Information Processing and Stock Market Volatility - Evidence from Real Estate Investment Trusts

This study proposes novel measurements of investor psychology utilizing Big Data and reveals the impact of different measures on asset price volatility. We construct a news sentiment measure based on news articles reflecting information supply. News content is transformed into quantitative data utilizing sentiment analysis. We further investigate a metric for investor attention based on search queries from the web representing information demand. Consequently, we investigate how asset price volatility is attributable to information processing by investors. The main contribution of this paper is the analysis of novel insights into information processing by investors in the presence of Big Data. In particular, we find that the impact of news content (information supply) generally is much stronger than the effect of Big Data search behavior (information demand). While our results confirm the negativity-bias of investors, we find that measures additionally incorporating positive content outperform measures solely based on negative connotations

The Withering State Debate: Evidence From Malaysia's And Vietnam's Globalising Economies

It has been frequently argued that under globalisation, the state's ability to make autonomous decisions declines and the state withers away as it adapts to the lowest common denominator of taxation and social services in order to attract global investment flows. This paper challenges the withering-state theory. States are not hapless victims of globalisation, but active facilitators. Through the case studies of Vietnam and Malaysia, it is demonstrated that the state makes decisions about globalisation—either to engage in it or to retreat from it—based on the state's perceived interest. Moreover, the state is perfectly capable of reversing these decisions as state interests change over tim

Long-range Ni/Mn structural order in epitaxial double perovskite La2NiMnO6 thin films

We report and compare the structural, magnetic, and optical properties of ordered La2NiMnO6 thin films and its disordered LaNi0.5Mn0.5O3 counterpart. An x-ray diffraction study reveals that the B-site Ni/Mn ordering induces additional XRD reflections as the crystal symmetry is transformed from a pseudocubic perovskite unit cell in the disordered phase to a monoclinic form with larger lattice parameters for the ordered phase. Polarized Raman spectroscopy studies reveal that the ordered samples are characterized by additional phonon excitations that are absent in the disordered phase. The appearance of these additional phonon excitations is interpreted as the clearest signature of Brillouin zone folding as a result of the long-range Ni/Mn ordering in La2NiMnO6. Both ordered and disordered materials display a single ferromagnetic-to-paramagnetic transition. The ordered films display also a saturation magnetization close to 4.8 mB/f.u. and a transition temperature (FM-TC) around 270 K, while the disordered ones have only a 3.7 mB/f.u. saturation magnetization and a FM-TC around 138 K. The differences in their magnetic behaviours are understood based on the distinct local electronic configurations of their Ni/Mn cations.Comment: 15 pages, 5 fig

Phase formation, phonon behavior, and magnetic properties of novel ferromagnetic La3BAlMnO9 (B = Co or Ni) triple perovskites

In the quest for novel magnetoelectric materials, we have grown, stabilized and explored the properties of La3BAlMnO9 (B = Co or Mn) thin films. In this paper, we report the influence of the growth parameters that promote B/Al/Mn ordering in the pseudo-cubic unit cell and their likely influence on the magnetic and multiferroic properties. The temperature dependence of the magnetization shows that La3CoAlMnO9 is ferromagnetic up to 190 K while La3NiAlMnO9 shows a TC of 130 K. The behavior of these films are compared and contrasted with related La2BMnO6 double perovskites. It is observed that the insertion of AlO6 octahedra between CoO6 and MnO6 suppresses significantly the strength of the superexchange interaction, spin-phonon and spin-polar coupling.Comment: 13 pages, 3 fig

Mountain soils under a changing climate and land-use

Mountain ecosystems are currently experiencing the strongest climatic warming and the largest changes in land-use during the last millennia. The impacts of these changes on soils and their roles in the cycling of carbon and nutrients are, however, largely unknown. Here, we define mountain soils as soils from mountainous areas with cool summers and cold winters and thus, soils from ecosystems that are influenced by snow and ice and where biogeochemical processes are limited by temperature. Because climatic conditions, soil properties, plant species and productivity vary at a small scale in mountains, they provide a unique natural but a seldom used laboratory to study soil processes. In this special issue, we compile different studies on soils from European mountains, reaching from the functioning of mountain soils along natural climatic gradients to responses of greenhouse gas fluxes from mountain soils to experimental warming, soil frost and changes in precipitatio

Forest Soil Respiration under Climate Changing

The respiration of forest soils and the major factors controlling its rate are fairly well understood. The process is of utmost significance because its balance with the fixation of CO2 in the biomass defines whether a particular site is a source or sink of atmospheric CO2. Currently, the measurement of soil respiration in the field requires rather expensive experimental installations. Nevertheless, there are still some caveats in our understanding, such as the separation of autotrophic and heterotrophic soil respiration, the relevance of different groups of soil organisms, the effect of ecosystem disturbances in different types of forests on soil respiration with respect to magnitude and duration, the adaptation of soil respiration to changing site conditions, and the regional prediction of soil respiration, based on proxy data. Technical progress and additional contributions on process understanding will put us in the position of better predictions of the forest soil respiration. We encourage studies from all fields, including experimental studies, monitoring approaches and models, to contribute to this Special Issue in order to promote knowledge and adaptation strategies for the preservation, management, and future development of forest ecosystems

Ilegalne migracije i krijumčarenje ljudima u Srednjoj i Istočnoj Europi

The analytical and statistical services of border management organizations in Central and Eastern European countries have registered and accumulated a vast body of knowledge on the demographics and mechanisms of illegal migration over the last one-and-a-half decade. This paper attempts to tap this resource by summarising the results of a yearly survey among border guards of 17 countries. A set of quantitative indicators of illegal migration is developed, presented and interpreted, based on the answers of the border services to a series of quantitative and qualitative questions. This empirical material is used to evaluate the dynamics and pattern of illegal migration in Central and Eastern Europe on the one hand, and to examine the development of border management strategies on the other. The impacts of legal and institutional reforms are investigated in light of the temporal and spatial variations of border apprehension statistics. The interdependence of the two processes is reviewed from the point of view of national border management authorities, perhaps the most authoritative source of information on the issue. The results of the authors’ annual survey indicate that the progressive development of migration control mechanisms at national and international levels seems to have a significant impact on irregular migration flows as most indicators of illegal migration have significantly decreased after the turn of the century. At the same time, the geographical distribution of illegal migration flows in Central and Eastern European countries has become more complex over the years.Analitičke i statističke službe graničnih kontrola u zemljama Srednje i Istočne Europe zapisale su i skupile veliko znanje iz demografije i mehanizama ilegalne migracije tijekom posljednjih petnaest godina. U radu se pokušava iskoristiti taj izvor sumiranjem rezultata godišnjeg pregleda koji su obavili graničari sedamnaest zemalja. Razvijen je set kvantitativnih indikatora ilegalnih migracija koji se prikazuje i interpretira na temelju odgovora graničnih službi na niz kvantitativnih i kvalitativnih pitanja. Empirijski materijal je, s jedne strane, upotrijebljen za procjenu dinamike i uzoraka ilegalne migracije u Srednjoj i Istočnoj Europi, a s druge za ispitivanje razvoja strategija upravljanja granicom. Djelovanje pravnih i institucionalnih reforma ispituje se u svjetlu vremenskih i prostornih varijacija statistika uhićenja na granici. Međuzavisnost tih dvaju procesa promatra se s gledišta nacionalnih graničnih organa upravljanja koji su možda najmjerodavniji izvor informacija. Rezultati godišnjeg pregleda koji su sačinili autori pokazuju da, kako se čini, progresivni razvoj kontrolnih mehanizama migracije na nacionalnoj i međunarodnoj razini značajno utječe na neregularne migracijske tokove budući da je većina pokazatelja ilegalne migracije značajno smanjena na početku ovog stoljeća. Istodobno, geografska distribucija ilegalnih migracijskih tokova u Srednjoj i Istočnoj Europi postala je složenija tijekom godina

A comparative Raman study between YbVO3 and YVO3

An orbital ordering effect is observed in YbVO3 around 170 K while the crystal structure is orthorhombic (space group pnma). A monoclinic transition has been reported below TN = 104 K, while according to recent specific heat measurements, it occurs at 170 K. The crystal structure of YVO3 at 300 K is also orthorhombic. It becomes monoclinic at Tc = 200 K and back orthorhombic at T = 77 K. Spins order into the C-type antiferromagnetic structure below TN1 = 116 K and the order changes into the G-type antiferromagnetic structure below TN2 = 77 K. Controversial interpretations of YVO3 Raman active excitations have been reported. For instance the 489 and 679 cm-1 excitations have been assigned either to phonons or orbitons in two recent studies. In this communication we present a micro-Raman study of YbVO3 and YVO3 Raman active excitations as a function of temperature in order to trace the multiple phase transitions. Also by comparing the two single crystals spectra and previous studies in rare-earth manganites, high energy Raman active excitations are tentatively assigned