title: Colonization dynamics and facilitative impacts of nitrogen-fixing shrub in primary succession

authors: Walker, Lawrence R.

subjects: Coriaria arborea

abstract: Whether nitrogen-fixing plants facilitate or inhibit species change in primary succession is best resolved by examining their impacts throughout the plant's entire life cycle from arrival to senescence. We experimentally examined two aspects of the successional impacts of a nitrogen-fixing shrub, Coriaria arborea, on Mt. Tarawera, a volcano in New Zealand: factors limiting Coriaria colonization and impacts of Coriaria-induced soil changes on a later successional tree, Griselinia littoralis. Coriaria germination was promoted by artificial wind protection and by the presence of heath shrubs. Transplanted Coriaria seedlings survived only if nodulated with Frankia, and the addition of Coriaria-enriched soils slowed Coriaria seedling growth and did not improve seedling survival. This explained why Coriaria seedlings were found mostly in protected habitats away from adult Coriaria, and suggested that Coriaria thickets are not self-replacing. Coriaria increased soil fertility by developing a 4 cm thick organic soil horizon that was richer in nitrogen (tenfold) and phosphorus (threefold) than pre-Coriaria stages. These soil changes resulted in three- to sixfold increases in growth of Griselinia when it was grown in Coriaria-enriched soils in a glasshouse. Coriaria's net effect on primary succession is facilitative, but the establishment of Coriaria is itself facilitated by the amelioration of the physical habitat by earlier colonists, suggesting facilitation is important throughout the life cycle of Coriaria. Sequential facilitative events determine the order of species replacements in this study but inhibition, linked to the developmental stages of Coriaria, may determine.

text: Colonization dynamics and facilitative impacts of nitrogen-fixing shrub in primary succession Whether nitrogen-fixing plants facilitate or inhibit species change in primary succession is best resolved by examining their impacts throughout the plant's entire life cycle from arrival to senescence. We experimentally examined two aspects of the successional impacts of a nitrogen-fixing shrub, Coriaria arborea, on Mt. Tarawera, a volcano in New Zealand: factors limiting Coriaria colonization and impacts of Coriaria-induced soil changes on a later successional tree, Griselinia littoralis. Coriaria germination was promoted by artificial wind protection and by the presence of heath shrubs. Transplanted Coriaria seedlings survived only if nodulated with Frankia, and the addition of Coriaria-enriched soils slowed Coriaria seedling growth and did not improve seedling survival. This explained why Coriaria seedlings were found mostly in protected habitats away from adult Coriaria, and suggested that Coriaria thickets are not self-replacing. Coriaria increased soil fertility by developing a 4 cm thick organic soil horizon that was richer in nitrogen (tenfold) and phosphorus (threefold) than pre-Coriaria stages. These soil changes resulted in three- to sixfold increases in growth of Griselinia when it was grown in Coriaria-enriched soils in a glasshouse. Coriaria's net effect on primary succession is facilitative, but the establishment of Coriaria is itself facilitated by the amelioration of the physical habitat by earlier colonists, suggesting facilitation is important throughout the life cycle of Coriaria. Sequential facilitative events determine the order of species replacements in this study but inhibition, linked to the developmental stages of Coriaria, may determine.

year: 2003-04

title: Examination of IPO mispricing in four markets

authors: Ajmal, Hamza

subjects: IPOs

abstract: The apparent anomaly that initial public offerings (IPOs) are mispriced across time and markets has been a focus of academic research for over four decades. Previous studies on the subject have focused on the underpricing of IPOs. Using a sample of 6171 IPOs that were issued from 1995 to 2013 in four markets – the United States (US - 2458 IPOs), Australia (1095 IPOs), China (2199 IPOs) and Malaysia (419 IPOs) – we also find that IPOs are on average underpriced but that a concentration on the average overstates the extent of this underpricing with a significant proportion of IPOs actually being overpriced. In the US, the mean mispricing is 34.90%, and the median is 2.40%, with 35.50% of IPOs being overpriced. In Australia, the mean mispricing is 25.51%, the median is 10%, and 37.70% of IPOs are overpriced. In China, the mean mispricing is 112.10%, the median is 71.40%, and 6.30% of IPOs are overpriced. In Malaysia, the mean mispricing is 1.80%, the median is -17.53%, and 59.42% of the sample IPOs are overpriced.

A wide dispersion in mispricing exists across the four markets. The IPOs range from highly overpriced to extremely underpriced IPOs. We assemble a large number of firm-level and country-level variables to explain the mispricing, and we show how their impacts vary across the range of mispricing and across the four markets. The firm-level factors examined include company characteristics, offer characteristics, issue certification, prospectus disclosure, market sentiment, and institutional characteristics. These factors are found to have a varying impacts across different levels of mispricing.

Country-level variables include institutional quality and economic strength. Our findings suggest that poor institutional quality adds to the uncertainty about the value of the firm and leads to more mispricing.

Our cross-country examination of mispricing is one of the first studies to examine the relationship between a country’s economic strength and IPO mispricing. We find that the largest mispricing occurs in developing countries experiencing high economic growth, and that larger economic size reduces mispricing. We further find that, while the country-level characteristics are differentiating factors across our sample markets, they have their greatest explanatory power for moderate levels of mispricing, and that extreme levels of mispricing are better explained by firm-level factors.

We use the traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) and the more appropriate quantile regression (QR) methods as our methods of examination. The OLS approach focuses on the average impact that the independent variables have on mispricing. In this approach, the latent characteristics of the mispricing distribution, given that it does not follow a normal distribution, remain unexamined. On the other hand, the QR approach allows us to examine the varying effects that the independent variables have at different levels of mispricing due to the asymmetric distribution of returns. The QR approach enables us to identify the impacts of each variable on IPOs at particular levels of mispricing. The QR approach is a robust method which is able to deal with potential heterogeneity in the distribution, as was the case with our sample. We are able to compare the results derived from the median QR with those derived from the traditional OLS to enrich the literature in terms of the analysis of a skewed distribution. The QR method also enables us to examine different segments of the distribution of mispricing, including the tail regions. By doing this we are able to compare the impacts of the explanatory factors on mispriced IPOs that range from extremely overpriced to extremely underpriced.

text: Examination of IPO mispricing in four markets The apparent anomaly that initial public offerings (IPOs) are mispriced across time and markets has been a focus of academic research for over four decades. Previous studies on the subject have focused on the underpricing of IPOs. Using a sample of 6171 IPOs that were issued from 1995 to 2013 in four markets – the United States (US - 2458 IPOs), Australia (1095 IPOs), China (2199 IPOs) and Malaysia (419 IPOs) – we also find that IPOs are on average underpriced but that a concentration on the average overstates the extent of this underpricing with a significant proportion of IPOs actually being overpriced. In the US, the mean mispricing is 34.90%, and the median is 2.40%, with 35.50% of IPOs being overpriced. In Australia, the mean mispricing is 25.51%, the median is 10%, and 37.70% of IPOs are overpriced. In China, the mean mispricing is 112.10%, the median is 71.40%, and 6.30% of IPOs are overpriced. In Malaysia, the mean mispricing is 1.80%, the median is -17.53%, and 59.42% of the sample IPOs are overpriced.

A wide dispersion in mispricing exists across the four markets. The IPOs range from highly overpriced to extremely underpriced IPOs. We assemble a large number of firm-level and country-level variables to explain the mispricing, and we show how their impacts vary across the range of mispricing and across the four markets. The firm-level factors examined include company characteristics, offer characteristics, issue certification, prospectus disclosure, market sentiment, and institutional characteristics. These factors are found to have a varying impacts across different levels of mispricing.

Country-level variables include institutional quality and economic strength. Our findings suggest that poor institutional quality adds to the uncertainty about the value of the firm and leads to more mispricing.

Our cross-country examination of mispricing is one of the first studies to examine the relationship between a country’s economic strength and IPO mispricing. We find that the largest mispricing occurs in developing countries experiencing high economic growth, and that larger economic size reduces mispricing. We further find that, while the country-level characteristics are differentiating factors across our sample markets, they have their greatest explanatory power for moderate levels of mispricing, and that extreme levels of mispricing are better explained by firm-level factors.

We use the traditional ordinary least squares (OLS) and the more appropriate quantile regression (QR) methods as our methods of examination. The OLS approach focuses on the average impact that the independent variables have on mispricing. In this approach, the latent characteristics of the mispricing distribution, given that it does not follow a normal distribution, remain unexamined. On the other hand, the QR approach allows us to examine the varying effects that the independent variables have at different levels of mispricing due to the asymmetric distribution of returns. The QR approach enables us to identify the impacts of each variable on IPOs at particular levels of mispricing. The QR approach is a robust method which is able to deal with potential heterogeneity in the distribution, as was the case with our sample. We are able to compare the results derived from the median QR with those derived from the traditional OLS to enrich the literature in terms of the analysis of a skewed distribution. The QR method also enables us to examine different segments of the distribution of mispricing, including the tail regions. By doing this we are able to compare the impacts of the explanatory factors on mispriced IPOs that range from extremely overpriced to extremely underpriced.

year: 2018

title: Waikato Taniwharau: Prioritising competing needs in the management of the Waikato River

authors: Morgan, Te Kipa Kepa Brian

subjects: Mauri

abstract: The Waikato River system is New Zealand’s longest river and has significant spiritual relevance for the Waikato-Tainui people and other river iwi, who regard it as an indicator of their mauri or well-being, and central to their identity. The Waikato has also been the focus of on-going tensions between Māori cultural and spiritual values and beliefs, and national engineering objectives. The Waikato River was the primary source of food, transportation and communications link for the region and of pivotal military significance in the New Zealand land wars of the 19th Century. The river system is also a strategic asset for power generation and the flow has been extensively modified with the engineering of dams, lakes, tunnels and canals used to generate one sixth of New Zealand's total electrical generating capacity via the Waikato and Tongariro Power schemes. 
Large scale deforestation in combination with altered hydrologic characteristics have resulted in siltation of the once navigable river. The Waikato is impacted upon by numerous sources of pollution including; Arsenic from a Geothermal Power Station; nutrient enrichment from fertilizer and effluent spreading practices in dairy farming; more than 80 point source discharges to the main stem; and 1,600 discharges to its tributaries. 
The river system contains numerous fish types and has an international reputation for fishing. More than twenty communities extract and treat its waters for potable use including Auckland City. Historic practices resulted in significant adverse impacts on water quality and the mauri of the Waikato. The river is now administered by a regional council. These attributes make the Waikato River a complex management challenge: a contemporary relevance of the widely known metaphor; Waikato Taniwharau (Waikato with hundreds of guardians). 
Aotearoa New Zealand is currently resolving policy issues for the effective management of its fresh water resource. A national survey of opinion in 2005 distilled public priorities for fresh water management. The Freshwater for a Sustainable Future consultation identified many concerns and that the management of these resources is not being carried out in a sustainable manner. The Land and Water forum acknowledged many of these issues in the National Policy on Fresh Water (2010). The New Zealand government is currently preparing to sell down its 100% control of the hydro generation assets on the river, through a sale of shares in the State owned Enterprises that manage these assets. 
During the initial public consultation, responses from Māori, the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, indicated that there existed significant dissatisfaction with past management and a lack of confidence in future policy and water management decision making. The dissatisfaction manifested as broad opposition to and indifference towards participation in consultation. In subsequent years, some Māori groups have nevertheless chosen to engage in research processes seeking improvements on past practice. A Decision Making Framework (DMF) developed in 2004 has been adopted in several of these proposals due to its ability to balance the competing priorities of engineers representing the dominant western worldview and Māori, the Tangata Whenua (people of the land). 
The Mauri Model DMF is unique in its approach to the management of water resources as the framework offers a transparent and inclusive approach to considering the environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects of decisions being contemplated. The Mauri Model DMF is unique because it is capable of including multiple-worldviews and adopts mauri (intrinsic value or well-being) in the place of money based assessments of pseudo sustainability using Cost Benefit Analysis. 
The Mauri Model DMF does this using a two stage process that first identifies participants’ worldviews and inherent bias regarding water resource management, and then facilitates transparent assessment of selected sustainability performance indicators. The assessment can then be contemplated as the separate environmental, economic, social and cultural dimensions of the decision, collectively as an overall result; or the priorities associated with different worldviews can be applied to determine the sensitivity of the result to different cultural contexts or worldviews. 
A sustainability assessment for the Waikato River is presented within the context of new co-management aspirations that require decision making to reflect the values of both the Government and the Waikato-Tainui peoples. How might the Mauri Model contribute in the complex context of co-management of the Waikato River? Three existing resource uses are assessed to illustrate the contribution that alternative frameworks can make to an enhanced understanding of the challenges that the new co-management regime will need to overcome.

text: Waikato Taniwharau: Prioritising competing needs in the management of the Waikato River The Waikato River system is New Zealand’s longest river and has significant spiritual relevance for the Waikato-Tainui people and other river iwi, who regard it as an indicator of their mauri or well-being, and central to their identity. The Waikato has also been the focus of on-going tensions between Māori cultural and spiritual values and beliefs, and national engineering objectives. The Waikato River was the primary source of food, transportation and communications link for the region and of pivotal military significance in the New Zealand land wars of the 19th Century. The river system is also a strategic asset for power generation and the flow has been extensively modified with the engineering of dams, lakes, tunnels and canals used to generate one sixth of New Zealand's total electrical generating capacity via the Waikato and Tongariro Power schemes. 
Large scale deforestation in combination with altered hydrologic characteristics have resulted in siltation of the once navigable river. The Waikato is impacted upon by numerous sources of pollution including; Arsenic from a Geothermal Power Station; nutrient enrichment from fertilizer and effluent spreading practices in dairy farming; more than 80 point source discharges to the main stem; and 1,600 discharges to its tributaries. 
The river system contains numerous fish types and has an international reputation for fishing. More than twenty communities extract and treat its waters for potable use including Auckland City. Historic practices resulted in significant adverse impacts on water quality and the mauri of the Waikato. The river is now administered by a regional council. These attributes make the Waikato River a complex management challenge: a contemporary relevance of the widely known metaphor; Waikato Taniwharau (Waikato with hundreds of guardians). 
Aotearoa New Zealand is currently resolving policy issues for the effective management of its fresh water resource. A national survey of opinion in 2005 distilled public priorities for fresh water management. The Freshwater for a Sustainable Future consultation identified many concerns and that the management of these resources is not being carried out in a sustainable manner. The Land and Water forum acknowledged many of these issues in the National Policy on Fresh Water (2010). The New Zealand government is currently preparing to sell down its 100% control of the hydro generation assets on the river, through a sale of shares in the State owned Enterprises that manage these assets. 
During the initial public consultation, responses from Māori, the indigenous peoples of Aotearoa New Zealand, indicated that there existed significant dissatisfaction with past management and a lack of confidence in future policy and water management decision making. The dissatisfaction manifested as broad opposition to and indifference towards participation in consultation. In subsequent years, some Māori groups have nevertheless chosen to engage in research processes seeking improvements on past practice. A Decision Making Framework (DMF) developed in 2004 has been adopted in several of these proposals due to its ability to balance the competing priorities of engineers representing the dominant western worldview and Māori, the Tangata Whenua (people of the land). 
The Mauri Model DMF is unique in its approach to the management of water resources as the framework offers a transparent and inclusive approach to considering the environmental, economic, social and cultural aspects of decisions being contemplated. The Mauri Model DMF is unique because it is capable of including multiple-worldviews and adopts mauri (intrinsic value or well-being) in the place of money based assessments of pseudo sustainability using Cost Benefit Analysis. 
The Mauri Model DMF does this using a two stage process that first identifies participants’ worldviews and inherent bias regarding water resource management, and then facilitates transparent assessment of selected sustainability performance indicators. The assessment can then be contemplated as the separate environmental, economic, social and cultural dimensions of the decision, collectively as an overall result; or the priorities associated with different worldviews can be applied to determine the sensitivity of the result to different cultural contexts or worldviews. 
A sustainability assessment for the Waikato River is presented within the context of new co-management aspirations that require decision making to reflect the values of both the Government and the Waikato-Tainui peoples. How might the Mauri Model contribute in the complex context of co-management of the Waikato River? Three existing resource uses are assessed to illustrate the contribution that alternative frameworks can make to an enhanced understanding of the challenges that the new co-management regime will need to overcome.

year: 2013