Friday 13 June 2014

research of famous labor leaders

You've come across a book in the card catalog that you think will be useful in your research of famous labor leaders. What three things should you copy from the card so that you know how to find the book? A. The call number, the title, and the topic B. The call number, the title, and the author's name C. The call number, the author's name, and the date of publication D. The call number, the topic, and the date of publication of a book


Discussion

DNA sequencing involves determining the order of nucleotide bases in a DNA molecule. DNA sequencing has become a valuable tool in many areas of science, including forensic medicine and biological research. Sequencing of the human genome was made possible using this technology. Opponents of this new technology say that DNA sequencing is an invasion of someone's privacy and this information can be abused if not properly protected. Do you agree or disagree? Why? How is DNA sequencing performed? In your opinion, can sequencing the DNA be harmful for someone's medical record or will it be helpful? What information provided by DNA sequencing is responsible for your response? Justify your answer with research, examples, and reasoning. Comment on the postings and views of at least two peers with similar research, examples, and reasoning. Cite your research using the APA format.


Prototypes for web scraping

Create prototypes for web scraping techniques (DOM parsing & regular expression matching). Prototypes focus on series tests (scalability, performance and security). Provide tests summaries and conclusion for the various tests.


Strategic Management Project Presentation

This Strategic Management Project Presentation is an in-depth case study analysis of the company of your choice.
You may choose either a large, well-known Fortune 1,000 company that has information readily available, or a smaller company in your city or town which has information in the local press (the larger company may be easier).
Pretend that you are a business and strategy consultant hired by one of your chosen company’s executives to present the new strategic plan to the Board of Directors (BoD).

You will create this project in a PowerPoint presentation format. Use a bulleted list for each slide (page) and support the bulleted ideas in the Notes section of the slide. Use APA style and format in the Notes description section. Do include a References page at the end of the presentation for the outside sources you used and integrated in the presentation itself.


social psychological aspect of bullying

Write a 1,500–2,500-word paper that covers the following:

ALTERATIONS IN PULMONARY AND KIDNEY FUNCTION

TOPIC:  ALTERATIONS IN PULMONARY AND KIDNEY FUNCTION

In a short essay (500-750 words), answer the Question at the end of Case Study 2. Cite references to support your positions.
Prepare this assignment according to the APA guidelines found in the APA Style Guide, An abstract is not required.
 
Case Study 2
Mr. P is a 76-year-old male with cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure who has been hospitalized frequently to treat CHF symptoms. He has difficulty maintaining diet restrictions and managing his polypharmacy. He has 4+ pitting edema, moist crackles throughout lung fields, and labored breathing. He has no family other than his wife, who verbalizes sadness over his declining health and over her inability to get out of the house. She is overwhelmed with the stack of medical bills, as Mr. P always took care of the financial issues. Mr. P is despondent and asks why God has not taken him.
 
Question
Considering Mr. P’s condition and circumstance, write an essay of 500-750 words that includes the following:
·          Describe your approach to care.
·          Recommend a treatment plan.
·          Describe a method for providing both the patient and family with education and explain your rationale.
·          Provide a teaching plan (avoid using terminology that the patient and family may not understand).

Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics in a Global Environment

 Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics in a Global Environment
According to AU (2009) most companies today have a global expansion agenda, and many companies have become multinational or transnational. These companies face the challenge of creating a consistent ethical culture across the global network, while respecting diversity and integrating new values into many different office cultures.A good ethics program is very helpful in communicating the values and visions of a company. Such a program helps create a consistent corporate culture, something that is very important for global companies that have operations in diverse locations with differing legal systems, ethical values, and priorities. An ethics program clearly lays out expectations from employees and helps them make the best decisions. To be effective, an ethics code must have well-conceived and broadly implemented through training and enforcement components.
The field of human rights is another important area where companies are placing an increasing amount of attention. A company can avoid human rights violations by creating a code of conduct to be universally applied. A code of conduct sets universal guidelines on various issues like labor, working hours, discrimination, freedom of association, health and safety, and sometimes, environmental practice policies.
Another potential problem is corruption and bribery. The U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act prevents companies from paying bribes to foreign governments and officials, as well as political candidates. Also, the organization for economic cooperation and development treaty has members from many countries who have pledged to refrain from unethical behavior.
Activity Resources:
Spotlight on Skills: Developing a Power Point Presentation
In this activity you will prepare a Power Point Presentation. For help in using this tool, review this PowerPoint Tutorial.
Main Task: Evaluate the Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics on Global Business
For this assignment, consider that some MNCs (Multi-National Corporations) ignore social responsibility because they believe focusing on it will reduce profitability. Do you believe a MNC can be both socially responsible and profitable? How do you think MNCs can be socially responsible in host countries and yet be profitable? Discuss real life examples of profitable and socially responsible companies.
Support your conclusions with references from a minimum of five (5) journal articles or publications.
Incorporate appropriate animations, transitions, and graphics as well as “speaker notes” for each slide. The speaker notes may be comprised of brief paragraphs or bulleted lists.
Create a PowerPoint slide set or MS MovieMaker project creating presentation. Think about who your target audience is and how your topic affects them.
The required length of the PowerPoint Presentation option for this assignment is 10-15 slides (with a separate reference slide). Your presentation MUST include notes containing 150-200 words per slide (this is your script). Be sure to include citations for quotations and paraphrases with references in APA format and style.
Save the file as a PPT file with the correct course code information in the name. Upload the completed assignment in the Course work area of the Activity.
The required length of the Video option for this assignment is 7-10 minutes. The video file must be saved in a .wmv format and be less than 8 MB is size. If you do not have video software or are unable to create a video please choose the PowerPoint option.
Learning Outcome: 2

Assignment Outcomes
Evaluate the importance of corporate social responsibility, and ethics in a global environment.


Buusiness Statistics

An entrepreneur wants to determine whether it would be profitable to establish a gardening service in a local suburb. The entrepreneur believes that there are four possible levels of demand for this gardening service: Very low demand—1% of the households would use the service. Low demand—5% of the households would use the service. Moderate demand—10% of the households would use the service. 

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High demand—25% of the households would use the service. Based on past experiences in other

suburbs, the entrepreneur assigns the following probabilities to the various demand levels: P(High demand) = 0.10 P(Moderate

demand) = 0.20 P(Low demand) = 0.50 P(Very low demand) = 0.20 

The entrepreneur has calculated the following profits or

losses ($) of this garden service for each demand level (over a period of one year): 
ACTION 
DEMAND 
Provide Garden

Service Do Not Provide Garden Service 
Very low -50,000 0 Low 60,000 0 Moderate 130,000 0 High 300,000 0 
a. Construct a

decision tree. 
b. Construct an opportunity loss table. 
c. Compute the expected monetary value (EMV) for offer- ing this

garden service. 
d. Compute the expected opportunity loss (EOL) for offer- ing this garden service. 
e. Explain the meaning

of the expected value of perfect information (EVPI) in this problem. 
f. Compute the return-to-risk ratio (RTRR) for

offering this garden service. 
g. Based on the results of (c), (d), and (f ), should the entre- preneur offer this garden

service? Why? Before making a final decision, the entrepreneur conducts a survey to determine demand for the gardening

service. A random sample of 20 households is selected, and 3 indicate that they would use this gardening service. 
h. Revise

the prior probabilities in light of this sample infor- mation. (Hint: Use the binomial distribution to determine the

probability of the outcome that occurred, given a par- ticular level of demand.) 
i. Use the revised probabilities in (h) to

repeat (c) through (g).



Review, analyze and complete the Chase Manhattan Bank Case Study

Review, analyze and complete the Chase Manhattan Bank Case Study.
For question #3 please choose a hypothetical higher numbers (45% or 50% to
illustrate you analysis and conclusion.  Need to explain why.  In some
cases, you may use QM for windows software (rather than Excel QM) to obtain
the LP diagram to support your finding.  After solving your LP program, you
may click on "Windows" and select "Graphs" to get to the graph output


What is the purpose of a cache memory?




Describe the physical components of a magnetic disk.




What is the function of the control unit?




What are the components of a CPU?




hat is the function of the ALU?




What are the three subsystems that make up a computer?




What are the components of a CPU?




Directions: Read the questions below and formulate a brief answer. Your response to each question should be at least 2-5 sentences in length. Students must utilize APA guidelines for formatting and citations




Axis I and II diagnosis

For this Application, review the case study provided below. Consider important client characteristics for developing an Axis I and II diagnosis. Think about your rationale for assigning a particular diagnosis on the basis of the DSM-IV-TR.
Support your Application Assignment with specific references to all resources and current literature used in its preparation. You must utilize the uploaded resources provided below first before searching for other sources on the web.
Resources:
Article Effect of patient sex, clinician sex, and sex role
Article Differentiation of Axis I and Axis II diagnosis
DSM-IV-TR pdf file
The Assignment (3–4 pages)
  • An Axis I and II diagnosis of the client in the case study
  • An explanation of your rationale for assigning these diagnoses on the basis of the DSM-IV-TR
  • An explanation of what other information you may need about the client to make an accurate diagnosis
Case Study:
MALE SPEAKER: Tell you the truth, I don't even want to be here. My mother, she nags. She pushed me to come. Of course she's 86. She nags and complains about everything. I came just to keep her quiet.

FEMALE SPEAKER: You mentioned that she's concerned about your not having very many friends.

MALE SPEAKER: I don't have a girlfriend. That's what bothers her. She comes over to my apartment, starts talking how I don't take care of myself, How I need to meet someone, get married.

FEMALE SPEAKER: Sounds like you're dealing with some frustration, some annoyance. What do you think about it when she's talking about these things?

MALE SPEAKER: She's my mom. I know she cares, but a woman. I've been alone too long to change now. I don't want a relationship. I never have. It's not a big deal.

FEMALE SPEAKER: What about your other friends? How would you characterize your social li
MALE SPEAKER: I mean, I know people. They're friends.

FEMALE SPEAKER: But what do you like to you when you guys get together?

MALE SPEAKER: I don't need other people to do things. I can be my own best friend. I like my privacy.

FEMALE SPEAKER: What about the rest of your family? Do you spend a lot of time with them? Are you close with them?

MALE SPEAKER: My mom's my family. I don't care about my father or my sister.

FEMALE SPEAKER: How about when you were in school and college? How would you describe your social life back then? Students often have opportunities to socialize, activities, making friends.

MALE SPEAKER: I didn't have much use for all that. I was busy studying. You don't get on the dean's list by playing around.

FEMALE SPEAKER: No, you don't. And what was your major?

MALE SPEAKER: Electrical engineering. I didn't finish, though. I went three semesters. That was it for me. Trust me, I learned a lot more when I stopped going to classes. The other students, they were completed idiots. I'm not kidding. I taught myself everything I do now at my job--math, statistics, computers, data analysis.
You want to know how long my commute is?10 steps.10 steps, my bedroom to my desk. I do all my job right there at home. It's perfect.

FEMALE SPEAKER: So besides work, what do you like to do in your free time?

MALE SPEAKER: World of Warcraft, an online role playing game. 20 levels, incredibly complex. It has the most incredible special effects. I've been playing it for years, and I still get shivers every time I turn it on and hear that theme music.

FEMALE SPEAKER: What do you like about it so much?
MALE SPEAKER: It's hard to explain if you've never played it. Basically you go exploring and you get to create your own fantasy world, whatever it is. Sky's the limit.

FEMALE SPEAKER: And how do you feel as you're playing it?

MALE SPEAKER: You know how they say there's nothing left, nothing more left to explore or discover on earth except maybe at the bottom of the ocean? But I've always imagined myself making some great new discovery. You know, like--I don't know. Something great. This game lets me do that.

FEMALE SPEAKER: It sounds like you spend a lot of time playing it.

MALE SPEAKER: It's time well spent as far as I'm concerned.

FEMALE SPEAKER: Let's go back to your family a little bit. You had mentioned some strong feelings about your father, your sister.


MALE SPEAKER: My father. You want to know why I didn't have any friends when I was young?My old man. I'd be hanging out in the yard with some kids in the neighborhood, throwing the ball around, goofing off, and he'd come out and start yelling at me for no reason. He's just make up an excuse. His voice. It was like having razor blades thrown at you. And after that, nobody would be hanging out in the yard anymore. Just me. And at night, sometimes I was afraid just to come out of my room because I didn't know how he was going to be. Was I going to get a smile or the back of his hand?


implement two types of Perceptrons in MATLAB

For this coursework you will implement two types of Perceptrons in MATLAB and you will apply them to three datasets. You will create a function for training a Perceptron and another function for testing it on a set of test examples. You are given the following three datasets (to be downloaded from the course home page):
  • Breast Cancer Wisconsin (breast-cancer.train.txt and breast-cancer.test.txt) – a dataset consisting of 683 examples of described by 9 attributes based on a digitized image of a fine needle aspirate (FNA) of a breast mass. The aim is to learn to diagnose an image as benign (0) or malignant (1).
\
  • Iris (iris.train.txt and iris.test.txt) – a dataset consisting of 150 examples of iris plants described by their sepal length, sepal width, petal length and petal width. The aim is to learn to classify plants into the three types of iris plants: Iris Setosa (1), Iris Versicolour (2) and Iris Virginica (3).
  • Wine (wine.train.txt and wine.test.txt) – a dataset consisting of 178 examples of wines described by 13 attributes based on their chemical analysis. The wines were grown in the same region in Italy but derived from three different cultivars. The aim is to learn to determine the origin of a given wine (from the three different possibilities).
For each of the three datasets you will apply the suitable Perceptron and explore different possible settings: different parameters (learning rates and number of epochs), different (random) initial weights, and batch versus stochastic learning.
Deliverables:
  1. Your code in electronic form – a zip file containing all files
  2. A short report describing your code and your experiments on each dataset (including the performance of your Perceptrons with the different settings and any conclusions you can make based on your experiments)

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Project: Construction of a Simple Parser

You will illustrate the basic phases of the compilation process (lexical, syntax, and
semantic analysis) through a simple compiler for a programming language model
“NEWLANG”.
The programming language “NEWLANG” is very simple.
A. Lexical Conventions of NEWLANG
1. The keywords of the language are the following:
declare read write
All keywords are reserved, and must be written in lower case.
2. Special symbols are the following:
{ } ( ) = + - ;
3. Other tokens are NAME that represents a string of letters and numbers, starting with a
letter, and NUMBER that represents a sequence of digits.
Lower and upper case letters are distinct.
4. White space consists of blanks, newlines, and tabs. White space is ignored except it
must separate NAME’s, NUMBER’s, and keywords.


Project: Construction of a Simple Parser

You will illustrate the basic phases of the compilation process (lexical, syntax, and
semantic analysis) through a simple compiler for a programming language model
“NEWLANG”.
The programming language “NEWLANG” is very simple.
A. Lexical Conventions of NEWLANG
1. The keywords of the language are the following:
declare read write
All keywords are reserved, and must be written in lower case.
2. Special symbols are the following:
{ } ( ) = + - ;
3. Other tokens are NAME that represents a string of letters and numbers, starting with a
letter, and NUMBER that represents a sequence of digits.
Lower and upper case letters are distinct.
4. White space consists of blanks, newlines, and tabs. White space is ignored except it
must separate NAME’s, NUMBER’s, and keywords.


Compare and contrast eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells




Principles of Mgmt

A 3-5 page paper is due in Week 4.  The paper will consist of 3-5 pages of content, a cover page and a reference page.  The total page count with the cover page and the reference page should be 5-7 pages.

Your paper should include an introduction and conclusion that summarize the contents of the entire paper.

Your paper should be written in proper APA format.  This link will take you to the section of the APUS library that can assist you with formatting:
apus.campusguides.com/content.php

Paper topic:           Ethics as a component of organizational culture.


Readings:              Read the documents located at the links below.

Read Chapters 7, 8 and 9 in the textbook.


Write:          Discuss the ethical “rules” within the organization where you work.  If you are unemployed, choose a previous place of employment for the purpose of discussion in this paper. Some questions to consider are:  Does your organization have ethical rules?  How are those ethical “rules” reflected in the culture of your organization?  Are the ethical “rules” in conflict or in tune with your own personal ethical “rules?”  Are the ethical “rules” reinforced by particular expectations or behaviors in reflected in your organizational culture?
These questions are given to help you formulate your understanding of the subject as it relates to your personal work situation.  You are not required to answer all the questions in your paper.

References:A minimum of two references from the reading list are required for this assignment.  You may use your textbook as a reference in addition to the two reading list references.


Links to Readings:

13 pp.  Ussahawanitchakit, P., Limsuwan, S., Jantarajaturapath, N., Sangboon, K., Sukkhewat, A., Thammavinyu, C., &Sompong, A. (2009). Organizational culture, business ethics, environmental characteristics, and earnings quality: An empirical examination of SMEs in the central of Thailand. Journal of International Business & Economics, 9(1), 13-26.
http://search.ebscohost.com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=44231938&site=ehost-live


23 pp.  Dion, M. (1996). Organizational culture as matrix of corporate ethics.International Journal of Organizational Analysis, 4(4), 329-351.
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/docview/198644017?accountid=8289
http://search.proquest.com/docview/198644017?accountid=8289

2 pp.  Bart, C. (2011). Ethics: The key to organizational Culture/L'éthiqueprofessionnelle : La clé de la culture organisationnelle. The Canadian Manager, 36(3), 4-6
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/docview/1350245254?accountid=8289


10 pp.  Rakichevikj, G., PhD., Strezoska, J., PhD., &Najdeska, K., PhD. (2010). Professional ethics - Basic component of organizational culture.Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management in Opatija.Biennial International Congress.Tourism & Hospitality Industry, 1168-1177.
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/docview/763422507?accountid=8289


10 pp.  Llopis, J., M, R. G., &Gasco, J. L. (2007). Corporate governance and organisational culture: The role of ethics officers. International Journal of Disclosure and Governance, 4(2), 96-105.doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.jdg.2050051
http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy2.apus.edu/10.1057/palgrave.jdg.2050051


Jayne, V. (2006). Business excellence; Built to last - How to fill performance gaps; how do you build a strong performance ethic into your organisational culture? Vicki Jayne talks to two executives who think they have the answer. New Zealand Management, 67.
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/docview/201650006?accountid=8289

Discuss the major military operations - land, sea, and air - of the Korean War from June




BUS/307 Final Pap

The following is a breakdown of the paper I need:
Focus of the Final Paper

The final assignment for the course is a Final Paper on two cases. The Final Paper should demonstrate understanding of the reading as well as the implications of new knowledge. The eight- to ten-page paper should integrate readings and course discussions into work and life experiences. It may include an explanation and examples from previous experiences as well as implications for future applications.

Read the case study at the end of Chapter 15 and the case study at the end of Chapter 16, and thoroughly answer all the following questions. Supplement your answers with scholarly research using the Ashford Online Library. Each case study should be addressed in four to five pages, resulting in a combined Final Paper of eight to ten pages.

Chapter 15 Case Study: The Realco Breadmaster
Develop a master production schedule for the breadmaker. What do the projected ending inventory and available-to-promise numbers look like? Has Realco “overpromised”? In your view, should Realco update either the forecast or the production numbers?
Comment on Jack’s approach to order promising. What are the advantages? The disadvantages? How would formal master scheduling improve this process? What organizational changes would be required?
Following up on Question 2, which do you think is worse, refusing a customer’s order upfront because you don’t have the units available or accepting the order and then failing to deliver? What are the implications for master scheduling?
Suppose Realco produces 20,000 breadmakers every week, rather than 40,000 every other week. According to the master schedule record, what impact would this have on average inventory levels?
Chapter 16 Case Study: A Bumpy Road for Toyota

Is Toyota’s focus on quality consistent with the Lean philosophy? Can a firm actually follow the Lean philosophy without having a strong quality focus? Explain.
Who are the “coordinators” referred to in the article? What role have they played in educating Toyota’s workforce in promoting the TPS (Toyota Production System) philosophy? Why are they so hard to replicate?
According to Hajime Oba, what is wrong with Detroit’s approach to Lean? Based on your understanding of American auto manufacturers, do you agree or disagree?
There is an old saying “Haste makes Waste.” How does this apply to what is happening in the Georgetown plant? What is Toyota doing about it?
Writing the Final Paper

The Final Paper:

Must be eight to ten double-spaced pages in length, in addition to the title page and reference page, and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Must include a title page with the following:
Title of paper
Student’s name
Course name and number
Instructor’s name
Date submitted
Leave the title page blank and I will fill it in.

Must begin with an introductory paragraph that has a succinct thesis statement.
Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
Must end with a conclusion that reaffirms your thesis.
Must use at least four scholarly sources, including a minimum of two from the Ashford Online Library.
Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
CASE STUDY end of Ch 15

THE REALCO BREADMASTER

Two years ago, Johnny Chang’s company, Realco, introduced a new breadmaker, which, due to its competitive pricing and features, was a big success across the United States. While delighted to have the business, Johnny felt uneasy about the lack of formal planning surrounding the product. He found himself constantly wondering, “Do we have enough to meet the orders we’ve already accepted? Even if we do, will we have enough to meet expected future demands? Should I be doing something right now to plan for all this?”
To get a handle on the situation, Johnny decided to talk to various folks in the organization. He started with his inventory manager and found out that inventory at the end of last week was 7000 units. Johnny thought this was awfully high.

Johnny also knew that production had been completing 40,000 breadmakers every other week for the last year. In fact, another batch was due this week. The production numbers were based on the assumption that demand was roughly 20,000 breadmakers a week. In over a year, no one had questioned whether the forecast or production levels should be readjusted.

Johnny then paid a visit to his marketing manager to see what current orders looked like. “No problem,” said Jack Jones, “I have the numbers right here.”
WEEK

PROMISED SHIPMENTS

1

23,500

2

23,000

3

21,500

4

15,050

5

13,600

6

11,500

7

5400

8

1800

Johnny looked at the numbers for a moment and then asked, “When a customer calls up, how do you know if you can meet his order?” “Easy,” said Jack, “We’ve found from experience that nearly all orders can be filled within two weeks, so we promise them three weeks. That gives us a cushion, just in case. Now look at weeks 1 and 2. The numbers look a little high, but between inventory and the additional 40,000 coming in this week, there shouldn’t be a problem.”
QUESTIONS

1.
Develop a master production schedule for the bread-maker. What do the projected ending inventory and available-to-promise numbers look like? Has Realco “overpromised”? In your view, should Realco update either the forecast or the production numbers?

2.
Comment on Jack’s approach to order promising. What are the advantages? The disadvantages? How would formal master scheduling improve this process? What organizational changes would be required?

3.
Following up on Question 2, which do you think is worse, refusing a customer’s order upfront because you don’t have the units available or accepting the order and then failing to deliver? What are the implications for master scheduling?

4.
Suppose Realco produces 20,000 breadmakers every week, rather than 40,000 every other week. According to the master schedule record, what impact would this have on average inventory levels?

_______________________________________________________________________________________
CASE STUDY end of Ch 16

A BUMPY ROAD FOR TOYOTA9

By many measures, Toyota is still barreling along. The company’s net income of $10.49 billion in yen in the year ended March 31 [2004] not only exceeded those of rivals General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. combined, but set a record for any Japanese company. Toyota’s next big goal is to expand its share of the global market to 15% over the next decade, from 10% now. That would make Toyota roughly the same size No. 1 auto maker GM is today.
But there are signs that the company’s ambitious growth agenda is straining human and technical resources and undercutting quality, one of Toyota’s most critical strategic advantages. It is the kind of paradox many highly successful companies face: Getting bigger doesn’t always mean getting better.

Toyota still tends to outscore most rivals, including Detroit’s Big Three auto makers and European brands, on industry surveys of quality and reliability. But Toyota’s lead has narrowed and in certain key segments disappeared. “Toyota quality isn’t improving as fast as it should,” Toyota’s president, Fujio Cho, concedes in an interview. To stop the quality slide, Mr. Cho says Toyota has launched multiple “special task forces” at trouble spots in places such as North America and China to overhaul shop-floor management. Toyota also has established a Global Production center in Toyota City to train midlevel factory managers so they can more effectively run plants outside Japan. Toyota now is re-evaluating some of its most fundamental operating strategies. “We are getting back to basics,” says Gary Convis, a Toyota managing officer, who is also president of the Georgetown plant.

An important part of that effort focuses not on machines or high-speed information technology, but on replicating a special class of people who were instrumental in making Toyota a manufacturing powerhouse during the past 25 years. When Toyota first began opening factories in the U.S. in the mid-1980s, kicking off its dramatic global expansion, some of the most important people in the new plants weren’t top executives, but midlevel Japanese managers commonly known as coordinators. These coordinators were experts in Toyota’s Lean-manufacturing techniques and philosophies, commonly known as the Toyota Production System, or TPS. These coordinators, usually with 20 or more years of experience, generally shunned classrooms. Instead they trained American shop-floor managers and hourly associates by attacking issues directly on the assembly line.

9N. Shirouzu and S. Moffett, “As Toyota Closes in on GM, Quality Concerns also Grow,” The Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2004.

The principles behind Lean production took shape over five decades, starting with efforts in the 1930s by one of the company’s founding fathers, Kiichiro Toyoda. The Toyota system took its current form during the 1950s with the leadership of Taiichi Ohno, a legendary Toyota engineer who drew inspiration from a trip to the U.S. during which he watched how a supermarket stocked its shelves using a just-in-time delivery of goods.

Mr. Ohno preached there are seven forms of muda, or waste, in any process. When Mr. Ohno trained recruits to Toyota’s elite Operations Management Consulting Division, he drew a chalk circle on the floor in front of a process on the assembly line and told the trainee to watch that job until he could identify how it could be improved. A trainee could stand for nearly a day before he was able to satisfy Mr. Ohno with his answer.

When Mr. Ohno began applying his production approach full-scale, Toyota factories achieved huge gains in productivity and efficiency. The marriage of efficient production to an obsessive concern for quality helped Toyota establish a reputation for bullet-proof reliability that remains a huge competitive advantage. By the late 1980s, Lean production was a deeply entrenched way of life at Toyota, governing just about every aspect of its corporate activities. Hajime Oba, a retired TPS guru who still works for the company in North America on a project-by-project basis, likens the system to a form of religion. Managers at Detroit’s Big Three auto makers, he says, use Lean techniques simply as a way to slash inventory. “What [they] are doing is creating a Buddha image and forgetting to inject soul in it,” Mr. Oba says.

But as years went by, Toyota discovered that its corporate faith was getting watered down as the company spread its operations world-wide and hired generations of employees ever more distant from Mr. Ohno. A case in point is Toyota’s massive factory in Georgetown, Ky., the first plant the auto maker built in the U.S. from the ground up. Georgetown began production in 1986, and throughout the 1990s the plant routinely claimed the top spots in J.D. Power & Associates’ widely watched initial quality survey for cars sold in the U.S.

But after being named North America’s second-best plant in 2001 behind Toyota’s Canadian plant in Cambridge, Ontario, Georgetown has slumped. This year, it ranked No. 14, after placing No. 15 in 2003 and No. 26 in 2002. Two GM plants in Michigan, the Lansing Grand River Cadillac factory and a large car plant in Hamtramck, and Ford’s luxury-car factory in Wixom, Mich., were North America’s top three plants this year.

One big problem that Georgetown faced all along has been language. Most of the Toyota-production-system masters speak fluently only in Japanese. Most of their American employees speak only English. The linguistic and cultural barriers make deep discussions on Lean production almost impossible and can cause other problems.

Another issue is time—or the lack of it. As sales of Toyota vehicles in the North American market took off, Toyota factories had to ramp up quickly to keep up with demand. That meant a plant like Georgetown had to rapidly promote American shop-floor managers and hourly associates, instead of nurturing them gradually in the Toyota manufacturing way and deepening their skills and knowledge.
But by far the biggest headache at Georgetown now stems from a scarcity of TPS coordinators from Japan. As the auto maker stepped up the pace of factory openings globally, those expansion plans meant fewer coordinators for older, more established plants like Georgetown.

At Georgetown, one glaring symptom of trouble, its top executives say, is that some hourly assemblers began ignoring standardized work processes—considered one of the biggest sins inside Toyota plants because of the impact on the consistency and accuracy of manufacturing. Georgetown also lost some Lean-production masters to age and competitors. Kazumi Nakada, a TPS master, worked in tandem with Mr. Cho, the then-Georgetown president, to launch Georgetown in the mid-1980s. But Mr. Nakada left Toyota in 1995 to join GM, which was intensifying its efforts to catch up with Toyota in vehicle quality by copying its manufacturing methods.

To shore up Georgetown’s mastery of Lean production to a level where it could function without relying so much on Japanese TPS coordinators, the plant’s top management circle launched an emergency 18-month project in 2000 in order to gradually build back up the core of its front-line managers. The effort has since continued as a more formalized Organization Development Group.

Mr. Convis recruited Mr. Oba, the TPS guru, to help implement the Georgetown project. Among other issues, Mr. Oba found many shop-floor leaders would spend too much time in their offices, instead of prowling the factory floor coaching and leading kaizen projects with assembly workers. To shake things up, Mr. Convis and Mr. Oba dragged about 70 midlevel managers through projects at various Toyota parts suppliers for “real life” kaizen. The goal was in part to “embarrass the hell out of them” in front of suppliers whom they had been used to bossing around, says Mr. Oba, to highlight the need for them to learn more about TPS.

Still, in 2002, Georgetown suffered one of the biggest blows to its track record for quality. The plant began pumping out the new Camry sedan in the fall of 2001, and soon buyers began griping about the car’s spongy brakes and cup holders that interfered with the shift lever when a tall travel mug was placed in them. Long skinny plastic strips, called “Mohican molding,” that covered up weld marks on the car’s roof also sometimes peeled off, in part because of lack of testing.

Those problems helped to send the number of customer complaints about the quality of the new Camry soaring in the annual initial quality survey by J.D. Power. In 2002, the car had 117 problems per 100 vehicles and was the sixth-best vehicle in the survey’s “premium midsize car” category. Just two years earlier, in 2000, the Camry was America’s best vehicle in that segment.

The Camry’s initial quality ranking continued to decline to No. 7 in 2003 and No. 8 in 2004 despite the fact that the number of customer complaints declined, placing the car well behind rivals such as the Buick Century and the Chevy Monte Carlo. Now, with some rivals closing the gap in efficiency and quality, Toyota is scrambling to take Lean production to a new level—one that is simple enough to function without the constant help of Japanese coordinators with 20 years of experience or more in Lean production.

Epilogue
In June 2007, J.D. Power released its newest initial quality ratings.10 The good news for Toyota was that for the entire brand, defects only averaged 112 per 100 vehicles. The bad news was that this tied Toyota with Jaguar for sixth place. The top five were Porsche (91 problems per 100 vehicles), Lexus (94), Lincoln (100), Honda (108) and Mercedes Benz (111).

QUESTIONS

1.
Is Toyota’s focus on quality consistent with the Lean philosophy? Can a firm actually follow the Lean philosophy without having a strong quality focus? Explain.

2.
Who are the “coordinators” referred to in the article? What role have they played in educating Toyota’s workforce in promoting the TPS (Toyota Production System) philosophy? Why are they so hard to replicate?

3.
According to Hajime Oba, what is wrong with Detroit’s approach to Lean? Based on your understanding of American auto manufacturers, do you agree or disagree?

4.
There is an old saying, “Haste makes waste.” How does this apply to what is happening in the Georgetown plant? What is Toyota doing about it?
______________________________________________________________________________________
This paper must be written in APA format with a reference page at the end. Please let me know if there are any other questions.


MM255 Business Math and Statistical Measures

MM255 Business Math and Statistical Measures
Unit 2: Instructor Graded Assignment
Equations
In this and future Instructor Graded Assignments, you will be asked to use the answers you
found in the Unit 1 Assignment.
Note: For these questions, you need to cite a reliable source for information, which means you
cannot use sites like Wikipedia, Ask.com®, and Yahoo® answers. If you do use those sites, the
instructor may award 0 points for your response.
The Assignment problems must have the work shown at all times. The steps for solving the
problems must be explained. Failure to do so could result in your submission being given a 0. If
you have any questions about how much work to show, please contact your instructor.
Assignments must be submitted as a Microsoft Word® document and uploaded to the Dropbox
for Unit 2. Type all answers directly in this Assignment below the question it applies to.
All Assignments are due by Tuesday at 11:59 PM ET of the assigned Unit.
Finding the National Average Price for Gas
These first few questions will require you to use the internet to search for the national average
price for gas. Remember to use a scholarly site for information.
 List the website(s) you visited here: For this example project we will assume the national
average for a gallon of gas in the US is $0.95. This figure is for example purposes only
and is not the real value you are to use.
1. (2 points): What was the average price of a gallon of gas 1 year from when your business
math class started? $0.95
2. (5 points): You have $50 on hand and need to buy gas. How many gallons of gas can you
buy (using the value you reported in Question 1.) Since gas is $0.95 in this example, we solve it
by solving the following equation:
0.95x = 50. Solve for x to get 52.63 gallons
3. (5 points): If gas prices were to drop 10% from the current price, how much would a gallon of
gas cost now? Since we assumed $0.95 a gallon, we will drop this by 10%. A 10% drop in $0.95
is $0.855 a gallon for the new cost.
4. (5 points): Using the average for 1 year ago, and the average for 6 months ago, calculate the
percent increase or decrease in the price of a gallon of gas over that 6 month time span.


Media Writing

Choose three pieces of media communication targeted to three different audiences. Use websites, online brochures, online promotional pieces, online newspaper articles, or other media available online. For each media communication, write a 100-word paragraph that identifies the targeted audience of the communication. Examine the elements, both written and visual, incorporated into the communication for its particular audience. Explain whether or not these elements are effective in targeting its audience, and whether you believe the writer of the communication has a clear sense of who the audience is. Include the URL for each media communication.


The Meaning of Education

The Meaning of Education

Education means something different to everyone. We each have our own ideas about what we need to learn and how we intend to apply this knowledge. Below are five quotations about education from very different perspectives.
  • Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school.” Albert Einstein
  • Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army.” Edward Everett
  • Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age?” Erich Fromm
  • I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver. Then they would really be educated.” Al McGuire
  • You can get all A's and still flunk life.” Walker Percy

Choose one of the quotations and do the following:

  • Paraphrase the quotation.
  • Define what you think the author meant by the quote.
  • Discuss whether or not you agree with the author’s opinion. Justify your position.

Write your initial response in about 150–200 words. Apply APA standards to citation of sources.


Discuss the major military operations - land, sea, and air - of the Korean War from June




To prepare for this assignment, review "'Tricks of the Trade' - Deception and Persuasion in Propaganda" (p.464) in Essentials of Sociology to obtain background information

Questions highlighted in bold.

To prepare for this assignment, review "'Tricks of the Trade' - Deception and Persuasion in Propaganda" (p.464) in Essentials of Sociology to obtain background information.

Consider your role as a consumer of media, including propaganda. What propaganda techniques have you seen or heard recently? Recall TV ads, political ads, movies, and news reports in both print and television. Which do you think provides the best explanation of propaganda? Why? 

Consider a recent global event and how it was portrayed in media. (i.e. Hurricane Katrina, the Haiti earthquake, the BP oil spill, etc.)Explain why it was not simply information, but a technique of propaganda. Be certain to use all three major sociological theories - functionalism, conflict theory, and interactionism - in your analysis.
Which do you think provides the best explanation of propaganda? Why?

Write 3 pages paper addressing propaganda. Be certain to use all three major sociologicaltheories - functionalism, conflict theory, and interactionism - in your analysis. Please note your grade will be based on the content of your work as well as on the spelling, grammar, and presentation.

 To prepare for this assignment, review "'Tricks of the Trade' - Deception and Persuasion in Propaganda" (p.464) in Essentials of Sociology to obtain background information.
Reading from page 464

“Tricks of the Trade”— Deception and Persuasion in Propaganda



Sociologists Alfred and Elizabeth Lee (1939) found that propaganda relies on seven basic techniques, which they termed “tricks of the trade.” To be effective, the techniques should be subtle, with the audience unaware that their minds and emotions are being manipulated. If propaganda is effective, people will not know why they support something, but they’ll fervently defend it. Becoming familiar with these techniques can help you keep your mind and emotions from being manipulated. Name calling. This technique aims to arouse opposition to the competing product, candidate, or policy by associating it with negative images. By comparison, one’s own product, candidate, or policy is attractive. Republicans who call Democrats “soft on crime” and Democrats who call Republicans “insensitive to the poor” are using this technique. Glittering generality. Essentially the opposite of the first technique, this one surrounds the product, candidate, or policy with images that arouse positive feelings. “She’s a real Democrat” has little meaning, but people feel that something substantive has been said. “This Republican stands for individual rights” is so general that it is meaningless, yet the audience thinks that it has heard a specific message about the candidate.

Transfer. In its positive form, this technique associates the product, candidate, or policy with something the public approves of or respects. You might not be able to get by with saying, “ Coors is patriotic,” but surround a beer with images of the country’s flag, and beer drinkers will get the idea that it is more patriotic to drink this brand of beer than some other kind. In its negative form, this technique associates the product, candidate, or policy with something generally disapproved of by the public.
Testimonials. Famous individuals endorse a product, candidate, or policy. David Beckham lends his name to Gillette, and Beyoncé tells you that L’Oréal is a great line of cosmetics. In the negative form of this technique, a despised person is associated with the competing product. If propagandists (called “ spin doctors” in politics) could have gotten away with it, they would have shown the president of the Islamic Republic of Iran announcing support for a candidate they oppose.

Plain folks. Sometimes it pays to associate the product, candidate, or policy with “ just plain folks.” “If Mary or John Q. Public likes it, you will, too.” A political candidate who kisses babies, puts on a hard hat, and has lunch at McDonald’s while photographers “catch him (or her) in the act” is using the “ plain folks” strategy. “I’m just a regular person” is the message of the presidential candidate who poses for photographers in jeans and work shirt— while making certain that the chauffeur and Mercedes do not show up in the photo.

Card stacking. The aim of this technique is to present only positive information about what you support, and only negative information about what you oppose. The intent is to make it sound as though there is only one conclusion a rational person can draw. Falsehoods, distortions, and illogical statements are often used.

Bandwagon. “ Everyone is doing it” is the idea behind this technique. Emphasizing how many other people buy the product or support the candidate or policy conveys the message that anyone who doesn’t join in is on the wrong track.

The Lees ( 1939) added, “ Once we know that a speaker or writer is using one of these propaganda devices in an attempt to convince us of an idea, we can separate the device from the idea and see what the idea amounts to on its own merits.”


Research whether your state allows the death penalty.

  1. Research whether your state allows the death penalty.
  2. Write an essay with information on whether your state has the death penalty, and then explain whether you agree or disagree with your state’s law.
  • If you do not believe the death penalty is an appropriate punishment, state why and offer alternatives.

Write two (2) pages, double spaced, with one-inch margins. You may use the Internet for research. Cite all of your sources, including the text, lectures, and other sources you use, using APA guidelines.
You will be assessed on the nature and scope of your research and the analytic depth of your response. Stating your opinion is not sufficient; you must support your opinion with facts based on research.

In addition, you must proofread your material, and submit it without grammar, spelling, or other mechanical errors.  Finally, remember to use APA format in this and all assignments.
References will be in APA format.


What are the two major less than lethal weapons developed for law enforcement? How have these weapons helped law enforcement and reduce injury? What are the risks associated with these weapons if any?

Less-than-lethal-weapons have proven a huge asset for law enforcement. Due to this technology, injuries of both law enforcement officers along with the suspects have been reduced.
Consider the following questions:

•What are the two major less than lethal weapons developed for law enforcement?

•How have these weapons helped law enforcement and reduce injury?

•What are the risks associated with these weapons if any?



Prepare a typed document that follows APA guidelines that includes:
•A paper 300 words in length, double-spaced.

•You may use your text or the Internet as a reference, but remember to cite your sources according to APA guidelines.

•Your response must be thought provoking, have well developed ideas and/or opinions, and should reference any

Homework

The following is a true story - and it made national headlines several years ago. A Houston Texans football player and his wife got the call from a hospital in Dallas that his wife's mother (the football player's mother in law) was dying and only had a few minutes left to live. They hopped in the car and sped toward the hospital around midnight. Not many cars were on the road. As they were approaching the hospital, they ran a couple of red lights to get them there faster. A police officer saw this, and pulled them over as they were pulling into the hospital. The couple seeing the lights called ahead to the hospital to have a nurse meet them to substantiate their story that their mother was dying and only had a few minutes left.
When the couple jumped out of their car, the police officer drew his gun and told them to get back into the car. He walked over to them and they explained the situation. The police officer said he did not care, and they drove wrecklessly and broke the law. The nurse substantiated the claim, and the doctor came out as well and substantiated the claim. The police officer called for back-up and told everyone to stay in their car. He gave the football player a ticket. After the process, they ran inside but it was too late and the mother had died.
From your lectures and readings this week, what type of moral reasoning was the police officer using? What type of moral reasoning was the football player using? What would you have done in this situation? Was the police officer in the right to hold them and do his job as a police officer to enforce the laws, despite a mitigating circumstance? Discuss the moral and ethical ramifications of the decisions and what you think you would have done as not only the police officer but the driver. This assignment should be 500-600 words long and directly integrate the readings and vocabulary from the readings at least once in your assignment.


Cost of debt

(Cost of debt) Sincere Stationery Corporation needs to raise $500,000 to improve its manufacturing plant. It has decided to issue a $1,000 par value bond with a 14 percent annual coupon rate and a 10-year maturity. The investors require a 9 percent rate of return.

a. compute the market value of the bonds.
b. What will the net price be if flotation cost are 10.5 percent of the market price?

c. How many bonds will the firm have to issue to receive the needed funds?

d. What is the firm’s after-tax cost of debt if its average tax rate is 25 percent and is marginal tax rate is 34 percent?


200 words assignment

Word limit is 200 word . High quality is most important. Needs to be in APA format and you need to use and cite 2 sources in APA format.
Select a technology that is of interest to you (for example, sewing machines, tanks, computers, TV, etc.); write a paper about its historic and current impact on the economy, the environment, relationships, education, and morals.


W3 Assignment Principles of Finance I Grantham University

(12-3) The following equation (AFN) is sometimes used to forecast financial requirement.

What key assumption do we make when using this equation?
Under what conditions might this assumption not hold true?

(12-5)What is meant by the term "self-supporting growth rate?"

How is the rate related to the AFN equation, and how can that equation be used to calculate the self-supporting growth rate?