Firm-value effects of carbon emissions and carbon disclosures:evidence from Finland

Abstract. The discussion of the relationship between corporate performance and environmental performance has been ongoing for a very long time with a view to find a balance between what should be the objectives of the firm that guarantees both viability and sustainability. One such discussions has been the effect of carbon emission on the value of the firm. A long held position has been that the cost of reducing carbon emission tend to affect the profitability of a firm hence having a negative effect on the value of the firm however in the last two decades, and with the agreement of various governments and institutions on the need to reduce the global carbon footprint, it is beginning to appear that any effort to reduce carbon emissions by any firm is viewed favorably by the capital markets hence increasing the value of the firm However, the challenge that gave rise to this study emanated from the conflicting results across different jurisdictions as to whether the favourable perception of the reduction of carbon emission is dependent on certain characteristics of a particular jurisdiction. Studies in United States and Shanghai finds that the market impose penalties on the value of any firm with carbon emissions while Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan reward the value of the firm with carbon emissions. We therefore look to Finland — a country that has committed to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035 whether the market rewards or penalizes firms with carbon emissions. The study was based on secondary data, specifically financial statement figures from 2019 to 2021-a period of three years-. The study also adopted an expo-facto research design to analyze 50 companies from Refinitiv database. The secondary data from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) database. The research methodology adopted mixed methods research design. The panel data regression model considers robust estimates, including the pooled Ordinary Least Square (OLS) or fixed effects and random effects models. Here we show that the carbon emission and carbon disclosure have a positive but insignificant effect on the value of the firms in Finland. The study found that there exists an insignificant positive effect of carbon emission disclosure on firm value. With every thousand metric tonnes increase in carbon emission, firm value will increase by €3,833 (which appears very low), and the Pearson correlation coefficient also shows a very low positive relationship between the firm value and carbon emission. The implication of this study therefore is that policy makers need to introduce an incentive scheme that is driven by regulators and encompasses all the firms both private and public, in order to reward the firms who are actively reducing their carbon footprints as well as those who are voluntarily disclosing their carbon emissions numbers especially as the country has a carbon-neutral target to achieve by 2035. The scheme should also be effective enough in penalizing any firm that does not actively seek the reduction of carbon emissions

Assistive Technology For Hearing and Speech Disorders

Many individuals with hearing loss will need rehabilitation in order to live maximally productive lives. As such, they need a variety of assistive technologies that provide them with improved access to information thereby enhancing their communication capabilities in a wide variety of environments. Most devices either provide sound amplification or alternate ways to access information through vision and /or vibration. These technologies can be grouped into three general categories. Within each main category, there are subcategories based on different purposes or the intended audiences when utilizing the technology. The overall goal of these devices is improved accessibility to information as close as possible to that enjoyed by individuals without speech and language disorders. The paper discusses the assistive technology for those with hearing impairment. Keywords: Assistive Listening Device, Hearing Technology, Alerting Devices, Communication Suppor

Acid-Catalyzed Esterification of Waste Cooking Oil with High FFA for Biodiesel Production

In this work, Biodiesel was produced from waste cooking oil (WCO) obtained from Mr. Biggs.  Since WCO usually comes with a high content of FFA and thus requires an additional acid pre-treatment process to convert the FFA to ester. Two steps (esterification and transesterification) approach was employed to convert the WCO to biodiesel. In the first step, six experimental run was carried out until the % FFA was constant. Meanwhile, the second step required five experimental runs, and the average WCO biodiesel yield (95.06 % w/w) was computed at the following variable conditions, 0.55% KOH, 5:1 Methanol/oil molar ratio, 60 oC reaction temperature and 30 min reaction time. Meanwhile, the produced WCO biodiesel possess some fuel properties which satisfied both ASTME D6751 and EN 1424 standards. The fatty acid profiles of both the WCO and WCO biodiesel revealed that both profiles contained unsaturated fatty acids. Hence, it can be concluded that WCO is a potential raw material for biodiesel production which are biodegradable, economical, environmental friendly and always available. Keywords: Waste cooking oil (WCO), esterification, transesterification, biodiesel, fatty acids profile, physicochemical analysis

Effects of aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera seed on cadmium-induced reproductive toxicity in male Wistar rats

Bacground: Moringa oleifera seeds have been reported to increase sexual activity of male rats but its mechanism of action remains unknown.Objective: Cadmium is a heavy metal that induces reproductive toxicity. To elucidate its possible mechanisms of action, the effects of aqueous extract of Moringa seeds (AEMS) on Cadmium-induced reproductive damage were investigated.Methods: Thirty male rats (180-200g, n=5) were grouped as follows: Control, Cadmium (2mg/kg), AEMS (100 and 500mg/kg), Cadmium+100mg/kg AEMS and Cadmium+500mg/kg AEMS. Single intraperitoneal dose of Cadmium was administered while AEMS was given daily (p.o) for 6 weeks and thereafter sacrificed by cervical dislocation. Sperm variables were examined microscopically while serum was analysed for sex hormones and antioxidants, testicular and epididymal total protein from tissue homogenate. Data were analysed using Students t-test and ANOVA.Results: Cadmium caused significant decrease in sperm variables. The AEMS decreased sperm motility, count and testosterone. These declines were dose dependent. Total testicular protein was significantly lowered by AEMS but total epididymal protein was not affected. Serum catalase and SOD was reduced by AEMS while MDA increased.Conclusion: Moringa seeds may exhibit male reproductive toxicity, as observed from its deleterious effect on androgen and sperm variables. It failed to prevent cadmium-induced alteration in reproductive variables and serum antioxidants.Keywords: Aqueous extract, Moringa oleifera seed, cadmium-induced reproductive toxicity, male Wistar rats

Hearing Loss and the Elderly - A Primer

Hearing impairment, is very common among the elderly. In many of them it can be so disabling that it affects normal day to day activities, impairs communication and puts them at risk of social isolation and psychological problems. Fortunately, while it cannot be reversed most times, hearing loss in the elderly can be so well managed that the elderly can enjoy a good quality of life. This article is a review on presbycusis (age-related hearing loss), the physiology and management as a means of sensitizing medical personnel and those working with the elderly

Current Trends in Audiological Practices and Implications for Developing Countries

This paper examines the current trends in audiological practices in Nigeria, as it makes case for compulsory use of electro- physiological tests in determining the hearing potentials of children in the country, as against the use of behavioural audiometric strategy which requires the active participation of the patients. Varieties of electro- physiological tests such as Auditory Brainstem Response Test (ABR), Oto- Acoustic Emission, and modern advances such as cochlear implants and auditory brainstem implants for Neuro- Fibromatosis type 2 (NF2) as practiced in developed countries were explained. These current trends in audiological practices should serve as a catalyst to stimulate the developing countries in managing hearing and speech disorders. Keywords: Audiological practices, Developing countries, Audiological investigations, Audiological  Managemen

Comparison of Academic Achievement between Students with Congenital and Acquired Deafness in a Nigerian College

Background:-Most students with deafness have some difficulty with academic achievement, especially with reading and mathematics. However, the range of intelligence levels of students with deafness does not differ from the range in their hearing counterparts. Academic performance must not be equated with intelligence. Most children who are deaf have normal intellectual capacity and it has been repeatedly demonstrated that their scores on non-verbal intelligence tests are approximately the same as those of the general population. Deafness imposes no limitations on the cognitive capabilities of individuals. The problems that deaf students often experience in academics and adjustment may be largely attributed to a bad fit between their perceptual abilities and the demands of spoken and written English. Several studies have suggested that one of the most potent predictors of academic achievement for the students with deafness is the amount of personalized and specialized attention they receive.           Objective:- The objective of this study was to investigate the presence of differences between the academic achievement of students with congenital and that of students with acquired deafness. Methods:- Fifty students with deafness (twenty-five students with congenital deafness and twenty-five students with acquired deafness) were studied ex-post facto.  All fifty students were of the same educational level at the Federal College of Education (Special) Oyo, Nigeria. The instruments used were teacher-made achievement test and subjects academic records on English and Mathematics. The teacher-made achievement test was tested valid with the use of Kuder-Richardson (KR-21), which indicated an alpha level of 0.62. Result:- There was no significant difference in the academic achievement (t = 2.00, p=0.973) in mathematics performance (t = 2.00, p=0.765) or in English Language performance (t= 2.00, p=0.680) between students with congenital deafness and those with acquired deafness. Conclusion: Academic achievement is comparable among non-mentally retarded deaf students who are undergoing proper rehabilitation irrespective of whether the deafness was congenital or acquired Keywords- Academic achievement, Congenital deafness, Acquired deafness, Nigerian colleg

Thin layer drying models for sweet potato in tray dryer

Sweet potato is increasingly becoming important and popular as food stuff all over the world.  Therefore investigation of thin layer drying of sweet potato slices in three different dimensions was carried out between 50oC and 80oC in tray dryer using hot air at a flow rate of 2.5 m/s and 10% relative humidity.  Eight thin-layer drying kinetic models were assessed on blanched and unblanched sweet potato slices presented in three different dimensions.  The drying rate was observed to decrease with thickness and mass at a constant drying temperature.  Also, the drying rate was found to increase with temperature and the blanched slices dried faster than unblanched slices.  The eight models investigated fitted the experimental data of the six sweet potato samples between 50oC and 80oC adequately.  However, Page model was found to be the best for all the samples.  The results obtained are comparable to some of the reported works. Keywords: sweet potato, thin-layer drying models, page model, tray dryer, diffusion mechanis

External Debt and Nigeria’S Economic Growth Nexus, Matters Arising

This study focuses on the impact of external debt on economic growth of Nigeria and in order to carry out an empirical analysis a Simple Regression analysis of the least square method of parameter estimator was done. The significance of the estimated parameters was also subjected to tests like Analysis of Variance, Student t- test, Correlation coefficient (R) and Coefficient of determination R2. The empirical results via the parameters’ estimates revealed that external debt and debt service have negative and positive influence respectively, though the external debt’s estimate was not too strong, on economic growth. The empirical Student t-test and F-statistic when compared with theoretical table values at both 1% & 5% significance level, suggests the acceptance of Null hypothesis stated for equation I which confirms the validity of the negative impact of external debt on economic growth of Nigeria and the acceptance of Alternative hypothesis for equation II which confirms the positive significant relationship between economic growth and debt service. However, the R2 of 53% and 64% reveal that the equations of the models were well fitted that is the independent variable was adequately explained by the explanatory variables. In view of the negative contribution of external debt to economic growth, it is recommended among others, that cost-benefit analysis, prioritization of projects, absorptive capacity of the economy, investment on productive self-financing projects, probity as well as accountability in handling government resources and debt sustainability should form the basis for contracting external debt finance