Goldman, Sachs & Co. Nikkei Put Warrants 1989 Case Study Risk Management (FIN413) Winter 2025 Study questions One purpose of the case is for you to identify the key issues. It follows that you are free to address in your case submissions those issues that you have identified as being key. Indeed, the grade on the case will reward the independent thinking of your group. Nevertheless, in order better to focus your analysis, some key issues are indicated below: ● Why were Nikkei-linked Eurobonds issued? Make sure that you understand how the embedded puts can be stripped from the Nikkei-linked Eurobonds, and how these puts can be repackaged and resold. What other type of instrument could you design to satisfy the preferences of the alleged buyers of these bonds? As a bank owning these puts, what can you do with them? ● Study the proposed design for the Nikkei Put Warrants (NPWs). What features are primarily designed to appeal to the target U.S. retail clientele? What features are primarily designed to simplify the process of creating (hedging) the NPWs? How do features of the proposed NPWs differ from those sold to institutional investors? To retail investors in Toronto? ● Why is the Kingdom of Denmark issuing these warrants? What do they gain? What risk do they bear in the proposed transaction? ● What risks does GS&Co. bear in executing this transaction? How are these risks mitigated? Specifically, compare how the security design chosen and the raw materials available affect the exchange rate risk faced by GS&Co. and by BT Bank of Canada (sellers of the first Toronto-listed Nikkei put warrant). Describe how you think GS&Co.,s QUANTOS product wiII mitigate the risk of exchange rate changes over time. ● Assuming GS&Co. must invest $1.00 per warrant to hedge its currency risk using QUANTOS, what is the lowest price per warrant that GS&Co. could charge for the currency-hedged NPWs and still break even? o If the NPWs were European-style, and not American-style, what would the minimum break-even be? o How will the American-style feature affect GS&Co’s break-even? Why? How much of a difference do you think it will have on the break-even price you calculated? o How should GS&Co. price the warrants? Why? Recommendations It is strongly recommended to include following elements in your final report: ● An introduction that presents the problem of the case, your methodology and your conclusions. ● The main analysis (explanatory, quantitative, ...). The choice of approach is up to you. ● Be explicit about all the assumptions that you make. ● A clear and concise analysis of the questions. Aim for a total case study length of 10-12 pages (minimum 5, maximum 15), including any graphs and figures. ● A conclusion ● An accurate bibliography with references for ALL calculations, data, ideas, etc. that are not yours. You can use any reference/ bibliography you want, just please be consistent. Deadline Each group must submit the final report in PDF format on eClass by Tuesday 8 April 2024 at 11:00.
INFO6001: Database Management 1 Assignment 3: UNIE Library Project - Physical Database Design Due: Week 12 (from April 7 to April 11, 2025), Demo at your registered lab WORTH 15% of the final course assessment mark. In this assignment, we step into the physical database design (as described below) as well as revising and reflecting on the conceptual database design and logical database design (i.e. assignment 1 and assignment 2). This assignment has 2 parts as specified below. Note: • If the provided solution EER (given inA2) is not usedfor this assignment, zero marks will be given for the whole assignment 3. • You must attend week 12 lab to demonstrate your work to get your assignment 3 marked. 1. Complete major steps in the physical database design. Important: If the marker cannot successfully run your code (including executing all submitted code as a whole and re-running it from the beginning by clicking "Execute"), you will receive zero marks for this section. To avoid this, test your code on a different account and computer to ensure it functions correctly in the marker's environment. Additionally, you must include working code to drop all tables to meet this requirement. 1.1 Write SQL scripts that create the normalised UNIE Library database, including all necessary tables with the right parameters such as primary key, foreign key, default value. Note: When creating foreign keys (FK), at least 5 FKs should be created over all (for all the tables). Should use “ON UPDATE CASCADE, ON DELETE CASCADE” (i.e., at least 5 CASCADE have to be used). Otherwise, marks will be deducted. 1.2 Write SQL statements satisfying the transaction requirements including: 1.2.1 Input proper data (as you consider legitimate) of at least five (5) rows for every table, and 1.2.2 Implement the following queries (make sure to populate with enough and proper data into related tables so that non-void result is shown for each query. A query will be given zero mark if it has void output or no output). Note: in the queries, the values of xxx, yyy, zzz, sss, ttt, etc., can be set as the corresponding values in your database. Q1: Print the details about the NewItemRequest that were requested by the member named xxx in 2025, including the member’s name, mobile phone number, and the title(s) of the requested items. Q2: For a member named zzz, print the maximum number of items they can borrow, provided that all the items belong to the collection with collectionId sss. Q3: For a member with id number ttt, print their name and phone number, the total number of Hold Request that the member has made in 2025. Q4: Print the name(s) of the member(s) who has/have borrowed the book with the title “Database Design” this year, and print the barcode(s) of the book(s) that had been borrowed. Note: “this year” must be decided by the system. 2. Write a final report (4 pages minimum). The final report should include the following: 1. Reflection on your assignment 2 submission, focus on the normalized tables, summarize the revisions, corrections and improvements that has been carried out based on feedback or your implementation. 2. Develop a comprehensive reflection on the entire design process, covering conceptual, logical, and physical design phases. Discuss the challenges encountered, key decisions made, and lessons learned throughout the process. Method of submission: softcopy submissions only: • Submit ONE zip file that includes 2 files: the project report in Word format, and the project database sql file that completes all the tasks specified in Part 1 of this assignment specification. The file name MUST be identified by 4 sections: A3, your first name, your surname, and your student number, e.g., A3SimonLee1234567.doc and A3SimonLee1234567.sql. • It must be submitted to Canvas -> Assignments -> Assignment3. • In the report, you must have on the front a signed copy of the cover sheet (Assessment Item Cover Sheet – Individual) which is available from: http://www.newcastle.edu.au/data/assets/pdf_file/0008/75383/AssessmentItemCoverSheet. pdf Note: please make sure to fill in your Tutorial Group (i.e., date/time), as well as other items on the cover sheet. Otherwise, your submission marking may be delayed. Attention please: • The SQL script part of your work will be checked and marked in your registered lab of week 12. Therefore, you MUST be present at your lab for grading to receive marks. • Absence to your lab will result in a zero mark for assignment 3. (If you have special circumstances, you should discuss with the lecturer in advance.) Note: Ten percent of the possible maximum mark for the assessment item will be deducted for each day or part day that the item is late. This applies equally to week and weekend days. Assessment items submitted more than five days after the due date will be awarded zero marks.
SENG6110 Object Oriented Programming Programming Assignment 2 (individual assessment) T1, 2025 Assignment Topic: Agricultural UAVs Using Arrays Important: • Code submission on Canvas by 11:59pm on 11 April 2025. • Lab Demonstrations: All students are required to present their assignment draft to a lab tutor during one of the lab sessions in weeks 10, 11, or 12. Failure to demonstrate the draft during this period will result in a score of zero for the assignment. • No Use of AI Tools: The use of AI tools is not allowed. Introduction A UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft that operates without a human pilot on board. It is remotely controlled by a human operator or autonomously programmed to follow a predetermined flight path using onboard computers and sensors. The objective of this individual assignment is to implement an object-oriented program using Arrays in Java, to manage agricultural UAVs at smart farms. Each UAV is assigned a name, operational cost, and availability status. Each UAV can be equipped with up to three different types of sensors, in varying quantities and grades. For example, one UAV may have 2 temperature sensors of grade 1 and 3 humidity sensors of grade 4, while another UAV may have 1 temperature sensor of grade 3, 5 pressure sensors of grade 1 and 2 humidity sensors of grade 4. The objective of this assignment is to extend the implementation of Assignment 1 using arrays and external files. Specification The program is designed to manage up to four UAVs, this must be done using an array. Each UAV can support up to three sensor types. This must also be done using an array. Upon launch, the program will display a menu offering eight functions, as detailed below. The menu will reappear after each action is completed, allowing the user to select another option. This process will continue until the user chooses to exit the program. The program should have the following functions: 1. A user may add a UAV by providing name, operational cost and availability. The names of two UAVs cannot be same so program will prompt for another name if the name matches with an existing UAV. Operational cost per hour and must be a positive number. Availability is given as 0 to 5, where 0 is not available and 5 is available all the time. An error will display if 4 UAVs have already been defined and the user attempts to add a fifth UAV. 2. A user may remove a UAV. The user will specify the UAV’s name. There should be an error message if the UAV does not exist. 3. A user may add a sensor to a UAV. The user will specify the sensor type, grade and quantity, along with the name of the UAV associated with the sensor (quantity need to be positive, if not, the program will show a message and ask the input again). Grade is 1 to 5, 1 being the highest and 5 being the lowest. The sensor type can be temperature, pressure, windspeed and humidity (not case sensitive). There should be an error message if the UAV does not exist or already holds 3 different types of sensors. An error message should be displayed if the user attempts to add a Sensor that already exists for a UAV (e.g. if the temperature sensor already exists on that UAV then new temperature sensor cannot be added). 4. A user may remove sensors from a UAV. The user will specify a sensor type, quantity to remove and UAV name. There should be an error message if that sensor does not exist on that UAV, or the UAV doesn't exist, or if the given quantity to remove is more than the existing number of that type of sensors on that UAV. Otherwise, the quantity will be reduced by the given value. After that, if the quantity of the sensor is zero, then the sensor should be removed from the UAV. There should be output indicating this. eg: One Temperature sensor removed from DJI Mini 1 (DJI Mini 1 is the name of UAV). 5. A user may query for the best UAV for a task based on the given requirements. The requirements are type of sensors, number of sensors and grade of sensor. If multiple UAVs fulfill the sensor requirements then the UAV will be chosen based on firstly, less operational cost and then the one with higher availability. eg: the user input will be: Sensor Type: temperature Sensor quantity: 3 Sensor Minimum Grade: 3 The temperature sensors on all UAVs need to be checked and the ones meeting the requirement based on quantity and grade need to be considered. If more than one UAV fulfill these requirements then the one with less operational cost will be selected. If operational cost is same, then the one with higher availability will be chosen. If both operational cost and availability are same, then any UAV can be selected. If there is no suitable UAV for the task, the output should be “No UAV meets the requirements”. 6. A user may query for a list of sensors on a UAV. The user will specify the name of the UAV. There should be an error message if the UAV does not exist. Otherwise, there should be output describing the sensors. Normally, there should be one line per sensor. eg: Temperature sensor, Grade 4, Quantity 5 If there are no sensor, the output should be one line. eg: No sensors on DJI Mini 1 7. A user may query about a sensor type on all UAVs. The user will specify the sensor type. There should be an error message if the sensor type doesn't exist. Otherwise, there should be one output line for each UAV. eg: Temperature sensor is on DJI Mini 1, Grade 4, Quantity 5. 8. A user may query for a list of UAVs. There should be output, describing the total number of sensors on each UAV, the output must be alphabetically sorted using the UAV names. Normally, there should be one line per UAV. eg: UAV DJA has 50 sensors UAV DJMini has 30 sensors If there are no UAVs, the output should be one line. eg: No UAV exists 9. A user may export UAV and sensor information to a .txt file. The created file should consist of one or more lines: eg: UAV DJA has 50 sensors UAV DJMini has 30 sensors If there are no UAVs, the output should be one line. eg: No UAV exists An error message should be output if the file is unable to be created, or if a problem occurred during writing. 10. A user may want to see the results of testing the methods and shows the following for all ten tests: eg:Test Case 1: Testing getName methods with no parameters Expected output: UAV Mini1 Actual output: UAV Mini1 11.Exit, to terminate the program. Program Requirements 1) The program should consist of 4 3 classes: • Sensor- stores the following details about sensors. o type - String - the type of the sensor (must be temperature, pressure, windspeed or humidity). o grade - int - the grade of the sensor, possible values are 1,2,3,4,5. 1 being the highest and 5 being the lowest grade. o quantity - int - the number of sensors. Must be positive. • Uav - stores the following details about a UAV and must contain a method UavTest that performs unit testing (see lecture 8 for more details). o name - String - the name of the UAV. o Operational cost – double – cost per hour to operate the UAV. o Availability – int – possible values are 0,1,2,3,4,5. 0 is not available and 5 is available all the time. o Sensors - array of Sensor with size 3 - the sensors held by the UAV • UavInterface - provides the user interface. 。 Uavs - array of UAVs with size 4 - the UAVs managed by the program. All data fields of your classes should be private (this is imposed so that you apply the principles of encapsulation). 2) Your classes will also need methods to provide the required functionalities. The only class which should have a main method is UavInterface.java, which should create an instance of the class UavInterface, and call a method run(), which will display the menu to the user. The UavInterface class will be the only one that takes input from and sends output to the user using GUI methods. 3) You must use arrays in this assignment, no other Java data structures (including ArrayList) are allowed 4) Marks will be awarded for layout (including visual aspects (variable names, indentation) and structural aspects (variable scope, method usage)), documentation (comments), and the submission's ability to perform. as specified. What to submit -- IMPORTANT You should submit in a compressed .zip file, via the "Assignment 2" link on Canvas: • Three .java files (Sensor.java, Uav.java, UavInterface.java) o Do not include .class files in your submission. Add comments and the name of the student on the top of each Java file submitted. • Word document that contains an assignment cover sheet and the test plan containing the following information (implemented in UavTest method): o An overall testing plan What are you going to test (overview) o Test A: In a table format provide following details of testing 5 methods in Uav class: Purpose of the test Data to be provided Method to be tested Expected outcome Actual outcome Successful/Fail What changes if any are required o Test B: In a table format provide following details of testing 5 methods in Sensor class: Purpose of the test Data to be provided Method to be tested Expected outcome Actual outcome Successful/Fail What changes if any are required
EN4062 / ENT794 Advanced Robotics - Coursework 2 In thispart ofthe coursework, we will explore more on the SLIP mechanisms and how the optimization of legged locomotion is done. In Lecture 4, we explored the locomotion of a two-legged mass-spring (SLIP) model. A MATLAB toolbox (Bayesian Optimisation of SLIP.zip) is provided that is developed by Cambridge University. Download it to your desktop and unzip it. Open the folder in your Matlab program. Explore the code and read the “Readme” file to understand how the code works. A- Run Results.m function and explain the meaning of each figure plotted on your screen. In your opinion, what is the best result of locomotion and why? Is there a relation between the fitness function and parameters in colourmap values of [α1 α2 k]? Why and how are these parameters related? B- Let’s get deeper into how the optimization of locomotion behaves. Use BO.m file and run the optimisation for the following three initial condition cases: A) Walking [x y x' y'] = [0 0.98 1.3 0], B) Skipping [x y x' y'] = [0 0.95 1.6 0], C) Running [x y x' y'] = [0 0.95 5 0] Explain how the optimization work by changing the initial conditions for each case. What do you think is the reason for only changing initial conditions, the complete motion changes its behaviour and convergence (limit cycles) in the phase plot? In which case, is there a failing unstable phase plot? Show your results and discuss (no need to include the animation motion). C- Find and change the values of touchdown angle and stiffness in the Bayesian Optimization code and make the SLIP model able to run (you can change initial conditions as well), but this time, the SLIP model during SSP keeps the vertical height around 5.5 m and stay stable at least 3 or more motion cycles without failing (can be confirmed by the phase plot). Explain how you designed this strategy of jumping and running. Describe your logic behind it. Note 1: Please attach the values or codes for changed parts as an Appendix to this question and you should add snapshots of the SLIP model animation motion in your report body to present the result. The more successful you make the motion, the higher your mark for this Task 2-C will be. Note 2: You can get an extra mark if you find any unusual and crazy motion patterns (different from what you observed in previous sections) with training certain values. The sky is the limit! References [1] Raibert MH, Brown Jr HB, Chepponis M. Experiments in balance with a 3D one-legged hopping machine. The International Journal of Robotics Research. 1984 Jun;3(2):75-92. [2] van Dalen, S. "A linear inverted pendulum walk implemented on TUlip." PhD diss., Master’s thesis, Eindhoven University of Technology, 2012. D&C, 2012. [3] Vukobratović M, Borovac B. Zero-moment point—thirty five years of its life. International journal of humanoid robotics. 2004 Mar;1(01):157-73.
Assessment Brief 2024/2025 Please make sure you carefully read and understand the question or task. If you have unanswered questions, please post these on the course Moodle Discussion Forum, and we’ll respond. Assignment Information Course Code MGT5395 Course Title A Systems Approach to Technology Management Weighting 100% Question release date 5th March 2025 Submission date: 18/04/2025 Grades and Feedback to be released on: Word limit 3,000 Action to be taken if word limit is exceeded If the word count exceeds the specified limit by more than 10% (i.e., exceeds 2,750 words), a deduction of one grade point will be applied. 1. QUESTION/ DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY This is an individual assignment. Context NexBank is a well-established mid-sized bank (£50-100bn in assets) headquartered in the UK with a strong regional presence. The bank is organized into four main business divisions: Retail Banking, Corporate Banking, Risk Management, and a Sustainability & Innovation Unit. With an extensive network of branches and a legacy IT infrastructure, NexBank is now under pressure to integrate digital technologies across its operations in order to transform. its business model. The Challenge In response to new UK regulatory requirements issued by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), NexBank must now report on its Scope 3 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. These regulations mandate that banks provide transparent, accurate, and continuous reporting on emissions generated indirectly through their value chain – including emissions from suppliers, partners, and the use of funds by customers. Failure to comply could result in fines, reputational damage, and difficulties in raising capital. Different parts of the bank are not functioning well together to implement the system, and this means that the bank as a whole cannot report on or manage its emissions. New legislation is now in force that requires banks to explain how they will be reporting their emissions and subsequently to provide those reports, or they will face fines, and it will be difficult for them to raise capital. Describe how you would use the Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) to identify the individuals and groups that should be involved in the process, how you would engage with them, how you would use the tools of the SSM to identify a solution, and how the re-designed socio-technical system might be evaluated. Assessment Brief · This assessment is designed to test your understanding of the soft systems methodology and socio-technical systems theory. · The scenario above deliberately doesn’t detail the bank or the situation. You need to make this up. Create a fictitious bank and describe a fictitious situational issue in enough detail to show how you will apply the SSM. (Be careful not to go into too much detail so that it takes up the word count that you need for the rest of the.) · Ensure the situational issue you invent allows you to fully express your understanding of the SSM, why it is relevant to the situation, how to apply it, and how to validate it using socio-technical systems theory. · Describe in detail each step of the SSM and what you would do to carry out each of the steps. · Show how you would use socio-technical systems theory to evaluate the resulting sociotechnical system before it is implemented. · Identify any risks involved in carrying out each of the steps and how you would manage these · Consider how you would ensure the longer-term (ongoing) management of the transformation. **The purpose of this assessment is to demonstrate that you know how you would approach the problem presented using SSM to find the solution. You do not need to provide a solution.** Proposed Report Outline The following provides some advice on the report’s structure (Section headings and content) and some guidance on how the marks will be distributed amongst the different components of the report. These are included in brackets at the end of each paragraph. Use these percentages to guide you in the relative level of detail needed in each part. Background (20%) Introduce NexBank and describe the situation that you are facing. Identify the worldviews and draw a rich picture. Note: you will need to make some assumptions here that go beyond the description above. 1. Introduction (10%) Give a very brief history of the origins of SSM. Explain how ideas borrowed from complex systems theory are adopted in the SSM, and outline some of the key assumptions behind the methodology. In what circumstances would you consider using the SSM? Outline the origins and purpose of socio-technical systems theory and suggest how the two frameworks should inform. each other in the analysis of the transformation process (as you will need to explicitly link insights from SSM with the evaluative framework of socio-technical systems theory later). 2. Application of SSM (30%) List the steps used in SSM and how they relate to each other (include a diagram). Describe in detail how you would carry out each step to find a solution to the situation in your fictitious bank. Take care to include a description of how you would use SSM to: i. ensure everyone understands the current situation (i.e. how would you construct the baseline purposeful activity map); ii. derive the ‘PQR’ of the Root Definition; iii. help everyone identify and understand the range of perspectives (worldviews) held by different actors in the company; iv. summarise (i)-(iii) in a table using the CATWOE framework; v. use this understanding to help all actors respect different worldviews but identify the compromise that is needed; vi. co-create the design for a new set of processes (linked purposeful activities) that the organisation should follow. Explain how the outcomes of this transformation should be monitored and evaluated for continuous refinement and improvement of the socio-technical system. Note that you do not need to find a solution; just describe the steps (i) – (vi) you would take to find a solution. Application of Socio-Technical Systems Theory (25%) List the elements of Sociotechnical Systems Theory. Explain how you would apply each of the elements to evaluate the design of a new sociotechnical system delivered by the SSM. Explain how you would act on the outcome of that evaluation. Conclusions (15%) In this final section, describe the steps you would take to identify the key risks associated with the transformation and how to manage these. (Again, note that you do not need to identify the risks, just the steps needed to identify them). Consider how the transformation should be managed in the medium- to long-term to ensure that the solution is continuously evaluated and refined as required. What do you think is the single most important lesson a company should learn from the SSM approach? 2. ASSESSMENT RUBRIC/ CRITERIA 4 Advanced Exceeds expectations Excellent 3 Competent Meets expectations Very good 2 Progressing Partially meets expectations Satisfactory 1 Beginning Does not meet expectations Needs improvement Background/ Scenario Provides a comprehensive, detailed, and engaging description of the fictitious bank and its challenges. Clearly outlines the organisational structure, rich picture, and key challenges with deep insights. Presents a clear and accurate description of the bank, its structure, and the scenario. Provides relevant details but with less depth or fewer insights than expected. Offers a basic description of the scenario and organisational context, though key details and a thorough analysis of challenges are missing or underdeveloped. Description is vague, incomplete, or inaccurate. Lacks essential elements such as a clear organisational structure, rich picture, and identification of key challenges. Introduction Delivers a concise, well-articulated introduction that not only explains the origins and key assumptions of SSM and socio-technical systems theory but also effectively links them to the scenario with strong justification. Provides a clear overview of the methodologies with adequate historical context and relevance to the scenario. Minor areas may lack depth, but overall the introduction is sound. Gives a basic introduction to SSM and socio-technical systems theory with limited context or clear linkage to the scenario. The discussion is present but not fully integrated. Introduction is minimal or unclear. Contains insufficient or inaccurate information about the methodologies and does not establish clear relevance or context for the scenario. Application of SSM Demonstrates an insightful and thorough application of SSM. Each step is clearly detailed with appropriate use of diagrams/tables (rich picture, CATWOE, PQR). Shows deep integration of stakeholder perspectives and risk analysis. Provides a clear, structured application of SSM steps with adequate detail and supportive diagrams/tables. Addresses most key components but may miss some deeper analytical insights. Shows a basic understanding of SSM with some application of the steps. Diagrams/tables are minimal or incomplete, and the analysis of stakeholder perspectives or risks is superficial. The application is minimal or inaccurate. Fails to effectively detail or diagram the SSM steps and lacks a clear analysis of stakeholder perspectives and associated risks. Application of STS Integrates socio-technical systems theory seamlessly with SSM outcomes. Provides a thorough explanation of each element, establishes strong links to the redesigned system, and presents clear, actionable evaluation criteria. Clearly explains the main elements of socio-technical systems theory and applies them adequately to evaluate the system. The link to the scenario is clear, though some elements may be less detailed. Provides a basic application of socio-technical systems theory with limited explanation and connection to the redesigned system. Evaluation criteria are present but not fully developed. Fails to adequately apply or explain socio-technical systems theory. Lacks clear connections to the scenario or actionable evaluation criteria, resulting in a superficial analysis. Conclusions Offers a comprehensive, reflective conclusion that clearly identifies key risks, outlines robust risk management strategies, and effectively summarizes major insights, including a powerful statement on the main lesson learned. Summarizes the key risks and outlines risk management steps clearly. The conclusion effectively captures the main insights and lessons, though some areas might be less nuanced. Identifies some risks and offers basic management strategies. The conclusion is present but lacks depth, critical reflection, or a clear synthesis of the overall insights. Conclusion is inadequate or incomplete. Fails to clearly identify risks, offer actionable management strategies, or reflect on the overall lessons learned from the application of the methodologies.
UNIT CODE: ACFIM0013 UNIT NAME: Dissertation (MSc FinTech) DEADLINE: [1 April 2025] before 13:00 (BST) SUBMIT TO BLACKBOARD UNIT SUBMISSION POINT Overview • Your summative individual coursework represents 25% of the final mark for the unit. • The coursework is in the form of an essay. • Penalties will apply if the coursework is submitted late. • You will be required to make a plagiarism statement and your submission will be tested for originality. • The strict maximum word allowance is 2,000 words (excluding the title page, list of references, tables and figures). You must include a word count at the start of your essay. Coursework requirement Your task is to write a short research paper on one of the two topics. A description of the topic, requirements and recommended reading are given below. You are required to formulate research question(s)/hypotheses and download appropriate data. Use relevant method/s, and present, interpret and discuss your results in a written report. The purpose of this coursework is to develop your analytical and research skills as a precursor to the dissertation. Research Topic 1: Examine the impact of rising adoption of mobile banking on financial inclusion (access to and usage of formal financial services). Recommended reading: Erel, I., & Liebersohn, J. (2022). Can FinTech reduce disparities in access to finance? Evidence from the Paycheck Protection Program. Journal of Financial Economics, 146(1), 90-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2022.05.004 Yang, T., & Zhang, X. (2022). FinTech adoption and financial inclusion: Evidence from household consumption in China. Journal of Banking & Finance, 145, 106668. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbankfin.2022.106668 Requirements: i. Use annual, country-level data from datasets such as Financial Access Survey (FAS) by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Development Indicators (WDI). ii. Choose at least five countries. The final panel data must have at least 80 observations. iii. Select an appropriate measure for mobile banking, for example number/density of mobile money accounts or value/number of mobile money transactions iv. Select an appropriate measure for financial inclusion, for example number/density of bank accounts, depositors/borrowers, outstanding credit. v. Focus on the model specification and the use of suitable independent/control variables. vi. Use appropriate quantitative technique/s and relevant diagnostic/robustness tests to evaluate the validity of results. Research Topic 2: Forecast the returns for two cryptocurrencies and compare the results. Recommended Reading Pečiulis, T., Ahmad, N., Menegaki, A. N., & Bibi, A. (2024). Forecasting of cryptocurrencies: Mapping trends, influential sources, and research themes. Journal of Forecasting. https://doi.org/10.1002/for.3114 Berger, T., & Koubová, J. (2024). Forecasting Bitcoin returns: Econometric time series analysis vs. machine learning. Journal of Forecasting, 43(7), 2904-2916.https://doi.org/10.1002/for.3165 Requirements i. Choose any two cryptocurrencies. ii. The final time series data must have at least 500 observations divided suitably between in- sample and out-of-sample. iii. Use appropriate quantitiative technique/s and diagnostic tests. iv. Justify the choice of model/s and number of lags if relevant. v. Estimate both static and dynamic forecasts. vi. Comment on the precision of the forecasts by calculating forecast error measures. vii. Use graphs to support the interpretation and discussion of results. Structure: - TitIe page a titIe and word count; your names shouId not appear anywhere in the document; - Abstract this is a short summary of the probIem considered, main resuIts and concIusions; check abstracts in papers pubIished in good journaIs for exampIes; it has to be between 100-150 words - Introduction this section wiII introduce your research question(s), give a theoreticaI context, say what data you use and briefIy outIine your resuIts; the introduction is aIways the most important seIIing point of academic work; try to present why reIevance and significance of the topic. - Literature background in this part you shouId present the context of your empiricaI work; the number of articIes you shouId cite may vary by research question, but we wouId normaIIy expect 8-12 references; do not cite more than 20 sources; if appIicabIe, be cIear on the theory behind your anaIysis; from the background you present it shouId be cIear what your expected resuIts are (i.e. what the academic Iiterature found in reIation to your research question); remember to make appropriate referencing; pIease review the accompanying materiaI on writing a criticaI Iiterature review (and the sources mentioned therein). Take this opportunity to review the readings of the Iecture about conducting empiricaI research. - MethodoIogy in this part you wiII briefIy expIain the approach and methodoIogy of your empiricaI tests; if you wish, you can combine this section with‘Data’; try to keep this part brief unIess you appIy“non-standard”methods, which shouId be discussed in detaiI. Methods not covered during this unit can be considered as“non-standard”. - Data this section wiII expIain how you seIected your sampIe, and what your data sources are; the description of your data and what you do with it shouId be detaiIed enough that the reader can reproduce your anaIysis; if possibIe, show how various restrictions affect your sampIe. - ResuIts in this section you wiII present aII your empiricaI resuIts; you shouId carefuIIy interpret and discuss your resuIts and criticaIIy present how they answer your research question(s); make reIevant references to the Iiterature and compare previous findings with yours. - ConcIusions this section wiII summarise the report, repeat your research question(s) and main findings; you shouId aIso briefIy comment on Iimitations of your study and present how it couId be extended in future research; - References this section wiII provide a Iist of sources you refer to in the text; it shouId be in aIphabeticaI order by author surname, it shouId be compIete and there shouId be a 1:1 mapping between the Iist and the citations in the text. - TabIe(s) and Figure(s) in this part you wiII present tabIes and figures (if reIevant) with aII your empiricaI resuIts; make them easy to read and understand; make sure they are aII properIy numbered and titIed; make sure they are seIf-expIanatory (the main text is not needed to interpret their content) and there is a short description (known as caption) under each tabIe and figure of what they present (see pubIished papers for exampIes); edit your tabIes appropriateIy and do not incIude any‘raw’outputs copied directIy from Stata’s output window; avoid too big tabIes, i.e., tabIes shouId not exceed the size of a page. It is up to you whether you pIace a few tabIes and figures in the appendix after the references. Format: the strict word Iimit on the main text of the report (excIuding the titIe page, Iist of references, tabIes and figures) is 2,000 words. Remember to add the word count on the titIe page. If you exceed the word Iimit, onIy the first 2,000 words of your report wiII be read and marked with the rest assumed missing (pIease note that the markers wiII be abIe to check the Iength using Turnitin). Use a font not smaIIer than 11-point and Iine spacing not smaIIer than 1.5 Iines. Data files and codes: Please keep all data files and codes. You are not required to submit them but may be asked to do so by the markers if they find it necessary to fully judge the quality of your work. Marks will be awarded for: - The background and motivation for your specific research questions; - Presentation of the literature and reference to major published studies on the topic and research question; - Data collection effort; - The suitability and credibility of your statistical analysis; - Presentation, discussion and interpretation of your evidence in relation to your chosen research question; - Editorial preparation of your report. The standards expected for marks in different ranges: - 70+: An excellent piece of work. A very good attempt to develop an original piece of analysis with an outstanding ability to analyse, synthesise and apply knowledge and concepts. There is evidence of critical reflection, wider reading and research. Ideas are expressed clearly and written with authority and insight. A good attempt to apply a more complex approach and methodology as appropriate (e.g., alternative methods, robustness checks). A very clear report structure and excellent editorial preparation. - 60-69: A good piece of work. A good attempt at analysis, synthesis and application of knowledge and concepts. There may be few gaps in the analysis leading to some errors. Some evidence of critical reflection, ideas are expressed with clarity, with some minor exceptions. The standard methodology is competently applied. Good report structure and clear exposition. - 50-59: A fair piece of work. Grasp of major elements of the subject but with some gaps and areas of confusion. Only the basic ideas are covered. The attempt at analysis, synthesis and application of knowledge and concepts is superficial. Little critical reflection, some confusion and immaturity in the expression of ideas. The empirical analysis may contain some errors, and technical competence is at routine level only. Fair structure of the report and editorial preparation, with some weaknesses in the exposition. -
Programme of Study: Bachelor of Business Paper Code and Name: ACCT603 Management Accounting Assessment: Assessment 1: Case Study Analysis Submission Due Date: 11.00 am, 2 April 2025 Weighting: 30% of the total marks Question 1: Cost concepts and cost classifications 20 marks Sunrise Electronics Limited has been struggling with persistent losses despite stable revenue. Concerned about the current situation, Jackson, the owner, requests a performance analysis to understand the underlying issues. When he approaches the management accountant, Lewis, he replies, “I only record the transactions. I’m not responsible for analysing them.” Requirements: Drawing on the management accounting concepts introduced in Week 1, do you agree with Lewis? Explain your response. (Word limit: 400 words) (Answer Question 1 below. Expand the space as required): Word Count: Question 2: Cost concepts and cost classifications 25 marks SwiftTech Support Services provides IT support to a variety of corporate and individual clients. A major cost incurred is technical support cost, which includes handling customer inquiries, troubleshooting software and hardware issues, and managing IT service tickets. The technical support costs for the last few months are listed below: Month Customers Served Technical Support Cost ($) March 5100 125,480 April 5080 125,300 May 5045 125,150 June 5095 125,450 July 5085 125,370 August 5090 125,370 September 5110 125,400 October 5095 125,380 At a recent meeting, the leadership team was discussing the company’s technical support operations and encountered several dilemmas. The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) believes that technical support costs are a variable cost, as the total cost fluctuates each month based on the number of clients served. However, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) argues that $125,000 is a fixed cost (as this amount has remained relatively stable), with only the remaining cost fluctuating due to variable factors. So, the leadership team is uncertain whether technical support costs are a fixed, variable, or mixed cost. SwiftTech has recently secured a major enterprise contract, which is expected to significantly increase client demand. The company anticipates serving approximately 6,500 clients in December and has provisionally allocated $128,500 for technical support costs that month. So, the company is not sure about whether this budget will be sufficient to cover the increased demand. Requirements (show your calculations): Prepare a report to the company’s CEO addressing their questions: i) explain cost behaviour using least square regression method; ii) determine whether the provisionally allocated budget is sufficient to cover the increased demand. (Word limit: 500 words) (Answer Question 2 below. Expand the space as required): Word Count: Question 3: Job-order costing 30 marks Titan Precision Manufacturing Ltd. specializes in producing high-performance industrial equipment and uses a job-order costing system. The company applies manufacturing overhead using a predetermined overhead rate based on direct labour hours. At the start of the year, the company estimated the following: Manufactuunng overhead cost: $900,000 Direct labour hours: 50,000 Machine hours: 60,000 In August, the company completed Job #112, consisting of 50 custom-engineered machine components. The costs incurred for this job were: Matenal coste- $180,000 Labour costs: $48,000, with workers paid $40 per hour Machine hours used: 2,500 At year-end, the actual figures were: Manufacturing overhead cost: $950,000 Direct labour hours: 55,000 Machine hours: 58,000 Based on the above information, the company’s current junior accountant needs to determine the unit cost per machine component for Job #112 that would appear on the job cost sheet. Additionally, she needs to calculate whether the company’s overhead was overapplied or underapplied and assess its impact on net operating income based on the above information. Since this is her first task and she has asked the management accountant for help. The junior accountant has also been assigned a second task, where she needs to calculate the cost of goods manufactured (COGM) based on the following information: Inventories: Inventory Type Beginning ($) Ending ($) Raw Materials 30,000 16,000 Work in Process (WIP) 42.000 37.000 Finished Goods 29,500 35,000 Raw materials are all direct materials. Additional Information: Item Amount ($) Purchase of direct materials 58,000 Direct labour cost 92,000 Manufacturing overhead (MOH) cost incurred 80,000 MOH cost applied to work in process 68,000 However, the junior accountant believes that she lacks information on total manufacturing costs, which is needed to calculate the cost of goods manufactured. She again turns to the management accountant, for help in this regard. Required (show your calculation): Imagine yourself as the management accountant and prepare a report to help the junior accountant with her tasks, including: i) determine the unit cost per machine component for Job #112; ii) calculate whether the company’s overhead was overapplied or underapplied and assess its impact on net operating income; iii) calculate the cost of goods manufactured (COGM). Please show and explain your calculation. (Word limit: 600 words) (Answer Question 3 below. Expand the space as required): Word Count: Question 4: Process costing 25 marks Swift Auto Parts Ltd. has recently started an automobile component manufacturing and uses the weighted average method in its process costing system. The following data are from the company’s machining department, the first department in its production process, for a recent month: Work in Process, Beginning Inventory: Tnits in process: 500 Percent complete with respect to materials: 60% Percent complete with respect to conversion: 30% Costs in the Beginning Work in Process Inventory: Materials cost: $2,500 Conversion cost: $4,200 Production Data for the Month: Units started into production: 18,000 Units completed and transferred out: 17,200 Costs Added to Production During the Month: Materials cost: $80,500 Conversion cost: $245,000 Work in Process, Ending Inventory: Units in process: 1.300 Percent comnlete with resnect to materials 75% Percent complete with respect to conversion: 50% However, the company does not have much prior experience in process-costing. It understands that each processing department needs to prepare a production report to show the total equivalent units, cost per equivalent unit, cost of ending inventory, and cost of units transferred out to the next department. But the company is not sure how to prepare such a report. It is thinking of appointing an external consultant to address this issue. Required (show your calculation): Imagine yourself as the external consultant and write a report to help the company with its issues/concerns. Your report should: i) compute total equivalent units; ii) compute cost per equivalent unit (rounded to four decimal places); iii) compute cost of ending inventory, and cost of units transferred out to the next department (rounded to two decimal places); and iv) prepare a cost reconciliation report. Please show and explain your calculation. (Word limit: 500 words) (Answer Question 4 below. Expand the space as required): Word Count:
CCC8015 Generative Artificial Intelligence Individual Assignment Due: 23:59 Friday 28 Mar 2025 Important notes ● Point Allocation: This assignment carries a total of 100 points, which will be awarded based on the criteria outlined in the grading rubric. It accounts for 14% of your final score. ● Use of Visual Aids: You are encouraged to enhance your report with diagrams or charts where appropriate. Visual aids should be used to complement and clarify the concepts discussed in your text. ● Citation Requirement: If you refer to or incorporate external information, proper citation is mandatory. This includes any direct quotes, paraphrased information, or data and statistics you include in your report. ● Generative AI Use: The use of generative AI tools is permitted and even encouraged to assist with the creation of your report. However, it is imperative that any content generated by AI is clearly indicated as such in your submission. This transparency is necessary to maintain academic honesty and will be taken into consideration during grading. ● Plagiarism Policy: Originality in your work is crucial. Plagiarism, which includes copying someone else's work without credit, submitting someone else's work as your own, or using generative AI tools to create content without disclosure, will lead to a failing grade for this assignment. ● Similarity Report: The acceptable similarity threshold is 25%. Assignments surpassing this threshold may be flagged for plagiarism. However, if the system primarily detects quotes from questions and references, such matches should be disregarded. We specifically evaluate the similarity of the 'content' to ensure it falls below the 25% threshold. ● Grading Rubric: Assignments will be evaluated based on a clear demonstration of subject mastery, critical thinking and originality, logical organization, writing quality, effective use of visual aids and references, and adherence to assignment guidelines. ● Concerning late submissions for assignments in CCC8015, we are implementing a segmented deduction scheme. For assignments, there will be a 10% deduction for submissions within 3 days, 30% for submissions within a week, and no points awarded for submissions exceeding one week. ● For students with special educational needs (SEN), there will be a one-week extension of the submission deadline (with an additional 20% time allowance). Deliverable Assignment Deliverable: Submission Guidelines: (Report + Google Colab PDF document) 1. Your report should include tables, figures, and a reference list. 2. A title page is not required. 3. Submit a Google Colab PDF document demonstrating your code implementation and data visualizations. When preparing your assignment, please ensure the following: 1. Answer all the questions 2. The total word count should not exceed 1500 words, excluding the questions, appendix, and references. 3. The 1500-word limit should be distributed across all the questions as needed. There is no requirement for an equal allocation of words to each question. 4. Upload your assignment in either PDF or Word format. Other file formats are not permitted. 5. When submitting your assignment via Turnitin, download the document first and then upload the downloaded file. This will prevent any issues with accessing your assignment for grading. 6. Do not include the questions in your assignment to avoid potential high similarity scores in Turnitin. 7. You are encouraged to use ChatGPT to assist you in completing your assignment. 8. Formatting guidelines: 。 Font: Times New Roman 。 Size: 12 。 Color: Black 。 Spacing: No specific requirements Background This assignment aims to leverage generative AI for data analysis. Imagine you are a novice in the field of data science, but you have diligently recorded your daily expenses over the past two years. As a result, you have amassed a dataset detailing your daily expenditures. Your task is to utilize generative AI for in-depth data analysis, including visualization, insight discovery, and to make recommendations for enhanced future financial planning based on your expenditure patterns over the next year. In your assignment, you should: ● Analyzing and presenting data in your Google Colab using Python. Communicating your findings and interpretations through written explanations and graphs. Based on your findings, you will be expected to provide recommendations. Show these graphs and findings in the Word documents. Data Dataset name: ‘Family_expenditure_dataset_CCC8015.csv’ Definition of each columns 1. Rental Expense: Expenditure related to renting an apartment, with payments due on the last day of each month. 2. Transportation: Includes daily transportation expenses as well as long-distance transportation costs. 3. Food: Expenses encompassing payments for restaurants or any food consumption. 4. Water Expense: Costs associated with water usage in the apartment. 5. Electric Expense: Expenditure on electricity usage within the apartment. 6. Clothing: Expenses for purchasing clothes, occurring in specific months only. 7. Entertainment: Costs related to travel or entertainment activities such as movies or theme parks. 8. Sport: Expenses for exercise-related activities, including fees for courts and equipment. 9. Investment: Allocation of funds for family investments on a monthly basis. Instructions for loading the CSV to Google Colab: Step 1: Download the dataset 'Family_expenditure_dataset_CCC8015.csv'. Step 2: Click on the 'Files' icon and then upload the dataset to the files section. Step 3: Execute the code in the code cells. import pandas as pd # Load the CSV file into a Pandas DataFrame. df = pd.read_csv('Family_expenditure_dataset_CCC8015.csv') # Display the first few rows of the DataFrame. df Question 1: [25 Marks] Task 1: Create a pie chart to visualize the proportion of expenses. Generate the code and successfully run it in Google Colab. Display the graph in your Google Colab. [15 Marks] Task 2: Include the generated pie chart in the report and analyze the data. Offer interpretations or insights. [10 Marks] Question 2: [25 Marks] Task 1: Conduct a monthly time series analysis (line chart) of the 'Water Expense' column. Generate the code and successfully run it in Google Colab. Display the graph in your Google Colab. [15 Marks] Task 2: Include the time series graph in the report and analyze the data trends. Offer interpretations or insights. [10 Marks] Question 3: [25 Marks] Task 1: Conduct a monthly time series analysis (line chart) of the 'Electric Expense' column. Generate the code and successfully run it in Google Colab. Display the graph in your Google Colab. [15 Marks] Task 2: Include the time series graph in the report and analyze the data trends. Offer interpretations or insights. [10 Marks] Hints: When using ChatGPT to generate code (assuming you have already imported CSV into your Google Colab), 1. AI may assist you in inputting your data (refer to steps 2 and 3). Exclude the code from steps 2 and 3 when running it. 2. The code from steps 4 and 5 should only be included once in Question 2. Remove the code if it is generated again by AI for other questions. Question 4: [25 Marks] Task 1: Ask ChatGPT to explain the following code and answer the following questions: 4.1: Explain the code snippet provided below. In this question, you should clarify what the input and output are. [10 Marks] 4.2: What is the purpose of the first three lines of the code? Why do we need to set these libraries with shorter terms, for example, pandas as pd? Is the code executable if the first three lines are not included? [15 Marks] ***The green words marked with # in the code represent comments for human readability. These comments are intended to provide hints for answering questions and are not meant for assessing the dataset. Please note that you are not required to include code to load or assess the dataset in this question.*** import pandas as pd import seaborn as sns import matplotlib.pyplot as plt # Load the dataset # Assuming 'df' contains your dataset with columns 'Transportation' and 'Entertainment' # Create a scatter plot to visualize the correlation plt.figure(figsize=(8, 6)) sns.scatterplot(x='Transportation', y='Entertainment', data=df) plt.title('Scatter Plot of Transportation vs Entertainment') plt.xlabel('Transportation') plt.ylabel('Entertainment') plt.show()
BUSI 355 Comprehensive Case Assessment 2024 Winter Term 2 Purpose of the Assignment The purpose of the assignment is to incorporate the following elements: 1. Application of course concepts, Canadian Income Tax legislation, and court rulings to real-world taxation issues and scenarios. 2. Further development of analytical, problem-solving, and written business communication skills. 3. Increased working knowledge of Excel worksheet preparation. General Requirements and Assumptions You are required to determine Sacha Santorino’s Net Income for Tax Purposes by providing a breakdown of the various categories of income according to the Ordering Rules in Section 3 of the Income Tax Act. In addition, taxable income and taxes payable must also be determined using the information provided. The results must be communicated in a one-page memo to your client. Word document - instructions Attractive Cover Page (File Cover) for your report (to be presented to your client). Use report format for content. A one-page memo to your client outlining the net results of your review. You will need to provide specific details that you feel will help your client gain a better understanding of how taxes payable were determined and identify potential tax planning items that may be of interest. You will need to identify the total taxes owing and a description of how you were able to determine them. Remember, your client may not have a good understanding of the Income Tax legislation, so keep this in mind when preparing your memo. A sample memo format has been provided in Canvas. Excel workbook - instructions The Excel worksheets are required for organizing your client’s net income for tax purposes, taxable income, and taxes payable calculations according to the relevant provisions. All your planning assumptions are to be in one workbook (in a single Excel file.) Do not place more tables on any one worksheet than can be printed attractively on a single page. You will probably use several worksheets for your planning assumptions (like tax rates, capital gains rates, etc) . Change the name on the tabs of the worksheets you use for your planning tables to indicate the Table number and name (i.e. Table 1: Employment Income). You should have one table per subsection (i.e., Employment Income, Business Income, etc as well as a summary tab). Give each worksheet in your workbook a header with your name on the left and indicate the purpose of the worksheet. Feel free to use colors and shading to enhance appearance and readability of your tables/tabs. Never enter a number in more than one location. For example, if you have calculated the total employment income in the Employment Income table and need that number again in your Summary sheet, use a formula in the summary sheet to link to the original number's location in the Employment Income table (i.e. =$C$18) Use View, Page Layout to check that sheets will print readably and attractively. Marking Guide Grading Criteria This is an individual assignment worth 20% of your final grade for the course. Your report will be graded based on the following criteria: A one-page memo addressed to your client that presents the main issues related to the tax results including the identification of and discussion about the determination of the various sources of income. Excel spreadsheets supporting your income calculations. Referencing – complete and correct. Writing and English grammar - accurate, clear, and well organized Memo: Format and referencing (20 points) Arial, Times, or Verdana font, size 12 point, 1.5 line spacing Professional/business writing style. (without grammatical and/or spelling errors) Reference all assignment material taken from other sources, including ideas , facts, and concepts. Marks will be lost for improper or omitted referencing. Please include both in-text references and a bibliography. Worksheets: Construction and formatting (30 points) Comprehensive (includes all requirements) Flexible and ‘linked’ throughout Include all important items Organized and logical Clear planning assumptions Attractively, appropriately, and consistently formatted Submission Electronic copy to be uploaded to Canvas by the assignment due date/time. Due date: On or before Sunday, March 30, 2025 at 11:59 pm (PDT). Total Marks /50 Client Information Sacha Santorino is employed as the Associate Vice President of Product Development for Casa de Buena Camida Ltd (CBCL), the House of Good Food, a Canadian controlled private corporation (CCPC). CBCL creates relationships with local farmers, ranchers, fishermen/women, bakers, and artisans, to make it easy for customers to have the freshest ingredients and products delivered directly to homes and/or offices. CBCL has shaped its business model around valuing sustainable farming practices, the humane treatment of animals, and the protection of the environment by caring about how and where food is grown and produced. CBCL produced take-and-bake meals, preserves, and baked goods made fresh on-site and with full support of their community. Sacha has requested your assistance in preparing her 2024 personal income tax return and advice on certain other tax matters. Information regarding Sacha’s financial activities for 2024 is outlined in Exhibit A-1. Selected information from her 2023 tax return is provided in Exhibit A-2. Required a. Calculate Sacha’s minimum net income for tax purposes in accordance with the format of section 3 of the Income Tax Act, and her minimum taxable income for the 2024 taxation year. b. Based on your answer to part (a), calculate Sacha’s minimum federal income tax payable for the 2024 taxation year. Show all the calculations. Exhibit A-1 1. In 2024, Sacha received a salary of $155,000. From this income, CBCL deducted income tax of $19,000, CPP of $3,867.50 and EI of $1,049.12. The company contributed $500 to a group term life insurance premium and $3,500 to the company’s deferred profit sharing plan. The company also contributed $4,500 to its registered pension plan on Sacha’s behalf; Sacha made a matching contribution of $4,500. Sacha also invested $16,000 in her RRSP for 2024. 2. She received a discount of 50% on products purchased through CBCL. She estimated that the discount saved her $1,500. This discount is only available to senior management of the company. 3. She attended a one-day convention related to her job. CBCL paid $600 for the cost of the convention. She also attended an internal sales conference arranged exclusively for the sales department. Each participant was given a $25 retail store gift card. 4. She has to meet potential clients on a frequent basis. CBCL paid her $2,500 as a clothing allowance. She spent $5,000 on new clothing during the year. 5. Sacha is required to use her own automobile for employment purposes. Her employer has signed a T2200 for her in this respect. She was given $2,000 as an auto allowance in 2024. She travelled a total of 20,000 km, of which 9,000 km were for employment purposes. Her total operating cost for this year was $4,000 and on December 31, 2023, the undepreciated capital cost allowance balance was $10,000. 6. She received a dividend of $1,000 from the active business income of a CBCL. She also received $2,800 (net of $400 withholding tax) from a U.S. company. She paid $200 to an investment advisor for advice regarding an RRSP investment. 7. She sold a coin collection for $2,500 on October 1, 2024. She won this collection in a lottery in 2015. The fair market value of this collection was estimated at $800 at the time of winning. She also sold some antique jewelry to a good friend for $1,500. She inherited it from her great aunt many years ago. 8. Sacha started a locally sourced food consulting business as a sole proprietor in 2024. Her clientele consisted of micro-farms, local farm markets, and retail grocery chains with food services outlets. Her gross revenues for this business were $25,000 and operating expenses were $5,000. Her other expenses included a golf club membership fee of $2,000 to find potential clients, $3,000 home office expenses, and $2,000 related to business travel. She used a portion of her house as her principal place of business. 9. In 2024, Sacha had the following other receipts and disbursements: Donation to the Canadian Cancer Society $500 Employee assistance counselling fee paid by CBCL $600 Financial counselling fee paid by CBCL $400 Business communications course tuition fee paid by CBCL $750 (BCIT, 12 week course) 10.Sacha is married and has three children aged 7, 10, and 13. Her husband is a mechanical engineer for a local start up technology company and earned $190,000 in 2024. Sacha’s mother also lives with her and her husband and is retired. Sacha paid her $3,000 during 2024 for helping with some casual childcare. The remainder of childcare expenses were paid to a registered afterschool care program of $12,000. 11.On January 15, 2024 Sacha received options to buy 200 shares of CBCL’s common stock at a price of $23 per share. At this time, the shares were valued at $20 per share. Sacha exercised her options on July 6, 2024, when the shares were valued at $28 per share. She plans to sell the shares next year if they increase in value. 12.CBCL granted Sacha a five-year, interest free loan of $225,000 to acquire a home. The loan was granted on October 1, 2024, where the interest rate on open five-year mortgages was 5%. Assume the prescribed interest on employee loans was 2% on this date and remained unchanged during the year. Sacha purchased her first home for $835,000 on October 2, 2024. Sacha considered renovating the home and selling it next year to take advantage of the active real estate market where home valuations were steadily increasing. She figured her home would sell for $1,500,000 after a renovation cost of $100,000. 13. During 2024, Sacha spent $8,400 on meals and entertainment with CBCL clients; CBCL reimbursed all but $1,000 of these costs. 14. During 2024, Sacha receives several gifts from her employer: • As a reward for winning the company's Employee of the Month Award, she receives an expense paid weekend in a local hotel. The regular price for this package was $1,200. • Like all the company's employees, Sacha received a $600 gift certificate for merchandise at a local department store. • CBCL provides all employees with a $450 product basket at its year-end celebration. Exhibit A-2 Carry Forwards Summary From 2023 To 2024 Listed personal property losses $1,100 $1,100 Capital Gains deduction used for qualified farm property/small business $75,000 $75,000 Non-capital losses $2,500 $2,500 Registered Retirement Savings Plan: Deduction limit from previous year’s Notice of (Re) assessment Maximum RRSP deduction limit for 2024 $15,000 $15,000
MG308 2024/25 Summative Assessment A European healthcare technology company specialises in the design, manufacture, and distribution of diagnostic solutions for chronic conditions including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and other metabolic disorders. The company recently appointed a new CEO. The CEO previously worked for a company that extensively used Monte Carlo simulations for many of its internal projects. Having seen the benefits of these simulations for that business, she decided to implement them for the healthcare technology company as soon as possible. As part of this, the CEO asked different departments within the company to put forward proposals for projects that would benefit from simulation modelling and analysis. These proposals were considered by the board of directors and two initial projects were chosen to be prioritised. The first project was put forward by the commercial strategy team in relation to the launch of a new point-of-care diagnostic device. The second project, put forward by the supply chain planning team, focuses on analysing the allocation of injectable treatments for the company's recently established distribution capability. The CEO has already convinced the board to hire a Monte Carlo simulation expert to join the healthcare technology company permanently. However, this expert cannot join the company before completing the three-month notice period of his current role. As the CEO is keen to start implementing these simulations as soon as possible, she approached your consultancy to work on these priority projects. The company will review your analysis and recommendations, and use them to inform their decision-making process. Afterwards, the CEO is planning on passing your models to the newly hired simulation expert to review and expand on for future projects. Data and Assumptions Where required for financial analysis for any of the projects below, you have been asked to use a discount rate of 10%. 1) New Point-of-Care Diagnostic Device The company is preparing to launch a next-generation point-of-care diagnostic device designed for use in community-based healthcare settings such as general practices, local health centres, and diabetes prevention programmes. The device performs rapid HbA1c screening along with additional metabolic markers to support early identification and proactive management of type 2 diabetes. While many portable HbA1c testing kits currently exist, most operate as standalone units with basic measurement outputs. This new device goes further by integrating directly with existing electronic health records (EHRs), automatically updating patient profiles, and providing real-time clinical prompts to guide treatment escalation, referrals, or lifestyle interventions. This functionality is particularly valuable in high-volume settings where clinicians have limited time but require actionable data at the point of care. The commercial strategy team would like you to model and analyse the financial viability of this launch in an initial target region. This focused regional launch strategy allows the company to test the market with controlled investment, refine the product offering based on early feedback, and establish a strong presence before expanding through phased rollouts to additional European markets. Therefore, your analysis should focus solely on the financial viability of the initial regional launch. They are seeking to understand the risks associated with this launch and the range of potential outcomes. To this end, they asked you to share any relevant insights from your analysis to aid in their decision-making process. Furthermore, they have asked you to put forward one recommendation for enhancing the financial success of the launch based on your analysis, and demonstrate how exactly this recommendation will help them. The commercial strategy team consulted various internal stakeholders and shared the following information with you regarding the launch of the new diagnostic device. All data provided to you has been checked and reviewed, and the team confirmed it does not contain any errors. Analysis Period In line with the company’s standard financial modelling guidelines, a 10-year analysis period has been established, reflecting the expected market lifespan of the device. No significant hardware replacements are anticipated within the analysis period, and routine maintenance and software support obligations over the product's lifetime have been pre- estimated and are included in the per-unit variable cost for the purpose of this analysis. Product Economics The company plans to sell the device directly to clinics. The planned sale price of each unit in the first year of the launch is €2,400, benchmarked against comparable advanced point-of-care devices with EHR integration. The estimated variable cost per unit in the first year of the launch is €900, reflecting the direct costs of producing each device, including sensors and connectivity components, and the per-unit cost of ongoing maintenance and software support. The company assumes the prices and variable costs increase by 3% annually to account for inflation, reflecting both general price trends and the specific impact of global supply chains and imported components in the medical device industry. The product will leverage the company’s existing manufacturing infrastructure and distribution channels, so fixed costs are already covered by other product lines and do not need to be included in your analysis. While diagnostic devices typically generate ongoing consumable sales, the company has an established reagent supply chain with stable margins. To maintain focus on the device's core value proposition, this analysis considers only hardware sales, as clinical sites already purchase compatible reagents through existing contracts. Initial Investment To bring the product to market, the company must complete the final stages of Conformité Européenne (CE) marking, obtain other regulatory approvals, and fund targeted marketing campaigns to clinicians and practice managers. The initial investment is expected to fall between €7 million and €10 million, with all values within this range considered equally likely. This reflects historical launch costs for comparable devices, as well as variations in regulatory timelines and regional marketing spend. Market Dynamics The strategic marketing team has identified several factors that will influence the commercial success of the new device. o Initial Market Size The initial addressable market for this diagnostic device is estimated at 5,000 clinical sites, each expected to require a single device, across the company's target launch region in Central Europe. This represents community-based healthcare settings including general practices, local health centres, and diabetes prevention programmes in mid-sized markets including Austria, Switzerland, and parts of Germany, where patient volume and clinical focus make them well suited to benefit from advanced HbA1c testing capabilities with EHR integration. o Market Growth Assumptions Demand for community-based diagnostics in the target region is expected to grow, driven by increased awareness of chronic conditions and a broader shift toward decentralised models of care. Based on a review of external market forecasts and internal planning benchmarks, the strategic marketing team estimates that future growth for each year over the analysis period is expected to average 5%. The team believes annual growth rates are symmetrical around this average figure. Furthermore, they are approximately 95% sure that annual growth rates will be between 3% and 7%. o Initial Market Share While basic point-of-care HbA1c testing devices are already present in the market, this next-generation device with EHR integration represents a significant advancement. Initial adoption of this new device is expected to vary by region and clinic type. Clinics already investing in preventive care are more likely to adopt early, while others may wait until the device's clinical and financial value is demonstrated. The team consulted clinical affairs specialists, regional sales managers, and external primary care advisors to inform their assumptions. They believe the most likely market share in the target region in the first year of the launch is 30%, based on results from a recent pilot. It could reach as high as 50% in the best-case scenario, if key opinion leaders endorse the device and funding support is available. However, there is also a downside risk, with initial market share potentially as low as 20% if uptake is limited to early adopters and wider traction is delayed. After the first year, market share is expected to hold steady unless altered by competitive entries. o Competitive Landscape The team has identified three potential competitors with the technological capabilities, regulatory readiness, and commercial focus to enter this segment of the diagnostic market in the target region in the near term. These estimates are based on historical patterns of competitor response in the point-of-care sector, as well as recent patent activity and acquisitions. At the start of each year, each competitor that has not yet entered has an independent 40% probability of launching a rival device. Once a competitor enters, it is reasonable to assume it remains in the market, as exit barriers in regulated medical devices are substantial due to high initial investments. Based on retrospective analysis of market share erosion following competitive entry in similar product categories, each new entrant reduces the company’s market share by 25% of its current level. 2) New Injectable Treatment Distribution Model As part of its strategic expansion into integrated healthcare delivery, the company recently acquired a specialised pharmaceutical distribution firm with expertise in regulated product handling and supply chain operations. This acquisition has enabled the company to connect its diagnostic offerings with downstream treatment distribution and support the broader aim of delivering more cohesive chronic care solutions. To test the feasibility of this new distribution model, the company is piloting the sale of two formulations of a perishable injectable treatment across a selected region. This pilot is designed to validate internal forecasting methods, assess inventory management capabilities under uncertainty, and evaluate the financial implications of operating under tight shelf-life constraints. The two products in scope are a premium formulation, which offers an extended-release profile and is typically reserved for complex or specialist care settings, and a standard formulation, which follows a conventional dosing schedule and is used more broadly across general clinics. The supply chain planning team will use your analysis to inform both commercial decision-making and potential adjustments to the distribution agreement with the manufacturer, as part of broader future planning. The primary objective of the project is to determine the optimal allocation between premium and standard formulations that maximises total expected revenue from both product types within each 28-day distribution cycle. For this initial pilot phase, the team is focusing specifically on revenue optimisation to establish baseline performance metrics for the distribution model and asked you to ignore the costs in your analysis. This approach allows them to validate their demand forecasting accuracy and inventory management capabilities before introducing more complex financial planning including detailed cost analysis in subsequent phases. While expected revenue serves as the primary optimisation criterion, the company is also interested in the potential variability of revenue outcomes under your proposed allocation strategy, which should be covered in your analysis. In addition, the supply chain planning team needs to understand the implications for unsold vials that must be discarded at the end of each 28-day distribution cycle under your recommended approach. This insight is important both from an environmental sustainability perspective and for operational planning, as the disposal of biological products requires specialised handling and documentation. The analysis should determine both the probability that there will be any unsold vials under your proposed allocation strategy and, separately, examine the range and variability of unsold vials. These complementary analyses will support planning for the company's waste management protocols. The supply chain planning team shared the following data with you to support your analysis. The dataset has been reviewed internally, confirmed to be error-free, and deemed suitable for use in this project. Product Economics and Shelf Life The company will generate revenue of €190 for each vial of the premium formulation and €85 for each vial of the standard formulation. These rates reflect the relative clinical value and manufacturing complexity of each formulation and have been validated against comparable products in the market. Both formulations are biologically sensitive and arrive with 56 days of shelf life remaining when the company receives them. However, pharmaceutical regulations stipulate that any vial sold to a clinic must have at least 28 days of shelf life remaining at the time of sale. As a result, the company has a 28-day window in which to sell the vials after receiving them at the beginning of each distribution cycle. The company’s 28-day distribution cycle is aligned with this sales window to ensure compliance with minimum shelf-life requirements. Any unsold vials after this point must be discarded, in accordance with safety regulations, and will not generate any revenue. Distribution Agreement Parameters Vials can only be purchased from the manufacturer in 100-unit batches for both formulations. Under the commercial terms of the agreement, at the beginning of each 28-day distribution cycle, the company receives a total of 20 batches (equivalent to 2,000 vials) across both formulations for distribution. The agreement further stipulates that the premium formulation must represent no less than 20% and no more than 50% of the total allocation for each cycle. Demand Data Following the acquisition of the pharmaceutical distribution firm, the company gained access to historical demand data for a comparable product that was previously distributed in the selected region, which also had two distinct formulations. The supply chain planning team, in collaboration with internal analysts, reviewed this dataset and made adjustments to account for seasonal fluctuations in treatment demand, regional differences in prescribing practices, evolving clinical guidelines, and recent policy changes. The supply chain planning team has confirmed that this adjusted dataset is a reasonable basis for use in your analysis to estimate demand for the premium and standard formulations of the new treatment. The dataset represents historical demand patterns over 28-day distribution cycles. Discrete event simulations The CEO recently met a high school friend who is now working for a Japanese car manufacturer. During their conversations, her friend mentioned that the manufacturer uses discrete event simulations to analyse and improve their production lines. Whilst the CEO is very familiar with the Monte Carlo simulation methods and the benefits they can bring to the healthcare technology company, she is not familiar with discrete event simulations, and she is curious to find out more. When she heard that you have experience in this area, she asked you to include some information on discrete event simulations as part of your report for the company. In particular, she wants to understand the benefits this approach can bring in the context of the operations of the healthcare technology company (over and above the benefits of Monte Carlo simulations). She does not require you to build or run a discrete event simulation model for this purpose. She is keen for you to exemplify and explain one possible discrete event simulation model for the company at a conceptual level. She would also like you to set out the potential insights this model can bring to the business if it were built and run. Furthermore, she requested that you explain how these insights could lead to specific operational improvements or strategic decisions for the company, and address any considerations and limitations that should be taken into account if such a model were to be developed. Technical appendices As the CEO intends to pass on your models to their in-house expert, she asked you to include the technical details of your Monte Carlo simulation models as appendices to the report. These appendices will allow the in-house expert to understand your models, and should include: Inputs used in your model (where relevant, together with an explanation of any distributions you used and your rationale); A sufficiently detailed account of your calculation approach and modelling logic – i.e., a clear description of the setup of your model including an explanation of the formulae and relationships between your inputs and how outputs of interest are calculated; and Settings for the number of iterations and simulations you used to obtain the results. The CEO said that all such information must be included in these appendices and not the spreadsheet itself. Requirements Report In addition to a suitable introduction and conclusion, the main body of your report should include the following: For each Monte Carlo simulation project: - Your assumptions - An explanation of your results addressing the company’s questions and requirements and the implications of your analysis - For the new point-of-care diagnostic device project only: One well-justified recommendation, which is supported by evidence from your analysis to convince the client - Any limitations of your analysis and possible next steps A section addressing the request regarding discrete event simulations Any graphs, outputs, results, assumptions, commentary, and analysis that you would like the client to consider should be included in the main body of the report (i.e., not in the appendices or the spreadsheet). In other words, the main body of the report should be a self-contained document that will inform the client in a satisfactory manner about your analysis and results. Your report should have exactly two appendices (one for each one of the Monte Carlo simulation models you are asked to build). Any additional calculations and analysis performed for each project must be included in the corresponding appendix. No other appendices are allowed. Word and page-limits The main body of your report is subject to a limit of 3,000 words. Each appendix is subject to a limit of two pages. These appendices must have minimum single-line spacing and a font size of 11 or greater. Spreadsheet All your calculations must be submitted in one spreadsheet. You can use different tabs for different models, but your tabs must be appropriately titled for ease of reference. As the company will be receiving your spreadsheet via the cloud, the CEO asked you to do the following to keep the file size small: Once all your analysis is completed and your report is ready, save your spreadsheet after rerunning it one last time with 100 iterations and one simulation and upload this version*. Mark Allocation The total 100 marks for this assessment are allocated as follows: Project 1: 35 marks (including 10 marks for Technical Appendix 1) Project 2: 35 marks (including 10 marks for Technical Appendix 2) Discrete event simulation section: 20 marks Quality of presentation: 10 marks Please refer to the DoM Undergraduate assessment criteria and the assessment-specific rubric on Moodle for further details on how these marks will be awarded. Deadline Both the report and spreadsheet should be submitted no later than midday (12pm UK time) on 8 May 2025. * This does not mean you should be running 100 iterations and one simulation for all your models. It simply means the version of the spreadsheet you submit must be run one last time using these settings and saved prior to uploading. Otherwise, the file will be too large.
STATS 3DA3 Homework Assignment 6 Submission Deadline • All submissions must be made before 10:00 PM on Wednesday, April 16, 2025. Late Submissions • Late Submission Penalty: A 15% deduction per day will be applied to assignments submitted after the deadline, including SAS accomdations. • Late Submission Limit: Assignments submitted more than 72 hours late will receive a grade of zero, including SAS accomdations. Submission Guidelines • Format: Submit your work as a single PDF file via Avenue to Learn. You may submit individually or or as a group of up to three members. Individual Submission • Complete Questions 1—15. • A GitHub repository is optional. Group Submission • Complete Questions 1–17. • Group Size: Up to three members. • Team Members’Contributions: For group submissions, you must complete Question 16, de- tailing each member’s contributions. This should correspond with the commit history in the GitHub repository. - Note: While Question 16 is not graded, failure to include this information will result in the assignment not being graded. - Example: ∗ Member A: Questions 1, 2, 4 ∗ Member B: Questions 3, 5, 6 • GitHub Repository: You must include a link to a public GitHub repository showing the assignment’s version history. - Note: While Question 17 is not graded, failure to provide this information will result in the assignment not being graded. Assignment Standards Please ensure your assignment adheres to the following standards for submission: • Title Page Requirements: Each submission must include a title page featuring your group members’names and student IDs. Assignments without a title page will not be considered for grading. • Formatting Preferences: The use of Quarto Jupyter Notebook for document preparation is highly recommended. • Font and Spacing: Submissions must utilize an eleven-point font (Times New Roman or a similar font) with 1.5 line spacing. Ensure margins of at least 1 inch on all sides. • Individual Work: While discussing homework problems with peers and other groups is per- mitted, the final written submission must be your group work. • Submission Content: Do not include the assignment questions within your PDF. Instead, clearly mark each response with the corresponding question number. Screenshots are not an acceptable form of submission under any circumstances. • Academic Writing: Ensure that your writing and any references used are appropriate for an undergraduate level of study. • Originality Checks: Be aware that the instructor may use various tools, including online resources or in-person meetings, to verify the originality of submitted work. Assignment Policy on the Use of Generative AI • The use of Generative AI is not permitted in assignments, except for using GitHub Copilot as a coding assistant. - If GitHub Copilot is used, you must clearly indicate this in the code comments. • In alignment with McMaster academic integrity policy, it “shall be an offence knowingly to submit academic work for assessment that was purchased or acquired from another source”. This includes work created by generative AI tools. Also state in the policy is the following, “Contract Cheating is the act of”outsourcing of student work to third parties” with or without payment.” Using Generative AI tools is a form of contract cheating. Charges of academic dishonesty will be brought forward to the Office of Academic Integrity. Heart Disease Classification Challenge Overview In this assignment, you will analyze the UCI Heart Disease Dataset, which contains medical records used to predict the presence of heart disease in patients. The dataset includes a mix of categorical and numerical variables, some missing values, and class imbalance. For the context of data science methods for heart disease prediction, refer to - Detrano, R., et., al. (1989). International application of a new probability algorithm for the diagnosis of coro- nary artery disease. The American journal of cardiology, 64(5), 304-310. DOI:10.1016/0002- 9149(89)90524-9. Dataset Information The dataset is available at the UCI Machine Learning Repository: https://archive.ics.uci.edu/ml/datasets/Heart+Disease • Key Features: – The dataset includes 303 observations with 13 features. – Features include age, sex, chest pain type, resting blood pressure, cholesterol levels, fasting blood sugar, electrocardiographic results, and others. – The response variable is num, which will be transformed to binary in the analysis. Objectives Analyze the dataset using two classification algorithms. Your analysis should include ex- ploratory data analysis, handling of missing values, feature selection, feature engineering, modeling, interpretation, and effective communication. The goal is to draw meaningful and well-supported conclusions from your analysis. • Classifier requirement: At least one of the classifiers must be interpretable to allow for in-depth analysis and inference. Assignment Questions Address the following questions in your submission, providing detailed insights and conclusions based on your analysis. 1. Define and describe a classification problem using the dataset. 2. Apply any chosen data transformations, or explain why no transformations were necessary. 3. Provide a detailed description of the dataset, including variables, summaries, number of observations, data types, and distributions (include at least three statements). 4. Transform the response num into a binary outcome: 1 for heart disease and 0 for no heart disease. So combine 1, 2, 3, and 4 into 1 and 0 for 0. For Questions 4-16, use the transformed binary outcome. 5. Analyze relationships between variables and discuss their implications for feature selection or extraction (include at least two statements). 6. Drop the rows with the missing values. How many osbervations after dropping the missing values. Skip the outlier analysis. 7. Sub-group analysis: Explore potential sub-groups within the data using appropriate data science methods. Identify and visualize these sub-groups without using the labels and cate- gorical variables. Categroical variables already define sub groups so we don’t need to include them for this analysis. 8. Split 30% of the data for testing using a random seed of 1. Use the remaining 70% for training and model selection. 9. Identify the two classifiers you have chosen. Justify your selections based on the classifier requirement for this assignment. 10. Specify two metrics to compare classifier performance. Provide technical details on how each metric is computed. 11. Train two selected classifiers in (9) and identify optimal tuning parameters (if applicable) using the training set. 12. Apply a feature selection or extraction method to one of the classifiers in (9). Train this third classifier on the training set and identify optimal tuning parameters (if applicable) using the training set. 13. Use the selected metrics to evaluate three classifiers in (11) and (12) on the test set. • Discuss your findings (at least two statements). • Discuss the impact of feature selection or extraction on the performance of the classifier (at least one statement). 14. For the best interpretable model identified in (13), analyze and interpret the most important predictor variables in the context of the classification challenge (at least two statements). 15. [Bonus] Sub-group improvement strategy: If sub-groups were identified, propose and imple- ment a method to further improve the performance of one classifier. Compare the fourth classifier performance with the results from (13). 16. Team Contributions: Document each team member’s specific contributions to the ques- tions above. For group submissions, this should match the GitHub commit history. Individual submissions do not need to address this question. 17. Link to the public GitHub repository. This is optional for the individual submissions. Notes • Students can also choose one classifer not covered in the lectures. Grading scheme 1. Answer [1] 2. Codes (variable type transformation, etc.) [1] OR rationale for no transformation [1] 3. Codes [3] and three statements [2] 4. Codes for transforming the response variable [1] 5. Codes for association [2] and interpretation of figures or tables [2] 6. Codes [1] answer [1] 7. Codes to identify sub groups [3] and Plot the sub groups [1] 8. Codes [1] 9. classifiers and justification [2] 10. Describe the two metrics [2] 11. Codes for training two classifiers [2] Codes for tuning parameters (if any) [1] 12. Codes for feature selection or feature extraction [1] Codes for training the third classifier with the selected or ex- tracted features [1] Codes for tuning parameters (if any) [1] 13. Codes for evaluating three classifiers on the test set using two metrics in (10) [3] Two statements for the findings [2] One statement for the impact of feature selection or extraction [1] 14. Codes finding the important variables [1] Two statements for the analysis and interpretation of the most important predictor variables [2] 15. Codes for the sub-group improvement strategy (training and tun- ing parameters, if any) [Bonus 2] Comparison of the performance with the results from (13) [Bonus 1] Bonus 3 points will be added to the final grade 16. Document each team member’s specific contributions 17. Link to the public GitHub repository The maximum point for this assignment is 39. We will convert this to 100%. The bonus 3 points will be added to the final grade. All group members will receive the same grade if they contribute to the same.
Algorithms and Data Structures I Project 3: WordSearch Background In this project, you will be completing a program that searches a 2D array of chars for a user-supplied word. Your solution will need to use recursive backtracking to accomplish this. Word searches are a popular puzzle game where players try to find words by connecting lines in a puzzle. In this Project, the word search differs from traditional searches in a few ways: ● Words can be found along any path (not just a straight line). The next letter could be in any adjacent cell to the previous letter in any of the 8 directions: North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, and Northwest. ● The puzzle edges wrap around to the other side. Thus, a letter in the last column of the 2D array can connect to a letter in the first column in the 2D array. The same goes for rows. Exercise A few of the methods in WordSearchPuzzle.java are already implemented. Here is a list of those methods and their functions: ● Stack findWord(String word): the entry point to solving a word search puzzle. findWord loops through the 2D array and checks if the target word can be found starting at the current Cell. It does this by calling the solve method for each Cell. It is your job to implement the solve method. ● Boolean isValid(int row, int col): For the given cell, return if the Cell is within the bounds of the puzzle and it hasn’t been marked as ‘visited’ . The char in a visible cell is capitalized. Thus, unvisited cells contain lowercase letters only. ● int nextRow(int row, Direction direction): Returns the index of the next row in the given direction. The Direction type is an enum declared in WordSearchInterface.java. For example, nextRow(3, Direction .S) would return 4, as row 4 is the next row directly south of row 3. ● int nextCol(int col, Direction direction): Similar to nextRow, this method returns the next column in a given direction. nextCol(2, Direction .S) would return 2 since moving south does not put you in a different column. However, nextCol(2, Direction .W) would return 1 since moving west from column 2 would put you in column 1. ● boolean isPrefix(String check, String against): Returns whether or not the last character in check is equal to the character in against at the same index. Returns false if check is longer than against. For example, check(“ban”, “banana”) returns true because n is at index 2 of each String. This method assumes that isPrefix was called at every step of building check, so that it only needs to check the last character each time. Cation: misuse of this function can lead to bugs! You’ll also notice three incomplete methods in WordSearchPuzzle.java: solve, initialize, and getPuzzle: ● void initialize(char [] [] puzzle, int n): Initializes a new puzzle based on the given array and n, where n is the dimension of the array (n == num rows == num columns). ● char [] [] getPuzzle(): Returns a deep copy of the puzzle in fully lowercase form. Each char in the array should be copied into the new array so modifications of the clone do not affect the original. ● boolean solve(int row, int col, StringBuilder current, String wordToFind, Stack positions): Returns whether or not a path from row, col, can complete current so that it matches wordToFind. Ex: calling solve(0, 1, “”, “example”, []) on the following puzzle should return true because the word “example” can be found starting at Cell (0, 1): Additionally, solve(2, 2, “cor”, “correct”, [(2,0), (1,1), (2,2)]) should return true for the following puzzle, since starting at (3, 2), we can complete “cor” to become “correct” : Note: The solve method takes in a StringBuilder to represent the current progress on finding the goal word. This is because appending to a StringBuilder is much more efficient than appending to a regular String. Starter Code The starter code for this project can be found here. The starter code folder includes the following: ● WordSearch Interface .java: Interface for the WordSearchPuzzle class that you will complete. ● WordSearch Puzzle .java: The class you must complete for this assignment. ● Project3 .java: The driver program that allows a user to load puzzles from a file and search for words. ● P3Out .txt: Example output from a user running Project3.java with a completed WordSearchPuzzle class. ● 445 .txt: An example puzzle you can use for testing. Some words in this puzzle are (but not limited to): ○ recurrence ○ recursion ○ queue ○ list ○ stack ○ bag Deliverables You are responsible for submitting a completed WordSearch Puzzle .java file. You should not have to modify any of the starter code. Program Input 445.txt is supplied to you as sample input. This is not the same word search puzzle that the autograder will use. You can expect the autograder to use a square word search puzzle no larger than 80x80 and for no words longer than 20 characters long.
MATH 374M: Mathematical Modeling in Science and Engineering Spring 2025 (Section 54490) Description This course is for students interested in mathematical modeling and analysis. The goals are to develop tools for studying differential equation models that arise in applications, and to illustrate how the analysis of models can be used to gain insight and make predictions about physical systems. Emphasis will be placed on examples, and a broad range of applications from the engineering and physical sciences will be considered. Topics include dimensional analysis, scaling, dynamical systems, stability and bifurcation, perturbation methods, and calculus of variations. This course carries the quantitative reasoning (QR) flag. Prerequisites The prerequisites are a grade of at least C- in Mathematics 427J or 427K (differential equations), and in Mathematics 340L or 341 (linear algebra) . It is also expected that students will have some familiarity with software tools for graphing (such as Matlab, Mathematica, or Desmos), and a capacity for independent study. Meetings Class meetings: Class meetings will be held simultaneously in-person and on-line at the regularly scheduled times. The in-person meetings will be in the scheduled room, and the on-line meetings will be conducted live via Zoom from this room. Links to join the on-line meetings will be available in Canvas. Any student may attend on-line as desired. On-line disclaimer: On-line meetings require properly functioning equipment that satisfy University security requirements, and cannot be guaranteed. Some on-line meetings may be partially or entirely cut-off . In cases of equipment issues, the in- person meetings will have priority. Students attending on-line do so at their own risk. Notes and videos: Notes and recorded videos from class meetings will be posted on Canvas for later viewing as desired. Policies Homeworks: Homework sets will be assigned and collected weekly via Canvas. To submit an assignment, students will need to save a scan/image of their work into a single file and upload it into the Canvas system. Please ensure that your name and EID are visible within the work. Students may help each other with the homeworks; however, each student must write up and submit their own work. Exams: There will be two take-home midterm exams and a take-home final exam. The exams will be distributed and collected via Canvas in the same way as the homeworks. Students are not allowed to discuss, share information, receive help, or provide help in any way with the exams. The tentative dates are: Exam 1 (Feb 19-21), Exam 2 (Mar 26-28), Final (Apr 30 - May 2) . Course grade: Your course grade will be a weighted sum of your homework average and exam grades. The weights will be: Homework average (30%), Exam 1 (20%), Exam 2 (20%), Final (30%) . Grade notes: One homework grade will be dropped. Homeworks and exams will usually be graded within about a week. Written solution keys to homeworks and exams will unfortunately not be available. Grade scale: Homeworks and exams will be assigned grades based on a 100-point scale. The weighted sum of your homework average and exam grades will determine your course letter grade as follows: A (100-92), A- (91-90), B+ (89-86), B (85-82), B- (81-80), C+ (79-76), C (75-72), C- (71-70), D+ (69-66), D (65-62), D- (61-60), F (59-0) . Video recordings: Class video recordings are for educational purposes and are reserved for students in this class only. The recordings are protected under FERPA and should not be shared outside the class in any form. Documents and files: Class documents and files provided by the instructor, such as notes, videos, assignments, and exams, are reserved for students in this class only. The documents and files should not be shared outside the class unless you have my explicit, written permission. Honor code: As a student at UT-Austin you are expected to abide by the core values of the University and uphold academic integrity. Any suspected violations of the honor code will be investigated and reported to the University for further action. Students with disabilities: The University of Texas at Austin provides upon request appropriate academic accommodations for qualified students with disabilities. For more information, contact the office of Disability and Access (D&A) . Drop dates: The last day to drop the course without permission is January 29, 2025. The last day to drop the course for academic reasons is April 16, 2025. After this date, students may go to the Dean's Office to request a drop for urgent non- academic reasons.
QUANTITATIVE METHODS FOR BUSINESS MATH1053 Assignment 1: Due Thursday April 03, 2025 Question 1: Time Value of Money 34 Marks a) Use examples to explain/answer the following questions: i. What is an interest rate. [2 marks] ii. What is/are the difference(s) between a yearly interest rate and a monthly interest rate? [2 marks] iii. Why must a given interest rate (e.g., 12% p.a.) be converted to 1% per month when the question states that interest is compounded monthly? [2 marks] iv. What is/are difference(s) between annuity and compounding interest [4 marks] Use EXCEL to answer the following questions b) Jasmine has been offered a 5-year fixed-term account earning 7.20% per annum, compounded quarterly. If she deposits $100,000, calculate the total amount and the interest earned after 5 years. [5 marks] c) Jack has just started a new job as a property manager and aims to have a $1 million lump sum upon retirement in 15 years. A local bank offers an account with an average interest rate of 6% p.a., compounded weekly. What amount must he deposit at the end of each week to reach his goal? How much interest he could earn? [5 marks] d) Josh borrowed $45,000 from a local bank. The bank charges Cajun 5.89 % p.a. monthly and requires monthly repayments. For the first year, Jack can only pay interest on the amount he borrowed. After this, he will make repayments including principal and interest. i. Calculate the monthly repayment that Josh would have to make starting in year two if the entire loan term is 8 years. [4 marks] ii. Calculate the total interest paid on the loan. [2 marks] iii. Use EXCEL to set up an Amortisation Schedule for the loan. You only need to include the first two years in your document. For full marks, show the calculations for “i” and “n” in adjacent cells (you can type these). Label each heading in Row 6 with your initials e.g. “Period-SZ”. [6 marks] iv. Calculate the outstanding balance for him after three years. [2 marks] Question 2: Break-even Graphing 15 Marks Harris has just arrived in Australia as a new university student and is looking for an internet service provider that suits his needs. He has shortlisted two service providers, iNet and NetExp. Both providers charge a fixed monthly fee, which includes a certain amount of data. Additional data usage will incur extra charges based on the amount used. To compare the options, he created the following linear diagram, as shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 1 The costs for two internet service providers based on data usage per month. The coordinates for the points are: A (0,38), B (60,38), C (0,60), D (50,60), and E (140, 78) a) Explain the meaning of the point E. [2 marks] b) Calculate the fixed monthly fee for iNet. [2 marks] c) Determine which provider Harris should use if he needs a minimum of 300GB of data per month using calculations [4 marks] d) Reproduce the graph using EXCEL. Your graph is required to have the following: • title of the graph with your ID number as part of the title. [2 marks] • horizontal and vertical axis titles. [2 marks] • the point that the costs are equal. [1 mark] • the region where NetExp is a better option and the region where iNet is a better option. [2 marks] George has a rose garden with more than 1000 plants. Every early spring, these plants require at least 32kg of nitrogen, 40kg of phosphate, and 48kg of potassium. Additionally, the total amount of nitrogen should not be over 40kg since high nitrogens will lead to fewer flowers on rose bushes. There are three different produces in the market he can choose from. Rose Superfood is $36 per bag, Sudden Impact on Rose is $30 per bag, and Flower Quick is $32 per bag. The amount of these three primary nutrients from each product is listed in the Table 1 below. Formulate a mathematical model for this problem. In doing so, consider the following: a) Define the decision variables for this problem [3 marks] b) What is the objective for this problem? Using your decision variables, formulate the objective function. [2 marks] c) What are the constraints in this problem? Using your decision variables, formulate these constraints. [6 marks] Formulate an Excel worksheet for this problem. In doing so, consider the following: d) Include the base Excel table with formulas, explanations, solver parameters, and the Answer Report and Sensitivity Report [6 marks] Using the Excel reports answer the following: e) What is the optimal solution and the minimum cost for him? [2 marks] f) Which constraints are not fully met, and by how much? [2 marks] g) Explain the impact on the optimal solution if the cost of a bag of Rose Superfood increases to $45? [2 marks] h) Calculate and discuss the new cost if the minimum required phosphate decreases to 39kg. [2 marks] Question 4: Sampling 16 marks You are required to download the files from the website: Flow-MER Fish Age | Datasets | data.gov.au - beta for this question. Use the Flow-MER Fish Age 2014-2023(CSV-GEO-AU) to answer the question and refer to the Metadata description for Flow-MER Fish Age 2014-2023(PDF) for data details. a) Generate a sample dataset containing 10 samples from the CSV file using the simple random sampling method. Explain, step-by-step, how this sample dataset is produced. [3 marks]. Find the average total length for this sample if possible. If not, explain why. [1 mark]. b) Generate a sample dataset containing 10 samples using ‘bias’ sample method. Explain, step-by-step, how this sample dataset is produced. [6 marks]. c) Find the average fork length for all ‘ Nematalosa erebi’ fish listed in the data set if you can. [2 marks]. Discuss if you can use this result to approximate the true population mean for ADULT ‘Nematalosa erebi’ fish. [4 marks]
BMS5125: Sustainability Strategy Semester 2, Academic Year 2024/2025 CASE ASSIGNMENT Instructions: (1) This is an individual exercise which carries 25 out of 100 marks in the course. Please do not discuss with your team or anyone else. (2) The total page limit for whole submission is four (4) (including text, diagrams, tables, notes, etc). There is no need for a cover page. References, if any, must be shown properly e.g. APA or other consistent formats. Due to space limitations, references need not be exhaustive. (3) Font size used should enable easy reading e.g. 10- to 12-point. Adequate margins should be provided for every page e.g. 2.5 cm all round. Single line spacing is fine. (4) Submission is via Canvas by 11 Apr 2025 (Fri) (11.59pm). (5) IMPORTANT: Please write your name on both the filename and inside the document. Submit only one file. Do not submit multiple versions or formats. (6) Generative AI or other online tools may be used only for guidance where appropriate - please do not copy any portions as this will incur significant grading penalties. Refer to Business school teaching case study: Unilever chief signals rethink on ESG (ft.com) Question 1 (Topical Application) [Total=12 marks] This question is based on information available or inferred from the case. (1a) What is the crux of the ESG rethink at Unilever - why? {6 marks} (1b) Briefly discuss the strengths and weaknesses of Unilever in the environmental and/or social aspects of sustainability prior to the rethink. {6 marks} Question 2 (Dynamic Extension) [Total=13 marks] This question is based on the case and other current information sourced beyond the case. The time frame now is March 2025. (2a) The world of sustainability has changed with the new US presidency. Referring to Unilever and beyond, what are the critical challenges of sustainability for businesses in the new era? {7 marks} (2b) Select one Asian country market that Unilever is currently operating in or considering to enter. What are key concerns in the existing or new sustainability regulation for the country market that Unilever will face? {6 marks}
Building Our Digital World: Computer Systems and Architecture COMP1860 Activity Sheet 2.4 This worksheet contains a combination of formative activities (which contribute towards your learning) and summative activities (which you will complete and submit to be assessed as part of your portfolio). Every exercise marked with a red border is a summative exercise and must be submitted as part of your portfolio. You should use PebblePad to submit portfolio activities. In addition, you may be required to submit other activities — the module teaching staff will provide instructions. Activities marked by (*) are advanced, and may take some time to complete. Expectations: 1. Timeliness You should complete all of the activities in the order provided and submit your portfolio evidence on PebblePad before the completion date (Friday, 28/02/2025, at 17:00). 2. Presentation You should present all of your work clearly and concisely following any additional guidance provided by the module staff in the module handbook. 3. Integrity You are responsible that the evidence you submit as part of your portfolio evidence is entirely your own work. You can find out more about academic integrity on the Skill@library website. All work you submit for assessment is subject to the academic integrity policy. Feedback: Feedback on formative activities will be provided via Lab classes and tutorials. Feedback on evidence submitted as part of the portfolio will be available on PebblePad. Support opportunities: Support with the activity sheet is available in the Lab classes and tutorials. Individual support is available via the online booking system. Expected time for completion: 2-3 hours. Expected complete date: Friday, 28/02/2025, at 17:00 Coursework summary In the last activity sheet, you wrote several simple programmes for the Hack Virtual Machine language using arithmetic and logic operations on the stack and branching. In this activity sheet, you will be implementing a single, more complex programme using function calls. In addition to the lecture slides on the Hack Virtual Machine and the material for Activity Sheet 2.3, useful references for this activity sheet are [1, Chap. 8] and the corresponding YouTube videos by the authors. Learning outcomes On completion of this activity sheet, you will have: 1. implemented programmes that utilise the stack machine to realise function calls; 2. designed and implemented programmes for the Hack Virtual Machine that feature function calls; and 3. utilised a simulator of the Hack Virtual Machine to test and debug such programmes. Instructions Please submit your Sys.vm file to the Activity Sheet 2.4 assessment on Gradescope. To complete this activity sheet, your solution to the portfolio question will need to pass at least 75% of the tests. When this happens, Gradescope will return an 8-character string for you to add as evidence in the PebblePad workbook for this activity sheet. Outline. This activity sheet will help you develop a function for the Hack Virtual Machine that compute the range of an array of signed integers. The range of an array is the absolute value of the difference between the largest and smallest element in the array. These are the steps to follow in order to compute the range of the array a0, ai , . . . , an. 1. Find amin, the minimum element in the array. 2. Find amax, the maximum element in the array. 3. Compute the range as amax − amin. For example, the range of the array [1, 2, -1, 4, 9] is 9 − (−1) = 10, and the range of the array [-2, -4, -3, -9] is −2 − (−9) = 7. The steps below will guide you in the development of this more complex project. You can use the supplied file Sys.vm as a skeleton for your final submission – you can do things differently, but you should ensure that your Sys.vm runs as expected with the supplied Sys.tst. Otherwise, your submission might not work as expected on Gradescope. 1. Implement the function Sys.min, which computes the minimum of the two values at the top of the stack. You can test your implementation in the emulator by changing the function definition of Sys.init in Sys.vm to: function Sys.init 0 push constant 4 push constant 2 call Sys.min 2 This code will push 4 and 2 onto the stack, and the call to Sys.min should leave 2 at the top of the stack. 2. Implement the function Sys.max, which computes the maximum of the two values at the top of the stack. You can test your implementation in the emulator by changing the function definition of Sys.init in Sys.vm to: function Sys.init 0 push constant 4 push constant 2 call Sys.max 2 This code will push 4 and 2 onto the stack, and the call to Sys.max should leave 4 at the top of the stack. 3. Implement the function Sys.range, which computes the range of an array. This functions expects two arguments (in this order): ❼ the memory address of the first element in the array; and ❼ the number n of elements in the array. If n ≤ 1, then the function Sys.range must return 0 as range. The array may contain non-positive values, and a value may appear in the array multiple times. The steps to follow to implement this functions are as follows. (a) Compute the minimum and maximum value in the array, using the functions Sys.min and Sys.max that you have defined above. (b) Push the maximum and minimum to the stack and compute their difference. You can test your implementation in the emulator by using the test script. Sys.tst provided. References [1] Noam Nisan and Shimon Schocken. The Elements of Computing Systems: Building a Modern Computer from First Principles. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, second edition, 2005. The book is available to view and down-load at https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/leeds/detail.action?docID=6630880. Additional material is available at https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/elements-computing-systems.
VISUALISATION PROJECT ASSIGNMENT 22579: Data Visualization and Business Communication (Autumn 2025) 1. General Information 1.1. Task Overview The 22579 Visualisation Project 2025 assignment refers to the case study specification below. The ability to analyse data, answer questions, document activities, and generate reports reflects the practice of business students in this assignment, which contributes to the graduate attributes, business knowledge and concepts, analytical skills, communication, and interpersonal skills, attitudes, and values, as well as business practice-oriented skills. The assignment requires you to analyse problems using Tableau / MS Excel OR Power BI, answer questions and document them, and generate an interactive dashboard. You also must submit PowerPoint slides and a Project Management Report. 1.2. Deliverables a) Tableau File or Power BI file, Report (Word file), PowerPoint slides and Timesheet (Excel) You must analyse data using Tableau OR Power BI and document each step with screenshots of what they are doing and answering questions. The lecturer will assess the performance of individuals based on the analysis; the answers provided the documentation of the individual steps, and the quality of the reports that must be produced. The formal quality of the reports does impact the mark. The case study assignment also assesses your problem-solving capacity. The final tableau(s) files/Power BI files(s), Excel/doc files, PowerPoint presentations, and documentation (Project Report) created must be submitted through Canvas. b) Project Management Report Each of you must prepare and submit a Project Management Report, which consists of: Part 1: Project Plan: You must describe the steps you will take in doing the Visualisation Project, including the tools and techniques used, the timeframe. and an estimate, and how long you think each task will take. You must also keep and hand in a timesheet. Part 2: Implementation Documentation: You must generate an interactive visualisation dashboard and communicate the dataset's insights and findings to the specified audience. You must also think about potential questions, the audience might ask and answer them, you must also create a report and PowerPoint presentation as well as keep and hand in a time sheet. (a) a signed cover sheet that includes the standard content like subject name, subject number, date, your name and your student ID as well as a word count and the following statement of plagiarism and copyright I have read and understood the statement of plagiarism and copyright in the subject outline. I'm fully aware that plagiarism and other breaches of academic integrity will be penalised when proven, following the UTS Student Rules. I declare solemnly that my contribution to this group assignment is neither copied nor plagiarised. Student ID – Student Name – Student Signature (b) A response to the specific tasks /documentation requirements/questions raised in the case study specifications – . (c) assumptions made, anything notable, problems encountered, and solutions found. c) Submission and Due Dates a) Submission The Project Management Report and files must be submitted through Canvas. In subject 22579 DVBC, Assignment and Visualisation Project folders are set up for the submission of (i) files and (ii) Project Management Reports. The plagiarism software Turnitin is used to evaluate the authenticity of the work. Late submissions are subject to a penalty of 5% per day for up to seven calendar days. Work submitted after seven business days is given zero marks. b) Due Dates Part 1 – Project Plan: 23:59 on 3rd April 2025 Part 2 – Project management report, Tableau files OR Power BI, Excel/Doc File and PowerPoint slides The Tableau files/Power BI files, Google Sheets (Excel), and the Project Management Report are due at 23.59 on Thursday, May 8th, 2025. The presentation is due in class on May 14th, 2025. Please Note: • Submission per email will not be accepted. 1.3. Guideline for Project Management Report a) Purpose The purpose of the Project Management Report Part 1 is to provide information about what you are doing (planning instrument) and the Project Management Report Part 2 is to document (incl. screenshots) the process and to answer the questions. b) Format The recommendations, which are given in the Faculty of Business “Guide to Writing Assignments”, do apply. Some further hints: • The report (part 2) should have an introduction and a main part. A summary/conclusion is optional. An executive summary is not required. • The use of resources (references) other than the provided assignment specification and appropriate quoting/referencing are required when using knowledge from authors other than the group members. • The formal quality of the reports does contribute to the mark. • The format should be as outlined in 1.2.2. c) Resources The required resources for this assignment are: • The Case Study Specification (this document) • Legacy files (MS Excel) (links available in the document). • The required Software (tableau/Power BI) is available in all general access computer labs at UTS. This assignment is open book, i.e., students can consult books, course notes, individual notes, and the World Wide Web, but must cite correctly. Additional resources: • Faculty of Business (current version, 2020), Guide to Writing Assignments, Faculty of Business, University of Technology, Sydney (available on Canvas). • Emerson, L. (2022), Writing Guidelines for Business Students, 6th Edition, Cengage Learning Australia. 1.4. File naming conventions& version control (keeping copies). a. YYYYMMDD _ student ID_last name, YYYY stands for year, MM stands for months, and DD stands for day. b. Whenever you start working again on a file, you make a copy and change the date. So, you always have a backup copy in case something goes wrong. You must keep all your copies and be able to show them to your lecturer if requested. 1.5. General Remark on Project Work a. Information from the Case Study Specification may be missing. Please search on the internet or make reasonable assumptions. You must mention and justify them in the Project Management Report (see 1.2.2). b. You can work through the tasks in any order you think is appropriate. c. This assignment reflects a real-world scenario: At work … . a. Not all instructions may be 100% clear! b. not all information is neatly in one place! You need to look for information! c. You might need to make reasonable assumptions, so use common sense. d. you need to work in groups, coordinate the time and manage the group. e. Your success depends on the effort you put into the assignment and what you deliver at the end. 2. The Case Study Specification This year, the individual projects are all in the German airline industry business segment, the German Lufthansa Group. Your task is to analyse the data provided for one business segment and compare it to the overall Lufthansa Group performance, generate six different analyses/charts on other sheets, and integrate them into an interactive dashboard. You can also compare your business segment to another one if you wish. Furthermore, you need to generate four potential questions from your audience and answer them in your document. Your audience is the head of the segment, and they have an analytical background. You can use either Tableau or PowerBI to generate the analysis and visuals. You can download the Excel spreadsheets with some financial information from the link/website provided. You cannot copy any charts from the internet if provided/found. If you use additional information from another source, please include the source in the resources. On the website (Lufthansa Group), you will find more information about the economy, etc., that will help you tell the story. Go and explore. You need to make a three-minute presentation, telling the story to the segment's head. What is the most important thing they should take away from your presentation? For your presentation, you must prepare slides. Furthermore, you must prepare two reports: Project Report Part 1: That is your project plan. In that report, you must include what date/(timeframe) you plan to do. So, you describe in chronological order (timestamp) step by step the activities you need to do to complete the whole project. This can be done in tabular format. Please include time estimates. How long do you think the particular task will take? Project Report Part 2: This is the documentation of your project. Time sheet. Please record all the time you spend on the project. It is a good practice for any consultant to keep a timesheet, as the customer has to pay for their hours. The reports need to be presented in business format. They should have a cover sheet, headings, subheadings, page numbers, and a reference/literature list. Please have a look at the earlier pages of this document.
M374M Take-Home Exam #2 1) (11pt) Consider (a) Sketch the nullclines, and the direction of orbits in all regions separated by the nullclines. (b) Find the equilibria and classify their type and stability using the Jacobian. 2) (13pt) In dimensionless form, a model for a thermo-chemical reaction is given below, where u ≥ 0 is the concen- tration of the reactant, q ≥ 0 is the temperature, and k > 0 is a parameter. (a) Find the single equilibrium of the system. (b) Determine the type and stability of the equilibrium for each k > 0. (c) Find a trapping region R and a value k# and show that periodic orbits exist in R for k > k# . (The boundary of R may contain arcs of solution curves; any such arcs should be specified.) 3) (13pt) Consider εx3 + 3εx2 + 2x + 1 = 0, where 0 < ε ≪ 1 is a parameter. Find a two-term perturbation approximation of each of the three roots x(ε). 4) (13pt) In dimensionless form, a model for the vertical motion of a projectile in a non-constant gravity field is given below, where u is the height above ground level, and 0 ≤ ε ≪ 1 is a parameter. (The case ε = 0 is a constant gravity model, whereas ε > 0 is Newton’s inverse-square law.) (a) Find a perturbation approximation of u(t, ε) up to and including terms of order O(ε). (b) Plot u versus t ∈ [0, 2.5] for the cases ε = 0 and ε = 0.1 and numerically determine the total fiight time for each case. Compared to the ε = 0 case, what is the percent change in the fiight time when ε = 0.1?
