Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Beyond DCF analysis in real estate financial modeling : probabilistic evaluation of real estate ventures

This thesis introduces probabilistic valuation techniques and encourages their usage in the real estate industry. Including uncertainty and real options into real estate financial models is worthwhile, especially when there is an elevated level of unpredictability surrounding the investment decision. Incorporating uncertainty into real estate pro formas not only provides different results over deterministic models, it changes the angle of attack to real estate valuation problems. When uncertainty is taken into account, the focus shifts from simply maximizing financial returns, to modeling and managing uncertainty to make better ex ante finance and design decisions. The ability to add optionality in probabilistic financial modeling can enhance returns by curtailing losses during downturns and taking advantage of upside conditions. A step‐by‐step example is carefully crafted to demonstrate the simplicity with which uncertainty, Monte Carlo Simulations and Real Options may be included into real estate pro formas. The example is entirely Excel based and is separated into three parts with each progressively increasing in complexity. SimpleCo Tower establishes the familiar Discounted Cash Flow pro forma as a starting point. ModerateCo Tower describes how uncertainty and Monte Carlo simulations can be incorporated into a pro forma while illustrating the effect of non‐linearity on financial models. ChallengeCo Tower reveals how real options can add value to an investment and how it should not be overlooked. The case study illustrates how the techniques outlined in this thesis can add significant value to real estate decisions without much added effort or investment in expensive software. The case study also shows how the use of real world data to model uncertainty can be put into practice. Thesis Co‐Supervisor: Richard de Neufville, PhD Title: Professor of Engineering Systems and Civil and of Environmental Engineering Thesis Co‐Supervisor: David Geltner, PhD Title: Professor of Real Estate Finance and of Engineering Systems Director of Research, Center for Real Estate
The critical evaluation of board of directors composition and their effectiveness : is there a link between composition and effectiveness of board of directors? : a special case analysis of KwaZulu-Natal based companies.

The major aim of the study is to establish· whether a relationship exists between the composition and effectiveness of the board of directors. Selection, particularly selection procedures became relevant in the study, whether there were different selection procedures for board of directors in South Africa. Developing common selection guidelines and board composition profile is an important element of this study. A case study research method was used to collect data. The sample was drawn from KwaZulu Natal based companies including 25 director~ of companies not necessarily members of the companies in our sample. The sample parameters included a listed conglomerate, municipal funded, unlisted private, black economic empowerment and parastal companies. The conclusion is that, composition does impact on the effectiveness of the board of directors. Secondly, boards of directors have different composition profiles. Furthermore, their selection procedures differ to an extent. These differences are driven by the needs of the organization rather than sectoral location. However, sectoral imperatives do have an influence, which cannot be completely excluded. Whilst, the study found that there were certain uniform requirements to be met by all companies in terms of corporate governance, there were certain instances where the universality of guidelines and/or models and/or perspectives were suspect due to a number of factors. Accordingly. recommendations and/or guidelines are outlined to improve effectiveness of the board of directors. These entail amongst other issues: ~ Board Structure and size
Auditing: An Integrated Approach

The auditing profession: the auditing profession audit report professional ethics legal liability. The auditing process: audit responsibilities and objectives audit evidence audit planning and documentation materiality and risk the study of internal control and assessment of control risk overall audit plan and audit program audit of the sales and collection cycle audit sampling for tests of transactions completing the tests in the sales and collection cycle - accounts receivable audit sampling for tests of details of balances the effect of complex EDP systems on auditing. Application of the auditing process to other cycles: audit of the payroll and personal cycle audit of the acquisition and payment cycle: tests of controls substantive tests of transactions and accounts payable completing the tests in the acquisitions and payments cycle: verification of selected accounts audit of the inventory and warehousing cycle audit of the capital acquisition and repayment cycle audit of cash balances. Completing the audit and offering other services: completing the audit other audit attestation services and compilation engagements internal and governmental financial auditing and operational auditing.
Determinants, Efficiency and Wealth Effects of Malaysian Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions

This research analyses four important issues pertaining to merger and acquisition (M&A) announcements in Malaysia to the bidder and target firms, namely the effects on shareholder's wealth, firm's financial performance pre and post M&A, effects of firm's characteristics on shareholder's wealth and the determinants of shareholder's wealth. Taking into account the two distinguished economic backdrops, this study segregates M&A announcements into two sub-periods; the booming period of 1985 to 1994 and the period surrounding the financial crisis, from 1995 to 2001. Bidder and target firms are classified into the finance and non-finance sectors and the bidder firms are further categorised to bidders announcing to acquire listed target firms and bidder firms that announce to acquire non-listed targets. Employing the event study methodology, findings on the wealth effects provide evidence that the target firms do not benefit from M&A activities, regardless of classifications and sub-periods. M&A activities in the period 1985 - 1994 benefit bidder firms from the non-finance sector that acquire listed target firms while M&A activities in the period 1995 - 2001 significantly profit bidder's shareholders in the non-finance sector that acquire non-listed target firms. The regression analyses results are consistent with results reported in the literature that show profitability measures to be the main factors in determining abnormal returns. Generally, findings of this study show that during the booming economy of 1985 to 1994, M&A is not the growth strategy chosen by firms. The enhanced values of bidders that acquire listed target firms indicate that M&A is mainly done to capture larger market shares or to create monopolies. In Malaysia, M&A is considered more as the strategy to survive as depicted by the high merger announcements in the period of 1995 to 2001 when the economy is in turmoil. Though the forced merger scheme is a necessary measure taken at the time, findings of this study prove that enforced merger scheme destroys value of both bidder and target firms listed in the finance sector.
Effects of Furnished Cage Type on Behavior and Welfare of Laying Hens

This study was conducted to compare the effects of layout of furniture (a perch, nest, and sandbox) in cages on behavior and welfare of hens. Two hundred and sixteen Hyline Brown laying hens were divided into five groups (treatments) with four replicates per group: small furnished cages (SFC), medium furnished cages type I (MFC-I), medium furnished cages type II (MFC-II), and medium furnished cages type III (MFC-III) and conventional cages (CC). The experiment started at 18 week of age and finished at 52 week of age. Hens’ behaviors were filmed during the following periods: 8:00 to 10:00; 13:00 to 14:00; 16:00 to 17:00 on three separate days and two hens from each cage were measured for welfare parameters at 50 wk of age. The results showed that feeding and laying of all hens showed no effect by cage type (p>0.05), and the hens in the furnished cages had significantly lower standing and higher walking than CC hens (p<0.05). The birds in MFC-III had significant higher preening, scratching and feather-pecking behavior than in the other cages (p<0.05). No difference in nesting behavior was found in the hens between the furnished cages (p>0.05). The hens in MFC-I, −II, and −III showed a significant higher socializing behavior than SFC and CC (p<0.05). The lowest perching was for the hens in SFC and the highest perching found for the hens in MFC-III. Overall, the hens in CC showed poorer welfare conditions than the furnished cages, in which the feather condition score, gait score and tonic immobility duration of the hens in CC was significantly higher than SFC, MFC-I, MFC-II, and MFC-III (p<0.05). In conclusion, the furnished cage design affected both behavior and welfare states of hens. Overall, MFC-III cage design was better than SFC, MFC-I, and MFC-II cage designs.
Chemical Hydrolysis of Phosvitin and the Functional Properties of the Hydrolysates

As a highly phosphorylated protein, phosvitin shows a powerful antioxidant and metal-binding activity. However, its extraordinary resistance to protease activities limits the possibility of using phosvitin as a source for the production of functional peptides. The objectives of this study were to test the possibilities of using alkaline or acid hydrolysis to produce small peptides from phosvitin and to investigate the functional properties of the resulting peptides. Phosvitin was dissolved in various concentrations of NaOH (0.025N-0.3N) or HCl (0.05N–6N) and incubated in a shaker water bath (37 ◦ C for NaOH and 60 ◦ CforHCl) for 1-6 h. After incubation, the degree of hydrolysis, and the functional properties of the hydrolysateswere determined.Phosvitin showed higherresistanceto acid hydrolysis than alkaline hydrolysis.Incubation of phosvitinin 0.075 N NaOHsolution at 37 ◦ Cfor 1h and 2N HCl at 60 ◦ Cfor 6 h partially hydrolyzedphosvitin, but 0.1 N NaOH at 37 ◦ C for 3 h or 3N HCl at 60 ◦ Cfor 6 h incubation was needed forthe complete hydrolysis of phosvitin. Increasing degree of hydrolysis inphosvitin either by HCl or NaOH negatively affected their antioxidant and Fe-chelating capacities.Cu +2 -chelating activity, however, increased significantly by hydrolyzingphosvitinwith 0.1N NaOH or2N HCl. The alkalinehydrolysates(0.05 N and 0.1NNaOH)and acid hydrolysates(2 N HCl) significantly increased the solubility of Ca +2 in sodium phosphate buffer (pH 6.8) compared to the control.
A simple analog CMOS design tool using transistor dimension-independent parameters

This paper presents an approach to fully characterize a transistor in any CMOS technology using a set of dimension-independent parameters. The proposed approach creates a layer of abstraction that circumvents the SPICE transistor model complexity and replaces it with a set of normalized parameters. The proposed approach combined with the designer's knowledge of the circuit operation facilitates solving for near optimal, if not optimal, circuit behavior. The required small and large-signal behavior is achieved, while the dc biasing at each node in the circuit is defined at the same time. A simple design tool, called ACDNP, based on the proposed concept was developed. The results predicted by ACDNP and the Spectre circuit simulator are in excellent agreement.
Too Big to Ignore: The Business Case for Big Data

Too Big to Ignore: The Business Case for Big Data isgeared towards CIOs, CEOs, presidents, and IT professionals. At a high level, the book makes a compelling business case for that which we are calling Big Data. Simon provides commonsense advice for organizations looking to make sense out of the information streaming at us with unprecedented volume, velocity, and variety. Think big.
Pure Lipopolysaccharide or Synthetic Lipid A Induces Activation of p21Ras in Primary Macrophages through a Pathway Dependent on Src Family Kinases and PI3K1

Recognition of bacterial LPS by macrophages plays a critical role in host defense against infection by Gram-negative bacteria. However, when not tightly regulated, the macrophage’s response to LPS can induce severe disease and septic shock. Although LPS triggers the activation of multiple signaling pathways in macrophages, it was unclear whether these include activation of the p21Ras GTPases. We report that p21Ras is rapidly and transiently activated in murine primary macrophages stimulated with an ultra-pure preparation of LPS or with synthetic lipid A. The molecular basis of this activation was investigated using a pharmacological approach. LPS-induced activation of p21Ras was inhibited in the presence of PP2, LY294002, or wortmannin, suggesting that it depends on the activity of one or more members of the Src kinase family and the subsequent activation of PI3K. In that pharmacological inhibitors of PI3K inhibited LPS-induced activation of p21Ras, but not activation of ERK, we concluded that LPS-induced activation of ERK occurs through a pathway that is not dependent on the activation of p21Ras.
UTILISATION OF INFORMATION AS DETERMINANTS OF JOB PERFORMANCE OF LIBRARY STAFF IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN SOUTH-WEST, NIGERIA

The study investigates utilisation of information as determinants of job performance of library staff in public universities in Soult –West, Nigeria. Findings showed that effective management of resources depends on the adequate use of information in the decision making process of a library. Findings further showed that the independent variable (information utilisation) was found to be significantly related to job performance of library staff. The study recommends that information sources be provided to support library staff in performing their jobs. Also, to increase job performance, information sources in the library should be made available through library association, symposium, conference proceedings, attending seminars, scholarship and so on.
Determination of damping and dispersion parameters with a combined measurement-simulation technique

Measurements of damping and dispersion underlie sources of error bound to characteristics of wave propagation, from which we want to address the effect of diffraction. It is caused by the finite size of the transducers and because standard measurement setups have water and a specimen of the material under test in the propagation path. If the propagation velocity of the specimen differs from that of water, diffraction occurs at the interface. We investigate this diffraction error using the finite element method because transducer geometries and damping of the materials can be coped with. The obtained method is compared to the analytical expression of the Lommel diffraction correction integral.
Gambling for Dollars: Strategic Hedge Fund Manager Investment

Hedge fund managers differ in ability and investors want to distinguish good ones from bad. Via the design of their investment strategies, better fund managers want to ease this inference problem while worse fund managers want to complicate it. We impose only the minimal restrictions on the nature the investment strategies that, on average, returns reflect the hedge fund manager’s ability and that returns be bounded from below, and solve for the set of equilibria that emerge. We then show that under a variety of equilibrium refinements, a unique equilibrium obtains. In this equilibrium, investors set a cutoff standard for providing capital to a hedge fund: and invest if and only if returns exceed this cutoff. This induces less able hedge fund managers to adopt risky investment strategies that maximize the probability of meeting this cutoff by risking large losses if they fail. Over time, as investors learn about a hedge fund manager’s ability and less able hedge fund managers are stochastically weeded out, investors set less demanding re-investment standards. Our economy reconciles many facts regarding hedge fund performance. For example, in a regression with fixed hedge fund manager effects, returns of more experienced hedge fund managers decline, even though the expected profits of investors rise with the hedge fund manager’s experience; more experienced hedge funds deliver less volatile returns; persistence of returns is greater for better hedge funds; hedge fund failure rates are initially very high, but fall sharply with hedge fund manager experience; returns of exiting hedge funds are substantially worse than historical returns; and the longer is an investor’s horizon, the lower is the expected return of the hedge funds in which he invests.
Novel 3-D structure for ultra high density flash memory with VRAT (Vertical-Recess-Array-Transistor) and PIPE (Planarized Integration on the same PlanE)

A 3-D flash memory cell of VRAT (vertical-recess-array-transistor) has been fabricated using a unique and simple 3-D integration method of PIPE (planarized integration on the same plane), which allows for the successful implementation of ultra high density flash memory. In addition, procedures to increase the memory density further using another advanced structure, Zigzag-VRAT (Z-VRAT), are developed.
Rynek pracy w województwie mazowieckim

The article evaluates the new situation of the labour market of Mazowieckie voivodeship in two spatial dimensions, as a whole, and by typological division of municipalities. On the basis of an estimate of the actual number of jobs and the actual number of employees analyzed was made. Following aspects were examined: the size and structure of the market, the availability of spatial labour markets, spatial differences in wages, the role of new and creative companies in the development of the labour market and unemployment. The study distinguished by two features of the labour market in Mazovia. First dualism development, characterized by peripheral areas inhabited mostly by immobile large number of people of working age. Second, an important element is weak endogenous potential of the outermost regions, in the case of the labour market seen as poor quality of human capital and the structure of the productive forces in general. Conducted research led to the development of the prognosis in the labour market in three variants. One of the main challenges of the labour market is regional spatial mismatch between jobs and places to live. dr hab. Tomasz Komornicki prof. IGiPZ PAN, doktor w zakresie nauk o Ziemi, zastępca Dyrektora Instytutu Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania im. S. Leszczyckiego Polskiej Akademii Nauk, Kierownik Zakładu Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania IGiPZ PAN; zajmuje się problematyką dostępności transportowej, innowacyjności miast i regionów, mobilności ludności, rozwoju regionalnego i lokalnego oraz przemian demograficznych. dr Rafał Wiśniewski, pracownik Instytutu Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania Polskiej Akademii Nauk; zajmuje się problematyką dostępności transportowej, innowacyjności miast i regionów, mobilności ludności, rozwoju regionalnego i lokalnego oraz przemian demograficznych. dr Marcin Stępniak, pracownik Instytutu Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania Polskiej Akademii Nauk; zajmuje się problematyką dostępności transportowej, innowacyjności miast i regionów, mobilności ludności, rozwoju regionalnego i lokalnego oraz przemian demograficznych. dr Piotr Siłka, pracownik Instytutu Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania Polskiej Akademii Nauk; zajmuje się problematyką dostępności transportowej, innowacyjności miast i regionów, mobilności ludności, rozwoju regionalnego i lokalnego oraz przemian demograficznych. dr Piotr Rosik, adiunkt w Instytucie Geografii i Przestrzennego Zagospodarowania PAN; specjalizuje się w zagadnieniach geografii społeczno-ekonomicznej i geografii transportu, autor kilkudziesięciu publikacji z tego zakresu, w tym kilku monografii, a także kierownik lub ekspert w kilkunastu projektach naukowych dla instytucji międzynarodowych, rządowych oraz samorządowych.
HOW DO CONSUMERS USE SOCIAL SHOPPING WEBSITES? THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL ENDORSEMENTS

OF DISSERTATION HOW DO CONSUMERS USE SOCIAL SHOPPING WEBSITES? THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL ENDORSEMENTS Social endorsements are user-generated endorsements of products or services, such as “likes” and personal collections, in an online social platform. We examine the effect of prior social endorsements on subsequent users’ tendency to endorse or examine a product in a social shopping context, where a social platform connect consumers and enable a collaborative shopping experience. This research consists of two parts. In part I, we identify two ways prior social endorsements can affect subsequent user behavior: as a crowd endorsement, which is an aggregate number of endorsements a product receives for anyone who comes across the product, and as a friend endorsement, which is an endorsement with the endorser’s identity delivered only to the endorser’s friends or followers. Using a panel data of 1656 products on a leading social shopping platform, we quantify the relationship between crowd and friend endorsements and subsequent examination (“click”) and endorsement (“like”) of the products, noting that examination is a private behavior while endorsement is a public behavior. Our results are consistent with the identity signaling theory where identity-conscious consumers converge with the aspiration group (the followers) in their public behavior (e.g. endorsement) and diverge from the avoidance groups (the crowd). We also find differences between public and private behaviors. Moreover, the symbolic nature of social shopping platform trumps the traditional dichotomy of symbolic/functional product attributes. Part II of this study seeks to clarify the underlying mechanism through lab experiments. We hypothesize that consumers’ evaluative attitude, specifically the value-expressive type, moderates the relationship between crowd and friend endorsements and a focal user’s product choice. Our initial results of the second study show support for this idea in the cases when the product choice is not obvious.
System Identification and Control of an Aerobot Drive System

Fast thrust changes are important for authoritive control of VTOL micro air vehicles. Fixed-pitch rotors that alter thrust by varying rotor speed require high-bandwidth control systems to provide adequate performace. We develop a feedback compensator for a brushless hobby motor driving a custom rotor suitable for UAVs. The system plant is identified using step excitation experiments. The aerodynamic operating conditions of these rotors are unusual and so experiments are performed to characterise expected load disturbances. The plant and load models lead to a proportional controller design capable of significantly decreasing rise-time and propagation of disturbances, subject to bus voltage constraints.