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Wiki	Wiki Summary
Tivoization	Tivoization is the practice of designing hardware that incorporates software under the terms of a copyleft software license like the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), but uses hardware restrictions or digital rights management (DRM) to prevent users from running modified versions of the software on that hardware. Richard Stallman coined the term in reference to TiVo's use of GNU GPL licensed software on the TiVo brand digital video recorders (DVR), which actively blocks users from running modified software on its hardware by design.
Complication (medicine)	A complication in medicine, or medical complication, is an unfavorable result of a disease, health condition, or treatment. Complications may adversely affect the prognosis, or outcome, of a disease.
Anthropogenic hazard	Anthropogenic hazards are hazards caused by human action or inaction. They are contrasted with natural hazards.
Disparate impact	Disparate impact in United States labor law refers to practices in employment, housing, and other areas that adversely affect one group of people of a protected characteristic more than another, even though rules applied by employers or landlords are formally neutral. Although the protected classes vary by statute, most federal civil rights laws protect based on race, color, religion, national origin, and sex as protected traits, and some laws include disability status and other traits as well.
Good Environmental Status	Good Environmental Status is a qualitative description of the state of the seas that the European Union's Marine Strategy Framework Directive requires its Member States to achieve or maintain by the year 2020. \nGood Environmental Status is described by 11 Descriptors:\n\nDescriptor 1.
Nicotine	Nicotine is a naturally produced alkaloid in the nightshade family of plants (most predominantly in tobacco and Duboisia hopwoodii) and is widely used recreationally as a stimulant and anxiolytic. As a pharmaceutical drug, it is used for smoking cessation to relieve withdrawal symptoms.
Operations management	Operations management is an area of management concerned with designing and controlling the process of production and redesigning business operations in the production of goods or services. It involves the responsibility of ensuring that business operations are efficient in terms of using as few resources as needed and effective in meeting customer requirements.
Emergency operations center	An emergency operations center (EOC) is a central command and control facility responsible for carrying out the principles of emergency preparedness and emergency management, or disaster management functions at a strategic level during an emergency, and ensuring the continuity of operation of a company, political subdivision or other organization.\nAn EOC is responsible for strategic direction and operational decisions and does not normally directly control field assets, instead leaving tactical decisions to lower commands.
Operations research	Operations research (British English: operational research), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a discipline that deals with the development and application of advanced analytical methods to improve decision-making. It is sometimes considered to be a subfield of mathematical sciences.
Surgery	Surgery is a medical or dental specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pathological condition such as a disease or injury, to help improve bodily function, appearance, or to repair unwanted ruptured areas.\nThe act of performing surgery may be called a surgical procedure, operation, or simply "surgery".
Operation (mathematics)	In mathematics, an operation is a function which takes zero or more input values (called operands) to a well-defined output value. The number of operands (also known as arguments) is the arity of the operation.
Mortgage loan	A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any purpose while putting a lien on the property being mortgaged. The loan is "secured" on the borrower's property through a process known as mortgage origination.
Kiva (organization)	Kiva (commonly known by its domain name, Kiva.org) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, it is the world's first online lending platform connecting online lenders to entrepreneurs across the globe. Kiva's mission is "to expand financial access to help underserved communities thrive."Kiva distributes funds that it receives to financial institutions, social impact businesses, schools and non-profit organizations.
Palanivel Thiagarajan	Palanivel Thiagarajan is an Indian politician and the current Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election in 2016 and 2021 from Madurai Central.
Savings and loan crisis	The savings and loan crisis of the 1980s and 1990s (commonly dubbed the S&L crisis) was the failure of 1,043 out of the 3,234 savings and loan associations (S&Ls) in the United States from 1986 to 1995. An S&L or "thrift" is a financial institution that accepts savings deposits and makes mortgage, car and other personal loans to individual members (a cooperative venture known in the United Kingdom as a building society).
Profit (economics)	An economic profit is the difference between the revenue a commercial entity has received from its outputs and the opportunity costs of its inputs. It equals to total revenue minus total cost, including both explicit and implicit costs.
Profitability analysis	In cost accounting, profitability analysis is an analysis of the profitability of an organisation's output. Output of an organisation can be grouped into products, customers, locations, channels and/or transactions.
Profitability index	Profitability index (PI), also known as profit investment ratio (PIR) and value investment ratio (VIR), is the ratio of payoff to investment of a proposed project. It is a useful tool for ranking projects because it allows you to quantify the amount of value created per unit of investment.
Customer Profitability Analysis	Customer Profitability Analysis (in short CPA) is a management accounting and a credit underwriting method, allowing businesses and lenders to determine the profitability of each customer or segments of customers, by attributing profits and costs to each customer separately. CPA can be applied at the individual customer level (more time consuming, but providing a better understanding of business situation) or at the level of customer aggregates / groups (e.g.
Small Is Profitable	Small Is Profitable: The Hidden Economic Benefits of Making Electrical Resources the Right Size is a 2002 book by energy analyst Amory Lovins and others. The book describes 207 ways in which the size of "electrical resources"—devices that make, save, or store electricity—affects their economic value.
Profitable growth	Profitable Growth is the combination of profitability and growth, more precisely the combination of Economic Profitability and Growth of Free cash flows. Profitable growth is aimed at seducing the financial community; it emerged in the early 80s when shareholder value creation became firms’ main objective.
Customer profitability	Customer Profitability Analysis (in short CPA) is a management accounting and a credit underwriting method, allowing businesses and lenders to determine the profitability of each customer or segments of customers, by attributing profits and costs to each customer separately. CPA can be applied at the individual customer level (more time consuming, but providing a better understanding of business situation) or at the level of customer aggregates / groups (e.g.
Porter's five forces analysis	Porter's Five Forces Framework is a method of analysing the operating environment of a competition of a business. It draws from industrial organization (IO) economics to derive five forces that determine the competitive intensity and, therefore, the attractiveness (or lack thereof) of an industry in terms of its profitability.
Net income	In business and accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and amortization, interest, and taxes for an accounting period.It is computed as the residual of all revenues and gains less all expenses and losses for the period, and has also been defined as the net increase in shareholders' equity that results from a company's operations. It is different from gross income, which only deducts the cost of goods sold from revenue.
Competition	Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individuals, economic and social groups, etc.
Perfect competition	In economics, specifically general equilibrium theory, a perfect market, also known as an atomistic market, is defined by several idealizing conditions, collectively called perfect competition, or atomistic competition. In theoretical models where conditions of perfect competition hold, it has been demonstrated that a market will reach an equilibrium in which the quantity supplied for every product or service, including labor, equals the quantity demanded at the current price.
Competition law	Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement.
Competition (biology)	Competition is an interaction between organisms or species in which both require a resource that is in limited supply (such as food, water, or territory). Competition lowers the fitness of both organisms involved, since the presence of one of the organisms always reduces the amount of the resource available to the other.In the study of community ecology, competition within and between members of a species is an important biological interaction.
Cournot competition	Cournot competition is an economic model used to describe an industry structure in which companies compete on the amount of output they will produce, which they decide on independently of each other and at the same time. It is named after Antoine Augustin Cournot (1801–1877) who was inspired by observing competition in a spring water duopoly.
Competition regulator	A competition regulator is the institution that oversees the functioning of the markets. And the Law in which it takes cognizance of situations having any type of impediments and distortions on the markets and correct them is the competition law (also known as antitrust law).
Climbing competition	A climbing competition (or comp) is usually held indoors on purpose built climbing walls. There are three main types of climbing competition: lead, speed, and bouldering.
Compound interest	Compound interest is the addition of interest to the principal sum of a loan or deposit, or in other words, interest on principal plus interest. It is the result of reinvesting interest, or adding it to the loaned capital rather than paying it out, or requiring payment from borrower, so that interest in the next period is then earned on the principal sum plus previously accumulated interest.
California	California is a state in the Western United States. California borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, the Mexican state of Baja California to the south; and has a coastline along the Pacific Ocean to the west.
Southern California	Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban agglomeration in the United States.
California Saga/California	"California Saga/California" is a song by American rock band the Beach Boys from their January 1973 album Holland. It was written by Al Jardine and is the third and final part of the "California Saga" series of songs on Holland.
Baja California	Baja California (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbaxa kaliˈfoɾnja] (listen); 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California (Spanish: Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California) is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico.
The Californias	The Californias (Spanish: Las Californias), occasionally known as The Three Californias or Two Californias, are a region of North America spanning the United States and Mexico, consisting of the U.S. state of California and the Mexican states of Baja California and Baja California Sur. Historically, the term Californias was used to define the vast northwestern region of Spanish America, as the Province of the Californias (Spanish: Provincia de las Californias), and later as a collective term for Alta California and the Baja California Peninsula.Originally a single, vast entity within the Spanish Empire, as the Californias became defined in their geographical limits, their administration was split various times into Baja California (Lower California) and Alta California (Upper California), especially during the Mexican control of the region, following the Mexican War of Independence.
Governor of California	The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard.

Risk Factors
Risk Factors Our business exposes us to certain risks
The following is a discussion of what management presently believes are the most significant risks and uncertainties that may affect our business, financial condition and future results
Our primary market area is substantially dependent on gaming and tourism revenue, and a downturn in gaming or tourism could hurt our business and our prospects
Our business is concentrated in the Las Vegas, Nevada area
The economy of the Las Vegas metropolitan area is unique in the United States for its level of dependence on services and industries related to gaming and tourism
Any event that negatively impacts the gaming or tourism industry will adversely impact the Las Vegas economy
Gaming and tourism revenue (whether or not such tourism is directly related to gaming) is vulnerable to fluctuations in the national economy
A prolonged downturn in the national economy could have a significant adverse effect on the economy of the Las Vegas area
Virtually any development or event that could dissuade travel or spending related to gaming and tourism, whether inside or outside of Las Vegas, could adversely affect the Las Vegas economy
In this regard, the Las Vegas economy is more susceptible than the economies of other cities to issues such as higher gasoline and other fuel prices, increased airfares, unemployment levels, recession, rising interest rates, and other economic conditions, whether domestic or foreign
Gaming and tourism are also susceptible to certain political conditions or events, such as military hostilities and acts of terrorism, whether domestic or foreign
A terrorist act, or the mere threat of a terrorist act, may adversely affect the Las Vegas economy and may cause substantial harm to our business
A deterioration in economic conditions generally, and a slowdown in gaming and tourism activities in particular, could result in the following consequences, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects: • Loan delinquencies may increase; • Problem assets and foreclosures may increase; • Demand for our products and services may decline; and • Collateral for loans made by us may decline in value, reducing a customer’s borrowing power, and reducing the value of assets and collateral associated with our loans
We have a high concentration of loans secured by real estate and a downturn in the real estate market, for any reason, could hurt our business and our prospects
At December 31, 2005, 88prca of our loan portfolio was comprised of loans secured by real estate
Of the loans secured by real estate, approximately: • 18prca are secured by raw land; • 34prca are commercial real estate loans; • 46prca are construction and/or land development loans; and • 2prca are other real estate loans
These real estate-secured loans are concentrated in the Clark County, Nevada, area, which includes Las Vegas
A downturn in the local economy could have both a material adverse effect on a borrower’s ability to repay these loans, as well as the value of the real property held as collateral
In that regard, the FDIC has recently issued a 11 _________________________________________________________________ [42]Table of Contents pronouncement voicing its concern nationwide about banks which have a heavy concentration of commercial real estate loans as a percentage of their capital
We are aware of this regulatory concern and are monitoring this area carefully
In addition, land values in Nevada are influenced by the amount of land sold by the federal Bureau of Land Management, which controls 67prca of Nevada’s land, according to the Nevada State Office of the Bureau of Land Management
Changes to the federal Bureau of Land Management distribution policies on Nevada land, including increasing the amount of land available for sale each year, could depress the value of Nevada real estate
Our ability to recover on defaulted loans by foreclosing and selling the real estate collateral would then be diminished and we would be more likely to suffer losses on defaulted loans
We may not be able to successfully continue our historical growth, which could adversely affect our future operations
We have grown substantially, from dlra39 million in total assets and dlra33 million in total deposits at December 31, 1999, to dlra391 million in total assets and dlra332 million in total deposits at December 31, 2005
We expect to continue to grow our assets, deposits, the number of our clients, and the scale of our operations generally, including our expectation that we will open additional branch locations
Our future success will depend in part on our continued ability to manage our growth
We can give no assurance that we will be able to sustain our historical growth rates, be able to grow at all or successfully manage any growth
Our business strategy involves, among other things, continued growth of our assets and loan portfolio; the opening of new branches to increase our retail presence in our market area; the recruitment of experienced commercial bankers and other key employees; the increase of our customer base; and the effective leveraging of our capital, each with the overriding objective of growing our business
Our ability to continue to grow depends, in part, upon our ability to identify favorable loan and investment opportunities, open new branch locations and successfully attract deposits to existing and new branches
There can be no assurance that our management will be able to effectively continue to implement our business strategy, and we may encounter unanticipated obstacles in implementing our strategy
If we are unable to expand our business, as we anticipate, we may be unable to realize any benefit from the investments we have made to support our future growth
If this occurs, we may not be able to achieve or maintain profitability
We may have difficulty managing our growth, which may divert resources and limit our ability to successfully expand our operations
We believe that we have built our management team and personnel, and established an infrastructure, to support our future growth
Our future success will depend on the ability of our officers and key employees to continue to implement and improve our operational, financial and management controls and processes, reporting systems and procedures, and to manage a growing number of client relationships
We may not be able to successfully implement improvements to our management information and control systems and control procedures and processes in an efficient or timely manner and may discover deficiencies in existing systems and controls
In particular, our controls and procedures must be able to accommodate an increase in expected loan volume and the infrastructure that comes with new branches
Thus, we cannot assure you that our growth strategy will not place a strain on our administrative and operational infrastructure
If we are unable to manage future expansion in our operations, we may experience compliance and operational problems, have to slow the pace of growth, or have to incur additional expenditures beyond current projections to support such growth; any one of which could adversely affect our business
12 _________________________________________________________________ [43]Table of Contents Our business would be harmed if we lost the services of any of our senior management team
We believe that our success to date and our prospects for success in the future are substantially dependent on our senior management team, which includes Barry Hulin, our President and Chief Executive Officer, Steve Gilbert, our Chief Operating Officer, Dick Holtzclaw, our Chief Financial Officer and Mark Affeldt, our Chief Credit Officer
We also believe that our success is dependent on retaining our key senior business development officers
The loss of the services of any of these persons, particularly Mr
We have entered into an employment agreement with Mr
Hulin, but we have not entered into employment agreements with the other members of our senior management team or senior business development officers
In light of the relatively small number of persons involved in the Las Vegas area banking industry, we could have difficulty replacing any of our senior management team or senior business development officers with equally competent persons who are also familiar with our market area
Our growth could be hindered unless we are able to recruit additional, qualified employees
The Las Vegas area is experiencing a period of rapid growth, placing a premium on highly qualified employees in a number of industries, including the financial services industry
Our business plan includes, and is dependent upon, our hiring and retaining highly qualified and motivated executives and employees at every level, and, in particular, experienced loan originators and branch managers
We expect to experience substantial competition in our endeavor to identify, hire and retain the top-quality employees that we believe are key to our future success
If we are unable to hire and retain qualified employees, we may not be able to grow our franchise and successfully execute our business strategy
There is intense competition in our market area, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to successfully compete
Commercial banking in Clark County, including Las Vegas, is a highly competitive business
Increased competition in our market may result in reduced loans and deposits
Valley Bank competes for loans and deposits with other commercial banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions and finance companies operating in the Las Vegas area and elsewhere in Nevada
Valley Bank also competes with credit unions, small loan companies, insurance companies, mortgage companies, finance companies, brokerage houses, other financial institutions and out-of-state financial intermediaries, some of which are not subject to the same degree of regulation and restriction as Valley Bank and some of which have financial resources greater than those of Valley Bank
Areas of competition include interest rates for loans and deposits and efforts to obtain loan and deposit customers
Technological advances continue to contribute to greater competition in domestic and international products and services
Ultimately, we may not be able to compete successfully against current and future competitors
Fluctuating interest rates can adversely affect our profitability
Our profitability is dependent to a large extent upon net interest income, which is the difference (or “spread”) between the interest earned on loans, securities and other interest-earning assets and interest paid on deposits, borrowings and other interest-bearing liabilities
Because of the differences in maturities and repricing characteristics of our interest-earning assets and interest-bearing liabilities, changes in interest rates do not produce equivalent changes in interest income earned on interest-earning assets and interest paid on interest-earning liabilities
Accordingly, fluctuations in interest rates could adversely affect our interest rate spread, and, in turn, our profitability
We cannot assure you that we can minimize our interest rate risk
In addition, interest rates also affect the amount of money we can lend
When interest rates rise, the cost of borrowing also increases
Accordingly, changes in levels of market interest rates could materially and adversely affect our net interest spread, asset quality, loan origination volume, business and prospects
13 _________________________________________________________________ [44]Table of Contents Our allowance for loan losses may not be adequate to cover actual losses
A significant source of risk arises from the possibility that losses could be sustained because borrowers, guarantors and related parties may fail to perform in accordance with the terms of their loans
The underwriting and credit monitoring policies that we have adopted to address this risk may not prevent unexpected losses that could have a material adverse affect on our business
Like all financial institutions, we maintain an allowance for loan losses to provide for loan defaults and non-performance
Our allowance for loan losses is heavily based on our historical loss experience, which generally has been low
Accordingly, if this historical trend changes, our allowance for loan losses may not be adequate to cover actual loan losses, and future provisions for loan losses could materially and adversely affect our business
At December 31, 2005, we had 105 loans in excess of dlra1 million each, totaling dlra226 million, or 75prca of our loan portfolio
Our net income would be adversely affected if we had to make a provision for loan losses for any of our loans, but in particular, for these larger loans in our portfolio
Our allowance for loan losses is based on our prior experience and peer bank experience, as well as an evaluation of the known risks in the current portfolio, composition and growth of the loan portfolio and economic factors
The determination of the appropriate level of loan loss allowance is an inherently difficult process and is based on numerous assumptions
The amount of future losses is susceptible to changes in economic, operating and other conditions, including changes in interest rates, that may be beyond our control and these losses may exceed current estimates
We cannot assure you that we will not increase the allowance for loan losses further or that regulators will not require us to increase this allowance
Either of these occurrences could adversely affect our business and prospects
An expansion of permissible gaming activities in other states, particularly in California, may lead to a decline in gaming revenue in Las Vegas, which could hurt our business and our prospects
Las Vegas competes with other areas of the country for gaming revenue, and it is possible that the expansion of gaming operations in other states, as a result of changes in laws or otherwise, could significantly reduce gaming revenue in the Las Vegas area
This is particularly true of gaming operations in California, a state from which Nevada generally, and Las Vegas in particular, draw substantial year-round clientele
Agreements negotiated between the State of California and certain Indian tribes as well as other proposals currently under consideration in California may result in substantial additional growth in casinos throughout the state
In addition, other California legislative proposals could permit an expansion of gaming activities allowed in card clubs, including the addition of slot machines
A dramatic growth in casino gaming in California or other states could have a substantial adverse effect on gaming revenue in Nevada, including the Las Vegas area, which would adversely affect the Las Vegas economy and our business
We are exposed to risk of environmental liabilities with respect to properties to which we take title
About 88prca of our outstanding loan portfolio at December 31, 2005 was secured by real estate
In the course of our business, we may foreclose and take title to real estate, and could be subject to environmental liabilities with respect to these properties
We may be held liable to a governmental entity or to third parties for property damage, personal injury, investigation and clean-up costs incurred by these parties in connection with environmental contamination, or may be required to investigate or clean up hazardous or toxic substances, or chemical releases at a property
The costs associated with investigation or remediation activities could be substantial
In addition, if we are the owner or former owner of a contaminated site, we may be subject to common law claims by third parties based on damages and costs resulting from environmental contamination emanating from the property
These costs and claims could adversely affect our business and prospects