1. Social philosophy and ethics

Instructions: SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY and

ETHICS

— The Elite (VIPs) vs. The

Masses

Consider:

Who should a society support and champion

The Elite: the champions, the famous, the rich, the

powerful, the people who get things done, who

runs and change society (for better or worse).. In

other words: the fittest (the 1%);

OR

The Masses: the common folks, the multitude, the

profusion, the crowds, including the 51% of

people in America on some sort of social relief.

This questions colors and valuates much of

the decisions we make as a society; it is past time

to identify where we as individuals stand.

This question is the root of:

Republicans vs. Democrats

Bourgeoisie vs. Proletariat

Capitalist vs Socialist

Haves vs. Have-

Nots

“To be is to do”,

-Socrates.

“To do is to be”

‘-Jean-Paul Sartre.

“Do be do be do”.

‘_Frank Sinatra.

(Had to put that in here)

Anyhow, here is the topic you will argue:

Inquiry: Should survival of the fittest be the law

of the land?

Or should a

society support the weak?

REQUIREMENTs:

1,000-2,500 words

MLA-Format

Bulleted-abstract

Cites and works cited

Researched and supported arguments

1. Reduced medications cost

Reduced medications cost

Post your cost comparison document from Unit 2. Assuming you might prescribe this drug for your patient, how would you minimize cost or assist the patient in getting the medication at the lowest cost possible. What resources are available to reduce drug costs? Find at least 2 resources for free or reduced cost medications. Respond to two other student posts as per the discussion board rubric.

1. Timov family budget

CIS 1100: Final Exam Part B case-Timov_Family_Budget

Data File needed for the case: Timov_Family_Budget.xlsx

Instructions

Sergei and Ava Timov have asked you to create an Excel workbook for their family budget. The Timovs want to purchase a new home. They are considering two houses with different mortgages. They want the budget worksheet you create to display the impact of monthly mortgage payments on the couple’s cash flow. The couple has already designed part of the workbook and entered estimates of their take home pay and expenses for the upcoming year. They want you to set up the formulas for the remaining spreadsheet including the mortgage payments and base their decision on the Average Net Cash flow for the month for each of the two options.

Please complete the following:

  1. Open the Timov_Family_Budget datafile attached to this Exam. Click Save as and save the workbook as Timov_Family_Budget_yourlastname on your own computer or on your flash drive.
  2. In the Documentation sheet, enter your name in cell B3 and the date in cell B4 using the function Today().
  3. In cell C6, enter a formula to calculate the sum of Serge’s monthly salary for the entire year. In cell D6, calculate Sergei’s average take-home pay each month. In cell E6, calculate Sergei’s maximum monthly take-home pay. In cell F6, calculate Sergei’s minimum monthly take home pay. (Hint: Use AutoSum and then select cells C18:N18, for Average, Max and Min, select the appropriate function in the drop down list on the AutoSum button and then select the cells C18:N18).
  4. Select the range C6:F6, and then use AutoFill to complete the formula in the C7:F15 range. Use the AutoFill Options button to copy only the formulas into the selected range (radial button fill without formatting) and not both the formulas and formats. (Hint: Because you haven’t yet entered any mortgage payment values, cell D13 will show the value #DIV/0!, indicating the Excel cannot calculate the average mortgage payment because it cannot divide by zero. You’ll correct that problem shortly.) NOTE: If done correctly C6:F8 will be purple font, C9:F13 will be orange font and C14:F15 will be bold black font.
  5. In the range J5:J12, enter the following loan and loan conditions of the first mortgage to compute fixed monthly payments for the loan in cell J11 using the appropriate function.
  • The loan amount (or value of the principal) is $335,000.
  • The annual interest rate is 5%.
  • The interest rate is compounded 12 times a year (or monthly).
  • The mortgage will last 30 years.

Use cell references where ever appropriate in the formula.

  1. In cell J11, make the Monthly payment value positive by multiplying by -1 or inserting a minus sign between the = and the payment function.

 

  1. In the range N5:N12, enter the following loan and loan conditions of the second mortgage to compute fixed monthly payments under Mortgage 2 (Remember to use cell references as above):
  • The loan amount (or value of the principal) is $242,000.
  • The annual interest rate is 4.75%.
  • The interest rate is compounded 12 times a year (or monthly).
  • The mortgage will last 20 years.
  1. In cell N11, enter the function to calculate the monthly payment needed to pay off this loan, and then make the monthly payment value positive.
  2. Sergei and Ava want to be able to view their monthly cash flow under both mortgage possibilities. The mortgage being applied to the budget will be determined by whether 1 or 2 is entered into cell C3. To switch from one mortgage to another, do the following:
  • In cell C25, enter an IF function that tests whether cell C3 equals 1. If it does, display the value from cell J11; otherwise, display the value from cell N11. You will need to use absolute cell references in the formula.
  • You will also need to copy the formula in cell C25 to range D25:N25 to reflect the same monthly payment for other months.
  • Verify that the values in the range C25:N25 match the monthly payment for the first mortgage condition.
  1. In cell C3, edit the value from 1 to 2. Verify that the monthly payment for the second mortgage appears in the range C25:N25.
  2. Sergei and Ava want to maintain an average net cash flow of at least $1,000 per month. Under which mortgage is this achieved? Which cell on the sheet will help you make that decision? Please write your answer in cell A30.
  3. Please save the sheet with your recommendation 1 or 2 in Cell C3. Save and close the workbook, and then upload and submit the finished file using the Final Exam link on Blackboard.

1. Discuss the concept of culture

For this discussion post, discuss the concept of “culture.” Include the following:

1) How would you define “culture”? Discuss all the various ways you can consider culture (personal, geographic, organizational, etc.).

2) With which cultures do you most identify? What are the internal and external characteristics of your culture(s)?

3) What cultural norms did you learn as a child? What stereotypes are connected to those cultures?

Your discussion post should be at least 300 words in APA style. 

1. Professional/helping relationship

Discuss completely the process of evaluating the professional/helping relationship. What types of evaluations must be done? When should they be done? What should you do with the evaluation data?

1. Functions of money

  1. One of the functions of money is that it is a ‘store of value’. Explain
  2. What is the difference between fiat money and a credit card?
  3. How do commercial banks maximize their stockholders’ wealth?
  4. The Federal Reserve System (the Fed) is the central bank of the United States. What are its primary functions?
  5. Assume that the US economy is experiencing a rather severe recession. How might the Fed utilize the discount rate to speed up the economy? Explain in detail.
  6. Assume that the US economy is experiencing a rather severe recession. How might the Fed utilize open market operations to speed up the economy (use lecture notes to answer this)? Explain in detail.
  7. Using the explanation in the lecture, explain how the Fed’s purchase of bonds (securities) on the open market can not only increase the money supply through banks’ lending but also decrease the EFFECTIVE interest rate for borrowers. Use an example with actual interest rates.
  8. Explain how the required reserve requirement can be used by the Fed to either expand or contract the money supply.
  9. A) Using the formula given in the lecture, calculate how much the money supply would increase given an injection of $10 million with a required reserve ratio of 5%. B) Given the same data, how much would the money supply decrease if $10 million were taken out of the money supply with a 5% required reserve ratio?.
  • What 3 events turned an ordinary recession in 1929 into the Great Depression?
  1. Ironically technological advancements have made bartering, which used to be an extremely inefficient exchange of values, more and more popular in the present day. Think of and identify four situations where present-day bartering becomes beneficial to both sides of the transaction.
  2. Assume that you have 100 $1 bills. Assume also that I have 4 $100 bills. Explain why even though you have more paper money (100 pieces of paper), the value of my four pieces of paper is greater than yours.
  3. The Federal Reserve can in effect expand or contract the supply of money in the US.
    1. Explain what you think the Fed must do to expand the money supply.
    2. Identify 2 reasons why the Fed would do this.
  4. Is it possible that the Fed, since it supposedly acts independently of the US government, could use monetary policies (expanding or contracting the money supply) in order to benefit only the wealthiest corporations and individuals while ignoring the lower classes? Explain your opinion here in detail.
  5. Explain your opinion as to whether you feel that using a central bank (the Fed) to control all of the US’s major monetary policies as well as all of its money is dangerous? What might be some of the unintended consequences of giving this much power to one private entity?

 

 

1. Computer vision assignment

CS559 – Computer Vision

Assignment 5

Due 1:00 pm, Dec 7, 2022

 

  1. Suppose that the boundary of a closed region is represented by a 4-directional chain code. Write a function Area(ChainCode) in pseudo-code to compute the area of the region given its chain code representation.

 

  1. Show that the area enclosed by the polyline  is

 

  1. Compare Hough transform and Canny edge detection for region detection in terms of (i) robustness (insensitivity) to noise, (ii) detection of regions with irregular shape, (iii) any common technique that is used both methods.

 

  1. (a) Compare three losses compressions techniques in terms of their suitability for natural images.

(b) Explain which lossless compression technique use variable code length. Which technique results in the optimal code length?

 

5, Consider the 8 by 8 subimage

 

 

Apply the JPEG compression algorithm (see lecture notes) and find and report the 1-D coefficient sequence.

 

  1. Use the region growing function (next page) to detect:

 

  • The red, blue, green regions in the ThreeRegions image (next page) by planting one seed in each region simultaneously. You must run the program only once to detect all three regions. This requires just a little modification to the attached function.

Extra-Credit:

  • Determine the centroid, area, and circularity of the regions detected in (a)
  • Find the minimum distance between the boundaries of the red and blue regions. Do not use your (human) vision and just assume that you have detected these two regions as in (a). You must come up with an efficient For example finding the distance of every pixel on the boundary of red region to every pixel in the boundary of blue region is inefficient.

ThreeRegions

 

 

 

 

Note: You must understand the code before applying it.

 

function J=regiongrowing(I,x,y,reg_maxdist)

% This function performs “region growing” in an image from a specified

% seedpoint (x,y)

%

% J = regiongrowing(I,x,y,t)

%

% I : input image

% J : logical output image of region

% x,y : the position of the seedpoint (if not given uses function getpts)

% t : maximum intensity distance (defaults to 0.2)

%

% The region is iteratively grown by comparing all unallocated neighbouring pixels to the region.

% The difference between a pixel’s intensity value and the region’s mean,

% is used as a measure of similarity. The pixel with the smallest difference

% measured this way is allocated to the respective region.

% This process stops when the intensity difference between region mean and

% new pixel become larger than a certain treshold (t)

%

% Example:

%

% I = im2double(imread(‘medtest.png’));

% x=198; y=359;

% J = regiongrowing(I,x,y,0.2);

% figure, imshow(I+J);

%

% Author: D. Kroon, University of Twente

if(exist(‘reg_maxdist’,’var’)==0), reg_maxdist=0.2; end

if(exist(‘y’,’var’)==0), figure, imshow(I,[]); [y,x]=getpts; y=round(y(1)); x=round(x(1)); end

J = zeros(size(I)); % Output

Isizes = size(I); % Dimensions of input image

reg_mean = I(x,y); % The mean of the segmented region

reg_size = 1; % Number of pixels in region

% Free memory to store neighbours of the (segmented) region

neg_free = 10000; neg_pos=0;

neg_list = zeros(neg_free,3);

pixdist=0; % Distance of the region newest pixel to the regio mean

% Neighbor locations (footprint)

neigb=[-1 0; 1 0; 0 -1;0 1];

% Start regiogrowing until distance between regio and posible new pixels become

% higher than a certain treshold

while(pixdist<reg_maxdist&&reg_size<numel(I))

% Add new neighbors pixels

for j=1:4,

% Calculate the neighbour coordinate

xn = x +neigb(j,1); yn = y +neigb(j,2);

 

% Check if neighbour is inside or outside the image

ins=(xn>=1)&&(yn>=1)&&(xn<=Isizes(1))&&(yn<=Isizes(2));

 

% Add neighbor if inside and not already part of the segmented area

if(ins&&(J(xn,yn)==0))

neg_pos = neg_pos+1;

neg_list(neg_pos,:) = [xn yn I(xn,yn)]; J(xn,yn)=1;

end

end

% Add a new block of free memory

if(neg_pos+10>neg_free), neg_free=neg_free+10000; neg_list((neg_pos+1):neg_free,:)=0; end

 

% Add pixel with intensity nearest to the mean of the region, to the region

dist = abs(neg_list(1:neg_pos,3)-reg_mean);

[pixdist, index] = min(dist);

J(x,y)=2; reg_size=reg_size+1;

 

% Calculate the new mean of the region

reg_mean= (reg_mean*reg_size + neg_list(index,3))/(reg_size+1);

 

% Save the x and y coordinates of the pixel (for the neighbour add proccess)

x = neg_list(index,1); y = neg_list(index,2);

 

% Remove the pixel from the neighbour (check) list

neg_list(index,:)=neg_list(neg_pos,:); neg_pos=neg_pos-1;

end

% Return the segmented area as logical matrix

J=J>1;

 

 

 

1. Define your leadership style

Take a moment to look over the prompts below and formulate a concept of the managerial excellence you will seek to practice as you grow in life and your career. This will be your Ethical Leadership Pledge.    

Do look to examples in your textbook such as Volkswagen, IKEA, Deloitte or any others (in or out of the class) for inspiration.

Please write your pledge opening with“As a leader I pledge:” [then continue based on the items below]

 

  1. Core Values:
    1. List 3 (or more) values that define your leadership style
    2. Describe in detail what each value means (don’t just put up a word, offer context and depth in 2-3 sentences each)
  2. Team building:
    1. Describe your process for finding talent, building and incentivizing team strength (2-3 sentences)
    2. Some additional inspiration:
    3. Servant-leadership is the idea that a leader’s job is to facilitate and not to dictate. Here are some core values to consider:
      1. Encourage diversity of thought.
      2. Create a culture of trust.
  • Have an unselfish mindset.
  1. Foster leadership in others.
  1. Earning trust/buy-in (3-4 sentences)
    1. Detail how you will build trust
    2. Describe how you will earn your team’s “buy-in” (meaning how you will persuade them to see value)
    3. Some ideas to consider: Evidence-based management (using testing and research to reduce workplace politics), instilling best practices (hopefully this class has given you many), communication & collaboration, sharing ownership, de-centralizing/centralizing decision-making, providing good governance 
    4. Please use at least 2 concepts from Chapter 12 (though some are in the list I’ve given you above) 
  2. Elaborate on how you will practice and instill ethics best practices
    1. Reference at least 3 concepts from Chapter 9
    2. You are free to expand after you reference 3 concepts.
  • These prompts are the minimum expected. You may venture beyond should you so choose.
  • YES, you may write in FIRST PERSON! This is about you and there are NO wrong answers.
  • Please copy this to a document and keep it so you can reflect on it after class has finished and iterate upon it as you grow as a leader.

Comment on TWO other classmates posts offering feedback on at least TWO concepts they have shared that you are willing (or inspired) to consider adding to your own leadership pledge.

Student1:

As a Leader I Pledge: My core values are trust, hard work, and work life balance. Trust is very important in my book because of the fact that nothing can be accomplished successfully without a trustful team. I can not lead an unloyalw team, that does not have a foundation of trustworthiness. I believe everyone has the ability to work hard if they are passionate about something and I think one should only work with what they are love. Hard work and practice pays off with a team of great people. Work life balance, is very important. Work is not the only option, you should be able to live a happy life and work on your hobby, as well as earn a living. This is not something I take for granted, it is seen at many companies when this is not there that lifetime employees are not made. For team building, I first started my love for the arts in musical theatre, dance, choir, and acting. Meaning we had to expose our talents in order to bond. We improved and sung in front of our class, to bond and enjoy dinners together. Finding talent, as said before is in passion. Find your hobby then work for that, and live a fairly happy life. I want my team to work on something they love. They need to be professional and personal with their work. Team work is made by caring for one another, wanting to see others succeed as well as yourself. There must be a friendship somewhat with your coworkers in order to do what is best for the company. Work that must be done, can be done without competition. Everyone must be able to share their thoughts, since we are all diverse. There is communication and representation of all, strengths and play on weaknesses. Earning trust is somewhat hard, depending on the upbringing of one another. I think letting people in builds trust, and sharing your weaknesses with one another and somewhat exposing yourself. While the recipient takes these with care, and holds to them what is meaningful to you. I will earn my teams buy in with evidence based management, and reflect on what is needed from us offer my idea, and show why this might be best in my opinion. I also think communication and collaboration is huge, in my opinion. No one person should govern something that is a team effort. Ethics best practices, based on chapter 9. I think that faulty oversight that enables the unscrupulous pursuit of personal gain, heavy pressures to meet or beat short term earnings targets, and a company culture that puts profitability and good business performance ahead of ethical behavior are huge concepts to target when instilling ethical behavior. these concepts from the chapter lead me to focus on employee well being. As I said work life balance, and allowing the team to fail and learn from this. The company should act as a human, a person. They have a brand message and what they stand for, just as our personalities are. To practice good ethics, I would have an inclusive company culture and plan for fails. I think just as sustainability is a huge concept for businesses, it should be teh same with having a personality of standing for environmental change.

 

 

Student 2:

As a leader I pledge: Three core values that define me as a leader are empowerment, work ethic, and communication. As a leader, it is important to be an empowering model to others as it will help my team know that they are noticed for their hard work and motivate them to continue doing their best. Being empowering can help my team know that they also carry a huge part in the company or project we are working on. Having a great work ethic is vital as it allows for certain tasks to be done efficiently and at a certain time. Without having a good work ethic it just leads to disaster and not completing the task correctly. Communication is also important as a leader and amongst a team because it will make sure that everyone is on the same page and is willing to ask questions if needed. I’ve learned through my work and school background that asking questions is better than not asking questions because it is better to receive answers that are needed than just guessing and perhaps doing a task completely wrong. In order to find the right team, I first look at how willing the person is to work for my company, let’s say, and how passionate they are. I want people in my team who can truly come into work being happy and excited to work on different tasks and see it more than just earn income.  Finding people who are passionate is important because I know that they are willing to put their 110% every day they come to work. Building trust in any sort of environment is crucial in order to gain trust and build a relationship. I would build trust by sharing some things about myself that I wouldn’t normally share with strangers and remind my team that they can be open with me. Being vulnerable is hard, but if I am willing to build trust then my team should too. I will earn my team’s “buy-in” by incorporating communication and collaboration and sharing ownership.  If there are serious decisions to be made, I would love to open them to my team and ask for any feedback or suggestions as I can trust that they can make great insights and show that I care about their opinions and will be acknowledged. I will instill ethical best practices by enabling environmental sustainability strategy which allows for ethical standards to be set for the company and not changed no matter what, enhancing a safe work environment by making sure every employee feels safe and allowing for diversity to add different cultures into the work environment to learn how to be open in a work environment.

1. Explain how rational decisions

Thinking It Over Explain how “rational” decisions actually are unconsciously shaped by
framing.and anchoring.
2. The mayor tells you to delay the release of sensitive information to the
city council until after its next meeting. Use the Decision-Making Checklist
(Exhibit 6.1) to work through the issues in such a request.
3. “Do good” and “do no harm” are both important ethical duties for public
servants. Give one policy or administrative example in which there is a
tension between the two duties.
4. Why does corruption capture the headlines when it is often the same old story
with different actors?
5. Review at least three online reports from credible sources (such as the Government Accountability Office) on Huricane Katrina. \IVhat are the ethical
issues or implications raised by the identified shortcomings in governmental
performance?

Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol Crisis

Mini-Paper #3: Johnson & Johnson and a Tale of Two Crises – An Ethics Story Revised Submission

Read the following two PDF documents located at this link: click hereLinks to an external site.

  • Johnson & Johnson’s Tylenol Crisis
  • JNJ’s Baby Powder Crisis: Does Baby Powder Cause Cancer?
  • You are not expected to conduct any outside research

Based on your reading please write a short paper answering the following questions (do not answer with bullets, write a paper):

  • JNJ’s response to the Tylenol Crisis is often cited as one of the best historical crisis management leadership examples. Given this perspective:
    • Compare JNJ’s response to the Tylenol Crisis to their response in the Baby Powder Crisis. 
    • What actions by JNJ were highly effective in the Tylenol Crisis and why? Explain your examples and why you believe they are best practices
    • What could JNJ improve upon in the Tylenol Crisis?
  • After reading JNJ’s handling of the Baby Powder Class Action Lawsuit elaborate upon the following:
    • How did JNJs response differ from the Tylenol Crisis in the Baby Powder Lawsuit?
    • Given what you’ve learned from the Tylenol Crisis what are three potential recommendations/improvements JNJ could have made in the Baby Powder Lawsuit?
  • Ethics Analysis – consider your decision from the perspective of a senior advisor to senior leadership at JNJ (there is NO right answer here, YOU MAY GIVE OPINION IN FIRST PERSON IN THIS SECTION ONLY (this is a special exception))
      • With what ethical actions do you agree or disagree regarding how JNJ handled the Tylenol Crisis?
      • With what ethical actions do you agree or disagree regarding how JNJ handled the Baby Powder Crisis?
    • Be sure to reference at least 3 concepts from Chapters 9 and/or 12 in the textbook in answering this mini-paper. Please mark your references with “(textbook)” to make clear the references from the book.