Internal rents and corporate property management: a study into the use of internal rents in UK corporate organisations

Research in the late 1980s showed that in many corporate real estates users were not fully aware of the full extent of their property holdings. In many cases, not only was the value of the holdings unknown, but there was uncertainty over the actual extent of ownership within the portfolio. This resulted in a large number of corporate occupiers reviewing their property holdings during the 1990s, initially to create a definitive asset register, but also to benefit from an more efficient use of space. Good management of corporately owned property assets is of equal importance as the management of other principal resources within the company. A comprehensive asset register can be seen as the first step towards a rational property audit. For the effective, efficient and economic delivery of services, it is vital that all property holdings are utilised to the best advantage. This requires that the property provider and the property user are both fully conversant with the value of the property holding and that an asset/internal rent/charge is made accordingly. The advantages of internal rent charging are twofold. Firstly, it requires the occupying department to “contribute” an amount to the business equivalent to the open market rental value of the space that it occupies. This prevents the treating of space as a free good and, as individual profit centres, each department will then rationalise its holdings to minimise its costs. The second advantage is from a strategic viewpoint. By charging an asset rent, the holding department can identify the performance of its real estate holdings. This can then be compared to an internal or external benchmark to help determine whether the company has adopted the most efficient tenure pattern for its properties. This paper investigates the use of internal rents by UK-based corporate businesses and explains internal rents as a form of transfer pricing in the context of management and responsibility accounting. The research finds that the majority of charging organisations introduced internal rents primarily to help calculate true profits at the business unit level. However, less than 10% of the charging organisations introduced internal rents primarily to capture the return on assets within the business. There was also a sizeable element of the market who had no plans to introduce internal rents. Here, it appears that, despite academic and professional views that internal rents are beneficial in improving the efficient use of property, opinion at the business and operational level has not universally accepted this proposition

Relativistic U(3) Symmetry and Pseudo-U(3) Symmetry of the Dirac Hamiltonian

The Dirac Hamiltonian with relativistic scalar and vector harmonic oscillator potentials has been solved analytically in two limits. One is the spin limit for which spin is an invariant symmetry of the the Dirac Hamiltonian and the other is the pseudo-spin limit for which pseudo-spin is an invariant symmetry of the the Dirac Hamiltonian. The spin limit occurs when the scalar potential is equal to the vector potential plus a constant, and the pseudospin limit occurs when the scalar potential is equal in magnitude but opposite in sign to the vector potential plus a constant. Like the non-relativistic harmonic oscillator, each of these limits has a higher symmetry. For example, for the spherically symmetric oscillator, these limits have a U(3) and pseudo-U(3) symmetry respectively. We shall discuss the eigenfunctions and eigenvalues of these two limits and derive the relativistic generators for the U(3) and pseudo-U(3) symmetry. We also argue, that, if an anti-nucleon can be bound in a nucleus, the spectrum will have approximate spin and U(3) symmetry.Comment: Submitted to the Proceedings of "Tenth International Spring Seminar-New Quests in Nuclear Structure", 6 page

A procedure to analyze nonlinear density waves in Saturn's rings using several occultation profiles

Cassini radio science experiments have provided multiple occultation optical depth profiles of Saturn's rings that can be used in combination to analyze density waves. This paper establishes an accurate procedure of inversion of the wave profiles to reconstruct the wave kinematic parameters as a function of semi-major axis, in the nonlinear regime. This procedure is achieved from simulated data in the presence of realistic noise perturbations, to control the reconstruction error. By way of illustration we have applied our procedure to the Mimas 5:3 density wave. We were able to recover precisely the kinematic parameters from the radio experiment occultation data in most of the propagation region; a preliminary analysis of the pressure-corrected dispersion allowed us to determine new but still uncertain values for the opacity ($K\simeq 0.02$ cm$^2$/g) and velocity dispersion of ($c_o\simeq 0.6$ cm/s) in the wave region. Our procedure constitutes the first step in our planned analysis of the density waves of Saturn's rings. It is very accurate and efficient in the far-wave region. However, improvements are required within the first wavelength. The ways in which this method can be used to establish diagnostics of ring physics are outlined.Comment: 50 pages,13 figures, 2 tables. Published in Icarus

Hydrogen Dissociation and Diffusion on Ni and Ti -doped Mg(0001) Surfaces

It is well known, both theoretically and experimentally, that alloying MgH$_2$ with transition elements can significantly improve the thermodynamic and kinetic properties for H$_2$ desorption, as well as the H$_2$ intake by Mg bulk. Here we present a density functional theory investigation of hydrogen dissociation and surface diffusion over Ni-doped surface, and compare the findings to previously investigated Ti-doped Mg(0001) and pure Mg(0001) surfaces. Our results show that the energy barrier for hydrogen dissociation on the pure Mg(0001) surface is high, while it is small/null when Ni/Ti are added to the surface as dopants. We find that the binding energy of the two H atoms near the dissociation site is high on Ti, effectively impeding diffusion away from the Ti site. By contrast, we find that on Ni the energy barrier for diffusion is much reduced. Therefore, although both Ti and Ni promote H$_2$ dissociation, only Ni appears to be a good catalyst for Mg hydrogenation, allowing diffusion away from the catalytic sites. Experimental results corroborate these theoretical findings, i.e. faster hydrogenation of the Ni doped Mg sample as opposed to the reference Mg or Ti doped Mg.Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, to appear in Journal of Chemical Physic

Probing the interiors of the ice giants: Shock compression of water to 700 GPa and 3.8 g/ccm

Recently there has been tremendous increase in the number of identified extra-solar planetary systems. Our understanding of their formation is tied to exoplanet internal structure models, which rely upon equations of state of light elements and compounds like water. Here we present shock compression data for water with unprecedented accuracy that shows water equations of state commonly used in planetary modeling significantly overestimate the compressibility at conditions relevant to planetary interiors. Furthermore, we show its behavior at these conditions, including reflectivity and isentropic response, is well described by a recent first-principles based equation of state. These findings advocate this water model be used as the standard for modeling Neptune, Uranus, and "hot Neptune" exoplanets, and should improve our understanding of these types of planets.Comment: Accepted to Phys. Rev. Lett.; supplementary material attached including 2 figures and 2 tables; to view attachments, please download and extract the gzipped tar source file listed under "Other formats

Electronic transport coefficients from ab initio simulations and application to dense liquid hydrogen

Using Kubo's linear response theory, we derive expressions for the frequency-dependent electrical conductivity (Kubo-Greenwood formula), thermopower, and thermal conductivity in a strongly correlated electron system. These are evaluated within ab initio molecular dynamics simulations in order to study the thermoelectric transport coefficients in dense liquid hydrogen, especially near the nonmetal-to-metal transition region. We also observe significant deviations from the widely used Wiedemann-Franz law which is strictly valid only for degenerate systems and give an estimate for its valid scope of application towards lower densities

Neuraminidase Activity in \u3cem\u3eDiplococcus pneumoniae\u3c/em\u3e

Kelly, R. T. (Marquette University School of Medicine, Milwaukee, Wis.), D. Greiff, and S. Farmer. Neuraminidase activity in Diplococcus pneumoniae. J. Bacteriol. 91:601–603. 1966.—A method for the quantitation of neuraminidase in the presence of N-acetylneuraminic acid aldolase is described. The neuraminidase content of Diplococcus pneumoniae was found to be dependent on the media employed for growth; the highest enzyme activity per milligram of bacterial protein was obtained with Todd-Hewitt broth. Neuraminidase production was stimulated in D. pneumoniae by the addition of N-acetylneuraminlactose, N-acetylneuraminic acid, or N-acetylmannosamine to the growth medium. Three rough strains of D. pneumoniae, which were nonpathogenic for mice, lacked neuraminidase activity. Seven of 12 smooth strains contained neuraminidase; enzyme activity was not detected in the remaining 5 smooth strains. There was no correlation between the presence of neuraminidase activity and the capsular type or between neuraminidase production and animal virulence

Band structure from random interactions

The anharmonic vibrator and rotor regions in nuclei are investigated in the framework of the interacting boson model using an ensemble of random one- and two-body interactions. We find a predominance of L(P)=0(+) ground states, as well as strong evidence for the occurrence of both vibrational and rotational band structures. This remarkable result suggests that such band structures represent a far more general (robust) property of the collective model space than is generally thought.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett., in pres

A is for Anthropocene:An A–Z of Design Ecology

This paper lists in A to Z format the changing ecology of design in the Anthropocene. From twenty-six points of view the paper contrasts design’s search for a coherent ecology – how it looks like it looks – with its search for a familiar ecology – how it is understood today. Taking each letter of the alphabet to create individual reviews of the vicissitudes of design, the paper critiques how design has historically explained to itself, and anyone who has been listening, what it has been doing, and contrasts that with what needs to be done

Heat shock-induced phosphorylation of TAR DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43) by MAPK/ERK kinase regulates TDP-43 function

TAR DNA-binding protein (TDP-43) is a highly conserved and essential DNA- and RNA-binding protein that controls gene expression through RNA processing, in particular, regulation of splicing. Intracellular aggregation of TDP-43 is a hallmark of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and ubiquitin-positive frontotemporal lobar degeneration. This TDP-43 pathology is also present in other types of neurodegeneration including Alzheimer's disease. We report here that TDP-43 is a substrate of MEK, a central kinase in the MAPK/ERK signaling pathway. TDP-43 dual phosphorylation by MEK, at threonine 153 and tyrosine 155 (p-T153/Y155), was dramatically increased by the heat shock response (HSR) in human cells. HSR promotes cell survival under proteotoxic conditions by maintaining protein homeostasis and preventing protein misfolding. MEK is activated by HSR and contributes to the regulation of proteome stability. Phosphorylated TDP-43 was not associated with TDP-43 aggregation, and p-T153/Y155 remained soluble under conditions that promote protein misfolding. We found that active MEK significantly alters TDP-43-regulated splicing and that phosphomimetic substitutions at these two residues reduce binding to GU-rich RNA. Cellular imaging using a phospho-specific p-T153/Y155 antibody showed that phosphorylated TDP-43 was specifically recruited to the nucleoli, suggesting that p-T153/Y155 regulates a previously unappreciated function of TDP-43 in the processing of nucleolar-associated RNA. These findings highlight a new mechanism that regulates TDP-43 function and homeostasis through phosphorylation and, therefore, may contribute to the development of strategies to prevent TDP-43 aggregation and to uncover previously unexplored roles of TDP-43 in cell metabolism