A critical review of methodologies for measuring rental depreciation applied to UK commercial real estate

Real estate depreciation continues to be a critical issue for investors and the appraisal profession in the UK in the 1990s. Depreciation-sensitive cash flow models have been developed, but there is a real need to develop further empirical methodologies to determine rental depreciation rates for input into these models. Although building quality has been found to be an important explanatory variable in depreciation it is very difficult to incorporate it into such models or to analyse it retrospectively. It is essential to examine previous depreciation research from real estate and economics in the USA and UK to understand the issues in constructing a valid and pragmatic way of calculating rental depreciation. Distinguishing between 'depreciation' and 'obsolescence' is important, and the pattern of depreciation in any study can be influenced by such factors as the type (longitudinal or crosssectional) and timing of the study, and the market state. Longitudinal studies can analyse change more directly than cross-sectional studies. Any methodology for calculating rental depreciation rate should be formulated in the context of such issues as 'censored sample bias', 'lemons' and 'filtering', which have been highlighted in key US literature from the field of economic depreciation. Property depreciation studies in the UK have tended to overlook this literature, however. Although data limitations and constraints reduce the ability of empirical property depreciation work in the UK to consider these issues fully, 'averaging' techniques and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression can both provide a consistent way of calculating rental depreciation rates within a 'cohort' framework.

Handbook of research methods and applications in empirical finance

The objective of this book is to present the quantitative techniques that are commonly employed in empirical finance research together with real world, state of the art research examples. Each chapter is written by international experts in their fields. The unique approach is to describe a question or issue in finance and then to demonstrate the methodologies that may be used to solve it. All of the techniques described are used to address real problems rather than being presented for their own sake and the areas of application have been carefully selected so that a broad range of methodological approaches can be covered. This book is aimed primarily at doctoral researchers and academics who are engaged in conducting original empirical research in finance. In addition, the book will be useful to researchers in the financial markets and also advanced Masters-level students who are writing dissertations.

Control methodologies: Peak reduction algorithms for DNO owned storage devices on the Low Voltage network

The Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) role is becoming more difficult as electric vehicles and electric heating penetrate the network, increasing the demand. As a result it becomes harder for the distribution networks infrastructure to remain within its operating constraints. Energy storage is a potential alternative to conventional network reinforcement such as upgrading cables and transformers. The research presented here in this paper shows that due to the volatile nature of the LV network, the control approach used for energy storage has a significant impact on performance. This paper presents and compares control methodologies for energy storage where the objective is to get the greatest possible peak demand reduction across the day from a pre-specified storage device. The results presented show the benefits and detriments of specific types of control on a storage device connected to a single phase of an LV network, using aggregated demand profiles based on real smart meter data from individual homes. The research demonstrates an important relationship between how predictable an aggregation is and the best control methodology required to achieve the objective.

Participatory crop improvement: the challenges of and opportunities for institutionalisation in the Indian public research sector

This thesis considers Participatory Crop Improvement (PCI) methodologies and examines the reasons behind their continued contestation and limited mainstreaming in conventional modes of crop improvement research within National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS). In particular, it traces the experiences of a long-established research network with over 20 years of experience in developing and implementing PCI methods across South Asia, and specifically considers its engagement with the Indian NARS and associated state-level agricultural research systems. In order to address the issues surrounding PCI institutionalisation processes, a novel conceptual framework was derived from a synthesis of the literatures on Strategic Niche Management (SNM) and Learning-based Development Approaches (LBDA) to analyse the socio-technical processes and structures which constitute the PCI ‘niche’ and NARS ‘regime’. In examining the niche and regime according to their socio-technical characteristics, the framework provides explanatory power for understanding the nature of their interactions and the opportunities and barriers that exist with respect to the translation of lessons and ideas between niche and regime organisations. The research shows that in trying to institutionalise PCI methods and principles within NARS in the Indian context, PCI proponents have encountered a number of constraints related to the rigid and hierarchical structure of the regime organisations; the contractual mode of most conventional research, which inhibits collaboration with a wider group of stakeholders; and the time-limited nature of PCI projects themselves, which limits investment and hinders scaling up of the innovations. It also reveals that while the niche projects may be able to induce a ‘weak’ form of PCI institutionalisation within the Indian NARS by helping to alter their institutional culture to be more supportive of participatory plant breeding approaches and future collaboration with PCI researchers, a ‘strong’ form of PCI institutionalisation, in which NARS organisations adopt participatory methodologies to address all their crop improvement agenda, is likely to remain outside of the capacity of PCI development projects to deliver.

Evidence from neurolinguistic methodologies: can it actually inform linguistic/ language acquisition theories and translate to evidence-based applications?

This special issue is a testament to the recent burgeoning interest by theoretical linguists, language acquisitionists and teaching practitioners in the neuroscience of language. It offers a highly valuable, state-of-the-art overview of the neurophysiological methods that are currently being applied to questions in the field of second language (L2) acquisition, teaching and processing. Research in the area of neurolinguistics has developed dramatically in the past twenty years, providing a wealth of exciting findings, many of which are discussed in the papers in this volume. The goal of this commentary is twofold. The first is to critically assess the current state of neurolinguistic data from the point of view of language acquisition and processing—informed by the papers that comprise this special issue and the literature as a whole—pondering how the neuroscience of language/processing might inform us with respect to linguistic and language acquisition theories. The second goal is to offer some links from implications of exploring the first goal towards informing language teachers and the creation of linguistically and neurolinguistically-informed evidence-based pedagogies for non-native language teaching.