Author: chris

At the end of chapter one in your textbook, you will find two articles that attempt to make arguments about the college admissions policy referred to as affirmative action. For this assignment, you are asked to choose EITHER Nancy Cantor’s article “Before and After  the Supreme Court Rulings on the Michigan Cases” OR  Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s  “Majority  Opinion .” Directions Read your chosen article carefully and then attempt to answer the following: Does the author demonstrate critical thinking as it is described in the class materials? Why or why not? Make sure to support your answer with specific references both to the class materials as well as to the article, using appropriate APA citation. PLEASE NOTE: This assignment is not asking neither for a summary of the articles NOR your perspective on affirmative action. Instead, in this assignment and many others, you will be doing an analysis of a particular article using the ideas and criteria specified by the assignment. Criteria for Success These assignments are designed to give you an opportunity to practice as well as demonstrate the fundamental skills a critical thinker needs. It is not enough to simply meet the minimum word requirement. In order to excel in this assignment, you should 1, Knowledgeably employ the terms and ideas in the class materials and apply them to your given topic.2. Skillfully and specifically analyze your given object of investigation.3. Connect to your own experience and the world around you. Assignment Expectations For this assignment, you should not need to consult or utilize any outside sources. If you feel compelled to make reference to outside sources or other people’s words or ideas, you need to cite them using APA citation, or you may be committing plagiarism. (Please see APA information provided by your library, or contact either me or the librarian if you need clarification on APA citation). Your assignment should be a minimum of 500 words (not including headers, references or other items not part of the main assignment text) and should be formatted according to APA specifications.

(5 pts) Determine how many five-character codes can be formed if the first, second, and third characters are letters, the fourth character is a nonzero digit, the fifth character is an odd digit, and repetition of letters and digits are allowed.1. ______ A.92B.3,510C.312,000D.790,920   (5 pts)3. _______ A. 5B. 25C. 120D.3,125    (10 pts) A stamp collector has a set of five different stamps of different values and wants to take a picture of each possible subset of his collection (including the “empty set,” depicting just the picture frame!), i.e., pictures showing no stamps, one stamp, two stamps, three stamps, four stamps, or five stamps. In each picture showing two or more stamps, the stamps are in a row. , determine the maximum number of different pictures possible, when the difference between two pictures would be either in the number of stamps or in the horizontal order of the stamps. For example, if the stamp collector had just two different stamps (say A and B) of different values, he would have five pictures showing: A, B, AB, BA, and the empty frame.          Let = {10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90}, = {30, 50, 60, 90} and = {10, 20, 50, 80, 90}.List the elements of the indicated sets. (No work/explanation required).         (9 pts) Use the given information to complete the following table.n(U) = 80 , n(A) = 22,n(B) = 35,n(A B) = 15.(No work/explanation required)                  (20 pts) Two kinds of cargo, A and B, are to be shipped by a truck. Each crate of cargo A is 25 cubic feet in volume and weighs 100 pounds, whereas each crate of cargo B is 40 cubic feet in volume and weighs 120 pounds. The shipping company collects $180 per crate for cargo A and $220 per crate for cargo B. The truck has a maximum load limit of 1,200 cubic feet and 4,200 pounds. The shipping company would like to earn the highest revenue possible.  Fill in the chart below as appropriate. Let be the number of crates of cargo A and the number of crates of cargo B shipped by one truck.  State an expression for the total revenue earned from shipping crates of cargo A and crates of cargo B.   Using the chart in (a), state two inequalities that and must satisfy because of the truck’s load limits.      State two inequalities that and must satisfy because they cannot be negative.     State the linear programming problem which corresponds to the situation described.   Solve the linear programming problem. You will need to find the feasible region and determine the corner points. You do have to submit your graph, and you do have to show algebraic work in finding the corner points, but you must list the corner points of the feasible region and the corresponding values of the objective function.      Write your conclusion with regard to the word problem. State should be shipped in the truck, in order to earn the highest total revenue possible. State the value of that .  

Corporate Finance | MBA737-02-F14 Industry Analysis (Project)   Industry Analysis (Project)  Points Points available: 100 Not yet graded. Assignment: Equity Analyst Project: Team Analysis of Select Industry Groups Purpose To enable the student and her/his team to demonstrate proficiency in the second stage of a top-down, three-stage valuation analysis: analysis of alternative industry groups. Overview This second part of the assignment is a team assignment that requires your team to analyze a select group of alternative industries to determine which is most likely to perform best over the next 12 months. Factors to consider in comparing industry groups include how an industry is affected by economic cycles, or, more specifically, how the current and prospective economy over the next year will affect them comparatively and the comparative current and prospective domestic and global supply and demand conditions in their respective markets. The industry classification system that you are asked to use is the database used at Yahoo! Finance. The system is comprised of 9 macroeconomic sectors, 31 business segments and 215 industry groups. This database is readily accessible via Yahoo! Finance. To simplify the exercise, the 215 industry groups within the database have been reduce to a more analytically manageable 24 industry groups (each with public firms listed at Yahoo! Finance totaling no less than 5 and no more than 15 companies) in 7 macroeconomic sectors as follows: Basic Materials Aluminum Major Integrated Oil &Gas Nonmetallic Mineral Mining Consumer Goods Appliances Confectioners Office Supplies Financial REIT-Healthcare Facilities REIT-Hotel/Motel REIT-Industrial Healthcare Drugs-Generic Home Health Care Hospitals page 1 of 3 – 12/26/2014 Industrial Goods Manufactured Housing Pollution & Treatment Controls Services Advertising Agencies Air Delivery & Freight Services Drug Stores Electronic Stores Home Improvement Stores Jewelry Stores Technology Computer Based Systems Long Distance Carriers Personal Computers Utilities Water Utilities Note: Time will be allocated in class to work on this assignment. Action Items Read the Equity Analyst Project document that your professor distributed during the first week of class. 1. Go to the discussion topic, “Team Assignments” to determine which team you have been assigned to by your professor. 2. 3. Complete the Team Charter and submit a copy to the professor. Establish communication and presentation strategies. Communicate with your team on a weekly basis. a. b. Define the responsibilities for each member of the team. c. Establish deliverables and deadlines. 4. Review the Team Evaluation Form. Work as a team to analyze a select number of alternative industry groups to determine which is most likely to prosper in the next one year. 5. Select one industry group. All teams are to complete a unique analysis; as such, the team must receive approval from the professor for the selection. 6. Work as a team to write a 5- to 10-page paper providing the team’s analysis of the issues involved in the team’s selected industry group that the team concluded is most likely to prosper in the coming months and the justification of the team’s choice of that industry. Format the paper according to the Graduate Paper Guidelines. Include the names of all the members of the team on the coversheet. 7. 8. Individually, complete the Team Evaluation Form. Note: All members of the team may not receive the same grade on the paper. The professor may adjust the grade for individual students based on the results of the team evaluation scores. Submission Instructions Each member of the team is to upload the team’s paper using the Submit tool. Your professor will only grade one of the team’s papers so make sure all team members are submitting the same paper. Each member of the team is to bring the completed Team Evaluation form to class to submit to the professor. Grading Criteria Points Earned At the graduate level, the emphasis in grading is on the content, context and/or process of assignments. Points for Expected Graduate Performance Assignment Meets All Requirements Points for Superior Graduate Performance Assignment Significantly Exceeds Requirements page 2 of 3 – 12/26/2014 Analysis (75%) The data was correctly analyzed and the proper conclusions drawn. Proper references were used to support the conclusions. 63 75 Mechanics (25%) Appropriate grammar, sentence structure, and word choice were present; typographical and spelling errors were absent; correct formatting guidelines for assignment were followed. 21 25 Total 84 100 Time Estimation Estimated time for completion: 1.0 hour(s) Attachment: TeamCharter.doc;TeamEvaluation.doc;GradPaperGuidelines.doc; Discuss Topics Title: Team 

Liquidity Risk Take-Home Assignment Setting A bank has two strategies: retail lending and corporate bond investment. The retail lending business is managed as follows. Every 3 months, the bank lends $200mm for 9 months to various customers, financed by selling 9-month CP. Just after these new loans are made, therefore, it has $200mm each of 3-month, 6- month, and 9-month loans outstanding, financed by $200mm each of 3-month, 6- month, and 9-month CP. The CP can be successfully sold because, with some of the interest income on its loan book, the bank buys letters of credit on its CP from a larger, creditworthy bank. The bank’s plan for the retail lending business in a liquidity crisis, i.e., defined as not being able to sell CP for 9 months, is simple. It will not make any new loans until its capacity to borrow returns. The corporate bond investment business is managed as follows. The bank carries an inventory of $200mm long-term, A-rated bonds, against which it borrows $180 through overnight repo, i.e., at a haircut of 10%. To manage the liquidity risk of its bond invesments, the bank has raised $57.50mm in equity, and rolls $30mm in 1-month CP to fund a liquidity reserve. In a liquidity crisis the bank plans to use this liquidity to sell $30mm of its bond portfolio gradually over the course of a month, thus avoiding any fire sales mode. The bank’s liquidity stress scenario is defined as follows: i) bond prices fall 10%; ii) repo haircuts increase to 25%; iii) repo lines are cut so that the bank can post only $150mm of its corporates. These conditions are expected to persist for 9 months. Note that, under these assumptions, the bank’s portfolio would fall in value to 90% x $200mm, or $180mm, and that the bank’s repo borrowing capacity would fall to 75% x $150mm, or $112.50. The bank’s initial balance sheet is as follows. The relevant RSF (required stable funding) and ASF (amount of stable funding) percentages from the NSFR (Net Stable Funding Ratio) are included. $millions Asset Amount RSF Liability Amount ASF Cash 67.50 0% Corp. Repo 180.00 0% 3mo loans 200.00 85% 1mo CP 30.00 50% 6mo loans 200.00 85% 3mo CP 200.00 50% 9mo loans 200.00 85% 6mo CP 200.00 50% Corporates 200.00 50% 9mo CP 200.00 50% Equity 57.50 100% Total 867.50 867.50 Problems: 1. Please compute the NSFR for this bank. (You may refer to Saunders and Cornett (2014), pp. 364-367.) Is the bank in compliance? 2. Assume that the bank experiences a liquidity shock exactly along the lines of its assumptions and that it can take actions exactly according to its plan. What will the bank’s balance sheet look like at the end of 9 months? 3. In 300 words or less, please comment on the juxtaposition of your answers to problems 1. and 2.

Bruce and Belle are long-time friends: they went to university at the same time and studied a Bachelor of Business & Commerce. Twenty years have passed since graduation, and Bruce’s life has changed a lot. Last year he divorced his wife and six months later he won $10 million in the lotto. Belle was never married Nor had children – her life was devoted to climbing the corporate ladder. She is the CEO of the Northern Territory’s largest real estate company, , but she has been worn into the ground with working 6 days a week, 12 hours a day for a long time. Bruce meets her for lunch one day and raises the idea of a business venture with her. He suggests that they start up their own real estate agency (Bruce has a real estate licence, and so, incidentally, does Belle – though she does not sell, as such.) Belle resigns her position at  well aware that she is not able to use the client lists or any of the information from her ex-employer. Indeed, her contract prevents her from working within the entire Northern Territory as a real-estate agent for a period of 5 years after her resignation. After working through all of the options available, including possible franchises, they decide to start a brand new business, which has no history or obligations to anyone. They don’t write up a business agreement between themselves, but agree over several coffee meetings that Bruce will put in the “financial capital” ($100,000 to begin with) and Belle will use all her skills and knowledge from her previous job as the “intellectual capital”, as she has no significant assets or cash to invest (Belle spent most of her income on posh holidays and designer clothes.) Their business is called , as they intend to only sell high-end properties. Their slogan is this:  They use a photo of Belle in all of their advertisements (see the woman holding the folder below). The second photo – of the man – is the one that was (and still is) used by  in their advertising. Within the first week they are both selling houses like mad – business is booming! Most of the clients come from the old business, as they received targeted marketing – Belle knew the Facebook pages that were most popular with her previous clients and advertised on those pages. As soon as the ads of their new business hit the papers, the new CEO of  – Ivan Torrible – becomes aware of the business. After a few days, he goes to  lawyer and asks for legal advice.  Part A:You are the legal advisor. Please give advice to Mr Torrible on the facts above, identifying all of the possible issues. Part B:As the legal advisor, write a letter to  setting out Mr Torrible’s concerns, and what action/s you intend to take on behalf of  Part C:Give advice to  about who is likely to be sued, and whether they have any defences.

Chapter 9: KM Strategy and Metrics (begins on page 247),suggests that gap analysis should include these 8 points (on page 257): 1. What are the major differences between the current and desired KM    states of the organization?2. List barriers to KM implementation (e.g., culture where “knowledge    is power” or where individual possession of knowledge is consistentlyrewarded).3. List KM leverage points or enablers (e.g., existing initiatives that could    be built upon).4. Identify opportunities to collaborate with other business initiatives (e.g.,    combine knowledge continuity goals with succession planning initiatives    in Human Resources).5. Conduct a risk analysis (e.g., knowledge that will soon “walk out the    door” due to imminent retirements or knowledge that is at risk because    only a few individuals are competent in this area and very little of their    expertise exists in coded or tangible knowledge assets).6. Are there redundancies within the organization (e.g., the case of the right    hand not knowing what the left hand is doing)?7. Are there knowledge silos (e.g., groups, departments, or individuals that    hoard knowledge or block fluid knowledge flows to other groups,    departments, or colleagues)?8. How does the organization rank with respect to others within the industry?    (e.g., are they early adopters of KM, KM leaders who are emulated    by others, or are they just becoming aware of KM needs within their    organization?) Of these 8 points for gap analysis, which two are the most important and why? LA2In the two pieces on strategy in our reading this week: What’s Your Strategy for Managing Knowledge?Developing a Knowledge Strategyplease identify what you consider to be the two most important lessons learned from each article.Elaborate using critical  thought, analysis and application of concepts.Select at least one resource, not used in class (not a dictionary, not an encyclopedia,or not a Wiki source) to augment your ideas in the response.  

MedNOW Clinic caseThe MedNOW clinic provides convenient healthcare services for a wide range of non-emergency medical issues. The clinic is located in Cambridge in close vicinity to a large hospital and serving a population with diverse ethnic backgrounds. Patients can walk-in or call in advance to schedule an appointment. The clinic operates 7AM to 7 PM on weekdays, with extended opening hours during the weekend. The clinic can do basic x-rays including chest x-ray and extremity x-rays (such as ankle, foot, arm and leg) and also provides lab services. On average 20 patients arrive at the clinic per hour, including walk-ins and appointments.Registration – The registration desk is continuously staffed with one person. They call the patient from the waiting room and create a patient record. The patient is then told to go back to the waiting room. The registration process takes on average one minute.Triage – The triage nurse calls the patients from the waiting room. They create a patient chart and register the check-in time. During triage the nurse determines the priority of patients’ treatments based on the severity of their condition. The triage is staffed with one registered nurse (RN) and the average time for triage is about 2 minutes. On average, 10% of the patients require medical care that is not available at the clinic and need to be sent to a hospital in the vicinity of the clinic. The other patients are told to go back to the waiting room and wait for the doctor call.Examination – The clinic has four examination rooms and four MDs available at all time. An assistant calls the patients into the examination rooms and help the patient prepare for the examination. The examination time is highly dependent on the medical condition. Based on historical records the clinic has determined the following distribution for examination time: Probability 0.4 0.4 0.2 Time 2 minutes 8 minutes 10 minutes In 50% of cases the MD completes the diagnosis, writes a prescription and the patient is ready to discharge. The other 50% of patients require some form of diagnostic and are sent to the medical diagnostic lab.Medical Diagnostics – There are three areas of medical diagnostic testing each with its own staff. Analysis of historical records produced the following information regarding demand for diagnostics and test time:

 1. A lower value of the U.S. dollar means that          foreign-made good.          normal.           2. In 2050, the projected U.S. non-Hispanic, white population   percentage is expected to decrease to about      3. Discussing the future of management, Manager A maintains that we can expect a continued   rise of virtual management and growth in technology. Manager B acknowledges   that Manager A’s projections are likely, but incomplete. He adds that there will also be   an increased focus on ethics and social responsibility, as well as an increased focus on   gaining competitive advantages. What is wrong with Manager B’s argument?                     management.   4. During a change-planning phase, the change agent communicates information   gathered through diagnosis directly to the affected people. This process is called               5. Which one of the following is a benefit of transforming to a virtual organization?                     6. Suppose the Vietnamese government imposes a tax on imported goods. What is this   tax called?                        8. When the value of exports from a country exceeds the value of the imports into that   country, the country experiences a/an               9. To be effective, a code of ethics must be                10. What is one reason for creating a diverse workforce?                     11. Selling products to another country is known as               12. A group of shoe manufacturers in the United States, Japan, Germany, and England   have pooled resources to gain a larger market. What is this arrangement called?               13. Of the following laws, which one gives the EPA the authority to set standards regarding   the type and quantity of pollutants that industries can discharge into a body of water?                     14. Cuba has fertile land, a warm and sunny climate, and inexpensive labor. Great Britain   has less fertile soil, a colder and rainier climate, and more expensive labor. Given the   same combination of inputs, Cuba would produce much more coffee than Great Britain.   Therefore, Cuba has a/an _______ in the production of coffee.               15. What legislative act makes it illegal to charge different prices to different wholesale   customers?                              17. A total ban on the import of a good from a particular country is called a/an                18. Amazon.com is an example of a                     19. The idea that countries should produce and sell goods that they produce most   effectively and efficiently is expressed in the concept of               20. A wholesaler or agent who markets products for companies wanting to do business   abroad is called a              

Research may or may not be required for this assignment. The pattern requires you to present the expected or common view of a topic or situation, or the expected or common answer to a question, and then ‘reverse’ that view or answer by supplying information that provides a different context, refutes the view, or in some other way forces the reader to see the topic or situation from a different perspective. (Recall our earlier discussions on the idea of angle of vision.) The emphasis is not on persuading the reader to change but on informing the reader so that the reader sees differently.This assignment builds upon the rhetorical strategies learned in the Two Descriptions assignment. Be aware, it can also present a temptation to use radical or ‘fringe’ sources for effect, or to make unsubstantiated or poorly substantiated claims. Be sure that you can support your surprising thesis with solid facts, including personal experiences. You might find inspiration in these words from Terry Southern, the screenwriter for and . (Don’t recognize these movies? Check them out on the web. Terry Southern was one creative writer!)He said, “The important thing in writing is the capacity to astonish. Not shock – shock is a worn-out word – but astonish.”This assignment requires you to write an essay that follows the surprising reversal pattern. Keep in mind that, although your purpose is to change the reader’s view, you are not writing a persuasive argument. You are not trying to convince a resisting reader that a particular value or policy is wrong. Instead, you are trying to expand the view of an open-minded reader by providing new information.You must do four things to get full credit for the assignment.In addition, if you use outside sources, you must give credit to your sources. However, since we have not yet covered APA-style documentation in class, no deductions will be made for violations of format. You must, however, name the source of your information in your paper and list the source at the end of your paper. Deductions will be made if no attempt is made to cite the source.If you use your own experiences as support for your thesis, this is fine—and you may use first-person words (I, me, my, mine). This tone is appropriate, since you do not want to refer to yourself in the third person.You will have an opportunity to revise this assignment in Module 6 (Activity 6.7).

Below you will find a list of potential interview questions. It is possible that you could be asked some of these exact questions during an interview. Choose 7 questions from Group A and 3 questions from Group B, for a total of 10. Your responses to the questions in Group B should have three parts. Respond to these using Martucci Lamarre’s (2006) B.A.R. (background, action(s), results) framework (p. 124). Respond to the questions as you would during an interview and provide as complete an answer as possible for each one. Group A: Standard Questions (Choose 7 questions from this group, from p. 121). Tell me something about yourself.Why should I hire you?What are your strengths?What are your weaknesses?Why are you applying for this position?How are you qualified for this position?Why are you interested in working for our firm?What can you contribute to this company?What are your short-term goals?What are your long-term goals?Group B: Behavior-Based Questions (Choose 3 questions from this group, from p. 124). Tell me about a difficult situation you dealt with when supervising others. What did you do, and what were the results?Describe a time when you had to use your best oral communication skills. What was the situation, and what was the outcome?Describe a time when you had to adjust to change. How did you cope?Explain a role you filled as a group or team member.We all face disappointments in life. Tell me about a time when you had to handle disappointment or rejection.Describe a situation that required you to show initiative.Tell me about a time when someone made an unreasonable request of you. How did you react, and what happened?Describe a time when you were most frustrated or discouraged in reaching your objectives or goals. How did it turn out?Describe the last time that you did something that went beyond what was expected in work or school.Tell me about a difficult challenge or problem you’ve faced and how you handled it.The grading rubric for this assignment is available in Doc Sharing. Be sure to proofread and spell check your work before you submit it. The grading rubric is also available below: Criteria that Submitted Assignment MeetsTotal Points Possible for AssignmentAward 10 points for appropriate responses to each question. Deduct up to 2 points per question for spelling and grammatical errors. 100Submit your assignment to the Dropbox, located at the top of this page. For instructions on how to use the Dropbox, read these step-by-step instructions. See the Syllabus section “Due Dates for Assignments & Exams” for due date information.