Month: September 2015

Now it is your turn to use the new rhetorical skills you have used. Because of the declining economy, fewer jobs are available. As a result, thousands of people in your area have recently become homeless through no fault of their own. Imagine that a large group of people without homes has set up a temporary camp near your house.

 

Many people who live in your community are furious about this. They want the government and police to send these people away using legislation, intimidation, or force. Others support allowing those without homes to stay and even suggest helping them by giving supplies and facilities.

 

Everyone has been invited to the town hall for a meeting to resolve this issue. People who wish to speak must submit a proposal outlining what they intend to say. The town council will select five speakers from each side of the debate to present their arguments at the meeting. You feel strongly about this issue, so you decide to submit a proposal.

 

To prepare your proposal, you must do the following:

• Decide which side of the issue you support and think carefully about why. With respect to all viewpoints and using respectful, thoughtful language, take a stand. Think carefully about your reasons. Make sure your judgment of the situation is based on adequate knowledge of the facts.
• Write a carefully worded, arguable claim identifying your thesis and give three reasons why it is correct. Then add facts and other details to support your reasons.
• To help you respond to counterclaims the other side might make, list facts that do not support your reasons and tell how you will respond to them.
• Write a strong conclusion that restates your thesis in a memorable way.
• Complete this proposal formby filling in each box with a complete sentence.
• Review the council’s selection criteria (grading rubric) to be sure your proposal scores highly.

 

• Writing Assignment: Prove It

 

As you know, a large group of people without homes has set up a camp near your home, and some people who live in your community want the government and police to send these people away. Others support allowing them to stay, so the community can help them.

 

You submitted a proposal to present the side of the issue you support at the Town Hall meeting. Your proposal was one of five chosen to be presented at the Town Hall Meeting next week. The presentations are required to have the following components:

• An Introduction
• 3 supporting sections
• A conclusion
• An arguable thesis (stated in the introduction and conclusion)
• At least 5 rhetorical devices
• All 3 types of appeals
• At least 3 different types of evidence
• Refutation
• Fewer than 3 obvious logical fallacies

 

Use your proposal from the “Stake Your Claim” assignment, and do the following:

PART 1: Your presentation may be delivered in one of 4 ways according to the council rules:

• You may write out your presentation in the form of a 5-paragraph essay that you submit.
• You may submit an mp3 audio file of the dramatic delivery of your presentation.
• You may create a PowerPoint Presentation of 14-25 slides with text and graphics that support your position.
• You may create a media presentation with audio, video, photographs, animation and/or art work that supports your text and develops your thesis clearly.

 

Choose one of these options and create your presentation.

PART 2: Presentation must be accompanied by your evidence chart that identifies:

• Rhetorical devices
• Appeals
• Refutation
• Types of evidence

 

Complete your evidence chart and save it as a separate document.

 

PART 3: Submit both your presentation and your evidence chart to the Writing Assignment: Prove It assignment link for grading.

Topics:  Select either one of the two topics presented below.

 

Topic 1: The Virtual Neurologist. In this exercise, you are going to assume the role of a neurologist who ultimately must describe to a client the nature and outcome of a bullet wound to the head. Assume that you are a neurologist who is seeing a client who has survived a gunshot wound to the head. An MRI scan revealed that a small caliber bullet entered the head about 1 cm superior to the right auditory canal, and followed a relatively straight projectile before exciting the cranium about 1 cm superior to the left auditory canal. Address each of the following in your presentation:

 

1. Describe what structures the bullet passed through and the function of each structure. (8 points)

 

1. Describe what the patient can expect in terms of behavioral, cognitive, sensory, and or motor deficits and recovery of function. (8 points)

 

1. Include a picture or diagram of the bullet projectile illustrating which structures have been damaged. Label important structures. (4 points)

 

OR

 

Topic 2: The Ultimate Urban Brain. In this exercise you are going to design a brain that is well suited to life in the busy, information laden, urban environment. Data would suggest that the human brain has not changed much over the past few thousand years. Yet, in industrialized nations such as the U.S., horticultural changes have been explosively rapid. This would suggest that society has evolved more quickly than has our biology. One implication of this is that humans, in fast-paced urban regions, are neurologically ill equipped to adapt to the environment in which they live. Answer each of the following questions in your presentation:

 

1. Identify 3 areas or behaviors that are likely to be a result of poor adaptation, e.g., the increased incidence of various psychopathology such as depression and ADHD, road rage, violence, illness, etc. (5 points).

 

1. Identify and describe specific brain structures that you would modify to increase the probability of successful adaptation related to the behaviors put forth in number one above. Be specific. For example, if you say that depression is an issue, you must then modify the brain circuits that are involved in depression. (10 points)

 

1. Design a brain incorporating all of the changes suggested in number two above. Include a drawing that indicates and explains the suggested changes. (5 points)

A small box had 4 tennis balls inside it. There are 6 of these small boxes inside a medium box. There are 8 medium boxes inside each large box, and there are 100 large boxes shipped in a large truck. How many tennis balls are on the truck?

 

Research

 

1. Review the company’s website to learn about the products and services which it sells.

2. Retrieve and review the Hoovers profile for the company. The company profile web pages are interactive and have expanding menus / options (see figure below). You may find it helpful to use the “Print Quick Report” menu item under My Tools. http://ezproxy.umuc.edu/login?url=http://www.mergentonline.com/Hoovers

 

3. Download and review a copy of the company’s most recent Annual Report to Investors from its Form 10-K filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.

4. Identify 3 or more additional sources of information about the company and how it operates in cyberspace. These can be news articles, data breach reports, etc.

5. Using the information obtained from your sources, identify the types of information and business operations which drive this company’s need for cyber security products and services. (What needs to be protected?)

6. Using the course readings and other materials, develop a “Buying Forecast” for likely purchases by this company for cyber security related products and services.

 

Write

 

1. An introduction section which identifies the company being discussed and includes a brief overview of the company including when it was founded and significant events in its history.

2. An overview of the company’s operations which summarizes information obtained from its annual report, the Hoovers profile for the company, and other sources which you found in your research. This information should include: headquarters location, key personnel, primary types of business activities and locations, major products or services sold by the company, major competitors, stock information (including ticker symbol or NASDAQ code), recent financial performance, and additional relevant information from the business profiles.

3. A separate section in which you describe this company’s needs or requirements for cyber security. What information and/or business operations need to be protected?

4. A separate “Buying Forecast” section in which you discuss the company’s likely future purchases for cyber security products and services. In this section, you should identify and discuss three or more categories of cyber security products or services which this company is likely to purchase.

 

Your three to five page Buyer Profile is to be prepared using basic APA formatting (including title page and reference list) and submitted as an MS Word attachment to the Corporate Profile Part 1 entry in your assignments folder. See the sample paper and paper template provided in Course Resources > APA Resources for formatting examples. Consult the grading rubric for specific content and formatting requirements for this assignment.

This is a synthesis essay. That is, in writing, you are to synthesize two authors’ viewpoints toward a specific topic. To do this, you will analyze (by reading) two essays that cover the same general topic. Using the two essays, you will explain what the authors say about a more specific topic—or area of synthesis—and how the authors’ texts relate to that area of synthesis. This essay is not about you and your position, but instead should remain focused on how the authors are presenting their ideas and how the authors position themselves in relation to the area of synthesis. “To accomplish this goal, you will need to incorporate ideas and details from the readings” (p. 128).

 

The general topic that you will write about for Writing Project #2 is intercultural communication. You are to explore aspects of cross-cultural communication by analyzing (through reading) texts from Spack (2007) and other sources. Your choices of text pairs include:

 

1. Creativity in the Classroom	AND	Intercultural communication and the classroom (Andersen & Powell)
2. Intercultural communication competence (Spitz berg)	AND	Social Time: The Heartbeat of a Culture
3. Intercultural Communication Stumbling Blocks	AND	Prejudice in intercultural communication (Brislin)

 

In Writing Project #2, your process should be something like:

• Develop a non-argumentative synthesis thesis statement that references and can be supported by two texts.

 

 

• Identify the most useful details and supporting points related to the thesis that can be drawn from each source text.

 

 

• Identify the similarities and differences between main ideas and details you identified in the two different source texts.

 

 

• Develop topic sentences that relate to the synthesis thesis and are separatefrom the source texts, but can be supported by the source texts.

 

Your essay should include the following parts:

• Introduction: this is where you introduce the general topic, some of the larger guiding opinions that were most evident in the source texts, and your synthesis thesis.
• Summary:Following the introduction, you should include a one paragraph for each text (e.g., two summaries in two paragraphs).
• Body: the topic sentences should be focused on ideas (not the authors or texts) from the texts that support the thesis. Then, synthesizethe authors’ viewpoints using paraphrasing and focus on details to investigate the important ideas from the source text.
• Conclusion: this is where you round up your essay. Be sure to recapitulate your thesis and identify further implications about the topic.

 

Length: five to seven typed double-spaced page.

 

 

 

 

 

Conclude by stating the theory you feel will produce the most desirable outcome.

This assignment will be graded on a 3 point scale and is limited to two double spaced pages. Points earned on this assignment will be added to points earned on all your other assignments and could potentially raise your final grade form B- to a B; from B to B+; from B+ to an A- etc)

Situation:
Disney ® Resort Parks offer an alternative entrance points, often bypassing the line to almost all of its rides and attractions to individuals with physical, behavioral, and mental disabilities based on the letter drafted by a visitor’s medical doctor.

You are a director of operations for Magical Kingdom® and it has come to your attention that many guests have complained about this perceived “line cutting” especially in cases where the person utilizing a special access points has no apparent impairment. Many, also have complained that it has become too easy to obtain such a special pass as doctors now write “Disney Letters” as a matter of course for any patient diagnosed with ADHD or any other Autism Spectrum Disorder.

What do you do?

Assignment:

Please analyze this case from an ethical perspective applying Eight Steps to Sound Ethical Decision Making.

1. a)  Apply the consequential theory analysis
2. b)  Apply De-ontological theory analysis
3. c)  Apply Virtue Ethics analysis
4. d)  Conclude by stating the theory you feel will produce the most desirable outcome.

What are the coordinates of the image point p (7,2) after a rotation of 90 clockwise‚  about the origin?

Raise or Lower Tuition?

You have been hired by Nobody State University (NSU) as a consultant to help the university with how to increase their total revenue. The university has been struggling in recent years, so they have hired you to help them in their last attempt to find an appropriate solution so that the university can survive.

Raise or Lower Tuition? Suppose that, in an attempt to raise more revenue, Nobody State University increases its tuition.

• Assess a raise in tuition and if it will necessarily result in more revenue.
• Describe the conditions under which revenue will (a) rise, (b) fall, or (c) remain the same.
• Explain the process of revenue at NSU, focusing on the relationship between the increased revenue from students enrolling at NSU despite the higher tuition and the lost revenue from possible lower enrollment.
• If the true price elasticity were (-1.2), discuss what you would suggest the university do to expand revenue.
• Using what you have learned in this course, explain how you would resolve this problem if you were the President of NSU.

In a three- to five-page paper (not including title and reference pages), provide subheadings or separate paragraphs for each of the questions listed to help focus your paper for the executives that have requested it.

Cord Chemical is a manufacturer of specialty chemicals. The firm, which does not currently pay a dividend, expects to earn $4.00 per share next year. The firm plans to retain and reinvest 100 percent of earnings during each of the next three years to generate future earnings growth. Exactly four years from today (at date 4), the firm expects to pay its first ever dividend of $5.40 per share from year 4 earnings of $9.00 per share. From date 4 on, Cord expects that retained earnings can be reinvested in the firm at a return on equity (ROE) of 16 percent. The required rate of return on the company’s stock is 11.4 percent. Assuming that Cord Chemical will continue to retain the same fraction of earnings and to reinvest at the same ROE each year from date 4 on (in perpetuity), determine the current price of Cord’s stock and explain whether and why the price to earnings ratio for Cord Chemical will increase or decrease between date 0 and date 4. (15 points

2. ) 2. Elwood Dowd, who just turned 33, expects to retire in 35 years when he turns 68. Mr. Dowd expects to earn $70,000 next year at his job as a licensed plumber. The yearly earnings for licensed plumbers are expected to grow at 4.2 percent per year over the next 35 years. Mr. Dowd plans to save for retirement by depositing 12 percent of his yearly income at the end of each year in a retirement savings account. Mr. Dowd expects to earn a yearly return on his retirement savings of 8.2 percent over the next 57 years. Mr. Dowd’s life expectancy is 57 years, so that he can expect to enjoy a 22-year retirement, with yearly withdrawals from the retirement account at the end of each of the 22 years following his retirement at age 68. Mr. Dowd would like for the yearly income stream that he receives during retirement to provide him with constant (the same) purchasing power during each year of his retirement. Consequently, the dollar amount of his retirement income must increase each year at the rate of inflation. Assuming that inflation is expected to be 3.8 percent per year, determine the maximum initial retirement income that Mr. Dowd can withdraw from the retirement account at the end of his first year in retirement. (15 points) 2
3. 3. On September 25, 2015 Bruno Stachel paid $1135.96 for a U.S. Government bond having exactly 22 years to maturity. The bond has a coupon rate of 4.5 percent and a par value of $1000, with the next coupon payment to bondholders scheduled for March 25, 2016. Assume that the Federal Reserve is sure to raise interest rates in December, before Mr. Stachel receives the next coupon payment from the bond. Due to the anticipated December increase in interest rates, Mr. Stachel will be able to reinvest all of the future coupon payments from the bond at a semiannually compounded rate of 4 percent. Determine the future amount to which the reinvested coupon payments from the bond will have grown by September 25, 2037 when the bond matures. (10 points)

 

4. 4. Last year, Cape Fear Energy raised (borrowed) $100 million by issuing an innovative new bond that is being referred to as a “Triennial” bond. The Triennial bonds, which have a par value of $1000, make an interest payment of $120 once every three years in perpetuity, so the principal amount of the bond is never (not ever) returned to the bondholders. Assuming there are two years until the next triennial coupon payment of $120 and that the required yearly rate of return on the Triennial bonds is 5.2 percent, determine the current value of one (and only one) of the Triennial bonds issued by Cape Fear Energy. (10 points)