The real estate industry in the Netherlands

The real estate industry in the Netherlands is one of the most sophisticated in Europe. In fact, some Dutch real estate companies are among the most active in the international arena, and are major players in the ongoing integration in European markets. The paper describes the sectors of the real estate industry, i.e. residential and commercial (offices, retail and industrial), social housing policies, and the characteristics of the major companies. Individualized descriptions of listed real estate firms and funds are included, in addition to information on the volume and functioning of the mortgage market. Also included is a detailed bibliography, which could be of interest to academics and practitioners wishing to study real estate industry topics in depth.Real estate; mortgage; investment fund; housing;

European mortgage market: An overview 1992-2003

The development of the European mortgage market, its current situation in terms of volume, growth, prices, interest rates and new products, and an analysis of mortgage integration are the focus of this paper. The recent creation of the European Mortgage Finance Agency (EMFA), as an attempt to build a single European securitization market, is an important step toward integration within the wider goal of EU financial integration. Obstacles to integration, potential members of the EMFA, and its main goals and advantages are discussed in the forward-looking section of this paper. In addition, the paper deals with three important aspects of the EU mortgage market, taken as a whole: • How it operates. Other aspects considered include transaction costs, transparency requirements affecting credit institutions (European Code of Conduct), and a classification of mortgage products on the market. • Refinancing in Europe (as compared to the USA). The secondary market for the funding of financial institutions, in relation to mortgage bonds and mortgage-backed securities, including explanations of their main characteristics and the differences between them. • How European mortgage markets influence the economy and how they may affect private investment and consumption, household debt (which continues to increase each year), and the performance of financial institutions (high competitiveness) are other important points considered.European mortgage market integration; Growth; Interest rate applied; Transaction costs;

Data-true Characterization Of Neuronal Models

In this thesis, a weighted least squares approach is initially presented to estimate the parameters of an adaptive quadratic neuronal model. By casting the discontinuities in the state variables at the spiking instants as an impulse train driving the system dynamics, the neuronal output is represented as a linearly parameterized model that depends on filtered versions of the input current and the output voltage at the cell membrane. A prediction errorbased weighted least squares method is formulated for the model. This method allows for rapid estimation of model parameters under a persistently exciting input current injection. Simulation results show the feasibility of this approach to predict multiple neuronal firing patterns. Results of the method using data from a detailed ion-channel based model showed issues that served as the basis for the more robust resonate-and-fire model presented. A second method is proposed to overcome some of the issues found in the adaptive quadratic model presented. The original quadratic model is replaced by a linear resonateand-fire model -with stochastic threshold- that is both computational efficient and suitable for larger network simulations. The parameter estimation method presented here consists of different stages where the set of parameters is divided in to two. The first set of parameters is assumed to represent the subthreshold dynamics of the model, and it is estimated using a nonlinear least squares algorithm, while the second set is associated with the threshold and iii reset parameters as its estimated using maximum likelihood formulations. The validity of the estimation method is then tested using detailed Hodgkin-Huxley model data as well as experimental voltage recordings from rat motoneurons

Exoticism, Cultural Hybridity, and Subaltern Identity in Three Macanese Novels

Although the novels of Austin Coates, Henrique de Senna Fernandes, and Rodrigo Leal de Carvalho’s depict life in the former Portuguese colony of Macau, their individual perspectives reflect a contrast between literary colonialism and coloniality. A British public servant, Coates perceives Macanese reality through the competing biased eyes of an Englishman resenting Portuguese culture and administration in the colony; Leal de Carvalho, a Portuguese resident of Macau, romantically depicts the social nature of Portuguese colonialism; Senna Fernandes, a native Macanese educated in Portugal, offers his interpretation of the colony’s Eurasian inhabitants vis-à-vis its Chinese population. The aim of this article is to contrast the literary representation of three issues in Coates’s City of Broken Promises, Fernandes’s The Bewitching Braid, and Carvalho’s The Count and his Three Wives: exoticism, cultural hybridity, and subaltern identity

Nonlinear Exchange Rate Predictability

We study whether the nonlinear behavior of the real exchange rate can help us account for the lack of predictability of the nominal exchange rate. We construct a smooth nonlinear error-correction model that allows us to test the hypotheses of nonlinear predictability of the nominal exchange rate and nonlinear behavior on the real exchange rate in the context of a fully specified cointegrated system. Using a panel of 19 countries and three numeraires, we find evidence of nonlinear predictability of the nominal exchange rate and of nonlinear mean reversion of the real exchange rate. Out-of-sample Theil's U-statistics show a higher forecast precision of the nonlinear model than the one obtained with a random walk specification. Although the robustness of the out-of-sample results over different forecast windows is somewhat limited, we are able to obtain significant predictability gains--from a parsimonious structural model with PPP fundamentals--even at short-run horizons.Exchange rates; Predictability; Nonlinearities; Purchasing power parity

Hoteles como inversión inmobiliaria, Los

Muchos sectores intensivos en el uso de inmuebles deciden no afrontar la inversión que significa la propiedad de todos o parte de los inmuebles que utilizan. En esos casos surge –como área de gestión– la relación entre el operador del negocio específico (operador hotelero, de una cadena de tiendas de distribución o de residencias de la tercera edad, por ejemplo) con el propietario–inversor de sus inmuebles. Esa relación conoce distintos grados de complejidad; una de las relaciones más sencillas se daría entre el propietario de un edificio de oficinas y su inquilino; una de las más complejas se presenta en el campo de la hostelería. Diversos tipos de contratos entre operadores hoteleros e inmobiliarios–inversores dan lugar a distribuciones del riesgo diferentes; los dos tipos principales son los contratos de gestión y explotación. Este documento clasifica los distintos agentes económicos que pueden participar en la actividad hotelera (promotor, inversor, explotador, gestor y franquiciador) y explora la relación entre ellos.hoteles; inversion; inmobiliario; gestion;

Effects of methamphetamine on locomotor activity and thalamic gene expression in leptin-deficient obese mice

Leptin is an adipose-derived hormone that regulates energy balance. Leptin receptors are expressed in extrahypothalamic sites and several reports showed that leptin can influence feeding and locomotor behavior via direct actions on dopaminergic neurons. The leptin deficient mouse (ob/ob) has been used as an animal model of blunted leptin action, and presents with obesity and mild type 2 diabetes. We used ob/ob mice to study the effect of repeated 7-day methamphetamine (METH) administration analyzing locomotion, behavioral sensitization, and somatosensory thalamic mRNA expression of voltage-gated calcium channels and glutamatergic receptors using RT-PCR. We observed reduced METH-mediated responses in ob/ob mice associated with enhanced in mRNA expression of key voltage-gated and glutamate receptors in the somatosensory thalamus. Results described here are important for understanding the control of locomotion and thalamocortical excitability by leptin.Fil: Gonzalez, Betina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas; ArgentinaFil: Gonzalez, Candela Rocio. Universidad Maimónides. Área de Investigaciones Biomédicas y Biotecnológicas. Centro de Estudios Biomédicos, Biotecnológicos, Ambientales y de Diagnóstico; ArgentinaFil: Bisagno, Veronica. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica. Instituto de Investigaciones Farmacológicas; ArgentinaFil: Urbano Suarez, Francisco Jose. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Fisiología, Biología Molecular y Neurociencias; Argentin