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What seem to be the successes, failures and consequently the main policy lessons of the US COVID fiscal policy response, giving particular attention to its innovative features? How is federal fiscal policy affecting the outlook for the US economy over our forecast period?

Spring 2023   Midterm 2 Essay Question

Due in submission folder Sunday May 14 11:59pm  2023. (The one and only set of multiple-choice questions will be due then as well.)

Type right into this document and submit it to d2l.

Congress passed three large Covid fiscal spending bills in 2020 and 2021 these have changed our expectations of the size and scope of fiscal policy.  For good and bad the effects of those spending bills are very much visible in the economy today as it reaches the debt limit end game.

What seem to be the successes, failures and consequently the main policy lessons of the US COVID fiscal policy response, giving particular attention to its innovative features?   How is federal fiscal policy affecting the outlook for the US economy over our forecast period?  

Create a 10- to 12-slide presentation on your expansion recommendation along with potential issues for the Southwest Board of Directors. Include speaker notes detailed enough so a colleague can give the presentation without previous knowledge.

Business Question

Management liked your team’s presentation about expanding the organization to your recommended country and would like to learn more about identified issues with that country.

Using your resources and recommendation from Week 3, identify 3 human resource considerations with your selected country, such as labor laws and safety. Provide a recommendation for dealing with the identified issues. For each identified issue, include the following:

  • A description of the issue
  • An explanation of why that issue could arise if Southwest were to expand into the chosen country
  • A recommended strategy for dealing with the issue, including enough detail that specific tactical actions could be developed

Create a 10- to 12-slide presentation on your expansion recommendation along with potential issues for the Southwest Board of Directors. Include speaker notes detailed enough so a colleague can give the presentation without previous knowledge.

What change has occurred in your organization recently and what kinds of behavior did you observe from the individuals involved with the change?

Business Question

“Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.”
– King Whitney, Jr.

Whenever a change occurs in organizations, families, or individuals, people react in different ways. People have a full spectrum of capacity to change, from being highly resistant to change to enthusiastically embracing change and this capacity within each of us changes day-to-day. What change has occurred in your organization recently and what kinds of behavior did you observe from the individuals involved with the change?

Explain how the poetry of Moore, Brooks, and Plath exemplifies the idea that “The raw material for poetry abounds, it is everywhere.” Use a line from a poem from each poet in your response.

Plath, Moore, and Brooks

Kristine Tucker on Plath:

The modernist era started early in the 20th century and continued through the mid-1960s. Modernist techniques followed less formal, unconventional writing styles and focused on individualism, self-expression, emotionalism and self-identity. Plath’s poems clearly express the emotional turmoil and internal struggles she faced, including severe depression and mental anguish over her father’s death. She embraced the modernist period and wrote with honesty and transparency, revealing her inner thoughts and emotions without holding back.

Of Gwendolyn Brooks, Poet.org notes the following:

Her poems distill the very best aspects of Modernist style with the sounds and shapes of various African-American forms and idioms. Brooks is a consummate portraitist who found worlds in the community she wrote out of, and her innovations as a sonneteer remain an inspiration to more than one generation of poets who have come after her. Her career as a whole also offers an example of an artist who was willing to respond and evolve in the face of the dramatic historical, political, and aesthetic changes and challenges she lived through.

Explain how the poetry of Moore, Brooks, and Plath exemplifies the idea that “The raw material for poetry abounds, it is everywhere.” Use a line from a poem from each poet in your response. 

 

How were the speaker’s gestures and body movements? Was there adequate eye contact with the audience? How did the audience respond to the speaker? Did the overall organization flow? Did it make sense?

EXTRA Credit Speech

Option 2- Theory Paper

Point value: up to 20 pts per paper

This option has you take a closer look at a communication theory. Select one of the theories from the list below, look up some background information about that theory, and then write a brief paper. The paper should be at least 2 pages long, use Times New Roman font in size 12, double spaced, with 1-inch margins on all sides. Be sure to cite the information you pull from outside sources. The paper should contain three sections:

        1. An introduction and brief overview and explanation of the selected theory
        2. ONE in-depth application of the theory to show how it functions in everyday scenario
          -Do not provide multiple examples. Choose one and explain it in detail.
        3. Your opinion of the theory
          -Do you think it is good or bad? Can it be improved? Support your opinions with valid arguments as to why you think these things

Theory list for option 2:

-Dialectical model/theory
-Attribution theory
-Rules Theory
-Inoculation theory
-Social Penetration Model
-Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
-Social Judgment Theory
-Social Exchange Theory
-Expectancy Violation Theory
-Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM)
-Uncertainty Reduction Theory
-Theory of Reasoned Action
-Communication Accommodation Theory
-Equity Theory
-Protection Theory

Option 3- Speaker Critique
Point value: up to 5 pts each

This option has you work on critical listening and thinking by critiquing speeches. You can earn up to 20 points if you complete critiques for all 4 of the provided speeches. The 10 questions must be responded to for each video separately if completing more than one critique. View a speech from the links provided:

Phil Davison
Malala Yousafzai (start video at 1:10
Leonardo DiCaprio
Emma Watson (start video at 1:25)

Once you finish viewing the speech write a response to the following set of questions for each speech you wish to critique. Please type the question and follow it with the response. Each response should be in complete sentences, although one or two sentences per question are sufficient.

1. From what you can gather, what was the setting of the speech?
2. What was the speaker’s purpose?
3. Were the auditory aspects of delivery (volume, rate, articulation, tone, fluency) effective?
4. What types of language did the speaker use to engage the audience? (Descriptions, analogies, narratives, metaphors)
5. How were the speaker’s gestures and body movements?
6. Was there adequate eye contact with the audience?
7. How did the audience respond to the speaker?
8. Did the overall organization flow? Did it make sense?
9. Was there a memorable final thought to close?
10. What was your overall impression of the speaker?

After watching the movie: “The Breakup” analyze the characters Brooke and Gary and complete the content of the document.

 The Breakup

After watching the movie: “The Breakup” analyze the characters Brooke and Gary and complete the content of the document.

Is online education better than on campus education? Should junk food advertisements be banned? Should sport lessons be part of school curriculum? What are the best ways for schools to stop bullying?

Communication Skills

Overall Objective: Develop a persuasive presentation outline.

Directions: Develop your ability to give an effective persuasive presentation on a topic of your choice. Make sure to include the following steps:

  1. Write a strong opening. Before you can begin persuading your audience, you need to open the speech in a way that will make them want to pay attention.
  2. Offer persuasive evidence. Research the topic thoroughly. Know the pros and cons of the topic. Make sure to support your opinion with facts.
  3. Address the counter-argument. Present your strategy for eliminating the obstacles. You must know how to diffuse the tension that surround the obstacles by having a plan for complete eradication
  4. Conclude with a call to action. Pull it all together to make a proper conclusion. The conclusion is what hooks your audience.

 

Choose any of the following topics:

  1. Is online education better than on campus education?
  2. Should junk food advertisements be banned?
  3. Should sport lessons be part of school curriculum?
  4. What are the best ways for schools to stop bullying?
  5. How Social Media impacts our perception of life?
  6. The link between food and mental health.
  7. How does the use of social media influence our attention span?
  8. The differences in brain functioning between men and women.
  9. The impact of globalization on local UAE culture.
  10. The importance of a healthy work/life balance.

Discuss the transformation of American environmentalism during last half of the twentieth century. What were the goals and challenges of post-WWII Conservationism? What is new or different about the Environmental Movement of the 1960s and 1970s?

Transformation of American environmentalism during last half of the twentieth century.

There is no cap on how long the essay should be. You may write as much as you need to, but the essay should be a minimum of 1500 words. Your response should be in essay format (meaning it has paragraphs and is not simply an outline or list of bullet points). Use 12-point, Times New Roman font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins. For quotes, simply put the page number in parentheses at the end of the sentence like so (37).

Discuss the transformation of American environmentalism during last half of the twentieth century. What were the goals and challenges of post-WWII Conservationism? What is new or different about the Environmental Movement of the 1960s and 1970s? What has been the effect of the rise and expansion of neoliberalism during the 1980s, 1990s, and beyond? What actions did Americans take (and not take) concerning the environment across this period? What have been the consequences?

How has the federal government positively and negatively influenced American urban development since the early 20th C (~1920s on)?

GEO 201 Urban diversity

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer the following essay question. Your answer will be graded on: 1) the strength of your argument, 2) your familiarity with the course material, and 3) the depth and breadth of the supporting evidence you use to build your argument (40 points).

PROMPT: In the second half of the course, we have examined the development of urban reform movements and urban planning (Module 5), and continued to examine the history of urban development through the automobile era (Module 6) and the post-WW2 era of urban decline and suburban sprawl (Module 7). Drawing on course material, including lectures, readings and videos, respond in a well-written essay to the following prompt: How has the federal government positively and negatively influenced American urban development since the early 20th C (~1920s on)?

Your response should be approximately 250-500 words in length and must include specific support from the following sources: Module 6 and 7 lectures, the reading by Rothstein “Own your own home” and the video: The Myth of Pruitt-Igoe. You can use any additional course material if you choose to do so. You do not have to cite any course material; just be sure to identify it in your essay (for example: In the Rothstein reading,…). It is up to you to define what “positive” and “negative” mean when evaluating the government’s influence. Be sure to support your statements and your perspective with specific examples from the course material. You do not have to include all possible evidence, just enough to answer the question and support the statements you make, and show a reasonably broad knowledge of the material.

What is the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) for this product? How much could the firm save annually in total holding and ordering costs by ordering at the EOQ level?

BUSADM 370 Introduction to Supply Chain Management:

Homework 3 (50 points):

For all the problems, you must show your complete and accurate work to receive full scores. If you only provide the final answers without showing your computations, even your answer is correct, you will not be assigned a full score (or if your answer is wrong, you will miss the opportunity of receiving any partial credit).

Problem 1) (12 points)
A produce distributor uses 3,200 packing crates a month, and each crate is purchased at a cost of $12. The manager has assigned an annual carrying cost of 30 percent of the purchase price per crate. Ordering cost is $270. Currently the manager orders once a month.

a) What is the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) for this product? (4 pts)

b) How much could the firm save annually in total holding and ordering costs by ordering at the EOQ level? (8 pts) (Show the computations for the total holding and ordering costs in detail)

Problem 2) (14 points)
A manager has just received a revised price schedule for its main product from a vendor as seen in the table below. What order quantity should the manager use to minimize total costs? Annual demand is 45,000 units, ordering cost is $100, and annual carrying cost is $4 per unit (regardless of the price per unit).

     Quantity                       Unit Price
       1 to 999
                              $12.75
       1,000 to 1,999
                  $12.50
      2,000 to 2,999
                 $12.35
      3000 or more
                   $12.25

 

Problem 3) (12 points)
a) Compute the multifactor productivity measure (output in sales dollars) for each week using the data provided below to produce chocolate bars. Assume 40hour weeks and an hourly wage of $18. Overhead is 1.25 times the total weekly labor cost. Material cost is $48 per pound. Standard price to sell is $150 per unit. (10 points)

    Week
        Output (units)            Workers           Material (lbs)
       1
                  3,500                              6                      1,200
       2
                 3,750                              7                      1,275
       3
                 3,875                              7                      1,350
       4
                 4,000                             8                     1,425

b) What do the productivity figures suggest? (What is the trend?) (2 point)

Problem 4) (12 points)
Organic milk is stocked at a grocery store each week. At the end of each week, unsold organic milk price is reduced by 25% and the store can sell the unsold organic milk fully at this lower price. If weekly demand for organic milk is normally distributed with a mean of 200 gallons and standard deviation of 20 gallons, find the price for which a fresh gallon of organic milk sells. Assume that the store has a service level of 95% and purchases organic milk for $6.1 per gallon.

Bonus Problem: (6 points) (Bonus points will be added to your homework score).
A fish distributor is trying to perfect his business to maximize the money he saves. Daily fish sales are normally distributed with a mean of 350 pounds and standard deviation of 60 pounds. The distributor sells each pound of fish for $6.00 and pays $2.50 per pound to buy fish. The distributor must get rid of unsold fish by paying a waste removal facility fee of $0.25 per pound of fish. How many pounds of fish should the distributor order each day and what % of the time will he experience a stockout? Are there any drawbacks to the order size proposed and how could the fisherman address such issues?