Examine the Argument That “Good Fences Make Good Neighbours” free essay sample

The argument in the title highlights the fact that no matter how close you are to a neighbour, both physically and personally, there is always a need for privacy. As mentioned by Jovan Byford, (Byford, 2009, p. 251) there is a paradox in the fact that neighbours are expected to be a community of people living together but at the same time everyone wants -and expects- their own space. The rules of engagement for a neighbour are an intrinsic characteristic built into us from our own experiences, and we act on them almost automatically. Byford illustrates this in his transcript of a conversation he had himself with a neighbour and his use of discursive pschology(Byford, 2009, pg. 257). It is a simple exchange of words in which both parties follow the unwritten rules of being a neighbour when an event, in this case, a mis-directed package, bring the two together. The conversation is immediately recognisable to any who have been in a similar situation, the neighbour apologises for being intrusive, and in doing so recognises the author’s personal space, and neither send out an invitation for the other to make the exchange any more than it is. We will write a custom essay sample on Examine the Argument That â€Å"Good Fences Make Good Neighbours† or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Both parties are recognising the boundary, or â€Å"fence† that is in place to prevent an invasion of privacy. The exchange is not premeditated to go ahead like this, it is just a skill that has been learnt through experience. In her work, Social psychologist Elizabeth Stokoe (Stokoe, cited in Byford, 2009, pg 264), examined what happens when these rules break down. Her focus was that of sound complaints stemming from sexual intercourse. This presented problems not just for the accused, but for the accuser. In the transcript taken from the man who made the complaint he preceeded by by making sure he wasn’t viewed in a negative way by pointing out that he was a good neighbour who adhered and respected the social rules. If he weren’t to do this, then he himself may have been accused of being a nosy neighbour, thus being neglectful of the rules. He most likely adopted the defensive form as naturally as the Byford and his neighbour carried out their dialogue. This breakdown of society’s rules needs repairing, and in cases like this, the reparation comes from a form of mediation. Usually, the matter can be resolved without having to call in a third party, a simple apology can acknowledge that someone was in the wrong and that they are didn’t act as appropriate as a neighbour should. On other occasions, a third party has to be called in to settle disputes, when things such as noise, boundaries, planning etc are blurring the boundaries of how the rules are interpreted (Byford, 2009. pg 263). This is just another way of maintaining the order that the rules of neighbouring create. The third party is an arbitrary outsider who reinforces how the rules operate, though it is still up to the involved parties to make a decision about where the â€Å"fence† is placed. A study in Manchester in 2004 suggests that most of â€Å"neighbouring† occurs in public or over a physical structure (as in a real fence) and that even the interviewees who reported visiting neighbours in homes were aware of â€Å"over-neighbouring†, and it was polite to be seen to respect the host’s right to privacy by limiting time spent at their home (Byford, 2009, p. 255). These rules aren’t the same the world over, in fact they can be strikingly different in some places. The Anthropologist, Stanley Brandes, travelled to Becedas, a small village in Spain in the 1970’s to study how traditional life was being affected by the process of modernisation (Byford, 2009, pg 259). His initial observations revealed that there didn’t seem to be such a concept as â€Å"over- neighbouring† there. Instead, the whole village came and went as in and out of each others houses as they pleased. â€Å"Neighbours entered our houses without hesitation and] took us under their wings to such an extent that we felt as if we had been initiated into a large family. † (Brandes, cited in Byford, 2009, p. 260). So to Brandes, it must have felt alien, with no clear boundaries and everyone involved in everyone elses lives to a household degree. He notes that they seemed to have a â€Å"Pathological fear† of privacy (Brandes, cited in Byford, 2 009, p. 260). However, as he spent time there, he came to realise that the village was not so much an extended family society, but a big brother society fuelled by mistrust. The fences had been removed in order to make sure that no one was cheating another and that there were no schemes afoot. The villagers were poor, so they â€Å"assumed that if a person could get away with with it, he will engage in almost any activity to further his own well-being † (Brandes, cited in Byford, 2009, p. 261). This is an example where perhaps the â€Å"fences† could make living conditions less stressful. Looking at these examples, it is clear to see where the hypothetical (and physical) fences have their uses. According to Erving Goffman, people will behave in a way that tells others how they wish to be interacted with (Taylor, 2009, pg 172), so this projection must carry within itself a boundary to those who see it. When Kate Fox’s person in a front garden is approached (Byford, 2009, p. 256) using Goffman’s theory, perhaps it is only right to assume they must be emanating an aura of approachability, otherwise they are not complying with the unwritten rules of being a neighbour.

Use of Predator and Prey essays

Use of Predator and Prey essays The use of predator and prey: symbolism in cat and bird While reading the book, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, I noticed the connection between law and the mention of cats and birds. The cats and birds are used metaphorically drawing a picture of predator and prey for the reader to pick up on. The predator and prey relationship is in relation to the Court of Chancery and the ordinary citizens. The court is the predator or the unsuspecting and docile citizens. Specifically of interest are Krooks cat and Mrs. Flites birds; they really draw out the citizen and lawyer relationship. With the realization of the symbolism, Dickens is leading us to question the nature of equity and the justice of law by exposing the underneath of the story. With specific view of the cat, the reader can see that it is painted in a mischievous light. When thinking of the cat as a symbol for the law and all associated with it, the light in which it is seen skews the readers thoughts on what it is symbolizing. Lady Jane is a superb example. Her relation to Krook (the name also leading the reader to think negatively of this character) brings about her relation to other criminal tendencies subconsciously to the reader. Krook who received her because of her very fine skin saves her skin. This leads to a relation to the domestic side of Krook. However the reader senses the fact that Lady Janes ferociousness also saved her skin because it appealed to Krook as well. Mrs. Flite picks up on the cats ferociousness and it can be seen as her picking up on the ruthlessness of the owner as well. Mrs. Flite sees the cat as a ravenous wolf waiting at the door to come and carry out the sentence. This reflects on the situation that Mrs. Flite is in herself. She is waiting for judgment and her punishment is merely waitng for the door to be opened. The birds that Mrs. Flite keeps reflect the domest ...

Disease Ebola in Western parts of Africa Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Disease Ebola in Western parts of Africa - Essay Example From this paper it is clear that  Genus Ebolavirus is among the three categories of the so called Filoviridae family (filovirus), together with genus Cuevavirus and genus Marburgvirus. Ebola, which is a highly infectious disease and often deadly in human beings was first confirmed in the year 1976. Since then, Ebola has occurred periodically with numeral cases occurring in countries such as Uganda, Sudan, Ivory Coast, and Republic of Congo. Ebola is believed to be caused when an individual is infected with Ebola virus. Ebola virus can be transmitted when an individual has direct contact with another person who is infected with the virus or contact with an infected person’s body fluids. This essay discusses that the symptoms of Ebola start typically abruptly and include sore throat, severe headache, fever, and weakness. There is no cure that exists for Ebola, therefore, treatment of Ebola only involves supportive management of the symptoms of this illness while the body of the patient fights the disease. This virus was first detected in the Republic of Congo in the year 1976. However, there are no cases of Ebola virus reported in America. Cases of Ebola virus disease were first detected in forested regions of the southeastern parts of Guinea. Unfortunately, the outbreak of this killer disease is fast spreading and numerous Conakry and districts have detected cases of it and deaths caused by Ebola virus disease. In addition, scientists have not yet come into terms with Ebola origin, despite the unverified claims that it originated from the bats of the Ebola River found in the Republic of Congo, formerly known as Zaire.

Criminal justice Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Criminal justice - Assignment Example Of course, there is a general societal consensus that certain things are wrong and should be discouraged or criminalized, but for proponents of the Nanny State, the government should seize control of actions and issues where there is no consensus and unilaterally impose its view of morality on these issues. Why is this happening more and more these days? Many experts believe that in an increasingly complex world people are more willing to turn over power to the government in order to make their own lives easier. There is a sense the world can be and should be completely ordered and that government is the right body to do this. This is an unfortunate state of affairs as it tips the important balance between liberty and order far to the side of order. There are so many examples of this way of thinking that it is hard to know where to begin. One of the most shocking examples from recent years is the following headline: â€Å"Chicago Prohibits Foie Gras.† In 2006, Chicago city council voted to ban the delicious appetizer foie gras from the city’s restaurants. Proponents of the ban said the production of foie gras was inhumane. Opponents had a different view. "Government shouldnt be dictating what we eat," said the chef at one French restaurant. The Mayor too was unhappy. "We have children getting killed by gang leaders and dope dealers," he said. "We have real issues here in this city. And were dealing with foie gras? Lets get some priorities."1 These opponents are right. In an era where people expect to be coddled and protected from everything that could possibly harm, they are allowing things as personal as menu choice to be dictated by the government. If an individual does not like to eat foie gras no one will forc e them to eat it; but the Chicago city council went a step further by eliminating this choice completely and limiting the rights of those who do like foie gras. The Nanny State continues to expand, rolling

Rhetoric Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Rhetoric Assignment - Essay Example The conclusion of the statement has failed to follow the premise and for this reason considered as an incomplete argument. The argument in the second paragraph is also incomplete. The writer says â€Å"The Pope has not yet said much concerning the women and the church and there exists reasons based on his will. Instead on more understanding and compassionate take on women’s stand in church, he has repeatedly embraced the Old Catholic’s view that women roles are at home’’. The statement is a claim and has no prove. The conclusion does not follow the premise and is based on probable rather than true statements (Moss & Burden, 4). The dates are inadequate since they are based on approximations. The use of words such as ten days ago or last week without necessarily giving the exact day and time makes it inadequate. Additionally, the writer has utilized several incomplete arguments to explain his opinions towards the Pope. The numerous incomplete arguments have made the warrant unclear. In addition, the few arguments raised by the writer cannot be used to generalize Pope Francis’s judgment on women and the church (Moss & Burden, 4). It is too much to expect, that the church will decide to admit women to the clergy even with Pope Francis in the Helm. In addition, recognizing women as contributors to the church life is not a violation of the doctrine. The pope has however failed to express these statements and appears to be buying time (Moss & Burden,

The Monkeys Voyage by Alan de Queiroz | Review

The Monkeys Voyage by Alan de Queiroz | Review Introduction: There are a number of basic definitions that have to be considered before an individual before providing a scientific analysis and review of the book by Alan Quieroz (2013) that is the Monkey’s voyage. One such definition is the concept of biogeography. Biogeography refers to the study of the manner in which living organism, are able to move around the planet earth. For instance, biogeography concerns itself with how the same species of monkeys are found in Africa, and in South America. In other words, Biogeography concerns itself with an analysis of the manner which the same species of animals are able to be found in the same continent. One of the major reasons advanced for the occurrence of such kind of a phenomenon is the concept of plate tectonics. Plate tectonics refers to the structure of earth, which are able travel and float independently. This is the most common argument that scientists have managed to bring out, in regard to explaining why the same species exists in different parts of the continent. Another important definition that an individual needs to understand, before scientifically analyzing this book, is the concept of vicariance. This is a term that is used for purposes of providing a description of certain types of living organisms, that were able to get separated into groups that are non-communicating, through external circumstances. Examples include the submersion of a land, the rise of a mountain range, etc. Another important term that is contained in this book is Gondwana. This is a scientific term that refers to the Southern half of the continent, which existed millions of years ago, but was able to fragment, and drift apart. Therefore, this paper is a review of the book by Dr. de Queiroz.. In providing a review of this book, the researcher will use two approaches. The first approach is the manner in which this book explains the major scientific points. The second approach would be an overall analysis of the book, and how the author manages to convey scientific ideas, and use examples to explain these ideas. Review: In writing this book, the author manages to use the three scientific approaches that are always used in scientific research. These approaches are, the identification of the historical origin of the concept, the concept itself, and any future consideration regarding the concept. In giving an explanation on the reasons why the same species are found in different parts of the continent, Dr. de Queiroz begins by providing the historical biogeography, and the reasons why he thinks that the breakage of the tectonic plates is not the major reason for the existence of the same specifies of animals, in different continents. In providing the historical origin of his points, de Queiroz is able to introduce a leading scholar of biology, by the name of Leon Croizat. De Queiroz gives us a description of the works of Croizat, and the manner in which he was able to dispute the explanation of the existence of earth by Charles Darwin, and the existence of the same species of animals in different conti nents, through the process of plate tectonics. Croizat believes that Darwin was wrong, through his concept of natural selection (De Quieroz, 11). Natural selection is a scientific process, in which the biological traits of an animal can become common, or less common, within a population. This may occur because of the traits that are inherited during the reproductive process of the organism. It is therefore important to explain that natural selection is one of the important aspects of the theory of evolution that explains the existence of the world. Therefore, another concept that is introduced in this book is evolution, which is a theoretical framework that was developed by Charles Darwin, to explain the reasons for the existence of different species of animals. These animals evolved, and through the process of natural selection, the toughest animals and species were able to survive, and hence exists. The theory of evolution and natural selection focuses on the environment in explaining the reasons why animals are found in a particular continent or environment. Based on these facts, it is therefore possible to denote that this is a theoretical framework that does not support the use of the theory of tectonic plates to explain the reason why the same species of animals are found in the same region. This section further brings us to the concept of historical biogeography, and the reasons why it is not sufficient in explaining the distribution of species around the world, or in different continents of the world. Historical biogeography is the study of the distribution of animals, and how they were distributed, based on different time scales. From this book, we are able to learn that this was one of the major concepts or elements of the theory of evolution. A good example of the historical biogeography that is depicted in the book is on the primate time tree that talks about the voyag e of the monkeys (De Quiroz, p. 214). This time tree shows the evolution of the monkeys, from the millions of years ago, to the current species of monkeys, hence reinforcing the ideas of Charles Darwin, in regard to the concept of the evolution theory. The author of this book uses the concepts of historical biogeography, to give an explanation why the Tectonic plate theory cannot explain the reasons for the existence of the same species of animals, in different continents of the world. Furthermore, in arguing against the existence of the same species of animals, in different continents, the author introduces the concept of panbiogeography. De Quiroz (p. 33) in defending his argument that animals were not found in different parts of the continent through geographical dispersal borrows this concept panbiogeography concept that was introduced by Croizat. De Quiroz argues that it was virtually impossible for the same animals to find themselves in different continents because of dispersal, and he provides examples to illustrate this point. For instance, it is not likely for the same species of snails to find themselves in the same continent, by attaching themselves to the tail of a bird, or even a spider to find itself in a different continent, by using its web, and being carried by wind. These are impossible circumstances to occur; hence this theoretical notion of tectonic plates is absurd, and uncalled for. Section two and section three of this book are used in the explanation of the reasons why the de Quiroz believes that the same species of animals did not find themselves in different continents, through the breakup of the land mass, or through the process of tectonic plates. For instance, de Quiroz does a great job, in coming up with a new method, that can be used for purposes of conducting the process of genetic sequencing. De Quiroz uses this method for purposes of estimating the period in which two populations, of the same species were able to split, in the last one hundred thousand of years. In this study, De Quiroz explains that the garter snakes were able to float in an open ocean, which was approximately 120 miles, and this is an explanation on why they can be found in different regions of the world. His study of snakes began when de Queiroz was curious on the reasons for existence of the garter snakes, at the tip of California. This was one of the major factors that contributed in the desire of Quiroz to study and examine the impact of tectonic plate’s theory, in the dispersal of living organisms. For instance, De Quieroz was able to wrongly assume that the species of this snake came into the region, over a long period of time, and this is through the drifting continents, when the peninsula, was able to come apart from the mainland. However, through his study of the garter snake, De Quieroz (57) comes to the conclusion that distinctive and vibrant biological communities, were creating, when living organism were able to soar through the atmosphere, and float th rough the large water mass, or water body. Through these findings, De Quieroz manages to come out of the theory of evolution and the theory of tectonic plates that explains the why the same species of animals and other living organisms are found in different continents. This type of knowledge and information is very contentious, and this is majorly because it challenges the existing body of knowledge, regarding the dispersion of animals, and other living organisms, through the process of continental drift. For instance, in the 1950s, and the 1960s, geologists were able to find that the coasts of Africa and South America were united, and through the process of tectonic plates, these coasts were separated. However, because of new technological innovations, scientists were able to measure the floor of the ocean, revealing several ridges, and this includes a ridge that was found in the Atlantic Ocean. These discoveries were able to provide a clear mechanism on the manner in which the continent was able to creep, making scientists to believe that in about 180 years back, there was the existence of a continent referred to as Gondwana that comprised of Australia, Africa, America, India, and Antarctica. The new knowledge brought about by de Quieroz was challenging these facts, and scientific knowledge, and hence this information is controversial. Furthermore, in explaining the concept of Gondwana, and the continental drifting theory, scientists use the presence of emus, rheas and ostriches, in explaining why they are found in Africa, Australia, and other continents of the world. Scientist explains that these animals were able to drift to these other continents, and this is because of the moving continents. However, the genetic studies that were conducted by De Quieroz (44), on garter snakes, was a proof that these birds found themselves in these different continents, through their movements, and not through the drifting apart of the continent. Other examples include the New World monkeys, which were able to move to South America, by rafting themselves, through the use of the earth’s clump, and today, they comprise of 73% of the land mammals. Conclusion: This book by Quieroz is well written, and it manages to provide clearly the views of de Quiroz, on the reasons why the same species of animals are found in different continents. The information contained in this book is controversial. This is majorly because it challenges the knowledge that existed, on the reasons why the same species of animals are found in different continents. That is the drifting of continents, hence these animals finding themselves in different geographic regions. Works Cited: De, Queiroz A. The Monkeys Voyage: How Improbable Journeys Shaped the History of Life. 2013. Print.

The Ethics of Microsoft’s Product Pricing Structure Essay -- Microsoft

The Ethics of Microsoft’s Product Pricing Structure Introduction Microsoft, currently one of the world’s biggest and most influential software companies, was found in 1975 by William Gates and Paul Allen.[1] It quickly positioned itself as a leader in the software community and due to the strength growth of its user base for the Windows operating system and numerous other products, it became both widely popular and widely hated. Many consumers love the suite of products that Microsoft offers because they are easy to use, are widely supported, and have many applications written specifically to for them. On the other hand, there are many who dislike Microsoft, claiming that their policies lead to an uncompetitive market and that their practices are unethical. In recent years many court cases, including a major anti-trust suit have been brought against Microsoft. This paper aims to focus on the issue of Microsoft’s product pricing structure and to discuss the issues that have arisen because of it. There are two different yet similar ethical issues surrounding Microsoft’s product pricing. Within the United States there has been growing concern that because Microsoft controls such a large portion of the market that they are using this to their advantage and to drive prices up. A number of cases have been brought to court and found Microsoft guilty of price fixing, causing them to refund money to consumers in states like California and Iowa. The ethical issue clearly surrounds Microsoft’s motives. Are they driving up prices and simply trying to make more money with no thought to the impact on the community, or are they trying to run a legitimate profit-based business that strives to keep make everyone happier and ... ...p://webspeedreader.com/Articles/Microsoft.htm?Default-04-20-2001> [10] AFP, Microsoft Still in Talks with EU for Possible Compromise, 15 March 2004, [11] InfoTech, Erwin Lemuel G. Oliva, Software Makers: Pricing Standard Worldwide, 2003, 15 March 2004, 14 Santa Clara University’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, 2003?, 10 February 2004, [12] University of Central Florida, Barbara Moore’s Slides, Antitrust and Industrial Policy, 2003?, 15 March 2004, [13] Russel Verney, Price Fixing in Plain Sight, 2001, 15 March 2004,

Shadow Kiss Chapter 8

Eight FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS, I followed Christian around without incident. And as I did, I found myself growing more and more impatient. For one thing, I was discovering that a lot of being a guardian was waiting around. I'd always known that, but the reality was harder than I'd realized. Guardians were absolutely essential for when Strigoi decided to attack. But those Strigoi attacks? They were generally rare. Time could pass – years could pass – without a guardian ever having to engage in any sort of conflict. While my instructors certainly wouldn't make us wait that long during this exercise, they nonetheless wanted to teach us patience and how important it was not to slack just because there'd been no danger in a while. We were also being held to the strictest conditions a guardian could be in: always standing and always being formal. More often than not, guardians who lived with Moroi families behaved casually in their homes and did ordinary things like reading or watching TV – while still staying perfectly aware of any threats. We couldn't always expect that, though, so we had to practice the hard way while in school. My patience level didn't do so well with all this waiting, but my frustration was more than just restlessness. I was desperate to prove myself, to make amends for not having reacted when Stan attacked. I'd had no further Mason sightings and had decided that what I'd seen really had been fatigue- and stress-induced. That made me happy, because those were much better reasons than being crazy or inept. But certain things were not making me happy. When Christian and I met up with Lissa after class one day, I could feel worry and fear and anger radiating off of her. It was only the bond that clued me in, though. To all outside appearances, she looked fine. Eddie and Christian, who were talking about something with each other, didn't notice a thing. I moved close and put an arm around her as we walked. â€Å"It's okay. Everything's going to be okay.† I knew what was bothering her. Victor. We'd decided that Christian – despite his willingness to â€Å"take care of things† – probably wasn't the best choice to go see about us getting into Victor's trial. So Lissa had played diplomat the other day and very politely spoken to Alberta about the possibility of us testifying. Alberta had told her, equally politely, that it was out of the question. â€Å"I figured if we just explained things – why it was so important – they'd let us go,† she murmured to me. â€Å"Rose, I can't sleep. †¦ I just keep thinking about it. What if he gets loose? What if they really set him free?† Her voice trembled, and there was an old vulnerability there that I hadn't seen in a long time. That sort of thing usually set off my warning bells, but this time, it triggered a weird rush of memories, of times past when Lissa had depended on me so much. I was happy to see how strong she'd become and wanted to make sure she stayed that way. I tightened my arm, hard to do while still walking. â€Å"He won't get loose,† I said fiercely. â€Å"We'll get to court. I'll make sure of it. You know I'd never let anything happen to you.† She leaned her head against my shoulder, a small smile on her face. â€Å"That's what I love about you. You have no idea how you'll get us to court, but you still push forward anyway to make me feel better.† â€Å"Is it working?† â€Å"Yes.† The worry still lurked in her, but her amusement dampened its effects a little. Plus, despite her teasing me about my bold promise, my words really had reassured her. Unfortunately, we soon found out that Lissa had other reasons to be frustrated. She was waiting for the medication to fade from her system and allow her full access to her magic. It was there – we could both sense it – but she was having trouble touching it. Three days had passed, and nothing had changed for her. I felt for her, but my biggest concern was her mental state – which thus far had stayed clear. â€Å"I don't know what's going on,† she complained. We had almost reached the commons. Lissa and Christian had plans to watch a movie. I half-wondered how difficult it would be for me to watch the movie and be on alert. â€Å"It seems like I should be able to do something, but I still can't. I'm stuck.† â€Å"That might not be a bad thing,† I pointed out, moving away from Lissa so I could scan the path ahead. She shot me a rueful look. â€Å"You're such a worrier. I thought that was my job.† â€Å"Hey, it's my job to look out for you.† â€Å"Actually, it's my job,† said Eddie, in a rare show of joking. â€Å"Neither of you should be worrying,† she argued. â€Å"Not about this.† Christian slipped his arm around her waist. â€Å"You're more impatient than Rose here. All you need to do is – â€Å" It was d? ¦j? ¤ vu. Stan leapt out from a copse of trees and reached for Lissa, wrapping his arm around her torso and jerking her toward him. My body responded instantly, no hesitation whatsoever as I moved to â€Å"save† her. The only problem was that Eddie had responded instantly too, and he was closer, which put him there ahead of me. I circled, trying to get in on the action, but the way the two were squaring off blocked me from being effective. Eddie came at Stan from the side, fierce and swift, pulling Stan's arm away from Lissa with a strength nearly powerful enough to rip it out of the socket. Eddie's wiry frame often hid how muscular he really was. Stan's hand caught the side of Eddie's face, nails digging in, but it was enough so that Lissa could wriggle free and run to join Christian behind me. With her out of the way, I moved off to the side, hoping to assist Eddie – but there was no need. Without missing a beat, he grabbed Stan and threw him down to the ground. Half a breath later, Eddie's practice stake was poised right above Stan's heart. Stan laughed, genuinely pleased. â€Å"Nice job, Castile.† Eddie withdrew the stake and helped his instructor up. With the action gone, I could now see how bruised and blotched Stan's face was. Attacks for us novices might be few and far between, but our guardians were picking fights daily during this exercise. All of them were taking a lot of abuse, but they handled it with grace and good humor. â€Å"Thank you, sir,† said Eddie. He looked pleased but not conceited. â€Å"I'd be faster and stronger if I were Strigoi, of course, but I swear, you could have rivaled one with your speed there.† Stan glanced at Lissa. â€Å"You okay?† â€Å"Fine,† she said, face aglow. I could sense that she'd actually enjoyed the excitement. Her adrenaline was running high. Stan's smiling face disappeared as he turned his attention on me. â€Å"And you – what were you doing?† I stared, aghast at his harsh tone. It was what he'd said last time too. â€Å"What do you mean?† I exclaimed. â€Å"I didn't freeze or anything this time! I was ready to back him up, looking for a chance to join in.† â€Å"Yes,† he agreed. â€Å"That's exactly the problem. You were so eager to get a punch in that you forgot that you had two Moroi behind you. They might as well have not existed as far as you were concerned. You're out in the open, and you had your back to them.† I strode forward and glared at him, unconcerned about propriety. â€Å"That is not fair. If we were in the real world and a Strigoi attacked, you cannot tell me that another guardian wouldn't jump in and do everything they could to take that Strigoi down as quickly possible.† â€Å"You're probably right,† Stan said. â€Å"But you weren't thinking about eliminating the threat efficiently. You weren't thinking about your exposed Moroi. You were thinking about how quickly you could do something exciting and redeem yourself.† â€Å"Wh-what? Aren't you making a few leaps there? You're grading me on what you think was my motivation. How can you be sure what I'm thinking?† I didn't even know half the time. â€Å"Instinct,† he replied mysteriously. He took out a small pad of paper and made some notes on it. I narrowed my eyes, wishing I could see through the notepad and discern what he was writing about me. When he finished, he slipped the pad back in his coat and nodded at all of us. â€Å"See you later.† We watched him walk across the snowy grounds toward the gym where dhampirs trained. My mouth was hanging open, and I couldn't even get any words out at first. When did it end with these people? I was getting burned again and again on stupid technicalities that had nothing to do with how I'd actually perform in the real world. â€Å"That was not even fair. How can he judge me on what he thinks I was thinking?† Eddie shrugged as we continued our journey toward the dorm. â€Å"He can think whatever he wants. He's our instructor.† â€Å"Yeah, but he's going to give me another bad mark! Field experience is pointless if it can't really show how we'd do against Strigoi. I can't believe this. I'm good – I'm really good. How on earth can I be failing this?† Nobody had an actual answer for that, but Lissa noted uncomfortably, â€Å"Well†¦ whether he was fair or unfair, he had one thing right: You were great, Eddie.† I glanced over at Eddie and felt bad that I was letting my own drama take away from his success. I was pissed off – really pissed off – but Stan's wrongness was my problem to deal with. Eddie had performed brilliantly, and everyone praised him so much on the walk back that I could see a blush creeping over his cheeks. Or maybe that was just the cold. Regardless, I was happy for him. We settled into the lounge, pleased to find no one else had claimed it – and that it was warm and toasty. Each of the dorms had a few of these lounges, and all were stocked with movies and games and lots of comfy chairs and couches. They were only available for student use at certain times. On weekends, they were pretty much open the whole time, but on weekdays, they had limited hours – presumably to encourage us to do our homework. Eddie and I assessed the room and made a plan, then took up our positions. Standing against the wall, I eyed the couch Lissa and Christian were sprawled out upon with considerable envy. I'd thought the movie would distract me from being on alert, but actually, it was my own churning feelings that kept my mind spinning. I couldn't believe Stan had said what he'd said. He'd even admitted that in the heat of battle, any guardian would be trying to get into the fight. His argument about me having ulterior, glory-seeking motives was absurd. I wondered if I was in serious danger of failing this field experience. Surely, so long as I passed, they wouldn't take me from Lissa after graduation? Alberta and Dimitri had spoken like this was all just an experiment to give Lissa and me new training, but suddenly, an anxious, paranoid part of me began to wonder. Eddie was doing a great job of protecting her. Maybe they wanted to see how well she could work with other guardians. Maybe they were worried that I was only good at protecting her and not other Moroi – I'd let Mason die, after all, right? Maybe the real test here was to see if I needed to be replaced. After all, wh o was I, really? An expendable novice. She was the Dragomir princess. She would always have protection – and it didn't have to be me. The bond was pointless if I ultimately proved incompetent. Adrian's entrance put my frantic paranoia on hold. He slipped into the darkened room, winking as he flounced into an armchair near me. I had figured it was only a matter of time before he would surface. I think we were his only entertainment on campus. Or maybe not, judging from the strong smell of alcohol around him. â€Å"Are you sober?† I asked him when the movie ended. â€Å"Sober enough. What have you guys been up to?† Adrian hadn't visited my dreams since the one in the garden. He'd also laid off on some of his outrageous flirting. Most of his appearances with us were to work with Lissa or to ease his boredom. We recapped our encounter with Stan for him, playing up Eddie's bravery and not mentioning my dressing-down. â€Å"Nice work,† said Adrian. â€Å"Looks like you got a battle scar too.† He pointed to the side of Eddie's face where three red marks glared back at us. I remembered Stan's nails hitting Eddie during the struggle to free Lissa. Eddie lightly touched his cheek. â€Å"I can barely feel it.† Lissa leaned forward and studied him. â€Å"You got that protecting me.† â€Å"I got that trying to pass my field experience,† he teased. â€Å"Don't worry about it.† And that's when it happened. I saw it seize her, that compassion and undeniable urge to help others that so often filled her. She couldn't stand to see pain, couldn't stand to sit by if she could do something. I felt the power build up in her, a glorious and swirling feeling that made my toes tingle. I was experiencing how it affected her. It was fire and bliss. Intoxicating. She reached out and touched Eddie's face†¦. And the marks vanished. She dropped her hand, and the euphoria of spirit faded from both of us. â€Å"Son of a bitch,† breathed Adrian. â€Å"You weren't kidding about that.† He peered at Eddie's cheek. â€Å"Not a goddamned trace of it.† Lissa had stood up and now sank back to the couch. She leaned her head back against it and closed her eyes. â€Å"I did it. I can still do it.† â€Å"Of course you can,† said Adrian dismissively. â€Å"Now you have to show me how to do it.† She opened her eyes. â€Å"It's not that easy.† â€Å"Oh, I see,† he said in an exaggerated tone. â€Å"You grill me like crazy about how to see auras and walk in dreams, but now you won't reveal your trade secrets.† â€Å"It's not a ‘won't,'† she argued. â€Å"It's a ‘can't.'† â€Å"Well, cousin, try.† Then suddenly he raked his nails across his hand and drew blood. â€Å"Jesus Christ!† I yelped. â€Å"Are you insane?† Who was I kidding? Of course he was. Lissa reached out and held his hand, and just like before, she healed the skin. Elation filled her, but my mood suddenly dropped without any real cause. The two of them launched into a discussion I couldn't follow, using standard magical terms as well as some terms I was pretty sure they'd invented on the spot. Judging from Christian's face, it looked like he didn't understand either, and it soon became clear that Adrian and Lissa had forgotten us in their zeal over the mystery of spirit. Christian finally stood up, looking bored. â€Å"Come on, Rose. If I wanted to listen to this, I'd be back in class. I'm hungry.† Lissa glanced up. â€Å"Dinner's not for another hour and a half.† â€Å"Feeder,† he said. â€Å"I haven't had mine today.† He planted a kiss on Lissa's cheek and then left. I followed alongside him. It had started snowing again, and I glared at the flakes accusingly as they drifted down around us. When it had first started snowing in early December, I'd been excited. Now this white stuff was getting pretty damned old. As it had a few nights ago, though, being out in such harsh weather defused my mood a little, the cold air kind of snapping me out of it. With each step closer to the feeders, I felt myself calming down. A â€Å"feeder† was what we called humans who volunteered to be regular sources of blood for Moroi. Unlike Strigoi, who killed the victims they drank from, Moroi took only small quantities each day and didn't have to kill the donor. These humans lived for the high they got from vampire bites and seemed perfectly happy to spend their lives that way and separate from normal human society. It was weird but necessary for Moroi. The school usually had a feeder or two in the Moroi dorms for overnight hours, but for most of the day, students had to go to the commons to get their daily fix. As I continued walking, taking in the sights of white trees, white fences, and white boulders, something else white in the landscape caught my attention. Well, it wasn't white exactly. There was color – pale, washed-out color. I came to an abrupt halt and felt my eyes go wide. Mason stood on the other side of the quad, nearly blending in with a tree and a post. No, I thought. I'd convinced myself that this was over, but there he was, looking at me with that sorrowful, phantom face. He pointed, off toward the back of campus. I glanced that way but again had no clue what to look for. Turning back to him, I could only stare, fear twisting within me. An icy-cold hand touched the side of my neck, and I spun around. It was Christian. â€Å"What's up?† he asked. I looked back to where I'd seen Mason. He was gone, of course. I squeezed my eyes shut a moment and sighed. Then, turning back to Christian, I kept walking and said, â€Å"Nothing.† Christian usually always had some witty stream of comments whenever we were together, but he was silent as we made the rest of our journey. I was consumed with my own thoughts and worries about Mason, so I had little to say either. This sighting had only lasted a few seconds. Considering how hard it was to see out there, it seemed more than likely that he'd been a trick of the eye, right? I tried to convince myself of this for the rest of the walk. When we entered the commons and escaped the cold, it finally hit me that something was amiss with Christian. â€Å"What's wrong?† I asked, trying not to think about Mason. â€Å"Are you okay?† â€Å"Fine,† he said. â€Å"The way you just said that proves you aren't fine.† He ignored me as we went to the feeders' room. It was busier than I'd expected, and all of the little cubicles that feeders sat in were filled with Moroi. Brandon Lazar was one of them. As he fed, I caught a glimpse of a faded green bruise on his cheek and recalled that I never had found out who had beaten him up. Christian checked in with the Moroi at the door and then stood in the waiting area until he was called. I racked my brain, trying to figure out what could have caused Christian's bad mood. â€Å"What's the matter? Didn't you like the movie?† No answer. â€Å"Grossed out by Adrian's self-mutilation?† Giving Christian a hard time was a guilty pleasure. I could do this all night. No answer. â€Å"Are you – Oh.† It hit me then. I was surprised I hadn't thought of this before. â€Å"Are you upset that Lissa wanted to talk magic with Adrian?† He shrugged, which told me all I needed to know. â€Å"Come on, she doesn't like magic more than she likes you. It's just this thing with her, you know? She spent all these years thinking she couldn't do real magic, and then found out she could – except it was this wacky, completely unpredictable kind. She's just trying to understand it.† â€Å"I know,† he said tightly, staring across the expansive room without actually focusing on any of the people. â€Å"That's not the problem.† â€Å"Then why †¦Ã¢â‚¬  I let my words fade as another revelation hit me. â€Å"You're jealous of Adrian.† Christian fixed his ice-blue eyes on me, and I could tell I'd hit the mark. â€Å"I'm not jealous. I'm just – â€Å" † – feeling insecure over the fact that your girlfriend is spending a lot of time with a rich and reasonably cute guy whom she might like. Or, as we like to call it, jealous.† He turned away from me, clearly annoyed. â€Å"The honeymoon might be over between us, Rose. Damn it. Why are these people taking so long?† â€Å"Look,† I said, shifting my stance. My feet hurt after so much standing. â€Å"Didn't you listen to my romantic speech the other day about being in Lissa's heart? She's crazy about you. You're the only one she wants, and believe me, I can say that with 100 percent certainty. If there was anyone else, I'd know.† The hint of a smile crossed his lips. â€Å"You're her best friend. You could be covering for her.† I scoffed. â€Å"Not if she were with Adrian. I assure you, she has no interest in him, thank God – at least not romantically.† â€Å"He can be persuasive, though. He knows how to work his compulsion†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"He's not using it on her, though. I don't even know if he can – I think they cancel each other out. Besides, haven't you been paying attention? I'm the unfortunate object of Adrian's attention.† â€Å"Really?† asked Christian, clearly surprised. Guys were so oblivious to this sort of stuff. â€Å"I know he flirts – â€Å" â€Å"And shows up in my dreams uninvited. Seeing as I can't get away, it gives him the perfect chance to torture me with his so-called charm and attempt to be romantic.† He turned suspicious. â€Å"He shows up in Lissa's dreams too.† Shoot. Shouldn't have mentioned the dreams. What had Adrian said? â€Å"Those are instructional. I don't think you need to worry.† â€Å"People wouldn't stare if she showed up at some party with Adrian.† â€Å"Ah,† I said. â€Å"So this is what it's really about. You think you're going to drag her down?† â€Å"I'm not that good †¦ at those kinds of social things,† he admitted in a rare show of vulnerability. â€Å"And I think Adrian's got a better reputation than me.† â€Å"Are you joking?† â€Å"Come on, Rose. Drinking and smoking aren't even in the same league as people thinking you're going to turn Strigoi. I saw the way everyone acted when she took me to dinners and stuff at the ski lodge. I'm a liability. She's the only representative from her family. She's going to spend the rest of her life tied up with politics, trying to get in good with people. Adrian could do a lot more for her than I could.† I resisted the urge to literally shake some sense into him. â€Å"I can see where you're coming from, but there's one flaw in your airtight logic. There's nothing going on with her and Adrian.† He looked away and didn't say anything else. I suspected his feelings went beyond her simply being with another guy. As he'd even admitted, he had a whole tangle of insecurity about Lissa. Being with her had done wonders for his attitude and sociability, but at the end of the day, he still had trouble dealing with coming from a â€Å"tainted† family. He still worried he wasn't good enough for her. â€Å"Rose is right,† an unwelcome voice said behind us. Preparing my best glare, I turned around to face Jesse. Naturally, Ralf lurked nearby. Jesse's assigned novice, Dean, stood watch at the doorway. They apparently had a more formal bodyguard relationship. Jesse and Ralf hadn't been in line when we arrived, but they'd apparently wandered up and heard enough to piece together some of our conversation. â€Å"You're still royal. You have every right to be with her.† â€Å"Wow, talk about a turnaround,† I said. â€Å"Weren't you guys just telling me the other day how Christian was about to turn Strigoi at any moment? I'd watch your necks, if I were you. He looks dangerous.† Jesse shrugged. â€Å"Hey, you said he was clean, and if anyone knows Strigoi, it's you. Besides, we're actually starting to think that rebellious Ozera nature is a good thing.† I eyed him suspiciously, assuming there must be some trick here. Yet he looked sincere, like he really was convinced Christian was safe. â€Å"Thanks,† said Christian, a slight sneer curling his lips. â€Å"Now that you've endorsed me and my family, I can finally get on with my life. It's the only thing that's been holding me back.† â€Å"I'm serious,† said Jesse. â€Å"The Ozeras have been kind of quiet lately, but they used to be one of the strongest families out there. They could be again – especially you. You're not afraid to do things that you aren't supposed to. We like that. If you'd get over your antisocial bullshit, you could make the right friends and go far. Might make you stop worrying so much about Lissa.† Christian and I exchanged glances. â€Å"What are you getting at?† he asked. Jesse smiled and cast a covert glance around us. â€Å"Some of us have been getting together. We've formed a group – sort of a way for those of us from the better families to unite, you know? Things are kind of crazy, what with those Strigoi attacks last month and people not knowing what to do. There's also talk about making us fight and finding new ways to hand out the guardians.† He said it with a sneer, and I bristled at hearing guardians described like objects. â€Å"Too many non-royals are trying to take charge.† â€Å"Why is that a problem if their ideas are good?† I demanded. â€Å"Their ideas aren't good. They don't know their place. Some of us have started thinking of ways to protect ourselves from that and look out for each other. I think you'd like what we've learned to do. After all, we're the ones who need to keep making decisions, not dhampirs and nobody Moroi. We're the elite. The best. Join us, and there are things we could do to help you with Lissa.† I couldn't help it. I laughed. Christian simply looked disgusted. â€Å"I take back what I said earlier,† he told them. â€Å"This is what I've been waiting for my whole life. An invitation to join your tree house club.† Ralf, big and lumbering, took a step forward. â€Å"Don't screw with us. This is serious.† Christian sighed. â€Å"Then don't screw with me. If you really think I want to hang out with you guys and try to make things even better for Moroi who are already spoiled and selfish, then you're even stupider than I thought you were. And that was pretty stupid.† Anger and embarrassment filled both Jesse and Ralf's faces, but mercifully, Christian's name was called just then. He seemed considerably cheered as we walked across the room. Nothing like a confrontation with two assholes to make you feel better about your love life. Christian's assigned feeder tonight was a woman named Alice, who was the oldest feeder on campus. Most Moroi preferred young donors, but Christian, being the twisted person he was, liked her because she was kind of senile. She wasn't that old – sixties – but too many vampire endorphins over her life had permanently affected her. â€Å"Rose,† she said, turning her dazed blue eyes on me. â€Å"You aren't usually with Christian. Have you and Vasilisa had a fight?† â€Å"Nope,† I said. â€Å"Just getting a change of scenery.† â€Å"Scenery,† she murmured, glancing at a nearby window. Moroi kept windows tinted to block out light, and I doubted a human could see anything. â€Å"The scenery is always changing. Have you noticed that?† â€Å"Not our scenery,† said Christian, sitting beside her. â€Å"That snow's not going anywhere. Not for a few months.† She sighed and gave him an exasperated look. â€Å"I wasn't talking about the scenery.† Christian gave me an amused smile, then leaned over and sank his teeth into her neck. Her expression grew slack, all talk of scenery or whatever she'd meant forgotten as he drank from her. I lived around vampires so much that I didn't even think about their fangs half the time. Most Moroi were actually pretty good at hiding them. It was only in moments like these that I remembered the power a vampire had. Usually, when I watched a vampire feed, I was reminded of when Lissa and I had run away from the Academy, and I'd let her feed off of me. I'd never reached the crazy addiction levels of a feeder, but I had enjoyed the brief high. I used to want it in a way I could never admit to anybody. In our world, only humans gave blood. Dhampirs who did it were cheap and humiliated. Now, when I watched a vampire drink, I no longer thought about how good the high felt. Instead, I flashed back to that room in Spokane where Isaiah, our Strigoi captor, had fed off of Eddie. The feelings that stirred up in me were anything but good. Eddie had suffered horribly, and I hadn't been able to do anything except sit there and watch. Grimacing, I turned away from Christian and Alice. When we left the feeders' room, Christian looked more vibrant and upbeat. â€Å"The weekend's here, Rose. No classes – and you get your day off.† â€Å"No,† I said, having almost forgotten. Damn it. Why did he have to remind me? I was almost starting to feel better after the Stan incident. I sighed. â€Å"I have community service.†

A review of efficient market hypothesisâ€from the point of view of current financial crisis The WritePass Journal

A review of efficient market hypothesis- from the point of view of current financial crisis 1 Introduction A review of efficient market hypothesis- from the point of view of current financial crisis 1 Introduction2 Overview of EMH2.1 Definition2.1.1 Descriptive Definition2.1.2 Formulated Definition2.2 Main points of EMH2.2.1 Main points from microeconomic perspective2.2.2 The preconditions of EMH2.2 Three Forms Efficient Market and Their Test2.2.1 Weak form efficient market and its test2.2.2 Semi-strong efficient market and its test2.2.3 Strong form efficient market and its tests3 Discussions of EMH from the current Financial Crisis3.1 The Evolution of Current Financial Crisis3.2 What does EMH faces in the financial crisis?3.3 What do we learn from financial crisis?4 ConclusionsBibliographyRelated 1 Introduction Since Fama (1970) published his paper Efficient capital markets: A review of theory and empirical work summarized the basic Efficient Market hypothesis (henceforth EMH) content and the tests based on it, the economics professors has never stopped to debate on it. According to Fama (1969), EMH is an interpretation about how do stock prices relate to the market information. EMH states that the security prices already incorporate and reflect all relevant information. Currently the whole world faces massive financial crisis while EMH and other theories based on it has faced opprobrium and questioning. This paper includes an overview of EMH and discussions about the strength and limitations from point of view of the current financial crisis. There are three parts in this paper. In the first part, I have summarized the EMH including the definition and three forms of efficient markets. In the second part, I have evaluated the strengths, and limitations of EMH from the point of view of current financial crisis. In the third part, I have given my own conclusion about EMH. 2 Overview of EMH 2.1 Definition According to Fama (1969) and Jensen (1978), EMH can be described as the text and mathematic formula as the following. 2.1.1 Descriptive Definition As Fama (1969) has stated, Efficient Market Hypothesis is an interpretation about how do stock prices relate to the market information. EMH means that the security prices already incorporate and reflect all relevant information. So it is impossible to beat the market to obtain extra profit. As Malkiel (2003) described â€Å"Markets do not allow investors to earn above average returns without accepting above-average risks†. 2.1.2 Formulated Definition Jensen (1978) has stated the formulization and model concepts of market efficiency. The joint distribution established based on the information consistent with the joint distribution of future price, the specific formulation is as (1.1). (|)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (1.1) indicates the joint density function of the correct future prices, while (|) indicates the joint density function of future security prices based on all the available information at the time point t. Then we can rewrite the formula as (1.2). =  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (1.2). In this formula, indicates the expectation of true yield stock j at the time point t.   indicates the estimated expectation at time point t, which is equilibrium yield. That means the return expectation which is obtained from an economic activity is equal to its marginal cost. That is, when there is no cost of information collection, the return expectation should be 0. 2.2 Main points of EMH 2.2.1 Main points from microeconomic perspective From the microeconomic perspective, EMH is under the assumption of economic man which is from Adam Smith. It means people are rational and self-interest. Similarly, in the stock market, the people who trade stock are also this kind of economic man. In the financial market, every stock represents its company which is under strict surveillance of rational and self-interested people. They conduct fundamental analysis; estimate the companys future profitability to evaluate the companys stock prices, then discount future values to present value, cautiously choose between risk and return trade-offs. EMH shows the balance between demand and supply in markets. For every stock, the number of people who want to sell is equal to those who want to buy, that is, the number of people who think the stock is overvalued is equal to those who think the stock is undervalued. If somebody finds that it is unbalance between those two kinds of people, in other words, if there is a possibility of arbitrage, rational traders will immediately buy or sell stock to make them equal. This is the basic theory of supply and demand in economics. On the one hand, any fluctuation on the prices of commodities is a result of supply and demand changes. On the other hand, prices impact the relationship between supply and demand. 2.2.2 The preconditions of EMH As Fama (1970) has stated the efficient market is based on three preconditions. Firstly, the cost of information is 0. Secondly, the market is perfectly competitive market. Thirdly, all investors are rational. Firstly, according to the definition of Fama, the market is inefficient. Grossman and Stiglitz (1980) have proofed that no cost of information is the sufficient condition for efficient market.This condition exposes on questions on the market structure. It is unrealistic if transaction costs and taxes are 0. On contrary, huge transaction costs may hinder the possibility of arbitrage in real world. That may cause the stock prices do not increase with good information and information is not reflected in the price. The second precondition of EMH is the perfectively competitive market that leads to each investor can accept the price. However, under the situation that information costs exist, there is bargaining behaviour in market. Therefore, the market participants are not price-taker. For the third precondition, investors are rational and they can evaluate the securities rationally. Shleifer (2000) improves the three levels of rational market participants. The investors at the first lev el are perfectly rational. The ones at the second level are even if some of the investors are irrational; their trade generated randomly and can be cancelled out. For the third level, if irrational investors’ behaviour is not random, arbitrageurs can eliminate noise traders influences on prices. Shleifer (2000) has argued that â€Å"With a finite a risk-bearing capacity of arbitrageurs as a group, their aggregate ability to bring prices of broad groups of securities into line is limited†. That suggests the risk-free arbitrage opportunities may exist, but they cannot be the direct evidence of market inefficient. 2.2 Three Forms Efficient Market and Their Test Based on the different types of investment approaches Fama (1970) defined the efficient market to three forms- weak-form efficiency, semi-strong form efficiency and strong-form efficiency. 2.2.1 Weak form efficient market and its test As the description in Fama’s (1970) paper, a weak form efficient market is a kind of market in which the shares’ prices fully reflect the historical information. So in weak form efficient market, investors cannot make a strategy to obtain extra profits through technical analysis. It is useless to analyze historical information to predicted future price, because the current market price has already contained all the information which acquired by technical analysis. The tests for weak form market include two methods. The first is the random walk model while the second is the filter approach. The first method is focus on whether the fluctuation of stock price is random which is first published by Osborne (1959). The filter approach can be described that in an efficient market, if there is no new information released, the price would randomly fluctuate between the resistance lines. 2.2.2 Semi-strong efficient market and its test As Fama (1970) has stated the semi-strong efficient market refers to the market in which the current stocks prices reflect not only historical price information but all available public information related to security companies. If the market is efficient in this sense, then it will not be possible to acquire abnormal profit through the analysis of a companys balance sheet, income statement, changes in dividend, stock split announcement and any other public information. The tests for the semi-strong efficient market mainly focus on determining the speed of share prices adjust to new information. Scholars have conducted a variety of tests. The most famous one is â€Å"Event Study† which firstly published by Ball and Brown (1968). An event study measures the cumulative performance of stock from a specific time before and after information released. The semi-strong efficiency of market attracts a lot of studies to test it. Some empirical studies proof that the US stock market is a semi-strong market. Fama (1969) investigate 115 companies stocks and prove that the US stock market is semi-strong. 2.2.3 Strong form efficient market and its tests As Fama (1970) has stated the strong form efficient market is a market in which the share price reflect all the information includes the inside information. That means in strong form efficient market nobody can obtain abnormal profit even the insiders. The tests of strong form efficient market focus on the company insiders, stock exchange brokers, securities analysts and mutual fund performance, in order to verify whether they can earn extra returns. Some studies have showed that several markets are close to strong form. Maloney and Like several files on the professional investment managers study showed that after deduct the expense of trading, the randomly selected securities and index without conduction were nearly at the same return level with carefully analysis. Mulherin (2003) has conducted the analysis of the Challenger Crash and declared it supports the strong form efficiency. While the other scholars argue that the strong form efficient market will never exit in reality. 3 Discussions of EMH from the current Financial Crisis The following chapter provides analysis of EMH from the point of view of current financial crisis. The first section provides a review of current financial crisis evolution; the second section gives the critical analysis of the challenges that EMH faces, particularly from the view of information dissemination, information quality and the role of self-regulation of stock market; the third section provides suggestions to avoid financial crisis. 3.1 The Evolution of Current Financial Crisis The current financial crisis has root in credit crisis which is a financial storm along with bankruptcy of subprime mortgage lenders, close of investment funds and the turbulence stock market in the United States. As Tylor (2009) has described, the evolution of financial crisis were as follows. First, the U.S. commercial banks issued a large number of high-risk real estate mortgage loans (i.e. subprime mortgages), then sold these subprime mortgages to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in order to transfer the potential risk of mortgages and return the funds as soon. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac created subordinated bonds through asset to security approaches, sold bonds to investment banks like Merrill Lynch. Investment banks seek for high returns create financial innovations by complex means and make subprime lending which under investment grade (BBB / Baa) into a so-called structured products to attract the risk-interested investors. These typical derivatives finally have been sold to financ ial institutions and investors through their marketing network all over the world. When the original debtor cannot repay the mortgage on time, the financial crisis broke out and rapidly spread to whole world by the chain which is also the risk transfer line. We can illustrate this process as graph 1. Graph 1 Evolution of Financial Crisis 3.2 What does EMH faces in the financial crisis? The financial crisis has proved that the precondition of EMH is too far from reality. In graph1, there is a stream which contains risk, information and cash transferred between people and market. If the original debtors are also investors, an information circulation mechanism has been established. Ding (2005) interprets in this process, as investors not only analyze the information in the market, but also think about other investors’ potential activities in response to these changes. These changes in the market then become the basis for new thinking. A self-feedback loop established between the investors and market. Investors are both participants and observers. That is, the investors affect the market changes as well as are affected by the market, so the information that market participants obtained includes the information which is influenced by the participants’ own behavior. Therefore, it is impossible to understand the market completely and objectively. As Baker (2 006) has suggested that the investors’ behaviors need to be considered as one important factor in those theories like EMH’s perfect preconditions. From the view of information dissemination, false and short information commonly exists in market and it cannot be aware of. That is may be another reason for leading irrational behaviour. For instance, as Duncan reported (2009), on September 15th 2008, Lehman Brother collapsed with about $60 billion in toxic bad debts, and assets of $639 billion against debts of $613 billion. That made Lehman Brother, the largest investment bank, collapsed since 1990s. However, just five months ago, Lehman Brother held the annual shareholders meeting and the stock price was up to about 86 dollars per share. According to Fama (1970), investors operate stocks according to the information. When news spread on the stock market, the share prices begin to fluctuate. With the rapid dissemination of information, more and more people take part in the trade of stock. The share price will stay at a right level when all the people know the information. However from the Lehman Brother’s example such evide nce has been provided that because of the information quality, the price cannot reflect the right value. As Barry and Harvard (1979) have stated that the sufficient uncertainty information frequent transacting may be deleterious to market. Another precondition of EMH is the market is a perfectly competitive market. The perfectly competitive market is a market without government intervention and everyone is a price-taker (Nicholson, 2005). In reality, the perfectly competitive market is impossible to exist, although the governments advocate the market liberalization to attract people to take part in trading. Some liberal economics like Levine (2001) have pointed out â€Å"financial liberalization leads to more efficient investments and that financial liberalization boosts productivity growth†, but the huge rescue is the biggest evidence of the failure of market liberalization. The disappearance of business profit model of investment banks, government managed commercial banks and mortgage institutions provide the most effective large-scale evidence. The large investment institutions cannot effectively regulate themselves. So there is no perfectly competitive market and all the theory based on this assumption seems to go to failure. 3.3 What do we learn from financial crisis? Financial crisis reveals that the preconditions of EMH cannot realize in present world. Information uncertainty and feed-back loop lead people irrational and the huge rescue policy proves market is never perfectly competitive. So the prices cannot inflect reflect information in the right level. Lack of regulation of information and financial innovations may be the main reasons for this financial crisis. The Lehman Brother’s collapse indicates that financial markets potential failure really exists and that blindly believe in market lead to systemic collapse of financial markets. Therefore, only relying on the market self-regulation is insufficient, it needs government regulation and macroeconomic control to solve the problems. As the modern financial system in particular with the features of high leverage, high-relevance and high asymmetric, the market systemic risk and complexity have increased. In this case, government must play its leading role in financial supervision and take effective measures to curb excessive market speculation and the vicious competition among financial institutions. Particularly, government should strengthen the investment banking and financial regulations of derivatives to prevent financial institutions rely on excessive leverage to blind investment. 4 Conclusions The efficient market hypothesis provides an ideally situation that the stock prices reflect all relevant information in a perfectly competitive market in which the people are rational. Some valuable studies base on the concept of efficient market has been recognized. However, the extremely ideally preconditions of EMH lead people to rethink the application scope and its practice value. In the current financial crisis, EMH has faced huge challenges to the perfectly preconditions that perfectly rational man and perfectly competitive market cannot realize. These challenges are mainly from two aspects which are information and role of self-regulation in market. Firstly, with the rapidly information dissemination, an information circulation mechanism was established between investors and market. Investors not only absorb information from market, but also give their own views to market. So the information they get already includes their own views which is a reason to make investors irrational. Another problem about information is the uncertainty and inaccuracy that investment banks may use accounting method to blind investors and leads investors to operate stocks irrational. Secondly, EMH overemphasizes the role of self-regulation in the market. Howeve r, large investment institutions cannot regulate themselves effectively. The U.S. governments rescue policy is the greatest evidence of the failure of market liberalization. The departure from reality does not mean the complete failure of EMH. In future studies, EMH may be combined with other disciplines, in order to achieve a greater scope. Bibliography Barber, B. T. Odean (2001) ‘The Internet and the Investor’ Journal of Economic Perspectives 15(1):41-54. Ball, R P. Brown (1968) ‘An Empirical Evaluation of Accounting Income Numbers’ Journal of Accounting Research 6(2):159-178 Barry, M. B. Harvard (1979) ‘Information dissemination, market efficiency and the frequency of transactions’ Journal of Financial Economic 7(1):29-61 Baker, M. J. Wurgler (2007) ‘Investor Sentiment in the Stock Market’ Journal of Economic Perspectives 21(2):129-151 Duncan, G. (2009) ‘Lehman Brothers collapse sends shockwave round world’ The Times Sep 16th, 2008 Fama, E.F., L. Fisher, M. C. Jensen, R Roll (1969) ‘The Adjustment of Stock Prices to New Information’ International Economic Review 10(1):1-22 Fama, E.F. (1970) ‘Efficient capital markets: A review of theory and empirical work’ The Journal of Finance 25(2):383-417 Fama, E.F (1976) Foundations of Finance New York: Basic Books Grossman, S J. Stiglitz (1980) ‘On the Impossibility of Information Efficient Markets’ American Economic Review 70(3):393-408 Jensen M.C. (1969) ‘Risk, The Pricing of Capital Assets, and The Evaluation of Investment Portfolios’ Journal of Business 42(2):67-247 Maloney, M.T. J.H. Mulherin (2003) ‘The Complexity of Price Discovery in an Efficient Market: the Stock Market Reaction to the Challenger Crash’ Journal of Corporate Finance 9(4): 453-479 Osborne, M. (1959): ‘Brownian Motion in the Stock Market’ Operation Research 7: 145-173. Malkiel B.G. (2003) ‘The Efficient Market Hypothesis and Its Critics’ Journal of Economic Perspectives 17(1):59-82 Taylor, J.B. (2009) ‘The Financial Crisis and the Policy Responses: An Empirical Analysis of What Went Wrong’ paper presented to Proceedings of FIKUSZ 09 Symposium for Young Researchers, Budapest, Hungary Nicholson, W. (2004) Microeconomic Theory 9th ed. 2005 South-Western College Pub Shleifer, A. (2000) ‘Inefficient Market- An Introduction to Behavioral Finance’ Oxford: Oxford University Press

Estate Agents I.T. Problem Essays

Estate Agents I.T. Problem Essays Estate Agents I.T. Problem Essay Estate Agents I.T. Problem Essay Ward and Partners are an estate agents in Eynsford, Dartford and Gravesend. They advertise houses in their windows and in newspapers. However for a potential buyer looking for a house they will want specific things, e.g. 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. So basically what I am saying is that the estate agents cannot match a house perfectly to a persons needs, as they do not have all the information stored about every house in their memories. So I am going to design a working database/website that people can search for their perfect house on 24hours a day. There are many ways of solving this problem for the data handling and communications coursework. You could make a database to hold all of the information and quickly search through the records of the houses but a better way of performing this take would be to make the database a part of a web page so that people could access the system 24 hours a day. When looking to buy a house it is very time consuming having to visit the estate agents often to see the new houses on the market and to keep looking through 2 or 3 papers. So I am going to create a web site which includes a database which holds all the information about all the houses that the company has to offer. People can then search the database on the internet 24 hours a day. To make this website I will have to find information about houses and input the information into the database. The website will be very user friendly so everyone can access it. Description Of Problem The system will be very simple , it will use peoples needs to find their ideal house. I am planning to do this by asking a few simple questions about what the user wishes their ideal house to be like. Once the user has input their information a list of the matching houses will appear on the screen with a picture and instructions of how to view the house and more information about it. At the moment the estate agents have all the information kept in files in filling drawers. The sellers information is kept on computer but not information about the house they wish to sell. It is not easy for the estate agents to remember all the details about every house they are offering and normally rely on people choosing houses from the pictures in the window or from the paper. But obviously they cannot advertise every house this way so by placing all their properties on a database there are many positive points such as:- * The database can hold information about EVERY property the agents are selling. * The database would be very easy to search * Estate agents can find properties matching the buyers needs very easily resulting in more sales * The database can be incorporated into a website which can be searched by people at home using the internet. This can be done 24 hours a day. * The estate agents will have more time getting new properties as they will not have to look through every profile for new buyers. The information system that I am planning to introduce will also be based on a computer, but everything, including the pictures, will be kept on the computer. Nothing will be on pieces of paper, the questionnaire about the customers needs will also be kept on the computer. It is clear that the use of I.T can be used in this example, I believe that its use will make this estate agency more efficient, able to cope with a larger amount of customers and so enable them to bring more money into their business. I am planning to produce web pages containing information about my company, Estate Limited, and a search facility to find the correct houses. The customer will have to answer a few very short questions, for example: * Number Of Bedrooms? 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. * Number Of Bathrooms?-1,2,3 * Type of property detached, semi-detached, terraced, flat, bungalow. * Price Range. * Extras e.g garage, double glazing. The questions will be multiple choice , the answers will be in a pull down list form to make the questionnaire easy to understand. The results of the search will appear along with a picture of the property, the location and the asking price. The system will not allow you to buy the house, it just gives you a list of possible properties according to the customers needs so the customer will be able to find out more information on their chosen property from the estate agent. Viewings can then be arranged and possibly follow on to a sale of the property. The website will be assessable 24 hours a day 7 days a week and so anyone who has access to a computer with a modem and internet access s will be able to search the database whenever they choose. INVESTIGATION ANALYSIS Planning To improve the system I will first have to find out about the current system in use so I will send a questionnaire to ward and partners asking them about the system they are using. I will be designing the system for a computer running windows. These are the questions I will use: * Does the current system use windows? * Is the system easy to use? * What information about the propertys do you keep on the system? * Can your customers access the information? * If yes how? * If there was a system available that would let your customers access details on all your properties would you feel it would benefit your business? I am going to design a system that lets potential buyers and customers of an estate agents to look at all the properties the estate agent has on file. They will be able to access this database from home as it will be available on the internet 24 hours a day 7 days a week. There will be a questionnaire for the customer to fill out, only a few questions about what they would like to have in their property from the information they give the database will then be searched and the computer will display any suitable houses. The information about the house will be a short description, the asking price , a picture and a number to contact for further information. Research I have researched the current system available at ward and partners a local estate agent and have found that the current system consists of the following steps: * The customer is asked to fill in a short questionnaire about the house they require. * The answers to the questionnaire are then put onto the computer and the database is searched for a suitable house. * The estate agent only has a few details about the property . there is no picture kept on file all the other information is kept in a filling draw and has to be searched for manually. This is a very time consuming process and of course the customer wont always be happy with the first house so the estate agent must be expected to repeat this process a numerous amount of times. The actual computers: * are between 2 and 3 years old * have a processor speed of 233MHz * probably have a small amount of memory, e.g. 16 or 32 Mb RAM (Random Access Memory) * run Windows 95 * have Microsoft Office 97 installed * have modems and an Internet connection Analysis The strengths and weaknesses of the current system are shown below. Strengths Weaknesses__ * Accurate. * Reliable. * All computers have a modem and an Internet connection. _ * Very Slow. * Difficult to use ,not user friendly. * Technology is out of date therefore the computers are relatively slow. * No web site for advertising * No search available for people to use at home. * Not used by all sorts of people, it is mainly used by couples and students. __ Feasibility It is possible to produce a better system for purchasing a house and I definitely think it is worthwhile, as there are many things that could be improved with the current system. The strengths and weaknesses of the current system are stated above and show that the weaknesses by far exceed the strengths. Specification Of Problem Based on my analysis of the problem, my system must: * be user friendly * be faster than the old system. * be designed to be used on a web site. * ask people questions about their ideal house and search to find the most appropriate houses. * be accurate and reliable. * be suitable for use by all sorts of people. * store all of the information on the computers so that there is no need for a filing cabinets. * Be quick to use. Design Of Solution Hardware This is the schools hardware system and it is quite a high specification, my webpage and database would run on a lower specification if needed. _ N14 N18 Processor PII 400mHz ; Celeron 700mHz Celeron 700mHz Hard drive 4.3GB-10GB 10GB Memory(RAM) 128 MB 128MB Monitor/VDU SVGA Hansol Inc ; SVGA Samtron Inc SVGA Samtron Inc CD-ROM 18x ; 52x 52x Zip drive 100MB 100MB Floppy drive Yes Yes Printers Brother Laser(mono) Brother Laser(Colour) Brother Laser(mono) Scanner 1200x600dpi Software The software that would be most appropriate to use,and I will use is Microsoft Front Page for the design of the website, Microsoft Excel for all the data and Microsoft word for the actual write up . Excel97 for the use in the database, I have found that it id the best package for this type of work and is easily used. It is also compatible with all Microsoft applications. Word97 for the use of word processing. I have found that it is very easy to use and the most popular word processing package, meaning that a client can take home contracts etc on disk and down load them onto his own computer as the chances are they too have Word 97. In order for me to create a prototype I need to know the information which it must display. To do this I asked one of the estate agents. She stated that the property pages must include the features the property has to offer, the asking price, a photo of the property and its location. She also stated that it would be helpful if they could tell how many people had accessed the web site and gain their details for the database via the Internet. * Application To meet the evaluation criteria and specification for my system, I need a software application that is suitable for designing and making web pages. From the web site, I must be able to search a list of houses and so I will require another suitable software application to do this. I have looked at the appropriate facilities of various applications and this is what I have found. Application_Facilities___Searching * _Web sites__Word-processor_Find words in a document_Hyperlinks * Tables * Backgrounds * Images * Text__Spreadsheet_Find words or formulae in a spreadsheet * Search for the same words in a column and display them together_Hyperlinks * Images__Database_Search through records to find matches for information_None__Web site editor_Find words in a web page_Backgrounds * Hyperlinks * Tables * Images * Animated images Text__Programming * language_None_Special effects * Backgrounds * Hyperlinks * Tables * Images * Animated images * Text __ From this table I can see that to search through records I should use a database or powerful spreadsheet and to make a web site I should use a web site editor or a programming language. * Software Packages Now that I know that I need to use a database or a powerful spreadsheet and a web page editor or programming language, I need to look at the different software packages and languages that are available for me to use. First the database. Software package_Facilities and information * __Microsoft Access_Database only, so will have more facilities * More commonly used than Microsoft Works * Very powerful tool * Difficult to use properly without proper training__Microsoft Works_Combined word-processor, spreadsheet, database and address book so will not have as many facilities as Microsoft Access or Excel * Less commonly used than Microsoft Access and Excel__Microsoft Excel_Designed to be a spreadsheet so it focuses on facilities for producing web pages however, it has basic database facilities * Easier to use than Microsoft Access * More commonly used than Microsoft works __ Now the web page editor. Software package_Facilities and information * __Microsoft Word_Doesnt support frames * Text can be easily inserted and formatted * Hyperlinks can be inserted between pages * HTML code cannot be seen * Forms can be inserted * Tables can be inserted * Backgrounds can be set easily * Word Art can be used * Creates a lot of unnecessary code__Microsoft Front Page Express_Doesnt support frames * Text can be easily inserted and formatted * Hyperlinks can be inserted between pages * HTML code can be viewed and altered if needed. * Forms can be inserted * Tables can be inserted * Backgrounds can be set easily * Web bot connections (time and date) can be inserted * Created a lot of unnecessary code __ Finally the programming language. Language_Facilities and information * __HTML (Hyper Text Mark-up Language)_All web pages use this code to tell the browser that the code is a web page * Can take a long time to learn and use quickly * Web pages can be made to look exactly as you want them to * Can be used with other programming languages e.g. JavaScript to create special effects * Text can be inputted and formatted * Images can be inputted * Backgrounds can be set * Hyperlinks can be inserted between pages and links can be inserted within documents * Forms can be inserted * Tables can be inserted * Frames can be created and viewed * Image maps can be drawn * Created by using tags, e.g. A and /A * Can be written in a small program like Notepad __ From these tables, I conclude that even though Access is a much more powerful database tool I will use Microsoft Excel as it is easier to use. I shall also use the programming language HTML instead of a web page editor as I can make the web site look exactly how I wish it to look and I can control the code that is used to make the web page, so that there is no unnecessary HTML. However, it is easier to use a web page editor if you do not know any HTML as the programmes often look like word processors however, they do restrict the types of data that you can put on the web pages and you cannot use frames to aid the navigation through the web site. Data Input I have obtained my data from a variety of different sources. Most of the data is from John Huttchingson estates website; this showed lots of different propertys at a wide range of prices.The data at the moment is either written down or is on the website I am using for ideas. It is now necessary for the information to be moved from the form it is in to the computer. There are various different ways this could be done: Advantages Disadvantages Scanning _The data can be easily scanned on to the computer and then a text converter used to turn the data into text on the screen._ALL of the data would have to be written in a very clear format in order for the scanner to be able to read all of the data__Typing Manually_Easy to do, and labour saving as you can just do it yourself._Time consuming, as with every new piece of information the typist must then enter the data.__Microphone_Does not involve any typing._Is still time consuming, as each word must b enunciated very clearly or the text converter will not detect the word correctly.__Sensors ; Data logging _There is less opportunity for mistakes _The system requires another program to convert the results into useful information__Optical character reader_The data can be entered with no typing_The optical character reader needs to be able read all of the data so it must be in readable format__Mouse_The data can be entered without typing_Some of the data would already have to be entered on to the computer. It is time consuming.__ My main choice will be the keyboard as it suits the task I need it to perform. * Data Input Format Because I am using a database, my data will be arranged in fields. The data that is entered into the fields can be restricted to text, numbers, time, etc. Field name_Data Type_Example_Field length_Other Info __Property Ref_Numbers_14_4_The number of the client /property__Address_Text and Numbers_14 apple close_200_The address of the property__Town_Text_Dartford_20_The location of the property__Value_Numbers_à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½200,000_10_The asking price of the property__Type______Number of Bedrooms_Text and numbers_DA2 7AZ_8_Postcodes are a maximum of 8 characters long__Garage_Numbers_01234 567890_11_Phone numbers are only 11 digits long__Garden_Text_Detached_13_Have to choose from a list__Number of Bathrooms_Numbers_20,000 30,000_15_Have to choose from a list 100,000 is the highest option__Double Glazing_Numbers_20,650_7_à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½100,000 is the highest value possible__Central Hating_Text_Yes_3_Yes or no Have to choose from a list__Status_Text_Yes_3_Yes or no Have to choose from a list__Parking_Text_Single_6_Have to choose from a list__Picture_Text_Yes_3_Yes or no Have to choose from a list__ * Data Validation and Verification It is very important that all of the data in my system is correct. This is because people could search for the wrong things in my database and receive the wrong matches. If the names and addresses are incorrect, people will go to the wrong house and the wrong house will be sold. On the web pages, it is not so important that the data is correct as it is most likely to be spelling mistakes, however, it makes a bad impression if words are spelt wrongly. The data that will be put into my system is: * Property Ref * Address * Town * Value * whether the house has a garden * whether the house has a garage * whether the house has central heating * whether the windows are double glazed * Type Of House * Number of bedrooms * Number of bathrooms * Status of the property * If the house has parking * Picture All the data types and field lengths are shown on the table above. The sorts of errors that are most likely are spelling and typing errors. Most of the data that I am putting into the database can be checked by validation by the computer as Microsoft Excel has a built-in validation check for spelling and I can program in many validation checks of my own, including macros. I have had to program most of my own validation checks to reduce the number of errors that people make when typing in data into the database. Microsoft Excel has a feature that allows you to validate cells easily and effectively to decrease the number of errors that are entered into the system. It allows you to set limits on a cell and allow lists of data which appear as a drop-down list on the cell. I have used different types of validation in my database. To set the validation for a cell, you click Data on the toolbar and select Validation from the list of options. (Data validation) After this, you can change the validation , enter an input message and enter an error message Drop-down lists I have mainly used drop-down lists to limit the possibilities that can be entered into the cells and also to prevent the words from being spelt wrongly. I have used this type validation to allow the type of property to be selected from a list of five words: * Semi-detached * Detached * Flat * Bungalow * Terrace _ This image shows that when you click on a cell with this type of validation a list appears underneath the cell and an input message appears next to the cell explaining how to enter data into the cell. I have set the validation for this cell to show a list and display an input message to explain how to enter the data. _ _ _This image shows that I have allowed a list to be shown. It also shows the source of the list, i.e. the cells that contain the list of words. This image shows the input message that I have entered for this cell to explain how to enter data into the cell. This image shows the error message that I have entered for this cell if the data that is entered is incorrect. _ I have used validation similar to this for allowing people to enter or select: * Price Range * Number of bedrooms required * Number of bathrooms required * The location of the house * Whether the house has a garden * Whether the house has double glazing. * Whether the house has central heating * Whether the house has parking facilities Limits The validation facility allows you to set limits on a cell. This can be used to specify a minimum and maximum number to be entered into a cell or to specify the minimum and maximum number of characters that can be entered into a cell. If the data entered is outside the limits defined by the validation, an error message is displayed on the screen which states the limits of the cell. _ This validation shows that a number between 1 and 5 can be entered into the cell before an error message appears. To validate peoples forenames and surnames, I allowed a number of characters to be entered into a cell. _ _ The maximum number of characters that can be entered into the cell is 15. So, if more than 15 characters are entered into the cell, an error message appears on the screen. Since all names have to be catered for, the only validation that I have used is that each field has to be at least two characters. * Database Microsoft Excel offers the feature of creating your own custom views so that you have one set of data, you can just choose to look at it in a number of different ways. You have to program them in by hiding rows and columns but once they are saved you dont have to re-format the workbook to look like it did. My database has a number of different views: * It has a view for all of the data so that, if needed, you can change the validation checks easily and you can add more views when they are needed. * It has a view for inputting information into the database so that you cannot easily change the validation checks yet you can still input data into the database easily. * Lastly, it has a view for people using the database to search. Unfortunately, if they change any of the data on the view, it will change the data until Excel is loaded again and it will therefore affect the searches and the wrong results will be received. All of the data No rows or columns have been hidden from view and the lists for the validation checks can be seen and edited. All of the data can be edited, but not searched. Enter new data This view shows all of the columns, but the rows with the lists for the validation checks have been hidden so that they cannot be changed. The macro allowing data that has been entered in a form has not been hidden so that if the people putting data into the database choose to enter the data in a form they can still validate the data easily and correct it where necessary. Documentation * Technical Documentation Minimum system requirements: * processor speed of 200 MHz * Memory * sound card * video card * CD-ROM drive * Windows 95 * Microsoft office 97 * Free hard disk space The hardware and an operating system usually comes already installed on most computers that have been bought, so this is not a problem. To install Microsoft Office 97 you will require a CR-ROM drive and a CD containing Office 97 on it. When the CD runs, the set-up will help you to install Office 97 onto the system. I could pass on my system and web site by burning the database, web pages and images onto a CD to allow easy storage, and protection. I could have used a 3.5 inch floppy disk, but data can easily be over-written and they can be damaged easily, whereas, CDs are more robust than floppy disks and cannot be over-written unless: a) The company, Ward and partners, has a CD re-writer and then, b) I burn the data onto a re-writable CD The CD would be inserted into the CD-ROM drive and all of the information on it copies onto the computers hard disk, so now there are two copies of the data, so that if one is lost, there is still a back-up copy of the data. The files can then be opened and edited Before my system can be used by a customer, real data about houses and their current owners must be inputted into the database, as I have made 99 sets of imaginary data just for demonstration purposes and to show that my system works properly and does the jobs that it is supposed to do.