Diversification as a Value-Adding Strategy for Asian REITs: A Myth or Reality?

This study tests the impact of diversification strategies on the cash flows, expenses, risks and returns of REITs in Asia. Hirschman-Herfindahl indices (HHI) are computed based on 2281 properties owned by 63 sample Asian REITs for the periods from 2002 to 2007 to measure the levels of diversification by property type and geographical region. In our empirical tests that use weighted least square regressions, we find no significant effects of diversification by property types on cash flows, expenses and risk premiums of Asian REITs. However, significant variations in expenses and risk premiums of the REITs are explained by a geographical diversification strategy. REITs with assets distributed across different countries incur higher total expenses, interest expenses, general and administrative expenses and capital expenditure. Regionally diversified REITs have higher risk premiums. The results remain unchanged after controlling for country factor and simultaneity between the cash flows, expenses, risk and return variables.Diversification and focus strategies; Asian REITs; Illiquidity premiums

How do students from different disciplines perceive the concept of “data”?: A visual elicitation method

Transforming the iSquare draw-and-write technique into the dSquare draw-and-tell approach, we conducted synchronous online visual-elicitation inter-views with 37 college students in six different disciplines to examine how they perceived the concept of “data.” The preliminary findings showed that students across disciplines tend to use group diagrams to present ICT and print materials in their dSquares. When explaining their drawings, students typically relate to functional purposes in academic contexts. While students typically use data in coursework or other work-related contexts in a positive way, students in different disciplines consider data in different original forms and use different types of metaphors to express the concept of data. While science students tend to include files or lab tools and describe data processing through the tools, humanities and social science students tend to include texts or secondary sources and describe data processing or application through personal thinking. Future research suggestions are provided based on the findings

How Institutionalized Are Model License Use Terms? An Analysis of E-Journal License Use Rights Clauses from 2000 to 2009

This paper explored the degree to which use terms proposed by model licenses have become institutionalized across different publishers\u27 licenses. It examined model license use terms in four areas: downloading, scholarly sharing, interlibrary loan, and electronic reserves. Data collection and analysis involved content analysis of 224 electronic journal licenses spanning 2000-2009. Analysis examined how use terms changed over time, differences between consortia and site license use terms and differences between commercial and noncommercial publisher license use terms. Results suggest that some model license use terms have become institutionalized while others have not. Use terms with higher institutionalization included: allowing ILL, permitting secure e-transmission for ILL, allowing e-reserves with no special permissions, and not requiring deletion of e-reserves files. Scholarly sharing showed lower institutionalization with most publishers not including scholarly sharing allowances. Other use terms showing low institutionalization included: recommendations to avoid printing requirements related to ILL and recommendations to allow hyperlinks for e-reserves. The results provide insight into the range of use terms commonly employed in e-journal licenses

Exploring the Information Behavior of Primary Caregivers for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: An Information World Mapping Approach

This study aims to explore the information needs of primary caregivers of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) when caring for the autistic children, and to identify the relationships among people, items, and places in the information world, especially the information sharing behavior. Semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with the information world mapping visual-elicitation method. Seventeen primary caregivers of children with autism between 6 and 12 years old were interviewed. The current study found that medical information needs, parenting information needs, education information needs, moral support information needs, and everyday-life information needs are the five major information needs of the primary caregivers of children with ASD. Caregivers tend to obtain information through referrals from and among different people, items and places according to different information needs. The typical relationships among people, items, and places include starting from consulting people, back-and-forth between physical and virtual locations, and multiple referrals. As to information sharing, caregivers would only have time to share information with others when having sufficient self-confidence and being in a stable state. And information sharing is more likely to occur somewhere caregivers stay for a long time or visit regularly. While caregivers share information with professionals and families for self-interest, they share information with other caregivers on social media for altruistic purposes. Based on the findings of the current study, practical suggestions for library and information institutions, medical institutions, education institutions, and social welfare institutions are provided

First-Generation College Students' Information Seeking: Their Personality Traits and Source Use Behavior in Coursework-Related Context

ABSTRACT This study examines first-generation college (FGC) students' information seeking in coursework-related situations and the relationship between personality and source use behavior. A web survey was used to collect data. Four-hundred and fifty FGC students participated in the study. A two-step cluster analysis was used to identify three subgroups of personality profiles from the sample. Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA) and multiple regression analyses were used to analyze the data. Results show that extroverts used human sources more frequently across all coursework-related situations and tended to consult peers in the same course in their information seeking processes. Conscientious students tended to consult professors and advisors in their coursework-related information seeking processes. Calm and open-minded extroverts consulted human sources (both experts and nonexperts) more often and used more diverse sources than nervous and close-minded introverts. The study enriches FGC student literature in information behavior and further incorporates personality traits as predictors of information use. The study also implies that universities and academic libraries should support orientation programs and organizations that can help FGC students, especially introverts, develop their social networks and have an easy transition into college

What's next for information world mapping? International and multidisciplinary uses of the method.

As use of arts-involved and data visualization methods increases in information science, it is important to reflect on strengths and weaknesses of various methods. In this 90-minute panel, an international lineup of information researchers will share their experiences using the participatory, visual elicitation technique information world mapping (IWM) in their work. Panelists will discuss ways to adapt the technique to different contexts, share their thoughts on what is next for IWM, and raise questions regarding challenges and new uses of IWM in information research. Presentations will be followed by an interactive discussion among panelists and Q&A period with the audience

Genetically Determined Plasma Lipid Levels and Risk of Diabetic Retinopathy: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

Results from observational studies examining dyslipidemia as a risk factor for diabetic retinopathy (DR) have been inconsistent. We evaluated the causal relationship between plasma lipids and DR using a Mendelian randomization approach. We pooled genome-wide association studies summary statistics from 18 studies for two DR phenotypes: any DR (N = 2,969 case and 4,096 control subjects) and severe DR (N = 1,277 case and 3,980 control subjects). Previously identified lipid-associated single nucleotide polymorphisms served as instrumental variables. Meta-analysis to combine the Mendelian randomization estimates from different cohorts was conducted. There was no statistically significant change in odds ratios of having any DR or severe DR for any of the lipid fractions in the primary analysis that used single nucleotide polymorphisms that did not have a pleiotropic effect on another lipid fraction. Similarly, there was no significant association in the Caucasian and Chinese subgroup analyses. This study did not show evidence of a causal role of the four lipid fractions on DR. However, the study had limited power to detect odds ratios less than 1.23 per SD in genetically induced increase in plasma lipid levels, thus we cannot exclude that causal relationships with more modest effect sizes exist

Association of combination antiretroviral therapy with risk of neurological diseases in patients with HIV/AIDS in Taiwan: a nested case-control study

Heterogeneous neurocognitive impairment remains an important issue, even in the era of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), with an incidence ranging from 15% to 65%. Although ART drugs with higher penetration scores to the central nervous system (CNS) show better HIV replication control in the CNS, the association between CNS penetration effectiveness (CPE) scores and neurocognitive impairment remains inconclusive. To explore whether ART exposure is associated with the risk of neurological diseases among patients with HIV/AIDS, this study in Taiwan involved 2,571 patients with neurological diseases and 10,284 matched, randomly selected patients without neurological diseases between 2010 and 2017. A conditional logistic regression model was used in this study. The parameters for ART exposure included ART usage, timing of exposure, cumulative defined daily dose (DDD), adherence, and cumulative CPE score. Incident cases of neurological diseases, including CNS infections, cognitive disorders, vasculopathy, and peripheral neuropathy, were obtained from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. Odds ratios (ORs) for the risk of neurological diseases were conducted using a multivariate conditional logistic regression model. Patients with a history of past exposure (OR: 1.68, 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.22–2.32), low cumulative DDDs (< 2,500) (OR: 1.28, 95% CI: 1.15–1.42), low adherence (0 < adherence (ADH) ≤ 0.8) (OR: 1.46, 95% CI: 1.30–1.64), or high cumulative CPE scores (>14) (OR: 1.34, 95% CI: 1.14–1.57) had a high risk of neurological diseases. When stratified by classes of ART drugs, patients with low cumulative DDDs or low adherence had a high risk of neurological diseases, including NRTIs, PIs, NNRTIs, INSTIs, and multi-drug tablets. Subgroup analyses also suggested that patients with low cumulative DDDs or low adherence had a high risk of neurological diseases when they had high cumulative CPE scores. Patients with high cumulative DDDs or medication adherence were protected against neurological diseases only when they had low cumulative CPE scores (≤ 14). Patients may be at risk for neurological diseases when they have low cumulative DDDs, low adherence, or usage with high cumulative CPE scores. Continuous usage and low cumulative CPE scores of ART drugs may benefit neurocognitive health in patients with HIV/AIDS