Discuss/define the data independence concept provided by the three-schema database systems architecture. What are the two types of data independence? Which type is much harder to achieve and why?

Discussion regarding data independence concept

Discuss/define the data independence concept provided by the three-schema database systems architecture. What are the two types of data independence? Which type is much harder to achieve and why?

What new technology is being used or developed to further advance the performance in your field?

Generative design in CAD

What new technology is being used or developed to further advance the performance in your field?

Is it possible to teach someone to love reading?

Learn to love reading

Is it possible to teach someone to love reading?

What issues do these works of art represent? How do you feel about these issues? Do these works of art motivate you to change your perspective on these issues for any reason? If so, how? If not, how might these works change the perspectives of others?

DISCUSSION ESSAY

This common assessment should be at least 750 words, not including heading or title. Additional paragraphs may be necessary; fewer words than the minimum for each section are not permitted.

Read the textbook information and research historical information about the following paintings from Academic Sources (do not use Wikipedia)

  • Francisco Goya’s, 3rd of May, 1808 (fig.12.2, page 321)
  • Pablo Picasso’s, Guernica (fig. .11, page 31)

1. What issues do these works of art represent? How do you feel about these issues? Do these works of art motivate you to change your perspective on these issues for any reason? If so, how? If not, how might these works change the perspectives of others? (250 – 300 words minimum)
2. Where did these works of art originate? Why were they created? What impact does origin play in artistic development? How might these works of art be relevant in the state of Texas? (250 – 300 words minimum)
3. Do these works of art encourage the fair, ethical, or nondiscriminatory treatment of others? Why or why not? (250 – 300 words minimum)

Research and analysis of 2,800 to 3,000 words on a case of security breaches in the field of IKEA cyber security in 2016.

Research on a cyber security incident at IKEA in 2016

Research and analysis of 2,800 to 3,000 words on a case of security breaches in the field of IKEA cyber security in 2016.

Contains the following:

1. An overview of the IKEA company.

2. Statement of the type of penetration, the reason for the penetration, whether it was internal or external, details of the penetration, and the tools and techniques used in the penetration, supported by pictures and evidence.

3. What are the precautionary and security measures taken by IKEA?

4. What are the company’s media reactions and did they acknowledge that?

5. What are the losses and damages caused by the breach?

6. Clearly communicate the information and your conclusion of the incident.

7. Mention the sources.

Would you recommend that ExxonMobil use a single company- wide cost of capital for analyzing capital expenditures in all its business units? Why or why not?

FINC400 I001 Winter 2023

EXXONMOBIL

ExxonMobil ( XOM) is one of the half- dozen major oil companies in the world. The firm has four primary operating divisions ( upstream, downstream, chemical, and global services) as well as a number of operating companies that it has acquired over the years. A recent major acquisition was XTO Energy, which was acquired in 2009 for $ 41 billion. The XTO acquisition gave ExxonMobil a significant presence in the development of domestic unconventional natural gas resources, includ-ing the development of shale gas formations, which was booming at the time. Assume that you have just been hired to be an analyst working for ExxonMobil’s chief financial officer. Your first assignment was to look into the proper cost of capital for use in making corporate investments across the company’s many business units.

a. Would you recommend that ExxonMobil use a single company- wide cost of capital for analyzing capital expenditures in all its business units? Why or why not?

b. If you were to evaluate divisional costs of capital, how would you go about estimating these costs of capital for ExxonMobil? Discuss how you would approach the problem in terms of how you would evaluate the weights to use for various sources of capital as well as how you would estimate the costs of individual sources of capital for each division.

Victory Realty revenue is calculated from the commissions paid by the seller minus the commission and extra bonus paid to the realtor. Calculate the percentage of $ earned for each home based on the actual final transacted price. Develop a worksheet to be used by the CEO of Victory Holdings Group of Companies to allow him/her to identify the key profit earned at Victory Realty.

  MX EXCEL

 

ASSIGNMENT

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this assignment is to give you some experience with several of the advanced “decision support” features of the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.  These features include:

  • Data analysis using pivot tables
  • Comparison of different scenarios using scenario manager
  • Working with multiple worksheets
  • Spreadsheet organisation using grouping & outlines
  • Advanced MS Excel functions

This project carries 13% of the total coursework marks, and it is an INDIVIDUAL assignment.  The breakdown marks are as follows:

Required Tasks %
Use of Advanced Functions such as SUMIF, AVERAGEIF, COUNTIF (just to name a few), etc…Earlier Functions should be used in this assignment as well. 20
Use of Scenario Manager 20
Use of Grouping 10
Accuracy of the calculations and format of the spreadsheets 15
Use of Linking Worksheets/Workbooks Features 10
Use of Pivot Tables & Charts 15
Creativity & Originality & Other Misc. Features 10

DECISION MAKING SCENARIO

The purchase of a house usually entails some exchanges of prices between buyers and sellers.  The realtor is there to facilitate the transactions.  The seller has an asking price but typically settles for less.  The commission paid to Victory Realty is 9% commission on the actual selling price for the first $200,000, and a further 2.2% for the remaining selling price if the selling price is above $400,000.  A flat 6% is charged for selling price $400,000 & below. The realtor in turns gets 40% of the total commission paid to Victory Realty.

Victory Realty wishes to encourage its realtors to try to sell the house as close to the asking price of the sellers as possible.  To do that Victory Realty will pay additional bonus for house sold at a certain percentage of the asking price.  The distribution of extra bonus is calculated as follows:

  • A extra 1.0% bonus of the actual selling price is paid to the realtor if he/she is able to sell the house at 92% or more of the asking price.
  • A extra 0.75% bonus of the actual selling price is paid to the realtor if he/she is able to sell the house sold at 88% or more of the asking price.
  • A extra 0.5% bonus of the actual selling price is paid to the realtor if he/she is able to sell the house sold at less than 88% of the asking price
  • No extra bonus will be paid for houses sold at less than 82% of the asking price.

Victory Realty revenue is calculated from the commissions paid by the seller minus the commission and extra bonus paid to the realtor.  Calculate the percentage of $ earned for each home based on the actual final transacted price.  Develop a worksheet to be used by the CEO of Victory Holdings Group of Companies to allow him/her to identify the key profit earned at Victory Realty.

Also use pivot tables to organise Salesperson’s commission by month with total commission for the first half of the year for each salesperson.  Also in another separate pivot table, organise your data to reflect the net profit by house and by month.

 

REQUIREMENTS

You are required to create on the 1st spreadsheet (Commissions) a spreadsheet-based decision support model that allows the CEO of Victory Holdings Group of Companies to understand how the economic climate will affect the revenue earned at Victory Realty to compare different scenarios (e.g. Varying percentages collected from owners: 7%, 9%, 11% for the 1st $200,000; the 2.2% is fixed for all scenarios).  Rather than having a separate model for each scenario, you are expected to design a single model and employ “scenarios” to change only those aspects of the model that varies with the scenarios being considered.  At the same time, he is able to use the same workbook to forecast income for his group of companies.

Use advanced MS Excel built-in functions (IF, HLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, etc.) in your spreadsheet wherever you see fits.  Also use pivot tables to organise Realtor’s commission by month with total commission for the first half of the year for each realtor.  Also in another separate pivot table, organise your data to reflect the net profit by house and by month.

On a 2nd worksheet (Forecast), also plan a 5-year forecast (2023 to 20267) of the Group’s corporate taxable income based on the following assumptions:

Forecast of Increase/Decrease Percentages:
Restaurant   5.50%
Motor     7.65%
Realty      12.20%
Entertainment   -7.15%
Computers   -3.50%
Directors’ Fees   5.15%

 

Organise your spreadsheet (if possible) into grouping & outlines.

This value should come from worksheet 1 times 2.5

 

      2022
Victory Group Income        
Net Profit from Victory Restaurant   $395,000
Net Profit from Victory Motors   $298,800
Net Profit from Victory Realty   X value
Net Profit from Victory Entertainment $259,400
2.5 %  of total group income

Net Profit from Victory Computers

$195,000
         
Other Operating Expenses  
Annual Directors’ Fees   $275,000
Misc. Dividends to Shareholders   Y value

Total Corporate Taxable Income = Group Income – Other Operating Expenses

On the 3rd spreadsheet, (Loan) prepare a worksheet for all salespersons to use with the assumptions that if customer needs to take a house loan, it will normally be 65% of final transacted price with 35% being down payment.  The loan interest rate is prime rate plus 0.95%, (assume prime rate to be 3.25%, and can be changed anytime).  Period of loan is usually 15 years.  All price used are net of GST and PST.

Calculate the following: (You may pick one of the houses listed in the 1st worksheet)

  • Purchase Price of a house (may use linking worksheets feature)
  • Monthly mortgage payment & Total house payments (including down payment) over the 15 years
  • Total Interest for the house loan with Interest & Principal paid per month
  • Starting & Ending dates of payment
  • Beginning Principal & Ending Balance at the end of each month till the end of the loan

Example: 

Purchase Price $925,000.00   House Loan $601,250.00
Monthly Payment $4,507.87   Down Payment $323,750.00
Prime Rate 3.25%   Total Payment $1,135,167.31
Plus rate 0.95%   Period (years) 15
Month Beginning Principal     Interest Paid        Principal Paid         Ending Balance
Sep-22 $601,250.00 $2,104.38 $2,403.50 $598,846.50
Oct-22 $598,846.50 $2,095.96                 $2,411.91 $596,434.59
         

DESIGN ISSUES

The following is a short list of generic design issues that you should consider when building your application:

  • Never use a number in a formula. The purpose of a separate table of assumptions is to allow you to identify your assumptions and change them easily
  • Named ranges and cells should be used where practical to make your formulas more readable.
  • Use scenarios (instead of 2 separate workbooks) to compare situations that share the same basic model, but which have different values for critical decision inputs.
  • Create 1st 2 spreadsheets in ONE workbook named Victory.xls and the 3rd spreadsheet in another workbook named Dream.xls and link them. Use linking formula across workbooks/worksheets wherever possible.

 

Convert your Beat Article into a television broadcast news format package. It must be between 2-3 minutes total.

Beat TV Spot

Convert your Beat Article into a television broadcast news format package. It must be between 2-3 minutes total. Use the t-script format and broadcast labels described in chapter 12 of Papper and 16 of Itule and from the links.

Is this finding (the finding shown by your figure) the main finding that was discussed in the popular article? Was it at all discussed in the popular article? Explain your answer.

Immunology Question

Link to your popular article:

Link to your peer-reviewed primary article:

Answer the following questions based on the articles mentioned above:

1.What figure will you be explaining for your video? This should be a single figure from your peer-reviewed primary article (or even part of a figure… if your figure has parts a-g, you may only want to show part a or parts a and b). (3pts)

2.In no more than three sentences, please explain the main finding that your figure (or part of a figure) shows. (6pts)

3.Is this finding (the finding shown by your figure) the main finding that was discussed in the popular article? Was it at all discussed in the popular article? Explain your answer. (5pts)

Who is your favorite newscaster? Tell us who the person is and why s/he is your favorite. If you don’t have one, spend time watching news this week and pick one out.

Favorite newscaster

Who is your favorite newscaster? Tell us who the person is and why s/he is your favorite. If you don’t have one, spend time watching news this week and pick one out.

As always, use correct grammar and punctuation. Your response can be at least 250 words.