Abstract:In this paper we explore the challenges of measuring sentiment in relation to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) social media. ESG has grown in importance in recent years with a surge in interest from the financial sector and the performance of many businesses has become based in part on their ESG related reputations. The use of sentiment analysis to measure ESG related reputation has developed and with it interest in the use of machines to do so. The era of digital media has created an explosion of new media sources, driven by the growth of social media platforms. This growing data environment has become an excellent source for behavioural insight studies across many disciplines that includes politics, healthcare and market research. Our study seeks to compare human performance with the cutting edge in machine performance in the measurement of ESG related sentiment. To this end researchers classify the sentiment of 150 tweets and a reliability measure is made. A gold standard data set is then established based on the consensus of 3 researchers and this data set is then used to measure the performance of different machine approaches: one based on the VADER dictionary approach to sentiment classification and then multiple language model approaches, including Llama2, T5, Mistral, Mixtral, FINBERT, GPT3.5 and GPT4.
Abstract:The Belief Rule Base (BRB) system that adopts a hybrid approach integrating the precision of expert systems with the adaptability of data-driven models. Characterized by its use of if-then rules to accommodate various types of uncertainty through belief degrees, BRB adeptly handles fuzziness, randomness, and ignorance. This semi-quantitative tool excels in processing both numerical data and linguistic knowledge from diverse sources, making it as an indispensable resource in modelling complex nonlinear systems. Notably, BRB's transparent, white-box nature ensures accessibility and clarity for decision-makers and stakeholders, further enhancing its applicability. With its growing adoption in fields ranging from decision-making and reliability evaluation in network security and fault diagnosis, this study aims to explore the evolution and the multifaceted applications of BRB. By analysing its development across different domains, we highlight BRB's potential to revolutionize sectors traditionally resistant to technological disruption, in particular insurance and law.