This dissertation investigates three types of investment manager trading behaviour to ascertain whether behavioural biases are present in the Australian investment management industry. In particular, this thesis examines whether these biases are detrimental to fund performance and market efficiency, and whether there is a need for regulatory review given the behaviour of institutions in their trading on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The three empirical issues examined in this thesis are: leader and follower patterns in institutional trading; quarter-end gaming behaviour; and short-term trading activity and the role of institutional monitoring. Firstly, in the analysis of leader-follower behaviour, this thesis finds profitable trade packages are executed using multiple brokers as a way to accumulate a larger package in a shorter window of time and as means of enhancing disguise. Profitability is higher when these trade packages are mimicked and when there are up to three mimickers, compared to situations in which no mimicking occurs. Potential mimickers do not appear to ignore their own signal when deciding whether or not to follow when the sequence is short, but may do so for longer sequences as predicted by Grenadier (1999). It is concluded that short sequences of mimicking trades by active fund managers speed the price discovery process. Secondly, in an investigation of ??portfolio pumping?? by Australian active investment managers, this thesis finds significant abnormal stock and fund returns on the final business day of the calendar quarter-end. This thesis then identifies particular trades, appearing mostly in less liquid stocks, which accompany stocks that are marked up at quarter-end (it is not possible in this thesis to prove causation given the trades in this sample are not time-stamped). Fund managers execute more purchases than normal on the last day of the quarter in stocks in which they are overweight, providing strong evidence that manager behaviour is modified on the last day of the quarter-end. This study also finds poor-performing managers are more likely to perpetrate gaming trades, which may be as a result of career concerns and business risk management. New investors in funds would benefit substantially by delaying their entry to the fund until the day after the end of the quarter, as there is a lower entry price into the fund. However, portfolio pumping does not substantially affect the returns of extant fund investors, as the trading cost associated with the relatively small gaming trades is relatively small. Attempts by the ASX to reduce price manipulation, such as instituting a closing price call auction and then later revising the algorithm of this auction, have been effective in limiting both the number of occurrences, as well as the severity of gaming on the efficiency of the market. Thirdly, in an examination of the short-term trading activity of active investment managers which threaten exit, this thesis find that a larger number of actively trading multi-blockholders significantly raises firm performance. It remains true that an individual blockholder who intervenes to raise firm performance has to share gains with other blockholders. But firm manager effort is enhanced by the threat of exit by blockholders when they receive a bad signal concerning managerial effort. This study tests seven nested hypotheses proposed by Edmans and Manso (2008) using sequences of short-term institutional trades that threaten exit. Blockholder net profit is diminishing in the number of traders, consistent with a common signal of poor managerial performance. Moreover, these trade sequences are profitable even after transaction costs. Spreads are lower and the firm??s share price becomes more sensitive to managerial performance as more blockholders threaten exit. From the three broad investigations into fund manager activity this thesis undertakes, active fund managers are shown to behave rationally and, apart from their behaviour at quarter-end, they act in the interests of their investors, aid price discovery, reduce bid-ask spreads and thereby exhibit a positive influence on market efficiency.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2006. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on April 21, 2009) Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.Eng.)--University of Louisville, 2008. / Title and description from thesis home page (viewed May 14, 2008). Department of Mechanical Engineering. "April 2008." Includes bibliographical references (p. 55-56).

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 1999. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains x, 91 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 68-69).

Thesis (Ph. D. in Mechanical Engineering)--Vanderbilt University, Dec. 2008. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1991. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 57-60). Also available via the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1963. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 72).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1984. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 79-80).

Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Civil Engineering / Christopher A. Jones / Kyle A. Riding / Pumping is the most utilized placement technique to deliver fresh concrete from the concrete mixer to the formwork on construction site. Compared to other available placement methods, such as bucket-and-crane or conveyor belts, pumping offers superior placement rates while reducing the required labor cost. Despite the fact that concrete pumping has been utilized on job sites around the world since the early 1960s, there is still a lack of knowledge, supported by research evidence, as to what affects concrete pumpability and how pumping changes concrete properties both in the plastic and hardened state. A four-phase research study was carried out to: (1) improve the existing methodology of rheological characterization of the lubrication layer formed during pumping, (2) evaluate the effect of concrete mixture constituents and proportioning on rheological properties of concrete and the lubrication layer, (3) asses the effect of pumping and pumping pressure on concrete fresh properties and the air void system under controlled conditions, and (4) to evaluate the effect of pumping on concrete fresh properties and the air void system in the field conditions. In the first phase of this research program, a correction procedure was developed evaluating 3D flow at the bottom of the cylindrical concrete interface rheometer. Results showed that the correction procedure can be successfully used for characterization of lubrication layer properties, and that the bottom of the cylinder can cause measurement error of up to 10% depending on concrete rheological properties and the interface rheometer geometry. The second phase of this research program consisted of a laboratory study to evaluate rheological properties and properties of the lubrication layer of large variety of concrete mixtures. Considered mixture proportion variables included air void content, water-to-cement ratio, paste volume, fly ash replacement ratio, fine-to-coarse aggregate ratio, aggregate shape, use of viscosity-modifying admixture, and use of nano-clay particles. Results indicated that the changes in rheological properties of the lubrication due to mixture proportioning adjustments corresponded in most cases to changes of the bulk concrete rheological properties. In the third phase of the study, a full-scale controlled pumping experiment was conducted. During the experiment, three different concrete mixtures were pumped and both fresh and hardened properties of concrete were determined. Additionally, the pumping circuit was equipped with a system to monitor pumping pressures. The obtained results revealed that concrete pumping can significantly modify concrete fresh properties. Additionally, it was shown that changes in the fresh properties as well as in the concrete air void system are independent of applied concrete pressure. Finally, the forth phase of this research program consisted of field evaluation of concrete pumping. Six concrete bridge project sites were visited and concrete samples were collected before and after pumping. Analysis results indicated that the changes in concrete properties appear to be influenced not only by mixture characteristics but also by discharge conditions in the formwork.