ULMS 766 RESIT OCTOBER EXAMINATIONS 2021 Marketing Management 1. Is marketing a philosophy or business function? Critically discuss. 2. Critically evaluate how an understanding of the 4Ps (product, place, price, promotion) might benefit an organization's marketing effort. 3. While segmentation is a good idea in principle, in practice it can have many pitfalls. Critically discuss this statement. 4. 'Marketing managers need to know how customers feel about their offerings'. Discuss 5. How does market research and intelligence help marketing managers in their quest to understand the consumer?
CIV2235—STRUCTURAL MATERIALS Week 4 Practice Class Properties of Hardened Concrete QUESTION 1: Select the appropriate option as answer and write down in the answer sheet (5 marks each) 1. The ability of the structure to provide a comfortable environment is called a) Durability b) Sustainability c) Serviceability d) Structural integrity 2. Strength of concrete increases with a) increase in water-cement ratio b) increase in fineness of cement c) decrease in curing time d) decrease in size of aggregate 3. Which of the following statements is true regarding the effect of crushed aggregates on the strength of concrete? a) For a concrete member made of OPC and crushed aggregates, strength is less than that of a concrete member made of OPC and gravel aggregates. b) For a concrete member made of RHPC and crushed aggregates, strength is less than that of a concrete member made of OPC and gravel aggregates. c) The effect of crushed aggregates on strength is more in a concrete member made of RHPC compared to that made of OPC. d) None of the above 4. When is the drying shrinkage measured by the certified laboratory? a) After 7 days b) After 28 days c) After 1 year d) None of the above 5. The drying shrinkage in concrete can be reduced by --- a) Decreasing the aggregate’s elasticity modulus b) Increasing the w/c ratio c) Increasing the aggregate content d) None of the above 6. Maximum allowed shrinkage strain in normal concrete as per AS1379, is a) 1 µε b) 10 µε c) 100 µε d) 1000 µε 7. Which of the following statements is wrong about the concrete mixer? a) It distributes the concrete uniformly during mixing, discharging and agitating b) It uses one specific speed during mixing, discharging and agitating c) The mixed concrete inside the mixer is normally less than 65% of the mixer’s volume d) None of the above 8. The design shrinkage in AS3600 standard is the sum of a) Autogenous shrinkage strain and the drying shrinkage b) Plastic shrinkage strain and the drying shrinkage c) Plastic shrinkage strain and the thermal shrinkage d) Autogenous shrinkage strain and the plastic shrinkage strain QUESTION 2: Write BRIEF answers for the following questions. 1. List the three of the most important structural engineering properties of hardened concrete. For each of the 3 properties, outline the major factors affecting each of these mechanical properties. (12 marks) 2. Discuss which hardened property the most common concrete test measures and why it is important. (10 marks) 3. Describe two types of time-dependent deformation that occur in concrete and their mechanism. (8 marks) 4. A cylinder concrete sample with a diameter of 150 mm and the height is 300 mm. (i) In splitting tensile test, the sample failed at a load of 300 kN and displacement of 0.3 mm. Calculate the tensile strength of concrete. (4 marks) (ii) In compressive strength test, the sample failed at a load of 468 kN and displacement of 0.58 mm. Calculate the failure strength and failure strain. (4 marks) (iii) Why an aspect ratio of 2 is adopted here to conduct the compressive strength test? (2 marks) 5. A concrete sample with a theoretical thickness of 37.5 mm. The characteristic compressive strength at 28 days is 50 MPa. The final basic drying shrinkage is 800×10-6. (i) Calculate the dry shrinkage at 1000 days if we assume the sample is in interior environment. (8 marks) (ii) Calculate the autogenous shrinkage at 1000 days. (8 marks) (iii) Calculate the total design shrinkage strain at 1000 days. (4 marks)
5QQMN532 Asset Management Tutorial 1 Practical applications that involve working out fund returns for investors and a case study of a UK fund Question 1 Consider UK Investment Trust, a closed-end fund devoted to finding undervalued, thinly traded stocks. The table shows the NAV and premiums (discounts) relative to NAV indicated by + (-). Period 0 is the initiation date. Assume the investor paid no front-loaded fees when buying the stocks. a) Calculate the return per period for an investor who bought 100 shares of UK Investment Trust at the fund initiation date and sold the position at the end of Period 4? b) What is the average growth rate of the NAV over that same period? c) Calculate the return for another investor who bought 100 shares in UK Investment Trust at the end of Period 1 and sold his position at the end of Period 2. d) What is the growth rate in NAV between Period 1 and 2? Question 2 How do you rate ( / ) the suitability of open-end and closed-end investment companies for the following investment strategies. Question 3 You are an advisor at King’s Wealth Management. You have been approached by a client who wishes to invest a significant share of her wealth in Asian equities. Your client tells you she believes Asia’s economic growth potential far outstrips that of other markets which is why she is looking to invest in a broad Asian portfolio. You are considering purchasing Asia Dragon Trust on behalf of your client. Using the Morningstar report for Asia Dragon Trust (uploaded on Keats), answer the following questions: a) Is Asia Dragon Trust an open or closed-end fund? b) Who are the fund managers and fund management company? c) Which benchmark is the performance measured against? d) How would you invest in the fund and what costs would your client pay to buy into the fund? e) What costs would your client pay on an ongoing basis? f) Your investor buys at 524 p. If the fund’s net asset value falls by 6% and the fund sells on a discount of 15%, what is the return? Assume no dividends are paid. g) Can you think of better alterna ives that meet your client’s preferences? Feel free to search morningstar.co.uk or other websites to make alternative investment suggestions for your client.
Corporate Finance FIN 5063 SPRING 1 - 2025 Course Description: This course focuses on the financial management of both publicly held and private corporations. Students are presented with a conceptual framework for addressing problems commonly faced by corporate decision makers and are provided opportunities to apply these concepts to contemporary business situations. Topics covered include but are not limited to: time value of money, the relationship between risk and return including the capital asset pricing model, the valuation and role of debt and equity, capital budgeting/project evaluation techniques, cost of capital, cash flow estimation, project risk analysis, real options, company valuation, and capital structure decisions. Learning Outcomes: Upon completion of this course, the student should be able to: 1. Assess the role of financial markets and institutions in allocating capital across the economy. (LO1) 2. Compare advantages and disadvantages of different sources of corporate funds. (LO2) 3. Evaluate projects based on expected annual cash flows, and a given discount rate. (LO3) 4. Estimate equity beta for public and private companies, the cost of debt and equity, and the resulting cost of capital. (LO4) 5. Examine the relationship between ethics, social responsibility, government regulation, and maximizing shareholder wealth. (LO5) Prerequisites: None Required Text: Higgins, R, Koski, J, & Motton, T. (2023). Analysis for Financial Management (13th ed) McGraw-Hill. Connect Access is required for this course. Other Materials: All other materials are provided within the course. Refer to the References section of the syllabus for additional details on course materials. Course Requirements: Learners are expected engage with all learning materials, participate in activities, and submit all assessments. Attendance/Participation: All students are expected to log in to their courses regularly throughout the week to receive instruction, materials, and updates from the instructor. It is your responsibility to check in and submit your assignments, complete your discussion board postings, and finish quizzes and exams by the due dates. If you do not participate in the course, you will be counted absent. Simply logging in is not enough; you must submit/complete an assignment, post to a discussion board, or other similar assignment tasks to avoid being counted absent. Instructors are required to submit attendance the Monday following each week of class. This attendance is reported to the Financial Aid Department and may result in the loss of any financial aid refund you are expecting if you have not been participating in your courses. In addition, you will be administratively dropped from the course if you are reported absent a total of three weeks. Students are required to demonstrate class attendance by regular participation in all of the assigned activities and assignments, during each week of the class. Grading/Evaluation: Category Overall Course Grade Weight Points Discussions (7 @ 20 pts) 140 Quizzes (1 @ 40, 1 @ 30, 5 @ 20) 170 Application Problems (2 @ 40, 5 @ 20) 180 Writing Assignment (1 @ 40) 40 Course Project Paper 100 Course Project Presentation 100 Total 100% 730 Trine Graduate Grading Scale: Grade Percentage Quality Points Meaning of Grade A 93-100 4.0 Excellent B+ 86-92 3.5 Very Good B 81-85 3.0 Good C+ 75-80 2.5 Above Average C 70-74 2.0 Average (lowest passing grade) F 00-69 0.0 Failure I Incomplete Not figured into GPA IP In Progress (grade deferred) Not figured into GPA W Withdrawal Withdrawal before completion of 80% of semester WP Withdrawal Withdrawal after completion of 80% of semester issued only under special circumstances and with approval of the department chair/director
Customer Analytics MKTG 462 — Winter 2025 Course Objectives Customer Analytics explores how businesses can leverage data analytics to understand and market to individual customers effectively. In today’s data-driven environment, marketing is transforming from an art into a science. Many companies collect extensive information about consumer behaviors and reactions to marketing campaigns but lack the expertise to derive actionable insights. This course bridges that gap, teaching students how to approach marketing scientifically through the application of data analytics to customer-level data. Students will gain hands-on experience with tools such as data, and analytics to collect, analyze, and act on customer information. While quantitative methods are central to the course, the primary goal is to develop competency in managing and interacting with marketing analytics teams rather than mastering advanced statistics. This foundational skill set enables students to take advantage of the potential of Big Data for impactful decision-making within the realm of marketing. Learning Objectives By the end of this course, students will be able to: 1. Understand the Analytics Process: o Identify marketing challenges that can be addressed using data analytics. o Select the appropriate analytical methods for specific marketing problems. 2. Conduct Analyses Using R: o Apply statistical and machine learning methods in R to solve real-world marketing challenges. o Work with datasets to perform. end-to-end analysis. 3. Interpret and Act on Analytical Results: o Translate complex data insights into actionable marketing strategies. o Support data-driven decision-making in areas like customer targeting, product recommendations, purchasing predictions, and customer retention. 4. Develop Practical Expertise: o Gain hands-on experience with tools and techniques applicable immediately in a professional setting. Course Format The course employs a mix of lectures, readings and assignments to ensure comprehensive learning. Students will explore all stages of the analytics lifecycle: · Identifying marketing problems suitable for analytics. · Choosing the right analytical method for each problem. · Conducting analyses using R. · Interpreting findings and translating them into actionable marketing strategies. Focus Areas This course specifically emphasizes the use of individual-level customer data to: · Target customers effectively. · Recommend products tailored to their preferences. · Predict purchasing patterns and behaviors. · Develop strategies for long-term customer retention. For students interested in other marketing analytics topics, such as: · Automated product development, · Algorithmic price optimization, · Online advertising, · Platform. design, · Social media analytics, we recommend additional courses in the Foster Marketing Analytics Specialization: · Analytics for Marketing Decisions · Digital Marketing Analytics · Pricing Strategy and Analytics Course Organization The business challenges explored in this course often require us to predict individual customer behaviors. Examples include forecasting customer responses to specific offers, estimating how much a customer will enjoy a product, or identifying customers at risk of canceling their service. To address these prediction problems, we will leverage a diverse set of modern analytical methods, including: · Heuristic models: RFM (Recency, Frequency, Monetary) analysis · Statistical models: Linear regression and logistic regression (logit) models, causality tools · Machine learning & AI models: Neural networks, decision trees, and ensemble methods · Algorithmic models: Recommendation systems While the focus is on applying these methods within the domain of customer analytics, these tools are versatile and can be adapted to solve problems in a wide range of data-driven contexts. Grading Policy and Assignments The final grade in this course will be based on the following components: 30% Individual homework assignments (3×10% each) 56% Group homework assignments (4 × 14% each) 7% Group contribution 7% Class participation In all elective courses at Foster, the distribution of final grades must satisfy school-wide requirements. Grades will be curved accordingly at the end of the quarter. Assignments Assignments are a crucial component of this course and are designed to enhance your learning through both individual and group work. Assignment Guidelines 1. Individual Assignments: o Must be completed independently. o Collaboration with other students is not permitted, and your write-up should reflect your own work exclusively. 2. Group Assignments: o Work in self-selected groups of 2–4 students. o Only one write-up per group should be submitted. o Groups should be formed at the beginning of the quarter and remain consistent throughout the course. Skills Developed Through Assignments This course emphasizes the dual skills necessary for fluency in analytics: · Data Analysis: Using R to analyze customer data. · Managerial Communication: Translating analytical insights into actionable recommendations for a managerial audience. Assignments will require a combination of programming proficiency, statistical understanding, and strategic intuition to craft solutions and recommendations for real-world business challenges. Peer Rating and Group Contributions To ensure fairness and accountability in group assignments: · At the end of the quarter, each student will submit a confidential Peer Rating Form evaluating their group members. o Exceptional contributions (e.g., leadership roles) will enhance a student’s class participation and group contribution score. o Insufficient contributions may negatively impact a student’s participation score. Submission and Deadlines · Assignments are due at the start of the class on the assigned due date. · We will discuss each assignment in class on the day it is due. · Late submissions will not be accepted, as timely discussions depend on everyone submitting their work on time. Attendance and class participation: Learning to articulate your analysis and to evaluate and respond to the analysis of others is an important part of what you will learn in this class. During the quarter, I will randomly do class participation activities. The nature of class participation would be based on three occasions where I ask students present in the class to form. a few teams and write their ideas to a class discussion subject and then we will discuss them in the class shortly. Each participation has a score of up to 3.5 points, where top two participations counts towards the 7% score for the discussion. In other words, it is ok if you miss one of the class participation activities. Thus, attendance is highly encouraged.
Microeconomics I Essay 2024 /25 Government Intervention in the Market for Vapes Write an essay of no more than 1200 words (no headings or sections) on the following scenarios and questions Assume a country in which many people use vapes containing nicotine. There are health concerns because of this. Researchers estimate that : Supply of Vapes is given by: QS = 0.1P - 2 And Demand for Vapes is given by: QD = 40 – 0.05P P is in pence per millilitre [ml] (eg P = 100: = 100 pence/ml = £1/ml) and: Qs and QD are quantity of vape (in thousands of litres) supplied/demanded in the country per year There are 1000 millilitres in a litre. Eg Q=50 : = 50 000 litres, = 50 000 000 (50 million) millilitres Assume: • all vapes are homogenous (no variation in active content) • the vape market is competitive, and all producers are price takers. 1. Create and explain a diagram showing Demand and Supply curves and showing market-clearing Price (P) and Quantity (Q) and Producer Surplus (PS) and Consumer Surplus (CS). [10%] The Government imposes a tax on sales (paid by the seller) of Vapes at a fixed rate of 150 pence per ml of vape 2. Create a diagram showing how this tax changes the market-clearing equilibrium. Explain (in terms a non-economist can understand) if / how the tax changes supply and demand curves. [10%] 3. Create a diagram showing the changes in P, Q, PS, CS and Tax Revenue after the tax has been imposed. Calculate and explain: • price paid by consumers and price received by producers • changes in PS and CS at equilibrium. Explain the diagram (in terms a non-economist can understand) [20%] 4. Critically discuss the impact of the tax, highlighting strengths and weaknesses. What effects, in addition to those shown in your diagrams, might occur because of its imposition. [25%] Researchers discover the relationship between price and demand for vapes used above is incorrect, in fact the Q demanded is given by: QD = 80 – 0.1P 5. Create a diagram showing (the changes in) demand curve, P, Q and PS, CS and Tax Revenue after the tax has been imposed. Explain how and why this change will affect the tax incidence compared to the initial result. [25%] [10%] will be awarded for the quality of the writing and structure. V3.0 Reading: The primary reading for this essay is Core Chapters 8 and 10, and lectures 13 - 15. Please ensure you have read those chapters and watched those lectures first. You can also refer to other textbooks, for example: • Acemoglu et al Chapters 9 (available via Kortext, via Bb) • Goolsbee et al., Chapter 17 (available via Kortext, via Bb) Some additional research/reading could inform. your answer to Q4. Questions? 1. Check this document, including the FAQ below 2. Join the Zoom session on Mon 2nd December at 5pm (you can post questions for that Zoom session via this Padlet) 3. After the Zoom session, use Piazza Note 1: Reading This is an opportunity to develop and exhibit your understanding of, and ability to explain, Econ concepts. We are not expecting you to do a huge amount of additional research on the topics covered by the essay. Some additional research/reading could inform. your answer to Q4. The expectation is that you use the concepts and frameworks covered in Micro I, especially Core Units 8 and 10, lectures 13-15, Tutorial 6. Note 2: Diagrams Your diagrams must be electronically produced (see FAQ below). They can either be precise (eg created in Excel) or schematic (like the example below) with the values approximately to scale (no difference in marking based on which type you use). Guidance and FAQ You should submit your essay via Turnitin on Blackboard (Assessment folder) by 2pm Wednesday January 15th 2025 Late submission incurs mark penalties. The essay should be anonymous – your names should not appear anywhere, only your registration ID number. Marking Criteria You are strongly advised to consult the Economics UG marking criteria (See Essay folder on Bb) My Learning Essentials You are strongly advised to consult the advice and resources (direct and virtual) regarding academic writing and referencing available at MLE: https://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/training/my-learning-essentials/ Length Maximum Length: 1200 words excluding references (this is a precise limit, no + X%) There is a penalty for exceeding the word count. A word count should be included before the Reference Section (see later in this document) Further guidance is appended.
January Assessment 2024 Assessment paper and instructions to candidates: SP401 - Understanding Policy Research 2023/24 syllabus only (not for resit candidates) Instructions to candidates This paper contains FORTY-FIVE questions. Answer all questions. Marks available are written next to each question. You do not need to copy out the text of the question in your answer booklet. Just write the question number and letter, for example: 1 (a). The total exam is not expected to exceed 4,000 words. Time Allowed: This is a time limited assessment to be taken at anytime within a 24-hour window; you will have 3.5 hours to upload your script from the time of download. Upper word limit: 4,000 words You are supplied with: No additional materials Calculators: Calculators are not allowed in this exam • Specify the question numbers that you answered in the boxes provided on the coversheet for submission, where you are asked to do so. • If you include a graph, picture and/or table in your answer, this is not included in your overall word limit. If a graph/picture/table is included in the appendices, it will not count towards your word limit. However, please note that appendices may not be read and will not be marked. Do not put essential material in an appendix. • Where possible, use the formatting provided. If you need to make formatting adjustments, please use a large font (for example Arial or Helvetica pt15, which can easily be read on a tablet), line spacing with a minimum of 1.5 lines, left alignment, and margins of about one inch (2.54cm) on all four sides of the page. • This is a time limited assessment to betaken at anytime within a 24-hour window; you will have 3.5 hours to upload your script from the time of download. The submission portal for this assessment will close at 12pm midday (GMT) Wednesday 10th January 2024. You are advised to spend no more than 3 hours completing this assessment (plus 15 minutes reading time); leave the last 15 minutes for preparing and uploading your work to Moodle. • If you have any queries during the assessment window, please email [email protected]. Please do not contact course convenors directly with any queries. We will take forward any relevant queries on your behalf. Please remember that you must not include any reference to your candidate number in your query. Any cohort-level responses will be communicated to all via Moodle announcements for each courses, where applicable. • In case of technical issues you should contact[email protected]with the subject heading: Assessment inquiry and course code. Please copy (CC) [email protected]to your email inquiry. Assessment questions SECTION I (10 POINTS) 1. Does digital literacy affect parents’ perceptions of access to childcare benefits in the Netherlands? (Hummel et al. 2023) In this statement, “digital literacy” is an example of a(n) … a. Explanatory variable b. Outcome variable c. Hypothesis d. None of the above (1 Mark) 2. In Pakistan, informal cultural practices determine welfare provision more than the decisions of formal bureaucrats. (Farwa & Henman 2023) In this statement, “welfare provision” is an example of a(n) … a. Explanatory variable b. Outcome variable c. Hypothesis d. None of the above (1 Mark) 3. Can social science provide policy-guidance without undermining some basic democratic values? (Thoma 2023) This statement is an example of a(n) … a. Explanatory variable b. Outcome variable c. Hypothesis d. None of the above (1 Mark) 4. An anti-corruption initiative in Uganda will prevent corruption only if the norms that encourage behaving with integrity are already sufficiently robust. (Buntaine et al. 2023) This statement is an example of a(n) … a. Explanatory variable b. Outcome variable c. Hypothesis d. None of the above (1 Mark) 5. Irregular workspaces, including bars and other sites at which yingchou (business drinking activities) takes place, are significant sites of sexual harassment in China. (Duan 2023) In this statement, “irregular workspaces” are an example of a(n) … a. Explanatory variable b. Outcome variable c. Hypothesis d. None of the above (1 Mark) 6. In the pandemic’s earliest months, European countries generally invested in parental welfare through paid leave schemes. However, Portugal restricted its paid leave welfare provision while it expanded provision across many other domains. (Daly & Ryu 2023) In this statement, Portugal is an example of a(n) … a. Typical case b. Deviant case c. Extreme case d. Diverse case e. Influential case (1 Mark) 7. In Quebec, neighbourhoods where parents compete for limited childcare slots generally suffer worse childcare quality. Poor neighbourhoods with limited childcare slots display both low and high childcare quality. (Chandler & Dilmaghani 2023) In this statement, poor neighbourhoods are an example of a(n) … a. Typical case b. Deviant case c. Extreme case d. Diverse case e. Influential case (1 Mark) 8. Economic crises usually produce uniform dissatisfaction with healthcare provision. But in Ireland, an economic crisis produced uneven dissatisfaction with healthcare provision: ideologically right-leaning survey respondents were much more dissatisfied than ideologically left-leaning respondents. (Popic & Burlacu 2022) In this statement, ideologically right-leaning respondents are an example of a(n) … a. Typical case b. Deviant case c. Extreme case d. Diverse case e. Influential case (1 Mark) 9. Healthcare mobilisation was particularly fast in India, which spurred subnational institutions in Brazil and the USA to follow suit. (Greer et al. 2022) In this statement, Indian government is an example of a(n) … a. Typical case b. Deviant case c. Extreme case d. Diverse case e. Influential case (1 Mark) 10.Although electoral strategy determined politicians’ willingness to enact police reform in Brazil and Argentina, police reform never materialised in Colombia despite its electoral promise. (González 2019) In this statement, Colombia is an example of a(n) … a. Typical case b. Deviant case c. Extreme case d. Diverse case e. Influential case (1 Mark) SECTION II (20 POINTS) Look at the following chart showing response rates to the UK Labour Force Survey (LFS). Notes. Initial interviews are sought from cohorts of eligible in-scope households in each quarter of the year. (The horizontal axis shows year-quarter.) Response rates refer to the fraction of eligible in-scope households in Great Britain that provide an interview each year-quarter (and exclude imputed cases). Interviews are sought from households at fve ‘waves’: the frst round of interviews per cohort is Wave 1, and further interviews are sought with the same households at each of the next four quarters (Waves 2–5). The Total response rate is the response rate averaged across all waves at each year-quarter. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey Performance and Quality Monitoring Report, 15 August 2023. 11. Is the design of UK LFS (a) cross-sectional, (b) longitudinal, or (c) repeated cross- sectional? (1 Mark) 12. Referring to the chart, write a brief commentary (up to 5 sentences maximum) about LFS response rates. (5 Marks) 13. Write a short commentary (up to 5 sentences maximum) about the implications of the response rate trends for the reliability of quantitative research based on the LFS. (5 Marks) 14. How might the UK ONS address the issues associated with non-response in the LFS to get reliable statistics about the UK labour market? (Write up to 6 sentences maximum.) (6 Marks) 15. Provide THREE examples of administrative record data. (3 Marks) SECTION III (20 POINTS) Imagine that all seven members of the SP401 Teaching Team conducted a multi-researcher ethnography during Welcome Week in September 2023. As part of that research activity, the instructors participated in the Welcome Week activities and spoke to members of the incoming MSc cohort — yes, that’s you! — and the instructors conferred together about their notes each evening. They wanted to learn how your cohort socialised, as a group, into self-identifying as “social policy researchers” over the course of that week. 16. Identify one of this research design’s ontological assumptions (2 Marks) 17. Identify one of this research design’s epistemological assumptions (2 Marks) 18. For each of the four criteria that govern the rigour of qualitative research — credibility, confirmability, dependability, and transferability — identify the most closely analogous criterion that governs the rigour of quantitative research. (4 Marks) Qualitative research Quantitative research Credibility - Transferability - Dependability - Confirmability - 19. Define respondent validation. (1 Mark) 20. Define triangulation. (1 Mark) 21. In four sentences or fewer, explain why triangulation strengthens a qualitative research study’s credibility. (3 Marks) 22. In what sense is an ‘extreme’ case similar to a ‘deviant’ case? In what sense are they different? (3 Marks) 23. In four sentences or fewer, define reflexivity and distinguish it from positionality. (4 Marks) SECTION IV (40 POINTS) In a recent randomized control trial conducted in a suburban school district, researchers aimed to assess the impact of modern technological interventions on student math performance. Two hundred students in the 10th grade were randomly assigned to either a treatment group or a control group. The treatment group received tablets loaded with interactive math software that adapted to each student's learning pace and provided instant feedback. In contrast, the control group continued with traditional textbook methods. The intervention lasted for a full academic year. At the end of the year, both groups took a standardized math exam to measure their performance. 24. What was the primary objective of the RCT conducted in the suburban school district? In your answer, be sure to specify the independent variable and the dependent variable. (3 Marks) 25. How did the learning resources differ between the treatment and control groups in the suburban school RCT? (2 Marks) 26. Describe two possible sources of selection bias that could have been present in this study. (4 Marks) 27. Describe two strategies the researchers could employ to address or mitigate the biases you described in your answer to Question 26. (4 Marks) 28. With specific reference to the suburban school RCT, describe two ethical limitations of RCTs. (4 Marks) 29. With specific reference to the suburban school RCT, describe two practical limitations of RCTs. (4 Marks) 30. With specific reference to the suburban school RCT, describe two methodological limitations of RCTs. (4 Marks) A mayor introduces a programme throughout her city that provides job training for people who have been unemployed longer than six months. Two years after the programme commenced, the city’s ten neighbourhoods have reported divergent unemployment trajectories: the eight smallest neighbourhoods have reported huge reductions in unemployment; the two largest neighbourhoods have reported small increases in unemployment. Nonetheless, the mayor arranges a press conference during which she celebrates city-wide success in reducing unemployment, and she attributes the reduction to the training programme she introduced. 31. Does logical causation support the mayor’s inference that the training programme was successful? Justify your answer in one sentence. (2 Marks) 32. Which set-theoretic research design describes a comparison of the unemployment trajectories between the ten neighbourhoods that received the training programme; ‘most- similar systems’ or ‘most-different systems’? Justify your answer in one sentence. (2 Marks) 33. Is a neighbourhood’s small size a necessary condition of the programme’s success? Justify your answer in one sentence. (2 Marks) 34. Describe and differentiate between the following approaches to evidence synthesis: (i) systematic review; (ii) rapid review assessment; and (iii) meta-analysis? (5 marks) 35. “It’s not possible to synthesize evidence from qualitative research.” To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement? Give reasons for your argument(s). (4 marks) SECTION V (10 POINTS) 36. A team of researchers hypothesises that introducing a new interactive teaching module in elementary schools will significantly enhance the mathematical abilities of students. They decide to test the effectiveness of this module by assessing the students' math scores before implementing the module and then comparing those scores to the scores obtained after a year of using the module. This research design can best be described as which of the following: a. A randomized controlled trial b. A quasi-experiment c. A pre-post design with no comparison group d. A correlational research design e. None of the above (1 Mark) 37. Justify your answer to Question 36 in one sentence: (1 Mark) 38. A team of researchers hypothesised that planting community gardens in urban neighbourhoods would lead to improved dietary habits among residents. They noted that the recent establishment of community playgrounds was closely associated with a neighbourhood’s decision to plant a garden, but wasn't directly related to dietary habits except through the presence of a community garden. The team used the variation in playground establishment to measure the local average treatment effect of community garden planting on dietary habits. This research design can best be described as which of the following: a. A randomized controlled trial b. A quasi-experiment c. A pre-post design with no comparison group d. A correlational research design e. None of the above (1 Mark) 39. Justify your answer to Question 38 in one sentence: (1 Mark) 40. A team of researchers posited that exposure to information and role models could diminish gender-based implicit bias. They randomly selected thirty undergraduate students to be exposed to these informational sessions and role models, while another set of thirty undergraduates from the same university went through standard orientation exercises. Subsequently, all sixty participants took an implicit bias test, and the outcomes were juxtaposed and evaluated. This research design can best be described as which of the following: a. A randomised controlled trial b. A quasi-experiment c. A pre-post design with no comparison group d. A correlational research design e. None of the above (1 Mark) 41. Justify your answer to Question 40 in one sentence: (1 Mark) 42. A researcher conducted an ethnography of how homelessness shapes the decision to apply for welfare benefits. The researcher approached, and lived with, unhoused people for an extended period of time. This research design can best be described as which of the following: a. A randomised controlled trial b. A quasi-experiment c. A pre-post design with no comparison group d. A correlational research design e. None of the above (1 Mark) 43. Justify your answer to Question 42 in one sentence: (1 Mark) 44. A team of researchers hypothesises that private tutoring increases children’s performance on standardised exams. The researchers gather information from administrative data about exam performance of children who completed a private tutoring programme. 45. This research design can best be described as which of the following: a. A randomised controlled trial b. A quasi-experiment c. A pre-post design with no comparison group d. A correlational research design e. None of the above 46.Justify your answer to Question 44 in one sentence: (1 Mark)
ULMS766 AUGUST EXAMINATIONS 2022 Marketing Management 1. Critically evaluate the view of Levitt that in order to understand and serve the needs and wants of their customers that organisations need to identify the industry they are situated in. 2. Discuss why the marketing mix has had to change over time in order to meet the changing nature of society. 3. ‘Positioning is the battle for the mind’. Evaluate the importance of profiling market segments in order to position a brand in the minds of target audiences. 4. Assess how an understanding of the psychology of target customers might help marketers to drive them through the descision making process (DMP). How might other factors have an impact on customers? 5. Qualitative methods of market research attempt to understand how customers think. Discuss the relevance of this approach in the modern past paced changing world.
5QQMN532 Asset Management Tutorial 2 Practical applications of structuring portfolios for different clients Question 1: Case studies of investor types and their preferences You are an investment advisor with three new private clients. You can use the template included below. You are provided with the information shown below and need to: a) Formulate the investment objectives and constraints for each client. b) Recommend which asset classes and investment strategy are most appropriate to each client c) Outline further questions you would need answered before you could arrive at a final strategy for each client Client 1 Has £300,000 to place under management. He has no other significant assets except for the house he lives in (he has already repaid the mortgage). The client is two years away from retirement and does not have a pension. Client 2 Has US$3 million to invest and lives in Grand Cayman. He has homes in the US, UK and Switzerland and a sizeable income from a laundry business. He wishes to take advantage of investing in alternative instruments and gain exposure to international markets. Client 3 Is an equity trader in a major financial center with US$10,000 a month to invest. Has no job security and is unlikely to be in one job long enough to accumulate a significant company pension. Has strong views on investment but is constrained by the compliance department of his employer on his choice of investments. Suggested framework for organising the answer in Question 1 for each client: RETURN RISK TIME HORIZON LIQUIDITY LEGAL TAX UNIQUE NEEDS INVESTMENT STRATEGY QUESTIONS Question 2 If the returns from two assets are: Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Asset A +5% +12% -8% Asset B +6% +5% +1% Calculate the a) the covariance between the two assets’ returns and b) the correlation between the two assets’ returns Assume the data shown are the population data. Question 3 A portfolio is 70% invested in an index fund and 30% in a risk-free asset. The index fund has a standard deviation of returns of 15%. Calculate the standard deviation for the total portfolio returns. Question 4 You are a wealth manager. One of your clients has $10 million invested in long-term corporate bonds. This bond portfolio’s expected annual rate of return is 9%, and the annual standard deviation is 10%. You try to persuade your client to invest in an index fund that closely tracks the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index. The index has an expected return of 14%, and its standard deviation is 16%. a) Suppose your client invests all her funds in a combination of the index fund and Treasury bills. Can the client improve her expected rate of return without changing the risk of his portfolio? The Treasury bill yield is 6%. b) Could you do even better by investing equal amounts in the corporate bond portfolio and the index fund? The correlation between the bond portfolio and the index fund is +0.1. Question 5 A portfolio is entirely invested in two assets, with standard deviations of 10% and 15%, respectively. The correlation between the assets is –1. What percentage of the portfolio should be invested in each asset to completely eliminate portfolio risk? Hint: to solve this, you will need to remember the binomial formula (a-b)2 = a2 + b2 – 2ab
159.352 Topic 4 — Exercises Sessions and cookies Here the important takeaway is the key difference between sessions and cookies—session variables are stored server-side and cookie variables are stored client-side. Sessions Starting with a simple server program, define a dictionary structure called sessiond. This will be used to store your server-side “session data”. Then . . . 1. Modify your server so that it will count the number of “hits” the server received—i.e. the number of times any client has accessed the site. 2. Modify further so that the session state data are saved when the server is stopped, and then restored when the server is restarted. 3. Modify further to track user authentication (username and password). If not authen- ticated, then direct to a login page. Note: this authentication mechanism is different from HTTP authentication. Cookies Low level support for HTTP cookies is available in the Python http.cookies module. Here we also make use of the datetime module. Again, starting with a basic server, make a simple cookie data object c = http .cookies .SimpleCookie() This will be used to store different cookies. Make a cookie with a name and value only. The value can be any string you like c [ ' grover ' ] = ' zaq1234 ' Make another cookie with an expiry date. First use the datetime module to get a date-time object to represent 30 days from NOW expires = datetime .datetime .utcnow() + datetime .timedelta(days=30) Now make the cookie and set the expiry date using an appropriate string format for the date c [ ' cookiemonster ' ] = ' dsh93373 ' c [ ' cookiemonster ' ][ ' expires ' ] = expires .strftime( "%a , %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S GMT " ) Now send send each cookie in an HTTP header. We need suitable string representations of these. This is done using “morsels”: for m in c .values(): print(m .OutputString()) self.send_header( ' Set-Cookie ' , m .OutputString()) Get all of this working in a server program and try connecting using a browser. Have a look at the headers that get exchanged. You can also write your own client using the request module and examine the cookies there. First get a session object and make a GET request to the server session = requests .Session() session .get( ' http://localhost:8080 ' ) We can then iterate through the cookies and examine their attributes, e.g.: for c in session .cookies : print(c .name , c .expires) As well as your own server, use your client to examine the cookies sent from other sites, e.g.: https://www. google . com https://www . nzherald . co . nz https://www . wikipedia . com Consider how you would modify your client to store cookies client-side, and send them back to the server.
ECON0016: Macroeconomic Theory and Policy Term 1, Problem set 1 1. The permanent income hypothesis and credit constraints How would households respond to an announcement at time t of a decrease in income at time t+1. (a) If households were not credit constrained · For this example assume initially the individual has no assets a = 0 so, if the individual expected income always to be y1, then initial consumption will be equal to y1 as in the diagram (the red lines are income, the heavy black line consumption) · At time t, when the announcement happens, individuals reduce their estimate of lifetime wealth and so the optimal level of consumption falls. · So at time t consumption is reduced and individuals save the difference between consumption and income from t to t+1 · Afterwards consumption is above income since individuals earn interest on the assets they accumulated between t and t+1 (b) In the presence of credit constraints · “credit” constraints are constraints on borrowing. No borrowing is needed in this example so consumption would be exactly as in (a) (c) If saving were not possible · Consumption would track income (d) What is the relation between consumption and current income for the two cases in (b) and (c)? What are the implications of this for the marginal propensity to consume and the multiplier? o Under the PIH consumption does not change when an expected change to current income occurs so the MPC is zero and the multiplier is one. o If households are unable to borrow or save, consumption tracks current income so the MPC is 1 and the multiplier is undefined. Remember the PIH is derived in terms of after-tax income so the multiplier is 1/t (e) This is what we discussed in class. To smooth consumption, you don’t need saving but borrowing. Therefore, credit constraint is important here. 2. The permanent income hypothesis example Assuming the real interest rate is 1%, calculate how consumption and borrowing would change in each of these two cases: (a) A stock market crash permanently reduces the value of an individual’s assets by 1000. (b) Households are told that in one year they will receive a one-off bonus of 1000. Then in one year’s time it is not paid. (a) If assets are reduced by 1000, the impact on lifetime wealth is (1+r)1000. The impact on consumption is r/(1+r) (1+r) 1000 = r1000 = 10. There is no change in borrowing/saving. (b) · The impact on lifetime wealth is the discounted value of the bonus 1/(1+r) *1000. · So, the impact on consumption = 1+r/r 1+r/1, i.e. the impact of the bonus is smoothed over the whole of the lifetime. · To consume extra this period, households borrow this amount. · If the bonus does not arrive, household assets will be permanently lower by the amount borrowed i.e. 9.8 i.e. lifetime wealth will be lower by (1+r) x 9.8 · So, consumption after one year (when the bonus is not paid) will be reduced from the initial level by the interest on this amount i.e. 1+r/r x (1+r) x 9.8 = 0.098. 3. The algebra of the IS curve (a) Write down an expression for the government spending multiplier when both consumption and investment depend on current income (hint: follow the steps on slide 8 and slide 9 of lecture 2) Consumption and investment are c = c0 + cyy + crr i = i0 + iyy + irr Aggregate demand is: ad = c + i + g = (c0 + i0) + (cy + iy)y + (cr + ir)r + g Imposing market clearing: y = ad Then collecting terms: So the government spending multiplier is (b) Is this multiplier larger or smaller than the one derived in the lectures? Explain why. Larger if iy > 0. The multiplier effect occurs because an initial increase in income causes consumption to rise which increases output and hence income further. If investment is sensitive to output too, there is another channel by which this happens so the multiplier is bigger. (c) Derive an expression for the IS curve (i.e. a relation between y and r) when both consumption and investment depend on current income Rearranging the expression above: y = (c0 + i0) + (cy + iy)y + (cr + ir)r + g We have Note: the intercept is positive as marginal propensity to consume+ invest, cy + iy, is less than 1. The slop is negative because cr < 0 and ir < 0.
ECE5550: Applied Kalman Filtering PARTICLE FILTERS 7.1: Numeric integration to solve Bayesian recursion ■ Recall from Chap. 4 that the optimal Bayesian recursion is to: Compute the pdf for predicting xk given all past observations Update the pdf for estimating xk given all observations via ■ If we knew how to compute these pdfs, then we could find any desired estimator; e.g., mean, median, mode, whatever. ■ So far, we have assumed that computing these pdfs is intractable, so have made approximations to arrive at the KF, EKF, and SPKF. ■ We now revisit this assumption. Numeric integration ■ The prediction step requires evaluating an integral. ■ Normalization of f (xk Zk ) via its denominator requires an integral ■ If state dimension n is large (e.g., n 3), evaluation of these multi- dimensional integrals may be impractical, even with modern CPUs. ■ Computation needed for a given precision scales exponentially with n. The particle filter will explore some clever ways to avoid this issue. But, first, we look at numeric integration for low-order problems. ■ Suppose that we wish to evaluate the definite integral ■ The rectangular rule approximates g(x) as piecewise constant. ■ Let Nr be the number of constant regions. ■ Then, the width of each region is w (xmax xmin)/Nr , and the integral can be approximated as ■ The trapezoidal rule approximates the function as piecewise linear. ■ The integral approximation is integral Application to Bayesian inference ■ Can write prediction step as ■ If we can compute this integral for every value of xk , can directly estimate posterior distribution f (xk Zk ). ■ Limiting factor is precision vs. speed: Each integral requires O(Nr ) calculations at each of Nr evaluation points, or O(Nr(2)) operations. TRACKING EXAMPLE: We wish to track time-varying xk for model xk+1 = αxk + wk zk = 0.1xk 3 + vk where wk ~ N(0,σw(2)) and vk ~ N(0,σv(2)) are mutually uncorrelated and IID. ■ For the prediction step, we numerically integrate to approximate ■ For the time-update step, we directly compute ■ Note that the process model gives us f (xk | xk-1) ~ N(αxk-1, σ2w) and the measurement model gives us f (zk | xk) ~ N (0.1xk 3 , σv 2 ). ■ For this example, let σw 0.2, σv 0.1, α 0.99, and x0 N(0,σw(2)). ■ Note that f (x0 Z0) needs to be specified, where ■ Since Z 1 is unknown, we assume f (x0 Z 1) f (x0) N(0,σw(2)). ■ Simulation run for 200 samples, range of integration from 3 to 3 with Nr 500 regions. ■ If we are able to find/approximate f (xk Zk ), we can compute mean, median, mode, whatever. Can plot these point estimates as functions of time. Alternately, can plot the sequence of distributions as a pseudo- color image (black is low probability; white is high probability). % Code originally based on Angle TrackingExample.m by James McNames % of Portland State University clear; close all; % Define User-Specified Parameters nSamples = 201; xMin = -3; xMax = 3; measurementNoiseSigma = 0 .1; processNoiseSigma = 0 .2; nRegions = 500; alpha = 0 .99; % Create Sequence of Observations from Model x = zeros (nSamples+1,1); % time [0 . .nSamples] z = zeros (nSamples ,1); % time [0 . .nSamples-1] x (1) = randn (1)*processNoiseSigma; % initialize x{0} ~ N(0,sigmaw^2) for k=1:nSamples x (k+1) = alpha*x (k) + randn (1)*processNoiseSigma; z (k ) = 0 .1*x (k)^3 + randn (1)*measurementNoiseSigma; end x = x (1:nSamples); % constrain to [0 . .nSamples-1] % Recursively Estimate the Marginal Posterior xIntegration = linspace (xMin,xMax,nRegions) . '; width = mean (diff (xIntegration)); zeros zeros zeros zeros zeros % initialize pdf for f(x{0}) prior = normpdf (xIntegration,0,processNoiseSigma); % compute f(z{0} |x{0}) *f(x{0} |Z{-1}) = f(z{0} |x{0}) *f(x{0}) posteriorFiltered(:,1) = normpdf (z (1),0 .1*xIntegration .^3, . . . measurementNoiseSigma) .*prior; % compute f(x{0} |Z{0})=f(z{0} |x{0}) *f(x{0} |Z{-1})/[normalizing cst] posteriorFiltered(:,1) = posteriorFiltered(:,1)/trapz (xIntegration, . . . posteriorFiltered(:,1)); for k=2:nSamples for cRegion=1:nRegions % find f(x{k}=x{i} |x{k-1}) for each x{i} % compute f(x{k} |x{k-1}) prior = normpdf (xIntegration (cRegion),alpha*xIntegration, . . . processNoiseSigma); % compute f(x{k} |Z{k-1})=integral[ f(x{k} |x{k-1}) *f(x{k-1} |Z{k-1}) ] posteriorPredicted(cRegion) = trapz (xIntegration, . . . prior .*posteriorFiltered(:,k-1)); end % compute f(z{k} |x{k}) likelihood = normpdf (z (k),0 .1*xIntegration .^3,measurementNoiseSigma); % compute f(x{k} |Z{k-1}) *f(z{k} |x{k}) posteriorFiltered(:,k) = likelihood .*posteriorPredicted; % normalize to get f(x{k} |Z{k}) posteriorFiltered(:,k) = posteriorFiltered(:,k)/trapz (xIntegration, . . . posteriorFiltered(:,k)); % Find median, 95% confidence interval percentiles = cumtrapz (xIntegration,posteriorFiltered(:,k)); iMedian = find(percentiles
N1577 Principles of Banking Seminar 1. Essentials Concepts in Banking Questions 1-28: Choose the correct answer to each question. 1) Financial markets promote economic efficiency by A) channeling funds from investors to savers. B) creating inflation. C) channeling funds from savers to investors. D) reducing investment. 2) Well-functioning financial markets promote A) inflation. B) deflation. C) unemployment. D) growth. 3) Markets in which funds are transferred from those who have excess funds available to those who have a shortage of available funds are called A) commodity markets. B) fund-available markets. C) derivative exchange markets. D) financial markets. 4) The process of indirect finance using financial intermediaries is called A) direct lending. B) financial intermediation. C) resource allocation. D) financial liquidation. 5) Which of the following can be described as direct finance? A) You take out a mortgage from your local bank. B) You borrow $2500 from a friend. C) You buy shares of common stock in the secondary market. D) You buy shares in a mutual fund. 6) Which of the following can be described as involving direct finance? A) A corporation takes out loans from a bank. B) People buy shares in a mutual fund. C) A corporation buys a short-term corporate security in a secondary market. D) People buy shares of common stock in the primary markets. 7) The price paid for the rental of borrowed funds (usually expressed as a percentage of the rental of $100 per year) is commonly referred to as the A) inflation rate. B) exchange rate. C) interest rate. D) aggregate price level. 8) Assume that you borrow $2000 at 10% annual interest to finance a new business project. For this loan to be profitable, the minimum amount this project must generate in annual earnings is A) $400. B) $201. C) $200. D) $199. 9) You can borrow $5000 to finance a new business venture. This new venture will generate annual earnings of $251. The maximum interest rate that you would pay on the borrowed funds and still increase your income is A) 25%. B) 12.5%. C) 10%. D) 5%. 10) Securities are for the person who buys them, but are for the individual or firm that issues them. A) assets; liabilities B) liabilities; assets C) negotiable; nonnegotiable D) nonnegotiable; negotiable 11) When an investment bank securities, it guarantees a price for a corporation's securities and then sells them to the public. A) underwrites B) undertakes C) overwrites D) overtakes 12) Secondary markets make financial instruments more A) solid. B) vapid. C) liquid. D) risky. 13) A liquid asset is A) an asset that can easily and quickly be sold to raise cash. B) a share of an ocean resort. C) difficult to resell. D) always sold in an over-the-counter market. 14) When secondary market buyers and sellers of securities meet in one central location to conduct trades the market is called a(n) A) exchange. B) over-the-counter market. C) common market. D) barter market. 15) A financial market in which only short-term debt instruments are traded is called the market. A) bond B) money C) capital D) stock 16) A debt instrument sold by a bank to its depositors that pays annual interest of a given amount and at maturity pays back the original purchase price is called A) commercial paper. B) a certificate of deposit. C) a municipal bond. D) federal funds. 17) A short-term debt instrument issued by well-known corporations is called A) commercial paper. B) corporate bonds. C) municipal bonds. D) commercial mortgages. 18) Which of the following financial intermediaries is NOT a depository institution? A) a savings and loan association B) a commercial bank C) a credit union D) a finance company 19) The primary liabilities of depository institutions are A) premiums from policies. B) shares. C) deposits. D) bonds. 20) institutions are financial intermediaries that acquire funds at periodic intervals on a contractual basis. A) Investment B) Contractual savings C) Thrift D) Depository 21) Which of the following is a contractual savings institution? A) a life insurance company B) a credit union C) a savings and loan association D) a mutual fund 22) Banks, savings and loan associations, mutual savings banks, and credit unions A) are no longer important players in financial intermediation. B) since deregulation now provide services only to small depositors. C) have been adept at innovating in response to changes in the regulatory environment. D) produce nothing of value and are therefore a drain on society's resources. 23) The time and money spent in carrying out financial transactions are called A) economies of scale. B) financial intermediation. C) liquidity services. D) transaction costs. 24) Reducing risk through the purchase of assets whose returns do not always move together is A) diversification. B) intermediation. C) intervention. D) discounting. 25) Banks can lower the cost of information production by applying one information resource to many different services. This process is called A) economies of scale. B) asset transformation. C) economies of scope. D) asymmetric information. 26) The Bank, N.A. accepts deposits from thousands of individuals and lends that money to (among others) the Stillwater Body Shop to expand their work bays. Which of the following roles is the bank performing? A) The intermediation role. B) The payment role. C) The risk management role. D) The guarantor role. 27) A financial crisis is A) not possible in the modern financial environment. B) a major disruption in the financial markets. C) a feature of developing economies only. D) typically followed by an economic boom. 28) The primary purpose of deposit insurance is to A) improve the flow of information to investors. B) prevent banking panics. C) protect bank shareholders against losses. D) protect bank employees from unemployment. 29) Corporations receive funds when their stock is sold in the primary market. Why do corporations pay attention to what is happening to their stock in the secondary market? 30) Discuss how banks create money. 31) Critically discuss relationship banking and transactional banking.
INFOSYS 110 Digital Systems (Exam) SEMESTER ONE, 2022 The Exam Case- Questions 1 to 4 and 6 to 8 in this exam are to be answered based on this Exam Case. Hitch - A Rideshare Company Every day 1.4 million Kiwis drive to work, and most of them drive alone. That’s 7 million seats, 5.5 million of which are empty. Public transport is not a suitable alternative for everyone, and that’s why Todd Foster and Claudia Grave started Hitch, a rideshare company that works with organisations to help their people carpool on their way to and from work. It’s carpooling with a difference, as people will only be matched with others from the same organisation. It means everyone will be going to the same office, and travelling with people they are more likely to know. For users it’s extremely simple. If your organisation uses Hitch, and you want to carpool tomorrow morning, you can submit a request by 7 pm the night before, and if you are matched with a person, you will be notified 30 minutes later. The next day, you meet at a specified point to begin your journey to work or uni. For the organisation, there is so much more than just helping their teams to carpool. One of the additional value for the organisation is a better understanding about its people’s preferences and their behaviour, and that all begins with the data collected by Hitch’s purpose built and customisable commuting tool, focusing on asking the right questions to get the right answers. Once Hitch has collected the right data, they can help organisations make sense of it. For example, understanding how an organisation’s people commute to work, and why they make such choices. Hitch’s detailed reporting dashboards set out all the information that the users need to know. Hitch’s systems are also able to calculate an accurate view of the organisation's total annual commute emissions. The calculations are completed in accordance with the Ministry of Environment guidelines. Hitch has started developing additional services for organisations as well. One of these is the ability for organisations to promote competitions between their people to encourage and reward sustainable commuting. Hitch is also working on bespoke dashboards that will allow everyone in the organisation to see a points leader board to see where they stack up. Organisations will be able to organise their own reward system for the people that carpool the most. 1 Question 1, Part i Hitch has the functionality of a Collaboration System. For each of the three forms of collaboration covered in class (Communication, Cooperation, and Coordination), suggest a corresponding specific example that can happen during a carpooling scenario with the use of Hitch (as outlined in the case) (3 marks). Provide a brief explanation why your suggestion is an example of each form of collaboration. (9 marks) Copy and paste the following answer template into the answer area, and type in your answers accordingly: An Example of Communication: Brief Explanation: An Example of Cooperation: Brief Explanation: An Example of Coordination: Brief Explanation: 2 Question 1, Part ii In the interface of Hitch, passengers can give a rating (out of 5 stars) to their driver as a quality evaluation. All ratings for each driver will then be summarised by a “system” and made available for relevant users on Hitch. Which of the four types of Collaboration Systems does such a “system” correspond to? (2 marks) Provide a brief explanation for your answer. (4 marks) Copy and paste the following answer template into the answer area, and type in your answers accordingly: The Corresponding Collaboration System: Brief Explanation: Fill in your answer here 3 Question 1, Part iii All data collected on Hitch are stored in a central Database. For one of Hitch’s client companies, the following table is maintained, recording each trip’s duration, name of the driver, and the average rating from the passengers in that trip: Identify two problems with Quality of Data in this table ( 1 mark). Justify your answer with a brief description ( 1 mark). Make one suggestion about the design of the database so that such problems with Quality of Data can be minimised or avoided. Provide a brief example. (4 marks). Copy and paste the following answer template into the answer area, and type in your answers accordingly: Problem 1: Brief Explanation: Problem 2: Brief Explanation: One Suggestion for Improvement: 4 Question 2, All Parts Even though Hitch is operating in a niche market, several competitors may adapt their operations to compete directly with Hitch. One such potential competitor is Uber. To be prepared for such competition, Hitch must strengthen its Competitive Advantage by possessing useful Business Intelligence. Using information in the case, suggest: ( 1) one example of Business Intelligence that will be useful to Hitch (3 marks), (2) two forms of data that can be collected from its operations to generate such Business Intelligence (2 marks), (3) specific data analysis methods and/or techniques to apply on each form of data (6 marks), and (4) one potential Competitive Advantage that can win business against Hitch’s competitors such as Uber, as a result of possessing such Business Intelligence. (3 marks) Copy and paste the following answer template into the answer area, and type in your answers accordingly: One Example of Useful Business Intelligence for Hitch: Data 1: Method/Technique for Analysis: Data 2: Method/Technique for Analysis: One Potential Competitive Advantage As A Result: 5 Question 3, All Parts In Hitch’s system for assigning passengers to cars, the following JavaScript. code is utilised to make sure that cars are not overfilled: 1 var passengers 2 var vacancy = 4 3 4 while (passengers < vacancy) f 5 passengers ++; 6 console.log (passengers); 7 If this code is run on a JavaScript. compiler (like the one you have used on codeavengers.com), answer the following parts: i. What are the two variables in this code, and what do you think they are representing? (2 marks) ii. What is the expected output on the screen? (3 marks) iii. Explain in words the meaning of the code in line 5. ( 1 mark) iv. What are the final values of the two variables after this code is run? (2 marks) Copy and paste the following answer template into the answer area, and type in your answers accordingly: Variable 1 and what it represents: Variable 2 and what it represents: Output on the screen: Meaning of the code in line 5 in words: Final Value of Variable 1: Final Value of Variable 2: 6 Question 4, Part i Claudia wants to understand how often each Hitch user travels together with each user they might come across. What data mining technique could be used to provide this insight and how would this technique be able to assist in solving this problem? (5 marks) Copy and paste the following answer template into the answer area, and type in your answers accordingly: Relevant Data Mining Technique: How Such Technique May Assist: 7 Question 4, Part ii This question is based on the question and your answer in Question 4, Part i. If the analysis (your answer in Question 4, Part i) showed that there were users who worked for the same company, and lived in the same area but did not travel together, what could Hitch do to improve the value they provide to their organisation? Provide 3 examples and justify each of them. (9 marks) Copy and paste the following answer template into the answer area, and type in your answers accordingly: Example 1: Justification: Example 2: Justification: Example 3: Justification:
MECH E4320 (Fall 2024): Homework #4 Please turn in your homework before the date and time indicated in Courseworks. Please show and explain your work clearly and completely in order to earn full credit. Please include all parts of the homework you want to be graded in a single (1) pdf file submitted via courseworks. This pdf must contain all relevant work, equations, intermediate steps, intermediate and final results, plots, tables, and explanations – and only this pdf will be graded. Any additional files you use to generate the results presented and explained in the pdf (e.g. ipyn or xlsx) must also be uploaded as well (as supplemental information for your pdf file) but will not be explicitly graded. 1. Ignition delay time is the time it takes for a homogenous mixture at some given initial temperature and pressure to ignite. This ignition delay time can be defined in a variety of ways, but it is often defined as the time at which the time derivative of temperature, pressure, or a specific species reaches a maximum. For this homework, use the maximum time derivative in the mass fraction of OH as the marker for the time of ignition. In the following problems, you will calculate (using Cantera) and plot the ignition delay times for various mixtures in a homogenous, closed, adiabatic vessel (also known as a constant volume, adiabatic “batch” reactor). You may find the “batch_reactor_ignition_delay_NTC.ipynb” Jupyter notebook under the “reactors” folder on the Cantera Jupyter notebook site (https://github.com/Cantera/cantera-jupyter) helpful. For these calculations, use the kinetic mechanism from Hashemi et al. when defining the gas. To do this, download ‘H2mech.yaml’ from the files tab in courseworks and add it to your current working directory. a. For a mixture of 3.47% H2, 3.47% O2, and 93.6% Argon, please plot the ignition delay time (on the x-axis in log scale) at temperatures of 900, 1000, 1050, 1100, 1200, 1300, and 1400 K (as different lines on the same plot) as a function of pressure (from 0.1 to 100 atm, on they-axis in log scale). You can compare your calculations and plot to this figure below From: H. Hashemi, J.M. Christensen, S. Gersen, P. Glarborg, Proceedings of the Combustion Institute 35 (2015), 553-560, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proci.2014.05.101 b. Explain the reasons for the trends you find for ignition delay time as a function of temperature and pressure within the context of the H2/O2 explosion limits discussed in class. 2. In order to obtain a better understanding of the distinct effects of pressure and concentration on ignition delay times, plot the ignition delay times (on they-axis in log scale) for three different cases (different lines on the same plot) that yield at a mixture 3.47% H2, 3.47% O2, and 93.6% Argon at 1100K and 1 atm but with different variables held constant or varied in case. Plot the ignition delay time for mixtures with an initial temperature of 1100 K: a. as a function of P/P0 (from 1 to 13 where P0 = 1 atm, on the x-axis in log scale) for a mixture where the mole fractions are held constant while varying pressure (label this line as ‘X fixed’). b. as a function of P/P0 (from 1 to 13 where P0 = 1 atm, on the x-axis in log scale) for a mixture where the reactant concentrations are held constant (at their 1 atm values) while varying the pressure (label this line as ‘[X] fixed’) c. as a function of XH2/XH2,0 (from 1 to 13 where XH2,0 = 3.47 %, on the x-axis in log scale) for a mixture where pressure is held constant at 1 atm and XH2/XO2 is held fixed at 1 when varying XH2 (label this line as ‘P fixed’). d. Explain the reasons for the distinct trends in each case Note: For this plot the y axis should still be the log scale of the ignition delay time but the x-axis isP/P0 or X/X0 depending on which line is being plotted.
JANUARY EXAMINATIONS 2020 ULMS 766 Marketing Management 1. Critically evaluate the marketing concept based on your reading of relevant literature. 2. Develop an academic argument for the relevance of the 4P’s to today’s marketers 3. Assess the value of qualitative research as a method if establishing an understanding of the customer and their motivations to buy a product or service 4. Discuss the value of the Shannon-Weaver model of communication in assisting marketers to clearly communicate with their target audience through the communications mix. 5. Critically evaluate price setting in highly competitive markets. You should examine how cost, customer demand, competitor benchmarking and value-based approaches could be used providing examples for each.
Exercise 3 In this exercise, you will simulate an experiment designed to measure the lifetime of an unstable particle X. A beam of X particles is produced with a known average momentum and injected into a vacuum chamber. Each X particle will travel some distance into the chamber before decaying at the "decay vertex", rutx . The charged daughter particle is then detected by four tracking stations, located at various distances (zstn ) along the beam line. Each tracking station measures the position where the track hits the station, rhit . The coordinate system used is shown in the diagram, where the beam is produced at the origin and the average beam momentum is in the z-direction. You will simulate the production and decay of particle X, as well as detection of its daughter particle. Each part of the exercise below deals with a different part of the experiment, for which you will generate random numbers with a specified distribution. You will then verify the desired distribution is indeed produced - here a qualitative assessment is adequate, but a quantitative one is preferrable. Use of simulation allows you to study the impact of different experimental choices, and your code should be capable of running with an arbitrary set of parameters. However, you can assume the initial set of parameters below : · X mean lifetime, τ = 2.5ms · Mean X velocity, μ u = 2000ms−1 · Std dev X velocity, σu = 50ms−1 · Tracking station positions, zstn = 30, 35, 40, 45m · Tracking hit resolution, σrx,ry = 0.01m It is strongly recommended that you use 3D vectors throughout the exercises, using numpy arrays, and numpy functions for vector algebra. Extensions A variety of extensions are possible to this exercise, drawing on some of the topics already covered in the unit. A few ideas are given below. Please discuss any extension with the unit director before starting work. · Reconstructing the vertex location from the hit positions · Extracting the lifetime of the X particle from reconstructed vertex positions · Optimal placement of tracking stations Remember · You are expected to use numpy and scipy libraries where appropriate. · You should run each cell in order from the top of the notebook; there is no need to repeat code between cells · Use the "refresh kernel" button to reset everything and start again · Make sure your notebook runs fully & without errors from a fresh kernel before submitting it Part 1 - Beam Generation First, you should simulate the production of X particles in the beam. Each particle in the beam will have a velocity in the z-direction, that is drawn from a normal distribution with mean μpz and standard deviation σpz . The particle should decay after a time that is drawn from an exponential distribution with mean lifetime τ . Given the velocity and the decay time, the decay position in the lab frame can then be calculated. You can assume the beam is non-relativistic. In the cell below, write functions to simulate the beam velocity, the decay time, and the decay vertex. In [ ]: In the next cell, test your functions, and verify that they have the desired distributions. In [ ]: Part 2 - Daughter Particle Now simulate the direction of the decay product, which should be isotropic in the rest frame of the beam particle. This is the same as generating points on the surface of a unit sphere, with uniform probability over the solid angle dΩ . This can be achieved in spherical coordinates, by generating the two angles, φ and θ . These should not have uniform distributions, since the area element is given by : dΩ = sin(θ)dφdθ To obtain uniform probability over the sphere, you should generate φ with a uniform distribution between 0 and 2π, and θ with a distribution proportional to sin θ . Notes · we will assume the direction in the lab frame is equivalent to the direction in the beam particle rest frame. This is a valid approximation, provided the daughter particle has much higher momentum than the beam particle. · we will assume the daughter moves in a straight line, which means we do not need to compute its momentum, ie. the direction vector is a unit vector. In [ ]: As for Part 1, in the next cell, test your functions and verify the desired distributions are produced. In [ ]: Part 3 - Propagation to Tracking Stations The nextstep is to propagate the daughter particle to the tracking detectors. We can assume the particle takes a straight line path from the decay vertex. Since the tracking stations are at fixed values of z, the propagation is most easily performed by writing the path as two functions, giving the x andy coordinates as function of z : x(z) = mx z + cx y(z) = my z + cy The gradients mx = dz/dx and my = dz/dy be computed directly from the components of the the daughter particle direction vector, udtr . The intercepts cx and cy, can then be found by solving the straight line equations given the (x, y, z) coordinates of the decay vertex, rutx . In [ ]: In the next cell, test your track propagation functions. (A qualitative assessment is acceptable here) . In [ ]: Part 4 - Hit Smearing The tracking detectors are not perfect, and will measure position with finite resolution. This can be simulated by adding offsets (in x and y directions) to the true hit position, where the offsets are drawn from a normal distribution with a mean of zero and a standard deviation equal to the resolution of the detector. This process is known as smearing. You should write a function which takes the true hit positions and smears them according to the detector resolution, to produce the reconstructed (or measured) hit positions. In [ ]: Again, you should test your code to verify that the desire distributions are indeed produced. In [ ]: Part 5 - Experiment Simulation Now you are ready to simulate the full experiment. You should produce a large sample of events. For each event, generate a beam particle, a daughter particle, and finally the true and smeared hits. Given a sample of events, it is possible to compute a range of parameter distributions that will inform. the design of the experiment. You should present at least the following distributions : · The number of hit tracking stations · The 2D (x,y) distribution of measured hits on each of the four stations In [ ]: Part 6 - Summary In the Markdown cell below, describe how your code solves the problem set. State any equations used in the solution and how they were obtained. Include your reasons for any libraries you used, as well as any particular programming techniques. Explain your choice of any test cases. Finally, state any salient features of the results you obtained. You are not expected to write more than about 400-500 words.
N1577 Principles of Banking Seminar 2. The Economics of Banking Students are required to work in groups to discuss the following questions and problems. At the end of the discussion, a nominated student will make a short presentation. 1. Why are financial intermediaries willing to engage in information collection activities when investors in financial instruments maybe unwilling to do so? 2. Suppose you go to your local bank, intending to buy a certificate of deposit with your savings. A person enters the bank and applies for a car loan. Would you offer a loan to that person? Assume that the interest rate you would offer for that loan would be higher than the rate the bank pays on certificates of deposit, but lower than the rate the bank charges for car loans. Explain your decision. 3. What specific procedures do financial intermediaries use to reduce asymmetric information problems in lending? 4. Many policymakers in developing countries have proposed the implementation of a system of deposit insurance similar to the system that exists in the United States. Explain why this might create more problems than solutions in the financial system of a developing country.
