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Politics of rural land acquisition in Africa: the evidence from Chinese agricultural investments in Tanzania and Zambia
No full textThe contemporary processes of rural land acquisitions have been studied primarily through the lens of land grabbing and dispossession. Recent literature starts to emphasize the important and nuanced role of domestic institutions in shaping foreign land investment. This paper contributes to this scholarship by systematically analysing how subnational land tenure regimes (LTRs) shape the locational choices of Chinese agricultural investments (CAgriIs). The analysis is based on an original case database of CAgriIs in Tanzania and Zambia constructed using fieldwork data. I find that Chinese investors have significantly stronger preference for a private property regime where foreign land access and landholding are supposedly supported by the host state. Additionally, the other types of LTRs that authorities have discretionary power of land allocation over, receive much lower levels of CAgriIs. The findings reveal nuances in land politics in the process of rural land acquisitions in Africa, which put the land grabs and dispossession narrative in question
Information in derivatives markets: forecasting prices with prices
No full textI survey work that uses information in derivative and other asset prices to forecast movements in financial markets
How anxiety impacts the economic decision-making: insights from neuroscience and cognitive psychology
No full textAnxiety is a mental disorder that not only impacts the physical and mental well-being of individuals but also affects cognitive functions, including decision-making processes. Does anxiety, as a trait instead of a state, disrupt the normal decision-making process? This paper explores the impact of anxiety as a trait on the normative decision-making framework, focusing specifically on economic choices that necessitate a balance between potential losses and gains. A review and discussion of how anxiety affects decision-making will be discussed in detail from cognitive psychology and neuroscience perspective. The first section examines key cognitive differences between anxious and non-anxious individuals, highlighting cognitive biases that hinder decision-making in those with anxiety. Subsequently, we analyze the neural mechanisms underlying these processes, emphasizing the roles of critical brain regions such as the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, along with relevant functional connectivity, to elucidate how cognitive biases affect individuals with anxiety during economic decision-making. Lastly, the practical implication of the paper will be discussed
Transforming women's health, empowerment, and gender equality with digital health: evidence-based policy and practice
No full textWe evaluated the effects of digital health technologies (DHTs) on women's health, empowerment, and gender equality, using the scoping review method. Following a search across five databases and grey literature, we analysed 80 studies published up to Aug 18, 2023. The thematic appraisal and quantitative analysis found that DHTs positively affect women's access to health-care services, self-care, and tailored self-monitoring enabling the acquisition of health-related interventions. Use of these technologies is beneficial across various medical fields, including gynaecology, endocrinology, and psychiatry. DHTs also improve women's empowerment and gender equality by facilitating skills acquisition, health education, and social interaction, while allowing cost-effective health services. Overall, DHTs contribute to better health outcomes for women and support the UN Sustainable Development Goals by improving access to health care and financial literacy
Panacea or Pandora’s box: diverse governance strategies for conspiracy theories and their consequences in China
No full textThis study examines the Chinese government’s strategies for managing conspiracy theories (CTs) on social media. While previous research has primarily considered how authoritarian regimes disseminate CTs for political purposes and has often viewed the public as fully receptive to propaganda and easily manipulated, our research explores a broader spectrum of state strategies including propagation, tolerance, and partial rebuttal. Based on social network analysis, topic modeling, and qualitative analysis of 46,387 Weibo posts from 3 cases, we argue that the Chinese government’s manipulation of CTs is multifaceted and carries significant audience costs. Our findings indicate that state-led CTs can indeed mobilize public opinion, but they also risk expanding beyond state control, which can lead to unintended consequences that may undermine state interests and limit policy flexibility. This research contributes to our understanding of the tactical and operational complexities authoritarian regimes face when leveraging CTs, while highlighting the intricate balance between state control and public agency
Meritocratic masks and the colonial echo of racial distinction
No full textThis critique exposes the racial foundations of meritocracy. It challenges the dominant belief that it is an objective path to advancement. Meritocracy is often contrasted with forms of race-aware policies like affirmative action. The foundation of merit itself, however, is historically and epistemologically entangled with race. Drawing on critical theorists such as Mbembe, Fanon, Bhattacharyya and Du Bois, and using Tsitsi Dangarembga’s fiction as a method for cultural theorizing, I explore how meritocratic ideals generate internalized hierarchies and conflicted self-perceptions. To do so, I analyse young South African professionals’ evaluations of success across racialized groups drawing on an online survey. I discuss how race continues to be masked within contemporary meritocratic beliefs. Ultimately, I seek to make a case for a reimagining of success beyond distinction and towards collective thriving, resisting the logics of individualization and exclusion that underpin racial capitalism
Work and wellbeing: maximising the wellbeing of tomorrow’s workforce
No full textUnderstanding wellbeing at work is key to implementing policies that optimise outcomes for employees and employers. People spend roughly a third of their waking hours at work, making it one of the most important domains of life to consider when seeking to improve wellbeing. Employee wellbeing has also been shown to shape organisational goals, including performance and retention. In this chapter, we focus on wellbeing from a subjective perspective - how employees evaluate their work and how they feel while doing it - and discuss its key drivers and consequences. We also summarise existing interventions aimed at improving wellbeing at work, noting that most take place at the organisational rather than the public policy level. We conclude by identifying areas for further research on measuring and improving wellbeing at work, as well as the key areas of focus for policymakers and organisational leaders who care about promoting employee wellbeing
Reconceptualizing gender transitioning: recognition, flexibility, and safety in nonbinary identity journeys
No full textThis article interrogates gender transitioning by centering nonbinary experiences, which challenge the binary-driven narratives that dominate both medical and sociological frameworks of transition. Drawing on seven focus groups with 48 nonbinary participants across multiple countries, this study explores three interrelated forms of transition: social, medical, and flexible aesthetic transitioning. Participants articulated transition as an ongoing, fluid process rather than a linear movement toward a fixed gendered endpoint. Their experiences challenge the assumption that transition must always align with transnormative narratives of dysphoria, permanence, or binary gender embodiment. Instead, participants engaged in practices that “undo” gender in ways that reject rigid classification while still considering safety, recognition, and legibility. This study builds on and critiques theories of doing, redoing, and undoing gender by demonstrating how nonbinary transitioning disrupts dominant models of gender accountability, recognition, and self-determination. Ultimately, this work expands sociological understandings of gender transition by foregrounding nonlinearity, fluidity, and the role of social, institutional, and embodied constraints in shaping nonbinary identity formation
Analyzing user behavior in online communities using data crawling and machine learning algorithms
No full textThe rapid growth of online communities as knowledge-sharing platforms has led to an unprecedented influx of user-generated content, posing challenges such as information overload and dynamic changes in user interests. Understanding user behavior patterns is critical for optimizing personalized recommendations, enhancing community engagement, and improving knowledge dissemination. This study adopts an interdisciplinary approach by integrating data crawling techniques and machine learning algorithms to analyze user behavior in online communities. A distributed multi-process Python crawler is designed to collect real-time data efficiently, enabling the construction of a community label network. By extracting both network structural features and statistical attribute features, this study develops a machine learning-based label popularity prediction model to analyze user interest transfer patterns and forecast emerging topic trends. The model is validated through extensive experiments, demonstrating its effectiveness in accurately predicting label popularity and capturing dynamic user behavior shifts. The results highlight the utility of combining data science, network analysis, and machine learning in understanding complex user interactions and optimizing digital community management. This interdisciplinary approach not only enhances the accuracy of trend prediction but also offers new insights into user behavior analysis, contributing to the development of more intelligent and adaptive online knowledge-sharing platforms