The president of a University wishes to find the average age of students presently enrolled. From past studies, the standard deviation is known to be 2 years. A random sample of 50 students is selected and the mean is found to be 23.2 years.

A. Find the 95% confidence interval for the population mean.

B. Find the 99% confidence interval for the population mean?

A group of high-school parents in Tucson, Arizona, in conjunction with faculty from the University of Arizona, claim that young women in the Tucson high schools not only are called on less frequently, but receive less time to interact with the instructor than do young men. They would like to see the school district hire a coordinator, spend money (and time) on faculty workshops, and offer young women classes on assertiveness and academic communication.

To make things simple, assume that instructor interactions with young men average 95 seconds, with standard deviation 35 seconds. (Treat this as population information.)

The null hypothesis will be that the average interaction time for young women will also be 95 seconds, as opposed to the alternate hypothesis that it is less, and will be tested at the 2.5% level of significance.

1. Give interpretations in context of Type I and Type II error in this situation. (Your discussion should not focus on “Null” and “Alternate”.)
2. What are the social, economic, and other consequences of (separately) Type I and Type II error?
3. Find the rejection region for this test. That is, what interaction time bounds the lower 2.5% of the distribution?
4. Assume the true mean interaction time for young women is 90 seconds. Find the power of the test.
5. Repeat part 4 for a true mean interaction time of 80 seconds.
6. What do the results in parts (4) and (5) mean in terms of your previous answers?

- Researchers from the University of Toronto Scarborough conducted two experiments that looked at the effect of two different types of motivational intervention on prejudice reduction. Summarize the two types of motivational intervention that were used in their experiments.

-If programs focusing on reducing prejudice are actually increasing prejudice, how should the issue of prejudice be addressed?

-Even though researchers now know that reducing prejudice needs to focus on motivational interventions that are more personal in nature, the authors suggest that controlling prejudice reaction practices are tempting. What benefits do controlling motivational interventions have for prejudice programs?

This comes from the Columbia University website: “As an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, the University does not discriminate against or permit harassment of employees or applicants for employment on the basis of race, color, sex, gender (including gender identity and expression), pregnancy, religion, creed, national origin, age, alienage and citizenship, status as a perceived or actual victim of domestic violence, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, partnership status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, arrest record, or any other legally protected status.”

1. Looking at this list of characteristics that Columbia doesn’t discriminate against, can you quickly put in your own words what each of them means, or are some ambiguous? If there is ambiguity, is that an ethical problem?
   
2. What’s the difference between unintentional and intentional discrimination?
   • Are some of these characteristics more vulnerable than others to unintentional discrimination? Which ones? Why?
   • Are some of these characteristics more vulnerable than others to intentional discrimination? Which ones? Why?

3. Which of the protected characteristics are concealable, meanings that in most cases a job applicant could fairly easily hide or not reveal whether he or she has the trait? Which aren’t so concealable?

Someone sent me this link to a talk by Prof. Klaus Schulten from the University of Illinois: (my emphasis)

Quantum Computing and Animal Navigation

Quantum computing is all the rage nowadays. But this type of computing may have been discovered and used by living cells billion of years ago. Nowadays migratory birds use a protein, Cryptochrome, which absorbs weak blue light to produce two quantum-entangled electrons in the protein, which by monitoring the earth's magnetic field, allows birds to navigate even in bad weather and wind conditions. The lecture tells the story of this discovery, starting with chemical test tube experiments and ending in the demonstration that the navigational compass is in the eyes and can be affected by radio antennas. The story involves theoretical physicists who got their first paper rejected as "garbage", million dollar laser experiments by physical chemists to measure the entangled electrons, and ornithologists who try to 'interrogate' the birds themselves. This work opens up the awesome possibility that room-temperature quantum mechanics may be crucial in many biological systems.

Now here's my question: What's the big deal with entangled electrons? I mean, if I do not neglect electron-electron interaction, then pretty much all electrons in a condensed matter system are entangled, are they not? Electrons in the same angular momentum multiplet are entangled via Hund's rule, electrons on neighboring sites in a tight-binding (or, in the interacting case, Hubbard) model can all be entangled due to an antiferromagnetic exchange coupling, etc. etc.

Sure, for a quantum computer I'd like to have physically separated electrons maintain their entanglement, and I'd like to have fine-grained control over which of the electrons are entangled in which way etc, but for chemical processes in molecules such as these earth-magnetic-field receptors, is it not a bit sensationalist to liken such a process to quantum computing?

This comes from the Columbia University website: “As an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, the University does not discriminate against or permit harassment of employees or applicants for employment on the basis of race, color, sex, gender (including gender identity and expression), pregnancy, religion, creed, national origin, age, alienage and citizenship, status as a perceived or actual victim of domestic violence, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, partnership status, genetic predisposition or carrier status, arrest record, or any other legally protected status.”

1. Are there any characteristics that really shouldn’t be on the list? Which ones? Why?
   
2. Hypothetically, John Smith has applied for a maintenance post at Columbia. The job entails routine and emergency plumbing and fixing of general problems, everything from burned-out light bulbs to graffiti. More or less, the job is to walk around and make sure things are in working order. He’d be working the night shift from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. His assigned buildings would be a classroom and three coed dorms. He has been arrested three times for attempted rape of young women, but there was never enough evidence to convict.
   • Susan Rieger heads the Columbia University employment office. It’s part of her job to defend the school’s policies. In ethical terms, how do you suppose she might defend Columbia’s refusal to discriminate on the basis of arrest record?

Consider this hypothetical example. Facebook is becoming fashionable as a social medium among people, including university faculty and students. Assume the (market equilibrium) annual subscription for facebook per year is $1,200. Many faculty and students are now using it.

a) What are the private benefit to you for using facebook? (Hint: what skills will students acquire from using facebook?)

b) What are the social benefit to the faculty and student community of using facebook?

c) What are the private costs to you for using facebook?

d) What are the social costs to the faculty and student community for using facebook?

e) In your own opinion, do you think facebook would generate positive or negative externalities in the university community? Explain!

f) Should the university subsidize or tax the faculty and student use of facebook?

Analyze 1 of the following government intervention programs:

• Countercyclical fiscal policies (countering economic disruptions such as the housing bubble and the Great Recession)
• US agriculture support programs
• Assistance for Low Income Families (choose 1)
• Housing vouchers
• Earned Income Tax Credit (including Child Tax Credit)
• Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
• Low income healthcare (choose 1)
• Medicaid (including Children's Health Insurance Program).
• Affordable Care Act expansion
• Social insurance programs (choose 1)
• Old Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)
• Medicare
• Unemployment insurance

Write a summary of your analysis. Identify the intervention and the market failure leading up to the intervention. Complete the following in your summary:

• Analyze the arguments for government intervention as opposed to arguments for market-based solutions.Hint:See the information about market failures.
• Examine who has been helped and who has been hurt by the selected government intervention.
• Examine externalities and unintended consequences of such intervention. For example, consider whether the SNAP program and health coverage for low-income families result in higher future tax revenues because low-income children grow up healthier and produce higher incomes over their lifetimes.
• Analyze whether cost of the intervention you selected as a share of GDP or the number of participants is increasing,decreasing, or varies with the state of the economy, based on the cost trend(or number of participants) since its inception or since 2000.
• Analyze credible economists’ opinions on the success or failure of the intervention that you chose in achieving its objectives.
• Recommend whether the program should be continued as is, discontinued, or modified based on your conclusions. Defend your recommendation.

Enrique lives in rural Ecuador and is finishing his high school. As an outstanding student, he was accepted by the leading private university, University de Quito to study in a two year program on comparative literature and linguistics to become a college teacher. If he goes to university, he will pay a tuition fee of $1000 ($1 = 1 peso) per year (for 2 years). Suppose also that there is a “psychological” cost of $400 associated with moving to the city of Quito, which represents the money equivalent (paid only once in the first period) of leaving his family / girlfriend.

In the first year, Enrique can work in the library of the university and earn $1000 per year, while during the summer of the second year he can do an internship and earn $2000. At the third year, he may start working as a college teacher, where he will earn $4000 per year for the first 2 years of his career. For the sake of this exercise, suppose that we only have 4 periods.

If Enrique refuses to go to University, he will work on the family farm and will earn $1000 per year for the first two years. His father promises him a salary equal of $3000 from the third year. Consider a discount factor of 10%.

1. a) Calculate the expected present value benefits of studying.[7points]

2. b) Calculate the expected present value costs of studying (direct and indirect costs) [7

   points]

3. c) Should Enrique go to the University? [1 points]

Conch Republic Electronics Part 1

Conch Republic Electronics is a midsized electronics manufacturer located in Key West, Florida. The company president is Shelley Couts, who inherited the company. When it was founded over 70 years ago, the company originally repaired radios and other household appliances. Over the years, the company expanded into manufacturing and is now a reputable manufacturer of various electronic items. Jay McCanless, a recent MBA graduate, has been hired by the company's finance department.

One of the major revenue-producing items manufactured by Conch Republic is a smart phone. Conch Republic currently has one smart phone model on the market, and sales have been excellent. The smart phone is a unique item in that it comes in a variety of tropical colors and is preprogrammed to play Jimmy Buffett music. However, as with any electronic item, technology changes rapidly, and the current smart phone has limited features in comparison with newer models. Conch Republic spent $750,000 to develop a prototype for a new smart phone that has all the features of the existing smart phone but adds new features such as WiFi tethering. The company has spent a further $200,000 for a marketing study to determine the expected sales figures for the new smart phone.

Conch Republic can manufacture the new smart phones for $215 each in variable costs. Fixed costs for the operation are estimated to run $6.1 million per year. The estimated sales volume is 155,000, 165,000, 125,000, 95,000, and 75,000 per year for the next five years, respectively. The unit price of the new smart phone will be $520. The necessary equipment can be purchased for $40.5 million and will be depreciated on a seven-year MACRS schedule. It is believed the value of the equipment in five years will be $6.1 million.

As previously stated, Conch Republic currently manufactures a smart phone. Production of the existing model is expected to be terminated in two years. If Conch Republic does not introduce the new smart phone, sales will be 95,000 units and 65,000 units for the next two years, respectively. The price of the existing smart phone is $380 per unit, with variable costs of $145 each and fixed costs of $4.3 million per year. If Conch Republic does introduce the new smart phone, sales of the existing smart phone will fall by 30,000 units per year, and the price of the existing units will have to be lowered to $210 each. Net working capital for the smart phones will be 20 percent of sales and will occur with the timing of the cash flows for the year; for example, there is no initial outlay for NWC, but changes in NWC will first occur in Year 1 with the first year's sales. Conch Republic has a 35 percent corporate tax rate and a required return of 12 percent.

Shelley has asked Jay to prepare a report that answers the following questions.

Conch Republic Electronics Part 2

Shelley Couts, the owner of Conch Republic Electronics, had received the capital budgeting analysis from Jay McCanless for the new smart phone the company is considering. Shelley was pleased with the results, but she still had concerns about the new smart phone. Conch Republic had used a small market research firm for the past 20 years, but recently the founder of that firm retired. Because of this, she was not convinced the sales projections presented by the market research firm were entirely accurate. Additionally, because of rapid changes in technology, she was concerned that a competitor could enter the market. This would likely force Conch Republic to lower the sales price of its new smart phone. For these reasons, she has asked Jay to analyze how changes in the price of the new smart phone and changes in the quantity sold will affect the NPV of the project.

Shelley has asked Jay to prepare a memo answering the following questions.

QUESTIONS

1.What is the payback period of the project?

2.What is the profitability index of the project?

3.What is the IRR of the project?

4.What is the NPV of the project?

5.How sensitive is the NPV to changes in the price of the new smart phone?

6.How sensitive is the NPV to changes in the quantity sold of the new smart phone?

PLEASE ATTATCH EXCEL FILE FOR ANSWER THANK YOU!!!!!