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Navigating the nexus: Geopolitical risk, fossil energy prices, and European utility stock returns - Implications for environmental management and energy security in a conflict-ridden global landscape
Get PDFThis study employs a TPV-VAR analysis method to explore the linkage between GPR, fossil energy prices, and utility stock returns across 16 European countries from August 2009 to April 2023. Our findings reveal variations over time in how GPR influences the prices of fossil energy and utility stock returns. GPR significantly influences stock returns in the short term (1 month), with prolonged effects observed during major geopolitical incidents, while showing no significance in the medium (6 months) and long term (12 months). Further, the Russia–Ukraine War had a more pronounced impact on fossil energy prices and utility stock returns compared with the Arab Spring and Brexit. Finally, GPR shocks exhibit heterogeneous effects on different fossil energy types, with oil prices being more affected than coal and gas prices. Energy prices act as a channel through which GPR influences utility stock returns. This study elucidates the linkage between GPR, prices of fossil energy, and stock returns, offering valuable perspectives for governments and investment decision-makers into risk management
The shifting sands of UK secondary music curricula: problematising relationships between aural training and music literacy
Get PDFThis article, which is intended as a contribution to wider conversations around music literacy, explores current conceptions of music literacy within the UK, using the area of aural skills training as a focus. Specifically, it considers the nature of music literacy and aural training in secondary (ages 11–18) music curricula and the role of aural training in supporting the development of music literacy. Contemporary secondary music courses now explore a far wider range of musics than their historic counterparts, yet the ways in which these are taught, practised, and assessed continue to be driven by pedagogic models that were designed to develop music literacy within a narrower range of musics associated with a specific tradition. This is compounded by the fact that contemporary secondary music courses have become somewhat diluted in terms of their focus and the main curricular components (performance, composition, and listening/appraising) are unnaturally separated into disconnected areas of practice to conveniently be assessed in isolation. This article concludes by proposing potential enhancements that educators might consider as they look to develop a student-centred approach to aural training and how this might better support the development of multiple forms of music literacy within their curricula
Securing the remote office: reducing cyber risks to remote working through regular security awareness education campaigns
Get PDFCyber security threats, including risks to remote workers, are varied and diverse, with the number of scams and business email compromise breaches increasing. Firms and their staff are experiencing mass phishing attacks, several typical precursors to more sinister attacks like cyber-enabled fraud, ransomware, and denial of service (DDoS) attacks. Threat actors are leveraging new technologies such as machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver sophisticated scam and phishing messages that are challenging for users to identify as malicious. Several businesses are increasing technical efforts in critical areas, including network hardening, robust patching, anti-malware, ransomware detection applications, and multi-factor authentication to detect, prevent, and recover from potential threats. Despite that, these measures provide only a partial solution if the users who access the systems do not have good security awareness training. In this study, we review some cyber risks related to remote working and detail how they can be remediated through regular security awareness education campaigns (SAECs). The study presents the results of a proof of concept (PoC) experiment conducted to establish the value of regular SAECs in the fight against scams and phishing attacks against remote workers. The pilot results confirm that securing the remote office requires a robust SAEC. It argues that to be successful and help staff protect business systems and data, SAECs must be regular and varied, providing opportunities for staff to understand what to look for in suspicious scams and phishing emails. Moreover, they must provide opportunities for staff to practice their knowledge and understanding through practical exercises such as spam and phishing simulation exercises, which could help users avoid falling victim to spam and phishing emails
Planning and implementing community-based drug checking services in Scotland: a qualitative exploration using the consolidated framework for implementation research
Get PDFBackground: Drug checking services (DCS) provide harm reduction support and advice to individuals based on chemical analysis of submitted substances of concern. Whilst there are currently no DCS in Scotland, community-based services are being planned in three cities. Methods: In this paper, we report qualitative findings based on interviews with 43 participants, focused on perceptions of DCS and their implementation. Participants were relevant professionals, those with experience of drug use, and family members of those with experience of drug use. The Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR) was used to inform data collection and analysis. We report findings under nine constructs/themes across the five CFIR domains. Results: Participants noted the importance of DCS being implemented in low-threshold, trusted services with a harm reduction ethos, and outlined a range of further service design considerations such as speed of testing, and information provided through the analysis process. In relation to the ‘inner setting’, a key finding related to the potential value of leveraging existing resources in order to expand both reach and effectiveness of drug trend communication. The approach of local and national police to DCS, and the attitudes of the public and local community, were described as important external factors which could influence the success (or otherwise) of implementation. Bringing together a range of stakeholders in dialogue and developing tailored communication strategies were seen as ways to build support for DCS. Overall, we found high levels of support and perceived need for DCS amongst all stakeholder groups. Conclusions: Our findings present initial implementation considerations for Scotland which could be further explored as DCS are operationalised. Further, our focus on implementation contexts is relevant to research on DCS more generally, given the minimal consideration of such issues in the literature
The impact of the degree of coupling coordination between green finance and environmental regulations on firms’ innovation performance: evidence from China
Get PDFIntegrating the resource-based view and institution-based view theories, this paper examines the impact of the degree of coupling coordination between green finance and environmental regulations on firms’ innovation performance. Using a sample of 1698 listed firms in China from 2008 to 2017, we find that the degree of coupling coordination between the regional green finance development level and environmental regulations is positively related to firms’ innovation performance. Further, the results show that the degree of state ownership and government governance efficiency strengthen this positive relationship. We deepen our understanding of how environmental institutions coordinate to affect firms’ innovation performance by combining the resource- and institution-based view theories
Government venture capital and innovation performance in alternative energy production: The moderating role of environmental regulation and capital market activity
No full textEnergy shortages and environmental concerns have prompted governments to focus on alternative energy production innovation. Although studies examine the association between government venture capital and green innovation, there remains a gap in understanding how the different characteristics of government venture capital affect innovation. This study examines the effects of government venture capital on the innovation performance of alternative energy production. Using negative binominal regression and system generalised method of moments models with data from 30 provinces in China for the period spanning from 2003 to 2019, we find that government venture capital exerts an inverted U-shaped effect on the innovation performance of alternative energy production. In addition, environmental regulation strengthens this inverted U-shaped effect, while capital market activity alleviates it. Moreover, we confirm that government venture capital affects alternative energy production innovation through the R&D investment channel. Our study enriches the resource-based view, agency theory and the institution-based view by shedding light on how the different characteristics of government venture capital affect alternative energy production innovation. The findings suggest that policymakers should strike a balance between government intervention and market mechanisms
Nature’s contribution to poverty alleviation, human wellbeing and the SDGs
No full textMillions of households globally rely on uncultivated ecosystems for their livelihoods. However, much of the understanding about the broader contribution of uncultivated ecosystems to human wellbeing is still based on a series of small-scale studies due to limited availability of large-scale datasets. We pooled together 11 comparable datasets comprising 232 settlements and 10,971 households in ten low-and middle-income countries, representing forest, savanna and coastal ecosystems to analyse how uncultivated nature contributes to multi-dimensional wellbeing and how benefits from nature are distributed between households. The resulting dataset integrates secondary data on rural livelihoods, multidimensional human wellbeing, household demographics, resource tenure and social-ecological context, primarily drawing on nine existing household surveys and their associated contextual information together with selected variables, such as travel time to cities, population density, local area GDP and land use and land cover from existing global datasets. This integrated dataset has been archived with ReShare (UK Data Service) and will be useful for further analyses on nature-wellbeing relationships on its own or in combination with similar datasets
Women's Experiences with Cervical Cancer in Ghana
Get PDFCervical cancer remains a significant global public health concern, and its impact in low- and middle-income countries, including Ghana is profound. Existing policies in Ghana focus on early screening and diagnosis. While the primary step of diagnosis is important and widely represented in literature, the evidence on the experiences of women diagnosed with cervical cancer remain sparse. The aim of this scoping review, therefore, is to explore and map the available literature on the experiences of women diagnosed with cervical cancer in Ghana. This study was conducted according to the framework developed by Arksey and O’Malley and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. Five databases (Google Scholar, PubMed, SCOPUS, CINAHL, and Africa Journal online) were searched using key words and key terms. Two authors independently screened the titles and abstracts, and the full texts of the included studies. Out of the 463 studies identified through the database search, ten studies met the eligibility criteria and were included in the review. The findings reveal that, the experiences of Ghanaian women with cervical cancer are multifaceted. These experiences are influenced by physical, psychological, and socio-cultural factors with significant impact on their quality of life. The women expressed ongoing discomfort due to bleeding and chronic pain. Psychologically, the women expressed pervasive anxiety, due to the fear associated with the diagnosis, and the cost associated living with cervical cancer. The socio-cultural experiences varied among the women. While some of the women expressed receiving support from their family members and friends, others reported receiving immense support from their significant others. Policy makers must consider including the experiences of women with cervical cancer in policy to provide interventions that meet their specific needs
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