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US7970684B1 - Fund for hedging real estate ownership risk using financial portfolio theory and data feed for analyzing the financial performance of a portfolio that includes real estate - Google PatentsFund for hedging real estate ownership risk using financial portfolio theory and data feed for analyzing the financial performance of a portfolio that includes real estate Download PDF
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This application claims priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/589,631 entitled "Tool For Hedging Real Estate Ownership Risk Using Financial Portfolio Theory And Hedonic Modeling," which claims the benefit of U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/731,829 filed on Oct. 31, 2005 entitled "Tool For Hedging Real Estate Ownership Risk Using Financial Portfolio Theory And Hedonic Modeling." The application also claims priority to U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/781,798 filed on Mar. 13, 2006 entitled "Investment Products and Investment Data Feeds." The contents of all such prior applications are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a system and method for hedging real estate ownership risk.
Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT), developed in the 1950s by Nobel Prize Winner Markowitz, illustrates that a portfolio of assets has different risk characteristics than the simple sum of the risks of the individual assets. Though risk can be defined in many ways, the example of MPT serves to identify a general matter of concern to investors. Under MPT, risk is defined as the standard deviation (or, alternatively the variance) on the period-to-period returns of an asset. For example, a stock with an expected return of 12% per year, and volatility expressed as a standard deviation of 15%, is expected to have returns within one standard deviation (about 68% of the time) between 12+15=27% and 12−15=−3% in any year. When numerous assets are combined in a portfolio, these standard deviations cannot simply be added up. Typically, the assets are somewhat uncorrelated, so as group, the volatilities of individual assets counteract each other, in a manner known as risk diversification. Although the long-term, average expected returns for each asset do sum up for the portfolio, the volatility of these returns will result in actual returns of some assets to increase above the expected rate, and to decrease below the expected rate for other assets, for any period of time. The combined effect is a portfolio return that has lower volatility than that of the individual returns, while the expected year-to-year return (i.e., rate of growth) remains the same.
The general principles of portfolio diversification assist in identifying a mix of assets that generate the highest expected returns at the lowest portfolio risk. Portfolio risk can be minimized by selecting assets whose volatilities are less correlated. Portfolio returns are defined by the individual expected returns of the assets. Using commercially available optimization software, one can allocate the mix of certain liquid assets (e.g., stocks, bonds, etc.) in a portfolio to achieve optimal performance, where "optimal" is typically defined as some combination of objectives for the volatility and returns of the portfolio.
Privately owned residential real estate comprises roughly $20 trillion of US wealth. By and large, this investment is not managed from a portfolio allocation standpoint, and is not accounted for in private and institutional portfolios using explicit quantitative methods of portfolio diversification. In this context, "explicit" and "quantitative" imply that asset allocations in a portfolio are based on calculations using time series histories of value and rent income data for real estate properties.
The present invention applies asset allocation to a portfolio that contains tangible real estate assets or assets whose value is derived from real estate. The invention solves several classes of problems not currently addressed in the investment community: (1) Explicitly including tangible residential real estate into the asset allocation analysis for private wealth portfolios. Today, if tangible real estate holdings are modeled at all, they are modeled with proxies such as REIT indexes or the CPI index. (2) Using other, more liquid assets in the portfolio, such as financial assets, to offset risks associated with the tangible real estate assets. Transacting real estate is expensive and time-consuming, and real estate markets are not dynamic compared to financial markets. For example, financial exchanges can execute transactions in seconds, at costs of less than 1%, while real estate transaction cycles typically last weeks and sales commissions are frequently as high as 6%. Therefore, investors are less likely to reallocate their portfolios by buying and selling real estate properties. However, those investors whose portfolios contain tangible real estate can reallocate the proportions of their financial assets in such a way that the mix of financial assets better complements the real estate assets in terms of overall portfolio risk (volatility) and return. (3) Using hedonic modeling to characterize value drivers that contribute to tangible real estate values in order to assess the role of these value drivers in overall portfolio risk (volatility) and returns. One application of the invention is to help an investor to assess the contribution of a component of total property value, such as land value, to total risk (volatility) and returns of the overall investment portfolio. (4) Using these methods to evaluate risk and return of portfolios of investment assets (such as REITs, insurance liabilities, or mortgage assets held by a mortgage company) whose value is related to discrete real estate assets.
The present invention demonstrates how both economic returns from real estate value appreciation and from cash flows (such as rent) can be incorporated into a portfolio allocation model. The method also outlines a method for disaggregating the value of real estate properties into components called value drivers, which can then be treated as virtual assets due to the fact that these value drivers have unique statistical characteristics which affect overall portfolio risks and returns differently from the property as a whole, and therefore should in some cases be accounted for independently. Such analysis permits portfolio analysts to select assets that best complement certain real estate holdings, or to select real estate investments with certain value driver characteristics that best complement other assets in the portfolio. The technique can also be used to reduce risk in a composite portfolio that contains real estate along with other assets in a way to offset or hedge risk associated with the real estate holdings by changing the mix of the other investment assets. Therefore, portfolios that contain assets with restricted liquidity (such as a real estate property) can still be optimized for risk and return by reallocating the other assets in the portfolio to complement the non-liquid assets for greater diversification and/or higher returns.
In the context of this invention, "risk" and "volatility" are used interchangeably. Risk is a statistical characterization of the unpredictability of returns. It is commonly calculated using the standard deviation (or the variance) of the period-to-period returns of the value of an asset. However, other forms of statistical characterization also exist, including "downside risk" calculations. Risk estimators may derive from both historical values and cash flows associated with the investment (i.e., investment-specific information) as well as external market and macroeconomic factors such as, but not limited to: interest rates, regional demographic trends, foreclosure rates and trends, indicators of overbuilding, and the percent of property-related financing held by subprime borrowers. Examples cited herein will use standard deviation (or its square, the variance) because it is a common and well-understood formulation for risk. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that these other statistical formulations for risk apply to the methods described herein.
The present invention applies this method to portfolios containing assets or liabilities whose value is determined, at least partly, by discrete real estate assets or categories of assets. For example, a mortgage company's portfolio of mortgages is secured by the value of discrete properties. The risk of the portfolio, and its value, depends in part on the risk and value of the individual properties secured by the mortgages, as well as the interaction of the values of these assets from a diversification standpoint.
In one embodiment, the present invention is directed to a method for creating an investment fund and selling shares in the fund to individual investors that hold direct real estate investments outside of the fund, wherein the fund is selected from the group consisting of a mutual fund, index fund, or exchange-traded fund (ETF). Each of the individual investors has an investment ratio defined by a dollar amount of direct real estate investments held by the investor outside of the fund divided by a dollar amount of shares in the fund held by the individual investor. A target range of the investment ratio is selected for the fund. A target geographical region is selected where individual investors in the fund hold the direct real estate investments. A model composite portfolio is identified for the individual investors in the fund. The model composite portfolio is an asset combination that includes: (i) direct real estate investment held by an individual investor in the target geographical region, and (ii) shares in the fund held by the individual investor. The asset combination in the model composite portfolio has an investment ratio that is within the target range. An optimal fund asset allocation is selected for the composite model portfolio in order to diversify and/or hedge risks associated with the direct real estate investment held by the model composite portfolio. Selection of the fund asset allocation is performed by treating assets corresponding to the shares in the fund held by the model composite portfolio as variable assets, treating the direct real estate investment held by the model composite portfolio as a non-variable asset, and calculating a mix of the variable assets that maximizes expected returns for the composite model portfolio while minimizing risks for the composite model portfolio, subject to optimization constraints that reflect the investment objectives of the fund designer or the investor. These may include constraints on the composition of the fund or maximum/minimum limits on returns or risk. The risks for the composite model portfolio correspond to a variance or other statistical characterization of the returns for the composite model portfolio over a plurality of discrete time periods. The risks for the composite model portfolio depend upon risks associated with the variable and non-variable assets in the composite model portfolio and a mutual correlation of the risks associated with the variable and non-variable assets. The expected returns for the composite model portfolio correspond to a combination of capital gains and ongoing income that each asset in the composite model portfolio is projected to generate, expressed as an average value over a range of time periods. Shares of the fund are sold to individual investors that hold direct real estate investments in the target geographic region and have investment ratios in the target range.
In particular embodiments, a target type of direct real estate investments (e.g., rental properties and owner occupied residential real estate) held by the individual investors is selected for the fund, and the model composite portfolio is an asset combination that includes: (i) direct real estate investment of the target type held by an individual investor in the target geographical region, and (ii) shares in the fund held by the individual investor.
In other embodiments, a target real estate class type (e.g., a particular number or range of bedrooms, detached, multi-unit, suburban or urban) of direct real estate investments held by the individual investors is selected for the fund, and the model composite portfolio is an asset combination that includes: (i) direct real estate investment of the target real estate class type held by an individual investor in the target geographical region, and (ii) shares in the fund held by the individual investor.
In still other embodiments, a target financing range and target financing class type associated with the direct real estate investments held by the individual investors is selected for the fund. The target financing range corresponds to a percentage range of value in the direct real estate investment which is subject to financing. The target financing class type entails specifying terms or features of the financing vehicle: whether fixed or variable rates, a range of effective interest rates, and so on. In such embodiments, the model composite portfolio is an asset combination that includes: (i) direct real estate investment having financing within the target financing range and target financing class type and held by an individual investor in the target geographical region, and (ii) shares in the fund held by the individual investor.
In still further embodiments, the risks for the model composite portfolio correspond at least in part to a symmetric formulation (e.g., standard deviation) of the returns for the composite model portfolio over the plurality of discrete time periods, or a non-symmetric formulation of the returns for the composite model portfolio over the plurality of discrete time periods (the non-symmetric formulation may be used to account for downside risk.) In addition, the risks for the composite model portfolio correspond at least in part to a variance or other statistical characterization of historical values and estimated or actual cash flows of assets in the composite model portfolio, as well as one or more external factors such as macroeconomic factors (e.g., interest rates), demographics (e.g., population and wealth growth), construction and housing trends (e.g., housing capacity, costs of construction), and ownership and financing trends (e.g., foreclosure rates, degree of lending to investors and homeowners with subprime credit ratings, ownership tenure).
In accordance with a further aspect, the present invention is directed to a method for assessing the financial performance of an investment portfolio that includes real estate. Data representative of at least returns from rents and returns from appreciation for real estate in a defined geographic area are applied to a financial model in order to generate a composite rental return index for real estate in the defined geographic region. The composite rental return index is used to assess the financial performance of the investment portfolio. In some embodiments, data representative of financing costs for real estate in the defined geographic area is also applied to the financial model in order to generate the composite rental return index for real estate in the defined geographic region. In still further embodiments, data representative of historical tax rates, cost of construction, fluctuations in vacancy rates, or historical insurance rates for real estate in the defined geographic area may be applied to the financial model in order to generate the composite rental return index for real estate in the defined geographic region. In still further embodiments, the composite rental return index may be represented as an exchange-traded asset, e.g., with a ticker symbol, and/or distributed in real time on an interactive website.
The implementation of one embodiment of the invention is illustrated by the system in
Item 107 is the process by which the user selects the assets that make up the portfolio. These asset selections may include: traditional financial investments, such as stocks and bonds; financial indices (such as an S&P500 index) as a proxy for the values of asset holdings; debt obligations such as mortgages; and tangible real estate assets (e.g., residential real estate held by the user including, for example, the user's primary residence). In one embodiment, the assets that make up the portfolio include "variable" and "non-variable" assets. For purposes of this application, "variable" assets are those assets whose allocations are varied during the optimization process (described below); and "non-variable assets" are those assets whose allocation remains fixed during the optimization process. In some embodiments, real estate assets (such as the user's primary residence and any encumbrances thereon) are treated as non-variable assets. All of the asset selections are represented by a time series of values in the form of an index. "Index", in this case, refers to stating the value of an asset, over time, in the form: "the value of $1 invested in this asset at time X(0) is worth X(n) at some period n". These selections are saved to a table or database, marked as item 108.
Item 109 is the user who interacts through interface 110 with process 111 to select parameters for the subsequent calculations. These parameters include: (1) assumptions, such as an appropriate span of time for the time series to be used in calculations; (2) preferences, largely regarding charting and form of output; (3) optimization objectives, which may take forms such as "maximize returns", or "minimize risk at risk level X"; (4) constraints, which set limits on the range of possible solutions to the optimization calculation; an example of such a constraint is: "the first asset may not comprise more than 15% of the total value of the optimized portfolio". These parameters are stored in a table or tables designated 112 (also designated 124).
Item 113 represents the process whereby the software imports, or loads, time series data corresponding to the assets selected for the portfolio in step 107. As defined above, the time series values must be in the form of an index. These time series are available from 3rd party sources (e.g., finance.yahoo.com, Bloomberg, and Morningstar for financial assets; OFHEO for residential real estate, and HUD for rents), and may require normalization and synchronization using techniques common to a practitioner, in order to ensure consistency in subsequent calculations. For example, it might be advisable to convert all data to a monthly basis, even though some data may be available on a daily basis.
There are many methods of calculating returns, risks, and the interaction of assets in a portfolio. The simplest case, as described by Modern Portfolio Theory, is presented below to describe steps 117 through 127. This method provides a general framework from which other techniques may be derived.
Item 117 represents the process by which the index data are converted into period-to-period returns using the following equation:
((index value at period n)/(index value at period n−1)−1) (1)
These period-specific returns are saved to the returns data table, marked as item 118 (also designated 120).
Item 119 represents the calculation for converting returns data into statistics used in the optimization calculations. There are two calculations: "average returns" and "variances/covariances", also known as the "varcovar" matrix. For a given time period, such as Jan. 1, 1990 to Dec. 31, 2005, the average returns are the average of all returns for each period during this period. The varcovar matrix is the matrix comprising the variances and covariances of returns among all of the assets in the portfolio. Each element varcovar(i,j) of the matrix is the covariance of asset i with asset j. When i=j, the term is the variance of the asset. The process in item 119 imports values from the returns data table (item 120) and places the results of the calculations into one or more tables referred to as the statistics data table (item 121, also designated 123). As a minimum, the statistics data table should include average returns for all assets, and a varcovar matrix.
Step 122 relies on the use of an optimization algorithm, or a solver, which may be procured commercially (e.g., Solver from Frontline Systems and Matlab from Mathworks). In the context of this patent application, we use the term "solver" and "optimizer" interchangeably. Step 122 sets up an objective function, sets up constraints, and calls on the optimization algorithm to solve for an "optimal solution" within some limits of computational accuracy. Step 123 draws on the previously calculated statistics data, shown in item 123, and on the user's selected analysis parameters, selected in step 111 and shown in item 124.
Step 122 defines a variable array called W to represent the weight of each asset as a percent of the value of the total portfolio. For example, if asset 1 is an equity with a final allocated value of $150,000, and the total portfolio value is $1,000,000, then W(1)=15%. Values of W(i) will be varied by the solver until it identifies those values of W(i) that optimize the objective function. Furthermore, since the total allocation of all assets must be 100%, step 122 imposes the constraint that the sum of all W(i) must equal 100%. The investor may set other constraints, including maximum and minimum limits on the allocations of individual assets.
Step 122 also defines an array called R which comprises the average returns of each asset calculated in step 119. If the asset 1 has had an average year-to-year return of 12%, then R(1)=12%. Step 122 also defines an array V which comprises the values of the varcovar calculations performed in step 119. Step 122 also defines arrays called Wmin and Wmax, which set the constraints on the weights of each asset as a percent of total value of the portfolio. For example, for an unfinanced portfolio (no mortgages), and not allowing assets to be sold short, Wmin(i) will be no less than 0% for all assets i, and Wmax(i) will be no more than 100% for all assets i. These constraints may be modified with user input in step 111 and provided in the analysis parameters table (item 124).
Step 122 calculates the portfolio return, Rp, as the weighted average return of all assets, or the matrix multiplication of the transpose of W, and R (Rp=WTR). Step 122 calculates the portfolio variance, Vp, as the matrix multiplication of the transpose of W and the matrix multiplication of V and W (Vp=WTVW).
Next, step 122 defines an objective function based on the user's selection in step 111. This objective function will be expressed as some combination of risk (portfolio variance) and returns (portfolio return). A typical objective function is "maximize Rp at Vp such that sqrt(Vp)=10%", or "maximize the Sharpe Ratio=(Rp−Rf)/sqrt(Vp)", where Rf is a user-defined reference rate of return.
Step 122 then calls upon the optimizer to find an allocation of asset weights W(i) within constraints Wmin(i) and Wmax(i) that achieves the objective function within acceptable limits of computational accuracy.
Finally, depending on the needs of user, the algorithm in step 122 can be iterated to calculate portfolio variances and returns over a range of values. For example, the "efficient frontier" represents maximum portfolio returns over a range of variances. Iteration over a range of values may serve different purposes, including creating a plottable data set or to generate points for a sensitivity analysis.
Steps 125-127 depict the process whereby the user interacts with the system to view results from the analysis.
Referring again to step 107, in one embodiment the user will have the option to select from among one or several lending rates and loan types. This step may be used to input information about mortgages encumbering the user's real estate (as well as other debt) into the system. In step 107, the software applies a negative sign to loans, which converts the weight to a negative percentage. The total of the weights of all assets must remain 100%. This is the same constraint described in reference to step 122 above. For adjustable mortgages based on an index value plus a margin, step 117 must add the margin to the index imported in step 113. The approximate impact of caps and ceilings may be accounted for by adjusting the average returns, variances and covariances in step 119. For example, caps tend to reduce volatility and this can be approximated by adjusting the calculated variance for the index, either by manual corrections or a mathematical equation. To test which mortgage option (i.e., margin+index combination) creates the optimal portfolio outcome, step 122 must iterate through each of the financing options, analogous to the iteration process described below. This method can be further enhanced by setting constraints on the portfolio weight of the mortgage that let the optimizer find the optimal amount of financing.
In a further embodiment of step 107 where the user's real estate investments are treated as variable assets, the user selects all possible candidates of real estate investments, and the monetary value of the investment to be made in that asset should that be the selected asset. Step 111 is modified to allow the user to select an option that sets up step 122 in the method so that the method will optimize the portfolio with constraints set such that only one of the real estate assets can be included in the portfolio, and only then, at the monetary value assigned by the user in step 107. Step 122 must be modified to perform this optimal allocation analysis. Using integer variables in the optimization analysis is one method for accomplishing the testing and selection of the real estate investment asset in step 122. Another method uses an iterative process whereby each real estate investment asset is successively tested in the portfolio by optimizing the portfolio with that asset included. The final selection is that real estate investment that results in an optimal solution that is superior to optimal solutions corresponding to any other real estate investment.
In accordance with a further aspect, methods for asset allocation based on hedonic modeling are used in connection with the optimization process. The asset allocation is calculated on the basis of sub-assets whose values make up the total value of an actual asset. Each sub-asset corresponds to a value-driver of the asset. A simple, conceptual example is the valuation of a residential property based on the sum of the value of the land (the acreage of the lot) and the structure (construction cost). The land and the structure are each sub-assets, whose summed value is the value of the asset. Sub-assets do not need to correspond to discrete components of the property. For example, the value of the style of the property can be a sub-asset, and may be quantified by a binary factor such as "1" for "colonial style" and "0" for any other style. Properties with colonial style may have a sub-asset value corresponding to "style" that is substantially different for a colonial building vs. any other building. The method described below and in
A hedonic model is a mathematical equation that estimates the value of a real estate property based on a number of factors corresponding to features of the property, and coefficients of those factors. The coefficients may be calculated by various methods. In this example, without loss of generality, we assume the use of a commercially available solver algorithm (e.g., Solver from Frontline Systems and Matlab from Mathworks). This algorithm is used to determine values for the coefficients that provide the best fit of the mathematical equation across a set of reference real estate properties. For example, one might choose to fit a hedonic model to all houses in a given neighborhood. For each house "i", at some time "t", there is an error E(i,t) that corresponds to the market value of that house and the estimated (hedonic) value of the house based on the hedonic model, Vhed(i,t):
E(i,t)=V(i,t)−Vhed(i,t) (2)
In its simplest form, the hedonic model is a linear function comprising the sum of value drivers, VD(i,j,t), where: VD(i,j,t) is the value driver, or the value of the sub-asset; i designates the real estate property, j designates the sub-asset (e.g., "land value", or "construction cost"), and t designates the time at which the calculation applies. Mathematically:
Vhed(i,t)=Σ[for all j](VD(i,j,t)) (3)
Again, in simplest form, value drivers can be expressed as the product of a value coefficient K(j,t) multiplied times a value factor F(i,j).
VD(i,j,t)=K(j,t)×F(i,j) (4)
In the example used above, VD(i,1,t) could refer to the sub-asset "property value", and the value coefficient K(1,t) would be the price per acre, and the value coefficient F(i,1) would be the acreage of the lot.
The estimate error for each property is therefore:
E(i,t)=V(i,t)−Σ[for all j](K(j,t)×F(i,j)) (5)
The best-fit hedonic model is one which minimizes the errors E(i,t) across the entire population of properties. The aggregate error across the entire set of properties, EA(t), may be expressed in many ways. One simple formulation is:
EA(t)=square root of (Σ[for all i](Σ(i,t))) (6)
The optimizer is used to minimize the objective function (6) within a user-specified tolerance, by solving for K(j,t). The user may also apply constraints to the optimization (for example, "value per acre must be positive"). Building on the previous example, such a process might determine that housing prices in a particular neighborhood are primarily determined by two factors: land value, based on acreage at some average cost/acre, and construction cost based on house size at some average construction cost per square foot.
Step 205 is the importation of value factors, property values, and date of the valuation, from a 3rd party source, 206. Typically, this source will be a realty organization's Multiple Listing Services database, or county real estate records; other sources or aggregated sources may be used, For example, MLS data may be cross-referenced with geographical features to create a new set of value factors such as "distance from train station". The value factors are expressed as property-specific data in quantitative terms such as "square foot of structure", "acreage", "number of bedrooms", or other data representative of the other factors (such as those described in the preceding paragraph) that may the subject of the hedonic model. The property values will be sales price, appraised price, or some other estimate of market price for the property at some date. Step 205 may import either all value factors, or only those specified in 204 (the table or other medium that specifies the value factors). The data are organized into tables for processing by the hedonic model and stored in a table 207.
The user, 208, uses interface 209, to run statistical tests on the value factors (stored in table 207) in step 210 to establish confidence that there is a statistical relationship (such as a correlation) between the value factors and property values. Such tests can be used to eliminate or select value factors, and to redesign the hedonic formulation in step 203. For example, the user may determine that the relationship between a specific value factor and property value is non-linear, and would adjust the equations in 204 accordingly by revising step 203.
The user, 211, uses interface 212, to import or integrate the value factors 204 into the hedonic model in step 213. For example, if the hedonic model is in the form of a spreadsheet, the user copies a cell (or cells) stored in 204 and pastes it into the hedonic model spreadsheet (214) in step 213. In step 213, the equation in the copied cell is applied to all real estate properties, so the formula in the cell(s) would be pasted into an array of cells corresponding to the range of real estate properties. In other words, if there are 1000 properties, the hedonic equation developed in step 203 would be copied into 1000 cells, each cell corresponding to a property. The individual hedonic equations are in the form of equation (5) above, and the Aggregate Error function, equation (6), is either part of the software or coded in by the user. The Aggregate Error function (equation (6)) becomes the objective function for the optimizer in step 215. The output of step 213 is a table or spreadsheet, 214, which organizes hedonic equations for each property in terms of a set of hedonic factors, K(j,t), which can be manipulated by the solver in step 215, and declares the Aggregate Error function EA(t) as the objective function for optimization.
In step 215, the hedonic model then solves for Value Coefficients, K(j,t), that minimize the Aggregate Error function (6), for a time period t. For example, the hedonic model solves for a common set of value coefficients K(j,1990) that correspond to all properties for which there are market values during the year 1990. By iterating through a range of time increments, t, the solver creates a time dependent series of value coefficients, K(j,t), which are designated by the arrays Kindex(j). For example, the time-iterated hedonic model in step 215 could iterate through a range of years, 1990 through 2005, by solving for K(j,1990), then K(j,1991), and so on, through K(j,2005), in order to create time series for Kindex(1), Kindex(2), etc. A representative output would be value coefficients equivalent to: "land is valued at $x/acre in year y", or "construction cost is $x/square foot in year y", for a range of years "y". The output of the value coefficient time series data is saved into table 216.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the method above, applied to a single property, can be extended to create hedonic models for categories of similar properties.
In step 217, the software (or manual intervention from a user) converts the value of a specific property or category of properties into sub-assets, whose value is expressed by each term in the hedonic equation. Equation (4) expresses the value of each sub-asset, j, corresponding to a property or category i. As an example, the value of townhouses in some region may be expressed in terms of sub-assets such as "cost of structure related to square feet" and "location related to miles from downtown". Since the hedonic value drivers for each sub-asset will not necessarily sum up to the total value of the property, there will be a residual term, R(i,t), that accounts for other components of the value of the property. R(i,t) is calculated as:
R(i,t)=V(i,t)−Σ[for all j](K(j,t)×F(i,j)) (7)
This residual is mathematically equivalent to the hedonic error equation, (5).
Thus, the value of the property can be expressed as a sum of the values of sub-assets:
Value=value of sub-asset 1+value of sub-asset 2+ . . . +residual (8)
V(i,t)=Σ[for all j](K(j,t)×F(i,j))+R(i,t) (9)
And each sub-asset is valued as:
Value of sub-asset 1 for property i=K(1,t)×F(i,1)
Value of sub-asset 2 for property i=K(2,t)×F(i,2)
. . .
Value of the residual sub-asset for property i=R(i,t). (10)
This formulation for the values of the sub-assets is stored as code, spreadsheet cells, or an array in some medium, 218.
In step 221, the user, 219, uses interface 220, to launch the method described in
The method outlined above, and described in
The definition of the target market of investors, and the identification of their investment needs, lead to step 402, in which the designer documents the key features of the "complementary asset class" or "complementary liability class" held by the investor which the fund designer intends to match with the fund.
The investment company sponsoring the design of the fund will have performed marketing research to validate the size and commercial potential of the target market segment (in other words, those individual investors who are likely to benefit from the new fund) in order to cost-justify the design and creation of the new fund. In this case, there might be 200,000 real estate investors in the San Francisco area, of which 5% might be potential investors in the fund at an average expected investment rate of $200,000 each.
In step 401, corresponding to the definition of the needs of the target market segment (i.e., the needs of the potential fund investor), the fund designer then specifies investment goals for the fund itself. These goals would be consistent with goals that would be attractive to the market segment ("reduced risk", "higher returns"), and would be defined in terms of (1) the performance of the combined portfolio of direct real estate investment plus the investor's investment in the fund, and (2) the performance of the fund itself. For example, the fund may be defined as having risk and returns consistent with an S&P 500 index fund, specifically designed to match or exceed the expected returns of the reference index fund, and not exhibiting volatility greater than some margin over that of the reference index fund. Secondly, the fund designer would specify the performance of the combined portfolio (which contains some range of percentage of dollars invested in the fund in conjunction with direct investment in real estate) in terms of some improvement in either returns and/or risk compared to a baseline of an ordinary combined portfolio of an ordinary fund and direct investment in real estate.
In step 401, the fund designer also specifies some general ranges of investment parameters to which he/she will attempt to accommodate the new product. For example, this would specify a target range of fund dollars as a percent of total portfolio dollars: "Fund is expected to generate some benefit when the investor invests in the fund at a level that matches between 50% to 100% of the value of the investment property; for example, an investor who owns one property of $100,000, this means that he/she must match that investment with between $50,000 and $100,000 in the fund."
Step 401 also comprises selecting and defining the performance model for evaluating the investment benefits of the new fund when used in conjunction with the complementary investment class. One feature of the performance model is the risk model, since a benefit of the new fund is to improve risk-adjusted returns. Risk-adjusted returns can be expressed in various ways, but common metrics are: maximum return within an acceptable risk limit; minimum risk with returns meeting an acceptable returns threshold; maximum Sharpe Ratio. In these and other formulations, the definition of risk must be quantifiable, typically in some kind of statistical formulation. Typical formulations are standard deviation of returns (the Modern Portfolio Theory approach) and various formulations of downside risk. Though many risk models rely on data specific to the historical performance of the investment (such as historical rates of returns), the risk model can also account for external market and macro-economic factors, including but not limited to: interest rates, regional demographic trends, foreclosure rates and trends, indicators of overbuilding, and the percent of property-related financing held by subprime borrowers. In the example provided by
Finally, in step 401, the fund designer designs the basic make-up and investment objectives of the fund itself. For example, he/she might designate the fund to emulate an index ("S&P 500 index" or "EAFE Index") or an established asset class ("large cap", "international/emerging markets"), in a manner consistent with funds designed by those skilled in the art.
In steps 403 through 407, the fund designer collects and analyzes data required to perform portfolio performance analysis.
Steps 408 through 413 (value-based complementary asset class), 414 through 417 (liability complementary "asset" class), and 418 through 425 (income-generating complementary asset class) are analogous to steps 403 through 407 in that they provide the steps for gathering data and performing analysis required for the asset allocation analysis in steps 426 through 431. The fund manager will select the appropriate path (steps 408-413, steps 414-417, or steps 418-425) depending on the outcome of step 401 and documented in step 402.
All of these paths follow the same pattern of identifying the asset(s) or liability(ies) to be modeled, and then collecting historical data and converting these into quantifiable formulations needed for the combined asset allocation analysis. Modern Portfolio Theory is used as an example of how one might perform the asset allocation analysis, but it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that other methods of portfolio allocation would follow the same logic.
In step 403, the fund designer will specifically identify those exchange-traded assets (such as stocks and bonds) that are appropriate for inclusion in the new fund. The qualification of these optional assets will have been performed separately or perhaps in step 401. Since it is feasible for the new fund to be a modified version of an existing fund, the component assets may be identical to those of the existing fund. The only substantive difference between the original fund and the new fund could be that the composition in terms of percentage holdings will have changed. It is also likely that the fund designed will specific allocation constraints on the composition of the fund assets. For example, the fund designer may limit all and any asset to comprise individually no more than, say, 5% of the total fund.
In step 404, the fund designer acquires such data as is necessary for the allocation analysis. In Modern Portfolio Theory, these data are primarily the historical financial asset returns, accounting for both value growth and dividends. Some services designate these the "adjusted historical returns" or they can be calculated based on "adjusted historical close". In the latter case, the returns are calculated by dividing the close at period N by the close at period N−1, and subtracting 1:
Return(N)=Adjusted Close(N)/Adjusted Close(N−1)−1
As noted in reference to step 401 above, the fund designer selects a model for investment performance analysis. This model will account for both investment returns and risk. The choice of model will determine what data are required for asset allocation purposes. For Modern Portfolio Theory, the data requirements are historical returns. For other models described in step 401, data requirements may include macroeconomic factors (such as interest rates), demographics (such as population and wealth growth), construction and housing trends (capacity, costs of construction), and ownership and financing trends (foreclosure rates, degree of lending to investors and homeowners with subprime credit ratings). If such data are used, then various steps in
Step 405 is the accumulation of data for each asset in a database in a format that allows further analysis. Again, in the most limited application of Modern Portfolio Theory, these data would comprise historical returns for each asset. Step 406 optionally performs calculations to produce statistical characterizations of the historical and projected performance of these assets, including standard deviations (or variances) of the returns, average returns, betas with respect to a market reference, and so on. Other approaches besides Modern Portfolio Theory may require the generation of additional metrics, such as measures of downside risk.
As noted above, paths 408-413, 414-417, and 418-425 are analogous to 403-407. The reader will see that most of the steps are replicated. For example steps 406, 412, 416, and 424 rely on the same analytical approach, and the resulting tables 407, 413, 417, and 425 have the same structure.
The key distinctions among them are as follows: path 408-413 is based on the valuation or capital appreciation of the complementary asset class. For real estate, a common proxy for an asset class such as "residential properties in San Francisco" is the OFHEO home price index for the San Francisco metropolitan area. One application of this asset class, from an investor's standpoint, is a property (such as his/her primary residence) that is neither financed nor rented out. The owner may be concerned about the risk in the value of the property in anticipation of an imminent sale. If the owner expects to sell his/her residence in the foreseeable future, he/she may be interested in investing in a fund designed in such a way that its returns are as uncorrelated as possible with the appreciation in value of the property, so that total combined risk is as low as possible. In other words, if the real estate market sinks, at least the financial assets in the new fund will be relatively unaffected if chosen correctly.
Path 414-417 refers to the risk and cost of a loan. A potential application from the investor's standpoint is that the investor may consider using a loan secured by real estate on temporary basis as an investment strategy. By investing in the new fund, that is (in this example) designed to complement a variable rate mortgage, he can reduce the total risk in his portfolio. He may not have any other assets, or the investment in them may be illiquid beyond his/her planning horizon, and therefore not relevant. It must be noted that a loan will be treated as a negative percentage in the total portfolio model (steps 426-428). For example, $100,000 in real estate, $50,000 in the fund, and a $60,000 mortgage balance translate into a net portfolio of $90,000, where the real estate component is 111%, the fund percentage is 55.6%, and the mortgage is −66.7% (negative 66.7%) of the total portfolio.
Finally, path 418-425 refers to an investment comprising a complex mix of historic sources of economic returns and expenses, including but not limited to: economic returns associated with the appreciation in value of the property, economic returns associated with rental income, economic costs associated with financing costs, taxes, maintenance and capital improvements, and the economic opportunity cost associated with reduced vacancy rates. These historical factors are acquired and assembled in step 418, and stored in a database in step 419. In step 420, the fund designer builds a composite historical cash flow and appreciation model. An example of such a model is provided in
In step 426, the fund designer combines the fund asset data from steps 405 and 407 with the corresponding data from either steps 411 and 413, or 415 and 417, or 423 and 425. In the simplest formulation, the resulting table in step 427 will have fields corresponding to the historical returns for each financial asset selected in step 403, and one field corresponding to the historical returns provided in step 411, or step 415, or step 423. The returns for each asset must be aligned by period of time. In other words, if there is a quarterly return for Jan. 5, 2005, for stock 1 of the fund, there should be a corresponding quarterly return for Jan. 5, 2005, of the complementary asset class. Having returns for matching time periods is a requirement for calculating covariances (or alternatively correlations) between the assets in step 428.
In step 428, the fund designer sets up an analytical model that calculates the financial performance of the portfolio. This performance is described by investment returns and investment risk. The risks are expressed quantitatively using the risk model selected in step 401. Using the example of Modern Portfolio Theory, step 428 determines risk based on the variances and covariances among all the assets, including those in the fund (identified in step 403) and the complementary asset class. However, a different performance model would perform the fund asset allocations based on factors relevant to that model.
For example, if projected volatility of the fund itself is capped at 110% of another (comparison) fund's volatility, then that volatility is set as a constraint to the optimization process. Or if the objective is to maximize the Sharpe Ratio of the combined portfolio, then the fund designer would define maximum Sharpe Ratio as the objective function of optimization process.
In step 430, the fund designer tests the performance of the combined portfolio (fund plus complementary asset class) through the target range of investment ratios for the fund, which were proposed in step 401. The fund designer will perform other sensitivity tests both for the fund by itself and in combination with the complementary asset class to ensure that the investment meets any other standards or criteria for investment performance that may have been specified as part of the investment strategy in step 401, or which are imposed by the fund's sponsor. The fund designer will repeat steps 429 and 430, or any previous steps as necessary to refine or complete the design.
In step 431, the designer documents the allocation for the fund, as well as guidelines for investors under which conditions the fund serves as appropriate complement to existing asset classes, and the target ranges and expected benefits projected for the use of the fund. These serve as the basis for the prospectus. Step 432 is a further documentation of the product with guidance to the sponsor on the implementation of the fund, such as principles for ongoing allocation analysis.
Step 433 is the completion of the product design by the designer, and precedes the steps taken by the sponsor to bring the product to market, including, for example, developing the prospectus and testing and marketing the product.
Returning to
Column 503 (rent history) is an index of historical rent values that apply for each period of time. Column 504 (interest history) is an index of the effective historical financing rates that apply for each period of time. Column (505) is an index of the typical property values for a particular asset class (for example, defined as "median 3 bedroom rental unit"). Column 506 is the annual occupied gross rent based on the occupancy rate (in months per year) specified in section 501, and the monthly rent specified in column 503. Various costs, such as property tax, maintenance, insurance, and ongoing capital improvements, are estimated with factors in columns 507 and 508. Column 510 accounts for the cost of financing using the interest rate specified column 504, and using the leverage assumption in section 501. Columns 509 and 511 account for different effects of income tax. Column 512 shows net cash flows from rent after accounting for various expenses, interest payments, and taxes. Columns 513 and 514 show annualized economic returns (yields) corresponding to rents and appreciation, respectively, as percent of property value. Column 515 is the total annualized net economic return (or yield) on the investment during that period. Other factors in item 501 can be used in combination with the values in columns 513 and 514 to refine the estimates for volatility of investment returns over time.
Line 703 of
Lines 706 through 707 show how the fund designer improves the allocation of the assets in the fund in order to improve portfolio performance, shown in line 708. Comparing line 708 to line 705, the investor can improve risk (reduced by 3%) while holding expected returns constant, according to this example. It is this potential improvement that is marketed to individual investors and which makes the new fund distinctive and commercially viable. Alternatively, it is possible to hold risk constant while improving expected returns. For the fund designer, the difference in the allocations between the baseline fund and the complemented fund is based on whether the fund allocation is optimized only within the fund itself, or as part of a larger portfolio that also includes the real estate.
Steps 808 to 812 are analogous to steps 801 through 807, but the "asset" under analysis is a loan obligation such as a mortgage. A specific application for this method is an investor who wishes to model the effect of holding one or more mortgages. The Mortgage Ticker Data Set produced in step 812 would represent the loan balance owed on a mortgage and would be modeled as a negative asset whose characteristics (standard deviation, beta, alpha, etc.) would be produced in step 810.
Steps 813 through 821 are also analogous to steps 801 through 807, relying on the method described in reference to steps 418 through 425 of
It will be understood that various steps in the methods described above may be implemented using software operating on a general purpose or special computer.
Finally, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that still further changes could be made to the embodiments described above without departing from the broad inventive concept thereof. It is understood, therefore, that this invention is not limited to the particular embodiments disclosed, but is intended to cover modifications within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined in the appended claims.
Claims (16)
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|US11716823 US7970684B1 (en)
|Fund for hedging real estate ownership risk using financial portfolio theory and data feed for analyzing the financial performance of a portfolio that includes real estate
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|US13113675 US8280798B1 (en)
|Fund for hedging real estate ownership risk using financial portfolio theory and data feed for analyzing the financial performance of a portfolio that includes real estate
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text:
Where's the Java payoff?
by Steve Anglin
Related link: http://news.com.com/2009-1001-866365.html
According to CNet News.com: "The goal: Sun looks for payoff to Java addiction." This is an interesting package; however, I disagree with it.
1. If you talk to Sun's vice presidents of Java and XML software, Richard Green, he'll tell you that Sun would rather be though of as the Java evangelist for the BEAs and IBMs.
2. As further evidence, Sun's iPlanet Java product division has been axed (officially or unofficially).
3. Sun's J2EE vendors like BEA and IBM probably don't want Sun competing in the same space for market share.
4. Sun does indeed collect revenue from Java through its J2EE vendor licenses and the JCP (Java Community Process) membership dues.
5. It's in Sun's best interest to see that Java software does well, especially J2EE, as a way to sell its Solaris OS software and its hardware servers.
Look for JavaOne coverage from ONJava.com later today and all this week, from Sue Spielman and myself.
What do you think of this?

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Ingram Micro has expanded its data-center portfolio with authorization to market, sell and support IBM Power Systems and enterprise-class storage product families to certified IBM Business Partners in the U.S.
Ingram Micro's Advanced Computing Division is now recruiting and enabling authorized IBM Business Partners with the necessary marketing, pre- and post-sales support, as well as technical training, certifications and configuration services to successfully sell these product portfolios.
The company also is hosting a series of Webinars for channel partners that are interested in learning more about IBM Power Systems, storage and PureSystems. Registration is open to both prospecting resellers and current Ingram Micro channel partners. More information can be found here.
"Ingram Micro offers IBM Business Partners enablement resources, technical expertise and field sales support that is unrivaled and we remain committed to giving our channel partners that competitive edge that really works to differentiate their services and value," said Scott Zahl, VP and general manager of the Advanced Computing Division, Ingram Micro U.S.
The IBM Power Systems family is comprised of a series of servers, systems software and solutions featuring the latest IBM POWER7 and POWER7+ processor technology. Additionally, the IBM System Storage line comprises a wide range of advanced systems that offer high-speed disk, solid state storage, and advanced tape to help customers manage the challenges of big data more efficiently and cost effectively, Big Blue said.
Follow senior online managing editor
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text:
Absolutely Amazing Spiced Butternut Squash Soup!
If you like it, save it!
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Author Notes: My Butternut squash venture started one day when I was lost as of what to do with the butternut squash that was standing on my kitchen counter. The result was this amazing Spiced Butternut Squash soup (which is now up there with my favorites!). I did some research on how this cozy and heartwarming dish was normally made and decided to make my own spiced up variation (this is because I have had a few experiences of slightly bland Butternut Squash soup, and I thought a little spice could perfect it). I spiced it up by adding a fresh chili to the mix, but of course if you are not into spicy foods, just add a little bit of extra seasoning or an extra stock cube to make sure you don't end up with a bland soup. This soup is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! —AdventuresOfLimitedEating
Serves 6
- 1 Medium Butternut Squash, peeled and chopped into cubes
- 1 Large potato, peeled and chopped into cubes
- 2 Celery sticks, chopped
- 2 Large carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 Medium to large onion, roughly chopped
- 3 Garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 Small green chili
- 1 Large sprig of Rosemary
- 3 Bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon Chili powder
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- 4 cups Water
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil
- Heat your olive oil In a large saucepan and add your sliced green chili, chili powder, paprika, bay leaves, crushed garlic, the whole rosemary sprig, and cumin seeds. Heat for 30 seconds to open up the flavors (do not brown or burn).
- Add the rest of the ingredients other than the water and the stock cubes. Mix the vegetables so they are evenly coated by the spices (cook for about 3 minutes).
- Now add the water and crumble in the stock cubes (remember if you have decided to not use the green chili, simply add one more stock cube for some extra flavor) let the soup simmer for 45 minutes.
- Remove the bay leaves and the rosemary branch from the sprig and ladle the soup into a blender and blend until smooth.
- Pour the soup back into the pot and ladle into bowls. Serve with cheesy scones or toasted bread and there it is, the meal of your (and my) dreams!!! mmmmm....
More Great Recipes:
Entrees|Soups|Vegetables|Side Dishes|Appetizers


text:
[deleted account] ( 9 moms have responded )
Okay,... so we were trying for over a year with fertility treatment to have baby #4 and we didn't conceive. We decided to stop trying and were quite sad yet so thankful for the 3 beautiful munchkins we already have. We came to acceptance of not having a fourth child. I donated all our beautiful baby stuff away.
2 months later - SURPRISE!!!
And a wonderful surprise it was too. We are just so thrilled and it all happened naturally which is a miracle all in itself.
I can't see myself buying all the brand new items again. Baby stuff is so crazy expensive! I would probably get some gently used things to replace the big stuff and I was hoping to get other peoples thoughts on baby showers:
My family had a big baby shower for me with my first pregnancy which was for the twins but not for the next baby which was perfectly fine as we had everything but now LOL,... we haven't got so much as a onesie or a receiving blanket let alone,... an infant carrier, swing etc etc...
What do you think others would think if I had a shower even though I'm on baby #4. I am a bit fearful because I think people would naturally assume I MUST have everything I need and I would hate to appear greedy and or needy. Perhaps mostly I want to respect the boundaries of etiquette. What do you think?


text:
Homepage: http://delphidoc.sourceforge.net/
Project-Page: http://sourceforge.net/projects/delphidoc/
To download DelphiDoc please go to the
page of this
project in the
of released Files.
You can also monitor the project to get an e-mail when a new version is released.
There is a little survey about DelphiDoc, you can also watch the result of it.
And again welcome to a new release.
Not that much new in this one, and most of the changes can be summed up with only two words: "image formats".
Support for other image formats has been added in several places. The
inline command
~[image ]
now supports images in all registered graphic formats, but the file
extension has to be included in the file name for that, if none is
specified "
.bmp" is still the default. Supported are
.bmp (Bitmap) also
.ico (Icon),
.wmf (Windows Metafile),
.emf (Enhanced
.png (Portable Network Graphic), and
.jpg (JPEGs in the JFIF format). Additionally the HTML
generators also blindly copy files with extension
(Graphics Interchange Format),
.svg (Scalable Vector
.svgz (compressed SVGs) and
(Multiple-Image Network Graphics).
The images will not be re-converted if possible. This may actually lead to some problems, for instance the PDF generator has some limitations in handling PNG files (no alpha channel (without palette), no interlace, must use zlib for compression, only 8-bits per color component), the alpha channel is probably the only one ever raising any problems, so it has to be removed before including the file via a PDF generator. Gamma information and transparency information is lost in any case. And I don't know how JPEG data in other file formats (like Exif or SPIFF) will be handled. You might want to recompile DelphiDoc with another JPEG library then that one shipping with Delphi.
Potential problems with images with the same name in different directories have also been fixed by creating unique names for the images.
The screen shots of forms to be used to generate help about the forms
can now also be in other formats. The file extension has just to be
specified with the option
in category "GUIHelp" of the scanner of comments (has to be edited with
all options of all objects for the generation for the time being),
probably the main advantage is just to save some
HDD storage space after
converting the huge bitmaps to PNG.
The form to create the GUI log files and screen (window) shots also got an option to save directly as PNG files, if you don't have or don't want to use the unit "pngimage" in your project to support these PNG images, you just have to comment out a define for conditional compiling in the uses clause in the interface of the unit.
The external files showing the inter-dependence between the files and
the inheritance tree of classes and interfaces can now also be generated
as SVG (Scalable Vector
Graphics) images. SVG is an open, textual (XML-based) standard by
the W3C, it can be viewed directly with most internet browsers, the most
notable exception being the Internet Explorer, which needs a plug-in,
like the Adobe
SVG Viewer.
For this output several new texts to be localized have been defined:
"DocumentationLinkGetSVG1", "DocumentationLinkGetSVG2", "DocumentationLinkSVGFiles", "ErrorSVGFileLinkHeader", "ErrorSVGFileLink1", "ErrorSVGFileLink2", "ErrorSVGFileLink3Pre", "ErrorSVGFileLink3Post", "ErrorSVGFileLink4Pre", "ErrorSVGFileLink4Middle", "ErrorSVGFileLink4Post", "ErrorSVGFileLink5", "ErrorSVGFileLink6"
The formats to be generated are now selected via the option "GenerateFileAndClassesTreeFormats", which is a set and replaces the previous two boolean options. If the documentation is generated in an HTML format, links will be included in the SVG file directly to the documentation of the files and classes, this can also be disabled via the option "GenerateFileAndClassesTreeSVGWithLinks".
Windows Meta Files (.wmf) of these images are now also saved instead as Enhanced Windows Meta Files (.emf).
Diagrams can also now be exported as EMF (and WMF) and SVG. The SVG files can also contain direct links to the documentation in HTML format. They can also be compressed (.svgz). The diagram generator got the options "ExportImageType" and "CharacterEncoding" for this, but the format can more easily be selected by using the appropriate file extension in the file name.
When generating documentation in one of the HTML formats the diagrams
created via the inline command
~[diagram ] can be
saved as Scalable Vector Graphics. The format can be set via the new
"HTMLDiagramFormat" -
PNG is still the default, and compressed SVGs are possible, too. The SVG
files also contain the links to the documentation of the classes and
files in the diagrams themselves rather than the HTML file showing them,
this can be disabled via the option
but that will probably not be a good idea.
Sadly the results are not that promising in my tests yet, but I don't have the newest versions of some softwares, so you should probably test it yourself. Compressed SVGs are shown especially wrongly, Mozilla and Opera don't recognize the compression for local files and try to parse the compressed stream as an XML file, which of course fails miserably. But even without compression the files still have a decent size. Adobe's SVG Viewer plug-in for the Internet Explorer (and Netscape) shines here again, although it can't show SVG images with a character encoding "Latin-1" (maybe only "UTF-8"). Also the images are included via iframes, which may make them less compatible with some (older) browsers. I'm happy about any feedback about this feature.
Similarily when using
~[diagram ] in PDF
output, the diagrams will now be drawn directly in PDF and not be
included as an image. They can still be rendered as PNG images if the
is disabled, see there for a discussion of the advantages of not doing
So much for the images and their formats. And now for something completely different.
As the options of the generator objects grow more important and numerous with each release, the main form to edit them has been improved somewhat in this release. A small dialog to search options and a component showing the documentation from the HTML documentation have been added.
And as promised in the last release it is now possible to use the inline
~br and
without the following brackets
[]. This can be disabled via
the option "OptionalCommandParameterBraces",
but that is probably only needed if the option
is used. This is another step towards better Javadoc-compatibility, although it
doesn't probably matter until
@false and
@nil/@null are defined.
Generating help on forms without a help context no longer aborts the generation with an assertion failure. The generators should use less memory while generating (at least for now, might change in a few releases when new features are added again, which will need the memory). The old frame to show the messages of the generators has been added again to be used with Kylix, and it compiles again after applying the usual changes. And also as always my warning, the old generators will soon vanish, and they haven't been tested for several releases, so please use and test the new ones. And finally thanks to 明保 王 for pointing out an error in the code handling the hiding of scroll bars in read-only memos when they are not needed.
The new generators are about 25% slower than the old ones and they
should also need significant more memory, because all comments will
be parsed first and held in it. But they should parse the comments in
a much cleaner way and also generate a much cleaner documentation.
They also have more power in evaluating the information inside the
comments, so new functionality can be added that was not possible in
the old system (like excluding identifiers based on their comment or
grouping identifiers of special topics together).
The new system also uses more objects, the options of those can currently only be edited with the button on the same page as the button to generate the documentation, i.e. with all available options in one big list (tree view). But luckily, as you should know, the list can be filtered for each class.
There is a quote out there (from Butler Lampson or
David Wheeler):
All problems in computer science can be solved by another level
of indirection. (often misquoted with "abstraction")
And, well ..., in anticipation of further problems I readily introduced several layers of abstraction. Surprisingly it does not seem that much slower, only about a quarter, but well, I guess, string handling is slower than I thought.
Btw., if you don't see quotes around the above quotation, you are using a browser that doesn't comply to a nine year old standard and the very base of the World Wide Web, as:
Visual user agents must ensure that the content of the Q element is rendered with delimiting quotation marks.
Any feedback on DelphiDoc is welcome. Especially also on the different character encodings. In HTML you can set you own encoding in the options. But I don't know what has to be done in Windows help files, LATEX files and PDF files to choose the correct encoding/font, mainly because I'm so fortunate to use a language where the default encodings (Latin-1/Windows-1252/ISO-8859-15) suffice.
Feedback on parsing of the comments would also be appreciated. I know
that no one has projects commented for this program, beside this one.
But even generating the documentation with the options
enabled the comments (I hope most projects will have at least some kind
of a comment) should be valuable, so I hope they are correctly
So any feedback on how these comments are inserted are welcome, i.e. "Are they actually found by DelphiDoc?", "Are there any special characters/words/lines that are not really part of the comment and should be removed?" or "Are there any errors with any special characters?" and so on.
Some basic statistics are gathered about the parsed source code,
you can view them in the form with the source code (
These values are currently not saved and not included in the
documentation. I'm actually thinking about how, when and whether to
include it somewhere in the documentation and also what other
statistics to gather. You have some suggestions?
You may have noticed there is still something below the TOC (Table of Contents) on the home page, yes, I started a little ongoing survey. So if you want to tell me and anyone looking at the result how you use Delphi and what you need, there is your possibility. It consists simply of several questions with yes/no/maybe - radio buttons. Answering them will only increase the corresponding counters, so don't expect anything special.
DelphiDoc is a program for automatic generation of documentation on a Delphi-Project. It is created with Javadoc in the mind, i.e. what Javadoc does for Java DelphiDoc should do for Delphi but better fitting to it.
So the documentation is not limited to the HTML format, because in Delphi and Windows the Windows Help format and the new HTML Help are more common, and Windows Help files can be integrated in Delphi's IDE for easy accessibility. As the special character in the comments the tilde "~" has been chosen instead of at "@", because the at-symbol is used in the Pascal language, the tilde is not. But this character can also be redefined to any other. At the moment the documentation can be generated in the HTML (HyperText Markup Language) format, in the Windows help (.hlp-files) format and the new HTML Help format, in the LATEX format or in PDF (Portable Document Format by Adobe) with some additional xfig-/wmf-files. Export to XMI to be used in UML-modelling tools is also possible, and last but not least it is also possible to generate diagrams (UML-like) of the parsed classes etc. and even to include them directly in the documentation.
DelphiDoc's distinctive features are an extensive parsing of
the source code and a division of the parser and the generator of the
documentation, and there are also a lot of options to tweak the
generation. The first means a lot of information is gathered and can be
inserted in the documentation making it valuable even if there are no
comments (really useful to get acquainted with unknown projects if the
generated help file is integrated in that of Delphi). Very much links
are inserted as a cross-reference leading from identifiers to other
identifiers if they use each other.
The second leads to exchangeable generators for documentation. At the moment five generators can be chosen to create the documentation in the above mentioned formats. Some additional generators for special things are also available. The several options of the generators and "inline command"s inside the documentation make these even more powerful.
The documentation is somehow focused on an object-oriented design, so on purely not object-oriented programs the generated documentation may be not that efficient/well structured.
DelphiDoc does not support .NET currently. Delphi 2005 for
Win32 is also not fully supported, yet. Some features have been
implemented, but without enough information available it is hard to
implement everything save (the Delphi-compiler is the only true grammar
of the language and I don't have it). There is a limited support for
unit-namespaces. The new scopes "
strict protected"
and "
strict private" are parsed, but the scope is
only treated as the normal scopes without the
strict". Multicast eventhandlers (properties) with
the attributes "
add" and
remove" can now be parsed. The
for ... in ... do" can also be parsed.
Not supported are nested types, class constants and the file-namespaces only partially. This is mostly due to insufficient information, so any hints on this behalf would be helpfull.
Unicode source files will also not be parsed, while UTF-8 should be no problem. Although when generating some generators may corrupt the UTF-8 comments and for others you may need to set the character encoding.
Support for .NET will not be added in the near future. There are not enough information about it available and the changes to the language are quite extensive. Still some changes were made in that direction (removing Delphi 3 as a possible platform to compile DelphiDoc). Any concrete, detailed information about it would be helpful.
Most changes on the binary are how you expect them. No generated
documentation will be launched automatically after generation because
there is no associated binary to launch them. Also Window help files are
not automatically compiled (what a surprise), although it is possible
to compile them with the help of
Wine. And no WMF (Windows Meta
File) files are created (WMF records GDI calls, of course there is no
Windows GDI in *nix).
Symlinks of directories are not followed (is that even possible?) to avoid eternal recursion (or until the stack if full), but the symlinks may be defined by them self, that should work. Furthermore the wrong end-of-line character sequence may be used sometimes, i.e. #13#10 instead of just #10, but that should never invalidate any file.
If you want to compile DelphiDoc under Kylix take a look at the notes about the source code.
DelphiDoc does not support .NET currently. Delphi 2005 for Win32 is also not fully supported, yet. Unicode source files will also not be parsed, while UTF-8 should be no problem. Although when generating some generators may corrupt the UTF-8 comments and for others you may need to set the character encoding.
This program is now distributed under the
GPL - the GNU General
Public License version 3. A copy of the GPL should accompany the
release in the file "
LICENSE.txt". Please also take a
look in the file "
README.txt" for the used libraries,
that are part of this program (and release) and are distributed with
other licenses.
And a note on the generated documentation:
The generated documentation inherits its legal status from the source (code) it was generated from, i.e. if you wrote the source and DelphiDoc generates some documentation, you also have the copyright on the documentation like on the source.
For questions, suggestions and so I would prefer if you use one of
services like the
the Mailing
List or the
message facilities there.
So far I can also be reached through email at
DelphiDoc @ gmx.de (sorry for not making
a link for it, but I don't want to serve up another email address for
spam on a plate for web crawlers, ... I get enough already), just be
sure to use a meaningful subject for the mail so it won't get lost in
all the spam I get, please include "JADD" or "DelphiDoc" in the
subject, using a plain text mail (instead of HTML) will also decrease
that chance.
DelphiDoc should be able to parse most of the correct and compilable programs, but there are some constructs that may raise problems (it's weird what's all possible in Delphi and then gets compiled). In most cases the line and column should be given when an error occurs during the parsing, of course, just like with the real compiler, the true reason of the error may be a few lines higher.
Should an error occur, a description of the error and a relevant excerpt of the source code, or of the whole project in case of complex constructs, can be send to me by email.
Best regards,
Gerold Veith


text: You may wish to survey the literature on diatom gliding motility for comparison with cyanobacteria. See: Gordon, R. (1987). A retaliatory role for algal projectiles, with implications for the mechanochemistry of diatom gliding motility. J. Theor. Biol. 126, 419-436. for some refs. Best regards, -Dick Gordon, U.Manitoba[Aug29,95] On 29 Aug 1995, Stos Agnieszka wrote: > We are looking for bibliography or any information about: > - cyanobacteria-ciliates interaction > - the role of cyanobacterial sheath (envelope) > - the mechanism of cyanobacterial movements > We will be very grateful for any help. > > Thanks in advance. > >


text:
The column also allows wildly inaccurate allegations to - in effect - be interpreted by the reader as fact, simply because the allegations take the form of ink on paper.
On the last day of 2000, the Juneau Empire printed a very important editorial entitled "Working on your behalf." The crux of the editorial was that the Empire tries hard to publish factually correct stories which accurately portray important events that occur in Juneau.
In addition, the Empire editorial vowed to adhere to journalistic standards that form the foundation of excellence in day-to-day news reporting. The editorial also stated that: "We will express opinions (on the editorial page, not in our news articles) with which you will disagree."
So far, so good.
All of us can agree with the premise that good journalism should be a cornerstone of the Empire's news reporting, and that the editorial staff should print its opinions in an open and candid manner, whether or not those of us who read the newspaper agree with those opinions.
However, while the editorial floated many lofty newspapering objectives, I believe the Empire's practice of publishing the Word of Mouth column blows gaping holes in the editorial's journalistic credo. It seems to me that if the Empire is truly interested in journalistic integrity and is, as the editorial clearly states, working on Juneau's behalf, it should take one significant action to prove it. That action would be to cease publishing the Word of Mouth column.
Word of Mouth represents the antithesis of journalistic excellence which was espoused in the Empire's editorial. Every opinion expressed in Word of Mouth is unattributed, which violates the most sacred, fundamental tenet of honorable newspapering.
The net result of cloaking the Word of Mouth opinions in anonymity is that leaders in this town have suffered character assassination at the hands of cowards who do not have the courage to tie their name to an opinion. The column also allows wildly inaccurate allegations to in effect be interpreted by the reader as fact, simply because the allegations take the form of ink on paper.
Half-baked opinions and often simply stupid comments find life in the warped journalism of Word of Mouth. In addition, the column has served as a soapbox for the complainers and whiners who always seem to clutch negative views on every issue facing this community. Put simply, Word of Mouth serves no useful purpose and has no place in Juneau's newspaper.
At least for this subscriber, Word of Mouth is offensive, journalistic trash and seriously corrodes the newspapering halo which the Empire donned in its Dec. 31 editorial. For me the test is this: Is the Empire truly working on our behalf? If Word of Mouth continues to be published, the answer is clearly "no" and demonstrates that the Dec. 31 editorial was puffery and hot air packaged by the editorial staff as honest opinion.
Jerry Reinwand was chief of staff during Gov. Jay Hammond's second term and served the same position for U.S. Sen. Frank Murkowski in the senator's Washington, D.C. office. He is now a lobbyist and businessman in Juneau.
© 2018. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us


text:
UPPER FARRINGDON, England, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- A Englishwoman who discovered a live unborn hare says she kept the baby rabbit alive by carrying it in her bra.
The woman, Margi Heath, 57, of Upper Farringdon said she kept the leveret warm that way, feeding it baby formula with a syringe, The Daily Telegraph reported Sunday.
"She stayed indoors with me," Heath said. "I put her in my bra to keep her warm, else she would have died. I slept with her and every time she was hungry she popped her head up."
The hare, named Miracle, is now a tame 3-month-old rabbit, the newspaper said. She was found alive inside the womb of a pregnant hare killed by a dog.
"She's quite tame now," Heath said. "She has a lead we use to walk her with, and lets people stroke her, though she can tell if someone is a stranger."


text:
Sunday night we were lucky enough to be able to see the supermoon eclipse. Well, most of it. We ended up with too much cloud cover to catch the blood moon, but what we saw? Incredible.
It was pretty awesome. The last eclipse we really got to witness was a partial solar eclipse when we visited Dallas almost a year ago. We ended up in our hotel room for that one, making a pinhole viewer, and that was all kinds of awesome.
For this lunar eclipse it was so many ways of awesome. It was intense and gorgeous, despite of the cloud cover. And while I've not yet gotten all the pictures off of the camera, this is just one of the back of the camera shots I was able to snap while we watched the eclipse from the back yard.
It's pretty awesome.


text:
Your Chance to Die
0 Shouts - 24,899 Scrobbles
Your Chance To Die are a Melodic Death Metal Band from Columbia, South Carolina, USA. They formed in 2007 and released a self titled demo in 2008 followed by the Verdict Of The Gods EP in 2009. In 2010 YCTD went into the studio with renowned producer Jamie King (Through the Eyes of the Dead, Between the Buried and Me, The Human Abstract) and recorded their second full length entitled 'Suscitacio Somnus' which has yet to be released. The first single from the album, 'Slaughter of the Innocents' is available on all digital music sites for purchase. For more details YCTD can be found on facebook and myspace. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Top SongsTotal plays on Last.fm over the last 6 months
- Annuit Coeptis - 1,450 plays
- Divine Pestilence - 1,500 plays
- Libations of Blood - 1,031 plays
- Verdict for the Gods - 1,254 plays
- Requiem for the Blessed Damned - 1,118 plays
- Slaughter of the Innocents - 977 plays
- Kolotajem (Religious Salvation) - 912 plays
- End of Siege - 679 plays
- Prochusio: Judgement Is Nigh - 774 plays
- Ba'Ca (The Weeping) - 813 plays


text: Bob Hauck wrote: > A couple of days ago I updated a machine running a pretty stock woody to > pick up security updates DSA-361 through 366. The update to kdelibs seems > to have caused some breakage. Font anti-aliasing stopped working and > Konqueror could no longer display https:// URL's. I fell back to the > ".woody.5" version from the archives, but that is missing a couple of > security updates that are arguably more serious than DSA-361. > > Has anyone else had this problem, or is it just me? I see a couple of > bug reports but not much mention of this on the mailing lists. The bug > reports I saw were for Intel and I'm on a Sparc so whatever the problem is > it doesn't seem to be arch-specific. I also have font problems since last security upgrade. This is on an i386 (AMD) system running stock Woody kde version, but with XFree86 4.2.1 from http://www.fs.tum.de/~bunk/packages. I haven't had time to investigate the problem further, but at least i know for sure that the problem appeared after the upgrade. Tomas


text:
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Thread: Grilled Green Chili Quesadillas
- Join Date
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Grilled Green Chili Quesadillas
3 fresh chile peppers, such as poblanos -- any variety may be used, according to your tolerance for heat
4 (12-inch) large flour tortillas
3 cups (3/4 pound brick) smoked cheddar (recommended: Cabot brand, shredded)
1 cup store bought salsa verde, available on chip and snack aisle or in Mexican food section
1 cup sour cream
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
Heat a grill pan over high heat. Place whole chiles on grill and char all over. about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and split chiles. Scrape away seeds with a spoon and slice.
Heat a large nonstick skillet or griddle over medium high heat. Char the tortilla and blister it on 1 side, 20 seconds, then flip tortilla. Cover half of the tortilla with cheese and chilies, then fold over. Press down gently with spatula. Cook quesadilla 15 seconds more on each side, transfer to a cutting board. Repeat. Pile up 2 completed quesadillas at a time and cut into 3 generous wedges. The yield will be 12 pieces from 4 quesadillas. Serve slices on a large platter with small dishes of salsa verde and sour cream for topping. Garnish the platter and toppings with chopped cilantro.
The Following User Says Thank You to rtebalt For This Useful Post:


text: Help! I was up at Lonesome Lake this weekend, I have heard it is a good place for shore fishing. I tried all around the lake, but had no luck. I tried a dry pattern on the surface and a leech down low. I can't seem to find anything, and sometimes it seems like I am throwing flies to an empty lake. I'd appreciate any points about how to pick flies, how to know there are fish around, etc... I've been flyfishing lightly for three seasons and I can't show any improvement. I have one fish to my name (caught on the middle-Snoqualmie) so I know I'm not 100% off-base, but I'd appreciate any pointers for improving my chances of catching something, especially on a lake! Thanks