The effect of voluntary environmental disclosure on firm value : a study of Nordic listed firms

This paper empirically investigates the relationship between voluntary environmental disclosure and firm value. The analysis is based on a sample consisting of Nordic listed firms disclosing environmental information to the Carbon Disclosure Project in 2007 -2011. We investigate the impact of disclosure on firm value from both an accounting and a market perspective. We provide evidence of a significant, positive association between the level of voluntary environmental disclosure and Tobin’s Q. Furthermore, we find that firms with improved disclosure from one year to the next experience abnormal excess return. Firms with stable or aggravated disclosure do not yield the same result. This implies that voluntary environmental disclosure is value-relevant for stakeholders, and has a positive impact on firm value

Numerisk homogenisering med forskjellig diskretisering av de representative volumelementene behandlet med lokaliserte Lagrange multiplikatorer

Solving heterogeneous material problems are of importance in many fields. If the heterogeneities are small compared to the scale of the whole problem, a standard finite element analysis often becomes computationally too large. Multi-scale homogenization is a technique that reduces the amount of calculations, but still manages to capture the heterogeneous properties. The domain of the problem is divided into Representative Volume Elements(RVEs), which in turn are discretized through ordinary finite elements. Periodic boundary conditions have to be applied to the RVEs for homogenization to be possible, and a common way to maintain these boundary conditions is by Multi-Point Constraints (MPC). A limitation with MPC is that it does not maintain the periodic boundary conditions in a correct manner when the RVE boundary nodes are non-matching, which they in general are. In this thesis, Localized Lagrange Multipliers(LLM) are used to maintain the periodic boundary conditions over the RVE, in order to handle RVEs with non-matching grids. Mathematical homogenization theory in 2D and derivations of MPC and the LLM method are given. A computer program solving two-scale computational homogenization problems in 2D using both LLM and MPC has been implemented in MATLAB. Several RVEs with different boundary situations and material compositions are analyzed, and the results from the LLM and MPC analysis are compared. The results show that LLM is more suitable than MPC to handle the periodic boundary conditions in multi-scale homogenization. LLM deals with all situations that MPC does. In addition, it produces reliable solutions when the boundary nodes are nonmatching

The distribution and diversity of species in the genus Owenia (Polychaeta) in Norwegian waters

In this study the diversity and distribution of Owenia species in Norwegian waters are discussed. Owenia fusiformis and the Owenia genus has gone through a turbulent history, with authors describing several new species, while other researchers have disagreed, resulting in many described species being synonymized with O. fusiformis. Norwegian waters are no exception, and the majority of samples in natural history collections are still referred to as Owenia fusiformis. In this study both morphological and molecular methods will be used to solve the issue regarding the true identity of Owenia in Norwegian waters. Along with morphological character two genes, COI and ITS1, was sequenced and analyzed. COI proved to be very difficult to extract and amplify successfully for one group of specimens, from which no successful sequences were obtained, while being relatively unproblematic in other groups, leading the question if the COI primers are accurate enough. ITS1 was unproblematic to amplify and sequence, but due to highly variable sequences, a lot of effort was needed to analyze the dataset. Morphological characters proved to exhibit high degrees of the variation, resulting in most of the defined characters being useless in differentiating between the species. Still, enough useful morphologic characters, the best one being the methyl blue staining pattern, were defined, making it possible to distinguish between different species occurring in Norwegian waters. This being congruent with the molecular results, led to the conclusion that at least two different species of Owenia is present in Norwegian waters, Owenia borealis Koh, Bhaud & Jirkov, 2003 and Owenia polaris Koh, Bhaud & Jirkov, with results also suggesting there might be more. Type specimens of Owenia assimilis (Sars, 1851) were also examined, concluding with this probably being identical to O. borealis, although the possibility of the type material being more than one species, leads to this being an open question, in need of more research before an answer can be given. Specimens from the O. fusiformis type locality were also examined, concluding with the presence of the true O. fusiformis in Norwegian waters being highly unlikely

Obstetric complications and intelligence in patients on the schizophrenia-bipolar spectrum and healthy participants

Background Whether severe obstetric complications (OCs), which harm neural function in offspring, contribute to impaired cognition found in psychiatric disorders is currently unknown. Here, we sought to evaluate how a history of severe OCs is associated with cognitive functioning, indicated by Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Methods We evaluated the associations of a history of OCs and IQ in 622 healthy controls (HC) and 870 patients on the schizophrenia (SCZ) – bipolar disorder (BIP) spectrum from the ongoing Thematically Organized Psychosis study cohort, Oslo, Norway. Participants underwent assessments using the NART (premorbid IQ) and the WASI (current IQ). Information about OCs was obtained from the Medical Birth Registry of Norway. Multiple linear regression models were used for analysis. Results Severe OCs were equally common across groups. SCZ patients with OCs had lower performances on both premorbid and current IQ measures, compared to those without OCs. However, having experienced more than one co-occurring severe OC was associated with lower current IQ in all groups. Conclusions Severe OCs were associated with lower IQ in the SCZ group and in the BIP and HC groups, but only if they had experienced more than one severe OC. Low IQ might be a neurodevelopmental marker for SCZ; wherein, severe OCs influence cognitive abilities and increase the risk of developing SCZ. Considering OCs as a variable of neurodevelopmental risk for severe mental illness may promote the development of neuroprotective interventions, improve outcome in vulnerable newborns and advance our ability to make clinical prognoses

Cortical folding in Broca's area relates to obstetric complications in schizophrenia patients and healthy controls

Background The increased occurrence of obstetric complications (OCs) in patients with schizophrenia suggests that alterations in neurodevelopment may be of importance to the aetiology of the illness. Abnormal cortical folding may reflect subtle deviation from normal neurodevelopment during the foetal or neonatal period. In the present study, we hypothesized that OCs would be related to cortical folding abnormalities in schizophrenia patients corresponding to areas where patients with schizophrenia display altered cortical folding when compared with healthy controls. Method In total, 54 schizophrenia patients and 54 healthy control subjects underwent clinical examination and magnetic resonance image scanning on a 1.5 T scanner. Information on OCs was collected from original birth records. An automated algorithm was used to calculate a three-dimensional local gyrification index (lGI) at numerous points across the cortical mantle. Results In both schizophrenia patients and healthy controls, an increasing number of OCs was significantly related to lower lGI in the left pars triangularis (p<0.0005) in Broca's area. For five other anatomical cortical parcellations in the left hemisphere, a similar trend was demonstrated. No significant relationships between OCs and lGI were found in the right hemisphere and there were no significant case-control differences in lGI. Conclusions The reduced cortical folding in the left pars triangularis, associated with OCs in both patients and control subjects suggests that the cortical effect of OCs is caused by factors shared by schizophrenia patients and healthy controls rather than factors related to schizophrenia alon

What contributes to individual differences in brain structure?

Individual differences in adult human brain structure have been found to reveal a great deal of information about variability in behaviors, cognitive abilities and mental and physical health. Driven by such evidence, what contributes to individual variation in brain structure has gained accelerated attention as a research question. Findings thus far appear to support the notion that an individual’s brain architecture is determined largely by genetic and environmental influences. This review aims to evaluate the empirical literature on whether and how genes and the environment contribute to individual differences in brain structure. It first considers how genetic and environmental effects may separately contribute to brain morphology, by examining evidence from twin, genome-wide association, cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. Next, evidence for the influence of the complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors, characterized as gene-environment interactions and correlations, is reviewed. In evaluating the extant literature, this review will conclude that both genetic and environmental factors play critical roles in contributing to individual variability in brain structure

The role of investors’ fear in crude oil volatility forecasting

We study whether investors’ fear can predict oil price volatility. The proxies used for investors’ fear are the CBOE Crude Oil Volatility Index (OVX), Google searches for “oil price”, and United States Oil Fund (USO) trading volume. In the in-sample analysis, we find that increased OVX, increased Google searches, and increased trading volume predict increased oil price volatility. Additionally, we find bidirectional Granger-causalities between volatility and OVX, volatility and Google searches, and volatility and trading volume. However, results are very different for the out-of-sample forecasts. We incorporate OVX, Google searches for “oil price”, trading volume, and their combinations into commonly used volatility models but find that these variables or their combinations improve none of the models in terms of out-of-sample forecasting.publishedVersio

En studie av akkumulasjon- og ablasjonsmønstre basert på LiDAR data fra to fonner i Dovrefjellsregionen

This master thesis study the mass balance pattern of two ice patches, Kringsollfonna and Storbrean, in the municipality of Oppdal, Norway for the balance year of 2013/2014. These ice patches are of climatic and archeological significance, due to their existence below the regional ELA, their capability of preserving archeological artefacts and because of their existence for over 3500 years. Mass balance data was obtained in September and March/April by terrestrial LiDAR scanner. High resolution point cloud data was analyzed in ArcMap, producing and comparing DEMs with resolution of 0.5x0.5 meter. The mean accumulation values for Storbrean and Kringsollfonna is similar (4.10 and 4.17 meters respectively) and seems to be heavily dependent on snowdrift and preferential deposition in concave areas within the extent of the patches. The ablation patterns are very different with mean values of -5.68 meters on Storbrean and -7.39 meters on Kringsollfonna. This difference may be explained by factors such as: (1) incoming solar radiation, (2) altitude, (3) wind patterns, (4) a late snowfall (June 2014), (5) albedo and (6) summer precipitation. The individual effect of these are however difficult to quantify, based on only one year of measurements. The mass balance 2013/2014 of both patches was negative