The Effect of Expertise on the Quality of Appraisal Services

This article examines the quality of appraisals as a function of expertise. In paraticular, we compare novices (beginning real estate students) to experts (practicing certified and/or designated appraisers) on three performance criteria. First, we examine differences in the values that these two groups attach to various property features. Second, we investigate the variation between their final market value estimates. The last task studied is whether appraisers can reliably provide a range about their market value that includes the actual sale price of the property. The results are based on a controlled experiment involving seventy-two novices and sixty-nine experts, where each participant was asked to determine a fair market value of a single-family home. Findings indicate that experienced appraisers do in fact exhibit less variation in their valuation of property characteristics, hence there is greater agreement in their market value estimates than is the case with novices. However, more experienced decision-makers tend to be overconfident of their ability: they are less likely to specify a range that includes the sale price than are novices.

Prospective study of avian influenza transmission to humans in egypt

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus remains a public health threat and continues to cause outbreaks among poultry as well as human infections. Since its appearance, the virus has spread to numerous geographic areas and is now considered endemic in Egypt and other countries. Most studies on human H5N1 cases were conducted to investigate outbreak situations and were not designed to address fundamental questions about the epidemiology of human infection with H5N1 viruses. Our objective for this study is to answer these questions by estimating the prevalence and incidence rates of human cases and determine associated risk and protective factors in areas where H5N1 viruses are endemic.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>We designed a 3-year prospective cohort study of 1000 individuals of various exposure levels to poultry in Egypt. At onset, we will collect sera to estimate baseline antibody titers against AI viruses H4-H16. Two follow-up visits are scheduled at 1-year intervals following initial enrollment. At follow-up, we will also collect sera to measure changes in antibody titers over time. Thus, annual prevalence rates as well as incidence rates of infection will be calculated. At each visit, exposure and other data will be collected using a specifically tailored questionnaire. This data will be used to measure risk and protective factors associated with infection. Subjects will be asked to contact the study team any time they have influenza-like illness (ILI). In this case, the study team will verify infection by rapid influenza A test and obtain swabs from the subject's contacts to isolate and characterize viruses causing acute infection.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Epidemiologic studies at the influenza human-animal interface are rare, hence many questions concerning transmission, severity, and extent of infection at the population level remain unanswered. We believe that our study will help tackle and clarify some of these issues.</p

Joint spatiotemporal models to predict seabird densities at sea

Introduction: Seabirds are abundant, conspicuous members of marine ecosystems worldwide. Synthesis of distribution data compiled over time is required to address regional management issues and understand ecosystem change. Major challenges when estimating seabird densities at sea arise from variability in dispersion of the birds, sampling effort over time and space, and differences in bird detection rates associated with survey vessel type. Methods: Using a novel approach for modeling seabirds at sea, we applied joint dynamic species distribution models (JDSDM) with a vector-autoregressive spatiotemporal framework to survey data collected over nearly five decades and archived in the North Pacific Pelagic Seabird Database. We produced monthly gridded density predictions and abundance estimates for 8 species groups (77% of all birds observed) within Cook Inlet, Alaska. JDSDMs included habitat covariates to inform density predictions in unsampled areas and accounted for changes in observed densities due to differing survey methods and decadal-scale variation in ocean conditions. Results: The best fit model provided a high level of explanatory power (86% of deviance explained). Abundance estimates were reasonably precise, and consistent with limited historical studies. Modeled densities identified seasonal variability in abundance with peak numbers of all species groups in July or August. Seabirds were largely absent from the study region in either fall (e.g., murrelets) or spring (e.g., puffins) months, or both periods (shearwaters). Discussion: Our results indicated that pelagic shearwaters (Ardenna spp.) and tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata) have declined over the past four decades and these taxa warrant further investigation into underlying mechanisms explaining these trends. JDSDMs provide a useful tool to estimate seabird distribution and seasonal trends that will facilitate risk assessments and planning in areas affected by human activities such as oil and gas development, shipping, and offshore wind and renewable energy

Expanding HIV Testing Efforts in Concentrated Epidemic Settings: A Population-Based Survey from Rural Vietnam

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Diagnostic suite used for magnetohydrodynamics equilibrium reconstruction on the PEGASUS

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Far-infrared study of the Jahn-Teller distorted C60 monoanion in C60 tetraphenylphosphoniumiodide

We report high-resolution far-infrared transmission measurements on C(60)-tetraphenylphosphoniumiodide as a function of temperature. In the spectral region investigated (20-650 cm(-1)), we assign intramolecular modes of the C(60) monoanion and identify low-frequency combination modes. The well-known F(1u)(1) and F(1u)(2) modes are split into doublers at room temperature, indicating a D(5d) or D(3d) distorted ball. This result is consistent with a dynamic Jahn-Teller effect in the strong-coupling limit or with a static distortion stabilized by low-symmetry perturbations. The appearance of silent odd modes is in keeping with symmetry reduction of the hall, while activation of even modes is attributed to interband electron-phonon coupling and orientational disorder in the fulleride salt. Temperature dependences reveal a weak transition in the region 125-150 K in both C(60)(-) and counterion modes, indicating a bulk, rather than solely molecular, effect. Anomalous softening (with decreasing temperature) in several modes may correlate with the radial character of those vibrations. [S0163-1829(98)03245-7]

Auditory laterality in a nocturnal, fossorial marsupial (Lasiorhinus latifrons) in response to bilateral stimuli

Behavioural lateralisation is evident across most animal taxa, although few marsupial and no fossorial species have been studied. Twelve wombats (Lasiorhinus latifrons) were bilaterally presented with eight sounds from different contexts (threat, neutral, food) to test for auditory laterality. Head turns were recorded prior to and immediately following sound presentation. Behaviour was recorded for 150 seconds after presentation. Although sound differentiation was evident by the amount of exploration, vigilance and grooming performed after different sound types, this did not result in different patterns of head turn direction. Similarly, left-right proportions of head turns, walking events and food approaches in the post-sound period were comparable across sound types. A comparison of head turns performed before and after sound showed a significant change in turn direction (&chi;2 1 = 10.65, P = 0.001) from a left preference during the pre-sound period (mean 58% left head turns, CI 49-66%) to a right preference in the post-sound (mean 43% left head turns, CI 40-45%). This provides evidence of a right auditory bias in response to the presentation of the sound. This study therefore demonstrates that laterality is evident in southern hairy-nosed wombats in response to a sound stimulus, although side biases were not altered by sounds of varying context

B Cells Regulate Neutrophilia during Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection and BCG Vaccination by Modulating the Interleukin-17 Response

We have previously demonstrated that B cells can shape the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, including the level of neutrophil infiltration and granulomatous inflammation at the site of infection. The present study examined the mechanisms by which B cells regulate the host neutrophilic response upon exposure to mycobacteria and how neutrophilia may influence vaccine efficacy. To address these questions, a murine aerosol infection tuberculosis (TB) model and an intradermal (ID) ear BCG immunization mouse model, involving both the μMT strain and B cell-depleted C57BL/6 mice, were used. IL (interleukin)-17 neutralization and neutrophil depletion experiments using these systems provide evidence that B cells can regulate neutrophilia by modulating the IL-17 response during M. tuberculosis infection and BCG immunization. Exuberant neutrophilia at the site of immunization in B cell-deficient mice adversely affects dendritic cell (DC) migration to the draining lymph nodes and attenuates the development of the vaccine-induced Th1 response. The results suggest that B cells are required for the development of optimal protective anti-TB immunity upon BCG vaccination by regulating the IL-17/neutrophilic response. Administration of sera derived from M. tuberculosis-infected C57BL/6 wild-type mice reverses the lung neutrophilia phenotype in tuberculous μMT mice. Together, these observations provide insight into the mechanisms by which B cells and humoral immunity modulate vaccine-induced Th1 response and regulate neutrophila during M. tuberculosis infection and BCG immunization. © 2013 Kozakiewicz et al

The Seroepidemiology of Haemophilus influenzae Type B Prior to Introduction of an Immunization Programme in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib) is now recognized as an important pathogen in Asia. To evaluate disease susceptibility, and as a marker of Hib transmission before routine immunization was introduced in Kathmandu, 71 participants aged 7 months-77 years were recruited and 15 cord blood samples were collected for analysis of anti-polyribosylribitol phosphate antibody levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Only 20% of children under 5 years old had levels considered protective (>0.15 µg/ml), rising to 83% of 15-54 year-olds. Prior to introduction of Hib vaccine in Kathmandu, the majority of young children were susceptible to disease