The effect of carbon regulation initiatives on corporate ESG performance in real estate sector: International evidence

This study contributes to the existing literature by examining how carbon regulation initiatives influence corporations' ESG actions in the real estate sector, with a special focus on Environmental (E) performance. Specifically, it investigates if stringent carbon regulations like emissions trading systems (ETS) enhance corporates' ESG performance by analyzing data of listed real estate across 37 countries rated by MSCI. Our findings indicate that implementing ETS leads to heightened environmental responsibility in the real estate sector. This supports North's (1990) institutional theory, highlighting the impact of regulations on organizational behavior and business strategies. Our channel analysis suggests that listed real estate leverages ETS-driven regulations to participate in green building initiatives. However, the study does not find comparable effects on carbon taxes. This research highlights the pivotal role of carbon regulations in shaping sustainable practices in the real estate sector

Flexural behaviours of Engineered Cementitious Composites – High strength steel composite beams

Since the compressive strain of normal strength concrete (NSC) (0.23 – 0.3%) is too low to work compatibly with high strength steel (HSS) with typical yield strain greater than 0.35%, Engineered Cementitious Composites (ECC) which generally has a minimum compressive strain of 0.5%, is an attractive alternative to replace NSC when constructing composite beams using HSS sections. This study investigated experimentally the flexural behaviours of composite beams comprising HSS I-section and hybrid Polyethylene-steel fibres (PE-ST) ECC slab. Shear interactions between the HSS beam and the PE-ST ECC slab was provided by normal profiled steel sheeting (PSS) and headed shear studs. Four composite beams including three ECC-HSS beams and one NSC-HSS beam were tested under four-point bending until failure. The test results indicated that while the flexural capacity of ECC-HSS beams only showed a slight improvement, its ductility was significantly enhanced when comparing with the NSC-HSS beam. All ECC-HSS beams failed in a ductile manner and gradual softening behaviours were observed after the peak load. In contrast, the NSC-HSS beam showed a less ductile failure mode with a sudden crushing of NSC and a sharp drop of bending resistance after the peak load. To complement the test results, a 3D nonlinear finite element (FE) model was also developed and validated against the experimental results. Well agreements between the FE and test results were observed. This confirmed that the FE model could be employed to evaluate the general behaviours of ECC-HSS composite beams

The value of air quality in housing markets: A comparative study of housing sale and rental markets in China

Given air pollution has multidimensional adverse effects, the relation of air quality and housing markets have attracted increasing attention in the last few years, particularly in China. However, these studies mainly focus on the housing sale market and neglect another key housing market-the housing rental market. This paper aims to comprehend air quality's effects in China through a comparative view by quantifying the capitalised benefits of air quality improvement in housing sale prices and rents in 283 cities from 2014 to 2018. The empirical results show that renters and homebuyers do value air quality improvements, and their preferences for air quality are homogeneous. This supports the similarity of the environmental preferences hypothesis in which cleaner air is a type of environmental amenity to all residents, including both homebuyers and renters. The finding is robust to different submarkets in which both homebuyers and renters value air quality similarly in different regions. However, the impact of air quality varies across submarkets in that large and medium cities are more sensitive to air quality, while air quality shows little effects on small cities. The differences across cities highlight the significance of submarket analysis, and the policy implications are also discussed

Glycodelin suppresses endometrial cell migration and invasion but stimulates spheroid attachment

Glycodelin contains four isoforms with diverse biological functions. Glycodelin-A is potentially a diagnostic marker for cancer patients and receptivity marker of the secretory endometrium. Yet, direct evidence for the role of glycodelin in the regulation of endometrial epithelial cell migration, invasion and attachment of trophoblastic spheroids (blastocyst surrogate) is lacking. In this study, the human glycodelin gene was stably transfected into human endometrial (HEC1-B) cells. Forced expression of glycodelin in HEC1-B cells did not affect cell proliferation, cell viability or cell-cycle progression, but significantly reduced migration and invasion of the stably transfected cells (both P < 0.05). The migration rate returned to normal levels when the glycodelin-forced-expressing HEC1-B cells were treated with glycodelin RNAi. Furthermore, forced expression of glycodelin in HEC1-B cells significantly increased the attachment of trophoblastic spheroids onto the endometrial epithelial cells (P < 0.05). In summary, glycodelin suppressed endometrial cell migration and invasion but enhanced spheroid attachment. © 2012, Reproductive Healthcare Ltd.postprin

Typical collapse modes of confined masonry buildings under strong earthquake loads

Confined masonry structures are a widely applied structural system in many developing countries. During the past Wenchuan Earthquake in 2008, numerous confined masonry buildings collapsed, while many others suffered damage. This study reviews the construction practices of confined masonry buildings in China. Simple models and hand calculation methods are proposed for quantifying the tearing failure of diaphragms, the tensile failure of tie-columns and the sway-mode strength of masonry buildings. The results indicate very good agreement with field observations. The seismic measures that are stipulated in the seismic design codes are very effective for increasing the strength and integrity, but not the ductility of masonry buildings. For those buildings that survived the earthquake, strength rather than ductility protected the confined masonry from collapse or serious damage. Design recommendations are suggested for preventing various types of premature failures and enhancing the lateral strength of masonry buildings. © Su et al.published_or_final_versio

Machine scheduling with deliveries to multiple customer locations

Department of Logistics, Faculty of Business2005-2006 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

High performance communication subsystem for clustering standard high-volume servers using Gigabit Ethernet

This paper presents an efficient communication subsystem, DP-II, for clustering standard high-volume (SHV) servers using Gigabit Ethernet. The DP-II employs several lightweight messaging mechanisms to achieve low-latency and high-bandwidth communication. The test shows an 18.32 us single-trip latency and 72.8 MB/s bandwidth on a Gigabit Ethernet network for connecting two Dell PowerEdge 6300 Quad Xeon SMP servers running Linux. To improve the programmability of the DP-II communication subsystem, the development of DP-II was based on a concise yet powerful abstract communication model, Directed Point Model, which can be conveniently used to depict the inter-process communication pattern of a parallel task in the cluster environment. In addition, the API of DP-II preserves the syntax and semantics of traditional UNIX I/O operations, which make it easy to use.published_or_final_versio

Efficacy of psychosocial intervention in improving quality of life and psychological well-being of Chinese patients with colorectal cancer: a randomised controlled trial.

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Evaluation of Local & Global Ductility Relationships for Low-Rise Masonry-Infilled Reinforced Concrete Frame Structures

The paper presents the findings on a parametric study of the period lengthening effects of low-rise masonryinfilled reinforced concrete frame buildings using an incremental dynamic analysis (IDA). Simplified 2D building models utilizing Bouc-Wen model for describing strength, stiffness degradation and pinching effect were subjected to some selected ground motion records ranging from far to near field earthquakes in low to high seismicity regions. Simple equations correlating local to global ductilities derived from pushover (PO) analysis for buildings under soft storey failure mechanism are proposed. The equations take into account the governing factors like critical interstorey drift and number of storeys. The applicability of the equations was verified up to 7-storey buildings from the results of IDA. Such simple ductility relationships are likely to facilitate mostly the coefficient-based method, in which the typical PO analysis may be bypassed and allows making intuitive insight into the seismic performance of buildings.published_or_final_versio

Client influence in property valuation: a scoping literature review

Purpose: The property valuation process involves the property valuer expressing expertise in reaction to a client' instruction. However, there are instances where clients, driven by self-interest, impose their will to influence valuers into returning property valuation figures that are not the true reflection of the valuer's assessment. This paper set out to revisit the issue of client influence in property valuation by conducting a scoping review to establish key findings, gaps, implications and solutions. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 21 articles on client influence published from 1997 till date were systematically obtained from Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar and through citation searching and reviewed through a “Patterns, Advances, Gaps, Evidence for practice and Research recommendations (PAGER)” framework. Further analysis and visualisation were performed using VOSviewer software. Findings: This study found that based on the number of studies, the issue of client influence has received empirical attention, which is few and far between, with financial institutions identified as the major culprits in most of those studies. One core reason for this is the stakes involved in the finance sector, which relies on property valuation for loan disbursement and performance measurement. Furthermore, previous studies have focused on identifying the issue through the lens of the property valuer without giving recourse to the client's perspective on what may drive the issue. Research limitations/implications: This study provides evidence that the issue of client influence persists, with some elements of bias in the methodology. Furthermore, the solutions proffered have focused on the valuer and have not been tested to ascertain their effectiveness. Future studies can consider examining the issue from the perspective of financial institutions. Originality/value: This study is one of the first review studies on client influence on property valuation. It is also the first to identify a pattern in client influence studies that points to the issue being perpetuated by financial institutions. Furthermore, it is the first in recent time to reveal how limited study has been conducted in the area as well as the solutions which have neither been tested nor implemented