Author: chris

What is ecology? Describe the difference between a population, a community, and an ecosystem. How does energy move through a food web from producers, to consumers, to decomposers?

Your response should be at least 200 words in length. You may use only your textbook as source material for your response. All source material from your textbook must be referenced (Paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations).

Course Textbook

Cunningham, W. P., & Cunningham, M. A. (2011). Principles of environmental science inquiry and applications (6th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Click the link above to submit your assignment.

Students, please view the “Submit a Clickable Rubric Assignment” in the Student Center.

Instructors, training on how to grade is within the Instructor Center.

Case Study 2: I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag

Due Week 9 and worth 200 points

Religion and Politics have traditional been highly debated topics in our society. Recently, the Pledge of Allegiance has added to this debate.

American citizens have generally recited the Pledge of Allegiance at important ceremonies ranging from presidential inaugurations to the beginning of the school day. The pledge has a great deal of sentimental value to many Americans, but also creates a great deal of controversy for others.

Review the Supreme Court case Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, which highlights the debate.

Write a five to eight (5-8) page paper in which you:

1. Summarize the salient points of the Supreme Court case Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow.
2. Discuss the levels of the court through which the case evolved before it reached the Supreme Court.
3. Explain the decision of the Supreme Court in this case in brief.
4. Explain the fundamental impact that the court decision in question has had on American society in general and on ethics in American society in particular. Provide a rationale for the response.
5. Discuss whether you believe that the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance is a religious issue or a sign of respect for the United States.
6. Discuss whether or not you think public schools should be allowed to recite the pledge.
7. Use at least three (3) quality academic resources. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Examine the current ethical issues inherent throughout the criminal and civil justice systems.
• Describe the dispensation of justice through the criminal and civil justice systems.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in the criminal court and the judicial process in America.
• Write clearly and concisely about the American court system using proper writing mechanics and APA style conventions.

Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic / organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.

Due Week 8 and worth 280 points

It is common industry knowledge that an audit plan provides the specific guidelines auditors must follow when conducting an external audit. External public accounting firms conduct external audits to ensure outside stakeholders that the company’s financial statements are prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) or International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) standards.

Use the Internet to select a public company that appeals to you. Imagine that you are a senior partner in a public accounting firm hired to complete an audit for the chosen public company.

Write a four to six (4-6) page paper in which you:

1. Outline the critical steps inherent in planning an audit and designing an effective audit program. Based upon the type of company selected, provide specific details of the actions that the company should undertake during planning and designing the audit program.
2. Examine at least two (2) performance ratios that you would use in order to determine which analytical tests to perform. Identify the accounts that you would test, and select at least three (3) analytical procedures that you would use in your audit.
3. Analyze the balance sheet and income statement of the company that you have selected, and outline your method for evidence collection which should include, but not be limited to, the type of evidence to collect and the manner in which you would determine the sufficiency of the evidence.
4. Discuss the audit risk model, and ascertain which sampling or non-sampling techniques you would use in order to establish your preliminary judgment about materiality. Justify your response.
5. Assuming that the end result is an unqualified audit report, outline the primary responsibilities of the audit firm after it issues the report in question.
6. Use at least two (2) quality academic resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and other Websites do not qualify as academic resources.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
• Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Plan and design a generalized audit program.
• Determine the nature and extent of evidence accumulated to conduct an audit after considering the unique circumstances of an engagement.
• Evaluate a company’s various risk factors and the related impact to the audit process.
• Evaluate effective internal controls that minimize audit risk and potentially reduce the risk of fraud.
• Use technology and information resources to research issues in auditing.

INTL 220: International Business Concepts
GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP & EQUITY ASSIGNMENT: Value 5% Due Week 12
Understanding social issues and trends in the context of the Canadian experience is a fundamental in understanding the impact on Canadian businesses. In addition, being able to demonstrate how such trends such as technology and entrepreneurship can advance business ventures and social issues is critical in a competitive global market. In this course, you are asked to be able to analyze, debate and propose perspectives on various business topics. In this assignment, you will examine aboriginal entrepreneurship, and how it can advance social issues. Take a look at some of the Aboriginal issues in Canada:

THE ASSIGNMENT: From the sites below, choose a Canadian Aboriginal entrepreneurial business, project or start up:
⦁ http://www.startupcan.ca/campaign/aboriginal-startups/
⦁ http://www.bdc.ca/en/i_am/aboriginal_entrepreneur/Pages/default.aspx
⦁ http://ideaconnector.net/
⦁ http://www.ccae.ca/
⦁ http://www.aboriginalbest.com/
Answer the following questions:
⦁ What are some of the issues Canadian Aboriginals face in Canada? (Issues may be health, access, education, social class, violence, gender issues etc.)
⦁ Who are the stakeholders within this issue (people, communities, groups, and businesses and trades) involved?
⦁ Analyze your chosen start up, business, or project from a SWOT perspective, with international considerations.
Format: A 2-4 page formal written proposal. Name and Student # at top left corner of paper; 1.5 spacing, normal layout, TNR/Calibri font, Cover page not required. Please post in eCentennial Drop box due Week 12.
A B C D F Percentage

Content Very effective and clear Effective and clear
Adequate
Acceptable Ineffective and unclear
50%

Writing and use of References Good grammar and effective writing with good use of references No grammatical and spelling errors with good use of references Few than 3 grammatical and  spelling errors; no references Some grammatical and  spelling errors; no references Many grammatical and spelling errors; no references
50%

Exercise 1-9) Zoya Arbiser, regional manager of Gold Medal Sports Shops, is reviewing the results of 15 stores in her region.  Store managers are moved annually.  Each store manager’s income is very dependent on the direct contribution margin of that store.  For the past year, Store 9 has been managed by a person who has operated several other profitable stores in recent years and is about to be promoted to a larger store.  Zoya notices several items that bother her.

• Store 9 has almost no personnel training expenses relative to other stores.
• Store 9 has stopped participating in numerous community events that gave the store significant visibility but did incur substantial expenses.
• Store 6, where this store manager worked the prior year, has had a severe drop in profits due to higher operating expenses.
• The advertising budget was spent almost entirely in the first four months of the year, with almost nothing spent in the last several months.

Discuss a possible negative managerial scenario that the regional manager may be sensing. Might the manager of Store 9 be an exceptional manager?  What are the ethical implications of the scenario?  What is the regional manager’s ethical responsibility in this scenario? Explain and support your position with evidence from the text. Your initial post should be 200 to 250 words.

(Chapter 1 Discussion Question 9(a)) Controller, Judy Koch, in a recent speech said, “I rarely see a real variable cost or a truly fixed cost.”  What did she mean?  Include in your response an explanation of the difference in behavior of variable and fixed cost, including an example to illustrate your explanation. Your initial post should be 200 to 250 words.

As the manager of your chosen facility from Week 1, you have been tasked with creating an organizational chart that demonstrates all of the employees in the facility.

Create an organizational chart for three departments in your selected health care facility.

Identify two examples of the primary responsibilities that each employee on your chart has as a part of his or her job description.

The duty list should follow the organizational chart as a separate part of your project.

APA Format-3-4 pages including reference page.

2-3 references.

The organization needs to be about Potomac Highland Guild in Petersburg, West Virginia.

The core assignment of this course is a documented research paper (1500-2000 words in length = approx. 6 – 8 pages double spaced, 12-point font).

• The paper should support a thesis statement with information gained from research or investigation.
• The paper will not be just a report presenting information, but will be a paper that carefully examines and presents your own historical interpretation of the topic you have chosen and your interpretation of the information you have gathered.
• The paper may include consideration of problems and solutions, define key terms, or refute arguments against your thesis statement.

It will be important to choose a topic of interest to you.

• Approach this assignment with an open and skeptical mind, then form an opinion based on what you have discovered.
• You must suspend belief while you are investigating and let the discoveries shape your opinion. (This is a thesis-finding approach.)
• Once you have found your thesis, write the paper to support it.

You will use some of the following critical thinking skills in this process:

1. Choosing an appropriate topic, limiting the topic
2. Gathering information, summarizing sources
3. Analyzing and evaluating sources
4. Defining key terms
5. Synthesizing information, comparing and contrasting sources
6. Testing a thesis, making a historical argument, using refutation
7. Amassing support for a position
8. Documenting sources

Because this may be a longer paper than you have written before and a complex process is involved, it is recommended that you complete this paper using the following steps:

1. Choose a topic related to U.S. History up to 1877 (Chapters 1-15) that you would truly like to explore and that you are willing to spend some time on. Your chosen topic should be focused. Pose a question that you really want to answer. You may want to begin with more than one topic in mind.
2. Do some preliminary reading on the topic(s). You may begin with the textbook, then further explore the information available. Refine your topic. Summarize your topic, your interest in the topic, the questions you want to answer, and a hypothesis you want to test.
3. Gather information from a variety of sources. Use a minimum of four sources for your paper, and at least one must be a primary source. Outline the results of your research and the plan for your paper (you are not required to submit the outline).
   • Examples of primary sources are ones that are used in our discussion forums 2 – 8.
   • They are sources that are contemporary to the times under investigation.
   • An example of a secondary source is our textbook, though the textbook also contains excerpts of primary sources, which you may use as a source in your paper.
5. Write the final draft and be sure to cite your work in either APA or Turabian (Chicago Manual of Style). Footnotes are preferred.

Grade Rubric

INTRODUCTION & THESIS: The paper makes a clear and effective statement (the thesis) about the chosen topic. /30

FOCUS AND DEVELOPMENT: Body of the paper focuses on this thesis and develops it fully, recognizing the complexity of issues. /60

SUPPORT AND SYNTHESIS: Uses sufficient and relevant evidence to support the thesis (and primary points), including facts, inferences, and judgments.  Quotes, summarizes, and paraphrases accurately and effectively–appropriately introducing and explaining each quote. /60

CONVENTIONS: Uses citations format correctly; includes a bibliography; is free of errors. /20

CORRECTNESS AND STYLE: Shows critical thinking and depth of understanding; uses appropriate tone; shows sophistication in language usage and sentence structure. /30

Cyber terrorism, seen as the new invisible battleground is definetly a realistic possibility, but is it as detrimental as other forms of terrorism? Discuss.