The Cyberattack on Ukraine

After Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, authorities started nationalizing Ukrainian-owned energy companies in Crimea. In late 2015, Ukrainian supporters physically attacked electrical power distribution centers, plunging two million Crimeans in the dark.

Each of Ukraine's 24 regions is served by a different electric company. On December 23, 2015, the Ukrainian power grid experienced a cyberattack. The activists simultaneously attacked three power distribution substations, cutting power to some 230,000 Ukrainians.

The multistage, targeted cyberattack actually started in the spring of 2015. Let's take a look at how the cyberattack unfolded.

The Spear-Phishing Attack. In the first stage, the attackers launched a spear-phishing attack on IT staff and system administrators at three of the power distribution companies in Ukraine. The attack sent e-mails to employees that contained a malicious Word file. If an employee clicked on the document, a popup window told them to enable macros for that file. If they did so, a malicious software program named BlackEnergy3 infected their computers and allowed the hackers entry into their system.

Reconnaissance. The spear-phishing attack allowed the intruders to access the power distribution companies' corporate networks. However, the intruders still had to gain access to the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) networks that actually operated the power grid, but the power companies had competently separated those networks from corporate networks with a firewall. Therefore, the attackers had to search the corporate networks and gain entry to the Windows Domain Controllers. From there, the hackers gathered employee login credentials from the user accounts. Some of these login credentials were used by employees to access virtual private networks (VPNs) to remotely log in to the SCADA network. The attackers now had access to the SCADA networks.

Disabling the uninterruptible power supply. The attackers now rejigged the supply of uninterruptible power to the three systems' control centers. They wanted to cut power to the operators as well as the customers.

Disabling the converters. The attackers then coded malicious software to supersede the actual software on converters at power company substation control systems. (These converters handle data from the SCADA network to the substations.) Disabling the converters stopped employees from transmitting remote commands to reestablish power after it was cut. The converters could not work and could not be recovered. This situation meant that the power companies could not recover until they obtained new converters and incorporated them into the power system. (Note: Power companies in the United States use the same type of converters as those used in Ukraine.)

Denial-of-service attack. The attackers now targeted customer call centers, initiating a telephone denial-of-service attack. That meant that customers could not call in to report the blackout when it occurred. The attack jammed up the distribution centers' call centers with thousands of false calls, blocking actual customers from getting through. This denial-of-service attack allowed the attackers more time to work on their attack because not only were substation employees seeing false information on their hijacked computers, but they were receiving no phone calls reporting power outages.

Causing the blackout. On December 23, the attackers used the commandeered VPNs to access the SCADA networks and deactivate the uninterruptible power supply that they had already reconfigured. Then they removed substations from the power grid.

Deploying KillDisk. Lastly, the attackers deployed software called KillDisk to complete their path of destruction. KillDisk deletes or overwrites essential system files from operators' computers to disable them as well. Because KillDisk also wipes the master boot file, operators could not reboot the crashed computers.

About half the homes in Ukraine's Ivano-Frankivsk region lost power. The cybercriminals also simultaneously attacked a large mining company and a major railway. The incidents seem to have been politically motivated, meant to disable Ukrainian critical infrastructure in a strike, according to security analysts at Trend Micro (www.trendmicro.com).

Homes and businesses in the impacted areas only lost power from one to six hours. However, more than two months later, the control centers were still not completely back online. Electricity was still being delivered, but employees had to manually operate the power substations.

The attack caused only digital damage; if the substations had been physically damaged, it would have taken much longer to restore power. In 2007, the U.S. government showed how criminals could remotely destroy a power generator through a SCADA attack with just 21 lines of malicious code.

Infrastructure personnel can learn many lessons from the attack. Ukraine's power generation control systems were unexpectedly more robust than some in the United States. The reason is that the Ukrainian SCADA networks were separated from the business networks with excellent firewalls. However, the Ukrainian control systems still had security weaknesses. For example, employees remotely accessing the SCADA network were not prompted to use two-factor authentication, which enabled the hackers to steal login information and gain entry to the SCADA systems.

Another lesson is that in the United States many power systems lack manual backups. That is, if criminals were to attack automated SCADA systems in the United States, it would be much more difficult to bring the grid back online.

This first-ever successful attack of a power grid's computers is a dire safety warning for other such systems across the world. Experts in industrial control systems at the Sans Institute (www.sans.org) say the hack of the Ukrainian power grid was the first time that cybercriminals have managed to directly bring down a power grid.

In December 2016, Ukraine was attacked again. Reports alleged that a group of Russians attacked computers at a control center of a power supplier in Kiev. The attackers apparently used phishing attacks on workers, enabling the intruders to grab login information and disable substations. The shutdown affected some 20 percent of Kiev's nighttime electrical use.

Sources: Compiled from J. Condliffe, “Ukraine's Power Grid Gets Hacked Again, a Worrying Sign for Infrastructure Attacks,” MIT Technology Review, December 22, 2016; E. Markowitz, “After Ukraine Cyberattacks, FBI and DHS Urge U.S. Power Companies to Develop Better Safety Protocols,” International Business Times, April 21, 2016; “FBI, DHS Issue Warning about Increasing Cyber Threat to Nation's Power Grid after Downplaying It in January,” Cyberwar.news, April 12, 2016; B. Gertz, “FBI Warns of Cyber Threat to Electric Grid,” The Washington Free Beacon, April 8, 2016; K. Zetter, “Inside the Cunning, Unprecedented Hack of Ukraine's Power Grid,” Wired, March 3, 2016; D. Voltz, “U.S. Government Concludes Cyber Attack Caused Ukraine Power Outage,” Reuters, February 25, 2016; W. Ashford, “Ukraine Cyber Attacks Beyond Power Companies, Says Trend Micro,” Computer Weekly, February 12, 2016; J. Robertson and M. Riley, “How Hackers Took Down a Power Grid,” Bloomberg BusinessWeek, January 14, 2016; M. Heller, “Russian Actors Accused of Attacking Ukraine with BlackEnergy Malware,” TechTarget, January 4, 2016; D. Goodin, “First Known Hacker-Caused Power Outage Signals Troubling Escalation,” Ars Technica, January 4, 2016; J. Cox, “Malware Found Inside Downed Ukrainian Grid Management Points to Cyberattack,” Motherboard, January 4, 2016.

• Questions ( 1 point * 3 = 3 points)

1. Describe what the Ukrainian power distribution companies did correctly to try to prevent such attacks.
2. Describe what other actions that the Ukrainian power distribution companies did incorrectly, or did not do at all, in order to try and prevent such attacks.
3. What lessons can other power companies gain from the Ukrainian cyberattack?

• Explain the following 10 types of deliberate attacks (for each item, please do not write more than 5 lines). (0.2 point * 10 = 2 points)

1. Espionage and trespass
2. Information extortion
3. Sabotage and vandalism
4. Identity theft
5. Phisihing attack
6. Distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack
7. Back door
8. Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCAND) attacks
9. Cyberterrorism and cyberwarfare

Ethics in Engineering

For each of the following five (5) scenarios, state briefly ‘what you would have done’ from an ethics perspective:

d) Dissent about quality

Discuss the ethical issue this case raises.

Dissent about quality

I

A recent graduate of Engineering Tech, Bernie Reston has been employed in the Research and Development (R&D) Chemical Engineering Division of Larom, Inc. for the past several months. Bernie was recommended to Larom as the top Engineering Tech graduate in chemical engineering.

Alex Smith, the head of Bernie's unit, showed immediate interest in Bernie's research on processes using a particular catalyst (call it B). However, until last week, his work assignments at Larom were in other areas.

A meeting of engineers in Bernie's unit is called by Alex. He announces that the unit must make a recommendation within the next two days on what catalyst should be used by Larom in processing a major product. It is clear to everyone that Alex is anticipating a brief, decisive meeting. One of the senior engineers volunteers, "We've been working on projects like this for years, and catalyst A seems to be the obvious choice." Several others immediately concur. Alex looks around the room and, hearing no further comments, says, "Well, it looks like we're in accord on this. Do we have consensus?"

So far Bernie has said nothing. He is not sure what further testing will show, but the testing he has been doing for the past week provides preliminary evidence that catalyst B may actually be best for this process. This is also in line with what his research at Engineering Tech suggested with somewhat similar processes. If catalyst B should turn out to be preferable, a great deal of money will be saved; and, in the long run, a fair amount of time will be saved as well. Should he mention his findings at this time, or should he simply defer to the senior engineers, who seem as determined as Alex to bring matters to closure?

II

Bernie somewhat hesitantly raises his hand. He briefly explains his test results and the advantages catalyst B might provide. Then he suggests that the unit might want to delay its recommendation for another two weeks so that he can conduct further tests.

Alex replies, "We don't have two weeks. We have two days." He then asks Bernie to write up the report, leaving out the preliminary data he has gathered about catalyst B. He says, "It would be nice to do some more testing, but we just don't have the time. Besides, I doubt if anything would show up in the next two weeks to change our minds. This is one of those times we have to be decisive--and we have to look decisive and quit beating around the bush. They're really getting impatient on this one. Anyway, we've had a lot of experience in this area."

Bernie replies that, even if the data on B is left out, the data on A is hardly conclusive. Alex replies, "Look you're a bright person. You can make the numbers look good without much difficulty--do the math backwards if you have to. Just get the report done in the next two days!"

Bernie likes working for Larom, and he feels lucky to have landed such a good job right out of Engineering Tech. He is also due for a significant pay raise soon if he plays his cards right.

What do you think Bernie should do? Explain your choice.

1. Write up the report as Alex says.
2. Refuse to write up the report, saying he will have no part in falsifying a report.
3. Other.

III

[Following II. 1.]

Bernie decides to write up the report. When he is finished, Alex asks him to sign it. Bernie now has second thoughts. He wonders if he should sign his name to a report that omits his preliminary research on catalyst B. Should he sign it?

IV

Bernie has now had more time to do research on catalyst B. After several weeks his research quite decisively indicates that, contrary to the expectations of Alex and the other more experienced engineers in the unit, catalyst B really would have been, far and away, the better choice. What should Bernie do now?

1. Keep the data to himself--don't make trouble.
2. Tell Alex and let him decide what, if anything, to do.
3. Other.

V

Bernie decides to say nothing. Although Larom has lost a lot of money by investing in an inferior catalyst, it is quite possible that this is the end of the matter for Bernie. The customer never complains, and no one outside at Larom raises any questions. However, it might go otherwise. Suppose a Larom competitor discovers that catalyst B is better for this type of work and it begins receiving contracts that Larom would normally be awarded. Further, what if Alex's superior then makes an inquiry into why his unit has missed out on this development?

VI

[Following II. 3.]

Bernie tries to convince Alex that a straightforward report should be submitted. Since there is a virtual consensus in the unit that catalyst A is best, A can be recommended. But the preliminary evidence about B can also be mentioned. After all, Bernie suggests, if the entire unit is convinced that A is best despite the preliminary evidence about B, why wouldn't those outside the unit be persuaded by the received wisdom of the unit? If they aren't persuaded, perhaps they will grant the unit more time to continue the research on B.

Somewhat to his surprise, Bernie finds Alex and the others receptive to his suggestion. The preliminary evidence about catalyst B is included in the report, even though A is recommended.

Unfortunately, Alex's superiors are very upset with the recommendation. They are unwilling to go ahead with the project without further testing, but they bitterly complain that the further delay will be very costly. Alex is severely criticised for not having a more convincing set of data. He, in turn, blames his staff, especially Bernie, the new specialist in this area. Bernie, Alex tells his superiors, failed to complete the necessary testing in a timely fashion. Alex tells his superiors that he should have supervised Bernie's work more closely, and he assures them that he will not let matters get out of control again. Although Bernie is not fired, he is not promoted and his salary is frozen for another year. What should he do?

1. Nothing. No good will come from complaining.
2. Confront Alex, telling him what you think of what he has done, but carrying it no further.
3. Other.

VII

Bernie decides he has nothing to gain from complaining to Alex or anyone else about becoming the "scapegoat" of the project. So, he keeps quiet. Sometime later, Alex is being considered for promotion to another division. Members of Bernie's unit are privately interviewed about his performance in the unit. Bernie is told that his comments will be kept confidential. What should he say in his interview?

VIII

Bernie says nothing negative about Alex in the interview. None of the others in the unit do either. Alex is promoted to another division. However, a year later it is discovered that he has directed someone in his new division to falsify data for reasons very similar to those in Bernie's original situation. The new person does what Alex asks. The result is a significant loss of money to Larom--only this time there is an expensive product-liability lawsuit relating to an unsafe Larom product. An inquiry takes place. The person who has falsified the report says that Alex has often requested that data be falsified--and that he typically has gotten young engineers to do the "dirty work" for him. So, it comes back to Bernie. He is asked why he didn't report Alex's orders to falsify data when the matter first came up. Bernie is accused of being partly responsible for allowing Alex to be promoted--with the resulting harm to others and loss of money and reputation to Larom.

Instructions: 1. Solve the following problems in a MATLAB script. You will be allowed to submit only one script, please work all the problems in the same script (Hint: careful with variables names) 2. Show your work and make comments in the same script (Use %). Please write your name in the first line of the scrip with % 3. It is OK to work with other students, but what you submit should be your own work – not something copied from someone else.

Problem #1 (10 points): Using loops show the following calculation: ? ???? 25 3 ????=1

Problem #2 (15 points): When working with computer, microprocessors or digital systems most of the commands are represented in binary numbers, hexadecimal numbers, ASCII or octal. We want to write a code that do the following a. Inputs are decimal digits from 200 to 400 counting by 10 b. When the counter find a number smaller than 300 the result will be the same number converted into hexadecimal c. When the counter find 300 display “We are at 300 from now on the numbers will be display as binary numbers” d. When the counter find an number bigger than 300 the result will be the same number converted into binary

Problem #3 (25 points): As you make decisions over your 401K, you find one investment opportunity that will draw 09% interest per year added to your account. The trick about this investment is that you will need to cancel the investment as soon as you double the amount of money you put in the first time which could be any amount from $5000 - $7000. You will received statements of the balanced for the total years you invested until the balanced is doubled. Expected from this program: • Initialize balance, year, and interest rate. Your first year is denominated at year 0. • You will need to display the balance with headings “Year” and “Balance” until the balance is twice the original. • Please display the numbers with bank format Example: Initial Balance=4500.00 Year Balance 1.00 4905.00 2.00 5346.45 3.00 5827.63 4.00 6352.12 5.00 6923.81 6.00 7546.95 7.00 8226.18 8.00 8966.53 9.00 9773.52

Problem #4 (35 points): A friend ask you to babysit their 5 year old named Kylo-Ren. After the kid tablet run out of battery and is almost at the point to start screaming, you decide to play a game. Since you are an expert in MATLAB or at least love writing some easy scripts, you decide to work a game for him. You want MATLAB to generate a random integer number that KyloRen will guess. Expected from this program: • Generate a random integer (no higher than 25). Keep in mind that a 5 year old will probably do not want to play a game if it is too long or too short. • Ask the user to input a guess. Please specify how high the guess could be. • Check the guess given for the user. If the guess is too low tell the user: “Kylo-Ren, your guess is too low, please try again and enter a new guess number”. The same thing should happen if the guess is too high. • When the guess is equal to the random number please congratulate Kylo-Ren. • If you can add sounds to the game, Kylo-Ren will be more eager to play over and over again which will give you time to watch one episode of the Big Bang Theory. Plus you can get bonus points. Example: Please enter your guess between 1 and 20: 5 Sorry your guess is too low Please enter your next guess: 15 Sorry your guess is too high Please enter your next guess: 5 Sorry your guess is too low Please enter your next guess: 10 Sorry your guess is too low Please enter your next guess: 12 Sorry your guess is too low Please enter your next guess: 14 Sorry your guess is too high Please enter your next guess: 13 At last! :)

Problem #5 (15 points): You all know I like sports, especially baseball. What is your favorite sport? Expected from this program: • Show the options in a menu form for the user for them to press either Baseball, Football, Soccer, Track and Field, Other, and Quit Survey. • When display a fun fact for each sport as follows o Baseball - display “Bobby Richardson is the only player to win an MVP on the World Series losing team” o Football – display “It takes 600 cows to make one full season’s worth of NFL footballs” o Basketball – display “ Basketball was invented by a YMCA teacher in Springfield, MA” o Soccer – display “FC Barcelona wears UNICEF logo in their shirt while donating 1.5M euros each year – Reverse sponsorship” o Track and Field – display “UNC Charlotte Men T&F Team Won C-USA Championship this year” o Other – display “ Golf: The average golf ball has 336 dimples, Tennis: Tennis balls where change from white to yellow in 1972” o Quit Survey – display “Thanks for participate” Example: Panther: Keep Pounding Broncos are my option Thanks for participate

Problem #6 (20 points): We have set up a limit in current on a piece of equipment to be 0.45 Amps. When the system is running data is gather in the DAQ. The system generates a vector of 10 random numbers in one single column. The control system is comparing if the values of the result currents are higher than the limit set for the supplier. We need to project the results into a monitor for easy understanding and to take action over the equipment. If one of the parameters in the vector has a value higher than the limit, we will need to display a message that say “There is at least one current value measure above the limit”, if this is not true, please display “All values are below the limit. You can proceed with your data acquisition”.

A small consulting company wants to make the switch to QuickBooks Online. All of their expenses are paid at the time they are incurred, so there is no need to track bills in the system. There is only one person from the company who requires access to the system. The client wants financial reports such as Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet, A/R, and budget reports. Which of the following QuickBooks products would best suit their requests and requirements?

A. QuickBooks Online Plus

B. QuickBooks Self-Employed

C. QuickBooks Online Essentials

D. QuickBooks Online Accountant

E. QuickBooks Online Simple Start

QuickBooks Online Plus offers what inventory costing method that Desktop editions do not, with the exception of QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions Platinum subscription?

A. LIFO

B. FIFO

C. Average Cost

D. Standard Cost

E. None. All offerings are the same

Middletown Marketing wants to switch to QuickBooks Online and needs 3 people to access the data. They would like to set up recurring billing for their retainer based clients. Based on this information, which QuickBooks Online product would be the best fit?

A. QuickBooks Online Plus

B. QuickBooks Self-Employed

C. QuickBooks Online Essentials

D. QuickBooks Online Simple Start

E. None - QuickBooks Online does not support these features

Middletown Marketing wants to switch to QuickBooks Online and needs 3 people to access the data. They would like to set up recurring billing for their retainer based clients. Based on this information, which QuickBooks Online product would be the best fit?

A. QuickBooks Online Plus

B. QuickBooks Self-Employed

C. QuickBooks Online Essentials

D. QuickBooks Online Simple Start

E. None - QuickBooks Online does not support these features

Which of the following actions is performed outside of Account and Settings?

A. Add new users

B. Turn on class tracking

C. Specify terminology for customers

D. Enter a closing date and password

E. Select whether to show account numbers in dropdown menus and reports

Your non-profit client wants to adjust their fiscal year in QuickBooks Online. Where do you find the accounting related preferences to make this change?

A. Gear Icon > Your Account

B. Gear Icon > Tools > Set fiscal year

C. Accountant Toolbar > Accounting Settings

D. Gear Icon > Account and Settings > Advanced

E. After setup, you cannot change the fiscal year in QuickBooks Online

What would you do to confirm the accurate import of your QuickBooks Desktop data into QuickBooks Online?

A. Look for import confirmation email

B. Run Verify Data in QuickBooks Online

C. Perform Data Rebuild in QuickBooks Online

D. Compare the Cash-based Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss for All Dates

E. Compare the Accrual-based Balance Sheet and Profit & Loss for All Dates in both QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop

Which of the following steps does NOT need to be performed to prepare your QuickBooks Desktop data for conversion?

A. Ensure the file is under 350,000 targets

B. Enter a closing password in QuickBooks Desktop

C. Create a backup before QuickBooks desktop runs the Rebuild action

D. Correct errors in the QuickBooks data before uploading to QuickBooks Online

E. None - all of the above are recommended conversion preparation steps for QuickBooks Online

Where do you find accounting-related preferences?

A. Gear Icon > Your Account

B. Alerts > Change Preferences

C. Gear Icon > Account and Settings

D. AccountantCenter > Accounting Settings

E. Accountant Toolbar > Accounting Settings

Laura has decided to make the switch to QuickBooks Payments for merchant services and just received notification that her application has been approved. Which of the following is her next step?

A. Buy the card reader for mobile devices

B. Wait one week to begin processing payments

C. Call QuickBooks Payments support to complete setup

D. Verify that the merchant account is linked to QuickBooks

E. Call to confirm the start date for processing payments, based on the kind of products she sells

Which of the following lists are NOT accessed through the Gear icon?

A. Classes

B. Customers

C. Chart of Accounts

D. Products & Services

E. Recurring Transactions

Which of the following is a feature in the QuickBooks App that is not available in a regular browser?

A. Offline changes sync back to the cloud

B. Access to dropdown menus for screens and reports

C. App works on multiple devices like Mac, PC, and tablets

D. Gives you the ability to download a local backup of your QuickBooks Online data

E. App gives you access to Accountant tools not available through QuickBooks Online Accountant

Which of the following tasks can you perform using the Quick Create feature in a QuickBooks Online company?

A. Create new user

B. Create new account

C. Create new transactions

D. Create new customers and vendors

E. Create new employees and run payroll

You are logged into your client’s QuickBooks Online company through QuickBooks Online Accountant. After saving and closing a transaction in the company, you realize that you made an error. What is the best way to access the recent transaction list to reopen and fix the transaction?

A. Reports > All Reports > Recent transactions report

B. Click in the search box on the toolbar and choose the recent transaction from the drop down list

C. Click on the recent transactions button next to the quick create button in the center of the top toolbar

D. Press CTRL+F to bring up a search box and enter the dollar amount of the transaction to look it up and edit it

E. Transactions > Chart of Accounts and open the register for the account that you posted the transaction to, then open and edit the transaction

Using the direct method, and the information in the exhibits, prepare the financing activities section of the statement of cash flows for Alaskan Travels, Inc., as of December 31, Year 2. In the first column, from the option list provided, select the description for cash flows that are clearly from financing activities. In the second column, enter the amounts that will be reported in the financing activities section of the statement of cash flows. Indicate negative numbers by using a leading minus (-) sign.

Meeting - Board of Directors

Alaskan Travels, Inc.

Seattle, WA

A meeting of the Board of Directors of Alaskan Travels, Inc., was held on May 11, Year 2, at 2:00 p.m. at the company offices in Seattle, Washington.

Those present were:

Carson Mitchel, Chairman of the Board, Wallace Shepard, President and CEO, Jeremy Cox, Suzanne Richardson, Tabitha Gillespie, and John Dillon (secretary).

Proceedings:

Mr. Carson Mitchel, Chairman of the Board, presided.

On motion and unanimously approved, the following resolutions were adopted:

BE IT RESOLVED, Alaskan Travels, Inc., will proceed with the purchase of the 20-acre parcel of land located at Jones Field for $150,000.

BE IT RESOLVED, Alaskan Travels, Inc., will reacquire common stock from Walter Morrison, to be held as treasury stock, for $100,000 cash.

BE IT RESOLVED, Conroy Aviation has agreed to accept common stock for settlement of our $1,000,000 bond payable.

Adjournment:

There being no further business to come before the meeting, it was on motion adjourned at 3:30 p.m.

Respectfully submitted:

John Dillon, Secretary

Press Release

Alaskan Travels, Inc., Declares Dividend

Seattle, WA, December 1, Year 2 - Alaskan Travels, Inc., a charter travel company, today announced that its Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $1.25 per share of the company’s common stock. Alaskan Travels, Inc., currently has 64,000 shares of common stock outstanding.

The dividend will be paid on December 27, Year 2, to all common shareholders of record as of the close of business on December 15, Year 2.

About Alaskan Travels, Inc.

Founded in Year 1, Alaskan Travels, Inc., is a charter travel company located in Seattle, WA. The company provides chartered air and ground tours throughout Alaska.

From: Tom Pearson ([email protected])

To: Hannah Goodwin ([email protected])

Date: January 5, Year 3

Subject: Year 2 Securities Transactions

Hi Hannah,

I recorded the following securities transactions in Year 2:

1) Sold trading securities for $139,000
2) Purchased available-for-sale securities for $75,000

Additionally, there was a $22,000 cash purchase of inventory in November, Year 2.

Please let me know if you need any additional information.

Sincerely,

Tom Pearson, CFO

Alaskan Travels, Inc.

Resolution of the Board of Directors of

Alaskan Travels, Inc.

Seattle, WA

Declaration of Preferred Stock Dividends and Issuance of Preferred Stock

BE IT RESOLVED THAT:

1. The company declares, on this day, November 20, Year 2, the required annual cash dividend for preferred stock.

2. The dividend of $640,000 is to be set aside and distributed on March 15, Year 3.

3. The directors of Alaskan Travels, Inc., hereby certify that the preferred shareholders of record with the company will be provided with a copy of this notice.

4. On November 20, Year 2, Alaskan Travels, Inc., issued 10,000 shares of $3 par-value, 5% preferred stock for $55 per share.

The undersigned, being The Chairman of the Board for Alaskan Travels, Inc., hereby approves the foregoing resolution in accordance with the provisions of the company’s bylaws.

DATED the 20th day of November, Year 2.

Palmer Aircraft Finance

Used Aircraft Purchase and Finance Agreement

December 31, Year 2

Executed, this day of December 31, Year 2, this Used Aircraft Purchase and Finance Agreement is made between Alaskan Travels, Inc., of Seattle, Washington, and Palmer Aircraft Finance Company of Dallas, Texas.

Alaskan Travels, Inc., agrees to purchase from Queen Airway, one used multi-engine prop aircraft, VIN 74-811, for the sum of U.S. $275,000.

The lender, Palmer Aircraft Finance Company, agrees to finance 90%, or U.S. $247,500, of the purchase price of this aircraft.

The seller, Queen Airway, agrees to deliver aircraft upon (1) receipt of a cashier’s check from the buyer for 10% of the purchase price, or U.S. $27,500, and (2) execution of this finance agreement.

The borrower, Alaskan Travels, Inc., for value received, and prior to the delivery of said aircraft, promises to pay (1) to the seller, U.S. $27,500, in the form of a cashier’s check, and (2) to the lender, the principal sum of U.S. $247,500, with interest, at the annual rate of 12%. Payment of principal and interest will be made in 10 equal annual installments beginning December 31, Year 3.At any time while not in default under this Note, the borrower may pay the outstanding balance then owing under this Note to the lender without further bonus or penalty. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Note, if the borrower defaults in the performance of any obligation under this Note, then the lender may declare the principal amount owing and interest due under this Note at that time to be immediately due and payable.

This note will be construed in accordance with and governed by the laws of the State.

ALASKAN TRAVELS INC CANCELED CHECK

Paid to the order of Hidden City Bank

123 Main St

Seattle Washington

Check amount $325,000

Check date 08/2/Year 2

Memo: Settlement of note payable - Tom Pearson

PAYMENT RECORD

Loan No.: 548761-21

Payment date: 08/2/Year 2

Principal: $310,000

Interest $15,000

Amount paid $325,000

Shootings Gun control and the Virginia Tech massacre By Adam Gopnik The cell phones in the pockets of the dead students were still ringing when we were told that it was wrong to ask why. As the police cleared the bodies from the Virginia Tech engineering building, the cell phones rang, in the eccentric varieties of ring tones, as parents kept trying to see if their children were O.K. To imagine the feelings of the police as they carried the bodies and heard the ringing is heartrending; to imagine the feelings of the parents who were calling—dread, desperate hope for a sudden answer and the bliss of reassurance, dawning grief—is unbearable. But the parents, and the rest of us, were told that it was not the right moment to ask how the shooting had happened—specifically, why an obviously disturbed student, with a history of mental illness, was able to buy guns whose essential purpose is to kill people—and why it happens over and over again in America. At a press conference, Virginia’s governor, Tim Kaine, said, “People who want to . . . make it their political hobby horse to ride, I’ve got nothing but loathing for them. . . . At this point, what it’s about is comforting family members . . . and helping this community heal. And so to those who want to try to make this into some little crusade, I say take that elsewhere.” If the facts weren’t so horrible, there might be something touching in the Governor’s deeply American belief that “healing” can take place magically, without the intervening practice called “treating.” The logic is unusual but striking: the aftermath of a terrorist attack is the wrong time to talk about security, the aftermath of a death from lung cancer is the wrong time to talk about smoking and the tobacco industry, and the aftermath of a car crash is the wrong time to talk about seat belts. People talked about the shooting, of course, but much of the conversation was devoted to musings on the treatment of mental illness in universities, the problem of “narcissism,” violence in the media and in popular culture, copycat killings, the alienation of immigrant students, and the question of Evil. Some people, however—especially people outside America—were eager to talk about it in another way, and even to embark on a little crusade. The whole world saw that the United States has more gun violence than other countries because we have more guns and are willing to sell them to madmen who want to kill people. Every nation has violent loners, and they tend to have remarkably similar profiles from one country and culture to the next. And every country has known the horror of having a lunatic get his hands on a gun and kill innocent people. But on a recent list of the fourteen worst mass shootings in Western democracies since the nineteen-sixties the United States claimed seven, and, just as important, no other country on the list has had a repeat performance as severe as the first. In Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996, a gunman killed sixteen children and a teacher at their school. Afterward, the British gun laws, already restrictive, were tightened—it’s now against the law for any private citizen in the United Kingdom to own the kinds of guns that Cho Seung-Hui used at Virginia Tech—and nothing like Dunblane has occurred there since. In Quebec, after a school shooting took the lives of fourteen women in 1989, the survivors helped begin a gun-control movement that resulted in legislation bringing stronger, though far from sufficient, gun laws to Canada. (There have been a couple of subsequent shooting sprees, but on a smaller scale, and with far fewer dead.) In the Paris suburb of Nanterre, in 2002, a man killed eight people at a municipal meeting. Gun control became a key issue in the Presidential election that year, and there has been no repeat incident. So there is no American particularity about loners, disenfranchised immigrants, narcissism, alienated youth, complex moral agency, or Evil. There is an American particularity about guns. The arc is apparent. Forty years ago, a man killed fourteen people on a college campus in Austin, Texas; this year, a man killed thirty-two in Blacksburg, Virginia. Not enough was done between those two massacres to make weapons of mass killing harder to obtain. In fact, while campus killings continued—Columbine being the most notorious, the shooting in the one-room Amish schoolhouse among the most recent—weapons have got more lethal, and, in states like Virginia, where the N.R.A. is powerful, no harder to buy. Reducing the number of guns available to crazy people will neither relieve them of their insanity nor stop them from killing. Making it more difficult to buy guns that kill people is, however, a rational way to reduce the number of people killed by guns. Nations with tight gun laws have, on the whole, less gun violence; countries with somewhat restrictive gun laws have some gun violence; countries with essentially no gun laws have a lot of gun violence. (If you work hard, you can find a statistical exception hiding in a corner, but exceptions are just that. Some people who smoke their whole lives don’t get lung cancer, while some people who never smoke do; still, the best way not to get lung cancer is not to smoke.) It’s true that in renewing the expired ban on assault weapons we can’t guarantee that someone won’t shoot people with a semi-automatic pistol, and that by controlling semi-automatic pistols we can’t reduce the chances of someone killing people with a rifle. But the point of lawmaking is not to act as precisely as possible, in order to punish the latest crime; it is to act as comprehensively as possible, in order to prevent the next one. Semi-automatic Glocks and Walthers, Cho’s weapons, are for killing people. They are not made for hunting, and it’s not easy to protect yourself with them. (If having a loaded semi-automatic on hand kept you safe, cops would not be shot as often as they are.) Rural America is hunting country, and hunters need rifles and shotguns—with proper licensing, we’ll live with the risk. There is no reason that any private citizen in a democracy should own a handgun. At some point, that simple truth will register. Until it does, phones will ring for dead children, and parents will be told not to ask why. Question: Can you help me to with possible outline for critical review essay on the above essay?

No initial opening comment with program details is required however, function specific documentation is still required for all functions.

Don't forget to use correct programing formatting style and documentation.

Directions:

Implement the following functions. Each function deals with null terminated C-Style strings. You can assume that any char array passed into the functions will contain null terminated data. Place all of the functions in a single file and then (in the same file) create a main() function that tests the functions thoroughly. You will lose points if you don't show enough examples to convince me that your function works in all cases.

Please note the following:

1) You may not use any variables of type string. This means that you should not #include <string>. Also, you may not use any c-string functions other than strlen(). If you use any other c-string functions, you will not get credit. Note, however, that functions such as toupper(), tolower(), isalpha(), isspace(), and swap() are NOT c-string functions, so you can use them. Also note that this prohibition is only for the functions that you are assigned to write. You can set-up a testing interface any way you want in your main() function. Make sure the algorithm is simple to follow and includes program statements that tests all the assigned functions.

2) In most cases it will be better to use a while loop that keeps going until it hits a '\0', rather than using a for loop that uses strlen() as the limit, because calling strlen() requires a traversal of the entire array. You could lose a point or two if you traverse the array unnecessarily.

3) None of these function specifications say anything at all about input or output. None of these functions should have any input or output statements in them. The output should be done in the calling function, which will probably be main(). The only requirement about main() is that it sufficiently test your functions. So, you can get user input in main() to use as arguments in the function calls, or you can use hard-coded values -- up to you, as long as the functions are tested thoroughly.

4) Here's a hint about how to work with c-strings in main(). There are several different ways that you could assign values to c-string variables, but I think the easiest is just hardcoding a lot of examples. For example:

char str1[] = "C++ is fun!";
char reverseTest[]    = "13 dwarves";
char containerString[] = "Lord of the Strings";
char replacemenTest[]  = "abaadabcd";
char palindrome[]      = "radar";

Whatever you do, don't try to create and initialize a c-string on one line using pointer notation, like this:

char* str1 = "C++ is fun!";

This is dangerous (and officially deprecated in the C++ standard) because you haven't allocated memory for str1 to point at.

5) Since your program is being used for testing, in this case it is fine to have a very long main() function.

As mentioned, you can set-up a testing interface any way you want in your main() function. as long as the end result is that you demonstrate that the functions are tested and work correctly. Stepping through the sample program output below should be helpful as you begin putting together the testing interface in the main () function.

Final note: Make sure the algorithm and testing interface is simple to follow and the program is well formatted with appropriate documentation.

Here are the functions:

1) This function finds the last index where the target char can be found in the string. it returns -1 if the target char does not appear in the string. The function should be case sensitive (so 'b' is not a match for 'B').

int lastIndexOf(const char* inString, char target)

2) This function alters any string that is passed in. It should reverse the string. If "flower" gets passed in it should be reversed in place to "rewolf". For efficiency, this must be done "in place", i.e., without creating a second array.

void reverse(char* inString)

3) This function finds all instances of the char 'target' in the string and replace them with 'replacementChar'. It returns the number of replacements that it makes. If the target char does not appear in the string it should return 0.

int replace(char* inString, char target, char replacementChar)

4) This function returns true if the argument string is a palindrome. It returns false if it is not. A palindrome is a string that is spelled the same as its reverse. For example "abba" is a palindrome. So are "hannah" and "abc cba".

Do not get confused by white space characters, punctuation, or digits. They should not get any special treatment. "abc ba" is not a palindrome. It is not identical to its reverse.

Your function should not be case sensitive. For example, "aBbA" is a palindrome.

You must solve this problem "in place", i.e., without creating a second array. As a result, calling your reverse() function from this function isn't going to help.

bool isPalindrome(const char* inString)

5) This function converts the c-string parameter to all uppercase.

void toupper(char* inString)

6) This function returns the number of letters in the c-string.

int numLetters(const char* inString)

Sample Screen Output:

Testing the lastIndexOf() function.

The last index in the cstring 0123456789a1 with the character '0' is 0

The last index in the cstring 0123456789a1 with the letter 'a' is 10

The last index in the cstring 0123456789a1 with the character '1' is 11

The last index in the cstring 0123456789a1 with the letter 'x' is -1


Testing the reverse() function.

The original string is "reverse".  The reversed string is "esrever".

The original string is "13 dwarves".  The reversed string is "sevrawd 31".


Testing the replace() function.

The number of replacements of 'a' for 'z' in abaadabcd is 4
Now the string is zbzzdzbcd

The number of replacements of 'a' for 'z' in zbzzdzbcd is 0
Now the string is zbzzdzbcd


Testing the isPalindrome() function.

wertytre is not a palindrome

radar is a palindrome

abc ba is not a palindrome

ra ar is a palindrome

abccBa is a palindrome

abcdefgha is not a palindrome

 (an empty string) is a palindrome

Testing the toupper() function.

Lord of the Strings becomes LORD OF THE STRINGS

Testing the numLetters() function.

0123456789a1 has this many letters: 1

Process returned 0 (0x0)   execution time : 0.065 s
Press any key to continue.