Relationship between Diabetes Mellitus and Thyroid Dysfunction

Scientific advisers: assoc. prof. O. S. Makharynska, prof. M. I. YabluchanskyClinical case

Newly diagnosed ventricular mural thrombus in patient with chronic left ventricular aneurysm after myocardial infarction

Scientific advisers: assoc.prof. O. S. Makharynska, asst. prof. I. I. Oktiabrov

Involuntary Resettlement in Ghana: Implementation, Planning and Management of Social Impacts in Hydropower Projects

Improved access to land and enhanced tenure security especially among rural farmers has been recognized as key constituent to economic and social development in Ghana. Nevertheless, the increasing demand for land to deal with the high incidence of urbanisation and population growth has greatly undermined land accessibility, tenure security and sustainable development affecting vulnerable groups in society. As a result the focus of the research seek to examine the implementation, planning and management of involuntary resettlement resulting from hydropower development and also to investigate some of the major social impacts associated with involuntary resettlement in Ghana. The methodology considered appropriate for this research was the case study approach with emphasis on qualitative approach. Information concerning involuntary resettlement with emphasis on implementation, planning and management challenges in different manifestations was used to analyse the study. Sources of information from published peer-reviewed journals and published documents from international organizations whose activities are involved in involuntary resettlement were mainly used for undertaking the study. This study revealed that, the reasons of challenges in involuntary resettlement in Ghana were tenure insecurity and conflicts creation, procedural delays in compensation payment, inadequate compensation and rehabilitation assistance, inadequate infrastructure provision, limited impact of livelihood restoration programs, institutional weakness, community discontent, little information disclosure, insufficient transfer and relocation assistance. It also discovered that land tenure arrangement problems such ownership structure, conflicts over ownership; inadequate funding by government, lack of institutional capacity, cultural and ethnic diversity and politicisation of development, were some of the causes of challenges in involuntary resettlement in Ghana. It is strongly recommended that streamlining the current land acquisition processes, boost of local government revenue, conceptualizing dams as development for people, introducing cultural harmony, building strong institutional capacity and legal reforms on compensation issues would help lesson or solve the problems. The insights from this paper also advocate for further research to establish the root causes of resettlement implementation challenges particularly in Ghana and also establish a broad framework that will deal with the interrelationships between root causes of compensation challenges. Keywords: Involuntary resettlement, Hydropower, Social impacts, Ghan

Response of methane emission and dissolved organic carbons to warming and nitrogen fertilization in boreal peatlands

Although most sources of greenhouse gases (GHG) have been extensively studied, relatively little is understood about the interactive effect of warming and nitrogen addition on methane (CH₄) emissions from boreal peatland. Since methane is a considerably more potent GHG compared to carbon dioxide (CO₂), studies investigating what physical and biological factors control methane emissions in boreal peatlands are becoming increasingly important as an increase in temperature increases the rate of CH₄ emission as well as enhancing the decomposition of dissolved organic matter (DOM). In this experiment, I investigated the response of CH₄ emissions and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations and optical characteristics to warming and nitrogen fertilization in boreal peatlands as a result of global climate change at a peat bog complex in western Newfoundland, Canada. I found that climate warming increased CH₄ emission and DOC concentration at 40 cm peat depth. In contrast, nitrogen (N) addition did not increase CH₄ emission in a boreal peatland. However, the interactive effect of warming and nitrogen addition decreased the rate of CH₄ emission due to the reducing effect of N-addition which counteracted the positive effect of warming in increasing the rate of CH₄ emission from boreal peatlands. This unexpected trend suggests unforeseen factors are involved in the process of methanogenesis that were beyond the scope of this experiment. However, the interactive effect of warming and N addition synergistically increased the DOC and total nitrogen (TN) concentrations at the 40 cm depth due to root exudates favoring DOC mineralization in boreal peatlands. The results further indicate that specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA₂₅₄) increased peat aromaticity. Furthermore, fluorescence index (FI) indicated the peat was of microbially (1.53-1.65) processed dissolved organic matter (DOM) over vascular plant derived DOM in peatland. Humification index (HIX) values for the treatment effects ranged between 0.15-0.17, indicating the peat carbon was not highly degraded and composed of less condensed molecules, indicating a decrease in recalcitrant humified carbon production

Evaluating Banking Profit Performance in Ghana during and post Profit Decline: A five Step Du-Pont Approach

In this study we aimed at three objectives. First, identify and rank banks based on a composite score comprising of all five du-pont variables. Second, we identify variables in the five step du-pont set up that are most likely to influence bank ROE during and post profit declining periods. And third, we estimate a model to capture the variables that drive bank ROE during and post profit declining periods. We first establish from our rankings that, foreign banks in Ghana performed better during profit declining periods while the local banks performed better in post profit decline periods using the top ten banks as a benchmark in both periods. Employing Pearson correlation coefficients matrix, we recognized that operating profit margin, asset turnover and leverage were most likely to influence bank ROE in both time periods. We further employ OLS regression and find that bank ROE was impacted by operating profit margin and leverage during profit declining periods and post profit decline while tax effect added up in post profit declining periods

Firm-level political risk and corporate leverage decisions

Peer reviewe

Leverage and performance : do size and crisis matter?

Peer reviewedPostprin

The past, present and future of sustainability in tourism policy and planning in Sub-Saharan Africa

Tourism is currently growing faster in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and in many other developing regions compared to the rest of the world. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates that in absolute terms there were 63 million international tourist arrivals in SSA for the year ending 2017 – a 9% growth rate. However, this is only 5% of global international tourist arrivals with the share of receipts for SSA at 3% (World Tourism Organization [UNWTO], 2018). While tourism in SSA has long been touted as a potential vehicle for economic growth, job creation and poverty reduction (Novelli, 2015), the outcome has been inconsistent and implications at the local level questionable (Adu-Ampong, 2017, 2018a; Mbaiwa, 2005; Kimbu & Ngoasong, 2013). Nonetheless, the growing influence of the tourism sector in SSA calls for careful consideration of the past, present and future planning and policy contexts through which tourism can be leveraged to achieve sustainable outcomes. This Special Issue on Sustainability in tourism policy and planning in Sub-Saharan Africa: past, present and future, reassesses the process of tourism policy and planning in SSA over the years. This is set against the wider context of the UNWTO having declared 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development and the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) having three of the seventeen goals making an explicit reference to tourism in goal 8: economic growth and employment, goal 12: sustainable consumption and production, and goal 14: conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development (United Nations, 2016). The tourism sector is ergo being called upon to explicitly integrate sustainability in its economic, social and environmental dimensions than has been done previously. This Special Issue therefore considers how the increasing focus on sustainability in policy discourses are shaping current and future tourism policy and planning in the SSA context. The papers are drawn from across all the different sub-regions of sub- Saharan Africa and provide a critical (re)examination of the role of tourism policies, plans and practices in achieving sustainable development in SSA.</p

Managerial compensation and fixed intangible assets investment: the role of managerial ownership and firm characteristics

The file attached to this record is the author's final peer reviewed version. The Publisher's final version can be found by following the DOI link.Purpose: This study examines how cash and stock bonus compensations influence top executives to allocate a firm’s resources to fixed intangible assets investment and the extent to which this relationship is conditional on executives’ ownership, firm growth, internal cash flow and leverage. Design/method/approach: Using data from 213 non-financial and non-utility UK FTSE 350 firms for the period 2007-2015, generating a total of 1,748 firm-year observations, panel econometric methods are employed to test our model. Findings: We observe that executives’ cash bonus compensation positively impacts fixed intangible assets investment. However, executives’ stock bonus compensation has a negative and significant influence on fixed intangible assets. We further observe that executives either cash bonus or stock bonus crucially invest more in fixed intangible assets when the firm has a growth potential. Also, both cash bonus and stock bonus executives in firms with lower internal cash flow spend less on fixed intangible assets. Similar results are also observed for those stock bonus-motivated executives with an increase in fixed intangible assets for low leverage firms but a decrease for high leverage ones. Originality/value: While this paper builds on the classic Q theory of investment literature, it is the first – to the best of our knowledge – to explore how cash and stock bonus compensations influence top executives to allocate a firm’s resources to fixed intangible assets investment and the extent to which this relationship is conditional on executives’ ownership, firm growth, internal cash flow and leverage