Value versus growth real estate investment strategy: is the win a flash in the pan?

The superiority of the contrarian investment strategy, though well attested in the finance literature, is being questioned in some quarters on the pretext that the gap between the performance of value and growth investment narrows over time. If this is proven to be true, it would imply that value real estate investment may not be advisable given that real estate is a medium to long term investment. This paper uses empirical real estate investment return data from 1985Q1 to 2005Q3 for US, and some Asia Pacific cities to ascertain whether the superiority of "value" over "growth" real estate investment is a "flash" in the pan, i.e. unsustainable. The office, industrial and retail property investments are examined in the context of the value-growth paradigm, and complemented with mean reversion and stochastic dominance tests. In addition to confirming the relative superiority of "value" over "growth" property investment, the results show that office and industrial property investments exhibit return reversal. This implies that the "win" is sustainable. Although the returns from retail property investment display inertia, the results of stochastic dominance test validate the relative superiority of "value" over "growth" property investment for all the three sectors. This implies that fund managers who traditionally have been favoring prime (i.e. growth) property investment may have to reconsider their investment strategy if they want to maximize their return

Reduction of Thermal Resistance and Optical Power Loss Using Thin-Film Light-Emitting Diode (LED) Structure

In this paper, a GaN-LED with sapphire structure and a thin-film LED without sapphire structure are characterized in the photo-electro-thermal (PET) modeling framework for comparison. Starting from the analysis and modeling of internal quantum efficiency as a function of current and temperature of blue LED, this work develops the thin-film LED device model and derives its optical power and the heat dissipation coefficient. The device parameters of the two LED devices with different structural designs are then compared. Practical optical power measurements are compared with theoretical predictions based on the two types of fabricated devices. It is shown that the thin-film LED device has much lower thermal resistance and optical power loss.published_or_final_versio

The evolution of peripheral nerve treatment for trigeminal neuralgia - peripheral nerve surgery

Trigeminal neuralgia typically presents with a sudden and severe facial pain. Although peripheral nerve injection can produce good pain relief in the treatment of trigeminal neuralgia, their effect may not be permanent. Surgical treatment has always been an alternative for patients who do not respond well to medical treatment or, for those who are severely affected by the side effects of anticonvulsants. Unknown to most young healthcare providers, surgical treatment was the first line treatment at the turn of the 19th century till 1960s. This review narrates the evolution of peripheral nerve treatment for trigeminal neuralgia over the last 150 years

The evolution of peripheral nerve treatment for trigeminal neuralgia - peripheral injections

Trigeminal neuralgia presents as a characteristic severe painful condition that usually afflicts the area(s) innervated by the branches of the facial sensory nerves, especially the elderly females. The diagnosis can usually be made based solely on the presenting clinical signs and symptoms. Early literatures had revealed that there have always been two major means of treatment for trigeminal neuralgia; medical and surgical. Medical treatments involved systemic intake of various drugs or the topical applications of many different materials, not forgetting that bleeding and purging has been tried in the past. The introduction of anti-convulsants during thesecond World War had changed completely the way this painful condition was treated as this therapy later become the mainstay treatment for trigeminal neuralgia. Their beneficial effects, however may not be long lasting. This review summarises the evolution of peripheral nerve injection as a treatment for trigeminal neuralgia over the last 150 years

The Association between Cardiorespiratory Fitness and Gut Microbiota Composition in Premenopausal Women

The aim of this study was to investigate the association between cardiorespiratory fitness and gut microbiota composition in premenopausal women. The participants consisted of 71 premenopausal Finnish women ( aged 19-49 years). Gut microbiota were analyzed using flow cytometry, 16S rRNA gene hybridization and DNA-staining. Maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) was assessed by respiratory gas analyzer and body composition by Bioimpdance. We found that participants with low VO2max had lower Bacteroides, but higher Eubacterium rectale-Clostridium coccoides than the high VO2max group (p < 0.05 for all). VO2max was inversely associated with EreC (r = 0.309, p = 0.01) but not with other bacteria. VO2max also negatively correlated with fat% (r = 0.755, p < 0.001), triglycerides (r = -0.274, p = 0.021) and leptin (r = -0.574, p < 0.001). By contrast, EreC was positively associated with fat% (r = 0.382, p = 0.002), dietary fat intake (r = 0.258, p = 0.034), triglycerides (r = 0.390, p = 0.002) and leptin (r = 0.424, p = 0.001), but negatively with carbohydrate intake (r = -0.252, p = 0.034) and HDL (r = -0.26, p = 0.028). After adjusting for age and dietary intake, all the significant associations remained. However, after adjusting for fat%, the associations between VO2max and EreC disappeared. Our results suggest that cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with gut microbiota composition, independent of age and carbohydrate or fat intake. The association between VO2max and EreC, however, appears to be mediated by body fatness

The shear mode of multilayer graphene

The quest for materials capable of realizing the next generation of electronic and photonic devices continues to fuel research on the electronic, optical and vibrational properties of graphene. Few-layer graphene (FLG) flakes with less than ten layers each show a distinctive band structure. Thus, there is an increasing interest in the physics and applications of FLGs. Raman spectroscopy is one of the most useful and versatile tools to probe graphene samples. Here, we uncover the interlayer shear mode of FLGs, ranging from bilayer graphene (BLG) to bulk graphite, and suggest that the corresponding Raman peak measures the interlayer coupling. This peak scales from ~43 cm−1 in bulk graphite to ~31 cm−1 in BLG. Its low energy makes it sensitive to near-Dirac point quasiparticles. Similar shear modes are expected in all layered materials, providing a direct probe of interlayer interactions

Health-related quality of life as measured with EQ-5D among populations with and without specific chronic conditions: A population-based survey in Shaanxi province, China

© 2013 Tan et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Introduction: The aim of this study was to examine health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as measured by EQ-5D and to investigate the influence of chronic conditions and other risk factors on HRQoL based on a distributed sample located in Shaanxi Province, China. Methods: A multi-stage stratified cluster sampling method was performed to select subjects. EQ-5D was employed to measure the HRQoL. The likelihood that individuals with selected chronic diseases would report any problem in the EQ-5D dimensions was calculated and tested relative to that of each of the two reference groups. Multivariable linear regression models were used to investigate factors associated with EQ VAS. Results: The most frequently reported problems involved pain/discomfort (8.8%) and anxiety/depression (7.6%). Nearly half of the respondents who reported problems in any of the five dimensions were chronic patients. Higher EQ VAS scores were associated with the male gender, higher level of education, employment, younger age, an urban area of residence, access to free medical service and higher levels of physical activity. Except for anemia, all the selected chronic diseases were indicative of a negative EQ VAS score. The three leading risk factors were cerebrovascular disease, cancer and mental disease. Increases in age, number of chronic conditions and frequency of physical activity were found to have a gradient effect. Conclusion: The results of the present work add to the volume of knowledge regarding population health status in this area, apart from the known health status using mortality and morbidity data. Medical, policy, social and individual attention should be given to the management of chronic diseases and improvement of HRQoL. Longitudinal studies must be performed to monitor changes in HRQoL and to permit evaluation of the outcomes of chronic disease intervention programs. © 2013 Tan et al.National Nature Science Foundation (No. 8107239

Clinical and physiological effects of transcranial electrical stimulation position on motor evoked potentials in scoliosis surgery

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>During intraoperative monitoring for scoliosis surgery, we have previously elicited ipsilateral and contralateral motor evoked potentials (MEP) with cross scalp stimulation. Ipsilateral MEPs, which may have comprised summation of early ipsilaterally conducted components and transcallosally or deep white matter stimulated components, can show larger amplitudes than those derived purely from contralateral motor cortex stimulation. We tested this hypothesis using two stimulating positions. We compared intraoperative MEPs in 14 neurologically normal subjects undergoing scoliosis surgery using total intravenous anesthetic regimens.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Trancranial electrical stimulation was applied with both cross scalp (C3C4 or C4C3) or midline (C3Cz or C4Cz) positions. The latter was assumed to be more focal and result in little transcallosal/deep white matter stimulation. A train of 5 square wave stimuli 0.5 ms in duration at up to 200 mA was delivered with 4 ms (250 Hz) interstimulus intervals. Averaged supramaximal MEPs were obtained from the tibialis anterior bilaterally.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The cross scalp stimulating position resulted in supramaximal MEPs that were of significantly higher amplitude, shorter latency and required lower stimulating intensity to elicit overall (Wilcoxon Signed Rank test, p < 0.05 for all), as compared to the midline stimulating position. However, no significant differences were found for all 3 parameters comparing ipsilaterally and contralaterally recorded MEPs (p > 0.05 for all), seen for both stimulating positions individually.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings suggest that cross scalp stimulation resulted in MEPs obtained ipsilaterally and contralaterally which may be contributed to by summation of ipsilateral and simultaneous transcallosally or deep white matter conducted stimulation of the opposite motor cortex. Use of this stimulating position is advocated to elicit MEPs under operative circumstances where anesthetic agents may cause suppression of cortical and spinal excitability. Although less focal in nature, cross scalp stimulation would be most suitable for infratentorial or spinal surgery, in contrast to supratentorial neurosurgical procedures.</p

Copy number variation analysis based on AluScan sequences

BACKGROUND: AluScan combines inter-Alu PCR using multiple Alu-based primers with opposite orientations and next-generation sequencing to capture a huge number of Alu-proximal genomic sequences for investigation. Its requirement of only sub-microgram quantities of DNA facilitates the examination of large numbers of samples. However, the special features of AluScan data rendered difficult the calling of copy number variation (CNV) directly using the calling algorithms designed for whole genome sequencing (WGS) or exome sequencing. RESULTS: In this study, an AluScanCNV package has been assembled for efficient CNV calling from AluScan sequencing data employing a Geary-Hinkley transformation (GHT) of read-depth ratios between either paired test-control samples, or between test samples and a reference template constructed from reference samples, to call the localized CNVs, followed by use of a GISTIC-like algorithm to identify recurrent CNVs and circular binary segmentation (CBS) to reveal large extended CNVs. To evaluate the utility of CNVs called from AluScan data, the AluScans from 23 non-cancer and 38 cancer genomes were analyzed in this study. The glioma samples analyzed yielded the familiar extended copy-number losses on chromosomes 1p and 9. Also, the recurrent somatic CNVs identified from liver cancer samples were similar to those reported for liver cancer WGS with respect to a striking enrichment of copy-number gains in chromosomes 1q and 8q. When localized or recurrent CNV-features capable of distinguishing between liver and non-liver cancer samples were selected by correlation-based machine learning, a highly accurate separation of the liver and non-liver cancer classes was attained. CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained from non-cancer and cancerous tissues indicated that the AluScanCNV package can be employed to call localized, recurrent and extended CNVs from AluScan sequences. Moreover, both the localized and recurrent CNVs identified by this method could be subjected to machine-learning selection to yield distinguishing CNV-features that were capable of separating between liver cancers and other types of cancers. Since the method is applicable to any human DNA sample with or without the availability of a paired control, it can also be employed to analyze the constitutional CNVs of individuals.published_or_final_versio

What happens if you single out? An experiment

We present an experiment investigating the effects of singling out an individual on trust and trustworthiness. We find that (a) trustworthiness falls if there is a singled out subject; (b) non-singled out subjects discriminate against the singled out subject when they are not responsible of the distinct status of this person; (c) under a negative frame, the singled out subject returns significantly less; (d) under a positive frame, the singled out subject behaves bimodally, either selecting very low or very high return rates. Overall, singling out induces a negligible effect on trust but is potentially disruptive for trustworthiness