Author: chris

Write a 700- to 1,050-word paper that addresses the following topics:
• What is the definition of religion?
• What are common practices and experiences across various world religions? Include indigenous religions in your discussion.
• What are some critical issues to the academic study of religion?
Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines

The 1960s civil rights movement in America was significant and eventful. The era was marked by protests against the Vietnam War and the passing of the most comprehensive civil rights laws. The 1960s were the age of youth as 70 million children from the postwar baby boom became teenagers and young adults.

Research the civil rights movement using your textbook and the Argosy University online library resources. Respond to the following:

• The civil rights movement in the 1960s was volatile but fell apart in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Do you think the movement was a success? Why or why not?
• Will there ever be another social movement in America of the same magnitude and impact as the civil rights movement of the 1960s? If no, why not? If yes, what societal dynamics would have to be in place for such a movement to occur?

Write your response to each question in 150–200 words.

responses should explain and discuss the following:

• The volatile nature of the civil rights movement of the 1960s

 

• Why did the civil rights movement fall apart in the late 1960s and early 1970s?
• Was the movement a success? Why or why not?
• Prospects of a future social movement with the same impact as the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
• Would this social movement have the same impact and magnitude of the civil rights movement? Why or why not?
• If yes, what societal dynamics would have to be in place for such a movement to occur?

 

Assignment : Employment-At-Will Doctrine

Imagine you are a recently-hired Chief Operating Officer (COO) in a midsize company preparing for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). You quickly discover multiple personnel problems that require your immediate attention.

1. John posted a rant on his Facebook page in which he criticized the company’s most important customer.
2. Ellen started a blog to protest the CEO’s bonus, noting that no one below director has gotten a raise in two (2) years and portraying her bosses as “know-nothings” and “out-of-touch”
3. Bill has been using his company-issued BlackBerry to run his own business on the side.
4. After being disciplined for criticizing a customer in an email (sent from his personal email account on a company computer), Joe threatens to sue the company for invasion of privacy.
5. One of the department supervisors requests your approval to fire his secretary for insubordination. Since the secretary has always received glowing reviews, you call her into your office and determine that she has refused to prepare false expense reports for her boss.
6. Anna’s boss refused to sign her leave request for jury duty and now wants to fire her for being absent without permission.

As an astute manager, you will need to analyze the employment-at-will doctrine and determine what, if any, exceptions and liabilities exist before taking any action. As you proceed with your investigation, you discover the company has no whistleblower policy.

In preparation for this assignment, use the Internet to research your state’s (Georgia) employment-at-will policy. http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2001/01/art1full.pdf

Write a four to five (4-5) page paper in which you:

1. Summarize the employment-at-will doctrine discussed in the text and then evaluate three (3) of the six (6) scenarios described by determining:
2. Whether you can legally fire the employee; include an assessment of any pertinent exceptions to the employment-at-will doctrine.
3. The primary action(s) that you should take to limit liability and impact on operations; specify the ethical theory that best supports your decision.
4. Examine your state’s policy on employment-at-will. Analyze at least one (1) real-world example of an employee or employer utilizing your state’s employment-at-will doctrine in the last five (5) years. Include a summary of the main issue and the outcome in the identified real-world example.
5. Use at least three (3) quality resources in this assignment.

 

Note: Wikipedia is not an acceptable reference and proprietary Websites do not qualify as academic resources

This week’s readings and videos make a strong case for much needed change for learning in the 21^st century. Chapter 2 of the course text and the interactive media component present forces of resistance to change, and Chapter 2 proposes a “new balance” of teaching and learning practices that will help educators to meet 21^st century goals. Consider the forces of resistance in your work or school environment. How can this new balance of educational practices help you and your colleagues to respond effectively to forces of resistance?

Write a description of two or three forces of resistance that exist in your environment/practice. Suggest ways in which the new balance of teaching and learning practices can help to create an educational community less resistant to change.

 

 

Resources:

• Course Text: 21st Century Skills: Learning for Life in Our Times
• • Chapter 2, “The Perfect Learning Storm – Four Converging Forces” (pp. 21 – 41)

 

• Article: Key findings: are they really ready to work? (2006). The Partnership for 21st Century

Choose a product or service and determine how to make it available to the end user. Using your textbook and the articles from the databases in the AIU library, develop a distribution system for the product or service that you have chosen.

Click here for the research requirements and guide for this assignment.

Week 3 Research

• Give an overview of the following distribution channels:
  • Channel levels: Direct versus indirect distribution
  • Channel organizations: Conventional, vertical, horizontal, and multichannel marketing systems
• Analyze your target market’s needs, and explain what you know about your target market and what it wants from a channel of distribution.
• Determine which of the following channel members you will use, and explain why:
  • Indirect: Retailer, wholesaler, dealer, manufacturer’s rep, and so forth
  • Direct: Catalog, telephone, sales force, and so forth
• Discuss how many channel members you will use (intensive distribution, exclusive distribution, or selective distribution), and explain why.
• Recommend a channel organization (conventional, vertical, horizontal, or multichannel marketing system), and explain why.

Your report must include a reference list. All research should be cited in the body of the paper. In-text citations and corresponding references should be included in your paper. For more information on APA style, please visit the APA lab. The paper should be written in third person, which means that pronouns like “I”, “we”, and “you” are not appropriate. The use of direct quotes is strongly discouraged.

Your assignment should contain a cover page, an abstract page, and a reference page in addition to the body. The body of the paper should be 2–3 pages in length, starting with a brief 1-paragraph introduction and ending with a short conclusion. The entire submission will be 5–6 pages in length.

Please submit your assignment as a Word document in APA format using the attached template.

Assignment 2: Nature vs. Nurture

Do you think that behavior is due to environmental factors (nurture) or innate tendencies (nature)? Provide an example of a behavioral characteristic and explain how it may have developed through the influence of experience, heredity, or both.

Next, considering Darwin’s principle of natural selection, give two examples of structural or behavioral characteristics that might confer selective advantages to human beings over other animals.

By Saturday, January 23, 2016, post your answers to the Discussion Area, thoroughly explaining your answers and using scholarly references to support your argument. Review and respond to at least three classmates’ discussion posts through Wednesday, January 27, 2016. Share your perspectives on their topics and offer your interest in and experience with the topics they have chosen.

500 words APA Format and references cited

The BakFirn Corporation, a publicly traded firm, has contracted with YOUCPA, your public accounting firm, for an audit. The BakFirn Corporation manufactures specialty construction tools. The tools are used in the unique construction of homes, warehouses, and multiunit dwellings. The prices range from $1,000 to $5,000 per unit.

During the audit, the audit team has determined the risk assessment of the client. Consequently, the audit has to respond to the assessed risks of material misstatement at the financial statement and assertion levels. The YOUCPA audit team has asked you, the auditor, to prepare a list of actions that you will take to assess the audit risk.

The following information is available in the year just finished:

• The BakFirn Corporation end-of-year is 12/31/20XX.
• Sales for the previous year were $10,000,000. Sales this year are coming in at $9,500,000.
• The firm is in the construction machine industry, making specialty tools.
• Account receivable days sales outstanding (DSO) has been averaging 90–120 days. The year before, it was 80–90 days.
• Inventory turns have decreased from 3 to 2 per year.
• Account receivable and inventory make up 80% of total assets.
• Internal auditing has been reduced by one person to reduce costs.
• An initial test of controls in cash receipt indicated a lack of following procedures.
• The construction industry is in the third year of a downturn. It is forecasted to last two more years.
• The audit team has defined materiality to be focused on account receivable and inventory with $3,000 being the initial threshold. Net income for last year was $1,000,000.
• Inventory at the end of the year was $2,500,000.
• Account receivable at the end of the year was $2,740,000, or 100 DSO.
• The previous auditors did not disclose any fraud or any management issues at the meeting with BakFirn and YOUCPA. The reason for the auditor change was explained as a costs reduction program.

Assignment Guidelines:

1. Audit Assessment Steps:
2. What is the initial audit risk? High, medium or low?
3. What factors made you decide on this level?
4. Audit Plan Assertions
5. What would you include in the audit plan, and why?
6. Would you plan a test of controls or substantive tests? Why or why not?
7. Would these tests make a difference in the nature, timing, and extent of audit procedures? If so, how?
8. Audit Plan Evidence
9. Would you plan to put reliance on prior-year evidence? Why, or why not?
10. Would your evidence come from observation, analytical procedures, or other means? Explain your reasoning.
11. Would the evidence prove or disprove an assertion on the reliance of a specific balance sheet account or financial statement account? Explain your reasoning.

Application: Ethics in Diverse Hiring Practices

This week’s readings have dealt with the important issues of ethics, diversity, and social responsibility. Many people consider these issues to be inter-related or overlapping aspects of doing business in the 21st century. An organization’s diverse stakeholders can, and generally do, have diverse opinions and varied expectations concerning what constitutes ethical behavior and socially responsible management.

Consider the examples of Walgreens and Habitat International in Chapter 3 of your course text.

 

Submit by Day 7 a 300- to 700- word paper which answers all of the following questions:

• What impact, if any, has the practice of hiring and training employees with disabilities had on operations and management decision making?
• What motivated the managers of these two companies to begin this hiring practice?
• Which of following is more compatible with the policy of hiring employees with disabilities: 1) a short-term focus on profit, or 2) a long-term focus on profit?
• Should these companies rethink this hiring policy? Why or why not?
• Has the hiring practice positively impacted the shareholders of these companies and society in general? Please support your opinion.

Application Assignments must be in APA style and format. 

 

Resources:

Jones, G. R., & George, J. M. (2014). Essentials of contemporary management (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

• Chapter 3, “Managing Ethics and Diversity” (pp. 78–117)

  This chapter addresses concepts of ethics and beliefs about right and wrong. The concept of stakeholders and their importance and effects on organizations and decision makers are also discussed. The authors examine the reality, value, effects, and challenges of increasing diversity in the workforce and the general environment, as well as the reality of workplace harassment and how it is dealt from a practical and ethical viewpoint.

  Focus on the definitions and concepts provided throughout this chapter. After reading this chapter, ask yourself if you have a clear understanding of your own ethics. Do you operate according to your own clear understanding of right and wrong? Are there behaviors that you consider virtuous or wrong? What do you really think of the course text authors’ advocacy of utilitarian ethics? Do your ethics manifest in the way that you interrelate with others and make decisions in the workplace? Do you really value a diversity of opinions and perspectives? What, if anything, do race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or age have to do with having access to or ensuring a diversity of opinions and perspectives? How would you, as a manager, deal with an incident of workplace harassment based on race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or age?

• Chapter 4, “Managing in the Global Environment” (pp. 118–153)

  This chapter addresses the global environment of business. The subject is divided into two parts: (1) the big picture or general environment that all industries or businesses operate within, and (2) the more specific task environment of suppliers, distributors, customers, and competitors that influence managerial decision on a daily basis. The authors also examine the global forces and factors that contribute to rapid change in those environments, as well as how a change or trend in one of those factors can affect a specific business, region or entire national economy. The emphasis of this chapter is on smart adaptation to changing conditions by knowledgeable, sophisticated and flexible managers.

  Focus on the definitions and concepts provided throughout this chapter. After reading this chapter, ask yourself, which products or service that you use originate in some form from an overseas location? In what way does the company that you work for benefit and/or is damaged by products or services from an overseas location? Which businesses in your community, state or region benefit from the ability to sell to overseas markets? Which business do you know are not taking advantage of overseas markets or resources to stabilize or grow? What do you, as an actual or potential manager, need to do to better prepare yourself to be successful in the changing global business environment?

West Nile Virus Diseases

 

Study the topic West Nile virus diseases in detail. Click here to view information provided about West Nile cases in the US and your state.

 

Also, click here to visit the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and read the research, diagnosis, prevention, resources, and understanding of the disease.

 

On the basis of your reading and analysis, create a 2- to -page report in a Microsoft Word document answering the following questions:

 

How many cases of West Nile Virus were reported in your state based on the epidemiology data?What is the name of the bacteria which causes West Nile Virus?What is the mode of transmission?What types of epidemiological studies would be most useful to help one gather data, descriptive or analytical studies, and why?What is the significance to your local community and the state community in relation to the disease?How can communities educate the public to reduce potential rates of disease?How can the community control the spread of the disease?What effect does the disease have on families?What specific health care agencies may also be involved, in addition to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)?What impact does this disease have on you after reading the websites? How can one be proactive in the community to raise awareness about the West Nile Virus and provide a health wellness program?

 

Support your responses with examples.

 

Cite any sources in APA format.

 

Submission Details

 

Name your document

New Roman font, one-inch margins, and APA-style citations. The debrief itself (not including the title page and resources) should be 4 pages in length.

 

Overview

 

The final project for this course is the creation of a company consult debrief that analyzes an existing web application with regard to its human-computer interaction (HCI) and recommends solutions for improving the application to meet the needs of the intended audience. This assessment will give you a chance to demonstrate your skills in employing user-centered methodologies in the analysis of an existing web application, and you will make recommendations for improving the application to meet the end users needs.

Outcomes

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:

• Assess the potential of user interfaces for meeting their intended audiences needs
• Determine the extent to which IT applications demonstrate compliance with accessibility guidelines in recommending improvements that align with standards-based policies

Evaluate user interfaces using heuristic evaluation techniques for their compliance with human-computer interaction best practices

Propose user-centered solutions that apply human-computer interaction best practices in meeting the intended audiences needs

Prompt

 

PayPal. PayPal offers a secure electronic shopping cart that gets your electronic storefront up and running within minutes. This is a free application, but it requires registration.

Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

1. Overview. Identify the application you chose, its intended audience, and the reasons you chose it.
2. Analysis. Assess the existing application with regard to human-computer interaction (HCI), being sure to employ appropriate HCI terminology.
3. Visual/Graphic Design. Describe the applications overall aesthetic quality, layout of information, and clarity of visual elements (e.g., icons) with regard to how they are presented to the audience. You may also wish to provide details about whether these elements are aligned with industry best practices.
4. Ease of Use. Describe the navigability of the application and its ability to move users through tasks in a logical and flexible manner with respect to HCI best practices. Justify your position with specific examples.
5. Functionality. Assess the functionality of the application with respect to HCI best practices. For example, how long does it take for each page to load? Do the applications required user actions correspond to their goals? How accessible is the information the user is trying to obtain? (That is, must the user go to multiple systems for information?) Justify your position with specific examples.
6. Environmental Factors. What potential factors in the intended audiences environment would impact the use of the application? For example, if the site requires sound to relay critical information and the audience is in a library, how would that impact the user experience?
7. Cognitive Load. Discuss how the application accounts for human limitations in cognitive capabilities (e.g., how user friendly the application is for users with various levels of technical knowledge), as well as sensory capabilities (e.g., how well the application is designed to avoid eye strain), with respect to HCI best practices. Justify your position with examples.
8. Human Factors. Describe the impact of human factors €such as culture, gender, or socioeconomic status €on the intended audiences use of the application.
9. Accessibility. Discuss whether the application demonstrates compliance with accessibility guidelines. Justify your position with specific examples. For example, you might use the following Section 508 standards to identify potential gaps in the current application: â ‚¬Å“Software Applications and Operating Systems,Web-Based Intranet and Internet Information and Applications, and Functional Performance Criteria.
10. Recommendations. Recommend changes to improve the human-computer interaction, and describe the methodologies that back up your recommendations.
11. Changes. Given the analysis you have conducted, describe specific changes you would recommend for improving the applicationâ ‚¬ „¢s human-computer interaction with respect to its intended audience, and describe how you would implement those improvements.

 

1. Accessibility. Given the analysis you conducted above, describe specific changes you would recommend for bringing the application intofull compliance with accessibility guidelines, and describe how you would implement those improvements.
2. Methodologies. Describe the user-centered methodologies that support your recommendations, and describe how they support your recommendations. For example, what human factors should be taken into account in improving the effectiveness of the user interface for a broader audience?
3. Users Environment. What recommendations would you make in aligning the application to the needs of the users environment? Why? For example, if critical instructions are in the audio and the environment is not conducive to hearing them, how would recommend that information be conveyed?

 

Final Submission: Company Consult Debrief

 

In task 7-2, you will submit your company consult debrief. It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course.