Methodological enchancement of hedonic price index in Malaysia

Housing market is one of the largest asset sectors in Malaysia. Several parties are concerned about the performance of housing market including government, financial institution, market player and public. A proper computation of house price index using hedonic model is critical in monitoring housing performance to avoid biased estimation which due to complexity and misspecification of the model. This study has enhanced the conventional hedonic price index model through a combination of regression modelling and spatial model in order to yield more reliable house price index. The studied sample comprises 6,420 transactions of double storey terrace houses in Johor Bahru from year 2006 until year 2011. This study examined three types of regression modelling namely shrinkage, semiparametric and ordinary least squares method in constructing spatial hedonic price index model and conventional hedonic price index model respectively. An optimal hedonic price index model was ascertained according to the predictive power, accuracy and consistency test in the study. The result found that shrinkage estimator is robust when it comes to perform spatial hedonic price index model as compared to ordinary least squares and semiparametric method. Moreover, the house price index is further enhanced using temporal aggregation and seasonality analysis. The results show that seasonal adjusted monthly index is more effective in monitoring housing price performance. Therefore, shrinkage estimator, spatial hedonic model, temporal aggregation and seasonality analysis are important in enhancing the methodological aspects in constructing hedonic price index. In conclusion, the improved house price index can be used in formulating more effective housing policies and investment strategies

An Electronic-Nose Sensor Node Based on a Polymer-Coated Surface Acoustic Wave Array for Wireless Sensor Network Applications

This study developed an electronic-nose sensor node based on a polymer-coated surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensor array. The sensor node comprised an SAW sensor array, a frequency readout circuit, and an Octopus II wireless module. The sensor array was fabricated on a large K2 128° YX LiNbO3 sensing substrate. On the surface of this substrate, an interdigital transducer (IDT) was produced with a Cr/Au film as its metallic structure. A mixed-mode frequency readout application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) was fabricated using a TSMC 0.18 μm process. The ASIC output was connected to a wireless module to transmit sensor data to a base station for data storage and analysis. This sensor node is applicable for wireless sensor network (WSN) applications

Interrelationships between public open space, common pool resources, publicness levels and commons dilemmas: a different perspective in urban planning

Public open space (POS) is central to the environment, and oftentimes spatial and architectural designs are emphasised in urban planning as part of creating quality POS. However, such initial design and planning of POS may not adequately encapsulate the sustainability dimensions of the complex social-ecological behavioural patterns of POS consumption and management, hence resulting in space mismanagement, underinvestment, and quality degradation. This phenomenon is particularly true and relevant in the context of government/state-owned POS. Therefore, an objective of this perspective paper, coupled with the concepts of the publicness levels, is to provide a different understanding of exclusivity and subtractibility natures of POS, primarily using the theory of common pool resources (CPRs), which subsequently helps explain and rationalise the perennial, adversarial POS management, quality and sustainability status quo. This paper reveals that, instead of being considered as pure public goods, scarce POS owns two inherent attributes of CPR, namely non-excludable and subtractive (rivalrous) that are ultimately susceptible to social/commons dilemmas, covering the Tragedy of the commons (overexploitation), management shirking, free-riding, underuse, disuse, and moral hazard, which lead to degraded, unsustainable POS. The commons or CPR theory can indeed offer a new paradigm shift, making urban planners and landscape managers to embrace that the unexclusive natures of CPR-based POS are truly finite and depletable and thus vulnerable to POS dilemmas. Hence, to achieve quality, sustainable POS commons, effective governance in terms of consumption and consistent management is vital. For future research, urban design as a necessary societal role is suggested, which has established the need for effective allocation of POS management via an adaptive institutional property rights design

Periocular in the Wild Embedding Learning with Cross-Modal Consistent Knowledge Distillation

Periocular biometric, or peripheral area of ocular, is a collaborative alternative to face, especially if a face is occluded or masked. In practice, sole periocular biometric captures least salient facial features, thereby suffering from intra-class compactness and inter-class dispersion issues particularly in the wild environment. To address these problems, we transfer useful information from face to support periocular modality by means of knowledge distillation (KD) for embedding learning. However, applying typical KD techniques to heterogeneous modalities directly is suboptimal. We put forward in this paper a deep face-to-periocular distillation networks, coined as cross-modal consistent knowledge distillation (CM-CKD) henceforward. The three key ingredients of CM-CKD are (1) shared-weight networks, (2) consistent batch normalization, and (3) a bidirectional consistency distillation for face and periocular through an effectual CKD loss. To be more specific, we leverage face modality for periocular embedding learning, but only periocular images are targeted for identification or verification tasks. Extensive experiments on six constrained and unconstrained periocular datasets disclose that the CM-CKD-learned periocular embeddings extend identification and verification performance by 50% in terms of relative performance gain computed based upon face and periocular baselines. The experiments also reveal that the CM-CKD-learned periocular features enjoy better subject-wise cluster separation, thereby refining the overall accuracy performance.Comment: 30 page

Viable Mice with Extensive Gene Humanization (25-kbp) Created Using Embryonic Stem Cell/Blastocyst and CRISPR/Zygote Injection Approaches.

Here, we describe an expansion of the typical DNA size limitations associated with CRISPR knock-in technology, more specifically, the physical extent to which mouse genomic DNA can be replaced with donor (in this case, human) DNA at an orthologous locus by zygotic injection. Driving our efforts was the desire to create a whole animal model that would replace 17 kilobase pairs (kbp) of the mouse Bcl2l11 gene with the corresponding 25-kbp segment of human BCL2L11, including a conditionally removable segment (2.9-kbp) of intron 2, a cryptic human exon immediately 3\u27 of this, and a native human exon some 20 kbp downstream. Using two methods, we first carried out the replacement by employing a combination of bacterial artificial chromosome recombineering, classic embryonic stem cell (ESC) targeting, dual selection, and recombinase-driven cassette removal (ESC/Blastocyst Approach). Using a unique second method, we employed the same vector (devoid of its selectable marker cassettes), microinjecting it along with redundant single guide RNAs (sgRNAs) and Cas9 mRNA into mouse zygotes (CRISPR/Zygote Approach). In both instances, we were able to achieve humanization of Bcl2l11 to the extent designed, remove all selection cassettes, and demonstrate the functionality of the conditionally removable, loxP-flanked, 2.9-kbp intronic segment

Increased serum levels of interleukin-6 and von Willenbrand Factor in early phase of acute coronary syndrome in a young and multiethnic Malaysian population

Objective Interleukin-6 (IL6; proinflammatory marker), von Willebrand Factor (vWF; endothelial dysfunction marker) and P-selectin ( platelet activation marker), may play important roles in defining the pathogenesis of vulnerable plaques in acute coronary syndrome (ACS). This study aims to investigate the expression and relationship of these markers in early phases of ACS in a young and multiethnic Malaysian population. Design Peripheral whole blood mRNA, and serum levels of IL6, vWF and P-selectin were measured in 22 patients with ACS, and in 28 controls with angiographically significant coronary artery disease without previous ACS events. Venous blood from ACS patients was obtained within 1 h of hospital admission. Results No significant differences of IL6, vWF and P-selectin mRNA levels between ACS and controls were seen. ACS patients had significantly higher serum levels of IL6 and vWF ( p<0.001), compared with controls. P-selectin correlated with IL6 (r=0.697, p=0.003) and vWF (r=0.497, p=0.05) at mRNA levels, indicating a possible association between these three indices of ACS pathogenesis. Conclusions Increased serum levels of IL6 and vWF suggest that inflammation and endothelial dysfunction may play a prominent role in the pathogenesis of the disease during the early phase of ACS

Approach to intensely enhancing neck nodes

Cervical node evaluation is one of the most common problems encountered by a radiologist. Here, we present a pictorial review of intensely enhancing neck nodes. While enhancement in a cervical node is a common radiologic finding on contrast-enhanced computed tomography scan, only few conditions cause intense enhancement in cervical nodes. We discuss the common causes of intensely enhancing neck nodes along with pertinent radiologic features and key differentiating points that aid radiologists in reaching a diagnosis. In addition, we discuss certain potential non-nodal mimics, which need to be excluded

Correction to: Magnetic resonance imaging features of the superior cervical ganglion and expected changes after radiation therapy to the head and neck in a long-term follow-up

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Drug-coated balloon treatment in coronary artery disease: Recommendations from an Asia-Pacific Consensus Group

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is currently the leading cause of death globally, and the prevalence of thisdisease is growing more rapidly in the Asia-Pacific region than in Western countries. Although the useof metal coronary stents has rapidly increased thanks to the advancement of safety and efficacy of newergeneration drug eluting stent (DES), patients are still negatively affected by some the inherent limitationsof this type of treatment, such as stent thrombosis or restenosis, including neoatherosclerosis, andthe obligatory use of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with unknown optimal duration.Drug-coated balloon (DCB) treatment is based on a leave-nothing-behind concept and therefore it is notlimited by stent thrombosis and long-term DAPT; it directly delivers an anti-proliferative drug whichis coated on a balloon after improving coronary blood flow. At present, DCB treatment is recommendedas the first-line treatment option in metal stent-related restenosis linked to DES and bare metal stent.For de novo coronary lesions, the application of DCB treatment is extended further, for conditions suchas small vessel disease, bifurcation lesions, and chronic total occlusion lesions, and others. Recently,several reports have suggested that fractional flow reserve guided DCB application was safe for largercoronary artery lesions and showed good long-term outcomes. Therefore, the aim of these recommendationsof the consensus group was to provide adequate guidelines for patients with CAD based on objectiveevidence, and to extend the application of DCB to a wider variety of coronary diseases and guide theirmost effective and correct use in actual clinical practice