76 research outputs found
The relationship between environmental social governance factors and US stock performance
No full textSocially Responsible Investing (SRI) has experienced substantial growth over the last decade, although there is still a lack of consensus on whether this form of investing leads to competitive investment returns. This paper considers the case for SRI by examining the relationship between a range of Environmental Social Governance (ESG) rating factors and financial performance of US listed companies. Previous research in this area has largely been at the portfolio level and focussed on return as a performance measure. This study makes an important contribution to the literature by utilising stock level data to consider the relationship between ESG ratings and not only stock return but also wider measures of financial performance, namely valuation and operating performance.
Using a multifactor framework, this study provides evidence of a significant positive relationship between a range of ESG rating criteria and market to book value and return on assets measures, whilst a positive although inconsistent relationship between ratings and stock return is apparent. I argue that the relationship with valuation and operating performance is more clearly identified due to these measures being based on annual data, hence being consistent with rating data and also more stable than stock return (which is impacted by shorter term factors). In comparison to Brammer et al. (2006), the analysis shows that higher stakeholder ratings on the whole are more positively related to stock return. The results are broadly consistent with findings of Galema et al. (2008), although additionally highlight the significance of higher ratings for both valuation and operating performance and that employee conditions are more relevant than other stakeholder rating criteria
T Cell responses to whole SARS Coronavirus in humans
No full textEffective vaccines should confer long-term protection against future outbreaks of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) caused by a novel zoonotic coronavirus (SARS-CoV) with unknown animal reservoirs. We conducted a cohort study examining multiple parameters of immune responses to SARS-CoV infection, aiming to identify the immune correlates of protection. We used a matrix of overlapping peptides spanning whole SARS-CoV proteome to determine T cell responses from 128 SARS convalescent samples by ex vivo IFN-γ ELISPOT assays. Approximately 50% of convalescent SARS patients were positive for T cell responses, and 90% possessed strongly neutralizing Abs. Fifty-five novel T cell epitopes were identified, with spike protein dominating total T cell responses. CD8+ T cell responses were more frequent and of a greater magnitude than CD4+ T cell responses (p < 0.001).
Polychromatic cytometry analysis indicated that the virus-specific T cells from the severe group tended to be a central memory phenotype (CD27+/CD45RO+) with a significantly higher frequency of polyfunctional CD4+ T cells producing IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-2, and CD8+ T cells producing IFN-γ, TNF-α, and CD107a (degranulation), as compared with the mild-moderate group. Strong T cell responses correlated significantly (p < 0.05) with higher neutralizing Ab. The serum cytokine profile during acute infection indicated a significant elevation of innate immune responses. Increased Th2 cytokines were observed in patients with fatal infection. Our study provides a roadmap for the immunogenicity of SARS-CoV and types of immune responses that may be responsible for the virus clearance, and should serve as a benchmark for SARS-CoV vaccine design and evaluation
The Relationship Between Environmental Social Governance Factors and U.S. Stock Performance
No full textProtein Interaction Testing of TgCycY Putative Cyclin Protein of Toxoplasma gondii for a Novel Drug Target Identification
No full textThe apicomplexan protozoan parasites cause critical health problems and limitation of anti-parasitic drugs is a major problem. Among the apicomplexan parasites, Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a highly prevalent obligate intracellular protozoan parasite, which seems to rely mostly on proteins that are defined as cyclin and cell cycle kinases that needs to regulate the cell cycle of the tachyzoites. These proteins regulate DNA replication during the cell cycle and lead to moderate cell division which results toxoplasmosis disease. Before targeting the proteins in T. gondii, it is essential to identify these proteins and define their function in the cell cycle via protein-protein interactions. In vitro, protein-protein interaction testing of Toxoplasma gondii ME49 putative TgCycY cyclin via yeast two-hybrid screen was conducted to identify a protein interaction partner. Even though previously tested in vivo analyses showed no direct interaction between TgCycY and TgCrk2, TgCrk2 hypothesized as a potential interacting partner for the TgCycY with the association of a bridging protein. Hypotheses were made based on the ortholog TgCycY-TgCrk2 complex interactions in Homo sapiens, Drosophila melanogaster, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Among the identified 8 protein interaction partners from a cDNA library of asynchronous tachyzoite transcriptome that used in the Y2H screen, only TgDJ-1 protein was introduced as the potential interacting partner for the TgCycY. Other protein partners were excluded due to limitations of the yeast-two hybrid screen and lack of information. Based on the previous studies, TgDJ-1 protein has shown function involved in the micronemes secretion and it has introduced as the regulator of the Toxoplasma gondii secretion, motility, and invasion by interacting with TgCDPK1. TgDJ-1 inhibition did not affect the cell cycle of the tachyzoite. A CDK interacting partner for the TgCycY was not detected in this screen. Previously known fact of Cyclin Y function as a substrate for the CDK and the function of the mediating the ortholog CycY-CDK protein-protein interaction via a third protein was applied to the TgCycYTgDJ-1-TgCDPK1 predicted complex. Due to limitations of the current screen and obtained results, indicated hypotheses 1 & 2 cannot be proven and the results direct the conclusion towards the TgCycY having TgDJ-1 as a new protein interacting partner that has existing literature and role of outside the cell cycle regulation. Overall, our project aims to map at the molecular level interactions of putative TgCycY cyclin protein in vitro and identify its function in the T. gondii tachyzoites to introduce it as a novel drug target. Further study regarding the function of TgCycY-TgDJ-1-TgCDPK1 complex is needed to understand the TgCycY role in micronemes secretion and involvement in the tachyzoites
Inaction and Impunity: Incidents of Religious Violence Targeting Christians, Muslims and Hindus (2015-2019)
No full text45p. The study is based on information provided by the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL). It was compiled by Media Team of Verité Research. Mahoshadi Peiris was the lead researcher and author of the study. The team comprised of Mihindu Perera and Jonathan Cruse.Ethno-religious violence in Sri Lanka is a chronic and systemic problem that has continued despite successive changes in government. This study examines the key trends of incidents of violence faced by minority Christian, Muslim and Hindu groups in Sri Lanka between 2015 and 2019.
In 2015, the National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka and Verité Research released Silent Suppression: Restrictions on Religious Freedoms of Christians 1994-2004, a 20-year trend analysis report on ethno-religious violence.
This study build on that previous report by analysing 397 incidents of Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) violations against Christians, multiple incidents of anti-Muslim riots, and discrimination against Hindu communities in the Northern and Eastern Provinces.
The findings of the study highlight a concerning trend of increased involvement of state officials as both active and passive actors in violations against minority communities. Moreover, the study finds that religious violence is sustained invariably through the action or inaction of the state
The presence of 5-HT in myenteric varicosities is not due to uptake of 5-HT released from the mucosa during dissection: use of a novel method for quantifying 5-HT immunoreactivity in myenteric ganglia
No full textAuthor version made available according to Publisher copyright policy. This is the accepted version of the following article:
Keating, D. J., Peiris, H., Kyloh, M., Brookes, S. J. H. and Spencer, N. J. (2013), The presence of 5-HT in myenteric varicosities is not due to uptake of 5-HT released from the mucosa during dissection: use of a novel method for quantifying 5-HT immunoreactivity in myenteric ganglia. Neurogastroenterology & Motility, 25: 849–853,
which has been published in final form at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nmo.12189.
In addition, authors may also transmit, print and share copies with colleagues, provided that there is no systematic distribution of the submitted version, e.g. posting on a listserve, network or automated delivery
Cosmological parameter estimation using Very Small Array data out to ℓ= 1500
No full textWe estimate cosmological parameters using data obtained by the Very Small Array (VSA) in its extended configuration, in conjunction with a variety of other cosmic microwave background (CMB) data and external priors. Within the flat Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model, we find that the inclusion of high-resolution data from the VSA modifies the limits on the cosmological parameters as compared to those suggested by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) alone, while still remaining compatible with their estimates. We find that Ωbh2= 0.0234+0.0012−0.0014, Ωdmh2= 0.111+0.014−0.016, h= 0.73+0.09−0.05, nS= 0.97+0.06−0.03, 1010AS= 23+7−3 and τ= 0.14+0.14−0.07 for WMAP and VSA when no external prior is included. On extending the model to include a running spectral index of density fluctuations, we find that the inclusion of VSA data leads to a negative running at a level of more than 95 per cent confidence ( nrun=−0.069 ± 0.032 ), something that is not significantly changed by the inclusion of a stringent prior on the Hubble constant. Inclusion of prior information from the 2dF galaxy redshift survey reduces the significance of the result by constraining the value of Ωm. We discuss the veracity of this result in the context of various systematic effects and also a broken spectral index model. We also constrain the fraction of neutrinos and find that fν < 0.087 at 95 per cent confidence, which corresponds to mν < 0.32 eV when all neutrino masses are equal. Finally, we consider the global best fit within a general cosmological model with 12 parameters and find consistency with other analyses available in the literature. The evidence for nrun < 0 is only marginal within this model
Improving citation network scoring by incorporating author and program committee reputation
No full textImproving Citation Network Scoring by Incorporating Author and Program Committee Reputation
No full textPublication venues play an important role in the
scholarly communication process. The number of publication
venues has been increasing yearly, making it difficult for
researchers to determine the most suitable venue for their
publication. Most existing methods use citation count as the metric
to measure the reputation of publication venues. However, this
does not take into account the quality of citations. Therefore, it is
vital to have a publication venue quality estimation mechanism.
The ultimate goal of this research project is to develop a novel
approach for ranking publication venues by considering
publication history. The main aim of this research work is to
propose a mechanism to identify the key Computer Science
journals and conferences from various fields of research. Our
approach is completely based on the citation network represented
by publications. A modified version of the PageRank algorithm is
used to compute the ranking scores for each publication. In our
publication ranking method, there are many aspects that
contribute to the importance of a publication, including the
number of citations, the rating of the citing publications, the time
metric and the authors’ reputation. Known publication venue
scores have been formulated by using the scores of the
publications. New publication venue ranking is taken care by the
scores of Program Committee members which derive from their
ranking scores as authors. Experimental results show that our
publication ranking method reduces the bias against more recent
publications, while also providing a more accurate way to
determine publication quality
Preparation and evaluation of brown coal products to treat sub-soil acidity
No full textThis thesis was scanned from the print manuscript for digital preservation and is copyright the author.
Researchers can access this thesis by asking their local university, institution or public library to
make a request on their behalf. Monash staff and postgraduate students can use the link in the References field
- …
