The role of institutional investors in the UK economy

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.The purpose of this research is to investigate the importance of institutional investors in the UK economy, in particular, the capital market. Institutional investors have grown considerably in size over the past three decades and are involved in many aspects of the economy, consequently investigation of this issue is essential in order to determine their influence. There are three main empirical studies in this thesis. The first examines a sample of UK non-financial firms in an attempt to explain the ownership structure. It will attempt to show which firm variables attract institutional investors. A second aspect of the research is an analysis of the buying and selling activities of institutional investors to see whether they effect the general level of share prices. A third focus of the research is to analyse the switching activities of the institutional investors. This refers to their switching of funds from one type of asset to another e.g. from real property into equities and vice versa. By examining these activities the study illustrates the demand characteristics these institutional investors create for certain assets and in addition it provides a clearer understanding of the economic conditions that influence such investment behaviour. The thesis confirms the continuing importance of institutional investors

The Intelligence Failure of the Yom Kippur War of 1973

About the author: Stephen Spinder is a senior at Shippensburg University completing his B.A. in International Studies with a Middle East concentration. He has studied abroad for one year in Israel and has pursued his future career through the Army ROTC program at Shippensburg, whereupon graduation, he will commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army

Maternal occupational exposure and congenital anomalies

One in 33 infants worldwide is born with a congenital anomaly. Embryonic development is a complex process involving genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors. Disturbances in embryonic development can lead to congenital anomalies. However, the aetiology of many congenital anomalies is not yet fully understood. In the Netherlands, an increasing number of women are working during their reproductive years and their pregnancies, which increases the chances of potential teratogenic effects due to exposures in the workplace. The aim of this thesis was to examine the association between maternal occupational exposures during the periconceptional period and congenital anomalies in the offspring. This thesis shows that maternal occupational exposure to organic dust and solvents early in pregnancy is relatively common and increases the risk of orofacial clefts, neural tube defects, urinary defects, and congenital heart defects. Maternal exposures to mineral dust, pesticides, and metals are less prevalent, but increases the risk of orofacial clefts and congenital heart defects. Therefore, employers should perform careful risk inventories and evaluations at their workplace, if necessary with input from an occupational hygienist. The female workforce should be informed about their occupational exposures and educated about the recommended policies to limit teratogenic exposure as much as possible in order to reduce the risk of congenital anomalies in offspring. Employees and employers should not hesitate to consult and discuss uncertainties with occupational hygienists and/or occupational physicians

Student perceptions of Living Lab research internships in the COVID-19 pandemic – a Dutch case study

Purpose: To effectively generate solutions to today's complex challenges, cooperation between governments, industry, civil society and academia is essential. To adequately prepare students for collaboration across academic and non-academic disciplines and stakeholders, Living Labs (LLs), unique research internships have emerged in the educational systems, which are focused on generating insights for society while embedding student learning in both practice and academia. To legitimise the LLs as a method of education in the academic curriculum, it is necessary to evaluate the experience of and potential benefits for students with regard to the development of their academic, professional and personal skills. Hence, this paper aims to investigate the outcomes of participating in LLs from the student's perspective via a case study at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. A secondary aim is to evaluate the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on the learning experience of the students. Design/methodology/approach: The authors employed self-reported pre-and post-questionnaires into students' confidence levels with regard to their academic, professional and personal skills. A total of 35 questionnaires were conducted during the period February 2020–July 2021. The authors subsequently applied evaluation research, using a benchmarking approach, to analyse the data. Findings: This study firstly indicates that students are most confident in their personal skills, both before and after conducting the LL, and that they further developed these due to being pushed outside of their growth zone by the various challenges posed during the LL, including the COVID-19 pandemic. Secondly, while students seem to have become more aware of their professional skills in the LL, this was the aspect on which no improvement was reported after conducting the LL, potentially due to an increased awareness of one's own room for improving professional skills outside of academia. Thirdly, students' reported academic skills improved the most during the LL, which highlights the importance of embedding academic learning both in theory and practice. Lastly, the impact of COVID-19 changed the setting of the LL which led to challenges but also opportunities with respect to research design, time investment and communication. Practical implications: As LLs seem to contribute to transversal and academic skill development of students, we can legitimise their increasingly common place in higher education curricula. LLs are not only beneficial for stakeholders and society as they generate new insights into societal questions, they are also of added value to students who actively collaborate with the external organisations and researchers. The LLs can thus be seen as a method of education which contributes to students' preparation for future careers, which is one of the main tasks of higher education institutions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the LLs were conducted online, which resulted in disadvantages and advantages. Future LLs can be anticipated on more hybrid or even further online collaborations, which also opens the possibility of collaboration with international organisations located at different parts of the world. In this case, extra attention will need to be devoted to aligning expectations among the different stakeholders and specifically focussing on ways to ensure good communication. Originality/value: This case-study is one of the first studies that specifically looks at the newly emerging concept of LL research internships and the perception of the student while conducting LLs with societal partners. Previous literature on the topic is scarce and, if existing, has mainly focused on the benefit of the partner organisation or society. Instead, we purposefully reflect on how the collaboration contributes towards students' professional development and employability. By doing so, this paper is one of the first to shed light on the benefits accrued to students’ development by participating in an LL. In addition, as the case study, unexpectedly, took place at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were also able to evaluate the influence of COVID-19 on the LLs and draw insightful lessons learned for future collaborations with local and international partners in an online setting.</p

Maternal occupational exposure and congenital heart defects in offspring

Objectives Congenital heart defects (CHD) are the most prevalent congenital anomalies. This study aims to examine the association between maternal occupational exposures to organic and mineral dust, solvents, pesticides, and metal dust and fumes and CHD in the offspring, assessing several subgroups of CHD. Methods For this case-control study, we examined 1174 cases with CHD from EUROCAT Northern Netherlands and 5602 controls without congenital anomalies from the Lifelines cohort study. Information on maternal jobs held early in pregnancy was collected via self-administered questionnaires, and job titles were linked to occupational exposures using a job exposure matrix. Results An association was found between organic dust exposure and coarctation of aorta [adjusted odds ratio (OR adj) 1.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01-3.59] and pulmonary (valve) stenosis in combination with ventricular septal defect (OR adj2.68, 95% CI 1.07-6.73). Mineral dust exposure was associated with increased risk of coarctation of aorta (OR adj2.94, 95% CI 1.21-7.13) and pulmonary valve stenosis (OR adj1.99, 95% CI 1.10-3.62). Exposure to metal dust and fumes was infrequent but was associated with CHD in general (OR adj2.40, 95% CI 1.09-5.30). Exposure to both mineral dust and metal dust and fumes was associated with septal defects (OR adj3.23, 95% CI 1.14-9.11). Any maternal occupational exposure was associated with a lower risk of aortic stenosis (OR adj0.32, 95% CI 0.11-0.94). Conclusions Women should take preventive measures or avoid exposure to mineral and organic dust as well as metal dust and fumes early in pregnancy as this could possibly affect foetal heart development

Maternal occupational exposure to solvents and gastroschisis in offspring-National Birth Defects Prevention Study 1997-2011

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the association between maternal occupational exposure to solvents and gastroschisis in offspring. Methods: We used data from the National Birth Defects Prevention Study, a large population-based case-control study of major birth defects conducted in 10 US states from 1997 to 2011. Infants with gastroschisis were ascertained by active birth defects surveillance systems. Control infants without major birth defects were selected from vital records or birth hospital records. Self-reported maternal occupational histories were collected by telephone interview. Industrial hygienists reviewed this information to estimate exposure to aromatic, chlorinated and petroleum-based solvents from 1 month before conception through the first trimester of pregnancy. Cumulative exposure to solvents was estimated for the same period accounting for estimated exposure intensity and frequency, job duration and hours worked per week. ORs and 95% CIs were estimated to assess the association between exposure to any solvents or solvent classes, and gastroschisis risk. Results: Among 879 cases and 7817 controls, the overall prevalence of periconceptional solvent exposure was 7.3% and 7.4%, respectively. Exposure to any solvent versus no exposure to solvents was not associated with gastroschisis after adjusting for maternal age (OR 1.00, 95% CI 0.75 to 1.32), nor was an association noted for solvent classes. There was no exposure-response relationship between estimated cumulative solvent exposure and gastroschisis after adjusting for maternal age. Conclusion: Our study found no association between maternal occupational solvent exposure and gastroschisis in offspring. Further research is needed to understand risk factors for gastroschisis

Congenital anomalies in the offspring of occupationally exposed mothers:a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies using expert assessment for occupational exposures

STUDY QUESTION: Is there an association between maternal occupational exposure to solvents, pesticides and metals as assessed by expert-based assessment and congenital anomalies in the offspring? SUMMARY ANSWER: There is an association between maternal occupational exposure to solvents and congenital anomalies in the offspring, including neural tube defects, congenital heart defects and orofacial clefts. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: One important environmental risk factor for development of congenital anomalies is maternal occupational exposure to chemicals in the workplace prior to and during pregnancy. A number of studies have assessed the association with often conflicting results, possibly due to different occupational exposure assessing methods. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: For this systematic review with meta-analysis, the search terms included maternal occupation, exposure, congenital anomalies and offspring. Electronic databases MEDLINE and EMBASE were searched for English studies up to October 2017. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: Two reviewers independently screened all citations identified by the search. Case-control studies and cohort studies were included if (I) they reported on the association between maternal occupational exposure to solvents, pesticides or metals and congenital anomalies, and (II) assessment of occupational exposure was performed by experts. Data on study characteristics, confounders and odds ratios (ORs) were extracted from the included studies for four subgroups of congenital anomalies. Methodological quality was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. In the meta-analysis, random effects models were used to pool estimates. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: In total, 2806 titles and abstracts and 176 full text papers were screened. Finally, 28 studies met the selection criteria, and 27 studies could be included in the meta-analysis. Our meta-analysis showed that maternal occupational exposure to solvents was associated with neural tube defects (OR: 1.51, 95%CI: 1.09-2.09) and congenital heart defects (OR: 1.31, 95%CI:1.06-1.63) in the offspring. Also maternal occupational exposure to glycol ethers, a subgroup of solvents, was associated with neural tube defects (OR: 1.93, 95%CI: 1.17-3.18) and orofacial clefts (OR: 1.95, 95%CI: 1.38-2.75) in the offspring. Only one study investigated the association between maternal occupational exposure to solvents and hypospadias and found an association (OR: 3.63, 95%CI: 1.94-7.17). Results of the included studies were consistent. In our meta-analysis, we found no associations between occupational exposure to pesticides or metals and congenital anomalies in the offspring. LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: A limited number of studies was included, which made it impossible to calculate pooled estimates for all congenital anomalies, analyse individual chemicals or calculate exposure-response relations. Bias could have been introduced because not all included studies corrected for potentially confounding factors. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: Employers and female employees should be aware of the possible teratogenic effects of solvent exposure at the workplace. Therefore, is it important that clinicians and occupational health specialist provide women with preconception advice on occupational solvent exposure, to reduce the congenital anomaly risk. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): NSp was paid by the Graduate School of Medical Sciences (MD/PhD program), UMCG, Groningen, the Netherlands. EUROCAT Northern Netherlands is funded by the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports. There are no competing interests. REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42017053943

Maternal occupational exposure and oral clefts in offspring

BACKGROUND: Previous studies suggest that periconceptional maternal occupational exposure to solvents and pesticides increase the risk of oral clefts in the offspring. Less is known about the effect of occupational exposure to metals, dust, and gases and fumes on development of oral clefts. METHODS: This case-malformed control study used data from a population-based birth defects registry (Eurocat) of children and foetuses born in the Northern Netherlands between 1997 and 2013. Cases were defined as non-syndromic oral clefts. The first control group had chromosomal/monogenic defects, and the second control group was defined as non-chromosomal/non-monogenic malformed controls. Maternal occupational exposure was estimated through linkage of mothers' occupation with a community-based Job Exposure Matrix (JEM). Multivariate logistic regression was used to estimate the effect of occupational exposures. Odds ratios were adjusted (aORs) for relevant confounders. RESULTS: A total of 387 cases, 1135 chromosomal and 4352 non-chromosomal malformed controls were included in this study. Prevalence of maternal occupational exposures to all agents was 43.9% and 41.0%/37.7% among cases and controls, respectively. Oral clefts had significantly increased ORs of maternal occupational exposure to pesticides (aOR = 1.7, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.0-3.1) and dust (aOR = 1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.6) when using non-chromosomal controls. Subgroup analysis for CL(P) stratified by gender showed a significantly increased risk for male infants exposed to 'other solvents' and exposure to mineral dust for female infants. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that maternal occupational exposure to pesticides and dust are risk factors for oral clefts in the offspring. Larger studies are needed to confirm this finding

The take up of business support by minority ethnic enterprises: the experience of South Asian businesses in England

This research contributes to a greater understanding of minority ethnic business (MEB) needs and practices and helps identify the support needs of minority ethnic firms in relation to existing support provision. The aims are, therefore, to examine the take-up of support by minority ethnic enterprises focusing mainly on the South Asian community with some representation from the African-Caribbean and Korean communities. Fifty minority ethnic businesses across South West London were contacted and semi-structured interviews took place with the owner/owner managers. The findings suggest that policy makers need to appreciate the diversity of MEBs and policies aimed at these businesses should reflect that diversity