Global Real Estate Markets - Cycles and Fundamentals

The correlations among international real estate markets are surprisingly high, given the degree to which they are segmented. While industrial, office and retail properties exist all around the world, they are not economic substitutes because of locational specificity. In addition, the broad securitization of real estate property companies has, until recently, lagged that of other types of companies. Never-the-less, international property returns move together in dramatic fashion. In this paper, we use eleven years of global property returns to explore the factors influencing this co-movement. We attribute a substantial amount of the correlation across world property markets to the effects of changes in GNP, suggesting that real estate is a bet on fundamental economic variables which are correlated across countries. A decomposition shows that a local production factor is more important in some countries than in others.

Mortgage Default Risk and Real Estate Prices: The Use of Index-Based Futures and Options in Real Estate

Evidence is shown, using US foreclosure data by state 1975-93, that periods of high default rates on home mortgages strongly tend to follow real estate price declines or interruptions in real estate price increase. The relation between price decline and foreclosure rates is modelled using a distributed lag. Using this model, holders of residential mortgage portfolios could hedge some of the risk of default by taking positions in futures or options markets for residential real estate prices, were such markets to be established.

Production study of gadolinium-153

Production of gadolinium-153 for use in atmospheric density gages based on gamma backscatter measurement

Verification of the Convection-Allowing Ensemble System over the Hindu Kush Himalaya Region During the 2018 and 2019 Pre-Monsoon Severe Thunderstorm Seasons

Some of the most intense thunderstorms on the planet occur in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region of South-Central Asia. NASA/SERVIR Applied Sciences Team competitive project to develop capacity of severe thunderstorm monitoring and forecasting tool for HKH. Project Goal: Use [NASA] modeling and remote-sensing assets to build early warning capabilities and facilitate timely disaster response for high impact weather events in the HKH region. Specific objectives: 1. Prototype and transition High-Impact Weather Assessment Toolkit (HIWAT) 2. Jointly develop HIWAT capabilities & training with SERVIRs hub in Kathmandu, Nepal: International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) 3. Demonstrate capacity in end-user environment 4. Transition HIWAT system to ICIMOD for future maintenance

On the Lichnerowicz conjecture for CR manifolds with mixed signature

We construct examples of nondegenerate CR manifolds with Levi form of signature $(p,q)$, $2\leq p\leq q$, which are compact, not locally CR flat, and admit essential CR vector fields. We also construct an example of a noncompact nondegenerate CR manifold with signature $(1,n-1)$ which is not locally CR flat and admits an essential CR vector fields. These provide counterexamples to the analogue of the Lichnerowicz conjecture for CR manifolds with mixed signature.Comment: 7 page

Vlasov Equation In Magnetic Field

The linearized Vlasov equation for a plasma system in a uniform magnetic field and the corresponding linear Vlasov operator are studied. The spectrum and the corresponding eigenfunctions of the Vlasov operator are found. The spectrum of this operator consists of two parts: one is continuous and real; the other is discrete and complex. Interestingly, the real eigenvalues are infinitely degenerate, which causes difficulty solving this initial value problem by using the conventional eigenfunction expansion method. Finally, the Vlasov equation is solved by the resolvent method.Comment: 15 page

Mechanical regulation of chondrogenesis.

Mechanical factors play a crucial role in the development of articular cartilage in vivo. In this regard, tissue engineers have sought to leverage native mechanotransduction pathways to enhance in vitro stem cell-based cartilage repair strategies. However, a thorough understanding of how individual mechanical factors influence stem cell fate is needed to predictably and effectively utilize this strategy of mechanically-induced chondrogenesis. This article summarizes some of the latest findings on mechanically stimulated chondrogenesis, highlighting several new areas of interest, such as the effects of mechanical stimulation on matrix maintenance and terminal differentiation, as well as the use of multifactorial bioreactors. Additionally, the roles of individual biophysical factors, such as hydrostatic or osmotic pressure, are examined in light of their potential to induce mesenchymal stem cell chondrogenesis. An improved understanding of biomechanically-driven tissue development and maturation of stem cell-based cartilage replacements will hopefully lead to the development of cell-based therapies for cartilage degeneration and disease

Mortgage Default Risk and Real Estate Prices: The Use of Index-Based Futures and Options in Real Estate

Evidence is shown, using US foreclosure data by state 1975-93, that periods of high default rates on home mortgages strongly tend to follow real estate price declines or interruptions in real estate price increase. The relation between price decline and foreclosure rates is modelled using a distributed lag. Using this model, holders of residential mortgage portfolios could hedge some of the risk of default by taking positions in futures or options markets for residential real estate prices, were such markets to be established.

Record-setting Cosmic-ray Intensities in 2009 and 2010

We report measurements of record-setting intensities of cosmic-ray nuclei from C to Fe, made with the Cosmic Ray Isotope Spectrometer carried on the Advanced Composition Explorer in orbit about the inner Sun-Earth Lagrangian point. In the energy interval from ~70 to ~450 MeV nucleon^(–1), near the peak in the near-Earth cosmic-ray spectrum, the measured intensities of major species from C to Fe were each 20%-26% greater in late 2009 than in the 1997-1998 minimum and previous solar minima of the space age (1957-1997). The elevated intensities reported here and also at neutron monitor energies were undoubtedly due to several unusual aspects of the solar cycle 23/24 minimum, including record-low interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) intensities, an extended period of reduced IMF turbulence, reduced solar-wind dynamic pressure, and extremely low solar activity during an extended solar minimum. The estimated parallel diffusion coefficient for cosmic-ray transport based on measured solar-wind properties was 44% greater in 2009 than in the 1997-1998 solar-minimum period. In addition, the weaker IMF should result in higher cosmic-ray drift velocities. Cosmic-ray intensity variations at 1 AU are found to lag IMF variations by 2-3 solar rotations, indicating that significant solar modulation occurs inside ~20 AU, consistent with earlier galactic cosmic-ray radial-gradient measurements. In 2010, the intensities suddenly decreased to 1997 levels following increases in solar activity and in the inclination of the heliospheric current sheet. We describe the conditions that gave cosmic rays greater access to the inner solar system and discuss some of their implications