Billingham Packaging is considering expanding its production capacity by purchasing a new​ machine, the​ XC-750. The cost of the​ XC-750 is

$ 2.77$2.77

million.​ Unfortunately, installing this machine will take several months and will partially disrupt production. The firm has just completed a

$ 49 comma 000$49,000

feasibility study to analyze the decision to buy the​ XC-750, resulting in the following​ estimates:

bullet•

​Marketing: Once the​ XC-750 is operational next​ year, the extra capacity is expected to generate

$ 10.00$10.00

million per year in additional​ sales, which will continue for the​ 10-year life of the machine.

bullet•

​Operations: The disruption caused by the installation will decrease sales by

$ 4.91$4.91

million this year. As with​ Billingham's existing​ products, the cost of goods for the products produced by the​ XC-750 is expected to be

74 %74%

of their sale price. Theincreased production will also require increased inventory on hand of

$ 1.19$1.19

million during the life of the​ project, including year 0.

bullet•

Human​ Resources: The expansion will require additional sales and administrative personnel at a cost of

$ 1.99$1.99

million per year.

bullet•

​Accounting: The​ XC-750 will be depreciated via the​ straight-line method over the​ 10-year life of the machine. The firm expects receivables from the new sales to be

15 %15%

of revenues and payables to be

11 %11%

of the cost of goods sold.​ Billingham's marginal corporate tax rate is

35 %35%.

a. Determine the incremental earnings from the purchase of the​ XC-750.

b. Determine the free cash flow from the purchase of the​ XC-750.

c. If the appropriate cost of capital for the expansion is

9.6 %9.6%​,

compute the NPV of the purchase.d. While the expected new sales will be

$ 10.00$10.00

million per year from the​ expansion, estimates range from

$ 8.05$8.05

million to  

$ 11.95$11.95

million. What is the NPV in the worst​ case? In the best​ case?

e. What is the​ break-even level of new sales from the​ expansion? What is the breakeven level for the cost of goods​ sold?

f. Billingham could instead purchase the​ XC-900, which offers even greater capacity. The cost of the​ XC-900 is

$ 3.91$3.91

million. The extra capacity would not be useful in the first two years of​ operation, but would allow for additional sales in years 3 through 10. What level of additional sales​ (above the

$ 10.00$10.00

million expected for the​ XC-750) per year in those years would justify purchasing the larger​ machine?

a. Determine the incremental earnings from the purchase of the​ XC-750.

Calculate the incremental earnings from the purchase of the​ XC-750 below​ (with vs. without​ XC?750):  ​(Round to the nearest​ dollar.)

Brett and Brenna's twin girls are doing very well. They haven't had any health complications since jaundice in the beginning of their second week. Unfortunately, a friend of the family, Marleen, had a very high-risk pregnancy that resulted in her son, Ervin, being born at 32 weeks of age. He has several health complications and is currently in the NICU. Brett and Brenna want to help any way they can.

1. Marleen is a single mother who barely makes ends meet. She is concerned about caring for Ervin being preterm, and has asked Brett and Brenna if there are any nutrition-related services to help her and Ervin once they are out of the NICU. Which of the following might Brett and Brenna recommend?

2. Shortly after birth, Ervin was taken to the NICU for care because he was preterm. He was screened for the standard newborn genetic screen so if nutrition intervention was required, it could be addressed immediately. The screening came back normal. Still, within days of birth, Ervin begins showing signs of possible sepsis and liver problems. What genetic condition may have been previously missed in the screening?

3. Ervin's age will be tracked differently on growth charts than full term babies, based on his corrected age.

Ervin was born at 32 weeks. When he is 3 months old, what will his corrected age be?

6. True or False: Unlike the twins, who were born at full term, Ervin was considered preterm at 32 weeks. Marleen is interested in starting complimentary food. To what age should she wait until introducing complementary foods?

Managing performance evaluations during a pandemic

During a time of crisis, it can be difficult to operate business as usual. Amidst the uncertainty, HR faces the challenge of being pulled in different directions – from managing communications and crisis response planning, to maintaining some level of continuity of business operations.

As Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) suggests, it’s critical for organizations to aim to manage operations with minimal loss and disruption to the normal business flow. Uniting the employees around the common goal of doing their best to run “business as usual” can help inspire and enable them to refocus during a crisis. Maintaining the organization’s operations also offers some of the safety, normalcy, and comfort that people would usually find in the routine of daily life at work.

We’re all facing unchartered territory and learning as we go. This means that many organizations are currently reassessing their feedback strategy and will need to weigh in on a variety of factors in order to meet their unique organizational needs.

Over the last few days, we have heard of organizations deciding to either abandon their current or upcoming performance cycle, give everyone the same rating, or just continue with evaluations as planned.

But many HR leaders are still unsure about how to manage performance reviews during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1. Based on the given case, explain ONE (1) main issue faced by the HR leader.
2. Explain TWO (2) main purposes of conducting performance appraisal.
3. During a pandemic, employees might not be as productive due to crisis-induced circumstances. Therefore, it is unfair to hold employees to the same standards during this outbreak. If for example, organization stop evaluating their marketing and sales employees based on the revenue they generate, explain THREE (3) other criteria that are suitable to use in evaluating the performance of these employees.
4. In the current situation, many companies, government entities, and universities have asked their employees to work remotely. Some organizations have a clear work from home policy that has matured through the years, but many are seeing this for the first time due to the pandemic. It is a major cultural change in the way work is performed. Discuss FOUR (4) major challenges faced by companies in managing employees work from home performance.
5. Many of the organizations have adjusted onsite work and settled into a work-from-home routine. Thus, it’s important for leaders to actively foster engagement and productivity in the daily lives of employees. Given that it will not be business as usual for quite some time, how can you help your employees to stay focused in the face of such significant change? Discuss FOUR (4) efforts that organization can take to foster engagement and productivity of their employees.
6. Based on the given case, should the organization abandon their current or upcoming performance cycle, give everyone the same rating or just continue with evaluations as planned? Discuss ONE (1) justification for each option.

Mrs. Cunningturkey works at Mabash College as an executive assistant to the universally reviled President Less. President Less is widely known to care nothing about students, and every day chooses a random student car to tow away and crush for scrap metal.

On Monday morning, Mrs. Cunningturkey arrives to President Less’ office promptly at 0750. There she discovers the corpse of President Less and the murder weapon: a chicken leg from the nearby Starks Center. The body shows clear signs of blunt force trauma. At 0800, detectives from the Trawfordshire Police Department arrive and begin an investigation. The coroner notes that the temperature of the corpse is 32◦C and that the room temperature is 25◦C. Two hours later, the corpse is 31◦C. Assume that normal human body temperature is 37◦C.

The following people were seen in the vicinity of President Less’ office over the weekend:

• Professor Trix, who sometimes smokes cigars with President Less, was noticed leaving the building at 2200 the night before. However, President Less recently smoked a bunch of the professor’s favorite Cubans without him.

• Major Mustard, who is in charge of the Car Towing and Crushing Brigade, was seen in the parking lot at 2100 the night before. Major Mustard and President Less recently had an argument about money raised from the towing and crushing business. Major Mustard was especially concerned with the fact that another university’s towing and crushing business might ketchup.

• Muscles McTouchdown, captain of the football team and recent tow/crush victim, was seen running across campus towards the Beta Rho Omicron fraternity at midnight. He was overheard muttering “I’ve got him this time!

• Mark Bosak, a frequent critic of President Less in the campus publication The Spouseless, was seen walking in the direction of President Less’ office at 0100.

Investigators from the Trawfordshire Special Mathematics Unit also become involved, since mathematical crimes are considered especially heinous (these are their stories). They discover that President Less had been secretly embezzling funds from the tow/crush scheme. In 2018, he decided to take money he had made from the scheme and park it in two different banks:

• $10,000 with Tax-Dodge Bank, of the Cayman Islands. The account pays 5% interest compounded monthly.

• $15,000 with Euler Bank, based in Switzerland. This account pays only 4% but, befitting the name, compounds continuously.

(1) How fast is the body cooling at 0800? At 1000?

(2) Who is your chief suspect for the murder of President Less, and why?

(3) How much money will be in both secret bank accounts after 25 years?

Submit your evidence to your instructor by 1600 Friday. Your writing and exposition should be clear and concise, and good enough that a juror who knows some calculus (but not about Newton’s Law of Cooling or compound interest) would be able to read it!

_{Please comment on Post BELOW:}

Creating a coherent IT infrastructure would first require Dirt Bikes USA to conduct a thorough technology assessment of the present strategy, existing ecosystem, and competitive forces to determine market demand and the organization’s individualized needs for scalability and flexibility of specific strategic technologies, as well as the budget allocation for such an investment. Dirt Bikes USA must specify which roles would be responsible for controlling the management, maintenance, and governance of the necessary infrastructure, while maintaining quality and ensuring security. Potential external systems suppliers need to be identified as options, and service level agreements drafted to set quality standards. Any implementation of new infrastructure would also require new policies, procedures, and trainings. In the case that Dirt Bikes USA chooses not to collaborate with remote vendors, all of the direct and indirect cost components of this infrastructure investment must be considered in order to determine total cost of ownership; these relevant components include hardware acquisition, software acquisition, installation, training, support, maintenance, infrastructure, downtime, and space and energy.

Tradeoffs : Cost versus control & Custom Culture versus professional support

Advantages and Disadvantages of owning versus outsourcing

Owning

Staff: advantages: enhanced human capital, job security

Disadvantages: staff may resist change, addition of tasks may take focus off core competencies

Computer Servers / Software Licensing/Data Storage:

advantages: Dirt Bikes USA would have more control and could tailor their programs to fit their business strategy and culture, scalability, pay for what you use

Disadvantage: high cost of acquisition

Outsourcing

Staff:  advantages: staff flexibility and wider pool to choose from, continues to allow current employees of Dirt Bikes USA to focus on core business competencies by outsourcing professionals

Disadvantages: decrease in competitive advantage and intellectual property as competitors also staff from same pool, outsourcing knowledge, communication, loss of quality

Computer Servers:  Software Licensing-Data Storage-

advantages: Access to up-to-date resources managed by professionals

Disadvantages: security risks, hidden costs, relinquished control

Other combinations of outsourcing:

Dirt Bikes USA could retain in-house staff and enhance consumerization through BYOD and/or the operation of legacy systems, and also outsource data to be stored by a cloud computing company. Software as a Service (SaaS) would allow Dirt Bikes USA to pay a monthly service fee to use services delivered over a network and hosted by a vendor on their cloud infrastructure, while retaining their employees. A hybrid cloud computing model could also be beneficial, allowing Dirt Bikes USA to maintain control of essential cloud activities, and outsource less-critical systems.

This week you will be working on scenario #1 by coming up with your own scenario. Read the scenario listed below make sure to address each statement below .

Determine which law is being violated and explain how it occurred.

Summarize the article or legal case that falls under this violation.

Create a solution that would prevent the ethical violation that you identified in the scenario.

Discuss:

Scenarios

1: You are working as a medical claims processor for a health insurance organization. As part of your job duties, you process health insurance claims submitted by patients for payment to doctor office visits. While processing claims, you notice one of claims is for your neighbor. You have access to the system to see your neighbor’s entire medical record and learn about their illnesses. You are troubled by this information and thinking about discussing your findings with neighbor and family members.

2: You work for a college as an admissions representative. Your co-worker has finally decided to apply for the college master’s degree program. He has taken the entrance tests and scored well. However, your co-worker has shared with you that he received a denial letter for admission in the mail stating that there is not enough space to allow him into the program. As part of your job as an admissions representative, you both have access to the selection process, and student demographic information (race, nationality, gender, etc.). Upon accessing this information, you learn that your co-worker has also accessed this information. Upon doing so, he learned most the students selected were African American and Latino students. Your co-worker shares with you that he believes he has been done a disservice by affirmative action laws as an Asian male. Your co-worker asks your advice on if he should reach out to your university’s affirmative action department to file a complaint.

3: You work in an all-male mechanic shop and enjoy your job as the first female mechanic there. However, every day you are subjected to sexual jokes about women, called different names by your co-workers, and even asked about your sexual preferences. One co-worker has gone as far as to constantly touch you in your lower back. Even after you have repeatedly asked him not to do so. You have expressed to your co-workers, manager, and the Human Resources Department’s manager on several occasions your concerns about the conversation and touching in the shop and how uncomfortable it is making you feel. You become very upset as nothing is being done to address your concerns.

In this article, researchers evaluated links between playing golf and the risk of stroke, heart attack, or death.

Golfing at least once a month may lower a person's risk of early death, according to new research presented on Wednesday at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2020.
The sport, a favorite of presidents from Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge to Barack Obama, and Donald Trump is a gentle activity, with very few opportunities for high-intensity exercise.
But the study, by researchers at the University of Missouri, found any activity that gets older adults active and socializing monthly, weekly or daily is enough to reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack.
Researchers analyzed 10 years of data on 5,900 over-65-year-olds between 1989 and 1999, all of whom visited a clinic every six months.
They found that just 8.1% of the 384 golfers (people who golfed at least once a month) had strokes over the 10 years, compared to 15.1% of the non-golfers. Also, 9.8% of the golfers had heart attacks, compared to 24.6% of the non-golfers.
The results, the researchers said, are significant — but added it is also significant that golf is a sport that attracts wealthy people, who tend to have better healthcare and lower risks of strokes and heart attacks.
Some 25 million Americans play golf, which can reduce stress and offer an opportunity for regular exercise.
But that's not enough to satisfy the US Department of Health that they're getting real exercise: it is not on the government's list of sports that qualify as legitimate ways to work out.
Golf burns more calories than fishing or canoeing, but that is only for people playing without carts or caddies. It can even be played with a broken leg, as Tiger Woods did in 2009.
As such, golf has inspired fierce debates over whether it qualifies as a sport. Golf was even removed from the Olympic games for 112 years between 1904 and 2016.
"Golf isn't a sport; it's a skill much like bowling," lawyer Larry Atkins wrote in a controversial op-ed for The Chicago Tribune in 2002 after Tiger Woods won his third Masters. "It's an activity that older people take up when their knees go bad and they can't play real sports like basketball, baseball and football anymore."
For lead study author Adnan Qureshi, professor of neurology at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, the findings clearly show goal is beneficial.
"The US Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans does not yet include golf in the list of recommended physical activities," Qureshi said. "Therefore, we are hopeful our research findings could help to expand the options for adults to include golf."

1. Provide a null and one-tailed hypothesis for the association between playing golf and heart attacks and calculate a Z statistic and p value for your null and one-tailed hypotheses (4 points)

In the article, researchers evaluated links between playing golf and the risk of stroke, heart attack, or death. Golfing at least once a month may lower a person's risk of early death, according to new research presented on Wednesday at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2020.
The sport, a favorite of presidents from Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge to Barack Obama, and Donald Trump is a gentle activity, with very few opportunities for high-intensity exercise.
But the study, by researchers at the University of Missouri, found any activity that gets older adults active and socializing monthly, weekly or daily is enough to reduce the risk of stroke and heart attack.
Researchers analyzed 10 years of data on 5,900 over-65-year-olds between 1989 and 1999, all of whom visited a clinic every six months.
They found that just 8.1% of the 384 golfers (people who golfed at least once a month) had strokes over the 10 years, compared to 15.1% of the non-golfers. Also, 9.8% of the golfers had heart attacks, compared to 24.6% of the non-golfers.
The results, the researchers said, are significant — but added it is also significant that golf is a sport that attracts wealthy people, who tend to have better healthcare and lower risks of strokes and heart attacks.
Some 25 million Americans play golf, which can reduce stress and offer an opportunity for regular exercise.
But that's not enough to satisfy the US Department of Health that they're getting real exercise: it is not on the government's list of sports that qualify as legitimate ways to work out.
Golf burns more calories than fishing or canoeing, but that is only for people playing without carts or caddies. It can even be played with a broken leg, as Tiger Woods did in 2009.
As such, golf has inspired fierce debates over whether it qualifies as a sport. Golf was even removed from the Olympic games for 112 years between 1904 and 2016.
"Golf isn't a sport; it's a skill much like bowling," lawyer Larry Atkins wrote in a controversial op-ed for The Chicago Tribune in 2002 after Tiger Woods won his third Masters. "It's an activity that older people take up when their knees go bad and they can't play real sports like basketball, baseball and football anymore."
For lead study author Adnan Qureshi, professor of neurology at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri, the findings clearly show goal is beneficial.
The US Department of Health and Human Services Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans does not yet include golf in the list of recommended physical activities, Qureshi said. Therefore, we are hopeful our research findings could help to expand the options for adults to include golf.

1.   In the article, what two groups are being compared? (2 points)

2.   What are the response variables? How were they measured? (4 points)

3.   Calculate and interpret the difference of proportions for a) heart attacks and b) strokes (4 points)

Week 7 DQ 6 The Nature of the Fetus

Background:

According to Vaughn (297), a standard argument opposed to abortion goes as follows:

1. It is wrong to kill an innocent person.

2. The unborn (i.e., the fetus) is an innocent person from the moment of conception.

3. Therefore, it is wrong to kill the unborn (abortion is immoral).

The abortion issue is as divisive as any studied in bioethics. So, as we begin to examine this issue it is helpful to bear in mind common moral ground shared by those who take opposing positions on this issue. As Vaughn points out, “Both sides agree on some basic moral principles—for example, that murder is wrong, that persons have a right to life, and that personal freedom should not be curtailed except for very important reasons” (258). So, we might say that abortion opponents and proponents agree on the moral premise:

1. It is wrong to kill an innocent person.

The primary source of disagreement between the two sides has to do with the nonmoral premise (2):

2. The unborn (i.e., the fetus) is an innocent person

This premise has to do with the nature of the fetus. Is the fetus a human being, a person, a potential person, a living being, a mass of tissues or something else?

One’s view about this nonmoral fact will probably affect one’s conclusion about the moral permissibility of abortion. If the fetus is a person, then the anti-abortion argument is sound and it is wrong to kill a fetus. If the fetus is not a person, the argument above is unsound (i.e., it is valid but one of the premises is false). In this case, one might offer a different argument with a different moral premise that leads to the conclusion that abortion is wrong or one might conclude that abortion is morally permissible.

DQ 1 Instructions:

Based upon your readings for this week, answer the following questions for your response in this order:

What is a person? Drawing from and citing ideas from your readings, offer a reasoned account of what it means to be a person. In order to clarify your position give an example of something (besides a fetus if this is your view) that does not count as a person and explain why it is not a person.

What about persons makes it wrong to kill them? What characteristics, qualities, relationships, etc. makes it wrong to kill a person? Draw from your readings and, if possible, an ethical theory we have discussed as you answer these questions.

Is the fetus a person according to your view? (Depending on your definition of personhood, it may be necessary for you to distinguish between the fetus at an early stage of a pregnancy as opposed to a late stage.) If so, give an explanation why a fetus satisfies the definition you have offered. If not, explain what you think a fetus is and why, and then, explain whether a fetus has a right to not be killed.

Works Cited:

Vaughn, Lewis. Bioethics: Principles, Issues, and Cases. 2^nd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.

*****Using Java

1.         There is a class called Wages. It should have one method: calculateWages. This method accepts from a user (1) an integer hourly rate and (2) an integer total number of hours worked in a week. It calculates and displays the total weekly wage of an employee. The company pays straight time for the first 40 hours worked by an employee and times and a half for all the hours worked in excess of 40. This class should do the above for exactly three employees.

2.         There is the Java application called WagesTest. In its method main, it creates a new Wages object and calls its method, calculateWages.

Please understand the given Java source files and modify them (appropriately) for adding the following features. If you copy and paste the given code to a Notepad file, please make sure that there are no hidden special characters. You can also write your own code from scratch with the following features:

Do the following for exactly three employees:

1. Ask the user to enter the employee’s name with “Enter employee name: “

You can assume that the user will key in a one-word name, such as Bill. Use the next() method, not the nextLine() method which is complicated and can mess things up.

2. Receive the employee name keyed in by the human user.

3. Ask the user to enter whether this employee is (1) salaried or (2) paid by the hour with

“Is this employee (1) salaried or (2) paid by the hour (1 or 2 only): “

4. Receive the answer (you can assume that the user will key in either 1 or 2).

5. If this employee is salaried, then:
   • ask for his/he annual salary with “Enter the annual salary amount: “
   • receive the amount (you can assume that the user will key in a positive integer figure)
   • calculate the weekly pay amount by: annual salary / 52
   • display the calculated weekly pay amount with:

“Pay for Employee <employee name received from #2 above> is <the amount calculated here>”

6. If this employee is paid by the hour, then:
   • ask for integer hourly rate with “Enter integer hourly rate: “
   • receive the hourly rate value (you can assume that the user will key in a positive integer figure)
   • ask for integer hours worked with “Enter integer hours worked: “
   • receive the hours worked figure (you can assume that the user will key in a positive integer figure
   • if hours worked is greater than 40, then for the first 40 hours worked, calculate the normal pay with the hourly rate * 40 and for every hour over 40, calculate the overtime pay with 1.5 times the hourly rate * the extra hours over 40
   • if hours worked is not greater than 40, then calculate the normal pay with the hourly rate * the number of hours worked
   • display the calculated weekly pay amount with:

“Pay for Employee <employee name received from #2 above> is <the amount calculated here>”