Valuation and sustainability : are rating tools enough?

The lack of sufficient financial drivers are preventing significant investment in sustainability because stakeholders have only very limited ability to measure the sustainability of the building or understand the impact upon the value. Valuers are unable to indicate or clarify whether sustainability is affecting market value as there is an absence of detailed market evidence, sales data and lease transactions of sustainable building. Leaving both Valuers and other stakeholders uncertain of the value implication as there is no reliable evidence as to whether sustainable buildings are feasible (Lutzkendorf and Lorenz, 2005). One of the key barriers is the confusion evident in the industry particularly the measurement of sustainability in commercial property. Although a range of environmental rating tools exist for buildings globally in commercial property, the synergy between these tools and identification of the relationship between the measurement and market value is inherently blurred due to the unique nature of the compilation of points attributed in the rating tools for sustainability or energy certificates in commercial property. The paper examines the challenges that face the Valuation profession in assessing the impact of sustainability on market value.

The validity and internal structure of the bipolar depression rating scale (BDRS): data from a clinical trial of N-acetylcysteine as adjunctive therapy in bipolar disorder

Background: The phenomenology of unipolar and bipolar disorders differ in a number of ways, such as the presence of mixed states and atypical features. Conventional depression rating instruments are designed to capture the characteristics of unipolar depression and have limitations in capturing the breadth of bipolar disorder.

Method: The Bipolar Depression Rating Scale (BDRS) was administered together with the Montgomery Asberg Rating Scale (MADRS) and Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) in a double-blind randomised placebo-controlled clinical trial of N-acetyl cysteine for bipolar disorder (N = 75).

Results: A factor analysis showed a two-factor solution: depression and mixed symptom clusters. The BDRS has strong internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.917), the depression cluster showed robust correlation with the MADRS (r = 0.865) and the mixed subscale correlated with the YMRS (r = 0.750).

Conclusion: The BDRS has good internal validity and inter-rater reliability and is sensitive to change in the context of a clinical trial.

Energy efficiency rating systems for housing : an Australian perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine current trends in energy efficiency ratings and consider their likely impact on the Australian housing market.

Design/methodology/approach – The research is yet to be conducted; however a mixed method is proposed which is grounded on the theoretical model of consumer behaviour within housing markets. This model has been tested and demonstrated to be useful in predicting buyer behaviour.

Findings – Established theories of buyer perception indicate the introduction of energy efficiency rating systems will have an effect on the level of house prices.

Research limitations/implications – This research is focussed on housing in Australia but also has implications for other global housing markets which are addressing sustainability.

Practical implications – Outputs of this research have implications for policy makers, real estate agents and valuers.

Social implications – Increasing energy costs is likely to restructure the way housing markets operate with regard to sustainability and energy efficiency rating systems and also how they are understood.

Originality/value – This research will be in the Australian context utilising international modeling. As mandatory energy efficiency ratings have not been introduced, this research will be original.

Learning rating patterns for Top-N recommendations

Two rating patterns exist in the user × item rating matrix and influence each other: the personal rating patterns are hidden in each user's entire rating history, while the global rating patterns are hidden in the entire user × item rating matrix. In this paper, a Rating Pattern Subspace is proposed to model both of the rating patterns simultaneously by iteratively refining each other with an EM-like algorithm. Firstly, a low-rank subspace is built up to model the global rating patterns from the whole user × item rating matrix, then, the projection for each user on the subspace is refined individually based on his/her own entire rating history. After that, the refined user projections on the subspace are used to improve the modelling of the global rating patterns. Iteratively, we can obtain a well-trained low-rank Rating Pattern Subspace, which is capable of modelling both the personal and the global rating patterns. Based on this subspace, we propose a RapSVD algorithm to generate Top-N recommendations, and the experiment results show that the proposed method can significantly outperform the other state-of-the-art Top-N recommendation methods in terms of accuracy, especially on long tail item recommendations.

A hazardous substance exposure prevention rating method for intervention needs assessment and effectiveness evaluation: the small business exposure index

Aims This paper describes the refinement and adaptation to small business of a previously developed method for systematically prioritizing needs for intervention on hazardous substance exposures in manufacturing worksites, and evaluating intervention effectiveness. Methods We developed a checklist containing six unique sets of yes/no variables organized in a 2 × 3 matrix of exposure potential versus exposure protection at three levels corresponding to a simplified hierarchy of controls: materials, processes, and human interface. Each of the six sets of indicator variables was reduced to a high/moderate/low rating. Ratings from the matrix were then combined to generate an exposure prevention 'Small Business Exposure Index' (SBEI) Summary score for each area. Reflecting the hierarchy of controls, material factors were weighted highest, followed by process, and then human interface. The checklist administered by an industrial hygienist during walk-through inspection (N = 149 manufacturing processes/areas in 25 small to medium-sized manufacturing worksites). One area or process per manufacturing department was assessed and rated. A second hygienist independently assessed 36 areas to evaluate inter-rater reliability. Results The SBEI Summary scores indicated that exposures were well controlled in the majority of areas assessed (58% with rating of 1 or 2 on a 6-point scale), that there was some room for improvement in roughly one-third of areas (31% of areas rated 3 or 4), and that roughly 10% of the areas assessed were urgently in need of intervention (rated as 5 or 6). Inter-rater reliability of EP ratings was good to excellent (e.g., for SBEI Summary scores, weighted kappa = 0.73, 95% CI 0.52–0.93). Conclusion The SBEI exposure prevention rating method is suitable for use in small/medium enterprises, has good discriminatory power and reliability, offers an inexpensive method for intervention needs assessment and effectiveness evaluation, and complements quantitative exposure assessment with an upstream prevention focus.

Rating downgrade and the price impact of CDS spread on stock return

We investigate the time-varying informativeness of credit default swap (CDS) trading on stock returns for 302 US firms from July 2004 to August 2010. Using the Acharya and Johnson (2007) measure, we find that CDS trading becomes informative for an increasing number of firms as we approach the global financial crisis (GFC). Firm numbers gradually decline post-GFC, but remain high compared to the pre-GFC period. furthermore, CDS trading imposes the largest conditional price impact on firms that are recently downgraded, regardless of rating levels. Interestingly, this holds during and after the GFC, but not before. We offer two implications. First, despite post-GFC outcry against the CDS market, our results suggest it exhibits enhanced price discovery during the GFC. Second, our findings support criticism that, in the lead-up to the GFC, rating agencies are slow in downgrading firms. However, if downgrade decisions made during and after the GFC induce informed trading in the CDS market, this necessarily implies that during the midst of the GFC, rating agencies have got their act together.

An exposure prevention rating method for intervention needs assessment and effectiveness evaluation

This article describes a new method for (1) systematically prioritizing needs for intervention on hazardous substance exposures in manufacturing work sites, and (2) evaluating intervention effectiveness. We developed a checklist containing six unique sets of yes/no variables organized in a 2 × 3 matrix of exposure potential versus protection (two columns) at the levels of materials, processes, and human interface (three rows). The three levels correspond to a simplified hierarchy of controls. Each of the six sets of indicator variables was reduced to a high/moderate/low rating. Ratings from the matrix were then combined to generate a single overall exposure prevention rating for each area. Reflecting the hierarchy of controls, material factors were weighted highest, followed by process, and then human interface. The checklist was filled out by an industrial hygienist while conducting a walk-through inspection (N = 131 manufacturing processes/areas in 17 large work sites). One area or process per manufacturing department was assessed and rated. Based on the resulting Exposure Prevention ratings, we concluded that exposures were well controlled in the majority of areas assessed (64% with rating of 1 or 2 on a 6-point scale), that there is some room for improvement in 26 percent of areas (rating of 3 or 4), and that roughly 10 percent of the areas assessed are urgently in need of intervention (rated as 5 or 6). A second hygienist independently assessed a subset of areas to evaluate inter-rater reliability. The reliability of the overall exposure prevention ratings was excellent (weighted kappa = 0.84). The rating scheme has good discriminatory power and reliability and shows promise as a broadly applicable and inexpensive tool for intervention needs assessment and effectiveness evaluation. Validation studies are needed as a next step. This assessment method complements quantitative exposure assessment with an upstream prevention focus.

Use of the compulsive exercise test with athletes : norms and links with rating psychopathology

This study assessed the 5-factor structure of the Compulsive Exercise Test (CET) and explored the relationship between compulsive exercise and eating psychopathology in athletes. Confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses of the CET were conducted with 689 competitive athletes (18–35 years of age). Convergent validity with the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q) was explored. The 5-factor structure showed a poor fit; an alternative 3-factor structure is proposed. Exercising for weight control and exercising to avoid a negative mood were strongly associated with eating psychopathology. Implications for using the CET with athletes are discussed.

Transcultural adaption and validation of the Spanish version of the Bipolar Depression Rating Scale (BDRS-S)

The Bipolar Depression Rating Scale (BDRS) arguably better captures symptoms in bipolar depression especially depressive mixed states than traditional unipolar depression rating scales. The psychometric properties of the Spanish adapted version, BDRS-S, are reported.

Towards a BIM-based energy rating system

Governments in Australia are faced with policy implementation that mandates higher energy efficient housing (Foran, Lenzen & Dey 2005). To this effect, the National Construction Code (NCC) 2013 stipulates the minimum energy performance for residential buildings as 114MJ/m2 per annum or 6 stars on an energy rating scale. Compliance with this minimum is mandatory but there are several methods through which residential buildings can be rated to comply with the deemed to satisfy provisions outlined in the NCC. FirstRate5 is by far the most commonly used simulation software used in Victoria, Australia. Meanwhile, Building Information Modelling (BIM), using software such as ArchiCAD has gained a foothold in the industry. The energy simulation software within ArchiCAD, EcoDesigner, enables the reporting on the energy performance based on BIM elements that contain thermal information. This research is founded on a comparative study between FirstRate5 and EcoDesigner. Three building types were analysed and compared. The comparison finds significant differences between simulations, being, measured areas, thermal loads and potentially serious shortcomings within FirstRate5, that are discussed along with the future potential of a fully BIM-integrated model for energy rating certification in Victoria. © 2014, The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong.