Risk-Adjusted Performance of Real Estate Stocks: Evidence From Developing Markets

This paper examines the performance of real estate stocks listed in seven developing markets in East Asia between 1992 and 2002. Using panel regressions, the goal is to identify determinants of the risk-adjusted returns of real estate securities traded in these markets. The empirical evidence suggests that size, book-to-market value, capital structure and market diversification have significant influence on the performance of real estate securities. Asset structure and development exposure, however, do not appear to have any significant effect on the returns behavior, while dividend yield has limited influence. As expected, interest rates and market condition have significant impact on the returns of real estate stocks. The Asian Financial Crisis also has an adverse impact on stocks? performance.

Extrapolation Theory and the Pricing of REIT Stocks

This paper is the winner of the best paper on Real Estate Investment Trusts award (sponsored by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT)] presented at the 2005 American Real Estate Society Annual Meeting. This study evaluates the investment prospects of value stocks in the real estate investment trust (REIT) market. Value stocks are defined as those that carry low prices relative to their earnings, dividends, book assets, or other measures of fundamental value. The empirical results show that from 1990 onwards, value REITs provide superior returns without exposing investors to higher risks. The evidence is consistent with the extrapolation theory, which attributes the mispricing to investors over extrapolating past corporate results into the future. Interestingly, the findings reveal that such extrapolation is asymmetric in the REIT market. While value REITs are underpriced in accordance with the extrapolation theory, no evidence is found that growth REITs are overpriced. The value anomaly also exhibited several temporal traits. Firstly, the value premium varies over time. Secondly, the magnitude of the premium is inversely associated with the market performance. Finally, the value anomaly is not evident in the pricing of REITs in the 1980s.

A Microeconomic Study of Commercial Real Estate Brokerage Firms

While residential brokerage has been widely studied, the operating characteristics on income property brokerage firms have received little attention in the literature. In this paper, we analyze results from a survey of income property brokers to measure profitability scale effects, and expenditures at the firm level. We find that while scale economies exist for expenses, net income per producer falls as firms grow; the optimally sized firm is comparatively small. Although inconsistencies with results from recent residential brokerage studies may relate to the survey period, they may also support a view that residential and income brokerage firms are structurally different.

Clinical Holistic Medicine: Holistic Adolescent Medicine

The holistic medical approach seems to be efficient and can also be used in adolescent medicine. Supporting the teenager to grow and develop is extremely important in order to prevent many of the problems they can carry into adulthood. The simple consciousness-based, holistic medicine — giving love, winning trust, giving holding, and getting permission to help the patient feel, understand, and let go of negative beliefs — is easy for the physician interested in this kind of practice and it requires little previous training for the physician to be able to care for his/her patient. A deeper insight into the principles of holistic treatment and a thorough understanding of our fellow human beings are making it work even better. Holistic medicine is not a miracle cure, but rather a means by which the empathic physician can support the patient in improving his/her future life in respect to quality of life, health, and functional capacity — through coaching the patient to work on him/herself in a hard and disciplined manner. When the patient is young, this work is so much easier. During our lifetime, we have several emotional traumas arranged in the subconscious mind with the smallest at the top, and it is normal for the person to work on a large number of traumatic events that have been processed to varying degrees. Some traumas have been acknowledged, some are still being explored by the person, and yet others are still preconscious, which can be seen for example in the form of muscle tension. Sometimes the young dysfunctional patient carries severe traumas of a violent or sexual nature, but the physician skilled in the holistic medical toolbox can help the patient on his/her way to an excellent quality of life, full self-expression, a love and sex life, and a realization of his/her talents — all that a young patient is typically dreaming about. Biomedicine is not necessary or even recommended when the physical or mental symptoms are caused by disturbances in the personal development that can be corrected with love and understanding. If possible, biomedicine must be avoided, even if this means suffering for the young person, who needs to confront the tough realities of life in order to grow into an able and sound adult

Preliminary study of Hepatitis B surface antigen on mental health care workers at federal neuropsychiatric hospital Barnawa, Kaduna Nigeria

Background: This study was designed to determine retrospectively, HBsAg status, marker of HBV infection, among Mental Health Care Workers (MHCWs) at Federal Neuropsychiatric Hospital (FNPH), Barnawa Kaduna, North West, Nigeria. Two hundred and fifty one, apparently healthy HBV vaccine naïve, MHCWs, who voluntarily participate prior to HBV-vaccination. Materials and Methods: The screening was carried out using atlas latex haemagglutination test kit, between the months of December, 2000 through March, 2001. The MHCWs were categorized into senior and junior staff. Their ages, years of service, occupation, and department were obtained from year 2000 staff nominal roll. Prior to the study ethical approval was obtained from the hospital ethical committee. Two hundred and fifty one, participant were tested for HBsAg in a pre-HBV-vaccination exercise. Results: The number and percentages of participants by gender were 127 (50.6%) males and 124 (49.4%) females, respectively. The age range was 19-60 years with a mean age of 37 ± 2 years. The Number and percentages of junior and senior staff were 163 (65.0%) and 88 (35.0%), respectively. The incidence of HBsAg was 72 (28.7%). Incidence rates was highest among the males 41 (32.3%) compared to females 31(25.0%) and51-60yrs (50.0%), the incidence among Junior Staff was 52 (31.9%), while in Senior staff was 20 (22.7%) respectively. MHCWs who served between 26-30 years were 2 (66.7%) and those within 21-25 years were 6 (26.1%). Medical Record Staff were 3 (60.0%) and staff from other departments were Pharmacy 3 (50.0%), Artisans 7 (46.7%), Security 15(42.9%), Occupational Therapy Staff 2 (40.0%), Account Staff 6 (30.0%), Social Welfare 1 (25.0%), Hospital Maids 14 (23.7%), Administration Staff 11 (23.4%), Nurses 8 (17.0%), Medical Laboratory Staff 0 (0.0%), respectively. Statistical analysis obtained using Chisquare (x2) test showed no statistically significant association (p >0.05) between incidence of HBV-infection and years of service, Sex, Age, Cadre and Occupation. Conclusions: Due to a high prevalence of HbsAg, a marker of HBV infection, among MHCWs, Pre-vaccination screening should be instituted in Nigeria’s mental health facilities for early detection of HBV-infection and selective treatment. Key words: Hepatitis B virus; HbsAg; neuropsychiatric; vaccination; screening; Barnawa; Kaduna; Nigeria

Political Radicalization as a Communication Process

Based on data taken from 412 adult education students in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, this research attempts to show that attitudes toward French Canadian Separatism by the sample members can be accounted for by differentiaf communication processes. Results show that attitudes held by sample members are well explained (R2 = .64) by a weighted average of the information they received from interpersonal and media sources. The resultant attitude shows substantial effects on behaviors related to separatism for the same respondents.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67215/2/10.1177_009365027400100301.pd

Posterior eye shape measurement with retinal OCT compared to MRI

PURPOSE. Posterior eye shape assessment by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to study myopia. We tested the hypothesis that optical coherence tomography (OCT), as an alternative, could measure posterior eye shape similarly to MRI. METHODS. Macular spectral-domain OCT and brain MRI images previously acquired as part of the Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Diseases study were analyzed. The right eye in the MRI and OCT images was automatically segmented. Optical coherence tomography segmentations were corrected for optical and display distortions requiring biometry data. The segmentations were fitted to spheres and ellipsoids to obtain the posterior eye radius of curvature (Rc) and asphericity (Qxz). The differences in Rc and Qxz measured by MRI and OCT were tested using paired t-tests. Categorical assignments of prolateness or oblateness using Qxz were compared. RESULTS. Fifty-two subjects (67.8 ± 5.6 years old) with spherical equivalent refraction from +0.50 to -5.38 were included. The mean paired difference between MRI and original OCT posterior eye Rc was 24.03 ± 46.49 mm (P = 0.0005). For corrected OCT images, the difference in Rc decreased to -0.23 ± 2.47 mm (P = 0.51). The difference between MRI and OCT asphericity, Qxz, was -0.052 ± 0.343 (P = 0.28). However, categorical agreement was only moderate (j = 0.50). CONCLUSIONS. Distortion-corrected OCT measurements of Rc and Qxz were not statistically significantly different from MRI, although the moderate categorical agreement suggests that individual differences remained. This study provides evidence that with distortion correction, noninvasive office-based OCT could potentially be used instead of MRI for the study of posterior eye shape

Multi-scale waves in sound-proof global simulations with EULAG

EULAG is a computational model for simulating flows across a wide range of scales and physical scenarios. A standard option employs an anelastic approximation to capture nonhydrostatic effects and simultaneously filter sound waves from the solution. In this study, we examine a localized gravity wave packet generated by instabilities in Held-Suarez climates. Although still simplified versus the Earth’s atmosphere, a rich set of planetary wave instabilities and ensuing radiated gravity waves can arise. Wave packets are observed that have lifetimes ≤ 2 days, are negligibly impacted by Coriolis force, and do not show the rotational effects of differential jet advection typical of inertia-gravity waves. Linear modal analysis shows that wavelength, period, and phase speed fit the dispersion equation to within a mean difference of ∼ 4%, suggesting an excellent fit. However, the group velocities match poorly even though a propagation of uncertainty analysis indicates that they should be predicted as well as the phase velocities. Theoretical arguments suggest the discrepancy is due to nonlinearity — a strong southerly flow leads to a critical surface forming to the southwest of the wave packet that prevents the expected propagation

Maritime aerosol network as a component of AERONET - First results and comparison with global aerosol models and satellite retrievals

The Maritime Aerosol Network (MAN) has been collecting data over the oceans since November 2006. Over 80 cruises were completed through early 2010 with deployments continuing. Measurement areas included various parts of the Atlantic Ocean, the Northern and Southern Pacific Ocean, the South Indian Ocean, the Southern Ocean, the Arctic Ocean and inland seas. MAN deploys Microtops hand-held sunphotometers and utilizes a calibration procedure and data processing traceable to AERONET. Data collection included areas that previously had no aerosol optical depth (AOD) coverage at all, particularly vast areas of the Southern Ocean. The MAN data archive provides a valuable resource for aerosol studies in maritime environments. In the current paper we present results of AOD measurements over the oceans, and make a comparison with satellite AOD retrievals and model simulations