The Office Business Center (OBC) is a shared office facility, which is fully equipped, staffed and furnished. Many small business and sole proprietors choose OBC space over traditional leased office space because it alleviates the upfront cost and time required to maintain and manage an...

The major objective of this study is to test equilibrium asset pricing models with respect to how well they price risk across multiple asset classes; including the four quadrants of real estate. While using the Geltner (1999) paper as a springboard for our approach, this thesis both updates...

The German real estate open-ended fund, a major indirect real estate investment vehicle for German individual investors, is now suffering a strong pressure of globalization from its investors because of the sluggish German domestic real estate market. In order to deal with such pressure, many...

As one of the most important financial innovations in 1990s, Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) have provided significant amounts of financing for commercial real estate. However, when the Asian and Russian financial crisis hit in 1998, the low rated CMBS market almost dried up and one...

(cont.) by presenting two case studies both in the context of the Chicago Transit Authority. One study proposes an enhanced method of inferring the rail trip OD matrix from an origin-only AFC system to replace the routine passenger survey. The proposed algorithm takes advantage of the pattern of...

Since its passage in 1972, the majority of pollution reduction under the federal Clean Water Act has resulted from technology-based limits imposed on point source dischargers. However, most U.S. water bodies are unmonitored and of those that are, between 40 and 50 percent remain impaired. Given...

Brownfields are abandoned or underused land whose redevelopment is complicated by the presence or perception of contamination. Nationally the United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates the number of brownfields to be more than half a million. As of 2002, the EPA requires states and...

The object of this dissertation is to gain an understanding of the speed of entry into high-tech industries by "latecomers," private and national firms from late-industrializing countries. While entry is traditionally measured with R&D performance, we have approached it from the perspective of...

Renewable portfolio standards ("RPS") have spread widely as states have made an effort to promote electricity production from renewable energy sources, granting privileged market access to eligible technologies and resources. One prominent public policy objective driving their rapid adoption and...

Climate change, food security, and energy efficiency have become universal challenges for global economic development and environmental conservation that demand in-depth multidisciplinary research. Biofuels have emerged as a decisive factor in the fight against global warming and air pollution...