Winning in the long run: a quantified approach to the drivers of sustainable financial value on real estate: Working Paper 2

This working paper describes the first empirical study measuring the impact of sustainability characteristics on the financial performance of European office and retail properties. The authors present the project, the issue and the approach of their ongoing search for a �Green Alpha�. In a joint effort, university experts at Danube University Krems are in cooperation with Kingston University London tackling a robust analysis on hard data from real properties of institutional investment portfolios in the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Their first results are expected by the end of 2010

Design criteria to develop choice experiments to measure the WTP accurately.

To measure the willingness-to-pay (WTP) accurately, Vermeulen et al.[2008] apply the c-optimality criterion to generate designs for conjoint choice experiments. This criterion is based on minimizing the sum of the variances of the WTP estimators approximated by the delta method. Designs generated based on this criterion lead to more accurate WTP estimates than the ones obtained by standard designs and reduce considerably the occurrence of extreme WTP estimates, although they do not exclude them. In this paper, other optimality criteria are considered to tackle this problem. We distinguish between criteria in preference space on the one hand and criteria in WTP-space on the other hand. In a simulation study and a numerical example, we compare the accuracy of the WTP and the utility coefficient estimates yielded by the designs based on these new criteria.conjoint choice experiment; Bayesian optimal design; willingness-to-pay; conditional logit model;

Chain-wide learning for inclusive agrifood market development : a guide to multi-stakeholder processes for linking small-scale producers to modern markets

This guide provides a set of concepts and analytical tools for finding ways to better link small-scale producers to the modern markets associated with today’s largescale supermarket retail and wholesale operations. It is has been developed through iterative testing with partners in several organisations and countries. The guide is a product of the Regoverning Markets Programme, a multi-agency programme to generate strategic information and anticipatory policy advice on small-scale producers in these fast changing markets

Environment of compact extragalactic radio sources

We have studied the interrelation of young AGN with their hosts. The objects of study are the young and powerful GPS and CSS radio sources. Due to their small size, GPS and CSS sources are excellent probes of this relation. Furhthermore, their young age allows us to compare them to the larger, old radio sources and establish a time-line evolution of this relation. Combining imaging and spectroscopy at UV, optical and radio wavelengths we find evidence of strong interaction between the host and the radio source. The presence and expansion of the radio source clearly affects the properties and evolution of the host. Furthermore, the radio source and host significantly affect each other's evolution. We describe our results and how these interactions take place.Comment: 6 pages. To appear in "Highlights of Spanisg astrophysics IV. Proceedings of the VII scientific meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society". Editors: F. Figueras, J.M. Girart, M.Hernanz, C. Jordi. Springe

The inner radio jet region and the complex environment of SS433

We present multi-frequency VLBA+VLA observations of SS433 at 1.6, 5 and 15 GHz. These observations provide the highest angular resolution radio spectral index maps ever made for this object. Motion of the components of SS433 during the observation is detected. In addition to the usual VLBI jet structure, we detect two radio components in the system at an anomalous position angle. These newly discovered radio emitting regions might be related to a wind-like equatorial outflow or to an extension of the accretion disk. We show that the radio core component is bifurcated with a clear gap between the eastern and western wings of emission. Modelfitting of the precessing jets and the moving knots of SS433 shows that the kinematic centre -- i.e. the binary -- is in the gap between the western and eastern radio core components. Spectral properties and observed core position shifts suggest that we see a combined effect of synchrotron self-absorption and external free-free absorption in the innermost AU-scale region of the source. The spatial distribution of the ionized matter is probably not spherically symmetric around the binary, but could be disk-like.Comment: Accepted for publication by Astronomy and Astrophysic