LCA of the timber sector in Ghana: preliminary life cycle impact assessment (LCIA)

Purpose - Most life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) approaches in life cycle assessment (LCA) are developed for western countries. Their LCIA approaches and characterization methodologies for different impact categories may not be necessarily relevant to African environmental conditions and particularly not for the timber sector in Ghana. This study reviews the relevance of existing impact categories and LCIA approaches, and uses the most relevant for the timber sector of Ghana. Materials and methods - The study reviewed 23 life cycle inventories (LCIs) and LCAs on forestry, timber, and wood products for relevant impact categories and LCIA approaches for their relevance to the specific conditions in Ghana. This study uses an earlier LCI study of the timber industry as a starting point for an additional LCIA. We next performed a correlation and regression analysis to learn whether wood wastes may function as a reasonable single indicator for land use as proxy for biodiversity loss and the other impact categories. Results and discussion - The literature review shows that no LCI or LCA studies were developed for Africa or the tropics. The LCIA approaches in the reviewed LCAs are indeed shown to take their basis in the environmental problems in western countries and characterization methodologies relating to how these problems manifest themselves in the western world. Characterization methodologies for different impact categories in CML-2000 and other LCIA approaches may not be necessarily relevant to African tropical environmental conditions and particularly not for the timber sector in Ghana. This situation hampers the reliability of our LCIA and points to a serious research gap in LCIA development in general. We applied the scientifically well-recognized CML 2000 to the earlier LCI results and characterized the preliminary selected impact categories of global warming, acidification, eutrophication, photochemical oxidant formation, and human toxicity. The correlation analysis indicated that wood waste is indeed strongly correlated with land use as proxy for biodiversity loss and also positively correlated with the other five potential impact results. It can be concluded that wood waste production is a major driving force for biodiversity loss and a sufficiently good single indicator for all other environmental performance indicators in the timber sector of Ghana. Conclusions - This study and the previous LCI paper are pioneering a field not yet explored, since the correct environmental performance indicators are not yet developed or adapted to tropical conditions. The development of LCIA approaches in the tropics may be the start of a never-ending journey in LCA research in Africa, particularly Ghana

Inventory analysis of the timber industry in Ghana

Background, aim, and scope The timber sector, i.e., forestry and timber industry, plays an important role in the socioeconomic development of Ghana through timber products export. Timber production in this sector is associated with increasing environmental burdens in terms of use of materials and energy, production of emissions and waste, and land use changes. The purpose of this study was to compile a comprehensive life cycle inventory (LCI) to identify the most dominant environmental pressures for five major production lines in the timber industry, and to evaluate the influence of the choice of the functional unit on the results (1 m3, 1 kg, and 1 euro). LCA’s of wood typically base their functional unit on volume, but mass or money may be more appropriate for the rather different products considered in this study. Materials and methods The LCI covers five timber production lines, namely, air-dried lumber, kiln-dried lumber, plywood, veneer, and furniture parts. Three functional units were used for this study to identify the most appropriate basis for a fair comparison of the different timber products (functional units were 1 m3, 1 kg and 1 euro). Questionnaires were administered to thirty selected companies in Ghana. These companies provided data about their material uses, energy requirements, and waste production for their operations from 2000 to 2007. The collected data were first converted into total annual average values, and next extrapolated to reflect the national average data for all 104 active companies. Finally, these data were expressed per functional unit for each of the five product lines on the basis of their production outputs (in volume, mass or money according to functional unit applied). Forest land used changes data was taken from the Ghana Timber Industry Development Division. Emissions for the several activities were taken from literature. Results and discussion Land use change for timber production in Ghana between the estimated periods turned out to be 34.0¿×¿103 ha per year, which will lead to complete deforestation in the year 2023 if continued. The total energy consumed by the timber sector per year was estimated at 1.9¿×¿109 MJ per year. The results showed that CO2 emissions by the timber sector activities per year accounted for 745k tons per year and dominate overall greenhouse gases emissions in the timber sector (changes in carbons storage related to land use changes not included). Wood waste by the timber sector accounted for 0.8 million m3 per year. The enormous wastage of wood contributes enormously to the rapid depletion of the country’s timber resources. The choice of the functional unit influences inventory results. The money-based functional unit, which also seems more appropriate for the different products considered, favors the value-added. Value-added products with strict sustainable forest management policy hold a promising future in terms of sustainability for the timber industry in Ghana. Conclusions This study has yielded good quality primary data unique for LCA research in Africa. This will enhance LCA approaches in Ghana, and allows here identification of the main environmental pressures and their dominantly contributing processes in the timber sector. Land use changes due to forestry form a critical issue and require urgent attention. The chosen functional units’ plays a crucial role in the environmental comparison of production line in the timber sector in Ghana. Recommendations and perspectives A comprehensive and transparent inventory for the timber industry provides the industry with an overview of areas in which material and thus economic savings can be made for the good of both environment and the industry finances. Good data keeping in the Ghanaian timber industry will help to build the required research capacity to develop local familiarity and competence in LCA techniques and applying these techniques will help to further certify tropical timber international markets

Equity in Focus : Investigating Gender Disparities in Glioblastoma via Propensity Score Matching

Gender disparities in health outcomes have garnered significant attention, prompting investigations into their underlying causes. Glioblastoma (GBM), a devastating and highly aggressive form of brain tumor, serves as a case for such inquiries. Despite the mounting evidence on gender disparities in GBM outcomes, investigations specific at the molecular level remain scarce and often limited by confounding biases in observational studies. In this study, I aimed to investigate the gender-related differences in GBM outcomes using propensity score matching (PSM) to control for potential confounding variables. The data used was accessed from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), encompassing factors such as gender, age, molecular characteristics and different glioma grades. Propensity scores were calculated for each patient using logistic regression, representing the likelihood of being male based on the baseline characteristics. Subsequently, patients were matched using the nearest-neighbor (with a restricted caliper) matching to create a balanced male-female group. After PSM, 303 male-female pairs were identified, with similar baseline characteristics in terms of age and molecular features. The analysis revealed a higher incidence of GBM in males compared to females, after adjusting for potential confounding factors. This study contributes to the discourse on gender equity in health, paving the way for targeted interventions and improved outcomes, and may guide efforts to improve gender-specific treatment strategies for GBM patients. However, further investigations and prospective studies are warranted to validate these findings and explore additional factors that might contribute to the observed gender-based differences in GBM outcomes aside from the molecular characteristics

Board reforms and dividend policy: Worldwide evidence

Miller&Modigliani(1961)提出了股利无关理论并认为公司的股利政策无关紧要。然而，后续的研究已经表明股利政策确实至关重要，且公司不同的股利政策会导致市场的不同反应。当前，已经建立的相关理论也表明，股利政策是公司董事会在现代公司设置中用来保护外部投资者利益的治理工具之一。本文预期将得到如下结论，在其他所有条件相同的情况下，董事会改革会改善公司董事会有效运用股利政策的能力，使之成为一个有效的治理工作，尽可能的减少代理问题。 利用来自35个不同国家的数据，本文发现，董事会改革与公司是否发放股利、发放股利的数额大小存在着正相关关系。本文还发现，在投资者保护薄弱的国家，董事会改革和股...Miller & Modigliani (1961) argued that dividend was irrelevant and implied that dividend policy did not matter. However, subsequent studies have shown that dividend policy does matter and that the market reacts to dividend policy of firms. It has also been established that dividend policy is one of the governance tools used by board of corporations to safeguard the interests of outside investors i...学位：工商管理硕士院系专业：财务管理与会计研究院_会计学学号：2782015115463

To Win the War, You Fought It Sideways: Kojo Laing's Major Gentl and the Achimota Wars

The essay provides a close reading of the Laingian text that provides the conceptual levers of intervention required to undertake the desedimentation of the categories of magical realism, science fiction and Afrofuturism in order to think through the recursive capacities of the text to act upon the object of literature from the future of 2020 in the present of 1992

Behavioral Ecology and Associated Virology of Mosquito-Host Interactions in Southern California

Elucidating characteristics of mosquito-host interactions are critical for understanding the ecology and epidemiology of mosquito-borne diseases. In this dissertation, I conducted three studies to explore potential mosquito-host interactions and associated virus infection rates. I first demonstrated that mosquito captures at CO2-baited traps decreased most markedly with height above ground, and also decreased with distance from water at a riparian area but not at an open water source lacking a vegetated border. Birds might therefore prefer elevated nests or roosts to avoid mosquitoes. The second study examined the anti-mosquito behaviors of budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus) in a laboratory study. The birds defended themselves by increased frequencies of at least five maintenance behaviors, especially foot shake. These behaviors increased over a 2-hour period of exposure, and varied depending on mosquito landing location. Mosquitoes landed primarily on the trunk of birds, but showed no preference for fresh versus previously exposed birds. The third study showed that primary serum antigenantibody tests were negative in rattlesnakes (genus Crotalus) for West Nile virus and western equine encephalitis, but positive for a flavivirus presumed to be St. Louis encephalitis in 10% of the 40 sampled snakes. This unexpected finding constitutes the first likely report of St. Louis encephalitis virus in any reptile, and suggests that rattlesnakes may be reservoirs or secondary hosts of flaviviruses in southern California. Collectively, these studies provide new insights on mosquito host-seeking behavior, mosquito-host interactions, and viruses in reptiles, and offer direction for further study

日本研究の方法論的基礎 : 「関係体」の原基性をめぐって

Thus far Japanese studies conducted from sociological and anthropological viewpoints have used several key concepts such as "shame culture", "vertical society", "group ego", "amae (dependency)", all of which denote a lack of individual autonomy and independence in a social action. In these studies the Japanese are seen as group-oriented people who totally devote themselves to the organization to which they belong.Such analyses depend on methodological individualism in the comparative study of societies and do not necessarily reflect the emic nature of the Japanese. This paper aims to correct a methodological problem in Japanese studies by shifting the paradigm from methodological individuum-ism to methodological relatum-ism.After discussing the concept of "paradigm" and "model", two types of actor-subject, that is, the "relatum" and the "individuum" are differentiated. The former is the system constituted by the human nexus itself, and forms a referential "holon" or self-organizing system in a universal pattern. Here the concept of "holon" as discussed by Arthur Koestler and Hiroshi Shimizu is reexamined. The latter, the "individuum", is thought to be a specific form of the "relatum".From the ontological point of view, the "individual" as a mere unit of society has a fictitious nature in itself and its existence cannot be presupposed without any reference to a specific "field" composed of the crossing of human model called the "contextual" as the "relatum" is proposed instead of the usual "individual" model of person as the "individuum".Lastly the ontological foundation of the "relatum" is sought out, based on arguments by Nāgārjuna and Tokuryu Yamanouchi on ancient Buddhist philosophy

Graphic Design Students’ Per spectives and Attitudes t owards Feedback w ithin Peer Assessment in Design Studio Pedagogy

This paper reports the validity of the hypothesis that giving and receiving peer feedback during studio critique supports the assumption that the nature of feedback affects student learning and student perceptions of the quality of the learning experience. The research question is whether peer feedback operated under studio pedagogy has the potential of enhancing quality learning. The purpose of this study is to examine student perceptions of peer feedback in a studio-based learning environment. This is a case study where data was collected qualitatively. This study clearly demonstrates the positive perceptions of peer feedback held by design students and the influence these perceptions have on students’ learning outcomes