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Capital structure and firm performance : evidence from FTSE all-share firms during Covid-19
Get PDFWe examine how capital structure related to firm performance for UK companies in the FTSE All-Share over 2018–2023, explicitly segmenting pre-pandemic (2018–2019), pandemic (2020–2021), and post-pandemic (2022–2023) periods. Using Bloomberg data for 516 firms and panel fixed-effects models (Hausman-tested), we assess the impact of short- and long-term leverage on ROA, ROCE, Tobin’s Q, and EPS, and compare financial versus non-financial firms. Leverage is, on average, negatively associated with ROA and EPS, consistent with pecking-order and agency-cost arguments: market-based outcomes (Tobin’s Q) show weaker, nuanced links. The adverse effects of debt are stronger for non-financial firms, particularly during and after COVID-19, while financial firms display a post-COVID positive association between short-term debt and ROA, suggesting sector-specific debt utilization under stress. Firm size relates negatively to Tobin’s Q for non-financials. Results highlight how crisis conditions and industry characteristics shape the leverage–performance nexus, offering practical guidance for managers and policymakers on capital structure decisions in turbulent environments.Peer reviewe
Semirenewable polyamides containing disulfide bonds : synthesis, degradation, self-healing, and triboelectric properties
Get PDFFunding: This research is funded by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (MR/W007460/1). J.C.T. thanks the EPSRC for funding the Horizon Europe ERC AdG award (TEGMOF EP/Z534146/1). J.C.T. and Y.D.M. would like to acknowledge the ERC Consolidator Grant (PROMOFS grant agreement 771575) for funding. E.Z.-C. acknowledges EPSRC for funding (EP/R035164/1; EP/W007517/1; EP/Z535291/1). E.Z-C and L.H. also thank the European Union H2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklowdoska-Curie Grant Agreement (PhotoReAct, No. 956324).We report here the synthesis, degradation, and properties of polyamides containing disulfide bonds. The polyamides have been prepared using a two-step melt polycondensation process from 4,4′-dithiodibutyric acid and bioderived Priamine. The degradation of these polymers has been investigated using a combination of tools, such as visible light photocatalysis, and UV-mediated degradation. The chemical, physical, and mechanical properties of these polymers were also studied. The disulfide-containing polymers exhibit elastomeric and self-healing properties while showing high thermal stability. Furthermore, the novel application of these unique tribopositive polymers as self-repairable triboelectric nanogenerators for energy harvesting has also been demonstrated.Peer reviewe
Blue carbon in India : opportunities informed by the most recent science
Get PDFFunding: The authors acknowledge funding support from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), UK Government to the University of St Andrews. Systematic Literature Review: Blue Carbon Opportunities in India (UKSIN GPF INDIA 2425).The intent of this report, commissioned by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), is to outline the current state of blue carbon research and policy within India to generate evidence needs statements and understand the direction of future research where there is scope for collaboration and partnership working. Research collaboration in discovery science is an important aspect of UK-India partnership. In the context of policy opportunities for blue carbon ecosystems to deliver climate change mitigation and adaptation, this partnership offers an opportunity for UK researchers to contribute their expertise and experience to the development of successful science-based policy initiatives in India. This is an emerging opportunity for both the UK and India to develop a joint programme of work in a novel and nature-positive field of ocean science research which can contribute to the wider goals of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development (2021-2030)
Emergent exchange-driven giant magnetoelastic coupling in a correlated itinerant ferromagnet
Get PDFFunding: M.N. and P.W. gratefully acknowledge funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council through EP/R031924/1, EP/S005005/1 and EP/X015556/1 and from the Leverhulme Trust through Research Project grant RPG-2022-315, I.B. through the International Max Planck Research School for Chemistry and Physics of Quantum Materials, and H.L. from a fellowship from the Royal Commission of the Exhibition of 1851. C.A.M. was supported by the Federal Commission for Scholarships for Foreign Students for the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship (ESKAS no. 2023.0017) for the academic year 2023–24. R.F., M.L. and A.V. thank the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement no. 964398 (SUPERGATE). This work used computational resources of the Cirrus UK National Tier-2 HPC Service at EPCC funded by the University of Edinburgh and EPSRC (EP/P020267/1) and of the High-Performance Computing cluster Kennedy of the University of St Andrews.The interaction between the electronic and structural degrees of freedom is central to several intriguing phenomena observed in condensed-matter physics. In magnetic materials, magnetic interactions couple to lattice degrees of freedom, resulting in magnetoelastic coupling, which is typically small and only detectable in macroscopic samples. Here we demonstrate a giant magnetoelastic coupling in the correlated itinerant ferromagnet Sr4Ru3O10. We establish an effective control of magnetism in the surface layer and utilize it to probe the impact of magnetism on its electronic and structural properties. By using scanning tunnelling microscopy, we reveal subtle changes in the electronic structure dependent on ferromagnetic or antiferromagnetic alignment between the surface and subsurface layers. We further determine the consequences of the exchange force on the relaxation of the surface layer, which exhibits giant magnetostriction. Our results provide a direct measurement of the impact of exchange interactions and correlations on structural details in a quantum material, revealing how electronic correlations result in a strong electron–lattice coupling.Peer reviewe
Old carbon, new insights : thermal reactivity and bioavailability of saltmarsh soils
Get PDFFunding: This research has been supported by UK Research and Innovation grant nos. NE/S007342/1 and NE/S011587/1, NEIF Radiocarbon allocation nos. 2594.1022 and 2709.1023, and EU HORIZON EUROPE Climate, Energy and Mobility grant no. HORIZON-CL5-2023-D1-02-02: C-BLUES, Innovation to advance the evidence base for reporting of BC inventories and greenhouse gas fluxes in coastal wetlands.Saltmarshes are globally important coastal wetlands which can help to mitigate the impacts of climate change. They accumulate organic carbon from both modern and aged sources through in-situ biological production and the capture of ex-situ sources which are deposited during tidal inundation. Previous studies have found that long-term organic carbon storage in saltmarsh soils is driven by the net contribution from the older fraction, implying that the inputs of young organic carbon derived from in situ production are recycled at a faster rate. Using ramped oxidation, we assessed the composition (14C and 13C) of saltmarsh soil carbon pools defined by their thermal reactivity. By relating 14C measurements of the soil carbon pools to CO2 respired in aerobic incubations of the same soils, we provide the first empirical evidence linking the thermal reactivity of saltmarsh soil organic carbon with its bioavailability for remineralization. We found that old (14C-depleted) carbon dominates the thermally recalcitrant organic carbon pools, whereas the thermally labile carbon is composed of younger organic carbon sources. In most cases, the 14C content of the most thermally labile carbon pool was closest to the previously reported 14C content of the CO2 evolved from aerobic incubations of the same soils, implying that the bioavailability of saltmarsh soil organic carbon to remineralisation in oxic conditions is closely related to its thermal lability. Our results highlight the importance of saltmarshes as stores of both old, thermally recalcitrant organic carbon, as well as younger, thermally labile organic carbon that is vulnerable to decomposition under oxic conditions. Management interventions (e.g. rewetting by tidal inundation) to limit the exposure of saltmarsh soils to elevated oxygen availability may help to protect and conserve these stores of thermally labile organic carbon and hence limit CO2 emissions. We also present evidence to support the inclusion of thermally labile allochthonous OC stored in saltmarsh soils in additionality assessments for projects which aim to prevent the drainage of saltmarshes, with relevance to international carbon crediting projects and National GHG Inventories.Peer reviewe
Stellar populations of quasar host galaxies with MFICA decomposition
Get PDFFunding: VW acknowledges the Science and Technology Facilities Council (ST/Y00275X/1) and Leverhulme Research Fellowship (RF-2024-589/4).Galaxy evolution theories require co-evolution between accreting supermassive black holes (SMBH) and galaxies to explain many properties of the local galaxy population, yet observational evidence for the mechanisms driving this co-evolution is lacking. The recent star formation histories of the host galaxies of accreting SMBHs [active galactic nuclei (AGNs)] can help constrain the processes that feed SMBHs and halt star formation in galaxies, but are difficult to obtain for the most luminous AGNs (quasars). We introduce Mean-Field Independent Component Analysis (MFICA) to decompose quasar spectra and obtain recent star formation histories of their host galaxies. Applying MFICA to quasar spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR7 Quasar Catalogue in the redshift range 0.16 ≤ z ≤ 0.76, we find that 53 per cent of quasar host galaxies are star-forming, 17 per cent lie in the green-valley, and only 5 per cent are quiescent. This contrasts with 14, 11, and 74 per cent of a mass-matched control sample that are star-forming, green-valley, and quiescent, respectively. We find that ∼ 25 per cent of quasars are hosted by poststarburst galaxies, an excess of 28 ± 1 compared to our control sample. While the heterogeneity of recent star formation histories implies multiple SMBH feeding mechanisms, the excess of post-starburst host galaxies demonstrates the link between accreting SMBHs and a recent starburst followed by rapid quenching. Given that massive post-starburst galaxies are predominantly caused by gas-rich major mergers, our results indicate that 30–50 per cent of quasars originate from merger-induced starbursts.Peer reviewe
Funding scientific research : the Royal Society of London and the development of research grants, 1800-1914
Get PDFThis thesis examines the development of grant-making in UK science in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is the first study to focus specifically on grant funding as a means of supporting scientific research before the twentieth century. In the early nineteenth century, there were very few possibilities for acquiring monetary support for scientific research, yet by the start of the twentieth century, researchers could apply both to the Government Grant, administered by the Royal Society of London since 1850, and to a range of philanthropic research funds. Moreover, grants were now available not only for research expenses, but also for ‘personal’ or income support. Previous studies of the support for science in the nineteenth century have tended to focus on state support for scientific institutions and science education. Little attention has been paid to the evolution of research grants as a mode of funding, or to the role of philanthropic funds. This thesis focuses on research grants as a funding mechanism, using the Royal Society’s rich archival records, with the Government Grant as the central case study. It reveals the procedural mechanisms that enabled the grant scheme to work, and analyses the successful recipients, showing that a wider variety of people benefited from grants than one might have expected, including a significant number of non-Fellows, many women researchers, and pairs and groups of collaborators. It also situates the Government Grant within a wider landscape of research funding and considers its relation to other (philanthropic) grant schemes. Overall, it uncovers the historical origins of grant-funding mechanisms that are still used today and shows how the Royal Society became established in its role as a grant funder
A more nuanced understanding of autobiographical memory in autism spectrum disorder and its implications for social functioning
No full textReduced autobiographical memory (AM) specificity and detailedness are robustly demonstrated in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) compared to neurotypical controls. This thesis investigates the interactions between AM retrieval and participant sex in ASD. Chapter 2 combines previous findings of AM retrieval in ASD into a comprehensive meta-analysis. The review found an overall reduction in AM retrieval in ASD, with results remaining consistent across studies. However, high variance suggests the presence of factors influencing AM that are not commonly accounted for across the literature, such as participant sex. In chapter 3, we build multiple generalised linear mixed models, suggesting emerging trends of reduced AM recall only in autistic males. Autistic females outperformed both the autistic males and the control group. When addressing possible interactions between AM, everyday, and social problem-solving (SPS) skills, autistic participants provided solutions of higher quality and detail, but this did not translate into the effectiveness of their solutions. AM detailedness and specificity remain consistent predictors of SPS performance, but not for everyday problem-solving. This suggests a greater attention to detail, which may also be evident in the social problem-solving task. Chapter 4 manipulated the AM cueing task by splitting cue words into neutral and social cue words, chosen to facilitate recall of AM focused on social interactions. We examined the diagnosis group, participant sex, and interactions between outcome variables, including participant IQ, social responsiveness, depression, anxiety, and stress scores. Findings suggest a substantial impact of the nature of the cue word on AM retrieval, especially in the ASD group. Moreover, prior findings were corroborated, suggesting superior detailedness, specificity, depth of detail and social qualities in retrieved memories for females with ASD when accounting for sex differences. Contradictory findings of superior AM retrieval in autistic females prompt further investigation into the impact of sex differences affecting AM recall
Ethnobotanical contributions to global fishing communities : a review
Get PDFFunding: The study was funded by the Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca Foscari University of Venice, Italy.Background Ethnobotanical knowledge about the role of plants in fisheries provides valuable ecological information vital for sustainable management of local resources; however, it is diluted and understudied globally. This literature review aims to map the knowledge of plant use within traditional fishing communities. Methods Through the PRISMA method, we identified and selected 34 articles reporting the use of plants in fisheries, and including 344 taxa of plants and algae. Uses of plants and algae were grouped into different categories. Results In the novel categorization of fishery-related uses we proposed, the most mentioned were for fishing and building/repair of fishing artifacts and habitat-related uses, while the records of plants related to fiber uses, providing aid in fishing management and species causing problems, were among the least mentioned. Semi-structured interview is most commonly used with local resource users, especially fishery experts, in exploring perceptions on plant use within traditional fishing communities. Diversity was high in all the recorded families, but most were reported locally. Conclusion Ethnobotanical studies with fishers are not common in the documented literature but they provide a large number of use reports. On the basis this review, in most of the world, the information is of a casual and sporadic nature. Fishers can provide information on aquatic plants and algae that create problems and aid in fishing management, which are crucial in understanding the ecosystem of a region experiencing environmental challenges. This knowledge is greatly understudied globally and undergoing a rapid decline, as highlighted in several of the reviewed articles. Thus, further systematic research on fishery-related uses of plants by fisherfolk is needed considering its potential contribution to the sustainable management of fishery resources.Peer reviewe
Interacting with lieux de mémoire : defining identity and othering through space
Get PDFThis thesis originates from one fundamental question: is it possible to use interactions with lieux de mémoire to exclude members of a community and turn them into others?
To answer this question, framed in the context of memory studies, this thesis analyses three case studies spanning from the 1st century BCE to the 1st century CE. The goal of the first chapter – dedicated to the analysis of the discourses regarding the demolition of Cicero’s house – is to demonstrate that interactions with lieux de mémoire were considered significant to ascertaining the belonging to the community of its members. To do so, I analyse Cicero’s defence strategy in De Domo Sua against an accusation of tyranny and point out the central role Cicero attributes to the use of space in the process of his othering, which turned him from a citizen to an exile. The second and third chapter – dedicated respectively to the study of the presence of the Galli in Rome and to the analysis of Plutarch’s narrative of Sulla’s siege of Athens – explore some of the forms the process of othering through the use of space could take and put them in relation with changes in collective memory and changes in lieux de mémoire.
In so doing, this thesis argues that physical interactions with symbolical space could generate discussions regarding the appropriateness of these interactions in relation to the frame of value shared by the community who attribute meaning to the space. Since the appropriateness of these interactions is judged in relation to the symbolic value attributed to the place, the discussions generated by the interactions are turned into discussions concerning the identity of the community and about the belonging to the community of the individuals responsible for these interactions. Thus, demonstrating that interactions with lieux de mémoire can be used in processes of exclusion and othering
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