Computer Memory Hacking Essay

Hacking of memory or hacking of RAM describes when a person or person(s) gains unauthorized access to the RAM (random access memory) of a computer system. There a couple of reasons that one might participate in hacking the memory of a computer system. One reason that a person may attempt to gain unauthorized access to a computer is simply to demonstrate   that they are capable of doing so. By demonstrating this skill, the hacker (the person gaining unauthorized access) has shown that the security of the computer system can be penetrated. This is often useful when the owner of the computer system wants to ensure its security is optimal. Another reason a person or person(s) would want to access a computer systems RAM without the owners permission would be to gain information from that computer system. That information may or may not include personal data such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, credit card information, account numbers, and other pertinent information that thieves could use to gain financially. Hackers use many tools and techniques to penetrate the security of the computer system that they choose to attack. Some techniques can include dns spoofing, packet sniffers, social engineering, and trojan horses. DNS spoofing occurs when the hacker changes the DNS entry on a server and redirects the browser to an alternate site. This method is often used to steal usernames, passwords, or other personal information. Packet sniffers were originally designed for administrators to debug their systems. They are devices that intercept and interpret packets of information crossing a network. Social engineering is the method of obtaining personal information and network information through deception or manipulation. For example, pretending to be an employee who forgot their username/password. Trojan horse programs are often referred to as the â€Å"back door† to computer systems.

Analysis and Consequences of Legal Action(S) Essay

Analisis for successful lawsuit report Purpose Per your request, our legal team, courtesy of Legal Eagles, LLP, wishes to advise you regarding your tentative legal action against Mechanics National Bank (â€Å"National Bank†). As you alleged, National Bank was negligent in their failure to remove a lien on your Lagoon Beach property. Our legal team has assessed this and other concerns of your case. Outlined throughout this correspondence are conclusions we have made and recommendations we wish you consider. Before we proceed, we thank you for your trust and assure you nothing less than our highest-quality work. You have expressed to us your interest in recovering compensation for a failed entrepreneurial endeavor involving a hotel property, Hotel California. You also informed us that your acquisition of this property was dependent upon your securing financing through pledging a property you currently own as collateral. In a brief analysis of the facts of your case, we find you may successfully prove liability on the part of National Bank; however, this conclusion is not without concerns, particularly regarding your contract with the owner of Hotel California. This concern and other considerations for your case are also discussed in this correspondence. Factual Background Our notes of the essential facts of your case indicate the following: You sought the acquisition of an existing hotel property located in Palm Desert, Green. You contacted the hotel’s listing agent, Mr. Babak Gordon, and obtained preliminary data on the property, including financial statements of the hotel which you have provided us. On January 5, 2005, the hotel owner, Ms. Shirley Ramirez, Mr. Gordon, and you had a preliminary discussion regarding the purchase and sale of Hotel California. Ms. Ramirez offered to you by phone this property for $4.3 million, excluding the furniture, and the sale was to conclude following a 45 day escrow. On January 6, 2005, you faxed Ms. Ramirez a signed letter both indicating your acceptance of her offer and your preference that the transaction close following a 60 day escrow. Although you never received a reply or confirmation from Ms. Ramirez, on January 30, 2005, you obtained a financing commitment from Bank of the West. Their conditions we re that the bank would obtain a first priority lien on the hotel property along with an unrelated undeveloped parcel of land owned by you in Lagoon Beach, Green. As you have shared with us, you acquired this land in 1984 and had managed to pay off its mortgage on November 1, 2004. However, National Bank failed to remove its lien on the property. You vigorously attempted to get National Bank to remove its lien on this property. You contacted bank officers and explained to them that the lien needed to be removed so that you could pledge the property as collateral and finance your purchase of Hotel California. Because National Bank did not remove this lien, you were unable to finance the acquisition of Hotel California. You later bought a hotel property â€Å"similarly situated† and â€Å"virtually identical† to Hotel California for $4.7 million dollars. Issue From our analysis, we find as reasonable your decision to consider pursuing legal action against National Bank for damages. You have cited National Bank as negligent for failing to follow instructions regarding the removal of a lien from the title of your Lagoon Beach property. If you proceed further to trial, a court of law will try, whether by failing to remove its lien on your Lagoon Beach property, National Bank committed the tort of negligence. Because our analysis has also raised concerns regarding your contract with the owner of Hotel California, Ms. Shirley Ramirez, we must also inform you of a second issue a court of law is likely to try. If you proceed further to trial, a court of law will try whether a legally binding, enforceable contract exists (or existed) between Ms. Ramirez and you. Keep in mind that your legal action for damages may be predicated on whether there was a contract. Roadmap In addition to listing our conclusions, recommendations, and concerns throughout this correspondence, you will find that we have analyzed the likelihood for success of your legal action against National Bank. You have expressed your desire to recover damages for your lost opportunity involving the Hotel California property. For your convenience, a complete and careful analysis has been conducted and detailed throughout this correspondence. GROUNDS OF LIABILITY You have alleged that National Bank was negligent, and you intend to recover damages from National Bank. You will have the burden of proving the prima facie case for the tort of negligence. You must cite evidence and present arguments that support your allegation of National Bank’s negligence. To successfully fulfill your burden you must show that: * Duty: The defendant (National Bank) owed you (plaintiff) a duty of due care. * Breach of Duty: Defendant’s conduct breached that duty. * Actual and Proximate Cause: Actual and proximate causation between defendant’s breach and your (plaintiff’s) injury was present. * Injury: Injured party (you) sustained injury due to defendant’s actions. If you fail to prove these elements, National Bank’s legal team may motion to dismiss your case. In this event, it is possible that your case could then be dismissed without further proceedings. However, if you successfully prove and argue all four of these elements, you must also overcome any affirmative defenses, if applicable, raised by the defendant (National Bank). These defenses are contributory negligence and assumption of risk. From our initial analysis, National Bank will be unable to raise an affirmative defense on these grounds. We will fully assess whether there are on any other legal grounds defenses that National Bank can raise. (See Other Considerations.) Remedies for Negligence If you successfully prove National Bank’s liability, you may be entitled to recover compensatory or actual damages. The damages and compensatory award amounts are determined on a case-by-case basis by the jury or judge presiding over the case. We have included a potential award amount you may be entitled to and you will find a complete discussion on how this determination is made. (See ANALYSIS OF LIABILITY – Injury.) Statutes Governing Contract Law Because the secondary issue (See Issue) and one of our concerns regarding your case is regarding your contract with Ms. Ramirez, we have disclosed applicable information from both the Green Civil Code and our legal library pertaining to 1) offer and acceptance, 2) Green’s statute of frauds, and 3) Green’s â€Å"mirror image rule.† For your convenience, we have bolded and defined legal terminology that will be reiterated in later sections of this correspondence. Offer and Acceptance An offer is the important first step in the contract formation process. A party (offeror) who makes the offer gives another party (offeree) to whom the offer is made the power to bind both parties to a contract simply by accepting the offer. Not every proposal qualifies as an offer. To distinguish an offer, courts evaluate offers on three grounds: First, they look for some objective indication of a present intent to contract on the part of the offeror. Second, they look for specificity, or definiteness, in the terms of the alleged offer. Third, they look to see whether the alleged offer has been communicated to the offeree. An acceptance is â€Å"a manifestation of assent to the terms [of the offer] made by the offeree.† In determining if an offeree accepted an offer and created a contract, a court will look for evidence of three factors: (1) the offeree intended to enter the contract, (2) the offeree accepted on the terms proposed by the offeror, and (3) the offeree communicated his acceptance to the offeror. Statute of Frauds According to the Green Civil Code,  § 1624, any contract transferring an interest in land is invalid if not accompanied by â€Å"note or memorandum.† An unenforceable contract is one that meets the basic legal requirements for a contract, but may not be enforceable because of some other legal rule. A contract for which the statute of frauds requires a form of writing, yet no writing is made, may be declared an unenforceable contract. Mirror Image Rule The traditional contract law rule is that an acceptance must be the mirror image of the offer. Attempts by offerees to change the terms of the offer or to add new terms to it are treated as counteroffers because they indicate an intent by the offeree to reject the offer instead of being bound by its terms. Now that you have an understanding of the relevant law behind the tort of negligence and contracts, and are familiar with the legal terminology of these areas, we proceed into our analysis of the facts of your case and the prima facie case for the tort of negligence. ANALYSIS OF NATIONAL BANK’S LIABILITY Should you pursue further legal action against National Bank, you will have the burden of proving the elements of the prima facie case of the tort of negligence. Below are descriptions of these elements, accompanied by our legal analysis between the facts of the case, prima facie case, and case law from our legal library. Tort of Negligence In Commercial Escrow Company v. Rockport Rebel, Inc., negligence is defined as â€Å"conduct which falls below the standard established by law for the protection of others†. Because of the similarities in the facts between the case of Escrow Company and your case, this case has been used extensively in the forming of the following arguments. We recommend using this case in satisfying your burden for your legal action. Accordingly, you must argue that National Bank’s behavior in failing to remove the lien on your Lagoon Beach property fell below the standard for public protection established by law. Further, to successfully prove negligence, you must argue that National Bank is responsible for some injury you incurred stemming from their alleged mismanagement and failure to remove the lien on your property. With your notes, the facts of your case, and documents you provided us, we have constructed tentative arguments to determine the success of your legal action. You will find these arguments beginning on the next page. Duty According to the case, Commercial Escrow Company v. Rockport Rebel, Inc., â€Å"a defendant owes a duty of care to all foreseeable plaintiffs.† For example, in cases where a â€Å"[defendant] voluntarily assumes the duty to act by promising to the plaintiff to behave in a certain way,† the defendant owes that plaintiff a duty to act with care. According to Judge Utter, a â€Å"defendant also [owes] the plaintiff a duty of care where a contractual relationship between the parties requires the defendant to act in a certain way towards the plaintiff.† Considering these rules of law, National Bank owed you a duty to act as you requested. In your previous correspondence, you indicated that National Bank is â€Å"the lender on your Lagoon Beach property.† You also submitted to us a copy of your deed of trust. To reiterate â€Å"the language in the deed of trust† as part of your contractual relationship with National Bank, National Bank was supposed â€Å"to promptly record a reconveyance of its lien on [your] property upon payment in full of the underlying loan.† Because National Bank failed to do this, we find it foreseeable that you would be prevented from using the property as collateral for your hotel acquisition. Additionally, you also mentioned that you â€Å"vigorously attempted to get†¦ National Bank to remove its lien on [your] property, but to no avail† and despite â€Å"repeated assurances from various officers.† Because National Bank officers assured and essentially promised you that they would remove the lien on your property, National Bank voluntarily assumed a duty to you, if no duty had been present beforehand. In essence, the assurances made to you to process your request indicate that National Bank voluntarily assumed, and therefore owed you, a duty of due care to act as you requested. In light of these arguments, we assure you that you should successfully satisfy this first element – duty – of the prima facie case of the tort of negligence. Breach of Duty According to Commercial Escrow Company v. Rockport Rebel, Inc., in order for a plaintiff to prove negligence, the â€Å"plaintiff is required to show †¦that [the defendant] had breached [defendant’s] duty of care to the plaintiff.† In most cases, a defendant owes a plaintiff a duty to act as would a reasonable person under similar circumstances. In the case of Escrow Company, the Court found that â€Å"in performing services for a client, [the] escrow company has the duty to strictly follow instructions.† Like an escrow company, a financial institution like National Bank most likely has a duty to strictly follow instructions drafted in a deed of trust, or part of a loan or other financial instrument. Because officers on behalf of National Bank did not follow instructions and terms of behavior involving you (as lendee) and National Bank (as lender) detailed in your property’s deed of trust, you may successfully argue that National Bank breached its duty to you. According to our copy of your deed of trust you provided us, National Bank was required to â€Å"promptly record a reconveyance of its lien on the property upon payment in full of the underlying loan.† You had managed to pay off the mortgage on this property on November 1, 2004. Despite this, National Bank failed to remove its lien, even after you requested. Because officers at National Bank did not strictly follow this instruction, National Bank breached the duty of due care owed to you. Causation Satisfying the prima facie case for the tort of negligence also requires that a plaintiff prove that there is a connection (or actual causation) between the alleged breach of duty by defendant and injury suffered by plaintiff. As in the case of Commercial Escrow Company v. Rockport Rebel, Inc., courts assess the existence of a connection between breach and injury by determining whether injury would have occurred if not for breach. A court would employ a similar test in your case. Because National Bank failed to remove the lien on your property, you did not satisfy terms of the loan commitment with Bank of the West and could not secure financing for your acquisition of Hotel California. We find that there is a casual connection. Courts also evaluate the proximate cause (causation) between a defendant’s breach of duty and a subsequent injury suffered by a plaintiff. Proximate causation refers to whether the defendant’s breach of duty and subsequent injury suffered by the plaintiff was foreseeable. Because you vigorously attempted to have officers at National Bank remove its lien on your property and informed them that you needed the lien removed in order to pledge the property as collateral, we find that your injury of loss of opportunity to acquire the hotel property was foreseeable. Injury The final element you must prove to satisfy the prima facie case for the tort of negligence is whether you have suffered injury because of National Bank’s alleged negligence. Due to National Bank’s failure in removing the lien on your Lagoon Beach property, the transfer of ownership agreement of Hotel California between you and Ms. Ramirez allegedly collapsed. Later, you purchased a â€Å"similarly situated† and â€Å"virtually identical† hotel property for $4.7 million, $400,000 more than what you would have paid for Hotel California ($4.3 million). In essence, National Bank’s alleged negligence caused you to incur an opportunity cost of $400,000. This loss of opportunity is under the assumption that a valid, enforceable contract existed between you and Ms. Ramirez. SUMMARY Because National Bank breached its duty by failing to remove its lien on your property, you were unable to secure financing for a $4.3 million acquisition of Hotel California. However, you later purchased a â€Å"virtually identical† property for $4.7 million. You may be entitled to the difference. DEFENSES AGAINST LIABILTY In this portion of this report, we detailed any applicable defenses relevant to your case, and outlined other considerations and concerns we advise you to consider. Although we have found that affirmative defenses to National Bank’s negligence are inapplicable to the particular facts of your case, we have other concerns to discuss. Other Considerations It is the opinion of Legal Eagles, LLP, that National Bank may argue that regardless of whether it removed the lien on your Lagoon Beach property, indefinite would be the transfer of ownership of the hotel property from Ms. Ramirez to you. As our analysis showed, you may successfully prove that National Bank had a duty to remove the lien on your property and subsequently breached that duty by failing to adhere to this instruction. If the failure to remove the lien on your property can be proven to have caused you damage(s), we will advise you to pursue further legal against National Bank. But first we must evaluate the documents you provided us and later the validity of the binding contract between you and Ms. Ramirez. Analysis of Income We have completely revalued the hotel property, Hotel California you were interested in. We used the same method(s) and approaches that most banks in our region would use to appraise the value of hotel properties. The expected value approach places weights on appraisals from two methods. First, we multiplied the past two years’ average gross margin by four. This holds a weight of 40%, because it is expected to be accurate 40% of the time. The value we derived from this method came to $2,462,380.00. Next, we took the present value of the average of the past three years’ cash flows, discounted at an 8% discount rate for 10 years. This method holds a 60% weight. The value derived from this method comes to $2,505,589.13. Our final step is to assign the correct weight to each method and sum the two figures. We can therefore conclude that the Hotel California’s appraisal value is $2,488,305.48. In addition to this, it is acceptable for a company to sell what is known a s â€Å"goodwill.† That is why the listed price of 2.5 million dollars was overstated by $11,694.52. We know that the bank would only allow you to borrow up to the appraised value, $2,488,305.48, unless you either pay 25% of the purchase in cash, or pledge to the bank a first priority lien on the vacant land as collateral. We also know that the latter option was not possible, so we will consider the former. We conclude that 25% of the purchase price of $4.3 million is $1,075,000. Because you were able to only provide $500,000 in cash for a down payment, you did not meet the requirements to borrow more than $2,488,305.48 from the bank, without pledging the vacant land. Hypothetically, if you had decided to borrow $2,488,305.48 from the bank, plus your $500,000 down payment, you would have had $2,988,305.48. This amount still would not have been enough to purchase the Hotel California property offered at $4.3 million dollars. Consequently, we conclude that without pledging the vacant land as collateral, there was no way you could have borrowed enough money to make the purchase. Even though the appraised value was not enough for you to borrow a sufficient amount of money from Bank of the West, we believe the appraised amount you were given was not accurate. There are two reasons why we believe Desert Mirage Accounting should not have relied on the income statement and footnote provided by Ms. Ramirez’s accountant. The first problem lies in the way the accountant prepared the income statement. Mr. Babak Gordon calculated gross profit by taking revenue minus cost of revenue. This method is only used for retailers and manufacturing companies, whereas Hotel California is a service company. The second problem is the verifiability of the financial statements and reliability of the accountant. To be credible, financial statements must follow generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). A financial statement that follows GAAP must be accompanied by a signed opinion letter. The letter can be in the form of: 1) Compilation letter 2) Review letter 3) Audit opinion Finally, this letter must be signed by a certified public accountant (CPA). Because the income statement of Hotel California does not come with any signed opinion letter, we cannot verify its accuracy. Therefore, Desert Mirage Accounting should not have relied on that income statement and footnote information to make the evaluation. In our initial observation of your case, we assumed National Bank’s failure to remove its lien from your Lagoon Beach property caused you to forfeit your opportunity to purchase the Hotel California property. As illustrated by our calculations above, you could not have financed the acquisition of Hotel California without pledging your Lagoon Beach property as collateral. However, after conducting a thorough analysis of your case, we regret to inform you that you may not be able to prove damages stemming from National Bank’s failure to remove its lien from your property. Even though National Bank may have breached its duty to you, National Ba nk could argue that your contract with Ms. Ramirez is invalid or unenforceable. In the event that you do not have a valid or enforceable contract, you are not legally entitled to the Hotel California property or other legal remedies. In essence, regardless of whether National Bank’s negligence can be proved, a transaction between Ms. Ramirez and you might not have occurred if a binding contract did not exist. We will clarify and explain this finding in the next section. Offer and Acceptance Analysis From our analysis, coupled with case law from our case library, we have found that there was no contractual arrangement between you and Ms. Ramirez. In arriving at this finding, we took into account the facts surrounding your case. There are key elements that prevent the institution of a contract, for the purchase of real estate, between you and Ms. Ramirez. In reaching this finding, we referred to the case of Cayetano J. Apablasa v. Merritt & Company from our case library. In this case, the Court evaluated a plaintiff’s action for damages resulting from an alleged breach of contract. This plaintiff’s action for damages depended on whether there was an existing contract. The Court found that â€Å"no reasonable construction of evidence† admitted a binding contract between the parties; and that the correspondence that was provided to the Court amounted to â€Å"nothing more than an offer that was never accepted.† In essence, at the conclusion of the plaintiff’s case, the Court’s judge â€Å"entered a judgment decreeing that no contract was entered into, existing, or was ever executed.† Similar to your case, in Cayetano v. Merritt, the initial reply to the offeror’s offer by the offeree did not constitute an acceptance, contrary to what the offeree had thought. The offeree had included a â€Å"proviso† in his perceived acceptance letter to the offeror. In light of this, the Court found that terms proposed in an offer â€Å"must be met exactly, precisely and unequivocally for its acceptance to result in the formation of a binding contract.† This decision supplements our discussing regarding Green’s â€Å"mirror image rule† below. (See Regarding Mirror Image Rule.) Additionally, the Court stated that â€Å"[t]he addition of any condition†¦ is tantamount to a rejection of the original offer and the making of a counteroffer.† In essence, the Court’s decision can be summarized by the following: â€Å"[w]here a person offers to do a definite thing and another introduces a new term into the acceptance, his answer is a mere expression of willingness to negotiate or is a counter proposal, and in neither case is there a contract; if it is a new proposal and it is not accepted it amounts to nothing.† Regarding Green’s Statute of Frauds A key element that is missing in the proof of a contract is that your agreement with Ms. Ramirez was not in writing. The Green Civil Code requires that in order for a contract involving the sale of real property, to be valid, the agreement must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged or by the party’s agent. In your situation, Ms. Ramirez made her initial offer orally over the phone and you replied by a signed fax. There was never a written offer or contract signed by Ms. Ramirez. Therefore, a court of law would most likely find the contract between you and Ms. Ramirez as unenforceable. Even if the alleged contract did not have to be in writing and could be enforceable, there are other additional concerns we have: Regarding the Mirror Image Rule In a situation, such as the one you were in, a proper acceptance must meet the â€Å"mirror image rule.† This rule states that in order for an offeree to properly accept an offer, the offeree must accept the exact offer that was established by the offerer. When reviewing your case, we found that you had intent to accept Ms. Ramirez’s offer, but in your attempt to accept the offer, you added a different term to the agreement. In her offer, Ms. Ramirez required that â€Å"[t]he sale was to conclude following a 45-day escrow.† However, in your reply, you stated that you â€Å"would like to close escrow within 60 days.† A court of law would find that by changing the terms of Ms. Ramirez’s offer, you fail to meet the â€Å"mirror image rule,† and therefore terminated Ms. Ramirez’s initial offer and proposed a counteroffer. Documents you provided us detailing your correspondence with Ms. Ramirez indicate no communication on her part in accepting your counteroffer. Summary We must mention that had there been a contract between Ms. Ramirez and you, you may have been the subject of legal action by Ms. Ramirez. If we assume there was an actual contract between Ms. Ramirez and you with either the 45 day or 60 day escrow term, Ms. Ramirez could have pursued legal action and you could be liable for having breached your contract for your failure to deliver on your promise. You entered into the alleged contract with Ms. Ramirez on January 6, 2005. Regardless of whether there was an agreement for a 45 day escrow or a 60 day escrow term, you failed to secure financing in either time frame. Approximately 80 days after entering the alleged contract with Ms. Ramirez, on March 28, 2005, you contacted Ms. Ramirez to request an extension. The fact that you have no pending legal action brought by Ms. Ramirez may suggest that Ms. Ramirez did not view the arrangement with you as a binding contract. We reiterate that neither party had a binding, enforceable contract. CONCLUSION Ms. Warren, we regret to inform you that success with your legal action is unlikely. There is a high chance you will be unsuccessful, should you purse a legal action against National Bank on the grounds of the tort of negligence. National Bank failed to remove the lien on your Lagoon Beach property, violating the duty of due care owed to you, and disrupting your ability to secure financing for your entrepreneurial endeavor. However, the question of law of whether there was a valid, enforceable contract between you and Ms. Ramirez, is the decisive issue. As our analysis has indicated, a court of law will most likely try the issue of whether there was a binding contract. Thus without the binding contract between you and Ms. Ramirez involving her offer for the hotel (Hotel California), a judge or jury in a court of law cannot rely on how much you would have paid to make a compensatory damages determination. In other words, because your action for damages is predicated on a contract between you and Ms. Ramirez, your damages cannot be established and you incurred no loss of opportunity. Without the loss of this opportunity cost, you have not suffered any injury due in part to National Bank’s negligence. RECOMMENDATIONS Ms. Warren, as Associate Partner of Legal Eagles, LLP, I oversaw the analysis of my legal team and validated their conclusions and findings. In light of the findings of our analysis, I foremost recommend that you consider the following course of action: * Please, do not pursue further legal action against National Bank regarding this cause of action and issue. It is my opinion and the opinion of Legal Eagles, LLP, that pursuing further legal action regarding this issue, considering our evaluation of your case, will result only in additional expense on your part including legal and attorney fees and your time. You will also not receive the resolution that you would like making the process inherently dissatisfying and frustrating. With this in mind, there is another course of action I do recommend. Because you have already attempted to resolve your issue with National Bank regarding the lien on your Lagoon Beach, Green property, you are entitled to contact the regulatory agency of your former bank. All national banks within the state of Green are regulated by different agencies. If National Bank’s lien remains on your property, I recommend you pursue this alternate course of action: * Contact the appropriate state of Green regulatory agency of your financial institution (National Bank) and file a complaint. Your bank’s regulatory agency can help you with your concerns and complaints. There are many regulatory agencies in the state of Green’s banking industry. For your convenience, the appropriate regulatory agency of your former bank, and its details have been listed: According to the Federal Financial Institutions Examinations Council (for additional information visit www.ffiec.gov), National Bank’s regulator is the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (for additional information please visit www.helpwithmybank.gov). You can visit and reach this regulatory agency online or by phone at (800) 613-6743. The Office of the Comptroller will assist you in getting answers and solutions to your questions and concerns. You can also file complaints against your bank, here. If you decide to proceed with filing a complaint, officials from the Office of the Comptroller will contact National Bank on your behalf regarding your issue for a response. You will then receive a let ter summarizing the results. Those who have sought our legal advice and even had similar experiences as you with National Bank as well have reported that intervention by a regulatory agency expedited the process and liens were eventually removed. We are confident that you have the tools to resolve this issue. LEGAL EAGLES, LLP ——————————————– [ 1 ]. The elements of the prima facie case of the tort of negligence are duty, breach of duty, actual and proximate cause, and injury. [ 2 ]. COMMERCIAL ESCROW COMPANY AND JAMES DE MIK, APPELLANTS, v. ROCKPORT REBEL, INC., APPELLEE. 778 S.W.2d 532; 1989 Tex. App. LEXIS 2263 [ 3 ]. CAYETANO J. APABLASA, Appellant, v. MERRITT & COMPANY (a Corporation) et al., Respondents. 176 Cal. App. 2d 719; 1 Cal. Rptr. 500; 1959 Cal. App. LEXIS 1542

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â€Å"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles,† this Is an old Chinese saying from Sun Tug who was a Military General from ancient China. Despite It was used for military tactic, the concept of this can also be used in modern society as it is perceived as a highly competitive community. Interpersonal perception refers to self-understanding physically, mentally and emotionally. Interpersonal perception in this essay related to how one conceive another by their attitudes, behaviors through both verbal and non-verbal ways.This essay examined how Intra- and Interpersonal perception contributes to individual success both at university and at work In the future. Firstly, understanding own strengths and weaknesses can improve academic performance by accurate self- assessment and self-monitoring. Secondly, better understanding of peers at university personal development due to the enhancement of relationship growth belief. Then, one c an take advantage of own talent at work once it is being discovered.Lastly, correct interpersonal perception may lead to a better coordination during work. Firstly, an accurate self-assessment ensures students to have a better tidying strategy and learning pattern. A research done by Debra reveals that student who can accurately self-monitor is able to distinguish between understood and less-understood materials. In the research, almost 90% of 314 respondents concluded that the Student Self-Assessment Sheet given by Debra did have impact on their exam preparation.One possible reason for the result is that they estimated what they have studied and what not before the exam. Therefore, learning strategy can be adjusted accordingly. For Instance, the time spent on understood materials can be reduce In order to prolong their study on those that are less-understood. As the result, study efficiency is enhanced and total time spent on study may be reduced. On the other hand, poor self-asses sment may result in over confidence and optimistic leading to poor study planning, and eventually to underperformed in the exam.From the evidence above, it is possible to conclude that self-understanding is critical In order to be success at university because It let oneself to notice his ability on the subject accurately and therefore shortcomings could be coped and academic result could be secured. More Importantly, one's distinctive spectacles could be covered, it could lead them to choose the right study field and the subject to be majored. In long term, accurate self-assessment may bring longstanding benefit.Secondly, an increase perceptions of mutual needs among university students enhance relationship growth belief. According to Deck, Chic and Hong, relationship growth belief refers to a belief which examining about the malleability and stability of personality, Intellectual ability and ethics (cited In Canaveral, Cocker, p. 370). Research done by Canaveral and Cocker beliefs that students' chronic compassionate goals, such as promoting mutually supportive relationships by eloping or supporting others, could help gain understanding between themselves.For example, one of the compassionate goals of the majority of students is helping freshmen to adapt new university environment by being a volunteer, through the difficulties and problems they experienced and the Increase In relationship growth degree of morality will be increased. These fundamental elements build up a strong leader figure at the university which increases competitiveness among peers. Thirdly, appropriate Job position can be choose through understanding of self- characteristics.A study from Institute of Management examined how personality lays the role for individual Job performance. For instance, a worker with a high conscientiousness provides an active problem solving attitude, a time-effective plan and keen on coping with work-related pressure. It is reflected as careful and responsible for the Job obligation. A worker who is high in extroversion is usually perceived as highly sociable, highly ambition and able to solve complex problems.A worker who has a high degree of agreeableness engages in social activities, mainly involve in interpersonal communication and resolve conflict between parties. Above extinctive personal characteristics categorize workers into various types of Job which it could make full use of their personalities. High conscientiousness worker could be allocated to be a manager; high extroversion worker could specialize in leadership skill; decent credibility colleague could involve in human relation department.Therefore, one's accurate self-perception provides an optimum Job position guide so that talent is not being wasted, and assist one's to become success in that particular field. Lastly, correct interpretation of colleague's personal characteristics could enhance working coordination and working efficiency. According to a research construct ed by Abele and Starters from Miami University, matching and mismatching could affect a decision. In a matching situation, individuals' preferences are similar, their common interest could lead to the same destination which the majority in the matching group would welcome.Since it is easier for individuals in the same group of behavior to communicate and coordinate, it enhances interpersonal liking. In addition, successful matching promotes a sense of belonging and a feeling of unity, these elements are essential for a high efficiency working environment as the capabilities of having misunderstanding and disagreement are diminished. An ordinary company is believed to have several types of workers, if one can have an accurate perception of others' characteristic, behaviors and favors.Appropriate way of handling matters could be used to cope with workers with various colleagues so that different interest could be met and better coordination could be assured. Interpersonal perception i n workplace is indispensable because task in corporation demands teamwork rather than individual contribution. Therefore, an accurate understanding of colleague could prevent unnecessary conflict and enhance working armory. To conclude, this essay examined how intra- and interpersonal perception contributes individual success both at university and later at work.First, accurate self-assessment guides to provide a better study planning thus lead to betterment of academic result. Second, understanding peer mutual needs may enhance relationship growth which rise competitiveness. Third, better Job selection with a clear understanding of personal characteristics and specialties. Last, correct interpretation of colleague's personality enhances working coordination as well as improves work efficiency and productivity.

APDM Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

APDM - Speech or Presentation Example For better understanding about the financial position of the APDM, a brief financial analysis of the company has been made below The statement of comprehensive income for the year ended 2011 shoes that the company made net income $681,780.88. According to the company’s account the main source of income include the general services, technical assistance and the clinical data management service of the company. On the other side, a material amount $172,804 has been given to customers as a discount. The company has incurred the cost of $364,658.85 against all their Net income from all sources. The company has made the gross profit of $317,122.03 with a gross profit ratio of 46.5% in year 2011. On the side of expenses, APDM incurred a huge amount of expenses in 2011. Expense figure include the large amount of Research and development expenses in it. This means that, APDM attribute major portion of their finance on research and development to develop the new technologies. The company’s account shows the expense figure of $325,816.45 after including all operations and administration expenses. This figu re covered almost all the gross profit’s figure that’s why company made the net loss of $8,694.19 at end of financial year. In accordance with above analysis, there are many recommendations that the APDM consider in managing its finances. It can clearly be seen that in the income statement analysis, the company has incurred the huge amount of expenses in year 2012. APDM should investigate that, is all the expense incurred in proper manner? On the other side, the expenses include the large portion of Research and development expenses. It is the indication that the company is trying to win the race form its competitors through developing new technologies. In addition, APDM should also investigate these figures due to their material nature. In addition, APDM can also avoid any of adverse situations by taking these measures. If the company was

Managers and HR Professionals Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Managers and HR Professionals - Essay Example Despite the facts that supervisors remain in close contact with employees and are aware of their needs and requirements, their opinions are over rules and ignored. This reflects through improper selection of candidates, high rates of attrition of crucial resources, rising costs of recruitments and high investments in training and developmental activities. Supervisors are subjected to too much scrutiny and inspection which keeps them from performing to the best of their abilities. b) ‘Should managers be given more autonomy to make decision making, but what are some of the drawbacks of doing so?’ It is recommended that managers are given greater autonomy in handling HR activities of the organization. This is because they remain in close connection with their subordinates and know about their shortcomings, strengths, training needs, causes of frustrations and resentment which causes them to leave. Greater autonomy would allow them to manage the workforce according to the sp ecific needs of the situation and this would help keep employees satisfied which would further better their performance. However, too much autonomy of the managers might give them the opportunity to exploit the workers and deprive them of their deserving. c) ‘How should top executive deal with the situation and more specifically, how should the HR director deal with it?’ The top executives and the Director can resolve the situation by providing greater authority to the supervisors and line managers in handling the workforce activities. However, at the same time they must closely review the performance of the managers so as to ensure that their decisions are safe and favorable for the organization (Armstrong & Baron, 2002, p.119). 2. Boeing and Airbus Outsourcing a) Describe the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing for these companies, as described in the article. The main advantages of outsourcing for these companies is that they can avail a highly talented and q ualified workforce and skills which are not available in their own country. Additionally the rare skills can be employed at a much less compensation level as compared to a worker who is employed in the home country. Thus it is cost effective to outsource activities in foreign nations. However, the main disadvantage lies in the fact that exchange rates are subject to fluctuations and can severe loss to a company when the value of currency in the home nation falls as compared to the guest nation, as happened in the case of Airbus when the value of dollar rose. b) Are there ethical considerations involved in this type of outsourcing? Please explain. Such fluctuations in the exchange rates causing great losses for the companies generally results in job cuts to compensate for the loss, which is regarded as an unethical practice. Also discontentment among workers results in strikes, demanding unfair claims from workers which pose significant loss for the company (Brewster & Harris, 1999, p.27). 3. Importance of Tolerance in the Workplace Incident no. 1 a) Should ABC comply with its client’s request? It is recommended that ABC Temps abides by its client’s request of removing Susan from the particular job role. This is because every

Commercial law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Commercial law - Essay Example Once the terms of an agency agreement have been made, it is important to draft a written contract that any of the parties involved can request, which would state the duration of the contract among other things. An agency agreement usually contains the fixed term of the contract, exists for an indefinite term that is terminable and lastly a fixed term that can be extended if agreed by both parties1. In relation to Rosie and Simon’s case, the parties did have a written contract or agency agreement that did not state the terms of their contract in detail. The implication of this is that it might be difficult for Simon to prove that Rosie went against the terms of the contract that they had agreed upon through the written agency agreement. Additionally, Rosie is in breach of the contract they agreed upon with Simon because she did not give Simon the 10% commission that they had agreed on when he sold a piece of work for her. In order for Simon to be safe, he would have made sure that he drafted a contract that captured much detail on how he was to make money out of the contract. For this reason, Rosie could be entitled to not pay Simon. On the contrary, the Commercial Agents regulation requires that either of the parties wishing to terminate an agreement entered for an indefinite period issue adequate notice to the other party, which Rosie did not comply. The regulation requires that a person provides notice of termination depending on the period they have been in the contract. For example, if they have been in the contract for a year, they should issue a one months’ notice, two years attracts a two months’ notice and so on. Therefore, Simon has grounds to seek compensation for the breaching of the contract that he had entered into with Rosie based on not being issued with proper notice. The regulation requires that a principal act dutifully to the agent and in good faith to which she did not

Impede International Strategy Implementation Essay

Impede International Strategy Implementation - Essay Example The writers undertook a qualitative research in a post-1992 UK University where they carried out 20 interviews from three different departments. The authors have done a critical analysis of issues of strategy implementation in internalization and finally identified critical issues impeding international strategy implementation within a learning institution’s context. The writers have ensured that they contribute to the rich understanding of challenges of higher education internalization and further showed different understanding of critical issues of higher education internalization as well as highlighting specific areas that they feel should be improved. A methodology that was used is a qualitative research where 20 participants from a post-1992 university were selected from key departments. The university that was selected is among the UK universities undertaking higher education internalization but do not have established satellite overseas. The participants were selected based on job responsibilities and their positions where they were divided into the corporate group, the marketing group and the faculty group on 1:1 interview conducted over a period of six months. In addition, a literature review helped in conducting the study and making a conclusion. The selected solutions for the problem that almost all interviewees agreed on included were sufficient allocation of resources, efficient communication and information sharing among various departments, operational processes within home campuses and the satellite branches should be harmonized. Moreover, there was a need of cooperation and coordination.

The Crusades Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

The Crusades - Essay Example The first text comprises of an eyewitness account of the sermon of Pope Urban II and the details of Crusade as given by various Christian eyewitness. Pope’s sermon has been embellished with lots of imagination and gory details of mass killings of Christians by Turks in the city of Jerusalem. Robert The Monk’s account of Pope’s sermon is interspersed with gruesome details of the killing in order to incite Christians to take part in the war and avenge the desecration of Church. Baldric of Dol says that Pope had exhorted the Christian by telling them that ‘you may deem it a beautiful thing to die for Christ in that city in which he died for us’ (Allen and Amt, p44). Most importantly it tells that the crusaders not only fought for religious purpose but many had vested interests. Bohemond, a great warrior, had to be bribed by the Emperor with ‘land in extent from Antioch fifteen days’ journey and eight in width’ (Allen and Amt, p62). T he text shows that the crusades against Turks had defied human dignity with extreme brutality and violence. Indeed, Letter of Stephen of Bloise to his wife covers the religious fervor of the crusades and also describes the bloodshed and indiscriminate killing in the name of holy war. An Arab Syrian Gentleman and Warrior: Memoirs of Usamah gives insight into the Arab culture and shows a humane perspective of people who were viewed as barbarians during the period of crusades. He gives personal accounts of his experience of Christians with whom he had maintained good relationships. In a personal account, Usamah describes how Frankish physician had saved the life of the son of an Arab artisan, whose neck was afflicted with scrofula, a dreaded disease. The text gives a more civilized picture of Moslems in Jerusalem and shows that Moslems and Christians had co-existed peacefully as contrarily described in the earlier text.  

A research paper on Penelope Fitzgerald and her book the Gate of

A on Penelope Fitzgerald and her book the Gate of Angels - Research Paper Example Passed on from her parents, Penelope eventually developed interest in literature. Although Penelope published her first biography at the age of 58 years old (Courtney), she officially started her literary career at the age of 60 years old when she published her first novel entitled â€Å"The Golden Child† (Courtney; Harvey-Wood). As a novelist, Penelope was knowledgeable on literature. Having written and won the Booker Prize with Offshore, she was able to catch a large group of readers. As a competitive writer, she managed to write outstanding novels that are self-sufficient (Saunders). It was in 1990 when Penelope published the book â€Å"The Gate of Angels†. In this novel, Penelope amazed a lot of people for knowing things about atomic physics and issues related to probationary nursing (Barnes). As a novelist, Penelope was an expert in making use of the right term and phrases when describing not only the main characters in the novel but also when pointing out the irony in a situation. As one of Penelope’s best novels, the story of â€Å"The Gate of Angels† is about a young Cambridge University physicist named Fred Fairly who fell in love with nurse Daisy Saunders after a bicycle accident. Basically, the accident happened when both of them were bicycling along the same road. In this novel, Penelope was able to assemble the cast of the story in such a way that the reader would clearly know how Fred Fairly and Daisy Saunders interact with each other. The fact that Penelope described the past lives of the two main characters that made the readers understood the gap between Fred and Daisy. Even though Penelope has been known as one of the most promising novelist of the olden times in England, some of her works has been a subject to positive criticism (Los Angeles Times b). As compared to the works of other novels like the English novelist Martin Amis or Evelyn Waugh, the novels written by Penelope are often

Iconology, Image, art and people Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Iconology, Image, art and people - Essay Example As such, it is well known and universally accepted that art has played a profound role in shaping the modern society as it is today and continues to assert its influence. In the most earliest times, the expression through art was very primitive. Our ancient forefathers used to carve murals depicting scenes such as hunting and different wild animals by scratching out on rocks with the help of sharp and pointed stones. As man organized himself into an organized and civilize society, the mediums through which art began to be expressed started to take on numerous forms. It started to develop into a highly skillful and representational aspect of work and evolved into a study of its own. People now required to be highly trained in order to be able to produce pieces of art that could be considered as valuable to the society. As art evolved, it began to capture increasing aspects of our lives and the expression started to look increasingly expressive. it started to gain numerous perspectives in terms of anatomy, the kind of materials used, the combination of colors as well as in terms of the content. However, as newer movements began to rise over the centuries, they began to slowly deprive the expression of any meaning. Such social entropy was necessitated with the greed to make people happy. This required that true information be masked with content that seemed to depict something more appealing to the masses. The current paper aims to discuss the impacts of the history and evolution of art on society and aims to derive it further in the direction of Iconography, which is a broad domain of art history in its own sense. The next sections will discuss the growth and development in the interpretation of art over the ages and will discuss iconology and its evolution over the centuries. As has been mentioned above, the paper will attempt to discuss how we have come to

Promotional media communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Promotional media communication - Essay Example 1) – in this case, focused on United Kingdom. The researcher will therefore employ direct observation, interviews or by using questionnaires. Conclusions derived are technically subjective and researcher is often stringently concern about making broad generalization of matter as the subject of inquiry (Sothern, 2013, p. 1). The Company Coca-Cola is a business leader in beverage production and retailing industry. It has a global operation and is selling diverse beverages that suit best to consumers' taste which inspire them to maximize the products for home or for either private or public occasions. One of its leading product is Coca-cola diet, a soda but with limited value of calorie. In its Facebook account, Diet Coke is marketed as an extraordinary beverage and was historically introduced as developed since 1982 which was claimed to have catapulted as the leading diet soft drink of the world, thus, the brand is sustained until these days (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Diet Coke is produced to target consumers that are interested on maintaining a low-calorie diet, or those that are diagnosed with diabetes, and yet will still savour such tasty delight (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). ... 1) By 1986, the company prided to have reached about 61 countries as market zone with an estimated 60 million cans served daily (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Since it gained a global prestige, the company aired its first commercial advertisement using the slogan – â€Å"Just For the Taste of It† (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). On same year, the company attempted to draw the market attention by adding cherry flavour to Diet Coke and also maximized a print advertisement by using the carved monuments of political heroes of America in 1987 to project such â€Å"monumental taste† (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Later, the Company maximized Oxford Plains Speedway to promote the first Diet Coke 100 until it optimized the 3D advertisement during the Big game by bannering the slogan â€Å"The Move Is On to Diet Coke† (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). It continued to promote the product as extraordinary in 1989 with Gary Weismann as the consumer’s endorser, tagging along with it the pro minence of a superhero action star (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Almost ten years after, Diet Coke was recognized as the brand of the decade in 1990 and sustained sporting its image with Batman (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). Being avidly consumed in the market, the company decided to celebrate its 10th anniversary at New York’s Time Square (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1). In 1993, Diet Coke was promoted as a beverage that suits the taste of all with only one calorie and which was followed with salacious advertisement that those who would buy for it ‘break for refreshment solely for diet Coke (Diet Coke, 2013, p. 1).† Playing with the people’ interest of the universe and the space, the company also decided to let astronauts bring Diet Coke to outer world in 1995 under the quest of ‘testing the formula

Food, Sex, Love in Like Water for Chocolate Essay Example for Free

Food, Sex, Love in Like Water for Chocolate Essay Have you ever experienced that euphoric sensation after eating an absolutely delicious food? You are not alone. Many have experienced this feeling and refer to it as a â€Å"foodgasm†. These types of connections between food and sex have long been established, but from where do they come? Do we make these connections through our cultural experiences or are they biologically programmed within us? In Like Water for Chocolate, the author, Laura Esquivel, portrays sex and food as being connected in a cultural sense. The basis for this conclusion rests largely in her use of tradition and her depiction of a Latino family strongly based in their culture. This cultural foundation, paired with the interactions between characters, food, and sex, gives the reader plenty of evidence to support this perspective. Esquivel uses the preparation, eating, and serving of food as a connection to love and sex, and as humans we have learned, through culture, to make this connection. Structured in twelve chapters, each representing a month of the year, Esquivel has created an entrancing love story that is sprinkled with culinary enchantments around every corner. Each chapter is prefaced with a recipe that is relevant to the progression of the novel, not to mention the many cooking tid-bits thrown in throughout each chapter. The preparation of food is clearly very important to the culture being represented. Tita, the main character and protagonist, was born in the kitchen and possesses all the superior traits of a culinary expert. She is also blessed (or cursed) with the ability to inject her emotions in to the food she cooks, in turn, infecting all those who consume the food with that emotion. In one section of the novel, Tita makes Quail, in Rose Petal Sauce, to express her passion for her sister, Rasaura’s, husband, Pedro, who she is deeply in love with. With that meal it seemed they had discovered a new system of communication, in which Tita was the transmitter, Pedro the receiver†¦ Pedro didn’t offer any resistance. He let Tita penetrate to the farthest corners of his being, and all the while they couldn’t take their eyes off each other. (Esquivel 52) It is customary, in many cultures, for a woman to prepare a meal for her significant other in order to show how much she cares for him. The fact that Tita has taken the time to cook such a complex and beautiful dish, to translate her love to Pedro, shows how much impact this cultural custom has on her. Through this particular interaction, Esquivel has displayed the influence that culture has over the preparation of food and it’s relation to love. The expectation for a woman to acquire the ability to prepare food for her significant other brings me to another question: Does a woman’s capacity for cooking significantly affect a man’s attraction to her? Esquivel brings this question to the forefront of the reader’s mind when she offers this comparison between Rasaura and Tita’s cooking. The rice was obviously scorched, the meat dried out, the dessert burnt. But no one at the table dared display the tiniest hint of displeasure, not after Mama Elena had pointedly remarked: ‘As the first meal that Rosaura has cooked it isn’t bad. Don’t you agree, Pedro? ’ Making a real effort not to insult his wife, Pedro replied: ‘No, for her first time it’s not too bad. ’ (50-51) She goes on to show Pedro’s reaction to Tita’s cooking saying, â€Å"It wasnt enough hed made his wife jealous earlier, for when Pedro tasted his first mouthful, he couldnt help closing his eyes in voluptuous delight and exclaiming: ‘It is a dish for the gods! ’†(51). This comparison allows us to reasonably assume that Tita’s aptitude for culinary artistry did contribute to the growth of Pedro’s love. So, how might this reaction be culturally habituated? In almost all cultures, men are expected to provide and women are expected to cook. Even if a man is not consciously aware, they subconsciously factor this in to their choosing of a mate. It is culturally conditioned for a man to prioritize supporting his family over many other things. If a woman does not possess the ability to cook then a man may assume that she will not be able to support or provide for their family. This, of course, is not a strict rule of thought but, from my experience, it can be applied to many cases. Through comparison, Esquivel gives the reader evidence that Pedro loves Tita partially for her ability in the kitchen, and with prior knowledge we, as the reader, can attribute this connection to his cultural influences. We’ve determined that falling in love can be related to a woman’s ability to make food, but what about the relationship between food and making love? Earlier I made a reference to the word â€Å"foodgasm†, this portion of a quote, which I previously used, provides a great example of what a foodgasm might look like. â€Å"†¦ for when Pedro tasted his first mouthful, he couldnt help closing his eyes in voluptuous delight and exclaiming: ‘It is a dish for the gods! ’†(Esquivel 51) It is instances like this one that finds Esquivel nudging the reader to make a connection between food and sex. Esquivel’s use of diction such as ‘voluptuous’ makes it practically impossible not to connect this experience to the effects of an orgasm. Thinking further on this connection, I think that giving food is a form of showing love just as making love is. As raunchy as it may seem, Pedro is receiving Tita through food. It is their unique form of making love. Esquivel makes another food/love connection on page 67 when she says, â€Å"Tita knew through her own flesh how fire transforms a tortilla, how a soul that hasnt been warmed by the fire of love is lifeless, like a useless ball of corn flour. (67) It’s almost as if Esquivel allows characters, in this case Tita, to take on the form of food. With this being said, receiving food is like receiving the person who made it. In Tita and Pedro’s case, it was their way of making love before they could actually perform the act. I think that the importance of food to their relationship can be contributed to their culture’s emphasis on food. If food were not so important to their culture it would not be the medium for such an important interaction. In order to make and express love in Like Water for Chocolate, Tita makes food for Pedro further emphasizing the cultural connection between food and love. Some may argue that this relationship between food and sex is purely natural and scientific. In some sense this is true. Sex and Food are both biologically programmed drives that all humans possess. We have a strong need to procreate in order to further our species as well as a great need to eat in order to survive. These are facts of nature, but you can’t ignore the emotional connection that we have to food and sex. Tita and Pedro do not have these reactions to food in relation to sex simply because they need to eat or they have a great need to reproduce. Culture conditions us to eat because we love food not to simply eat to live. The same goes for sex. We are taught that in order to have sex one must have a connection to their partner; it is â€Å"morally sound† to think this way. This is especially true for the culture being represented in Like Water for Chocolate. Just in the way that Esquivel structures the novel you can get a sense of the importance food. The food must be treated with respect and love just as a person should be. Esquivel shows the significance of treating food well here: Something strange was going on. Tita remembered that Nacha had always said that when people argue while preparing tamales, the tamales wont get cooked. They can be heated day after day and still stay raw, because the tamales are angry. In a case like that, you have to sing to them, which makes them happy; then theyll cook. (218-219) Esquivel’s personification of food demonstrates the meaning that food holds in this culture. It has feelings and you have to love it and nurture it. You don’t just eat food to eat it; you eat food because food is a beautiful part of life that you respect. In this way, Esquivel creates a strong connection between food and love through the cultural importance that the novel puts on the meaning of food rather than the natural tendency of humans to make this connection. After analyzing Esquivel’s novel, Like Water for Chocolate, I can say that the connection between food, sex, and love, in this context, is predominately based on cultural influences rather than natural ones. In making food, one is showing how much they care, just as Tita did for Pedro with her Quale in Rose pedal sauce dish. The ability to create such meals, in a man’s mind, is a reflection on a woman’s ability to provide for their family. By personifying food, Esquivel allows this process of cooking food and giving food to become much deeper than the simple act itself. The act of giving food then takes the form of giving ones self to the individual receiving the food. Whether it is between food and love, cooking and falling in love, or eating food and making love, culture is the force that defines these connections.

Role of Derivatives on Financial Products

Role of Derivatives on Financial Products Title: Derivatives are now a well established part of every financial institutions financially engineered products. Discuss, in depth, the role that derivatives are playing in financial products/portfolios and the risks that they remove (and create) Introduction Past three decades have witnessed an expansion in global trade and continuing technological developments. This has resulted in an increase in market volatility and enlargement of business and financial risks and has led to an increase in demand for risk management products. The types of risks faced by corporations today have not changed; rather, they have become more complex and interrelated. The increase in demand for risk management products and the complexity of risks is reflected in the growth of spectrum of financial contracts called derivatives. Derivatives are now a well established part of every financial institution’s financially engineered products. Derivatives have become an integral part of the financial markets because they can serve several economic functions. Though there has been an incredible growth in the derivative market, there has also been an increase in reports of major losses associated with derivative products. For example, derivatives led to a collapse of Barings Bank (the Queen of England’s primary bank), bankruptcy of Orange County California and also had a role in the fall of Enron. All this has resulted in a great deal of confusion about effectiveness of derivatives in risk management. What are Derivatives? Derivatives are complex instruments that have become increasingly important to the overall risk profile and profitability of organisations throughout the world. Broadly defined, derivatives are contracts that primarily derive their value from the performance of underlying assets. Derivatives contracts are entered into throughout the world on organised exchanges and through over-the-counter (OTC) arrangements. Types of Derivatives Derivatives come in various shapes and forms such as futures1, forwards2, swaps3, options4, structured debt obligations and deposits, and various combinations thereof. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 1Futures are contracts to buy or sell specific quantities of a commodity or financial instrument at a specified price at a specified time in the future. 2A forward contract obligates one party to buy the underlying at a fixed price at a certain future date from a counterparty, who is obligated to sell the underlying at that fixed price. (Source: Demystifying Financial derivatives, Rene A Stulz) 3A swap is a contract to exchange cash flows over a specific period. 4An option can be a call option or a put option. A call option on a stock gives its holder the right to buy a fixed number of shares at a given price by some future date, while a put option gives its holder the right to sell a fixed number of shares on the same terms. Benefits of Derivatives Derivatives are put to three key uses: Hedging by entering into derivatives transactions for offsetting existing risks. The existing risks could be an investment portfolio, price changes of a commodity or perhaps investments in a foreign country. Derivatives make it possible to hedge risks that otherwise would be not be possible to hedge. Speculating through hedge funds to generate profits with only a insignificant investment, essentially by putting money on the movement of an asset. Exploiting Arbitrage opportunities throughout the world markets. Thus, risk management is one of the primary purposes of derivatives. Role of Derivatives in Risk Management As indicated above, derivatives are important tools that can help organisations meet their specific risk-management objectives. Derivatives allow organisations to break up their risks and distribute them around the financial system through secondary markets. Thus, derivatives help organisations in risk management. Risk management is not about the removal of risk but is about its management. An organisation can manage its risks by selectively choosing those risks it is comfortable with and minimising those that it does not want. Through derivatives, risks from traditional instruments can be effectively unpackaged and managed independently. If managed properly derivatives can help businesses save costs and increase returns. In addition, derivatives make underlying markets more efficient. Derivative markets produce information which at time is the only reliable information available to base critical business decisions on. For example, reliable information about long-term interest rates can be obtained from swaps, because the swap market may be more liquid and more active than the bond market. Using Derivatives Many organisations use derivatives conservatively to counterbalance risks from fluctuating currency and interest rates. Individuals and firms use derivatives to achieve payoffs that they would not be able to achieve without derivatives, or could only achieve at greater cost. Derivatives are used by both financial and non-financial institutions and organisations. Financial organisations use derivatives both as risk management tools and also as a source of revenue. From a risk management perspective, derivatives allow financial institutions to identify, segregate and manage separately the market risks in financial instruments and commodities. Cautious use of derivatives provides managers with effective risk reducing opportunities through hedging. Derivatives may also be used to reduce financing costs and to increase the yield of certain assets. In addition, derivatives are a direct source of revenue through market-making functions, position taking and risk arbitrage to most of the financial organizations (source: http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbsc211.pdf). Derivatives are used by non-financial organisations for hedging and for minimising earnings volatility. For example, derivatives are used to hedgeinterest-rate risks. If the company strongly believes that interest rates will drop between now and a future date, it could purchase a futures contract. By doing so, the company is effectively locking in the future interest rate. Similarly, companies that depend heavily on raw-material inputs or commodities are sensitive, sometimes significantly, to the price change of the inputs. For example, most airlines use derivatives for hedging against crude-oil price. Some firms use derivatives to reduce tax liability and at times to speculate. Risks Associated with Derivatives Although derivatives are legitimate and valuable tools for hedging risks, like all financial instruments they create risks that must be managed. Warren Buffett, one of the worlds most wise investors, states that â€Å"derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal.† (Source: Gabriel Kolko, Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction) On one hand derivatives neutralise risks while on the other hand they create risks. In fact there are certain risks inherent in derivatives. Derivatives can be dangerous if not managed properly. Numerous financial disasters such as Enron can be related to the mismanagement of derivatives. In the 1990s, Procter Gamble lost $157 million in a currency speculation involving dollars and German Marks, Gibson Greetings lost $20 million and Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund, lost $4 billion with currency and interest-rate derivatives (Source: Ludger Hentschel and Clifford W. Smith, Jr., Risks in Derivative Markets) . It is key to consider that it has not been the use of derivatives as a tool which has led to the downfall of these companies but the misuse of such instruments. The kinds of risks associated with derivatives are no different from those associated with traditional financial instruments, although they can be far more complex. Different derivatives have different risk profiles. For some derivatives though the risk may be limited, the profit potential may be unlimited. For example, the risk of loss with a derivative contract which grants a right to buy a particular asset at a particular price is limited to the amount paid to hold that right. However, profit potential is unlimited. On the other hand there are certain other derivatives that exhibit risk characteristics in which while potential gain is limited, the losses associated with the derivative is unlimited. For example, a derivative contract which grants the right to buy a particular asset at a particular price may have the associated potential profit limited to the amount received for giving that right, but because the asset has to be delivered to the counterparty at expiry of the contrac t, the potential loss may be unlimited. Most of the risk of derivatives is due to the complexity of the structure of the derivative instruments. Apart from the structure of the instrument itself, the source of a lot of the risk associated with derivative contracts arises from the fact that they are leveraged contracts. Derivative products are ‘leveraged’ because only a proportion of their total market exposure needs to be paid to open and maintain a position. Thus, the market exposure with derivative contracts can be several times the cash placed on deposit as margin for the trade, or paid in the form of a premium. Derivative contracts also have the ability to create artificial wealth and this creates additional risk. The artificial wealth skews the values of underlying assets considerably. Fundamentally, risks from derivatives originate with the customer and are a function of the timing and variability of cash flows. Types of Risks Associated with Derivatives In general, the risks associated with derivatives can be classified as credit risk, market risk, price risk, liquidity risk, operations risk, legal or compliance risk, foreign exchange rate risk, interest rate risk, and transaction risk. These categories are not mutually exclusive. Credit risk Derivatives are subject to credit risk or the risk to earnings or capital due to obligor’s failure to meet the terms of a contract. Credit risk arises from all activities that can only be accomplished on counterparty, issuer, or borrower’s performance. Credit risk in derivative products comes in the form of pre-settlement risk and settlement risk. Derivatives are exposed to pre-settlement credit risk or loss due to failure to pay on a contract during the life of a transaction by the counterparty. This credit risk exposure consists of both the replacement cost of the derivative transaction or its market value and an estimate of the future replacement cost of the derivative. Even out-of-the-money derivative contracts have potential pre-settlement credit risk. Derivatives are also subject to settlement risk or loss exposure arising when an organisation meets its obligation under a contract before the counterparty meets its obligation. Settlement risk generally exists for one to two days from the time an outgoing payment instruction can no longer be cancelled unilaterally until the time the final incoming payment is received and reconciled. This risk is due to the fact that it is almost impractical to arrange simultaneous payment and delivery in the ordinary course of business. In the case of international transactions settlement risk may arise because of time zone differences. This risk is usually greater than pre-settlement risk on any given transaction. Market risk Derivatives are also subject to market risk Market risk or risk due to unfavorable movements in the level or volatility of market prices. Market risk results from exposures to changes in the price of the underlying cash instrument and to changes in interest rates. Though market risk can be created or hedged by derivatives such as future or swap in a clear-cut manner, it is not so simple in the case of options. This is because the value of an option is also affected by other factors, including the volatility of the price of the underlying instrument and the passage of time. In addition, all trading activities are affected by market liquidity and by local or world political and economic events. Price Risk Price risk is an extension of the market risk. Price risk is the risk to earnings or capital arising from changes in the value of portfolios of financial instruments. The degree of price risk of derivatives depends on the price sensitivity of the derivative instrument and the time it takes to liquidate or offset the position. Price sensitivity is generally greater for instruments with leverage, longer maturities, or option features. Price Risk can result from adverse change in equity prices or commodity prices or basis risk. The exposure from an adverse change in equity prices can be either systematic or unsystematic risk. As equity markets can be more volatile than other financial markets equity derivatives can experience larger price fluctuations than other derivatives. Commodity derivatives usually expose an institution to higher levels of price risk because of the price volatility associated with uncertainties about supply and demand and the concentration of market participants in the underlying cash markets. Price risk may take the form of basis risk or the risk that the correlation between two prices may change. Liquidity risk All organisations involved in derivatives face liquidity risks. Liquidity risk is the risk to earnings or capital from an organisation’s inability to meet its obligations when they are due, without incurring unacceptable losses. This risk includes the inability to manage unplanned decreases or changes in funding sources. An organisation involved in derivatives faces two types of liquidity risk in its derivatives activities: one related to specific products or markets or market liquidity risk and the other related to the general funding of the institution’s derivatives activities or funding risk. Market Liquidity Risk Market liquidity risk is the risk that an organisation may not be able to exit or offset positions easily at a reasonable price at or near the previous market price because of inadequate market depth or because of disruptions in the marketplace. In dealer markets, market depth is indicated by the size of the bid/ask spread that the financial instrument provides. Similarly, market disruptions may be created by a sudden and extreme imbalance in the supply and demand for products. Market liquidity risk may also result from the difficulties faced by the organisation in accessing markets because of its own or counterparty’s real or perceived credit or reputation problems. In addition, this risk also involves the odds that large derivative transactions may have a significant effect on the transaction price. Funding Liquidity Risk Funding liquidity risk is the possibility that the organisation may be unable to meet funding requirements at a reasonable cost. Such funding requirements arise each day from cash flow mismatches in swap books, the exercise of options, and the implementation of dynamic hedging strategies. The rapid growth of derivatives in recent years has focused increasing attention on the cash flow impact of such instruments. Operations risk Like other financial instruments, derivatives are also subject to operations risk or risks due to deficiencies in information systems or internal controls. The risk is associated with human error, system failures and inadequate procedures and controls. In the case of certain derivatives, operations risk may get aggravated due to complexity of derivative transactions, payment structures and calculation of their values. . Legal or compliance risk Derivative transactions face risk to earnings or capital due to violations, or nonconformance with laws, rules, regulations, prescribed practices, or ethical standards. The risk also arises when the laws or rules governing certain derivative instruments may be ambiguous. Compliance risk exposes an organisation involved in derivatives to fines, civil money penalties, payment of damages, and the voiding of contracts. Besides, legal and compliance risk may adversely affect reputation, business opportunities and expansion potential of the organisation. Foreign Exchange Rates Risk Derivatives traded in the international markets are also exposed to risk of adverse changes in foreign exchange rates. Foreign exchange rates are very volatile. Foreign exchange risk is also known as translation risk. Foreign exchange rates risk in derivatives is the risk to earnings arising from movement of foreign exchange rates. This risk is a function of spot foreign exchange rates and domestic and foreign interest rates. It arises from holding foreign-currency-denominated derivatives such as structured notes, synthetic investments, structured deposits, and off-balance-sheet derivatives used to hedge accrual exposures. Interest Rate Risk Interest rate risk is the risk to earnings or capital arising from movements in interest rates. The magnitude of interest rate risk faced by derivatives from an adverse change in interest rates depends on the sensitivity of the derivative to changes in interest rates as well as the absolute change in interest rates. The evaluation of interest rate risk must consider the impact of complex illiquid hedging strategies or products, and also the potential impact on fee income that is sensitive to changes in interest rates. When trading is separately managed, this impact is on structural positions rather than trading portfolios. Financial organisations are exposed to interest rate risk through their structural balance sheet positions. Transaction risk Another risk associated with derivatives is transaction risk. In fact transaction risk exists in all products and services. Transaction risk is the risk to earnings or capital arising from problems with service or product delivery. This risk is a function of internal controls, information systems, employee integrity, and operating processes. Derivative activities can pose challenging operational risks because of their complexity and continual evolution. Thus, derivatives are subject to various technical risks. The problems surrounding the use of derivatives in recent years have primarily been due to difficulty in understanding these risks and thus using appropriate derivatives for risk management purposes. Derivative use is sometimes misunderstood because, depending on the terms of derivative it may be used to increase, modify, or decrease risk. In addition to the technical risks highlighted herein, there may also be a fundamental risk that the use of these products may be inconsistent with entity-wide objectives. Conclusion Derivatives will continue to be an important business tool for managing an organisation’s risk management. In fact the significance of derivatives is expected to increase with the development of new derivative products that refine and improve the ability to achieve risk management and other objectives. However, it is important that organisation’s using derivatives for risk management completely understand the nature and risks of derivatives. This requires effective control is critical to any well-managed derivative operation. References: Aristotle, Politics, trans. Benjamin Jowett, vol. 2, The Great Books of the Western World, ed. Robert Maynard Hutchins (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1952), book 1, chap. 11, p. 453. Bodie, Cane and Marcus (2005), Investments (6th Edition), McGraw Hill. Bodie, Cane and Marcus (2005), Investments (6th Edition), www. highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072861789/student_view0 [Accessed 30 December 2006] Corporate Use of Derivatives for Hedging http://www.investopedia.com/articles/stocks/04/122204.asp [Accessed 30 December 2006] Frank A. Sortino Stephen E. Satchell, Managing downside risk in financial markets: Theory, Practice and Implementation Gabriel Kolko, Weapons of Mass Financial Destruction, http://mondediplo.com/2006/10/02finance [Accessed 31 December 2006] Internal Control Issues in Derivatives Usage www.coso.org/publications/executive_summary_derivatives_usage.htm [Accessed 31 December, 2006] Kenneth A. Froot, David S. Scharfstein, and Jeremy C. Stein, A Framework for Risk Management, Harvard Business Review, November-December 1994, pp. 91-102. Ludger Hentschel and Clifford W. Smith, Jr., Risks in Derivative Markets, http://fic.wharton.upenn.edu/fic/papers/96/9624.pdf [Accessed 30 December 2006] Market Risk Derivatives, Hedge Funds Challenge Financial Regulators, http://www.ieca.net/news/story.cfm?id=13754 [Accessed 30 December 2006] Rene A Stulz, Demystifying Financial Derivatives, www.cornerstone.com/pdfs/Cornerstone_Research_Demystifying_Financial_Derivatives.pdf Risk Management Guidelines for Derivatives, http://www.bis.org/publ/bcbsc211.pdf [Accessed 31 December 2006] Thomas F. Siems, Financial Derivatives: Are New Regulations Warranted? Financial Industry Studies, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, August 1994, pp. 1-13. Thomas F. Siems, Derivatives: In the Wake of Disaster, Financial Industry Issues, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas (1995): 2-3 Brief 191916Page 1 of 9

HEC-HMS Evaluation

HEC-HMS Evaluation HEC-HMS is a hydrological model that can be used to check the effect of a storm based event on a watershed or a continuous simulation. HEC-HMS is distributed model but it deals with a watershed as a conceptual model which consist of sub-basin and reach. HEC-HMS is very powerful as it has many options for hydrological calculations and a user-defined is one of the options. One of the uses of the HEC-HMS is to predict the future urbanization that can happen in a watershed and the corresponding flood that could happen. HEC-HMS alone cannot get the places of the flooded area but the hydrograph extracted from the HEC-HMS can be used in HEC-RAS and RAS-mapper to get the inundated map of the city due to a certain storm event. In this lab, a simple simulation will be used to simulate the hydrograph of Tifton watershed.   In order to build a HEC-HMS project, there are components should be added first. The main components that the HEC-HMS require is the basin component which contains the basin properties such as sub-basins, reaches and junctions, the metrological component which contains the rain gages that will be used for precipitation, the control component which contains the simulation time period and the time series component which contains any time series data such as the hyetograph or hydrograph. HEC-HMS has four main windows which are the component window, view window, editor window and message log window. The component window contains all the created components so that we can toggle between them. In order to edit any of the components chosen from the component window, the editor window is used and it contains tab but for global data entry or edit the component menu is used. The view window shows the selected basin, result or table. The log message shows if there is error or the model has found no problem as for example as shown in Figure 1 the log message says, Note 10008: Finish opening projectà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦. Which means that the project was opened successfully with no errors found. Figure 1 Log message of HEC-HMS Basin component As mention before that the HEC-HMS is conceptualizing the watershed, so we will import the watershed image as a background as shown in Figure 2 and draw on it the corresponding component. This is a simple watershed that contains only one sub-basin and one outlet. the sub-basin is named 74006 and the outlet is junction in HEC-HMS and there is no reach used for flow channel routing. Figure 2 HEC-HMS desktop view The sub-basin properties should be entered for HEC-HMS to use in calculations. The main property is the catchment area as the HEC-HMS is using all the catchment symbolled in one point (sub-basin 74006). The other properties that should be entered are the hydrological calculations that the HEC-HMS will use to calculate the hydrograph at the outlet of the sub-basin as shown in Figure 3. Figure 3 Sub-Basin hydrological calculation methods Canopy is the method used to calculate the water intercepted on the tree that avoid the water to reach the ground. The percentage of vegetation obtained from remote sensing is used to determine the canopy. In this lab, simple canopy method is used which need only the initial water storage in the tree and the maximum storage that the plant can hold. In order to indicate the surface storage that can happen in the watershed there are different methods, in this lab a simple surface is used. The simple surface method is mainly saying how much is the initial storage and the maximum storage. The maximum storage provide in this lab is zero which is useless as the surface method can be selected as none instead. To get the parameters of the initial storage and maximum storage a site investigation can be done or throughout satellite maps and DEM the surface depletions and storage area can be calculated roughly. Infiltration losses is indicated here as the loss method. The loss method that is widely used is the Horton equation but in this lab the soil moisture loss is used. The soil moisture loss method mainly works as the soil moisture content and the maximum infiltration rate of the vadous zone of the soil as well as the groundwater beneath the vadous zone depth and the percolation rate from vadous zone to the groundwater and if the groundwater is into two different soil type provide the data to each soil type. In order to get the data for this method a soil surveying is required or from a previous defined data as the FAO maps or Canada CIRUS maps. The unit hydrograph for the basin is not known so a synthetic hydrograph will be used. There are different synthetic hydrograph methods in HEC-HMS, in this lab Clark (1945) Hydrograph is used. The Clark Unit Hydrograph is divided into translation based on synthetic time area curve and time of concentration as well as a reduction of discharge as excess rainfall is stored in watershed. Clark Unit Hydrograph is modeled with linear reservoir for baseflow. The parameters for the Clark Unit Hydrograph is the time of concentration and the storage coefficient. Time of concentration can be calculated using watershed properties or from previous observations but the storage coefficient most likely will be calibrated. The linear reservoir is used for baseflow separation. Baseflow is linearly related to average storage of each time interval similar to the Clark unit Hydrograph. The linear reservoir also is used with the soil moisture content as it depends of the water in the groundwater and how it returns back to be a contributed to the hydrograph as a baseflow. The parameters of the baseflow is hard to measure so it will be most likely calibrated. Time series component In the time series component, a rainfall hyetograph is entered in the rain gages using the Tifton DSS file provided with the project. After entering the hyetograph, the graph can be shown as shown in Figure 4. The hyetograph will then be assigned to the basin in the metrological compenent. Figure 4 Tifton Hyetograph In the time series component, also the observed outflow hydrograph of the catchment is entered using the Tifton DSS file. After entering the DSS file the hydrograph is shown as in Figure 5. The hydrograph should be used for model calibration of the unknown parameters. Figure 5 Tifton observed hydrograph Meteorological component In the meteorological component, the hyetograph is assigned to the sub-basin and if there are more than one rain fall gage a weighted average can be assigned to each sub-basin. Also in the meteorological component, the evapotranspiration is entered. In this lab, monthly average is used which gives a constant value for each month and corresponding coefficient. Control component Finally, the control component is used to define the simulation period and time interval. In the lab, according to my group number which is 15 the corresponding simulation time is used which is from the first of January 1970 to the thirties of June 1970. After finishing all the data entry, a simulation manager is used to create a simulation which is defined by selecting the basin, meteorological and control data to be computed. After creating the simulation, compute is chosen and a message of successful appear in the message log -if there is any error or warning will appear in the message log too-. From the results tab, a global summary can be viewed as shown in Figure 6. The global summary gives the drainage area contributing to each sub-basin and each junction and the time to peak and the corresponding peak discharge as well as the total volume of excess rainfall. In this lab, there is only one sub-basin so the sub-basin and junction will have the same properties. The peak discharge is 873 CFS and happened in the thirty-first of March 1970 at 1:00 PM. The total excess volume is 16.36 in. Figure 6 Global Summary The graph of the sub-basin 74006 shown in Figure 7 show the hyetograph in the top part which consists of red and blue. The red part shows the infiltrated depth while the blue line shows the excess rainfall depth. The bottom part of the graph shows the hydrograph which consists of the baseflow and the excess hydrograph. The blue solid line shows the hydrograph while the dotted red line shows the baseflow. As we can see that in January all the rainfall is almost infiltrated and there is no excess and that is reflected in the hydrograph as there is no excess hydrograph only baseflow. The peak rainfall events happened at the end of March and May and as we can see that there is a lag time between the peak of the hyetograph and the hydrograph which represent the time of the water to route though the watershed to the outlet of the catchment. Even both event in March and May has the same rainfall but the peak was higher in March due to the infiltration difference. The infiltiration that happ ened in May was larger than March as the soil moisture content in March was high due to event happened just before the peak event while before May peak event it was dry for almost two months. Figure 7 Hyetograph/Hydrograph of Sub-basin 74006 The hydrograph of the junction shown in Figure 7 shows the hydrograph coming from each sub-basin the blue dashed line and the total summation of all the hydrographs at the junction the blue line and the observed data the black dotted line. The dashed blue line and the solid blue line are coinciding because there is only on sub-basin that contribute to the junction. As shown in Figure 7, the observation and the hydrograph at the junction as almost the same which means that the parameters and methods used in the HEC-HMS are representing the reality quite well. Figure 8 Hydrograph of Junction HEC-HMS can simulate storm event to get the flow hydrograph of the catchment. It is important to use the adequate method based on the data availability. The model should be calibrated using the observed data. HEC-HMS can gives how each sub-basin can contribute to the basin outflow and what changes will happen if any of the sub-basin changes. Hydrologic Engineering Center (2010). Hydrologic Modeling System HEC-HMS, Quick Start Guide, US Army Corps of Engineers, Davis, USA