Discussion: Patents & Copyrights

Article 8 of the US Consitution empowers Congress, in part, "To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries."

Some economists consider that patents & copyrights (what is called "intellectual property" or "intangible property") in their current form contribute to stifling innovation and to the unequal distribution of income by taking advantage of monopoly profits. Here is a short discussion of the benefits and costs of patents & copyrights. And here is a discussion of the effects of monopolies on income & wealth (Links to an external site.).

In several paragraphs, discuss whether in your view the patent & copyright system in the United States is perfect as it is, or if it should be modified, and in what way. Please justify your response with evidence from an academic-level outside source.

The National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) is a U.S. government organization that assesses the performance of students and schools at all levels across the United States. The following table presents the percentage of eighth-grade students who were found to be proficient in mathematics, and the percentage who were found to be proficient in reading in each of the ten most populous states.

a. Identify the explanatory variable (x) and the response variable (y).

Explanatory variable:

Response variable

b. Use your calculator to find the correlation coefficient ?. Based on the correlation coefficient, what can you say about the association between proficiency in reading and proficiency math?

? =

c. State the least squares regression line ?̂. (Use your calculator)

d. Within the context of the problem give an interpretation of the intercept of ?̂.

e. Find the best predicted percentage proficiency in Math for a student who has a proficiency of 70 percent in Reading.

The National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) is a U.S. government organization that assesses the performance of students and schools at all levels across the United States. The following table presents the percentage of eighth-grade students who were found to be proficient in mathematics, and the percentage who were found to be proficient in reading in each of the ten most populous states.

a. Identify the explanatory variable (x) and the response variable (y). Explanatory variable: Response variable:

b. Use your calculator to find the correlation coefficient ?. Based on the correlation coefficient, what can you say about the association between proficiency in reading and proficiency math? ? =

c. State the least squares regression line ?̂. (Use your calculator) d. Within the context of the problem give an interpretation of the intercept of ?̂.

e. Find the best predicted percentage proficiency in Math for a student who has a proficiency of 70 percent in Reading.

Please Answer and Show all the sections in this question.

Federal law under Title 49 of the United States Code, Chapter 301, Motor Vehicle Safety Standard took effect on January 1, 1968 and required all vehicles (except buses) to be fitted with seat belts in all designated seating positions. While most states have laws requiring seat belt use today, some people still do not “buckle up.” Let’s assume that 90 % of drivers do “buckle up.” If drivers are randomly stopped to check seat belt usage, answer the following questions and show your work.

1. How many drivers do they expect to stop before finding a driver whose seatbelt is not buckled?
2. What is the probability that the second unbelted driver is in the ninth car stopped?
3. What is the probability that of the first 10 drivers, 8 or more are wearing their seatbelts?
4. If they stop 30 cars during the first hour, find the mean and standard deviation of the number of drivers not expected to be wearing seatbelts?
5. If they stop 120 cars during this safety check, what is the probability they find at least 12 drivers not wearing seatbelts?

Please Answer and Show all the sections in this question.

Le Pete Bread Company is a national bakery-cafe concept with 1,380 Company-owned and franchise-operated bakery-cafe locations in 40 states and in Ontario, Canada. The company has grown from serving approximately 60 customers a day at its first bakery-cafe to currently serving nearly six million customers a week system-wide, becoming one of the largest food service companies in the United States. Sara Lee Corporation is a global manufacturer and marketer of high-quality, brand-name products for consumers throughout the world focused primarily on the meats, bakery and beverage categories. Selected financial information about each company follows:

Sara Lee Le Pete Bread Sales $ 10,793 million $ 1,353.5 million Net Income $ 527 million $ 86.8 million Return on Assets (ROA) 8.32 % 11.55 % Profit margin 7.05 % 6.45 % Asset turnover 1.18 % 1.79 Required:

Why is Sara Lee less profitable than Le Pete Bread? Return on assets and return on sales in the bakery industry are 4.85% and 8.16%, respectively. How do these two companies compare to their industry and what might explain any noted differences?

A state diagram shows the states of an object and the transitions between states

•States are particularly common with objects that interact with the program user. •Suppose that a user wants to retrieve recent voice mail messages.

•Some part of the voice mail system must keep track of the current state so that it can process the user input correctly

Java. I need a state diagram for the following code:

What the code Does: adds a new regular task, delete a task , show all tasks, and show regular tasks.

my code:

import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Scanner;

class ToDoList {
    private ArrayList<Task> list;//make private array

    public ToDoList() {
//this keyword refers to the current object in a method or constructor
        this.list = new ArrayList<>();
    }

    public Task[] getSortedList() {
        Task[] sortedList = new Task[this.list.size()];//.size: gives he number of elements contained in the array
        //fills array with given values by using a for loop
        for (int i = 0; i < this.list.size(); i++) {
            sortedList[i] = this.list.get(i);
        }
        //sorting values in array using bubble sort
        Task temp;//temp var to hold sorted values
        for (int i = 0; i < sortedList.length; i++) {
            for (int j = 1; j < (sortedList.length - i); j++) {
                if (sortedList[j].isEarlier(sortedList[j - 1])) {
                    temp = sortedList[j - 1];
                    sortedList[j - 1] = sortedList[j];
                    sortedList[j] = temp;
                }
            }
        }
        return sortedList;
    }//end of getSortedList
    public void addTask(Task task) {
        this.list.add(task);//.add to add elements in the list
    }
    public void deleteTask(int taskID) {
        //delete tasks using task ID
        for (int i = 0; i < this.list.size(); i++) {
            if (this.list.get(i).getTaskID() == taskID) {
                this.list.remove(i);
            }
        }
    }
    public void deleteAllTasks() {
        this.list.clear();
    }
    public int getTaskNumber() {
        return this.list.size();
    }
    public void printList(Task[] tasks) {
        System.out.println("-------------------------");
        for (Task task : tasks) {
            task.printTask();
        }
        System.out.println("-------------------------");
    }
    public static void displayMenu() {
        System.out.println("1)Add tasks");
        System.out.println("2)List tasks");
        System.out.println("3)Delete Tasks");
        System.out.println("4)Delete all tasks");
        System.out.println("5)Exit");
      }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        Scanner in = new Scanner(System.in);
        ToDoList toDoList = new ToDoList();
       boolean run = true;

        while (run) {//will continue to loop until user chooses a valid option
             displayMenu();
            int choice = in.nextInt();
            switch (choice) {
                //nextLine() method advances this scanner past the current line and returns the input that was skipped
                case 1:
                    in.nextLine();
                    System.out.print("Task Name: ");
                    String taskTitle = in.nextLine();
                    System.out.print("Task Deadline (dd mm yyyy): ");
                    int taskDay = in.nextInt();
                    int taskMonth = in.nextInt();
                    int taskYear = in.nextInt();
                    in.nextLine();
                    System.out.print("Time Deadline (hh mm): ");
                    int taskHour = in.nextInt();
                    int taskMin = in.nextInt();
                    in.nextLine();
                    System.out.print("Is this task important? (yes/no): ");
                    String taskImportant = in.nextLine();
                    //Task ID made with all info set up neatly
                    Task newTask = new Task(new Time(taskHour, taskMin), new Date(taskDay, taskMonth, taskYear), taskTitle, taskImportant, toDoList.getTaskNumber() + 1);
                    //Adds the new task to the list
                    toDoList.addTask(newTask);
                    //Display the sorted tasks
                    System.out.printf("Task %d is added. The To-Do list is as follows:\n", newTask.getTaskID());
                    toDoList.printList(toDoList.getSortedList());
                    break;
                case 2:
                    //List all tasks
                    toDoList.printList(toDoList.getSortedList());
                    break;
                case 3:
                    //Delete a task
                    toDoList.printList(toDoList.getSortedList());
                    in.nextLine();
                    System.out.print("Enter ID number to delete task: ");
                    int taskID = in.nextInt();
                    toDoList.deleteTask(taskID);
                    System.out.printf("\nTask %d is deleted. The new list is:\n", taskID);
                    toDoList.printList(toDoList.getSortedList());
                    break;
                case 4:
                    //Delete all tasks
                    toDoList.deleteAllTasks();
                    System.out.println("Tasks Deleted");
                    break;
                case 5:
                    //Exit program
                    System.out.println("Exiting program, goodbye.");
                    run = false;
                    break;
            }
        }
    }

}


class Date {

    private int day;
    private int month;
    private int year;
    //Default constructor for date,
    public Date() {
        this(0, 0, 0);
    }

    public Date(int day, int month, int year) {
        this.day = day;
        this.month = month;
        this.year = year;
    }
    //accessors and mutators
    public int getDay() {
        return this.day;
    }

    public int getMonth() {
        return this.month;
    }

    public int getYear() {
        return this.year;
    }

    public void setDay(int day) {
        this.day = day;
    }

    public void setMonth(int month) {
        this.month = month;
    }

    public void setYear(int year) {
        this.year = year;
    }

        public String toString() {
        return String.format("%d/%d/%d", this.day, this.month, this.year);

    }
    //Returns whether this date is earlier than another date provided as parameter. If they are the same, returns false
    public boolean isEarlier(Date date) {
        //If the years are the same, narrow the comparison down the months
        if (this.year == date.year) {
            //Repeat the same thing as years, but narrowed down for months
            if (this.month == date.month) {
                if (this.day == date.day) {
                    //Returns false because if they are the same date, then one is not earlier than the other
                    return false;
                } else if (this.day < date.day) {
                    return true;
                } else {
                    return false;
                }
            } else if (this.month < date.month) {
                return true;
            } else {
                return false;
            }
                    } else if (this.year < date.year) {
            return true;
                    } else {
            return false;
        }
    }
}
class Time {

    private int hour;
    private int min;
    //Default constructor for time
    public Time() {
        this(0, 0);
    }

    public Time(int hour, int min) {
        this.hour = hour;
        this.min = min;
    }
    //Accessors and mutator methods for hour and min attributes
    public int getHour() {
        return this.hour;
    }

    public int getMin() {
        return this.min;
    }

    public void setHour(int hour) {
        this.hour = hour;
    }

    public void setMin(int min) {
        this.min = min;
    }

    //Returns time in HH:MM format
    public String toString() {
        return String.format("%d:%d", this.hour, this.min);
    }
    //Returns whether or not this time is earlier than the time provided as a parameter. Returns false if both same
    public boolean isEarlier(Time time) {
        //If they are the same hour, narrow the comparison down to the minute
        if (this.hour == time.hour) {
            //Exact same process, but for min
            if (this.min == time.min) {
                //Returns false because if they're the same time, one is not earlier than the other
                return false;
            } else if (this.min < time.min) {
                return true;
            } else {
                return false;
            }
            //If this hour is less than the other hour, it is earlier, so return true
        } else if (this.hour < time.hour) {
            return true;
            //Otherwise, the time isn't earlier
        } else {
            return false;
        }
    }

}
class Task {
    private Time time;
    private Date date;
    private String title;
    private String Important;
    private int taskID;
    //Default constructor leaves attributes blank
    public Task() {
        this(null, null, null, null, 0);
    }
    public Task(Time time, Date date, String title, String Important, int taskID) {
        this.time = time;
        this.date = date;
        this.title = title;
        this.Important = Important;
        this.taskID = taskID;
    }
    //accessors and mutators for time, date, title, Important, and taskID
    public Time getTime() {
        return this.time;
    }
    public Date getDate() {
        return this.date;
    }
    public String getTitle() {
        return this.title;
    }
    public String getImportant() {
        return this.Important;
    }
    public int getTaskID() {
        return this.taskID;
    }
    public void setTime(Time time) {
        this.time = time;
    }
    public void setDate(Date date) {
        this.date = date;
    }
    public void setTitle(String title) {
        this.title = title;
    }
    public void setImportant(String Important) {
        this.Important = Important;
    }
    //Prints task date
    public void printTask() {
        System.out.printf("Task %d:  \n", this.taskID, this.title, this.date.toString(), this.time.toString(), this.Important);
    }
    //Returns true if this task is earlier than task provided as parameter.
    public boolean isEarlier(Task task) {
             if (this.date.isEarlier(task.getDate())) {
            return true;
              } else if (!this.date.isEarlier(task.getDate()) && !task.getDate().isEarlier(this.date)) {
            return this.time.isEarlier(task.time);
        }
        return false;
    }
}

Illustration Capsule 5.1 discusses Amazon’s low-cost position in the electronic commerce industry. Based on information provided in the capsule, explain how Amazon has built its low-cost advantage in the industry and why a low-cost provider strategy is well suited to the industry.

MBA class. Business Strategy and policy class MB 695.

Book: Crafting and Executive Strategy: The Quest for Competitive advantage: conept and cases, 21st edition by Arthur Thompson

Celestila Moonn, an UMB MBA student selected Google stock for Capital Market/Portfolio construction project. Last week, Moonn realized that the stock lost 10% of its value since the stock was purchased. Moonn also noticed that Google pays no dividends yet investors are willing to buy shares in this firm.

In your initial post, briefly justify: How is this possible? Does this violate the basic principle of stock valuation? Do you support Moonn’s concerns?