Real estate stock selection and attribute preferences

The majority of studies that explore property portfolio construction and management strategies utilise highly aggregated ex-post data, but stock selection is known to be a significant determinant of portfolio performance. Thus, here we look at stock selection, focusing on the choices faced by investors, necessitating the collection and analysis of primary data, carried out utilising conjoint analysis. This represents a new step in property research, with the data collection undertaken using a simulation exercise. This enables fund managers to make hypothetical purchase decisions, viewing properties comprising a realistic bundle of attributes and making complex contemporaneous trade-offs between attributes, subject to their stated market and economic forecasts and sector specialism. In total 51 fund managers were surveyed, producing 918 purchase decisions for analysis, with additional data collected regarding fund and personal characteristics. The results reveal that ‘fixed’ property characteristics (location and obsolescence) are dominant in the decision-making process, over and above ‘manageable’ tenant and lease characteristics which can be explicitly included within models of probabilities of income variation. This reveals investors are making ex-ante risk judgements and are considering post acquisition risk management strategies. The study also reveals that behavioural factors affect acquisition decisions

Measurement of bend sprinting kinematics with three-dimensional motion capture : a test-retest reliability study

Sprint velocity decreases on the bend when compared with the straight, therefore understanding technique during bend sprinting could have important implications for aiding race performance. Few bend sprinting studies have used optoelectronic cameras to investigate kinematic variables. Limited published evidence regarding the reliability of marker sets in conditions representative of elite bend sprinting makes model selection difficult. Therefore, a test-retest protocol was conducted to establish the reliability and minimum detectable difference of a lower limb and trunk marker set during bend sprinting (radius: 36.5 m). Six participants completed five, 60 m trials at maximum effort, with data collected at 38 - 45 m. This was repeated 2 - 7 days later. Spatio-temporal (e.g. contact time) and kinematic variables (e.g. peak joint angles) were evaluated. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC) were used to determine the between- and within-day reliability. Between-day reliability (ICC 3, k) was fair to excellent for all variables. Compared to between-day, within-day reliability demonstrated stronger agreement for the majority of variables. Thus, same-day data collection is preferable. It has been established that the marker set is reliable for future use. In addition, the minimal detectable difference was calculated which serves as useful reference for future research in bend sprinting

QTL detection for milk production traits in goats using a longitudinal model

Summary Eight paternal half-sib families were used to identify chromosomal regions associated with variation in the lactation curves of dairy goats. DNA samples from 162 animals were amplified by PCR for 37 microsatellite markers, from Capra hircus autosomes CHI3, CHI6, CHI14 and CHI20. Milk samples were collected during 6 years, and there were 897 records for milk yield (MY) and 814 for fat (FP) and protein percentage (PP). The analysis was conducted in two stages. First, a random regression model with several fixed effects was fitted to describe the lactation function, using a scale (α) plus four shape parameters: β and γ, both associated with a decrease in the slope of the curve, and δ and φ that are related to the increase in slope. Predictions of α, β, γ, δ and φ were regressed using an interval mapping model, and F-tests were used to test for quantitative trait loci (QTL) effects. Significant (p < 0.05) QTLs were found for: (i) MY: CHI6 at 70-80 cM for all parameters; CHI14 at 14 cM for δ and φ; (ii) FP: CHI14, at 63 cM was associated with β; CHI20, at 72 cM, showed association with α; (iii) PP: chromosomal regions associated with β were found at 59 cM in CHI3 and at 55 cM in CHI20 with α and γ. Analyses using more families and more animals will be useful to confirm or to reject these findings. © 2008 Blackwell Verlag, Berlin.Fil: Roldán, D.L.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Genética; ArgentinaFil: Rabasa, Alicia Elvira. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Agronomía y Zootecnia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán; ArgentinaFil: Saldaño, S.. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Facultad de Agronomía y Zootecnia; ArgentinaFil: Holgado, F.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro Regional Tucuman-santiago del Estero. Campo Experimental Regional Leales; ArgentinaFil: Poli, M. A.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Genética; ArgentinaFil: Cantet, Rodolfo Juan Carlos. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Departamento de Producción Animal; Argentin

A VALUE PLATFORM ANALYSIS PERSPECTIVE ON CUSTOMER ACCESS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Customer access information technologies (CAITs) provide a link between a firm and its customers. Firms invest in CAITs to reduce costs, increase revenues and market share, lock in existing customers and capture new ones. These benefits, however, are notoriously difficult to measure. This paper proposes an evaluative method for CAlT deployment called value platform analysis, that is based on a conceptual model drawn from the theory of retail outlet deployment in marketing science. The model focuses on the impact of CAIT features and environmental features on transactions generated by the CAIT. Specific econometric models are developed for deployment. Hypotheses regarding the likely impact of automated teller machine (ATM) location design choices and environmental features on ATM transactions are evaluated. The results indicate that there are a number of key features influencing ATM performance. Two distinct ATM deployment scenarios emerge: one for servicing a bank's own customers, and another for providing transaction services for customers for a fee.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Organisational Resilience in Acquisition Integration—Organisational Antecedents and Contingency Effects of Flexibility and Redundancy

Resilience has received increasing attention in organisational research; however, it has remained understudied in the context of acquisitions. This is surprising given acquisitions involve challenging events that would benefit from a consideration of organisational resilience. We outline how flexibility and redundancy, as dimensions of organisational resilience, influence acquisition outcomes. We find flexibility can lower negative impacts of competitor retaliation and employee resistance during acquisition integration, but this depends on a decentralised approach to managing integration. Additionally, it appears developing organisational resilience depends on acquisition experience

Malaysian children’s attitudes towards television advertising

Explores the attitudes of children in Malaysia’s competitive children’s market towards TV advertising, and how this affects their spending; children influence the market as immediate consumers, as influencers of their parents and other people, and as future adult consumers.Outlines the objectives and methodology of new quantitative research conducted into predictors of children’s attitudes, which also includes the effect of children’s attitudes on parents; the current research involved two primary schools in the Jitra town area, with a total of 252 children.Gives the background of child attitude research since Piaget, and explains the Rossiter scale.Identifies children’s preferences in products, themes and types of TV advertising.Finds that children’s awareness of advertising, and the influence on parents’ purchase decisions, are important predictors of child attitudes to advertising; the influence of TV advertising does impinge on consumer behaviour, whether of children or of their parents as a result of pestering, and younger children and children from lower social classes are especially susceptible to TV advertisements

Vibration induced memory effects and switching in ac-driven molecular nanojunctions

We investigate bistability and memory effects in a molecular junction weakly coupled to metallic leads with the latter being subject to an adiabatic periodic change of the bias voltage. The system is described by a simple Anderson-Holstein model and its dynamics is calculated via a master equation approach. The controlled electrical switching between the many-body states of the system is achieved due to polaron shift and Franck-Condon blockade in the presence of strong electron-vibron interaction. Particular emphasis is given to the role played by the excited vibronic states in the bistability and hysteretic switching dynamics as a function of the voltage sweeping rates. In general, both the occupation probabilities of the vibronic states and the associated vibron energy show hysteretic behaviour for driving frequencies in a range set by the minimum and maximum lifetimes of the system. The consequences on the transport properties for various driving frequencies and in the limit of DC-bias are also investigated.Comment: 15 pages, 20 figures, published versio