. As predicted, we found that males provided care for longer in asynchronous broods whereas the opposite was true of females. However, we did not find any benefit to females of reducing their duration of care in terms of increased lifespan or reduced mass loss during breeding. We found substantial negative effects of hatching asynchrony on offspring fitness as larval mass was lower and fewer larvae survived to dispersal in highly asynchronous broods compared to synchronous or asynchronous broods. Our results suggest that, even though females can increase male parental effort by hatching their broods more asynchronously, females pay a substantial cost from doing so in terms of reducing offspring growth and survival. Thus, females should be under selection to produce a hatching pattern that provides the best possible trade‐off between the benefits of increased male parental effort and the costs due to reduced offspring fitness.
Financial and environmental performances in the banking industry: A non-linear approach

The present paper investigates the impact of corporate financial performance (CFP) on corporate environmental performance (CEP) in the banking industry. Based on the data of French banks from 2008 to 2011, our study reveals that the relationship between CFP and CEP is non-monotonic, thus suggesting that bank CEP increases significantly only after a certain threshold of financial resources is reached. Our study provides unique insights into the CFP-CEP relationship in the banking industry and reveals that adequate financial resources needs to be available in order to foster environmental investment and meet the expectations of a range of stakeholders.
A lymphokine, provisionally designated interleukin T and produced by a human adult T-cell leukemia line, stimulates T-cell proliferation and the induction of lymphokine-activated killer cells.

In early phases of human T-cell lymphotrophic virus I-induced adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), the malignant cell proliferation is associated with an autocrine process involving coordinate expression of interleukin (IL) 2 and its receptor. However, during late-phase ATL, leukemic cells no longer produce IL-2 yet continue to express high-affinity IL-2 receptors. During studies to define pathogenic mechanisms that underlie this IL-2-independent proliferation, we demonstrated that the ATL cell line HuT-102 secretes a lymphokine, provisionally designated IL-T, that stimulates T-cell proliferation and the induction of lymphokine-activated killer cells. Conditioned medium from HuT-102, when added to the IL-2-dependent CTLL-2 line, yielded a stimulation index of 230. Since CTLL-2 was purported to be IL-2-specific, we performed a number of studies to exclude IL-2 production by HuT-102. Stimulation of CTLL-2 cells by HuT-102-conditioned medium was not meaningfully inhibited by addition of an antiserum to IL-2. Furthermore, uninduced HuT-102 cells did not express mRNA encoding IL-2 as assessed by Northern blot analysis. No biological activity on CTLL-2 cells was mediated by purified IL-1, IL-3, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-7, IL-9, IL-10, IL-12, IL-13, or granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor, thus differentiating these factors from IL-T. Based on preliminary biochemical data, IL-T is a protein with a pI value of 4.5 and a molecular mass in SDS gels of 14 kDa. In addition to its action on CTLL-2 cells, 3200-fold-purified IL-T stimulated proliferation of the human cytokine-dependent T-cell line Kit-225. Furthermore, addition of IL-T enhanced cytotoxic activity of large granular lymphocytes (i.e., induced lymphokine-activated killer cells). Thus, IL-T is a lymphokine that plays a role in T-cell proliferation and induction of lymphokine-activated killer cells. Furthermore, IL-T may contribute to IL-2-independent proliferation of select ATL cells and lines.
Short-Term Relationships with Eternal Impact: Mentoring Male Students at Faith-Based Institutions

Mentorship serves an important role in college student development. It provides individual support and guidance to students as they explore their identities and look for answers to life’s big questions. Over fifty running definitions of mentorship appear in social science literature (Crisp & Cruz, 2009); therefore, this study sought to describe mentorship in the context of university faculty members mentoring their male students. In order to define mentorship in this context, the researcher interviewed ten male college students who claimed to have a mentor. Their perspectives on mentorship provided a deeper understanding of how best to mentor men in college. The results determined the benefits mentees receive as well as the methods mentors employ to develop their students most effectively. Although the participants had differing experiences with mentorship, they universally agreed the personal development spurred on by their mentors would last well beyond college. University faculty members can use this research to find deeper value in mentorship and train themselves to mentor their male students more effectively.
Capital Structure, Ownership Structure and Firm Value: An Econometric Panel Analysis of Firms Listed in Kenya

The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of capital structure and ownership structure on market value of listed firms in Kenya. In this study, data of companies that were active in Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) between the years 2007 to 2012 is used. Capital structure is surrogated by total long term debt to total capital ratio, while ownership structure is represented by summation of amount of ownership of five greatest shareholders of a company relative to the total shareholding and firm value is proxied by Tobin’s Q. Before empirical estimations, data was subjected to the LevinLinChu panel unit root test. The results indicated that all variables were integrated of order zero (p = .000), that is, are stationary at levels. Panel correlation and multiple regression methods were used in the empirical analysis. Results indicate that capital structure ratio significantly negatively influence firms’ market value in both FEM (β = -.35, t = -2.54) and REM (β = -.12, t = -2.65) implying that a unit change in capital structure ratio leads to a decrease in Tobin’s Q of firms listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange of . 35 and . 12, respectively, all things being fixed. Ownership structure is an insignificant positive predictor of market value in both FEM (β =.01, t = .14) and REM (β = .01, t = .18) respectively. This means that a unit change in ownership structure leads to an increase in Tobin’s Q of firms listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange of . 01, all things being fixed. Asset tangibility is a negative significant predictor of market value (β = -.13, t = -1.96) for FEM specification. In contrast, firm size is a positive significant predictor of market value in FEM (β = .04, t = 2.91). The Adj-R for FEM and REM show that the variables jointly explain between 42 % and 43 % of the variation in the Tobin’s Q respectively of firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.