Bubble geometry and chaotic pricing behaviour

This paper is a deductive theoretical enquiry into the flow of effects from the geometry of price bubbles/busts, to price indices, to pricing behaviours of sellers and buyers, and back to price bubbles/busts. The intent of the analysis is to suggest analytical approaches to identify the presence, maturity, and/or sustainability of a price bubble. We present a pricing model to emulate market behaviour, including numeric examples and charts of the interaction of supply and demand. The model extends into dynamic market solutions myopic (single- and multi-period) backward looking rational expectations to demonstrate how buyers and sellers interact to affect supply and demand and to show how capital gain expectations can be a destabilising influence – i.e. the lagged effects of past price gains can drive the market price away from long-run market-worth. Investing based on the outputs of past price-based valuation models appear to be more of a game-of-chance than a sound investment strategy.

Motivation and perception factors influence buying home behaviour in Dilly, East Timor

Demand of low cost housing increased from 1995 to 1997 which is shown by the number of housing loan approval. In order to develop the most suitable marketing plan, developer needs to know some factors which influenced to the decision making process of buying house. This research used a residential development in PT Delta Comoro Permai, Dilly as a case study. A survey to homeowners has been done to evaluate the motivation and perception factors in buying home behaviour. The survey has been done on the 3rd August to 29th August 1998. In this study, four main components have been examined. Physical and linkage are not as important as environment and utilities for the homebuyer. Moreover, the result is consistent with developer’s motto ‘clean, secure, aesthetic, healthy and prosperity’. This study provides further recommendation in the environment and utilities components for the new development in the future.

Exposure to pesticides, ill health and averting behaviour : costs and determining the relationship

Farmers' exposure to pesticides is high in developing countries. As a result many farmers suffer from ill-health, both short and long term. Deaths are not uncommon. This paper addresses this issue. Field survey data from Sri Lanka are used to estimate farmers' expenditure on defensive behavior (DE) and to determine factors that influence DE. The avertive behavior approach is used to estimate costs. Tobit regression analysis is used to determine factors that influence DE. Field survey data show that farmers' expenditures on DE are low. This is inversely related to high incidence of ill health among farmers using pesticides.

The effect of gender context on children's social behaviour in a limited resources situation : an observational study

Knowing when to compete and when to cooperate to maximize opportunities for equal access to activities and materials in groups is critical to children's social and cognitive development. The present study examined the individual (gender, social competence) and contextual factors (gender context) that may determine why some children are more successful than others. One hundred and fifty-six children (M age=6.5 years) were divided into 39 groups of four and videotaped while engaged in a task that required them to cooperate in order to view cartoons. Children within all groups were unfamiliar to one another. Groups varied in gender composition (all girls, all boys, or mixed-sex) and social competence (high vs. low). Group composition by gender interaction effects were found. Girls were most successful at gaining viewing time in same-sex groups, and least successful in mixed-sex groups. Conversely, boys were least successful in same-sex groups and most successful in mixed-sex groups. Similar results were also found at the group level of analysis; however, the way in which the resources were distributed differed as a function of group type. Same-sex girl groups were inequitable but efficient whereas same-sex boy groups were more equitable than mixed groups but inefficient compared to same-sex girl groups. Social competence did not influence children's behavior. The findings from the present study highlight the effect of gender context on cooperation and competition and the relevance of adopting an unfamiliar peer paradigm when investigating children's social behavior.

Influence of host plant structure and microclimate on the abundance and behaviour of Tephritid fly

Microclimate and host plant architecture significantly influence the abundance and behavior of insects. However, most research in this field has focused at the invertebrate assemblage level, with few studies at the single-species level. Using wild Solanum mauritianum plants, we evaluated the influence of plant structure (number of leaves and branches and height of plant) and microclimate (temperature, relative humidity, and light intensity) on the abundance and behavior of a single insect species, the monophagous tephritid fly Bactrocera cacuminata (Hering). Abundance and oviposition behavior were signficantly influenced by the host structure (density of foliage) and associated microclimate. Resting behavior of both sexes was influenced positively by foliage density, while temperature positively influenced the numbers of resting females. The number of ovipositing females was positively influenced by temperature and negatively by relative humidity. Feeding behavior was rare on the host plant, as was mating. The relatively low explanatory power of the measured variables suggests that, in addition to host plant architecture and associated microclimate, other cues (e.g., olfactory or visual) could affect visitation and use of the larval host plant by adult fruit flies. For 12 plants observed at dusk (the time of fly mating), mating pairs were observed on only one tree. Principal component analyses of the plant and microclimate factors associated with these plants revealed that the plant on which mating was observed had specific characteristics (intermediate light intensity, greater height, and greater quantity of fruit) that may have influenced its selection as a mating site.