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The Influence of Investor Sentiment on the Chinese Financial Market
No full textThis thesis investigates the role of investor sentiment in shaping financial market outcomes in China through three empirical chapters.
The first chapter examines how investor sentiment influences IPO underpricing under China’s registration-based IPO system. Using deep learning algorithms to analyze Weibo text data, the study finds a significant positive relationship between pre-IPO investor sentiment and underpricing. The results suggest that IPO pricing reflects not only firm fundamentals but also investor optimism and speculative behavior.
The second chapter explores the impact of investor sentiment on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), focusing on the post-announcement period. Investor sentiment, constructed from Weibo posts during the four-day event window, is shown to positively influence short-term abnormal returns and reduce the likelihood of deal withdrawals. These findings highlight the extent to which investor reactions shape corporate decision-making.
The third chapter investigates investor green sentiment in the context of ESG mutual funds. A sentiment index based on Baidu search data reveals that stronger green sentiment leads to higher fund inflows, especially for high ESG-rated funds. However, larger inflows result in increased fund size, which negatively affects subsequent performance due to diseconomies of scale.
Overall, this thesis provides new evidence on the influence of individual investor sentiment in an emerging market setting and demonstrate that investor sentiment not only affects asset pricing and fund flows but also plays a role in corporate actions such as IPO pricing and M&A decisions. This thesis provides important implications for investors, fund managers, and regulators seeking to understand and respond to sentiment-driven behaviour in China’s evolving financial markets
Exploring the prevalence and primary care management of common mental disorders in the Falkland Islands
No full textAim: The aim of this study was to explore the prevalence and management of common mental disorders within primary care in the Falkland Islands.
Background: Understanding population mental health in remote and rural communities is a global public health priority. With no previous community-based prevalence studies in the Falkland Islands and no understanding of the challenges faced by primary care practitioners managing common mental disorders within this remote island community, this study seeks to inform clinical practice and inform public health policy and initiatives.
Methods: A multi-method approach with two separate studies was employed, combining findings from an adult population postal survey and semi-structured interviews with primary care practitioners.
The population sample consisted of 979 respondents, representing 39% of the adult population. Interviews with seven primary care practitioners, three GPs and four nurse practitioners, were analysed applying thematic synthesis of themes from the literature to develop a framework of overarching themes.
Findings: The prevalence of common mental disorder in the Falkland Islands is 12%, or one in eight for depression and anxiety and one in ten for PTSD. Prevalence varies in association with the demographic characteristics of the population. The study found that primary care practitioners do not routinely screen for the range of disorders, so misdiagnosis and missed opportunities to diagnosis exist. Hazardous alcohol intake is more prevalent in men and is associated with common mental disorder. Low level drug abuse is prevalent in one in twenty of the population.
Conclusion: Population subgroups emerge at greater risk of common mental disorder, particularly linked to gender and age range. Community based health surveillance in the Falkland Islands is a valuable tool understanding the community and improving public mental health. Implementing routine screening in primary care practice would improve the detection of common mental disorders and associated alcohol or drug use
The effects of landscape context and climate on woodland use by bats: implications for habitat creation
No full textThere has been growing recognition that simply protecting pristine habitat is insufficient to protect biodiversity in the face of the twin crises of habitat loss and climate change. This, combined with a desire to use functioning ecosystems as carbon sequestration tools, has led to ambitious targets for habitat restoration. Restoration projects are often costly and resource intensive, so strategic planning is required to maximise their benefits. However, evidence is often lacking to inform practitioners of the best strategies. Landscape context can affect the success of restoration projects as edge effects can impact patch quality and the composition and configuration of nearby habitats can promote or impede colonisation. In the UK where habitat loss has been dominated by deforestation, government targets for habitat restoration tend to focus on woodland creation. Bats in the UK use woodland for roosting and foraging and stand to benefit greatly from increased woodland cover resulting from these targets. Here, the impacts of landscape context and climate on bats’ use of woodlands are investigated.
Long term population data were used to understand the impacts of heath restoration in conifer forests on bats. In plantations where conifer comprised the majority woodland cover, conversion of conifer to open habitats had negative effects on woodland bats, causing populations to decline or grow at a slower rate.
How bat activity responds to woodland and trees outside woodland cover and spatial configuration was assessed by surveying 60 landscapes in two regions of the UK, with limited impacts found across a number of species. In particular, bat activity in woody habitat patches was consistent along a gradient of woodland cover. However, trees outside woodlands (ToW) were found to be incredibly important aspects of agricultural landscapes. Bat activity at such sites were on par with woodland edge, a key foraging habitat, and landscape ToW cover increased occurrence for N. noctula. Activity at ToW sites (and to a lesser extent woodland edge) also increased as the woodland cover was divided into more patches for P. pipistrellus and Myotis spp. while declining in woodland interior sites, suggesting that ToW increased landscape connectivity and matrix permeability as ‘fragmentation per-se’ increased.
Multi and cross scale landscape drivers of habitat suitability were investigated at a national scale using nested habitat suitability models. Habitat associations for the 9 most common species of bat in the UK were complex and varied between species and scales considered, however some general patterns emerged. Broadleaf woodland and ToW cover had a positive impact on all species, however there was no strong indication that any particular range of cover increase was most beneficial across all species and scales. Agricultural habitat had mixed effects but high levels of cover tended to be negative. Urban cover also typically negatively affected suitability, although rural buildings allowed for roosts. Additionally, by using a multi-level approach important cross-scale interactions were identified.
Spatial patterns and potential land use and climate drivers of emerging Rhinolophus hipposideros population trends were also investigated. National R. hipposideros population recoveries in the UK have slowed in the last decade and this is seemingly driven by declines in the Southwest of England. Yearly growth rates were negatively impacted by winter precipitation anomalies and increasing spring temperatures, while short term (5 year) trends were negatively impacted by increased summer precipitation and urban cover. These impacts did not appear to be concentrated in the Southwest, suggesting that they may not be the main drivers of spatial patterns.
Overall, this thesis has highlighted that landscape context can influence woodland benefits to bats, although the effects of urban, agricultural and woodland cover in the landscape are all species and scale specific, complicating recommendations for spatial targeting. However, it seems that planting woodland in varied landscape contexts will benefit at least part of the UK bat community, although concentrating new planting in a smaller number of patches is likely to have the most benefits for woodland specialists. Trees outside woodland also had an important role to play as habitat for bats in agricultural landscapes, particularly in boosting connectivity between fragmented patches and thus sympathetic management and new planting of these should also be promoted
"Stay home": queer(y)-ing the heteronormative assumptions of COVID policy responses
No full textIn early 2020, governments in many countries responded to uncontrolled community transmission of COVID-19 by instituting lockdowns, or shelter-in-place orders, of varying degrees of stringency. As we waited for the roll-out of vaccines to lower the mortality and morbidity of the viral infection, lockdowns were used repeatedly by governments across the world as a public policy measure to reduce transmission. In this chapter, we use the experiences of LGBT+ people during the COVID pandemic in the UK, as captured in research, to “queer” public management. Public policy, and its administration, routinely appeals to the circumstances, needs and preferences of the majority in designing services and distributing resources. There are all sorts of unintended and exclusionary consequences of this that preoccupy researchers interested in minoritized or marginalised populations. The public policy response to COVID-19 is of course no different. At times, this appeal to the majority has pivoted on a heteronormative understanding of what can and should constitute “home” and intimate relationships during times of public health crisis. At other times, a failure to recognise difference in the lives of all citizen-subjects has benefited LGBT+ people, but not sufficiently to fulfil their distinctive circumstances and needs. In this chapter, we demonstrate how policy responses to COVID-19 have tended to reflect a series of heteronormative assumptions that typically underlie public management, uniquely shaping the lives, security and opportunity of LGBT+ people
Band Aid sang 'feed the world' 40 years ago - where is hunger still an issue today?
Get PDFFirst paragraph: The 40th-anniversary remake of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? charity hit was released on November 25. The new mix, which features vocals recycled from previous versions of the single, still includes the original track’s “feed the world” message and lyrics.Zero Hunge
Interactive effects of multiple stressors with significant wave height exposure on farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) welfare along an inshore-offshore gradient
No full textFish farming is the fastest growing food production sector worldwide and now accounts for most human fish consumption. Expansion of finfish aquaculture to exposed offshore marine environments is appealing where additional sheltered areas are unavailable. While more energetic environments may reduce waste accumulation and parasite exposure, effects on fish health and wellbeing are largely speculative. The multiple stressors faced by fish on offshore farms may interact synergistically and increase their cumulative impact. We used 20 months of health and welfare data from eight Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) sea pen farms in Scotland along a wave exposure gradient to assess the effects of, and interactions between, environmental variables and management treatments on fish mortality and parasite loads. While farms showed high variability in mortality rate and sea lice infections, multi-level Bayesian modelling indicated that wave exposure primarily modulated effects of other variables. Higher exposure farms showed steeper increases in mortality with time and with extreme temperatures. Similarly, sea lice infections tended to increase with time, with higher exposure farms seeing steeper increases at higher Amoebic Gill Disease (AGD) scores and at high temperatures. The effect of AGD was greater at slow water speeds. Treatments against parasites were more frequent at low exposure farms, leading to uncertainty in their impact on welfare across farms. The support for interactive effects of wave exposure with other variables rather than strong direct effects suggests an accumulation of chronic and acute stressors. Expansion of aquaculture to more energetic offshore environments may have negative impacts on fish health in some circumstances, requiring adaptation of practices. In particular, the stronger increase in mortality over time may have implications for cycle length in different environments, and the more dramatic impacts of the warmest temperatures at high exposure farms call for consideration of the change in water temperature both inshore and offshore
Exploring the early manifestation of information poverty in young children
Get PDFInformation poverty is widely recognised as having a negative impact upon peoples’ health and wellbeing, and socioeconomic prosperity; however, whilst an issue of significant societal concern evidenced across a wide variety of adult groups and socioeconomic contexts, no studies have been previously undertaken with children. This appears a significant oversight given that many children across the globe are considered multi-dimensionally poor. This study thus sought to explore the possibility of information poverty amongst children. 156 children (aged 6-8) from five UK primary schools participated in a series of practical exercises exploring their information behaviours, and 34 parents and teachers were interviewed to provide further insights. Finding’s evidence self-protective information behaviours and unmet information needs amongst children aged 6-8; both characteristics of an impoverished information state. Whilst much can be explained in developmental terms (i.e. in relation to child age and emergent literacies), much can also be explained in information poverty terms encompassing issues of both information access and use. Notably, approximately half of our child participants considered themselves to be, in general, unsuccessful information seekers; and contrasts with the views of our adult participants who majority believed that children are, in general, successful information seekers. This paper provides the first evidence of information poverty in young children, and provides further insights into the role of parents in supporting their children’s information needs and shaping their developing information behaviours, with parental mediation of child media use appearing particularly problematic. Enduring inequalities in information access are also highlighted. Beyond call for further global research, a public communication campaign to increase awareness of child information poverty and contributory factors is recommended as an immediate priority
Super-Networks Shaping International Agreements: Comparing the Climate Change and Nuclear Weapons Arenas
Get PDFWhile research on transnational advocacy networks (TANs) is well established in international relations, knowledge gaps remain concerning TAN collaboration across policy fields. To address this gap, this article highlights how super-networks (networks above individual TANs) emerge across issue areas and explores the tactics utilized to achieve their objectives and shape international agreements. We develop an analytical framework that emphasizes the important interplay between political opportunity structures, mobilizing structures, and tactics in understanding how super-networks operate. We apply this framework via a comparative case study approach, analyzing the Inter-Constituency Alliance, whose advocacy brought about the inclusion of human rights language in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, and the International Campaign for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons, whose activities based on humanitarian principles resulted in the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Contributing new knowledge to TANs research, we identify that super-networks utilize multilevel advocacy activities that draw upon a package approach tactic. Via the package approach, super-networks synthesize multiple voices from different issue areas into one key message grounded in humanitarian framing, thereby enhancing their moral leverage and legitimacy, making it more difficult for states to neglect their concerns.Andrea Schapper is a Professor of International Politics at the University of Stirling, UK. Her research focuses on new forms of transnational advocacy and institutional interaction at the intersection of human rights, the environment, and sustainable development. Megan Dee is a Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of Stirling, UK. Her research focuses on the role and performance of state and non-state actor networks and coalitions within multilateral negotiations, specializing in nuclear disarmament negotiations. Authors' note : This work was supported by the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE Reference Number: 1722, project: SuperSustainable). The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their constructive feedback, thoughtful comments, and helpful suggestions, along with Thomas Hickmann, Nina Reiners, Domenico Carolei, and the participants of the History, Heritage, and Politics research seminar at the University of Stirling for commenting on earlier versions of this article. We would also like to thank all of our interviewees, whose comments have made such an important contribution to this study
Teacher educators and environmental justice: conversations about education for environmental justice between science and geography teacher educators based in England and Brazil
No full textWhile environmental education has been present in the field of Education for decades now, only recently our particular subject areas of science and geography have started to pay more critical attention to specific concerns surrounding the intersection of environmental issues and social justice (also known as environmental justice) within the context of formal secondary education, including in secondary teacher education programmes. Drawing on scholarship, policy landscapes and socio-environmental concerns from both the global South and the global North, and on a methodological approach based on transnational collective reflection and collaborative-dialogic writing, in this article we delve into our different cultural, geographical and disciplinary contexts, views and experiences as four teacher educators from Brazil and England who have been working at this intersection between environmental justice and Science and Geography teacher education programmes for secondary formal education. Here we will argue that environmental justice needs to have a central role in such teacher education programmes if we aim to support young people and their teachers in navigating the spatially diverse and unequal impacts of environmental emergencies in global North and South communities. We also consider future directions for research and collaboration across national and disciplinary boundaries within the landscape of environmental education for environmental justice, reflecting on the future of teacher education across the global North and the global South when facing more frequent and severe environmental emergencies.Output Status: Forthcomin
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