The role of timber plantations in U.K. investment portfolios

Although timber plantations and forests are classified as forms of agricultural production, the ownership of this land classification is not limited to rural producers. Timber plantations and forests are now regarded as a long-term investment with both institutional and absentee owners. While the NCREIF property indices have been the benchmarks for the measurement of the performance of the commercial property market in the UK, for many years the IPD timberland index has recently emerged as the U.K. forest and timberland performance indicator. The IPD Forest index incorporates 126 properties over five regions in the U.K. This paper will utilise the IPD Forestry Index to examine the performance of U.K. timber plantations and forests over the period 1981-2004. In particular, issues to be critically assessed include plantation and forest performance analysis, comparative investment analysis, and the role of plantations and forests in investment portfolios, the risk reduction and portfolio benefits of plantations and forests in mixed-asset portfolios and the strategic investment significance of U.K. timberlands.

K. u. K. Landsturm : Erinnerungen aus dem Weltkriege in vier Bildern /

Manuscript: "K. u. K. Landsturm. Erinnerungen aus dem Weltkriege in vier Bildern". Autobiographical play, in four acts, recalling life in the Imperial Austrian Army in a Hungarian village in 1916.

Vykopirovka iz obshschego plana Bii︠u︡k-Onlarskoǐ dachi razverstanii︠a︡ na uchastok Komzet'a Nº 70/31

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Weighted least squares with expectation-maximization algorithm for burst detection in U.K. water distribution systems

Flow measurement data at the district meter area (DMA) level has the potential for burst detection in the water distribution systems. This work investigates using a polynomial function fitted to the historic flow measurements based on a weighted least-squares method for automatic burst detection in the U.K. water distribution networks. This approach, when used in conjunction with an expectationmaximization (EM) algorithm, can automatically select useful data from the historic flow measurements, which may contain normal and abnormal operating conditions in the distribution network, e.g., water burst. Thus, the model can estimate the normal water flow (nonburst condition), and hence the burst size on the water distribution system can be calculated from the difference between the measured flow and the estimated flow. The distinguishing feature of this method is that the burst detection is fully unsupervised, and the burst events that have occurred in the historic data do not affect the procedure and bias the burst detection algorithm. Experimental validation of the method has been carried out using a series of flushing events that simulate burst conditions to confirm that the simulated burst sizes are capable of being estimated correctly. This method was also applied to eight DMAs with known real burst events, and the results of burst detections are shown to relate to the water company's records of pipeline reparation work. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Is screening for Factor V Leiden and Prothrombin G20210A Mutations in Renal Transplantation worthwhile? Results of a large single-center U.K. study

This single center study is the largest series of renal transplant recipients and donors screened for the commonest prothrombotic genotypes. A total of 562 transplant recipients and 457 kidney donors were genotyped for the factor V Leiden and prothrombin G20210A mutations. The prevalence of heterozygous factor V Leiden was 3.4% and 2.6% and prothrombin G20210A was 2.0% and 1.1% in recipients and donors, respectively, similar frequencies to that of the general U.K. population. The 30-day and 1-year graft survival rates in recipients with thrombophilic mutations were 93% and 93%, compared with 88% and 82% in patients without these mutations (log-rank P =0.34). Thrombophilia in recipients (odds ratio 0.55; confidence interval 0.06-2.29; P =0.56) or in donors (odds ratio 1.53; confidence interval 0.27-5.74; P =0.46) did not correlate with graft loss at 30 days after transplantation. In contrast to recent reports, this study did not demonstrate an association between thrombophilia and renal allograft loss, and routine screening is not recommended.