International real estate investments : an analysis of the public and private markets in Singapore, Thailand, China and Indonesia

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1999.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 63-64).In the past, international real estate investment has consisted of direct equity investment in foreign countries. Such investments have traditionally been considered to provide diversification benefits given that it was assumed that such properties were affected predominately by their respective domestic economies. Of course another benefit of international investment is the ability to seek out the best risk adjusted returns, wherever they may be. Due to the recent globalization and securitization trends, today investors are finding that they have another investment option, international real estate public markets. This thesis addresses several of the issues related to the emergence of these markets in four countries: Singapore, Thailand, China and Indonesia. For each of these countries extensive data was obtained for both the private and public markets in order to statistically examine various related relationships. Specifically, this thesis attempts to find answers to the three following questions: Are GDP, rents, private, and public prices following a random walk or a trend-reverting pattern? How does the local economy affect the real estate markets? How do the public and private real estate markets relate with each other? It is important to note that the purpose of this thesis was to systematically examine the data, and then to present the results. An in-depth analysis of the results was not the intent. For Question one it was found that the majority of the public prices were random whereas the results for rents and private prices were mixed. Also, an absence of any significant trends was found for the real estate data. These results would tend to indicate that for all of the countries studied the public market was much more volatile, and presumably efficient, than the private market. Question two related directly to the issue of diversification. A significant contemporaneous relationship was found to exist between GDP and the private market. And an even stronger contemporaneous linkage between GDP and public prices was also found. It was thus concluded that shifting from direct investment to public market investment would not likely increase diversification benefits. The results for Question three indicated a strong contemporaneous relationship between rents and private prices. The lagged relationships for the rents-public was found to be stronger than the contemporaneous in all the cases. The results for the private-public relationship were not consistent. For all the countries, except China public prices were found to lead private prices.by Alfonzo Leon.S.M

Perancangan Website Interaktif Pendidikan Pajak Untuk Dewasa Muda Berjudul "Taxove"

Pajak adalah hal yang penting dan wajib dalam kegiatan bernegara. Pajak dikategorikan sebagai partisipasi dan kontribusi langsung masyarakat terhadap negara. Kesalahan perpajakan yang terdahulu membuat masyarakat Indonesia kehilangan kepercayaannya. Masyarakat berujung pada sikap apatis, membuat jarak antara pemerintahan dengan masyarakat. Kini pihak perpajakan sudah memulai USAha untuk memulihkan kualitas dalam servis perpajakan, tetapi masyarakat yang sudah terlanjur apatis memiliki perspektif negatif terhadap pajak. Masyarakat tidak mengerti apa guna dan apa manfaat pajak, sehingga berujung tidak peduli. Pengetahuan dan informasi yang disediakan pemerintah pun tidak cukup tepat. Maka penelitian ini merupakan jembatan antara masyarakat dan perpajakan, bertujuan membuat website interaktif berisi informasi perpajakan untuk masyarakat, khususnya dewasa muda yang masih awam mengenai pajak. Website ini diharapkan mampu meningkatkan pngetahuan masyarakat terhadap pajak, merubah masyarakat yang apatis menjadi kritis. Karena konsep dari pemerintahan Indonesia berdasarkan pada demokrasi; dari rakyat untuk rakyat oleh rakyat maka kontrol pemerintahan berada sepenuhnya di tangan masyarakat

Pameran Cinemagraph “Turun Sintren”

Kebudayaan merupakan identitas dari sebuah masyarakat. Kesenian Sintren merupakan bagian dari kebudayaan Cirebon di daerah pesisir utara Jawa, Indonesia. Penari Sintren berkacamata hitam dan wewangian dari asap kemenyan merupakan salah satu bentuk hiburan rakyat Cirebon. Terkait dengan pengaruh Sunan Gunung Jati, masyarakat Cirebon masih terikat pada hal hal yang berbau mistis. Kurangnya wawasan masyarakat umum akan kesenian ini membuat Sintren Cirebon membutuhkan sebuah sarana untuk kembali dikenal. Perancangan pameran cinemagraph “Turun Sintren” ditujukan kepada remaja akhir dan dewasa muda yang senang mengunjungi mall. Mall merupakan sebuah ruang publik dimana terjadi interaksi didalamnya. Perancangan pameran “Turun Sintren” terbagi dalam dua tahap; perancangan cinemagraph dan pameran. Pameran ditata sedemikian rupa untuk mendukung pensuasanaan dari seri cinemagraph yang dibuat. Dalam bentuk pameran cinemagraph di kawasan mall, dengan otomatis akan terjadi interaksi antara audience dan Sintren

Evaluation of the fermentation dynamics of commercial baker’s yeast in presence of pistachio powder to produce lysine-enriched breads

The present work was carried out to evaluate the microbiological, physicochemical, and sensory characteristics of fortified pistachio breads. Pistachio powder (5% w/w) was added to flour or semolina and fermented by a commercial baker’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae). Pistachio powder did not influence the biological leavening of the doughs. The kinetics of pH and total titratable acidity (TTA) during dough fermentation showed that the leavening process occurred similarly for all trials. The concentration of yeasts increased during fermentation and reached levels of 108 CFU/g after 2 h. Pistachio powder decreased the height and softness of the final breads and increased cell density of the central slices. The amount of lysine after baking increased in pistachio breads and this effect was stronger for semolina rather than flour trials. Sensory evaluation indicated that fortified breads processed from semolina were those more appreciated by the judges. This work clearly indicated that the addition of pistachio powder in bread production represents a promising strategy to increase the availability of lysine in cereal-based fermented products

Jaminaea phylloscopi sp. Nov. (microstromatales), a basidiomycetous yeast isolated from migratory birds in the mediterranean basin

During a survey of yeasts vectored by migratory birds in the Mediterranean basin, isolations from the cloacae of members of the order Passeriformes collected in Ustica (Italy) were performed. Based on phylogenetic analysis of the D1/D2 domain of the 26S rRNA gene and the internal transcribed spacer ITS1-5.8S rRNA gene-ITS2 region, five yeast isolates clustered in a new lineage within the Microstromatales clade. The DNA sequences of these isolates differed from those of their closest relatives, Jaminaea angkorensis and Jaminaea lanaiensis, by 20 and 25 nt substitutions in the D1/D2 domain and 119 and 131 nt substitutions in the complete ITS region, respectively. In addition, the five isolates showed phenotypic characteristics not observed in their closest relatives, such as the ability to grow at 44 °C and at pH 2.5, which suggests a possible adaptation to the bird gastrointestinal tract. On the basis of the isolation source, phenotypic features and molecular strain typing carried out with randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD)-PCR and mini-satellite-primed (MSP)-PCR analysis, the five isolates were characterized as five distinct strains of a novel species formally described as Jaminaea phylloscopi sp. nov., with 551B6T (=PYCC 6783T=CBS 14087T) as the type strain. The Mycobank accession number is MB811984

Efficacy and safety of dolutegravir and doravirine dual therapy in the context of antiretroviral therapy switch: 48 weeks analysis.

Dual therapy in HIV represents an attractive opportunity for HIV infected people in virologic suppression Dual therapy regimens should achieve and maintain viral suppression and immunologic control while minimizing short and long term AEs, improve adherence and convenience and reduce drug drug interactions and costs To date, there are few clinical data to support a dual regimen with dolutegravir and doravirine 1 The individual efficacy of both doravirine and dolutegravir suggests that concomitant administration of these two molecules as part of an NRTI sparing regimen could be a viable option, although to date there are no studies in the HIV infected population The aim of our study is to investigate whether a dual therapy regimen containing dolutegravir and doravirine is effective and saf

The migratory birds: novel ecological niche of fungal diversity?

Francesca et al (2010) studied the ecology of wine yeasts associated to birds caught in vineyards. The same authors were able to prove that migratory birds might carry living pro-technological yeasts for about 12 hours from the ingestion of inoculated feed (Francesca et al 2012). In subsequent studies, they tried to demonstrate that microorganisms are not only transported for a short period by birds, but microorganisms might be adapted to the specific conditions (body temperature about 42 °C and low pH) of the intestinal tract of birds. Hence, it was demonstrated that the majority of isolates carried by birds are thermotolerant. The most interesting results were the isolation of two new species of thermotolerant yeasts, isolated from birds (Francesca et al 2013, 2014). Presently, the main scope of this work is to investigate an additional number of seven new species of thermotolerant yeasts isolated from migratory birds. Bird’s cloacae were analyzed for the presence of yeasts (Francesca et al 2012). All isolates were subjected to phylogenetic and phenotypic analyses as reported by Francesca et al (2014). Twenty four cultures belonging to the genera Candida and Aureobasidium were isolated from birds. The phylogenetic analysis of D1/D2 domain of 26S and ITS region of 5.8S rRNA genes placed the cultures of Candida and Aureobasidium in new lineages that differed conspicuously from their closest relatives, C. verbasci and A. pullulans, respectively. For our Candida isolates the phenotypic analyses showed several discrepancies in assimilation tests between our cultures and C. verbasci, as well as represent a novel ecological niche of new species of thermotolerant yeasts gathered

Effect of the lemon essential oils on the safety and sensory quality of salted sardines (Sardina pilchardus Walbaum 1792)

The main aim of this research was to investigate the biopreservative effects of lemon essential oil (EO) micro-emulsions on salted sardines. The experimental design included two experimental trials, SR1 and SR2 carried out with 25 ml of lemon EO micro-emulsion at 0.3 and 1.0% (v/v), respectively, and a control trial performed without EO addition. Chemical analyses on salted sardines inoculated with the EOs clearly showed a substantial persistence of several volatile organic compounds (VOCs) belonging to groups of monoterpene hydrocarbons, oxygenated monoterpenes and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons derived from EOs during the entire period of ripening. In particular, the molecules mostly represented were limonene, p-cymene and β-pinene. Immediately after the addition of EOs, the concentrations of all microbial groups decreased. The presence of Enterobacteriaceae, staphylococci and rod lactic acid bacteria (LAB) observed in the trials SR1 and SR2 was significantly lower than that registered for the control trial during the entire period of monitoring. Furthermore, the addition of EOs determined a lower accumulation of histamine in sardines compared to those of the control trial. The highest scores of sensory evaluation were registered for flavour and overall acceptability of the experimental trials in presence of EOs. On the basis of the increasing interest toward novel food preservatives, we conclude that the use of EOs to produce salted fishes represents a valid strategy to improve safety and sensory characteristics of salted sardines. This work has also economic implications, since the flavour improvement due to the addition of lemon EOs might increase the consumption of sardines by regular and new consumers