What makes useful evidence for educational leadership practice? An interview

An interview with Eric Addae-Kyeremeh about his views on the pressing question ‘What makes useful evidence for educational leadership practice?’ as advice for leaders in educational settings

Effects of ethylenediamine – a putative GABA-releasing agent – on rat hippocampal slices and neocortical activity in vivo

The simple diamine diaminoethane (ethylenediamine, EDA) has been shown to activate GABA receptors in the central and peripheral nervous systems, partly by a direct action and partly by releasing endogenous GABA. These effects have been shown to be produced by the complexation of EDA with bicarbonate to form a carbamate. The present work has compared EDA, GABA and [beta]-alanine responses in rat CA1 neurons using extracellular and intracellular recordings, as well as neocortical evoked potentials in vivo. Superfusion of GABA onto hippocampal slices produced depolarisation and a decrease of field epsps, both effects fading rapidly, but showing sensitivity to blockade by bicuculline. EDA produced an initial hyperpolarisation and increase of extracellular field epsp size with no fade and only partial sensitivity to bicuculline, with subsequent depolarisation, while [beta]-alanine produces a much larger underlying hyperpolarisation and increase in fepsps, followed by depolarisation and inhibition of fepsps. The responses to [beta]-alanine, but not GABA or EDA, were blocked by strychnine. In vivo experiments, recording somatosensory evoked potentials, confirmed that EDA produced an initial increase followed by depression, and that this effect was not fully blocked by bicuculline. Overall the results indicate that EDA has actions in addition to the activation of GABA receptors. These actions are not attributable to activation of [beta]-alanine-sensitive glycine receptors, but may involve the activation of sites sensitive to adipic acid, which is structurally equivalent to the dicarbamate of EDA. The results emphasise the complex pharmacology of simple amines in bicarbonate-containing solution

Real Estate Market Cyclical Dynamics: The prime office sectors of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to help us understand the real estate cycle and offers an analysis using a vector auto regression (VAR) model. The authors study the key international cities of Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. The authors find four key outcomes. One, the real estate cycle is generally different from the underlying business cycle in local markets for the cities studies. Two, the real estate cycle is more exaggerated in the construction and development areas than in rents and vacancies. Three, the vacancy cycle tends to lead the rental cycle. And four, new construction completions tend to peak when vacancy is also peaking. The authors believe that future research should try to help understand the linkages that drive these outcomes. For example, are rigidities in the local permit and construction markets responsible for the link between construction peaks and vacancy peaks? / Design/methodology/approach – Real estate market cyclical dynamics and its estimation via VAR model offers an insightful set of practical and empirical models. It affirms a comprehensive theoretical underpinning for analysing the prime office and residential sectors of the capitol cities of Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong in the fast developing Asia region. Its unrestricted form also provides an effective and insightful way of modelling real estate market cyclical dynamics utilising only real estate market indicators, furnished by real estate market data providers. / Findings – The office rental VAR model for Singapore (SOR), KL (KOR) and HK (HOR) show good fits. In the HOR model, rents and vacancies are negatively signed and significant for certain lagged relationships with other variables and with rents themselves. The office CV VAR model for Singapore (SOCV), KL (KOCV) and HK (HOCV) show good fits. In the HOCV model, capital values (CVs) and initial yields are negatively signed and significant for certain lagged relationships with other variables and with CVs themselves. Impulse response functions specified for seven years to mirror a medium-term real estate market cycle “die out” to zero for the stationary VAR models that are estimated for the endogenous variables. The accumulated responses asymptote to some non-zero constant. / Practical implications – The VAR model offers a complete and meaningful dynamic system of solely real estate variables for international real estate investors and policy makers in decision making. Its unrestricted form offers an effective and insightful way of modelling real estate market cyclical dynamics utilising only real estate market indicators, which can be reliably provided by a dedicated real estate information and consultancy provider of international standing. / Originality/value – The theoretical model offers a complete dynamic model system of the real estate space market, comprising a unique system of six linked equations that denote the relationship among supply, demand, construction, vacancy and rent over time, inclusive of price response slopes and lags. The VAR model enables the investigation of the effect of the lagged values of all the variables concerned. It also enables the explicit and rigorous quantitative forecasts of say rents and CVs when the rest of the variable can be forecasted beforehand

Effects of property acquisition and disposal on property stock value

The study utilizes the event study methodology to evaluate the effect(s) of acquisition and/or disposal announcement(s) on the value of property stocks of 22 companies listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). The study focuses on the period from 1994 to 1999. It was found that the impact of both acquisition and disposal announcements on shareholder wealth during the period, albeit positive, is not significant at the 0.05 level. However, a company’s announcement of intent to dispose of its asset(s) had a significantly positive cumulative excess return during the period. This implies that, apart from announcement of intent to dispose of asset(s), investors generally cannot significantly profit from a prior knowledge of acquisition and/or disposal announcements. Furthermore, it was found that “size effect” is of no significance to Singapore property stock market

The effectiveness of the direct sales comparison approach to office appraisal in Singapore

The skyline of Singapore’s Central Business District (CBD) reflects the prestige and multitude of office buildings in the city state. Investment in CBD office buildings can amount to billions of Singapore dollars. Any investor in office buildings has indubitably relied or relies primarily on the valuations of these buildings to determine investment returns. The most popular and universally used method for valuing these investment buildings is the Direct Sales Comparison approach. The position adopted in this paper is that even though the wealth of practical experience favours the use of the Direct Sales Comparison approach, it encounters methodological constraints. The lack of some critical information in the available data tends to make the method less effective than it is claimed to be for office valuation; failure to account for the conditions of sale and the terms of financing can introduce distortion of market values. This can lead to the distortion of the asset pricing of local office space. There will be growing concern to regularise the direct sales comparison approach in this regard, and to re-consider the use of the income approach as well as the discounted cash flow approaches, in part or in full

Cross-Listing of Real Estate Investment Trust

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the common stock price reaction and the changes to the risk exposure of the cross-listing for real estate investment trusts (REITs). Design/methodology/approach The paper adopts the event study methodology to assess the abnormal returns (ARs). Pre- and post-cross-listing changes in the risk exposure for the domestic and foreign markets are examined, via a modified two-factor international asset pricing model. A comparison is made for two broad cross-listings, namely, the depositary receipts and the dual ordinary listings, to examine the impacts from institutional differences. Findings Cross-listed REITs generally experience positive and significant ARs throughout the event window, implying significant superior returns associated with the cross-listing for REITs. On systematic risks, REITs exhibit significant decline in their domestic market β coefficients after the cross-listing. However, the foreign market β coefficients do not yield conclusive evidence when compared across the sample. Research limitations/implications Results are consistent with prudential asset allocation for potential diversification gains from the cross-listing, as the reduction from the domestic market beta is more significant than changes in the foreign market beta. Practical implications The results and findings should incentivise REIT managers to explore viable cross-listing. Social implications Such cross-listing for REITs should enhance risk diversification. Originality/value This is a pioneer study on cross-listing of REITs. It provides a basis for investment decision making, and could provoke further research and discussion

Housing Loan and the Price of Housing in Singapore

We use the Johansen co-integration test and the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) to analyze data on housing loan, housing price, interest rate and GDP from 19911Q to 20102Q to particularly ascertain the extent to which housing loan affects house prices in Singapore. The results show the existence of a long run co-integration among housing loan, house price, interest rate and GDP. Furthermore, housing loan is found to be positively correlated with house price and GDP but negatively correlated with interest rate in the long run. There seems to be no correlation between housing loan and house price in the short run. Moreover, a change in housing loan per se does not affect house price, neither does a change in house price per se affect housing loan in the short run. Thus, while there is long run equilibrium among housing loan, house price, interest rate and GDP, the causality direction between housing loan and house price is somewhat obscure. This implies that targeting housing loan as a means to control property price inflation in Singapore may not achieve the immediate desired result

International Portfolio of Real Estate Investment and Hedging: A Revisit

We use office data from ten cities in the Asia-Pacific region from 4Q2001 to 2Q2012 to propose a forward-looking investment appraisal framework to compare the effectiveness of two currency risk hedging strategies for a portfolio of real estate investments in ten cities of seven Asia-Pacific countries. This is aimed at determining the optimal choice among “unhedged”, “artificially” hedged and “natural” hedged options. Analyses based on NPV, IRR, Sharpe Ratio, Jensen’s alpha and stochastic dominance were done for 3, 5 and 7-year holding periods. All the results show that the “natural” hedge strategy is the optimal choice as it provides superior returns

Understanding teachers’ working experiences: capturing data on teachers as professionals, learners and change-makers in low resource contexts

When we picture a school, many of us will see a teacher, standing at the front of a classroom. When our children are at school, it’s their teachers we turn to with concerns. When we think back to our own school days, we think fondly about our favourite teachers, those who really stood out. Teachers have always been at the heart of education, at least in the popular imagination. It is particularly odd, then, that in much of the education research and policy discourse in low-income countries over the past 20 years teachers have been side-lined and presented as passive, generic (and often negative) inputs. While children’s engagement with education systems is increasingly framed in constructivist terms, with much attention given to the interrelation between their ideas and their experiences, these terms have been far less evident in research and policy around teachers’ engagement with these same systems

Green mark certification: does the market understand?

A corollary to the green building revolution is the certification of green buildings by relevant organizations. The pertinent question is whether the market understands the certification. The paper addresses the issue via a quantitative (hedonic model) and psychographic (survey) study of the Singapore residential green building market. The results reveal that green certification commands a statistically significant premium. However, the market is confused by the different tiers of certification as evidenced by incommensurate premia for the different tiers. Furthermore, the fact that the premium varies with tenure (freehold/ leasehold) and location after controlling for all other attributes may imply that the premium may not be solely attributable to green certification