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The authors in this paper aim to investigate the performance of different portfolios of REITs which specialise by property type compared to the performance of a diversified free-float market capitalisation-weighted benchmark index to determine whether superior risk-adjusted returns can be achieved.

First, the authors examine the performance of portfolios constructed using the criteria of equal weight, minimum variance, maximum Sharpe and risk parity rather than free-float market capitalisation. Second, the authors apply an automated trading strategy of trend following to see if this filter will improve risk-adjusted returns.

The two-step process of forming combinations of REIT sectors with the subsequent addition of a trend following overlay can offer clear benefits relative to a passive benchmark investment.

Although three of the four strategies were shown to outperform the benchmark index on a risk-adjusted basis, one issue was that the efficient portfolios tended to have large weightings to relatively few sectors. The authors also found that maximum drawdowns (losses) of the strategies tended to be rather high, as was the benchmark.

The methods outlined in this paper can be applied to construct superior risk-adjusted REIT portfolios globally.

Although studies have been undertaken separately on REIT specialisation and trend following in equity and commodity markets, this paper is the first to combine the two topics, and therefore has particular value for real estate fund managers globally.

With comments by J. C. Harrison, Prof. Raymond Irwin, and W. B. Paton.

Canons have been of interest to librarians dating back to the days when Robert Maynard Hutchins instituted the Great Books program at the University of Chicago. Hutchins did so at the suggestion of the popular philosopher, Mortimer Adler. When Adler later helped to popularize the program with the public, public libraries around the country became the sites for meetings of Great Books discussion groups.

From ancient times, people have been drawn to the sites of past battles to pay their respects, learn about history, and gain a deeper understanding of the sacrifices made by those who fought. Today, battlefield tourism is a popular way for people to connect with the past and honor those who served their countries. Battlefield tourism is a significant component of war tourism and is not a new phenomenon (Smith, 1996). Even before the concepts of dark tourism or thanatourism emerged, studies were mostly carried out within the scope of heritage tourism at battlefields and war-related sites. However, with the increasing interest in the macabre and morbid aspects of history, dark tourism has gained popularity as a distinct form of tourism, encompassing sites related to death, tragedy, and disaster.

The debate about how to interpret war or how battlefield tourism relates to death is not new, and many studies on battlefield tourism compare and contrast various aspects of travel, whether they are dreary, educational, or enjoyable. To examine battlefield tourism from a historical perspective, firstly conceptually, it is necessary to consider how it has been perceived from the past to the present and what structures are involved. This section aims to examine the tourism of the battlefields from a historical perspective. In this context, at the first stage, its development in the literature was examined from a conceptual point of view, and then the turning points where tourism activities started were discussed.

Gerald Padley has been appointed marketing manager of the Seaton Wilson Division of Systron Donner Corporation. Seaton Wilson is based in Burbank, California and specialises in the production of fluid management devices for the defence and aerospace markets. Gerald's immediate responsibility will be to survey the hydraulic/pneumatic control valve market and to determine how to increase Seaton Wilson's market share.

Dark tourism is a topic of increasing interest, but it is poorly understood when considering its significance for mainstream and commercial tourism. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the significance of dark tourism in the top ten most visited European tourist cities and propose a dark tourism index for Europe’s tourism cities.

Data were collected from the websites of the cities’ Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) using a content analysis methodology, based on keywords related to dark tourism taken from the research literature in this area. Descriptive statistics were produced and the variance between the frequencies of keywords related to each city was analysed for statistical significance. These results were then used to construct a darkness ranking of the cities.

There are significant differences in the extent to which dark tourism products and services are promoted by the DMOs of Europe’s top ten most visited European cities. The ranking of cities by darkness does not correspond to the ranking by visitor numbers, and further qualitative analysis suggests that, that the ranking is also independent of the actual presence of dark sites within the destination. This implies that European city DMOs are engaging with the emerging dark tourism market with to varying degrees.

The purposive sample of ten cities can be extended in future research to increase the validity of the findings of this paper. A further limitation is the selection of keywords for content analysis, which have been developed following the literature review contained below. Future research could develop an extended list of keywords using a systematic review process.

This paper shows that it is possible to create a ranking of tourist cities in terms of their darkness, and that this methodology could be extended to a much larger sample size. This links dark tourism research to the urban tourism literature and also offers possibilities for creating a global ranking that could be used by destinations to judge their success in engaging with the dark tourism market, as well as by tour operators seeking to develop products for the same market.

This paper will offer DMO’s and others the opportunity to hone their tourism products more effectively in a way which offers a better understanding of tourism, and therefore provides for better management of its issues.

Dark tourism is a growing niche area of study, and this paper seeks to provide a framework to better understand supply-side aspects of it.

ST. Mary's College, Blairs, the Catholic seminary on the banks of the river Dee, five miles from Aberdeen, celebrated in 1929 its centenary. Few people, however, realise that the college has roots reaching far back into Scottish history, and that it is linked by many historical associations, but especially by its library, with the oldest of all Scottish educational establishments, the Scots College, Paris, which was founded under the auspices of King Robert the Bruce.

This study explores the coping strategies employed by people of color in response to racial discrimination and examines how cultural norms inform these strategies.

In-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with 34 Black and Asian Americans about their experiences with racial discrimination.

Findings reveal that participants cope through humor, seeking social support on social media, from family and friends, and through avoidant coping strategies. Seeking social support from empathetic others, especially when they shared the same racial background as participants, contributes to feelings of comfort, sanity, and a sense of community. Group differences emerge in seeking family support with Black Americans more likely to seek parental support, likely because of racial socialization practices by their parents that prepared them for experiencing bias. Asian Americans preferred talking to siblings or cousins, citing a cultural gap between them and their parents.

The study underscores the importance of considering the quality of social support, not just its use, as a buffer against harms related to discrimination.

Racial discrimination is a routine experience for many people of color. This study demonstrates how the type of coping strategy matters for coping with the distress that often accompanies these experiences.

In contrast to monoracial-focused studies, this research demonstrates the convergence and divergence of coping strategies among different racial groups.

The two islands of Trinidad and Tobago were made one administrative unit in the year 1889. The total area is something under two thousand square miles— that of an ordinary English county. The climate is tropical and healthy, the soil extremely fertile. With the exception of the asphalt of La Brea the population is mainly concerned with the forest products and with the care of and development of the sugar and cocoa plantations. The population is mixed—East Indians; people of negro stock, and a small proportion of people of European descent. With a population exhibiting widely different cultural levels the authorities responsible for public health are confronted with correspondingly complex administrative problems. The Government Chemical Department is occupied not only with the administration proper to such a department, but acts in an advisory capacity when matters relating to plantation or local manufactured products are brought to its notice. It is satisfactory to learn of the “notable developments which have taken place in the Department in recent years.” The extent of this development may be partly judged by the estimates, which in 1945 amounted to about twenty‐nine thousand dollars, to those for 1946: these were some forty‐three thousand dollars. This increase led to the enlarging of the Departmental buildings, the purchasing of special apparatus—where this came from is not stated, but if from this country its source of origin is suggested by “the extreme slowness of delivery,” and this it seems is, or let us hope was, delaying the benefits expected from the increase in expenditure. The library, too, was enlarged. Nor are the activities of the Department limited to Trinidad alone. Reference is made to the submission of samples from various islands in the British West Indies. In a word, the Chemical Department is in close and constant touch with all social and industrial developments in the island, and the hope is expressed, and it will no doubt be justified, that the laboratory will stand comparison with any laboratory of its kind and size in the Empire. With regard to the work of the Department, it seems that 5,193 samples were examinend and reported on during the year. Of these, 4,776 were official. The bulk of the work relates to Customs (1,509 samples) and Police (2,577 samples). Among the samples submitted by the police for examination by the Department were nine cases of suspected ground glass in foodstuffs, and 255 of viscera and other articles for poison. The Port of Spain City Council submitted 407 samples of potable water. It is observed that the capital city “appears for the first time as an appreciable source of work.” Only five samples were submitted in each of the two previous years. The result of the analyses showed that the samples submitted were uniformly satisfactory from a chemical point of view. The Customs examination of 146 samples were mainly for the purpose of determining the alcohol content of medical preparations and essences. The Excise examinations for duty purposes—1,314 samples in all—were almost exclusively concerned with samples of rum, bitters, brandy, and so forth. These were all of local manufacture, and they constitute an important item in local manufacture. Angostura and other bitters are too well known to require more than passing mention. The Preventive branch had to consider twelve cases for the possession of prepared opium. Eight prosecutions were successful, and fines, amounting to $925, were inflicted. As remarked above, all the major sources of water supply of the city are now examined each month. Other sources of water supply outside the city are now also subject to examination under the supervision of the Medical Services. The Colonial Secretary, to whom this report was submitted for the information of the Governor of the Colony, had informed the Town Clerk of the Port of Spain in June, 1945, that the Chemist's Department was in a position to carry out analyses of foodstuffs and drugs submitted by the City Council. In spite of this, the amount of work done for the City Council had not been on the scale that was anticipated, for up to the end of the year 1946 no samples of the kind had been sent in for purposes of analysis. On the other hand, we notice that 1,753 food samples were examined in 1946, as against 1,394 in 1945, but these were from areas outside the area under the control of the Port of Spain Authorities, but no drug samples were submitted, nor, it seems, have any been submitted under the Food and Drug Ordinance (chap. 12, No. 3) for several years! We are, therefore, not surprised to read that “it is impossible to say to what extent (if any) these important articles are sold in an adulterated or unsatisfactory condition.” It is true that adulteration of foodstuffs— nobody can say anything about drugs—would seem to be on the decrease as the percentage figure for 1944 was 10·8, that for 1945 was 9·3, and for 1946, 7. The figures, however, refer to foodstuffs in general. If, however, we turn to figures that relate to the purity of the domestic milk supply, we find that they tell in some respects a different tale. Out of the 1,753 samples sent in for analysis 454 were milk samples. Of these, 118, or 25·9 per cent., were reported against. It is true that the figure just given is less than that of the two preceding years—1944, 37·3 per cent., and 1945, 29·5 per cent.—but the chief chemist, writing with a full knowledge of the circumstances and making, no doubt, full allowance for administrative difficulties, calls the 1946 figure “outstandingly bad,” and this percentage of adulteration still does not tell the whole tale. It seems that the larger dairies are not to blame, but “it must be a matter for continued concern that one‐quarter of the milk sold by the smaller retailers is adulterated,” for they number among their customers those “who can least afford the nutritional loss involved.” The figures, it will be noted, show a decrease, and this, it is observed, is due to “greater vigilance” on the part of the police and “other competent authorities.” In the unadulterated samples the average fat content was 3·9 per cent., and of solids not fat 8·6 per cent., so there seems to be nothing wrong with the livestock as far as these figures go, but the average figures for the adulterated samples were 3·2 per cent. of fat and 7·6 per cent. of solids not fat. Of the 118 samples reported against, 69 were deficient in solids not fat, 17 in fat content, 32 were deficient in both. The standards laid down by law for the composition of milk are 8·5 per cent. solids not fat, and 3 per cent. fat. Fines amounting to $2,460 were imposed. It was pointed out that a remedy for the present state of things is to take more samples at more frequent intervals. This has been done, but the percentage of adulteration is still abnormally high. Increased vigilance by the police, who are, it appears, the sampling officers, is certainly demanded. The percentage of adulteration for other foodstuffs is very low. It calls for no special comment.

Reviews the issues arising out of an annual series of conferences, Information for Scotland, held since 1993. Three main contexts are identified and issues examined: marketisation and globalisation, convergence and regrouping, the Scottish Parliament and democratic renewal within the political context; the new agenda for learning within education; and the rise of electronic networks within technological change, are all discussed in the context of papers delivered at the conferences.