MTRN9400 Control of Robotic Systems ASSIGNMENT 2 - T3 2024 Overview of the Assignment This assignment focuses on the control of quadcopters and is worth 20% of your total mark in this course. The due date is 3:00am on Tuesday Week 12. This deadline is strict and will not be extended. Marks will be returned within 2 weeks after the submission deadline. You will complete this assignment individually. Learning Outcomes This assignment specifically targets the following learning outcome: • LO1: Stability analysis and control of nonlinear systems. • LO2: Understanding different classes of controllers and apply them to robotic systems. Assignment Specification This assignment is split into four parts. This document will explain what you are required to do in each part, and the contribution each part will make to your overall assignment mark. You are given MATLAB files that will be used for the simulation parts of the assignment. In this assignment, you will design several controllers for a quadcopter that flies in 1D and 2D spaces. The marks allocated to each part of the assignment are as follows (total 20 marks): • Part 1 (4 marks): PD control in 1D • Part 2 (5 marks): Sliding mode control in 1D • Part 3 (3.5 marks): Adaptive control in 1D • Part 4 (5.5 marks): 2D control • Presentation (2 marks): The criteria include good spelling and grammar, appropriate tech- nical language, logical structure including using headings and other conventions, appropri- ate graphical and tabular presentation, caption for graphics and tables, and appropriate spacing that aids readability. 1 Part 1 (4 marks) In this part, you will control the motion of a quadcopter flying in the z-direction. As explained in the lecture, the dynamic model of a quadcopter in a 1D space is z = −g + m/u1 (1) where u1 is the thrust generated by the drone motors, g = 9.81 m/s2 is the gravitational acceleration, and m is the quadcopter mass. If the mass of the quadcopter is known, a control law u1 can be designed as u1 (t) = m (¨(z)d(t) − kpe(t) − kd˙(e)(t) + g), (2) where zd(t) is the desired height of the quadcopter at time t, kp and kd are the control gains, and e(t) = z(t) − zd(t). (3) Then the closed-loop system is obtained from (1)-(3) as ¨(e)(t) + kd ˙(e)(t) + kp e(t) = 0. (4) We assume in this part of the assignment that zd is a constant scalar and is equal to 1 m. This means that we want to control a quadcopter to rise to a height of 1 meter and stays there. The controller in (2) is already implemented in the provided MATLAB code. Open the code for Part 1 and then open the ‘System1D 1.m’ file. As shown below, the commented lines at the top of ‘System1D 1.m’ file (lines 10–14) explain how the state variables are defined. 10 % Inputs : 11 % t : A scalar containing the current time 12 % s : A 2x1 vector containing the current state [ z ; z dot ] 13 % Outputs : 14 % s dot : A 2x1 vector containing [ds1 ; ds2 ] For example, z(t) and ˙(z)(t) are stored respectively in s(1) and s(2). Quadcopter parameters are also defined in lines 20–24. 20 global QuadParams 21 QuadParams .gravity = 9 . 81; % gravitational constant 22 QuadParams .mass = 0 .28; % mass of quadcopter 23 QuadParams .arm length = 0 . 086; % wingspan of quadcopter 24 QuadParams .height = 0 . 05; % height of quadcopter The desired trajectory of the quadcopter is defined in lines 26–31. The desired height, zd(t), is stored in s des(1), and ˙(z)d(t) is stored in s des(2). You should not change any of the above parts in your MATLAB file. The control law u1 in (2) is implemented in line 48 of ‘System1D 1.m’ file: 48 u1 = QuadParams .mass * (z ddot − kp *e − kd *e dot + QuadParams .gravity); Run the ‘main1D 1.m’ file. By executing this file, a figure will be generated showing a 2D and a 3D view of the quadcopter position for t between 0 and 5s and also a plot of z(t). You will see that z(t) converges to zd = 1 m. The steady state error will be printed on the Command Window. (a) Change the control law in line 48 of the ‘System1D 1.m’ file to the following PD controller: u1 (t) = −kpe(t) − kd˙(e)(t), (5) where kp and kd are the proportional and the derivative gains, respectively. These gains are already defined in lines 46-47 of the code. Do not change their values and run the ‘main1D 1.m’ file. You will observe that z(t) does not converge to zd = 1. In your report, add a screenshot from the z-plot that clearly shows the value of z(t) at t ≈ 5s. You can use a ‘Data Tip’ to get the value of z(t) from the MATLAB figure. Write the value of e(t) at t ≈ 5s in your report. (1 mark) (b) Substitute the control law (5) into the system model (1) and write the closed-loop system. Then obtain the error dynamics (which is the dynamical model that depends on the error signal e(t) and its time derivatives, but is independent of z(t) and its derivatives). Finally, write the error dynamics in the state space form and find the equilibrium points. You will see that the equilibrium point is not at the origin. Verify that the steady-state error you obtained in the simulation of Part 1(a) is in fact an equilibrium point of the error dynamic. (2 marks) (c) Find the range of values for kp and kd such that the absolute value of the steady-state position error (|e(t)| for a large t) is less than 0.01. You should explain in your report how you calculated these values. You should analytically choose these values (not by trial and error using MATLAB) and do not need to add any MATLAB simulation results to your report for this part; just a mathematical calculation is needed for this part. (1 mark) 2 Part 2 (5 marks) As we observed in Part 1, a PD controller does not provide a zero steady-state error. So we will use a robust controller in this part of the assignment. For this part, use the MATLAB files in ‘Part 2’ folder. We continue to assume in this part that zd = 1 m. Consider the following sliding mode surface S = e + a˙(e) (6) where a is a positive constant scalar. We define the sliding mode control as follows: u1 = m (-a/e + g - p sgn(s)) (7) (a) Use the Lyapunov candidate V = S2 and find all possible values for a and ρ such that both e(t) and ˙(e)(t) converge to zero as t → ∞ . You should add your detailed stability proof in your report. (2 marks) (b) Implement the control law (7) in ‘System1D 2’ and choose a and ρ such that e and ˙(e) converge to zero within 5 seconds. The sliding mode controller is implemented in lines 41–45 of the ‘System1D 2’ file: 41 rho = 0; % Change this value 42 a = 0 .3; % Change this value 43 S = e + a *e dot; 44 ud = QuadParams .mass * (−e dot/a + QuadParams .gravity − rho *sign(S)); 45 u1 = ud; Add the z-plot figure from your simulation to demonstrate z(t) converges to zd. You will get a full mark if the oscillation in z is damped by 5 seconds (it is OK if there is no oscillation at all) and z(5) is between 0.997 and 1.003. Use a Data Tip in your figure to show the value of z(t) at t = 5 s. Write the values you used for a and ρ in your report. (2 marks) Hint: Use capital letter S in your code to define the sliding surface as the lower case s is already used in the code. MATLAB has an in-built function, sign, for the signum function. (c) So far, we observed that a sliding mode controller performs better than a PD controller as the steady-state error in the sliding mode controller converges to zero. We also know that sliding mode control is robust against system uncertainties. So we will assume in this part that there is an unknown constant bias d in the control input which is applied to the quadcopter rotors as follows u1 (t) = ud(t) + d (8) where ud is the nominal control law defined as ud = m (-a/e + g - p sgn(s)) (9) This is a common practical issue when implementing a controller to a real system as the system actuators may not be able to exactly generate the commanded forces/torques. In this part of the assignment, we assum there is always a bias in the system’s actuator. Note that ud in (9) is the same as the controller (7) we used in the previous part. To implement this biased system in MATLAB, comment line 45 and uncomment line 46 of the code as shown below: 45 % u1 = ud; 46 u1 = ud − 0.1; As can be seen above, we assumed the unknown disturbance is d = −0.1. Please note that this value is unknown to us as control engineers and therefore the controller ud does not use this value. We added this line to the code so that the quadcopter behaves as if there is a bias in the thrust force which is generated by the rotors. Choose a and rho such that the |e(t)| and | ˙(e)(t)| at t = 5 s are less than 0.01. Only add the values you found for a and rho in your report. No explanation is needed for this part. Also no figure is required. We will check the values you will provide and will then give you a full mark if the error conditions are satisfied, and zero marks if they are not satisfied. (1 mark)
INT305 Assessment Lab INT305 – ASSESSMENT 2 l Marks15%Submission Deadline12/Dec/2024
Final Exam The main purpose of the final exam is for students to estimate the impact of a real randomized control trial RCT. The randomized control trial you will examine provided information to first-time mothers living in poverty in Nashville TN. The information to first-time mothers was provided in books, called hereafter “Baby-Books.” Mothers in the intervention group received new baby-books every two-months. The hypotheses of this RCT were that the new information provided to mothers via “Baby-Books” would: 1. Improve parenting skills 2. Improve nutritional practices with their babies, 3. Prevent un-intentionally baby injuries. 4. Improve post-partum depression and stress levels 5. Impact labor participation Overall, helping first-time young women to overcome the anxiety of becoming first time mothers’ should therefore, improve their own and their baby’s health in the short and long run. Each student will estimate an intent to treat (ITT) and the treatment on the treated (TOT) effect of the randomized educational book intervention. To measure the effect of this intervention, first time mothers were randomly assigned to one of three groups: 1) an educational book group (the intervention), 2) a non-educational book group, or 3) a no book group. Participants were interviewed by either phone (12 times) or personal interviews (7 times). On the interviews, participants self-reported all the outcomes of interest such as type and occurrence of their child’s unintentional injuries, knowledge learned by reading the given books, labor market outcomes, post-partum depression, stress, and many other important outcomes. Each student in class will examine the impact of this randomized intervention on one or two outcomes of interest. There will be five groups, each group should answer the following questions: 1. What is the intervention about? Explain the study design, sample size by group at baseline. Write down the results chain describing the inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes of this intervention. (10 points) 2. Did the intervention have a valid counterfactual? (10 points) 3. Estimate the outcomes of interest by subject, group, and time. (Suggestion: make sure you estimate the outcomes of interest at baseline and create fixed time intervals, following the baby’s age at 0, 6, 12 and 18 months old. Some outcomes were not asked at the exact desirable time intervals, but you can estimate the mean or sum of the outcomes at the nearest given time). (10 points) a. Identify all the variables you will use in your analysis and create two final datasets: 1) A wide cross-sectional dataset including household demographics, outcome of interest, and time fixed variables. 2) A panel dataset. (10 points) b. Estimate the impact of the intervention by using the following methods: 1. Pre-Post analysis, (10 points) 2. Randomized Assignment, (10 points) 3. Difference-In-Difference (10 points) Explain and compare your results. For each estimation, explain whether the outcome improved or got worse? Interpret the results 4. What characteristics (mother’s or babies) correlate with the outcome of interest? For instance, were children’s injuries a function of their own developmental growth (i.e. increasing as children grow older), children’s gender (i.e. do boys have more injuries than girls?), mother’s education? mother’s income. (5 points) 5. Estimate the TOT intervention effect by using a Randomized Assignment and a DID methodology. Explain and compare your results with previous ITT. (10 points) Data and Documentation: All questionnaires use to gather the information, dataset, and codebooks are available on BrightSpace. List of outcomes - randomly assigned 1. Nutrition, Safety knowledge, and total Mother’s knowledge 2. Parenting, Development, and Total Mother’s knowledge 3. Total Mother’s knowledge, Mother’s depression and Mother’s stress 4. Total Mother’s knowledge and Unintentional children’s injuries 5. Total Mother's knowledge and Labor Supply outcomes
IOM205 Advanced Database Management BSc Information Management & Information Systems 1st SEMESTER 2024/25 Individual Coursework Coursework Title: Individual coursework: Implementing a Database using Microsoft Access Scenario: The Scenario is the same as in the GROUP COURSEWORK. Task Details/Description: The primary task for this part of the coursework is to individually produce a fully tested and functional database application that has been implemented using Microsoft Access. Please note, you MUST at the minimum have the following functionalities in your database application to score a passing mark for the corresponding grading component. Please refer to the pages at the end of this document for the grading components and criteria. • The database must support several business processes described in the scenario context and specification. You may change some of the design produced in the group coursework based on the feedback received from the instructors. • Include functionality (forms, queries, reports and charts) to support the main operations of the company. The database should be able to: add, edit and remove books, order books, generate invoices, reorder low stock and produce useful management information (e.g. total value of stocks). • Entities should be identified by a concise and relevant set of attributes. They must include the basic attributes and be realistic but need not be fully comprehensive for the prototype. Continue/revise on what has been produced in GROUP coursework • Include at least two non-trivial queries. Your queries should demonstrate the use of multiple tables, parameters, calculated fields and multi-stage query. You should also produce appropriate SQL code for at least one of your queries. The code should be annotated in the report to demonstrate your understanding (please refer to ID2.4 below in the deliverables section). • Include at least one unbounded form, one trivial and one non-trivial form, that will help to realise key business needs, i.e. gather inputs and produce the correct output, which are user-friendly and displayed in an appropriate manner to the user (e.g. home page - unbounded form, add a new customer - trivial form, add new customer order, reorder books - non-trivial forms). • Include two neatly formatted Access reports to provide useful management information. Include at least one level of grouping, and at least one summary/calculated field (e.g. customer invoice, most valued customer based on purchase orders, most popular books sold or reordered, total expenses incurred towards each publisher, most valued employee based on sales). • Include one Access chart that illustrates some key operational information from the application to the organisation (e.g. sales made each month, popular books). For this coursework, you may continue working with the deliverables (ERM, Tables and Sample records) produced in the group coursework, after making appropriate changes considering the summative feedback. Including any extra features, you may wish to – adding value to the application in functionality and usability may earn extra credit. Your report must clearly state these features. Deliverables: You MUST submit the following two deliverables (ID1 and ID2) to complete this coursework. ID1: Fully tested and functional database that fulfils the functional requirements meeting the business needs specified in the scenario. ID2: Report not exceeding 1500 words (+/-10%), which MUST include the following. The front cover page, table of contents, headers, sub-headers, figure and tables, labels as well as annotations, citations and references, are not included in the word count (i.e. 1500 words). Estimated word limits for each section are provided below to help you write the report and have some idea of how much to focus on each section, while deciding the contents. You must use Harvard referencing style. for your references and citations. Please note, your report MUST include the following at a (or the) minimum to score a passing mark for the corresponding grading component. Please refer to the last two pages of this document for the grading components and criteria. • ID2.1: The front cover page of the report must include your student number and title of the assignment [No word count applies] • ID2.2: Simple instructions briefly describing how to operate the database. The instructions must be written as if for a typical employee with limited knowledge of Microsoft Access. You should use figures and annotate them to better articulate the instructions. [estimated word limit – 200 words] • ID2.3: Brief description of the most significant features in the database, for example, how these features meet the needs of the business, addressing the current limitations, explained with the aid of screenshots from your database application (as applicable). Justify the features and/or design decisions citing appropriate literature. You may like to focus on two-three most significant features that will help to realise the value of your application to the business. [estimated word limit – 400 words] • ID2.4: Include a brief description of two non-trivial queries. In your description, state why they are non-trivial and how they meet the needs of the organisation. Additionally, please include figures/screenshots to show each query [table-view] you have generated and the corresponding output. You must also include the SQL code for one of these queries, and briefly explain the code in your own words, demonstrating your understanding, how the query will execute. [estimated word limit – 300 words, the SQL code will not be included in the word count] • ID2.5: Include a brief description of two management reports. In your description, state why the reports are useful for the management, and how they will add value to the business. Please include figures to show sample report outputs you have generated. You may annotate them (as applicable). [estimated word limit – 150 words] • ID2.6: Include a brief description of one non-trivial chart. In your description, clearly explain the value of the chart to the organisation. Please include a figure to show the sample output. You may annotate them (as applicable). [estimated word limit – 100 words] • ID2.7: Include a brief description of how you have tested the database to ensure it is working properly, capable of handling errors, and generating the correct output for your queries. Please include a couple of screenshots to provide evidence of testing. [estimated word limit – 150 words] • ID2.8: A brief reflection on the strengths (at least two) and weaknesses (at least two) of your application. You must also suggest at least two ways in which you could significantly improve or enhance the application. This section should also include a brief discussion of your own performance and your learning. [estimated word limit – 200 words] Warning! If your database cannot be opened, is corrupt or is otherwise inaccessible, or your media contains malware, you will score zero for this part of the assignment. Please ensure you have created one or more back-up copies of your work in suitable places using appropriate mediums available to you, to avoid losing the work you may have already done. Your work will be assessed on robustness, functionality meeting the business requirements, usability and the overall quality of your design. The working and fully functional database will contribute to the majority weight for this coursework, hence please create necessary back-ups. Feedback Methods: Formative feedback will be available before the final submission, to help you develop and refine your work. This will include the following methods: • Weekly labs - these will include tasks and activities (related to the coursework) to help you apply knowledge from the lectures, develop your own solution and obtain feedback in session to help you to improve your work. You are therefore encouraged to engage during the lectures and seminars to make progress, receive feedback, clarify doubts, and refine your work. • Assignment clinic - during weeks 11 and 12, there will sessions dedicated to review the assessment requirements, clarify areas of doubt and obtain further feedback on your work. • Office hours - You are advised to use office hours early in the term, before the submission deadline, so you have time to act on the feedback. • Discussion Forum in LM - you can ask questions, discuss among peers and receive responses via the discussion forum. Turnaround time for a response from the module tutor is 2-3 working days or it will be given in the following lab. Summative feedback will be provided after the final submission. This accompanies your final grade and uses the assessment criteria shown at the end of this document. Submission: You are required to submit two files: (1) Your Microsoft Access Application; (2) Your Report. The coursework is going to be submitted electronically. Further instructions about how to do this will be provided during a workshop session. Assessment Weighting for the Module: The weight of the individual coursework is 70%
FPST 4333 System & Process Safety Analysis Assginment-6 FMEA Read Chapter 16 in the Ericson Textbook and Mil Std 1629A (in Canvas). Answer the following questions using appropriate technical, professional language. Identify the document and page number(s) where you found the answer in the texts. Questions that ask to describe or explain must written in your own words. Points will be deducted for passages copied directly from the text. Diagrams must be developed using electronic or engineering drafting methods. Hand sketches or sloppy drawings will not be considered. Delete this box for your final homework submission. Submit this file to the Canvas Assignment with the filename HW8yourlastname.doc. Compare/Contrast the definitions of the following terms between the Ericson textbook Ch 16 and Mil Std 1629A: 1. Failure Mode 2. Failure Cause 3. Immediate Effect 4. System Effect 5. Method of Detection 6. Consider the figure below showing two identical pumps, • For each pump, there have been 20 failures in 10 years. • On average, when a pump breakdown occurs, the other pump is put on-line. When a pump fails, it will be out of service for 5 days for repair. Estimate the frequency that both pumps will be out of service at the same time, because the operating pump has failed before the backup pump has been repaired? 7. Consider the Diammonium Phosphate (DAP) process flow diagram shown below: Diammonium phosphate (DAP) is produced from continuous flow of phosphoric acid (PA) and ammonia (A) solutions in a mixing tank and is represented by the balanced chemical reaction PA+A → DAP If Ammonia and Phosphoric Acid flow rates increase, the energy release rate will accelerate. If too much Phosphoric Acid is fed to the reactor, there will be degraded product but no major reaction hazards. If too much Ammonia is fed to the reactor, unreacted Ammonia may enter the DAP storage tank and residual (toxic) Ammonia will be released into the work area. Prepare an FMEA table for the failure of Valve A on the ammonia solution line.
ELEC372/472: Integrated Circuit Design Assignment 1 Objectives: • Understand the fundamental theory underlying internal and external capacitances of a MOSFET and simple CMOS inverter, and their effects on circuit performance as covered in ELEC372/472 in the context of design. • Carry out basic calculations of such capacitances for a simple CMOS inverter so as to determine the value of the effective load capacitance. In later assignments, this load capacitance will be utilised in circuit simulations on a software package Multisim, to investigate how changes in device geometry affects the performance of CMOS-based circuits. For guidance, a 15-credit module unit is meant to occupy 150 hours in total (including both private study and contact hours). You should aim to spend about 3-4 hours per week at the terminals. The remainder of the time will be taken up with background reading and research. KEEP A LOG BOOK OF YOUR PROGRESS. EFFECTIVE TIME MANAGEMENT IS A KEY SKILL THAT APPLIES TO ALL PROFESSIONS AND WORKING SITUATIONS. SO IF YOU GET STUCK, ASK - DO NOT WASTE TIME - STAY FOCUSED Introduction This task requires you to write a simple programme to perform basic calculations on inverter speed, as defined by fall-time. Fall-time is the time taken for an n-channel MOSFET in a CMOS inverter to pull-down the output from 90% to 10% of the supply voltage. The theory is presented in the lecture notes and further instructions are provided in appendix A. Such "ball-park" or "back of the envelope" calculations are essential when performing simulation tasks, as there is a need to cross-check the numbers obtained from complex simulations are reasonable. The values you obtain from your simple model will also inform you on how to set-up your simulations, i.e. establish the time frame of interest and allow you to set the frequency of the test signals so as to correctly observe all the anomalies on the voltage-time plots etc. Furthermore, if you set a very long time frame, you may overload your memory store on the server. This approach should be applied in all your simulation assignments. Instructions Write a simple model in Matlab, C, python or anything else you prefer. You should think about which parameters to define as variables and constants; certainly the transistor width (W) needs to be defined as a variable (see below). Make sure you use sensible values for a 1.2 μm technology as used in this course. In this case, the long-channel theory applies (explain why in your report), and for the CMOS design, assume an n-well process. To develop the model for the effective load capacitor (CL) refer to the lecture notes and instructions below. Tables 1 and 2 provide a summary of the SPICE models and values for the 1.2 μm technology that you will utilise within the Multisim environment. Use these values in your calculations. A more detailed SPICE model will be provided in later assignment, and you will be able to compare your calculated values. When using the values in Table 2, take great care with the units since values in SPICE are not always quoted in SI units. Also check that the values you obtain for the parameters are sensible e.g., what value do you expect for the built-in voltage of ap-n junction? Once your simple (I continue to emphasise its simple - don't look for complications!) programme is running and yielding sensible values, plot graphs of the following: 1. Fall time as a function of width, W – sensible range of values – you can not drive many gates at high speed; 2. Fall time as a function of fan-out (i.e. attach an increasing number of inverters to the test inverter); choose one value of W. Submission Download the Assignment 1 submission form on Canvas and fill-in all the sections below: a) Provide basic description of the task. You can refer to the lecture notes for details of the derivation b) Write a little on the APPROXIMATIONS assumed in that analysis. c) Results/Graph and Comments from your programme for Fall time as a function of width. d) Results Graph and Comments from your programme for Fall time as a function of fan-out. e) Paste your source code.
Course: Bachelor of Science (Hons) Cybersecurity and Networks (BNSD2 2415A, BNSD2 2416A) Module Code and Title: CIS2018-N Server Administration Assessment: Individual Report Due Date: 19 December 2024 Total Marks / Weightage: 100% 1.Introduction Your assessment is “Design and Implementation of a Secure Server Network” . You are required to write a report to explain your work. In this assessment, you are expected to work individually. This assessment is worth 100% of the total module marks. 2.Your Work 2.1 Introduction You are required to design and build an internet-connected secure server network for Smith Logistics, which is a medium size warehouse and logistics company. 2.2 Scenario A recent minor outage has alerted senior management to the importance of the company’s IT system to the day-to-day operations and has given more weight to your company’s recommendation for upgrading. Currently, the existing network infrastructure has been shoe-horned onto an ageing server which is running Windows 2003 Small Business Server with clients as old as Windows XP and some as new as Windows 10. The company acknowledges that, given recent network and computer system breaches such as WannaCry, that they need to update their IT infrastructure and are looking to create a more secure IT infrastructure with room for expansion. Due to the current company data governance framework, the company has no plan to move to a cloud solution yet, apart from the email service, such as Office 365. Therefore, the current plan is to upgrade their existing network to a fault tolerant server network, which can spread existing workloads across multiple servers. You will also need to build Windows 10 clients which you can join to the domain to use to help document that all the services are working correctly. The required workloads across the servers are: Internally facing ● Active Directory Domain Services ● DNS ● DHCP ● Internal File Sharing Services Externally facing ● Web Server – Apache, PHP and MySQL The company has limited budget for this upgrade. Therefore, you have to consider how many servers and which operating systems are required, in order to achieve such requirement. Smith Logistics has emphasised that they want to take this opportunity to strengthen their network security and are looking for you to explain what security considerations and/or improvements you can make as you outline the solution. Smith Logistics store a lot of information and data, and they want to ensure that their servers, in particular, their file server has the appropriate disk redundancy in place so that they can tolerate disk failures without having to depend upon a backup solution. They also acknowledge that given they are rebuilding their entire server infrastructure they will also need to revisit backup options and have therefore asked you for advice both on disk redundancy and backup solutions. They are also concerned about application compatibility so have requested that you create a mock- up of the proposed environment which they can then use to test their in-house applications and externally facing website. This will allow them, in the event there are any issues to resolve these before the final switch is made. As such you will be required to make detailed documentation of the environment you create for testing to ensure that it can be accurately re-created for the live migration. 2.3 Your Report You are to assume the role of the assigned technical lead for this proposal and have been tasked with creating the initial mock environment and associated documentation. Write a report which should at a minimum contain: A network diagram, including IP addresses. (10%) A recommendation and explanation of chosen disk redundancy and backup solutions for the final build (does not need simulating). (10%) Documentation for each network services component, such as AD DS, DNS and DHCP, describing briefly it’s function and explaining what dependencies it may have and/or how it interacts with other components on the network. (20%) ● Documentation might include IP Addresses of servers, DHCP Options, DNS Forward Lookup zones, Websites setup, etc. ● You do not need to discuss any network devices, e.g., switches and routers. Documentation of a proof-of-concept network, evidencing the setup and configurations made using screenshots. (25%) ● Client machine evidence should be used to demonstrate that the wider system works. ● Internet connectivity is expected for both servers and clients. Recommendations of potential hardware based upon recommended specifications for operating systems and services along with indicative pricing. (5%) The report is expected to address any potential legal, ethical or security issue that may be present throughout the body of work. (5%) Your report could also optionally include: Pro-active advice on identifying single points of failure and possible recommendations to mitigate or eliminate these. (5%) Pro-active advice for improving security and possible recommendations for future actions. (5%) Pro-active security advice including policy recommendations for the new network. (5%) 3.Deliverables and submission instructions 3.1 Structure of Report The report should be around 3,500 words (with +-10% allowance), and must include the following sections: Cover page (A standard Assignment Front Sheet with your name and student ID) Table of contents Introduction Your works Conclusion References Appendices (if applicable) The words in the table of contents, references, and appendices will not be counted above the word limit (3,500 words). 3.2 Submission deadline An electronic version of the report must be submitted to Blackboard in PDF or Microsoft Word format by 2359hrs on (please refer to the cover page). Important: No paper copies of the reports will be accepted. NOTE: If you feel that your circumstances warrant an extension, and that you would benefit from one, you must seeyour Module Leader (please refer to the cover page) before the deadline. We cannot issue extensions after the deadline has passed. 4.Learning Outcomes ● Communicate effectively and professionally in writing using appropriate tools. ● Analyse a range of server solutions to make evidenced-based decisions on the combination of technologies that gives the best solution for a specified business scenario. ● Demonstrate their ability to manage a range of common services and justify the methods of delivering those services. ● Identify and discuss server administration concepts, principles and practices. ● Identify and offer solutions to a range of server monitoring problems. ● Evaluate a range of solutions that provide a secure server configuration to meet business requirements. ● Demonstrate understanding of a range of server monitoring techniques with due consideration of potential legal, professional and ethical issues. 5.Marking Scheme Tasks Description Marks A network diagram, including IP addresses ● Clearly shows the understanding of the given situation. ● All given issues have been addressed. ● Well-designed network, various subnetting technologies have been applied. 7-10 ● Shows the understanding of the issues relating to the given situation. ● Most of given issues have been addressed, but not all of them. ● Well-designed network, but no subnetting technologies were involved. 4-6 ● Demonstrate a limited understanding of the issues relating to the given situation. ● Designed network may include some components to provide limited functions. 1-3 ● No network diagram is provided. 0 A recommendation and explanation of chosen disk redundancy and backup solutions for the final build (does not need simulating). ● Shows a clear understanding of disk redundancy and backup solutions. ● Discusses a range of disk redundancy and backup technologies. ● Recommend and explain the chosen technologies. 7-10 ● Shows an understanding of disk redundancy and backup solutions. ● Recommends and explains the chosen technologies. 4-6 ● Demonstrate a limited understanding of disk redundancy and backup technologies. ● Recommend a workable solution without explanation. 1-3 ● No disk redundancy and backup solutions are included. 0 Documentation for each network component, describing briefly it’s function and explaining what dependencies it may have and/or how it interacts with other components on the network ● Shows a clear understanding of each network component. ● Briefly describes the function of each network component. ● Explains how each network component interacts with others. 14-20 ● Shows an understanding of each network component. ● Describes the function of each network component in details. ● Briefly explains how each component interacts with others. 8-13 ● Demonstrates a limited understanding of each network component. ● Did not describe the function of each network component. ● Did not explain how each network component interacts with others. 1-7 ● The report does not describe any network component. 0 Documentation of a proof-of-concept network, evidencing the setup and configurations made using screenshots ● Demonstrates the configurations. ● The screenshots are proof of concept network. 20-25 ● Demonstrates the part of the configuration. ● The screenshots are provided but can only proof the part of works. 11-19 ● Demonstrates the part of the configuration. ● No screenshots are provided. 1-10 ● No demonstration or evidence are given 0
COMP1036 Coursework Part II (25 marks) Release Date: 24 November 2024 17:00 Deadline: 20 December 2024 17:00 Tasks Write a program in Hack Assembly Language that sorts an array of integers in ascending or descending order. The unsorted array contains 5 or more elements, located at a range of memory locations starting from RAM[30]. The integers in the array can be positive, negative, or zero. The program should allow you to sort either the entire array or a portion of it. The number of elements to be sorted is determined by the integers stored in RAM[0] and RAM[1], as described below: Read two input values,X andY, from RAM[0] and RAM[1], respectively, and output the computed result, Z, to RAM[2]. X and Y can be positive or negative. The program should function correctly regardless of whether X < Y, X > Y, or X = Y. Different rules will be applied based on whether X and Y are even or odd integers, as follows: (1) IF both X and Y are even integers, THEN Z is the sum of all even integers between X and Y (inclusive). (2) IF both X and Y are odd integers, THEN Z is the sum of all odd integers between X and Y (inclusive). (3) IF one of X or Y is odd and the other is even, THEN Z is the sum of all integers between X and Y (inclusive). (4) IF X = Y, THEN Z = X or Z = Y. (5) IF Z is positive, THEN sort the array in ascending order. (6) IF Z is negative, THEN sort the array in descending order. (7) IF Z is zero, THEN no sorting should be done. Example 1: Given RAM[0] = X = -4; RAM[1] = Y = 2 The range of integers between X and Y (inclusive) is [-4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2]. Applying Rule (1): RAM[2] = Z = (-4) + (-2) + 0 + 2 = -4. Applying Rule (6) for Z = -4: Sort the first 4 elements of the array in descending order. Example 2: Given RAM[0] = X = -5; RAM[1] = Y = 5 The range of integers between X and Y (inclusive) is [-5, -4, -3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Applying Rule (2): RAM[2] = Z = (-5) + (-3) + (-1) + 1 + 3 + 5 = 0. Applying Rule (7) for Z = 0: No sorting should be done. Example 3: Given RAM[0] = X = 2; RAM[1] = Y = 3 The range of integers between X and Y (inclusive) is [2, 3]. Applying Rule (3): RAM[2] = Z = 2 + 3 = 5. Applying Rule (5) for Z = 5: Sort the first 5 elements of the array in ascending order. Example 4: Given RAM[0] = X = 3; RAM[1] = Y = 3 The range of integers between X and Y (inclusive) is [3]. Applying Rule (4): RAM[2] = Z = 3. Applying Rule (5) for Z = 3: Sort the first 3 elements of the array in ascending order. Some Input and Output Examples: In Out In Out In Out In Out In Out In Out In Out In Out In Out In Out RAM[0] 1 -2 2 -4 -3 -4 -5 -5 3 5 RAM[1] 1 3 3 2 -2 5 4 5 3 -4 RAM[2] 1 3 5 -4 -5 5 -5 0 3 5 Ignore the values in RAM[3], RAM[4], …, RAM[49] RAM[50] 3 3 3 2 3 1 3 5 3 5 -3 -5 -3 -1 3 3 3 2 -3 -5 RAM[51] 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 3 2 4 -2 -4 -2 -2 2 2 2 3 -2 -4 RAM[52] 5 5 5 5 5 3 5 2 5 3 -5 -3 -5 -3 5 5 5 5 -5 -3 RAM[53] 1 1 1 1 1 4 1 1 1 2 -1 -2 -1 -4 1 1 1 1 -1 -2 RAM[54] 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 4 1 -4 -1 -4 -5 4 4 4 4 -4 -1 Requirements 1. RAM[0] and RAM[1] are reserved for holding the two input values, X and Y, respectively. 2. RAM[2] is reserved for the value Z, which is the number of elements in the array to be sorted. This value is computed from the integers stored in RAM[0] and RAM[1]. 3. RAM[50] onwards are reserved for holding the array integers before sorting, as well as the results after sorting. 4. Sample testcases are provided to evaluate your program, but the final testcases will be different from the sample test cases. 5. You should use the sample test file to evaluate your program. Your program will be finally evaluated using a similar test file. Failure to comply with the test file format may result in your program failing the final test cases. 6. You should anticipate that the size of the array in the final test cases may vary and could be larger or smaller than 5. However, you do not need to be concerned about scenarios where the value Z in RAM[2] exceeds the size of the array in a given test case. 7. Ensure that your program is bug-free. A zero mark will be immediately given to non-executable code. 8. You should complete all tasks in one assembly file. Name your assembly file “main.asm” . Marking Criteria 1. 25 marks in total. 2. 20 test cases will be used, each test case carrying one mark. 3. Your program should be well-structured and thoroughly documented. A total of 5 marks will be awarded for the effective use of pseudocode, built-in symbols, labels, variables, comments, and indentation. 4. The efficiency of your program will also be considered. A limited number of tick-tocks will be given for each test case. If your program does not generate the expected results within the given number of tick-tocks, you will lose one mark for that test case. Plagiarism If you use code from a textbook or the web, you must acknowledge it. Plagiarism detection tools will be used to check for similarities between submissions and web-based material. You are reminded of the school's policy on plagiarism. How to submit? You should zip your file “main.asm” into one zip file. Name your zip file: YOURSTUDENTID_YOURNAME.zip (e.g., 20514000_Danting_Wang.zip). Remember to include your student ID and your name at the beginning of the “main.asm” file. Submit your zip file to the Moodle page. Please note that each new submission overwrites all the files from the previous one. If you submit several times, ensure that your last submission is the correct version. Check the submission after you submit it. There have been instances in the past where the submitted file was corrupted. Ensure that the submitted file is complete and executable. You will receive zero marks if your submitted file is corrupted or not executable. For late submissions, the standard late submission policy applies: a 5% marks deduction for every 24 hours, including weekends and public holidays.
EFIM10014: Quantitative Analysis in Management COURSEWORK 2024 Assignment format The Group Project Presentation is one video consisting of: 1. 10 – 11 minutes (50% of EFIMM0144) Assignment deadlines Group Project Presentation deadline is Tuesday, 10th Dec at 1pm Mode of submission The link to the video should be submitted to the submission points with the EFIMM0144 Contribution Statement for the video. This assessment is assessing the following unit learning outcomes: 1. Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the role of quantitative analysis in generating value from data. 2. Apply basic statistical techniques to business and management problems. 3. Use a variety of visual models to represent statistical results in the presentation 4. Use Excel for data analysis and explain in the presentation Assignment: Kheirat is a company that sells skincare products all over Asia. The company has designated geographic sales territories, each the responsibility of a single sales representative who services a number of retail outlets within their territory. The company wants to find out which factors influence the quantity of sold units and the impact each factor has on sales. For this, a random sample of 100 sales territories of the firm’s sales organisation was drawn. Information was collected on the number of units of the product sold, along with values for seven possible predictor variables, in each territory. Sales of the skincare products (in units sold) were hypothesised to be a function of the following variables: 1. Promotion expenditures are the related costs that incurred from advertising and promotional activities (Promotion expenditures; in $);. 2. The duration for which the territory's sales representative has been working with the company (Representative tenure in month). 3. The percentage of the territory’s market potential that the company has captured (Market penetration rate in %) 4. The total sales volume of products in the same category within the territory (Territory sales). 5. The number of retails stores the sales representative is responsible for in the territory (Number of stores covered). 6. The average rating given by customers in the territory (Customer satisfaction score). 7. The number of interactions between the sales representative and top management (Executive interactions). The Excel spreadsheet “QAM CW DATASET 2024.xlsx” contains data for the 100 sample sales territories. Requirement and Format: You are tasked to conduct the data analysis to provide the CEO with insights about what drives or predicts sales. For this, you should write a summary of your findings and make recommendations for the company, in management/nontechnical terms, so the CEO knows what to focus the company’s attention on. The CFO has also announced their interest in your findings because they are hoping for a mathematical model to predict future sales. Unlike the CEO, the CFO is a bit of a statistics whizz and will critically examine your analysis and assumptions. Start with the summary of the findings and recommendations arising from your analysis. This is aimed at the CEO, so it has to go first, as they won’t read the rest of the report. The summary and recommendations to the CEO should constitute the main part of the presentation first use easy understanding language. The second part of the report, which could be the technical appendix, should demonstrate and explain all the steps you have taken in your analysis, the obtained model of what drives sales, and which assumptions you have made and tested. Remember this needs to be statistically accurate, as the CFO will examine it critically and might recommend scrapping your results to the CEO if they do not trust your procedure. This part presentation must include tables and graphs with some relevant explanation. The project presentation should include the following sections: Overall summary of the presentation report. Report to the CEO part, including the findings and recommendation. Report to the CFO part, including the method used to evaluate the impact of variables in the prediction sales analysis, model validation or assumption test. You will be assessed on: • The correctness of your models and statistical analysis • The correctness and details in your interpretations of ALL the output • The clarity of the interpretation of your analysis for management’s (CEO) understanding • The structure and presentation style. of the report • Recommendations arising from the analysis and suggestions for future work • Conducting any relevant extended analysis beyond the basic brief (especially if based on your own independent reading with relevant sources) EFIM10014 Marking Criteria Distinction (100-70) Merit (69 - 60) Pass (59 -50) Pass (49 -40) Fail (39 -0) Pitch Clarity and Engagement: The pitch is exceptionally clear, concise, and engaging. Structure and Organization: The presentation is well-structured and logically organized, with a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. Content and Relevance: Content is highly relevant, insightful, and demonstrates a deep understanding of the topic. Delivery and Confidence: The presenters demonstrate high confidence, and strong vocal delivery. Clarity and Engagement: The pitch is clear and engaging, capturing the audience's attention for most of the presentation. Structure and Organization: The presentation is well-structured with a logical flow. The introduction, body, and conclusion are clear. Content and Relevance: Content is relevant and demonstrates a good understanding of the topic. Delivery and Confidence: The presenters show confidence. Clarity and Engagement: The pitch is generally clear and engaging, capturing the audience's attention for most parts. Structure and Organization: The presentation has a clear structure, but some parts may lack logical flow or coherence. Content and Relevance: Content is mostly relevant and shows a reasonable understanding of the topic. It generally aligns with the presentation objectives. Delivery and Confidence: The presenters exhibit some confidence and adequate body language. Vocal delivery is satisfactory, with some eye contact and audience interaction. Clarity and Engagement: The pitch lacks clarity. Structure and Organization: The presentation structure is present but lacks coherence, with some parts poorly organized. Content and Relevance: Content is somewhat relevant but may miss key points or lack depth. It only partially aligns with the presentation objectives. Delivery and Confidence: The presenters show limited confidence. Clarity and Engagement: The pitch is unclear. Structure and Organization: The presentation lacks a clear structure and is poorly organized. Content and Relevance: Content is irrelevant, superficial, or demonstrates a lack of understanding of the topic. Delivery and Confidence: The presenters lack confidence. Knowledge and Understanding The student shows excellent understanding of the requirements of the assignment. Recommendations made to the CEO are relevant and useful. Recommendations for future research are also made. Student has shown extended analysis based on their own independent reading or has included information beyond the basic analysis (maybe even included relevant info from other weeks of QAM). The student shows very good understanding of the requirements of the assignment. Relevant recommendations based on the findings are made to the CEO but might be rather basic. The student shows good understanding of the requirements of the assignment. Some recommendations are made to the CEO, but the student have made some confusing or irrelevant statements, or recommendations made are too basic. The student shows a satisfactory understanding of the requirements of the assignment. The recommendations made to the CEO are too brief or confusing. The student shows poor understanding of the requirements of the assignment. They fail to demonstrate awareness of the proper analysis to predict what impacts sales. Because the analysis is incorrect, the student fails to make proper recommendations to the CEO, or there is no attempt to make recommendations. Analysis and Approach The obtained/chosen model is statistically correct. Student has shown and explained all steps involved in the analysis correctly. Model validity is demonstrated fully and correctly. All output is correctly interpreted. The obtained/chosen model is statistically correct. The student has shown and explained the steps involved in the analysis correctly but might have missed a minor explanation of one of the steps in the analysis. Model validity is demonstrated fully and correctly. The report might include some minor incomplete output interpretations. The student might have missed an important step that affects the final model built, but a reasonable statistical analysis is demonstrated. The final model has been validated but one of the assumptions might not be correct. The output has been interpreted but there might be some other relevant interpretations missing. They have run some analysis to find out what impacts sales, but they might not have conducted all relevant steps. The student might not have conducted all the proper assumption testing. Some output has been interpreted but other relevant interpretations and output are missing. There is overall very little/inadequate statistical analysis and what is present is either incorrect or very confusing. No interpretation or incorrect interpretation of output exists. Organazaion and Strucutre There is a clear division between the section for the CEO and that for the CFO. The student differentiates between what explanation (and output interpretation) goes into the CEO report and what goes into the technical appendix for the CFO. Good/correct writing style. of management and technical report with due regard to target audience for each part. There is a clear division between the section for the CEO and that for the CFO. The student attempts to differentiate between what explanation (and output interpretation) goes into the CEO report and what goes into the technical appendix for the CFO, but the presentation style/language used for the CEO might include a few technical terms. There is a clear division between the section for the CEO and that for the CFO. The language used for the CEO and CFO is almost the same (student has barely distinguished between the two audiences). The report might not follow the recommended structure: CEO report followed by a technical appendix/section for the CFO and thus student has not distinguished between the two audiences. The report is not follow the recommended structure: CEO report followed by a technical appendix/section for the CFO and thus student has not distinguished between the two audiences. Ues of Source References are included IF the student presents information outside the lecture material on Blackboard. References are included IF the student presents information outside the lecture material on Blackboard. References are included IF the student presents information outside the lecture material on Blackboard. References are included IF the student presents information outside the lecture material on Blackboard. References are included IF the student presents information outside the lecture material on Blackboard. Style. and Presentation The presentation is well-structured and includes appropriate sections. Writing in PowerPoint is presented to a high standard and presentation of tables/graphs is neat and correct. The presentation is well-structured and includes appropriate sections. Writing in PowerPoint is presented to a high standard and presentation of tables/graphs is neat and correct The essay might not be very well-structured. However, there is clear presentation of tables and figures. Writing in PowerPoint is presented to a good standard and tables/grpahs are not in correct order. The writing may lack fluency and contain errors in understanding and misinterpretation of concepts. There is not a neat and clear presentation of tables and figures. The report does not follow the recommended structure and has a weak or no discernible structure. The writing in PowerPoint is poor which disrupts the understanding of the assignment.
~PS.II~ PROBLEM SET 2 Fall 2024 Department of Economics [Due online 11/29] LOW-FREQUENCY DATA 1. A minimum variance stock portfolio bundles stocks so that the re-sulting portfolio variance is as low as possible. Optimal weights in this portfolio are given by: where Σ is the covariance matrix of returns for a sample of n stocks. Optimal weights can be positive (long), negative (short), or zero (stock isn’t part of the minimum variance portfolio). One may additionally impose that the minimum variance portfolio is zero beta, so that it’s as little exposed to market risk as possible. This involves adding the constraint w0 β = 0 to the problem above. The resulting optimal-weight vector is: 1. Derive 2. You will now assemble a zero-β minimum variance portfolio using data. You’ll obtain optimal portfolio weights based on a random sample of stocks during 2000-2009, evaluate the portfolio performance in-sample, and then evaluate the portfolio’s performance out-of-sample during 2010-2023. This is a very simple and rough exercise - you won’t reshuffle weights, rebalance, or tilt the portfolio to capture specific factors. You are going to download all the data you need from WRDS. First you need to create a profile in your computer that allows you to submit queries using R, Python etc. If you use R like me, please follow these instructions (for Mac and Windows): https://wrds-www.wharton.upenn.edu/pages/support/programming-wrds/programming-r/r-from-your-computer/. You can find similar instructions for other software here: https://wrds-www.wharton.upenn.edu/pages/support/programming-wrds/. In the .../week1/code/ folder, you’ll find the R script. wrds_zeroBeta_portfolio.R. The top of the script. contains the WRDS key (change the "user=" term with your WRDS username). You need to run this chunk every time your WRDS session expires (you’ll get an error in R). You’ll only be able to connect to WRDS and download data if you have created the .pgpass file (for Mac or the equivalent for your OS) as described in the link above. The script. is annotated. It will draw a random sample of 400 stocks from the US stock market to assemble the portfolio. The data being queried from WRDS come from CRSP. You can find out more information about it on the WRDS website. 3. Run the whole code. It ends with computations of Sharpe ra-tios for the portfolio during 2000-2009 and SPY (to represent the S&P 500). After you run the entire code, run saveRDS(portfolio_returns, "~/PATH/yourlastname_yourfirstname.rds") which will save your dataset contain-ing the stock codes, monthly returns, the portfolio monthly and cumulative return, and market monthly and cumulative returns. You’ll upload this data to a link to be provided later. If you export this file incorrectly you won’t receive points for this question. 4. Report the portfolio and market Sharpe ratios calculated at the end of the code. Your portfolio performance may be better or worse than that of the market. The 2000-2009 period purposefully picks a bear market. Because the zero beta portfolio is uncorrelated with the market, it should perform. relatively well when the market is down. But since we’re not targeting any return level in the optimization problem, after discounting the risk-free rate (which was 4.46% during the period) there may be no excess return. After reporting the Sharpe ratios discuss the portfolio performance taking into account these factors. 5. The code has the part "Out-of-sample evaluation" missing. Write up the necessary code and present the portfolio and market Sharpe ratios for the post-2009 period. This will tell you how well the portfolio would’ve done. The code you’ll write will look similar to the one for the in-sample exercise. Some stocks will be discontinued. You should not rebalance the portfolio or re-calculate the optimal weights. The risk-free rate during the period is 2.38%. Report the Sharpe ratios and discuss the possible reasons for the under/over performance of the portfolio out-of-sample relative to the in-sample performance you previously computed.
ECON3173 – Cross Section and Panel Data Analysis Individual Project: Guidelines and Questions This document provides guidelines and questions for the Individual Project of ECON3173, which accounts for 40% of the total marks. Honoring the precepts of academic integrity and applying its principles are fundamental responsibilities of all students and scholars at UIC. You are advised to read through the ‘UIC Guidelines for Handling Academic Dishonesty’ file on iSpace before you start your assignment. Any form. of plagiarism or cheating can result in various disciplinary and corrective activities. Using generative AI tools is not allowed. Deadline: by 20/12/2024. Submission Method: a) Please submit your typing assignment report in a single PDF file to Turnitin ‘Submission Link: Report’via iSpace. The filename of your PDF submissions should have the following format: ECON3173_Project_Student ID_Name in Pinyin (e.g., ECON3173_Project_190000001_Mi Lin). b) Save your data and .do file(s) in a zip file. Name your zip file as ECON3173_Project_Student ID_Name in Pinyin. Then, upload your file to‘Submission Link: Stata Data and Program’via iSpace. You are expected to submit 2 .do files, namely ParA.do and PartB.do, respectively, should be able to replicate each part of your submitted work. c) Use the ‘ECON3173_Individual Project_Report Template’ file on the iSpace to input your report. Ensure you provide a question number for each part of your work. Format Requirements Cover page: Please input your name and student ID on the top of the cover page of the report template, which is available on iSpace. Word limit: The required minimum word count is 1,500 words, with a maximum of 2,000 words in total, excluding tables, graphs, and appendices. Referencing: Your report should include appropriate references in APA format to avariety of necessary literature sources and a wide- ranging bibliography of academic aspects of economics. Font / Size: Cambria 12 or Times New Roman 12. Spacing / Sides: 1.0 / Single-sided / Single-line spacing between two paragraphs. Pagination required: Yes Margins: At 2.50 to both left and right, and ‘justified’ . Part A: Imitate an existing research (30%) Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 5 and 32. Through various spending policies, the federal government has encouraged states to institute mandatory seat belt laws to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries. In this exercise, following Einav and Cohen (2003), you will investigate how effectively these laws increase seat belt use and reduce fatalities using the “SeatBelts.dta” dataset posted on iSpace. The data file Seatbelts contains a panel of data from 50 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia from 1983 through 1997. The dataset is detailed in “Seatbelts_Description.pdf”. It was used in the Einav and Cohen (2003) paper, which serves as the background reading for this exercise. Both files are available on iSpace as well. A1. Using OLS to estimate the effect of seat belt use on fatalities by regressing fatalityrate on sb_useage, speed65, speed70, ba08, drinkage21, ln(income), and age. Does the estimated result suggest that increased seat belt use reduces fatalities? Report, interpret, and comment on your results. (5%) A2. Run a one-way fixed effect model with state-fixed effects. Do the results change when you add state-fixed effects? Run a two-way fixed effects model with both time and state-fixed effects. Do the results change when you add time-fixed effects plus state-fixed effects? Report, interpret, and comment on your results. (5%) A3. Which regression specification you obtained from A1 and A2 is most reliable? Explain why. (5%) A4. Using the results from the two-way fixed effects model with both time and state- fixed effects, discuss the magnitude of the coefficient on sb_useage. Is it large? Small? How many lives would be saved if seat belt use increased from 52% to 90%? Illustrate your calculation and comment on your result. (5%) A5. There are two ways that mandatory seat belt laws are enforced: “Primary” enforcement means that a police officer can stop a car and ticket the driver if the officer observes an occupant not wearing a seat belt; “secondary” enforcement means that a police officer can write a ticket if an occupant is not wearing a seat belt, but must have another reason to stop the car. In the data set, primary is a binary variable for primary enforcement, and secondary is a binary variable for secondary enforcement. Run a regression of sb_useage on primary, secondary, speed65, speed70, ba08, drinkage21, ln(income), and age, including fixed state and time effects in the regression. Does primary enforcement lead to more seat belt use? What about secondary enforcement? Report, interpret, and comment on your results. (5%) A6. In 2000, New Jersey changed from secondary enforcement to primary enforcement. Assume that data availability is not an issue, design a Differences-in-Differences estimation strategy to estimate the number of lives potentially saved per year by making this change. Explain your approach. (5%) Part B: A small-scale research project – innovation (70%) Introduction: In this project, you are invited to empirically investigate potential causality between firms’ business environment and economic performance using a firm-level dataset from economies included in the World Bank Enterprise Survey Data (WBESD). WBESD database collects information about an economy’s business environment, how individual firms experience it, how it changes over time, and the various constraints to firm performance and growth, etc. The entire database is available to researchers and includes all questions from the surveys at the firm level. Guidelines to download and prepare data for this individual project: a) Please visithttps://login.enterprisesurveys.org/to register your user account for the WBESD database (see the snapshot below). Registration is free. b) There are a total of 97 economies represented in the World Bank Enterprise Surveys Database (WBESD). Among these, 61 economies have a time span of at least three years. For their individual projects, students are required to select data from a panel of random combinations of three different economies out of these 61 economies. Data allocation protocol: Students are required to pick a lottery ticker number first. An “Individual Project Lottery Ticket Sign-up Sheet” will be available in iSpace from 9 p.m. on Tuesday, 26/11/2024. Please sign up for a lottery ticket number by 12 noon on Wednesday, 27/11/2024. We will operate on a 'first-come, first-served' basis. A lucky draw will be conducted in class on Thursday, 28/11/2024, to assign specific economies to each lottery ticket number. c) Once registration is completed, login and download the data following the steps below: i. Login with yourusername and password. You will be directed to the ‘Full Survey Data’ page. ii. Select ‘Panel data’ under ‘Survey Type’ on the left. Ensure you are on the ‘Data by Economy’ view instead of ‘Combined Data’ . See the snapshot below. iii. Download your economies’ corresponding data and documentation for all the available years. For example, Afghanistan has two panel data files, one for 2005 and 2009 and the other for 2008, 2010, and 2014. Then download both of them. iv. Extract the data and survey documentation files into a working folder on your PC. Now the data file is ready to open in Stata. Answer ALL of the Following Questions Note that this is not an essay-type assignment. Please answer the questions one by one. For each question, the performance of the Stata do files accounts for 20% of the marks. B1) Use the Stata command “append” to append data of all years and economies into a single Stata data file with panel data format. Select and rename variables in Table 1. ‘Old name’ refers to the variable name in the original dataset, while ‘New name’ is the new corresponding name to be defined. Generate a new variable exp_dum (export dummy) equals 1 if sales_exp is positive; otherwise, 0. Generate a new variable foreign_dum (foreign ownership dummy) equals 1 if foreign is positive; otherwise, 0. Generate a new variable soe_dum (state ownership dummy) equals 1 if soe is positive; otherwise, 0. (5%) Table 1: Variable List Survey Questions Old name New name GENERAL INFORMATION Year the survey was conducted year year Panel ID (the same ID for each firm across different years) panelid panelid What percentage of this firm is owned by the Government/State % b2c soe What percentage of this firm is owned by Private foreign individuals, companies, or organizations % b2b foreign SALES During the past fiscal year, what was this establishment’s total annual sales? d2 sales During the past fiscal year, what percentage of this establishment’s sales were: Direct exports % d3c sales_exp LABOUR and CAPITAL Total number of permanent, full-time workers at the end of last fiscal year l1 employees During the past fiscal year, what was the net book value, i.e., the value of assets after depreciation, of the following: Machinery, vehicles, and equipment n6a capital Cost of raw materials and intermediate goods used in production in the last fiscal year n2e materials BUSINESS-GOVERNMENT RELATIONS In atypical week over the last 12 months, what percentage of total senior management’s time was spent dealing with requirements imposed by government regulations? % j2 reg_time Over the last 12 months, has this establishment secured a government contract or attempted to secure a contract with the government? Yes/No j6a gov_contract B2) Conduct exploratory data analysis for variables listed in B1), i.e., using appropriate summary statistics (e.g., observation number, mean, standard deviation, minimum and maximum values, etc.) to explain your data and make necessary comments. (10%) Considering total output is measured by Sales, labour input is measured by the total number of employees, capital is measured by capital, and intermediate inputs are measured by materials, a production function can be written as: sales = Acapitalα Employeesβ Materialsy (1) where A is the total factor productivity (TFP). Based on panel data, taking logarithms on both sides, equation (1) is transformed to ln(salesit ) = ln(A) + α ln(capitalit ) + β ln(Labourit ) + y ln(Materialsit ) + eit (2) B3) Based on the variable ‘panelid’, set the dataset in a panel format, then obtain the estimated coefficients in equation (2) by running panel data regression. Comment on your results, including a) a discussion on the capital, labour, and materials elasticities of sales, respectively, and b) a comparison between the panel two-way fixed effect and random effect model. (10%) B4) Include Export_dumit as a new variable of interest in equation (2) to test if a firm’s performance improves after entering export markets. Based on relevant economic theories or literature, explore the data set to add appropriate control variables to the production equation (2). Run a panel regression and interpret the results. (10%) B5) To what extent could we use the estimated coefficient on Export_dumit obtained in B4) for causal inference? Explain. Illustrate an appropriate empirical strategy to make improvements if deemed required. Finally, reestimate the model based on your proposed empirical strategy, compare the results to what you have obtained in B4, and comment on the results. (10%) B6) Explore the complete data set (i.e., do not have to be limited to the variables listed in B1) and design an empirical model to evaluate the impact of ownership structure on the export decision. Interpret and comment on the empirical results you obtained. (10%) B7) Predict firm-level productivity (i.e., ln(A) + eit ) to test the hypothesis that good business-government relations boost productivity. Explore the complete data set (i.e., do not have to be limited to the variables listed in B1) to propose an empirical model with an appropriate empirical strategy based on relevant economic theories or literature. Explain the variable(s) you select for this question. Interpret and comment on the empirical results you obtained. (15%)
Business Case for CRM Software Implementation 1. Project Description: The project involves the implementation of a Customer Relationship Management system to centralize customer data, streamline sales processes, enhance marketing effectiveness, and improve customer satisfaction. The CRM system will integrate with existing systems, provide real-time data for decision-making, and facilitate better communication across departments. High-Level Scope: Selection of a CRM software that suits the organization’s needs Customization of the CRM to integrate with existing systems Employee training on how to use the CRM Maintenance and support over a five-year period 2. Strategic Business Goals: SWOT Analysis: Strengths: Improved customer insights leading to better service. Centralized customer data for seamless cross-functional collaboration. Weaknesses: High initial cost and learning curve for employees. Potential integration challenges with legacy systems. Opportunities: Enhanced sales growth through better lead management. Potential to expand into new customer segments using targeted marketing. Threats: Risk of data breaches or cybersecurity threats. Employee resistance to adopting new technologies. 3. Stakeholders: Project Manager: Oversees the CRM implementation, ensuring deadlines and budgets are met. Sales and Marketing Teams: Key users of the CRM for managing leads, campaigns, and customer relationships. Customer Support: Uses CRM for tracking and responding to customer queries. IT Department: Manages the technical aspects of integration, security, and maintenance. Senior Management: Provides decision-making authority and allocates resources. Customers: Indirect stakeholders who will benefit from improved service and communication. 4. Recommendation Summary: Following an analysis of organizational needs and the benefits of the CRM system, it is recommended that the implementation of the CRM system be pursued. The project is expected to increase sales, improve customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. The CRM system will support this recommendation by providing strong potential ROI and strategic value to the organization. 5. Operational Feasibility: Implementing a CRM system will affect various processes within the organization, especially sales, marketing and customer service workflows. Employees will need to adapt to the new system, but this can be eased with thorough training. A CRM system will require some adjustments to day-to-day operations, but will ultimately streamline communication and enhance efficiency. 6. Economic Feasibility:(estimate) TCO over 5 years: -Initial Investment Costs: CRM Software Licensing: $200,000 Customization and Integration: $150,000 Infrastructure: $100,000 Employee Training: $50,000 -Annual Operational Costs: Maintenance and Support: $30,000/year Software Updates and Licensing Renewals: $20,000/year Infrastructure Usage Fees: $10,000/year Total 5-Year Costs: Initial Costs: $500,000 Annual Costs: $300,000 Total Cost of Ownership: $800,000 over 5 years 7. Benefit Analysis: Tangible Benefits: Revenue Increase: Improved lead management and customer retention are expected to increase sales by 10% annually, resulting in an estimated $1.2 million increase in revenue over five years. Cost Savings: Reduced customer churn and more efficient processes are expected to save $100,000 annually in operational costs. ROI and NPV: ROI: With a total investment of $800,000 and projected revenue increases and cost savings of $1.7 million over five years, the ROI is calculated as: ROI = (1,700,000 - 800,000) / 800,000 = 112.5% NPV: Using a 5% discount rate, the NPV of the project is calculated to be approximately $700,000, indicating a positive return. 8. Technical Feasibility: The organization currently has the necessary infrastructure to support a CRM system. However, there may be a gap in technical expertise regarding integration with legacy systems. Additional IT resources may be required to handle complex customization and ensure data migration is successful. 9. Schedule Feasibility: The estimated timeline for the CRM implementation in 18 months: Vendor selection and software procurement (3 months) Customization and integration (6 months) Employee training and system rollout (3 months) Full operational functionality and post-implementation support (6 months)
COMP62421 Querying Data on the Web Coursework Manual On Assigned Readings These papers provide background information of relevance to the material in the unit. In addition, the contents of these papers may be examined in the quizzes. Week 1 Surajit Chaudhuri: An Overview of Query Optimization in Relational Systems. PODS 1998: 34-43 http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/275487.275492 Week 2 Craig Brown, Xavier Franc, Michael Paddon, Native XML Databases: Death or Coming of Age? XMLPrague 2015 Conference Proceedings, pp. 107-119. On Coursework There are two types of coursework in COMP62421: quizzes and lab work. On Quizzes • Quizzes are done synchronously, and as a result are timetabled. • The topics for a quiz on a given teaching week consist of the material in the assigned articles for reading in the previous weeks, as well as all the taught content thus far in the course unit (and therefore not just in that specific teaching week). • There are 4 quizzes, which run in Weeks 2 to 5. On Duration, Question Types, and Consultation • Quizzes last 25 minutes. • They consist of five multiple choice style questions. • Incorrect answers do not subtract from the total. On Lab Work • Lab work is associated with timetabled lab sessions. • The topics for lab work consist of application and exploration of the taught content in the course unit. • All the lab work can be carried out on departmental computers or on your own machines, though the descriptions are generally targeted at and have been tested on unix. • The lab machines have sqlite3 installed; if you want to do the labs that use sqlite3 (RW, QO) on a laptop, you may have to install SQLite (https://www.sqlite.org/download.html). • The software used in the unit uses licenses that will be suitable for public use, so you can download and install software to your personal machine. However, be aware that we may struggle to support students with machine-specific issues. On Lab Work’s Contribution to the Course Unit Mark • There are three pieces of lab work, RQ (Week 1), QO (Weeks 2-3) and SP (Weeks 4-6). • The coursework mark is subdivided as follows: • Quizzes: 10% • Lab RQ: 0% (so this is a formative assessment – you will be given the solutions). • Lab QO: 40% • Lab SP: 50% • The coursework marks, as a whole, contribute 50/100 marks towards the final course unit mark. • The remaining 50/100 comes from the exam. On Deadlines The deadlines on the lab work are as follows: • QO: Week 4, Thursday at 18:00 • SP: Week 6, Friday at 18:00 On What Your Submission Consists of and Where to Upload it The submission is always a report in PDF format. This must be such that we can open it and read it to mark it. Anything that prevents us from doing so cannot be compensated. You should upload the report associated with each submission as a pdf document called: _COMP62421_LW_Report On Preparing a Report File We expect you to format your report in a scholarly manner. For example, formal language expressions and code should be properly indented and use monospaced (i.e., fixed-width) fonts — such as Monaco, Andale Mono, Courier, etc. — and mathematical expressions should be clearly and properly written down. In your comments, analyses, etc., be brief and to the point. There is never any need to write an essay on anything in this course unit: at most, all we are looking for is technical comments and technical arguments. In all cases, if you believe that relevant information is missing, then use comments in your submission to make explicit any assumptions that were required for you to answer. If your assumptions are convincing (i.e., if they are both made in response to genuine uncertainty and incompleteness and are consistent with all the information explicitly given), we will take them into account in the marking. On Plagiarism and Working Together You must always work individually. You must only consult and discuss things with your friends once you have gained a thorough understanding of what constitutes academic malpractice. You are not allowed to copy solutions from anyone else, or to pass solutions to anyone else, in any form (conversation, paper, electronic media, etc.), unless otherwise authorized explicitly. We will run plagiarism detection software on submissions. Further guidance on plagiarism and cheating is available here: https://documents.manchester.ac.uk/display.aspx?DocID=2870 Lab Work RQ There is material provided on Blackboard to support the execution of SQL (using SQLite) and Relational Algebra (using RA). All queries are to be written over the Mondial database, which is provided in the download. Task 1: Write tuple-relational calculus (TRC) expressions that, upon evaluation, return the data characterized by each of the following English-language specifications: (1) Return the name of any country that has a lake. (2) Return all the available attributes on cities whose population is between 3 and 5 million inhabitants. (3) Return the country code and the continent of every country not in Europe or in Australia/Oceania. (4) Return the names of countries that also give their name to one of its own provinces. (5) Return the names of countries that are not landlocked (i.e., have a sea coast). Task 2: Write relational-algebraic (RA) expressions that, upon evaluation, return the data characterized by each of the following English-language specifications. (6) Return the names of countries that are not landlocked (i.e., have a sea coast). (7) Return the names of all lakes, rivers and seas. (8) Return the name of the country, and the names of the organizations of which the country is a member, for countries with Buddhist populations. (9) Return the names of countries that also give their name to one of its own provinces. (10) Return, for every river in the United Kingdom, the length of that river. (11) Return the names of all cities that have a population larger than that of the capital city of the country. Task 3: Write SQL expressions that, upon evaluation, returns the data characterized by each of the following English-language specifications. Use duplicate removal where appropriate (e.g., when a duplicate is not required in the intended answer). (12) Return the names of up to 10 countries and the value corresponding to half the country’s population. (13) Return all the information available in the City table about cities whose name is Manchester. (14) Return the name of cities whose name starts with the substring 'Man’ . (15) Return the name of the country, and the names of the organizations of which the country is a member, for countries with Buddhist populations and organizations established after 1st December 1994. (16) Return the name of each country with the number of islands in it. Some Comments In all the queries above, do not get bogged down by the complexity of the Mondial encoding of geographic properties. Mondial is not a spatial database and lacks spatial types (and corresponding spatial operations). For Task 1, you are expected to submit the TRC expressions only. You are not required to run the query against the data as there is no easily available TRC evaluator to use, but if you want to ensure your expression computes the intended result, consider mapping the expression into an iterative computation in your favourite language. For Task 2, you should use the RA software to evaluate your expressions. We propose using the command line options to read the input from a file and to redirect the output to a file, as described in the download that is available on Blackboard. Note that RA is dependent on the SQLite DBMS. For Task 3, you should use SQLite to evaluate your expressions. Software/Data A folder is provided in Blackboard that gives you access to relevant data and scripts. On Scripting, Echoing and Logging We note that familiarity with SQLite will be useful for Coursework QO. To give an example using SQLite, let's suppose that the query to be evaluated is: Return all the information about any 4 countries The answer to this is: select * from country limit 4; You would then compose a script, let's call it Atan_Luring_LW1.sql (note the suffix), that, in this simple case, would be as follows: -- Atan_Luring_LW1.sql -- -- set echoing on .echo on -- set spooling out: note the suffix .output Atan_Luring_LW1.log -- select * from country limit 4; You can then start SQLite (using the sqliterc initialization file we provided you with to normalize columns width, etc., and run the script. with the SQLite read command, where in the example above would be Atan_Luring_LW1.sql. sqlite3 -init sqliterc mondial .db
CCT360: Web Development and Design II - Updated November 25 Project 2: Bootstrap 5.x Professional Portfolio Website Project 2: Professional Portfolio Website Description Students are required to create a professional portfolio website. The site must be created primarily with Bootstrap 5.x. HTML/CSS3 can be used for additional styling. Bootstrap can be embedded directly or referenced via the CDN link. Requirements – HTML The website should consist of the following 5 HTML pages. Students also have the option of creating a single page with all of the entries. Home Page Portfolio/Gallery Resume/CV Contact Time-Based Page (Example: News, Blog, Events) Students also have the option of creating additional pages as they see fit Requirements – Bootstrap The website must also incorporate the following Bootstrap Components: NavBar Grid Table Typography Cards Requirements – Bootstrap Dynamic Visual Components The website must also incorporate the following Bootstrap Visual Components: Carousel/Slideshow Tooltips or Collapse Dropdowns or Popups or Modal Local Video Progress Bars Requirements – Rich Media Students are required to create their own media assets. The use of media assets from the Internet is not permissible. Requirements – Responsive Design Where suitable, students should employ the use of at least one breakpoint, ideally for a small mobile screen. Students can also include additional breakpoints if they choose to do so. Requirements – File Size Limitations A compressed zip file of a maximum file size of 35MB. Process Documentation (approx.10 – 15 pages with images double spaced) In a PDF file address the following: An explanation of the process that you undertook in planning and designing the Bootstrap Website. Be sure to explain any components or templates used, along with any sketches or IA diagrams Include 1 desktop wireframe. and 1 small mobile wireframe. ≥576px A discussion of any usability and accessibility principles that you included on your website: how your website is adherent to usability and WCAG 2.0 standards; ARIA labels and HTML labels are properly edited A brief discussion of any Small Responsive Design Breakpoints that were included in your website References to any relevant readings along with website components and templates utilized from the Internet
EEC 7 Introduction to Microcontrollers TI BOOSTXL-EDUMKII BoosterPack Lab4_Part1 Project Initialization • Use the provided “EEC7_Lab4_P1_Project.zip”as the default starting point, find this archive in Canvas →Files →Micro-controller Labs. a. From the Project Explorer, select Project > Import CCS Projects > Select archive file. Click the Browse button and navigate to the downloaded EEC7_Lab4_P1_Project.zip file. b. Click Finish to import the project. c. Rename the project and write your code in “main.c”. • When starting a new lab, remember to fill in the information on top of “main.c”. You will see a few #include statements that we have prepared for you. Do not remove any of them, they are just there for Laboratory 4 , but you can add additional #include if you want. • You should give the new project a new name, such as Lab4_part1 or bouncing_ball. Lab 4, Part 1 Overview – Bouncing Ball Objective: To develop a program that simulates a ball bouncing from the edges of the Booster Pack LCD screen. • A ball is defined by the (x,y) coordinate of its center and radius. • The ball moves after each SysTick interrupt* using the expression: ➢x = x + vx ➢y = y + vy assuming vx, vy can be positive or negative. • When the ball reaches an edge of the LCD, it should reflect off the wall such that the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection. Origin located at upper-left corner! Coordinates indicated as pixel # *What regulates the rate for the ISR?Reload Value Reminder: SysTick Timer will service ISR Program Specifications • The circle should be redrawn in time-steps of about 50 – 100 ms. Therefore, a SysTick interrupt should be generated at a rate of 1/0.1 = 10 to 1/0.05 = 20 Hz. • Do not draw, or erase, circles from within the SysTick ISR. Instead, set a flag in the SysTick ISR to signal the main function to erase the old ball and draw the new ball. • The recommended radius for the circle is 3 to 4 pixels. • The program should initiate with a circle close to the center of the screen. Recall that upper left corner is coordinate (0,0). • The circle should start with a small initial velocity, for example: ▪ vx = 1 pixel / time-step ▪ vy = -1 pixel / time-step Program Specifications-cont. • Adding the x-velocity to the current x-coordinate will push the circle radius to the screen’s left or right boundaries, then the x-velocity should be inverted (how can we do this?). • Similarly, if adding the y-velocity to the current y-coordinate will push the circle radius to the screen’s upper or lower boundaries, then the y-velocity should be inverted. • To make the program more interesting, when the ball bounces off the wall at x = 0 or x = 127, increase the magnitude of the x-velocity by one up to a maximum of about 15. The microcontroller will not be able to update the ball for larger velocities. • Similarly, when the ball bounces off the wall at y = 0 or y = 127, increase the magnitude of the y-velocity by one up to a maximum of 15. Flowchart ❑ Your program will have 3 parts: • Initialization code including: ➢ Watchdog Timer ➢ LCD ➢ SysTick Timer • Main loop i.e. while (1) • SysTick ISR ❑ A timer flag variable will be set in the SysTick ISR and polled in main. It must be cleared in main. (Why?) ❑ How should timer flag be defined?
1st SEMESTER 2024/25 MSc Project Management SMO411 - Negotiating in the International Environment Report (50%) 1. Assessment This assessment of this module consists of two parts, each worth 50%. Assessment 002: Report 50% - Word Count 2,000 words (+/- 10%). Choose a real negotiation case, past or present, from your own business experience that can be internal or external to your company. If you have no business experience you can choose one of the negotiations, you participated in during the semester. This coursework is a critical reflection on: · The content and strategy used in the negotiation case you choose. · The detail process of negotiation and the critical actions in each step. The coursework requires you reflect on the most important milestones of the negotiation process and link them to the theories and key concepts of the module. You are expected to give a detailed analysis for: · Both parties’ objectives, needs, bottom lines, strength and weaknesses before the negotiation starts. · BATNA (for both parties and if they changed during the negotiation) · ZOPA (If there is any and how it have been discovered by both parties) · Strategies for the negotiation (both parties) and how they may have change during the face to face phase. Marking is based on three equally weighted components: · Degree of application of key concepts, · Quality of critical self-reflection on the case, · Clarity of writing and logic of argument. Deadline: Sunday 08th of December 2024, 23.59 Submission file to be uploaded on Learning Mall Assessment 002 Link.
Project management EDUCATIONAL MATERIAL FOR MASTER'S PROGRAMS ASSIGNMENTS FOR THE SEMINAR 2. Topic 5. Project cost management Presentations and discussion of projects 1. Earned Value and Earned Schedule analysis. 2. S-Curve Representation. 3. Presentation of the project on the questions asked “Project budget” . Read more information in the attached file Earned Value Management in Projects.pdf The individual task is performed according to the options (the option is selected by the number of the student's lastname in the group list). See the Initial data in the attached file Initial data SL 2 PM_2023.docx. Attention. Important! The option you need to take is the same as for the task “Topic 4. Project schedule management ”. Example: Initial data Date of calculation of indicators - end of the week number 10 . work, thousanddollars *1O1–310Department A0/100(1)1O2O1526DepartmentB50/50(2)1O3O1340DepartmentD50/50(2)2O4O1436DepartmentCRatio(3)2O5O1218DepartmentD0/100(1)3O6O3424Department ARatio(3)3O7O 4,O5312DepartmentB50/50(2)3O8O 2,O6,O7222DepartmentC0/100(1)WorkBCWSBCWPACWPCVO11010122O22613207O340203111O4363331-2O51818180O624O712O822Total1889411218
Assessment Brief 2024/2025 Assignment Information Course Code ACCFIN5231 Course Title Big Data Analytics Weighting 100% Question release date Friday 8th November 2024 Submission date: Friday 20th December 2024 Grades and Feedback to be released on: Word limit 3000 (+/- 10%) Refer to word limit policy Action to be taken if word limit is exceeded Marks will be reduced. 1. QUESTION/ DESCRIPTION OF ACTIVITY Individual Assignment Question As a quantitative analyst specializing in big data analytics and machine learning, your task is to leverage advanced data techniques to extract valuable insights from financial datasets. Your manager has tasked you with writing a 3,000-word research report on a finance-related topic that uses big data techniques to explore complex financial relationships. Potential topics include investigating the relationship between financial variables, analysing capital structure management, designing risk management strategies, implementing trading strategies, optimizing investment portfolios, or forecasting financial metrics like returns and volatilities. To ensure a comprehensive analysis, your report should adhere to six key sections: Introduction Outline the research problem and objectives. Discuss the significance of the study, including how big data analytics can help in uncovering new insights that traditional methods might overlook. Literature Review Review both theoretical and empirical papers relevant to your topic. Cover studies that use traditional financial methods as well as big data analytics to highlight the advantages of your approach. Data and Empirical Analysis Describe the data collection process, including the source and nature of your dataset. Detail your methodology, focusing on how big data techniques (e.g., machine learning models, predictive analytics, or sentiment analysis) are used to analyze the data. Present the results of your empirical analysis, using appropriate statistical tools and visualizations to extract meaningful business insights. Conclusion Summarize your key findings and discuss the implications for the finance field. Provide suggestions for further research, emphasizing how big data can continue to uncover new opportunities in finance. References Include a complete list of all sources cited, ensuring that your report is grounded in existing literature and empirical studies. Appendix (if needed) Include supplementary materials such as datasets, graphs, or code to support your analysis, ensuring transparency and reproducibility of your results. Throughout your report, ensure each section is concise and contributes to the overall clarity and coherence of your research. The use of big data techniques will not only enhance your empirical analysis but will also provide deeper insights into financial decision-making and strategy formulation. Please consider ethical issues when you conduct your research. Intended Learning Outcomes being assessed 1. Demonstrate knowledge of advanced aspects of big data analytics 2. Apply appropriate machine learning techniques to analyse big data sets 3. Assess the statistical significance of data mining results 4. Utilize statistical packages (R and Python) to perform. basic data mining tasks on big data 2. ASSESSMENT RUBRIC/ CRITERIA Criteria Excellent Very Good Good Satisfactory Weak Selection of research questions Innovative, meaningful topic and appropriate by using big data techniques Meaningful topic and appropriate by using big data techniques Traditional topic and appropriate by using big data techniques Traditional topic; no differences by using traditional or big data techniques Not appropriate by using big data techniques Big data techniques and analysis Advanced and appropriate technique; comprehensive and robust results Appropriate technique; comprehensive and robust results Appropriate technique; comprehensive results Appropriate technique; adequate results Inappropriate using the techniques Writing and interpretation of the results Clear structure, good understanding of financial theories and be able to interpret the economic meaning of the results. Be able to compare it with previous literature. Clear structure, good understanding of financial theories and be able to interpret the economic meaning of the results. Good understanding of financial theories and be able to interpret the economic meaning of the results. Be able to interpret the economic meaning of the results. Not able to correctly interpret the economic meaning of the results.
