In most organizations, management generally tries to encourage their personnel to bring disputes to the notice of supervisory staff to mediate and resolve. Unfortunately, this usually doesn't happen until the conflict has reached a near critical stage.

The main reason is because most front line workers will not report interpersonal conflicts. They remain silent largely because they believe it would damage their reputations with their fellow co-workers and they would be labeled as squealers.

On the other hand, no one enjoys working in a workplace fraught with friction. The uninvolved personnel would like to see the issues resolved, but often remain silent. The reason is because they aren't trained on how to mediate disputes. If you were to take a poll of your workplace, it is likely you would learn that most employees prefer to resolve such disputes in-house, without management input.

The smartest way to deal with this problem is to be proactive. This means you should act before a problem arises, and not just react after the damage has left its impact. How could this be done?

The owner of Waco Waffle House is considering an expansion of the business. He has identified two alternatives, as follows:

Build a new restaurant near the mall.

Buy and renovate an old building downtown for the new restaurant.

The projected cash flows from these two alternatives are shown below. The owner of the restaurant uses a 12 percent after-tax discount rate.

* Includes after-tax cash flows from all sources, including incremental revenue, incremental expenses, and depreciation tax shield.

Use Appendix A for your reference. (Use appropriate factor(s) from the tables provided.)

Required:

Compute the net present value of each alternative restaurant site.

Compute the profitability index for each alternative.

How do the two sites rank in terms of NPV and the profitability index?

We discussed in class about the recent trend of the valuation of major currencies including U.S. dollar. Especially the article from The Economist, “The fate of the dollar will shape financial markets in 2019” presented some ideas on the causes of the recent dollar appreciation and also on some scenarios of possible trend of major currency values in near future. a) (5 points) Explain the possible economic reasons why U.S. dollar appreciated against other major currencies including pound sterling, Euro and Japanese yen in 2018. b) (10 points) The author of the article presents two possible scenarios of dollar depreciation path over the next year or so, depending on the dynamics of three factors – i) Fed’s decision on interest rate, ii) trade dispute between U.S. and China, and iii) Euro-zone economy. Present your thoughts on the currency valuation change (i.e., whether will appreciate or depreciate) and its pace of the relevant economies (i.e., U.S. China, Europe, etc.) in light of those three factors.

Vadar owned Tatooine Farm. He sold the farm to Luke. Luke never recorded the deed. Vadar stayed on the property as a tenant for two years. Near the end of the two years, Vadar learned that Luke had never recorded the deed.

Vadar advertised Tatooine Farm for sale. Leia negotiated with Vadar for the purchase of the property thinking that Vadar was the owner. Leia also checked the records at the recording office and, finding no reason to question Vadar’s ownership of the property, purchased Tatooine Farm from Vadar. Leia recorded the deed. Vadar fled to a place far, far away with the purchase money.

Meanwhile, Luke had failed to pay the real estate taxes on Tatooine Farm for the two years in question thinking it was the responsibility of Vadar, the tenant. Ultimately, Leia and Luke disputed over the ownership of the property. Who gets the property, Leia or Luke? And, is Luke responsible for the two years of real estate taxes assessed while Vadar occupied the property as a tenant?

1. As water has a higher __________, we can assume that land will heat and cool  faster than water.

2. Which of the following is NOT a reason for our mild weather and climate here in Orange County?

a) Warm Ocean Current off our coast

B) High Pressure

c) California Current

D) Our location near the Pacific Ocean

What is the main source of energy for a Hurricane?___________

T/F Hail and lightning are common in the Initial/Cumulus stage of a Thunderstorm.

In the northern hemisphere both Hurricanes and Tornadoes spin_______. clockwise or counter-clockwise

T/F  A monsoon is associated with both high rainfall totals and alternating periods of drought.

Hurricane Katrina holds the record for the most destructive Hurricane in US History based upon which criteria?

                                                         Loss of lives                          Financial Loss                       Wind Speed

T/F El Nino is considered a type of storm.

What do we call a Cumulus cloud when it produces heavy rain?

use IRAC to answer the following:

During a severe thunderstorm, Alee sought shelter inside Bob's Grocery Store (“Bob's”). Alee slipped on a bunch of grapes that she failed to notice had fallen from a display near the entryway. After Alee’s fall, witnesses described the grapes as “smashed,” “flattened,” “squished,” and “gritty.” The store manager told Alee that the area where Alee’s fall occurred had been swept no more than 35 minutes before she fell. As a result of the fall, Alee suffered a broken arm and a broken ankle.
Later that same day Liz, while shopping in Bob's, accepted an offer to sample a new product, “Mom’s Fluffy Blueberry Muffins,” baked and distributed by Mom’s Bakery, Inc. As she was chewing what she thought were blueberries, she bit down on a pebble the size of a blueberry and broke a tooth.
On what legal theories, if any, can Bob's be held liable for personal injury to Alee and Liz? Discuss.

This month, there was fanfare about the first case of using CRISPR invivo to treat Leber’s congenital amaurosis 10 (LCA10) which is a leading cause of blindness in childhood. This is due to mutations in a large gene, CEP290.

The article comments that:

“For the latest trial, the components of the gene-editing system – encoded in the genome of a virus — are injected directly into the eye, near photoreceptor cells.”

A. Specifically, what components are the authors referring to when they say “the components of the gene-editing system – encoded in the genome of a virus”?

B. How is the zinc finger technology similar to the CRISPR approach?

C. What is a potential risk of using the CRISPR technology invivo?

D. If there was a suitable safe harbor, or the possibility to use a AAV virus to replace the mutant CEP290 gene in the photoreceptor cells (Similar to replacing the CNG3B channel using AAV5). What would be the potential difficulties compared to fixing the gene with CRISPR?

E. If the mutation in the CEP290 gene was known to be a premature stop codon, would the gene therapy be the safest approach to treat this disease?

A chunk of brass with mass 0.6 kg, with specific heat 380 J/(kg· K), and with temperature 400 K is placed in 0.6 kg of water, with specific heat 4186 J/(kg· K), and with temperature 280 K. The water and the brass are in an insulated container and come to thermal equilibrium. Find the final temperature in kelvins (closest answer).

AND

The asteroid Oumuamua observed this year in November traveled around the sun at a speed of 87,500 m/s. Its proper length is 180 m. How much does a stationary observer near the sun measure its length to be changed at this speed due to relativity? A positive answer means its length is measured to be increased and a negative answer means that its length is measured to be decreased. (In micrometers, closest answer.)

AND

A radioactive sample is measured to be emitting 200 alpha particles per second. 20 minutes later it is emitting only 126 alpha particles per second. The half life of the unstable nucleus that is emitting these particles is - (in minutes, closest answer)

Katherine has an estimated Cobb-Douglas utility function of U = q1^0.25q2^0.75 for food, q1, and housing, q2. The price for food is arbitrarily set at $1 per unit and the average monthly rent near the University of Chicago , p2, is a dollar fifty per square foot. Caroline, like the average University of Chicago student spend $750 on food and housing per month.

     (a) Using calculus, solve for Katherine's optimal quantities of housing and food. Provide the marginal utility of income.

     (b) What is Katherine's utility at the optimal bundle?

     (c) Due to panic buying and logistical difficulties due to the coronavirus, suppose the per-unit price of food increases by 25% (p1= $1.25), what is Katherine's new utility facing this price increase?

     (d) How much money would Katherine need to completely offset the harm from the price increase?

     (e) How much money would one have to take from Katherine to harm her as much as the price increase?

Read the Scenario below and answer the questions that follow.

You are working on a project to implement an online benefits management portal to enable employees to have a “one stop” location to view their health and dental benefits, get answers to benefits-related questions, and enable for changes to be made to health benefit coverage. Requirements were gathered over a two-week time period at the start of the project and all stakeholders participated in requirements gathering sessions. The project is near completion – the portal has been developed by the IT/Application Development group. It has been tested, works well and will be rolled out early next week. You are approached by a member of the senior leadership team who suggests that it would be of value to add in a component so that employees can also manage their 401Ks. In fact, he wants this to happen in time for this roll out.

Question 1[ 20 marks]

Keeping the project triple constraints in mind, elaborate on the effects of adding extra components to the portal by your Senior Leaders.