This next assignment is a research paper of based on your annotated bibliography.
Since you’ve already done the research, this assignment shouldn’t be too time consuming, though
it will be challenging because you are using another set of skills. The annotated bibliography
focuses on the process of research: finding sources (using the library databases), evaluating their
credibility, assembling a balanced bibliography that includes sources providing background
information on your topic, sources that support and provide evidence for your argument, and
sources that counter your argument.
The research paper, however, focuses on the following skills: organizing your argument,
arranging the most persuasive and solid evidence for your position, and integrating opposing
views into your argument (thus showing that your position is informed because you have
considered all sides of the issue). It also focuses on paraphrasing material from sources and
integrating quotations into your own writing. You have to be in control of the argument and the
material from sources; otherwise, you have a data dump.
Instructions: In a 3-5 page essay, take a position on the topic you chose for your annotated
bibliography. I, along with the other students in this class, will be your audience. We may not
know much about your topic, so provide clear background information. Your goal will be to
persuade us to agree with your opinion of your issue, so we need to have a clear idea of what
your opinion is and the evidence that convinced you. We also want to be assured that you have
considered other points of view on your issue, which you can do by representing opposing views
in your paper. Remember, you are both teaching us about your topic and attempting to persuade
us to agree with your opinion on it.
A successful research paper will have a clear thesis statement and an easy-to-grasp structure. It
will include credible evidence to support each point, and it will acknowledge opposing or
divergent views.
Formatting: You must follow MLA format, and your ability to use this format will be a
component of your grade. Your paper must be double-spaced with one-inch margins on all four
sides. Do not skip a line between paragraphs. Use 12-point Times New Roman font and include a
heading and page numbers. Your paper must include a Works Cited page at the end. In addition
to a Works Cited page, you must use MLA in-text citations for any information that you directly
quote, paraphrase or summarize. For example, if you directly quote from a source, then you must
put the author’s name and page number after the quotation. The same goes for information that is
summarized or paraphrased.
Sample In-Text Citations:
Direct quote: Romantic poetry is characterized by the “spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings” (Wordsworth 263).
Paraphrase or Summary: Wordsworth extensively explored the role of emotion in the creative
process (263).
Remember the templates in TSIS; there are many throughout the first ten chapters. They will
help you to integrate your source material into your argument.

Choose a topic related to our readings in the field of development. You are expected to select a topic that EXPANDS upon what we have read. While you may use some of the research/theories from our text, it is assumed that you are bringing in new research and analysis from outside sources that help to analyze a topic or theory. The topic should be addressed in the current (2000+) publications. Review theory and research findings published about this topic. The following questions should be addressed in the paper:
– What are the major research questions being addressed?
– What areas of controversy/agreement are there?
– Who are the important researchers and writers about this topic?
– What different methodologies are being used in the research?
– What practical (everyday life) applications does the research have?
– What questions remain for future researchers?
Commence your paper with a paragraph clearly outlining the topic you are addressing.
Organize your paper conceptually (e.g. by issues, methodologies or conclusions). Do not just describe one study after another. Give a lot of thought to the topic you choose. A broad topic, such as “cognition” will be a huge undertaking. More specific topics will make researching and writing the paper easier and more focused. For instance, the impact of early alcohol use on learning in adolescence, parenting styles and academic outcomes etc.

Include at least 6-8 references listed in APA format. References should be scholarly publications (books and journals), not derived from the popular press (magazines, internet, television shows). Doing a computer search is probably the best place to start. Ask at the library reference desk for assistance or use online library resources. The paper should include your thoughts and analysis on the topic and link the findings in a coherent manner. The paper length should be approximately 6-8 pages. I will want you to submit a topic to me a few weeks before the paper is due so I can help you refine your search. Please forward any questions you may have.

Grading/Evaluation Criteria:Reflection Paper (Total of 50 points)
1. Topic relevant to normal child development _____ (4 points)
2. Topic clearly delineated in first paragraph _____ (4 points)
3. Use of current ideas/research (major research included) _____ (5 points)
4. Key issues covered (not just from text/lectures) _____ (5 points)
5. Organization is conceptual, not just a series of studies _____ (5 points)
6. Clear and logical presentation of ideas (no plagiarism) _____ (5 points)
7. Analysis throughout with summary that links ideas together _____ (5 points)
8. Questions for future researchers _____ (2 points)
9. Implications for practice in the field _____ (3 points)
10. APA format used in text and citations (at least 6 sources) _____ (2 points)
11. Pages numbered and doubled spaced _____ (2 points)
12. Satisfactory grammar, spelling and punctuation _____ (2 points)
13. Sexist language avoided _____ (2 points)
14. Paper titled and student’s name and date indicated _____ (1 point)
15. Appropriate length and timely submission _____ (3 points)

Stakeholders can have a powerful impact on organizational decision-making and strategic planning, making stakeholder engagement essential. As a leader and manager of an organization, you will not only be tasked with building relationships and engaging key stakeholders, but also identifying their role in the strategic planning process. In this Discussion, you examine stakeholder engagement and the role of stakeholders in strategic planning.

Post a response with a minimum of 500 words to one of the following three prompts:
1. Suppose you are an organizational leader trying to develop collaborative support for new strategies. What is the most critical aspect for you to consider in terms of stakeholder roles (i.e., cultural competency, stakeholder engagement, etc.)?
2. Suppose you are working with the stakeholders of an organization that has a dynamic and complex environment. How might the role of stakeholders in this environment differ from a more stable environment? How might this difference impact the structure of the strategic planning process?
3. Suppose you are an organizational leader trying to build relationships and stakeholder support virtually. How might virtual stakeholder relationship building differ from on-ground relationship building? How might the role of a virtual stakeholder differ from the role of an on-ground stakeholder?

Bryson, J. M. (2011). Strategic planning for public and nonprofit organizations: A guide to strengthening and sustaining organizational achievement (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Chapter 8, “Establishing an Effective Organizational Vision for the Future” (pp. 271–285)

Ugboro, I. O., Obeng, K., & Spann, O. (2011). Strategic planning as an effective tool of strategic management in public sector organizations: Evidence from public transit organizations. Administration & Society, 43(1), 87–123.

Aguilar, O. (2003). How strategic performance management is helping companies create business value. Strategic Finance, 84(7), 44–49.

Sherman, H., Rowley, D. J., & Armandi, B. R. (2007). Developing a strategic profile: The pre-planning phase of strategic management. Business Strategy Series, 8(3), 162–171.

BRAND LOYALTY
Ask 10 consumers what brands they are loyal too, and why, and the answers will be wildly different. There are multiple factors that go into consumer purchases and their preferred brands. Some examples are: quality, price, convenience, customer service, formulation of the product, and the historical, social, and environmental choices of the brand. Is the brand trustworthy? Do they make responsible choices? One company that is checking all the boxes for a large percentage of the retail market is Amazon.
AMAZON
Amazon, as a brand, is more than a single product. They are a conglomerate of companies assembled by Jeff Bezos. Started in 1994, Amazon.com was originally intended to be a simple online bookstore. Since then, the company has been in the limelight, changing how the average consumer researches, purchases, and receives retail items. A notable change amazon has made to the market is it’s Kindle e-reader. While Kindle was not the first e-reader to hit the market, it was the one that brought digital reading to the forefront of the market. Amazon has become synonymous with great customer service and lightning fast shipping.
AMAZON’S BRANDING
Amazon’s branding can be wonderfully summed up with their mission statement: ‘‘We seek to be Earth’s most customer-centric company for three primary customer sets: consumer customers, seller customers and developer customers.” (Treanor, T. (2010). Amazon: Love them? hate them? let’s follow the money.Publishing Research Quarterly, 26(2), 119-128. doi:http://dx.doi.org.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s12109-010-9162-7 ) Customer service has been a focus for Amazon since the beginning. This appears to be a major draw for consumers. The company has consistently maintained an 80 or above Customer Satisfaction score since 2000. (American Customer Service Index, (2018) https://www.theacsi.org/?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&catid=&Itemid=214&c=Amazon ) When comparing these numbers to industry standards, it shows exactly how customer-centric Amazon truly is. As of the end of 2016, 55 percent of E-commerce customers said in a survey that their online search for products begins on amazon.com. (Rey, Jason D. (2016) 55 percent of customers start their product searches on Amazon. https://www.recode.net/2016/9/27/13078526/amazon-online-shopping-product-search-engine)
PACKAGING
Amazon has previously had a few packaging concerns. As consumers who are partial to the occasional online shopping spree are aware, one good sized order has been known to arrive in several boxes. To combat this, Amazon established a sustainability division. With this initiative, the company has made strides in frustration free packaging, which produces less waste. Consumers now have the option to delay some items in an order and have everything shipped together, which reduces cardboard use. Measures like these achieved a waste reduction of 36,000 tons in 2015. (Tsotsis, A. (2016). Amazon should think outside the box. https://search-proquest-com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/docview/1826018798/E97A484954D241AFPQ/8?accountid=38569 ) It also lead to the development of Amazon Key, which may in the near future allow products to be delivered without a box and placed directly inside of the consumer’s front door.

MAJOR COMPETITORS: WALMART AND TARGET
When looking at Amazon’s major competitors, one would have to consider both Walmart and Overstock.com. Despite being primarily a brick and mortar retailer, Walmart has, in recent years, expands it’s online offerings and even begun offering a free two-day shipping program, in order to combat Amazon’s widely popular Prime program.

COMPARE: SHIPPING OPTIONS

FREE SHIPPING AMAZON.COM OVERSTOCK WALMART.COM
MEMBERSHIP COST $99 annually, or monthly payments from 5.99-12.99 None None
TIME-FRAME 2 day shipping on most items 2 business days – 6 weeks, depending on size of item 2 day shipping on most items
RESTRICTIONS Items purchased must be “prime eligible” Free shipping only offered on orders over $45, and only in the continental 48 states Items purchased must be 2 day eligible. Orders must be over 35$, and only in the continental 48 states.
ADDITIONAL BENEFITS Many, including:
1-2 hour shipping in select cities, video and music streaming, e book lending library, photo storage, discount for subscribing to frequently ordered products, and many more. None None.

Which of these programs will work best is going to depend on the consumer’s shopping habits. If the consumer purchases infrequently and in relatively large orders, both Walmart.com and Overstock.com’s programs would work well. For the frequent shopper, no matter the volume, Amazon proves to be the better value.
PROS AND CONS
When comparing these companies, there are a few things that jump out. In amazon’s favor, we have the massive range of product types available, which surpasses both of the other companies named. Customer satisfaction for Amazon is much higher and steady, with Walmart’s scores having dropped into the sixties in recent years. ( American Consumer Scores Index, http://www.theacsi.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&catid=14&Itemid=214&c=Wal-Mart&i=Department+and+Discount+Stores). One possible point against Amazon is the lack of brick and mortar location. However, as the marketplace transitions to ease of online communication and away from face to face product research, this will become less and less of an issue.
CONCLUSION
Through the statistics and information provided to the marketplace through market research, we can see that while Amazon may not have many physical locations, this has not stopped them from establishing a strong brand identity and becoming a major player in the retail marketplace.

Resources
American Customer Service Index, (2018) https://www.theacsi.org/?option=com_content&view=article&id=149&catid=&Itemid=214&c=Amazon
https://help.overstock.com/help/s/article/Shipping-Delivery
https://www.amazon.com/amazonprime?_encoding=UTF8&%2AVersion%2A=1&%2Aentries%2A=0
Rey, Jason D. (2016) 55 percent of customers start their product searches on Amazon. https://www.recode.net/2016/9/27/13078526/amazon-online-shopping-product-search-engine
Treanor, T. (2010). Amazon: Love them? hate them? let’s follow the money.Publishing Research Quarterly, 26(2), 119-128. doi:http://dx.doi.org.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s12109-010-9162-7
Tsotsis, A. (2016). Amazon should think outside the box. https://search-proquest-com.csuglobal.idm.oclc.org/docview/1826018798/E97A484954D241AFPQ/8?accountid=38569
https://www.walmart.com/cp/free-shipping/1088989

prompt 2
Speaking about education, Dr. Martin Luther King once said, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”

Prompt 2 question:
Critical thinking is a central goal of Jesuit education, and at LMU you’ll be asked to think critically and intensively in every class. Dr. King suggests that critical thinking results in our ability to inform intelligence with character, and strengthen character with intelligence. Please talk about a situation that demanded critical thinking from you, and how your choices or decisions integrated intelligence and character.

Do science and religion give us the same kind of knowledge, thus competing with one another, or do they give us different kinds of knowledge, and function in different and complementary arenas? This debate draws on the essays we read by Galileo and Hume. [You may also find it helpful to read ahead in McFague’s essay.] Specifically, Galileo argues that science and religion provide different kinds of knowledge and do not compete, while Hume evaluates religion on empiricist grounds (those used in science) and finds it lacking. Take a position on this question and defend your view with logical reasoning. Demonstrate that you understand Galileo’s and Hume’s views (and McFague’s if you choose to engage with her). Remember that you will need to consider an intelligent opposing viewpoint, so make sure your viewpoint is debatable and something with which another philosopher could disagree.
Present your position on a question and defend your view with reasoning. Then, you will present an opposing view and reasons in favor of it, then respond to that opposing view.

ECON 1030 – BUSINESS STATISTICS 1

PROJECT

Instructions:

This is a group assignment with a minimum group size of two and a maximum group size of three.   All group members must be enrolled in the same tutorial.  There will be two parts to this assignment:

Part A: Group Work (A Business Report)

Part B: Individual Reflective Piece (A Ministerial Brief)

The allocation of marks:

Group members will receive a common mark for Part A and an individual mark for Part B.

The response to Part A must be provided in the form of a business report with no more than 10 pages (including cover page).  The structure of your business report must include 1] A Title, 2] An Executive Summary, 3] An Introduction, and 4] Conclusions.

The response to Part B must be provided in the form of a ministerial brief with no more 200 words containing no more than three graphs. Please clearly indicate your student ID and name for your individual work.

You must submit an electronic copy (group response to Part A & compilation of individual responses to Part B) of your assignment in Canvas. See an attached Template of your submission for more details.  Only one submission is required per group.  Hard copies will not be accepted. SHOW YOUR WORK for calculation based questions.

This assignment requires the use of Microsoft Excel.  If you have Windows, you will need to use the Data Analysis ToolPak.  If you have a Mac with Excel 2011, you may need to use StatPlus:MAC LE.

Sources used for this assignment include:

• Share prices were downloaded from Yahoo finance.

Problem Description:

The blockchain is a decentralized ledger of all transactions across a peer-to-peer network. Using this technology, participants can confirm transactions without a need for a central clearing authority (or a middle man). According to some, replacing the middle man with a revolutionary technology that is faster, cheaper and as secure will greatly improve market efficiency.

One application of blockchain technology in finance is the “cryptocurrencies”, with the best known example being “Bitcoin”. Some believe that such a secure, global, and digital currency represents the future of finance, while some are not optimistic about the future of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in general.

Useful links on blockchain and cryptocurrencies:

https://www.data61.csiro.au/en/our-work/safety-and-security/secure-systems-and-platforms/blockchain

https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industries/financial-services/fintech/bitcoin-blockchain-cryptocurrency.html

Your task is to evaluate recent prices of Bitcoin and based on this evidence whether individuals should invest in Bitcoin. There are two parts to this assignment, each of which is described in detail:

Part A (Group Work: 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 4 + 3 + 3 + 4 = 22 marks; professional report = 8 marks)

Locate the data file (Assignment Bus Stats.xls) on CANVAS.

1. Using the most appropriate type of graph to present weekly closing price of the Bitcoin and provide a general description. Hint: What are the main features of this graph, is there a trend? [Topic 1]
2. Calculate the weekly return and construct a histogram. Does the data appear normally distributed?   Is there evidence of outliers?  Hint: the formula for a return is (Current Price – Previous price)/Previous price multiplied by 100  [Topics 1-3]
3. Calculate and interpret the three aspects of Descriptive Analysis, Location, Shape and Spread, for weekly return. [Topic 1]
4. What is the empirical probability of a loss? [Topic 2]
5. Repeat the same steps (steps 1-4 above) for three share prices in the Australia Securities Exchange: BHP Billiton (BHP) from the mining sector, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) from the bank sector, and Telstra Corporation (TLS) from the telecom sector.
6. Construct a 95% confidence interval of the return to Bitcoin, and interpret the interval. How does your interval change if the level of confidence is 90% and 95% respectively, and explain why. [Topics 6-7]
7. Construct a 95% confidence interval of the return to BHP, CBA, and TLS respectively. [Topics 6-7]
8. An investment advisor claimed that the return to Bitcoin is 4% while the returns to other three shares are no different from zero. Do you agree? Justify your reasoning using a two-tailed hypothesis test approach at the significance level of 5%. [Topic 8]

Part B (Individual Reflective Piece, 10 marks)

Write a ministerial brief of no more than 200 words containing no more than three graphs on whether you can confidently recommend investing in the Bitcoin, compared with ONE of three shares: BHP, CBA, and TLS.  Each student within a group has to comment on a different comparison.

Hint: draw on the evidence you have gathered from Part A, as well as other information/evidence not covered here but you believe is useful. Please clearly indicate your student ID and name for your individual work (see Template).

The paper should cover the history of the area and some of the things that a tourist can do and see in the area of Gyeongju, South Korea

The paper should cover the history of the area and some of the things that a tourist can do and see in the area of Gyeongju, South Korea. You can also add a page with a picture(s) and or a map of the area. That is what the 4th page is for. Please provide 2 to 3 references.
In the attached word document are some suggestions for finding resources about Gyeongju, South Korea. Also, please provide a paper summary.

If you base your work on extending the work of that from the link below, there are some considerations to think about…

If you are going to include tau in your approach, you need a mouse model that exhibits the neurofibrillary tangles associated with dysregulated tau. Have you seen such mice in the literature?

Once/If you identify such mice, then you need to know the mRNA sequence for the tau protein so that you can design your ASO against it.

You will need to consider your method of ASO delivery… the intracerebral ventricular approach used by the researchers below may be valid. (Later on… toward the end of your discussion… you should address how this approach might be applied to humans for treatment.)

You will need a set of experiments showing in cultured neurons expressing B-amyloid and tau that your ASOs will inhibit their expression a great deal.

For the mouse model treatments, you will need a way to determine (perhaps postmortem) that the ASOs did indeed enter brain cells and inhibit B-amyloid and tau.

For behavioral analyses of the mice after treatment, this could be put into the ‘future directions’ aspect of your thesis.

The above roughly outlines the project. Keep in mind that you will be filling in with much detail. For each aspect of the project given above, be sure you contemplate and write about: why this aspect is being done? what information will it give you? how does that information fit into the current state of knowledge reflected in the literature? Remember to have ‘controls’ for your experiments and your procedures – you need to be able to justify that what you are doing (whether experiment or even simply a readout e.g. western blot) is real… that it worked… that differences among experimental groups are significant and not due to chance