·         You may use the information from our online course, on the web, or other sources to answer the questions.

·         All answers must be in your own words and in APA format. Each essay question should have cited sources at the end of your essay response. Type your responses directly into the assignment test area below each question.

 

(Essay responses must be 300-400 words; this does not include quoted material.)

 

1. Compare and contrast a specific company’s advertisement from 20-30 years ago with today. What has changed? How has digital media impacted their advertising? Include URL of advertisements.

 

2. Research a current event (news or political) and give a summary and analysis of digital media’s impact. Event must be recent (no later than January 2015)

 

(Essay responses must be 100-200 words; this does not include quoted material.)

 

1. Week 2 covered Communication Theory and content delivery. Provide an example of a company, individual or organization that has successfully used digital media for communication. Explain why they were successful and what they effectively communicated. Include an example of their communication (Tweet, Video, Infographic, etc) Cite resources.

 

2. Give a brief explanation of E commerce. What are some security concerns that the public should be aware of? List and explain at least two.

 

3. Choose and evaluate information found through digital media. This can be a website, video, infographic, etc. List the URL, embed if you can, and explain the steps you used to evaluate.

 

4. Give an example of participatory media and use this example to explain advantages and disadvantages of participatory media.

 

Discussion 1

Evaluate the need for a strategic alliance among supply chain partners. Provide an example from the text and/or your professional experience of a successful strategic alliance. Provide a benefit of this partnership and how a project manager can use this strategy in a project involving purchasing and supply management. Book is Benton, W.C. Jr. (2014).  Purchasing and supply chain management (3rd ed.).  New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

 

Discussion 2

 Analyze one quality award or initiative that is described in the text in Chapter 12 and give an overview of the process.  Provide an example of a company that uses the quality process and how it has helped their organization with new business and market share.  Use at least one outside reference to support your answer.  Book is Benton, W.C. Jr. (2014).  Purchasing and supply chain management (3rd ed.).  New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

NOTE: All submission posting times are based on midnight Central Time. 

For this assignment, you will be analyzing two more short stories, “Battle Royal” (which is the first chapter in Ralph Ellison’s novel, Invisible Man) and “The Birthmark.” As you read, reflect on the ways each depicts characters that are deemed socially unacceptable because of their outward appearances.

Please write a comparison/contrast essay of 1000 words or more discussing the questions below. Remember to begin your paper with an engaging introduction and clear thesis statement, develop each point in the body of your paper using examples and quotes from the stories, and conclude your paper with a restatement of your thesis and closing remarks. Also, be sure to maintain your credibility by including in-text citations and a reference list correctly formatted in APA style.

1. Setting: Describe the settings of both pieces and identify how the eras in which they take place—with their distinct societal attitudes and customs—affect the main characters?
2. Characters:
   • “Battle Royal:” Discuss the young man and his grandfather. Why do we never learn the young man’s name? What do the grandfather’s dying words reveal about him?
   • “The Birthmark:” Describe the main characters: Aylmer, Georgiana and Aminadab. What is important to each?
3. Point of View: In which point of view (first- or third-person) is each piece told? If the point of view in “Battle Royal” was changed, would it have made the story more effective, or less so?
4. Symbolism: 
   • “Battle Royal:” Analyze the deeper meaning of the following: the “battle royal” itself, the naked blonde, and the young man’s dream at the end of the story.
   • “The Birthmark:” What does Georgiana’s birthmark signify, first to her and then to Aylmer? What does alchemy represent in the story?
5. Themes: What are the main themes/messages of each piece? What, in other words, do you think the authors, Ralph Ellison and Nathaniel Hawthorne, are trying to communicate about life and human nature in their respective stories?
6. Fear: What role does fear play in both pieces?
7. Discrimination: Both stories address physical appearance, specifically one’s skin, and the way people may discriminate against others because of external characteristics they deem inferior. Compare and contrast how discrimination and prejudice are presented in “Battle Royal” and “The Birthmark.”
8. Final Thoughts: Author Tim O’Brien wrote, “That’s what fiction is for. It’s for getting at the truth when the truth isn’t sufficient for the truth.” Talk about how literature might give us “truer” insights into the human experience by appealing to our senses, emotions and empathy. Describe a situation in which you or someone you know may have been discriminated against because of appearance, gender, race or another attribute. What did the experience teach you?

Application: Quality Measures

“The gold standard for defining quality measurement remains Donabedian’s three-element model of structure, process, and outcome” (Varkey, p. 30).

Although this model of quality measurement may apply to all kinds of clinical care facilities, you will focus on hospitals for this assignment so that you can make use of data on the CMS’s “Hospital Compare” Web site. Using this Web site, you will examine quality information for a particular hospital, and conduct some basic benchmarking analysis.

To prepare for this Application:

• Visit the Hospital Compare Web site:
  http://www.medicare.gov/hospitalcompare/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
• • Click on the links at the top titled “learn about the new organization of our Hospital Compare Measures” and review them briefly.

• On the top left there is another tap titled “About Hospital Compare Data” that Shows information on Process of Care Measures, Outcome of Care Measures, and Outpatient Imaging Efficiency Measures.
• As you consider this information, bring to mind the six dimensions of quality: Safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity. Search…through step 3.
• For the purposes of this assignment, go back to the 1st page and select a hospital by either entering the zip code for the hospital or the name of the hospital. When you’ve done that and clicked on Show Hospitals, you should have hospitals that you can compare. Follow the directions to review Patient Survey Results (HCAHPS survey results), Timely and Effective Care or Readmissions, Complications and Deaths.
• Consider which organizations are most appropriate to compare for benchmarking purposes. Use the Hospital Compare website and compare your primary hospital’s data with data from another hospital – either one in the same area or one across the country, as you think appropriate.
• After comparing the data, assess which measures you think are of the greatest concern and in need of improvement in your primary/original hospital. What is your rationale for this assessment? Select two or three measures to focus on for this assignment. Consider which dimensions of quality they relate to (safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and/or equity).
• Review this week’s Learning Resources, new the hospital’s Web site, and consider what other steps you would take to get a clearer picture of these quality issues.
  

The Assignment

Write a 1- to 2-page paper that addresses the following:

 

• Identify the primary hospital you have selected.
• Identify the measures you have chosen to focus on (those that are most in need of improvement or that otherwise warrant attention). Compare and contrast the characteristics of structure, process, and outcome measures, and explain which category or categories your chosen measure relates to. Also, indicate the dimensions of quality with which these measures are associated.
• Briefly summarize the data, including your benchmarking analysis.
• Analyze the benefits and challenges of externally reported measures for health care providers and for patients. Also, explain why benchmarking can be useful for identifying areas for improvement.

Choose a specific organization, preferably in an industry in which you are interested, and use that organization as a basis for your paper.

• Write a paper of approximately 900 words that includes the following components: 
• • A brief description of the organization and industry you selected
  • At least four key elements, tools, and/or concepts relevant to Operations Management in the organization you selected
  • An explanation of how the elements directly relate to Operations Management
  • An analysis of how they work together to resolve business problems
  • Their fit in the overall organizational structure to provide effective and efficient management
  • An evaluation of application possibilities or concerns in global markets
  • An evaluation of corporate social responsibility issues related to the elements studied and their implementation within differing business environments 

• Format your paper using West Writing Style Handbook guidelines.
• Include a minimum of four sources, which may consist of readings from the University Library, your text, and other selections.

English assignment

Final Paper

For the Final Paper, you will select one topic from the list below.  Choose a topic that is important or interesting to you, and write a five- to seven-page paper about it.

Instructions for completing the Final Paper:

1. Please select from one of the following topics, which are addressed in the course textbook, Introduction to Computer Literacy: 
   • Collaborative Technologies (covered in Chapter 1)
   • Ethical Concerns in Computing (covered in Chapter 1)
   • The Digital Divide (covered in Chapter 1)
   • Open Source Software (covered in Chapter 3)
   • The Impact of Mobile Computing (covered in Chapter 4)
   • Social Networks  (covered in Chapter 7)
   • Protecting Copyrights and Intellectual Property (covered in Chapter 8)
   • Plagiarism and Online Education (covered in Chapter 8)
   • The Future of Cloud Computing (covered in Chapter 9)
2. Return to the textbook and review the pages in the chapter that pertain to your selected topic.
3. Next, log in to the Ashford University Library and conduct a search on that topic. 
   • The INF103. tutorial will walk you through the basic steps of doing a search for scholarly articles within the Ashford University Library.  A transcript of this video can be accessed through your online course. 
4. Select two scholarly articles to use in your paper. For each article, write down the author information, date of publication, title of the article, the publication information (journal title), and the database from which you retrieved the article. You will need this information when you create your references for the sources.
5. Begin the writing process. You are going to compare the points of view offered by these authors (the author of your textbook and the authors of the two articles you have selected) on your selected topic, and then offer your own point of view based upon your analysis of the readings. 
   • The Ashford Writing Center (AWC) offers assistance with the writing process. The AWC contains many tutorials and offers online guides for how to develop an academic paper. Scroll down to see the Ashford Writing Center resources, which are available to you.

Criteria for Grading
You will be graded on how well your paper meets the following criteria:

Content

1. How clearly you demonstrate your knowledge of your chosen topic.
2. Frequent and appropriate use of examples from the textbook and selected articles to support your points.
3. Appropriate inclusion of relevant quotes from the discussion forum activities.
4. At least one paragraph for each of your three sources (the textbook and two scholarly articles) that includes an accurate summary of the points made by the author(s).
5. At least one paragraph for each of your three sources showing your thoughtful analysis of the point of view introduced by the authors.
6. At least two paragraphs illustrating how the authors of those three sources agree or disagree with one another about the topic.
7. At least two paragraphs that reflect your own point of view and provide a conclusion about your chosen topic.

Form
The way your paper looks is also important to this assignment. Be sure that your paper:

1. Complete your assignment using Microsoft Word.
2. Include a proper title page.
3. Use correct APA formatting for an academic paper (see the Ashford Writing Center tutorial).
4. Use proper citation style for all quotes.
5. Your paper must be between five to seven pages long (excluding title and references pages).
6. Make sure to review your paper for grammar and use the Spell Check function in Microsoft Word before submitting your work.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

 

Review the Final Project assignment description in Week Seven.

• Introduce the topic for your final course project in a paper of approximately 500 words. Your paper should include responses to two of the following points: 
  • Which option did you choose for your project?
  • If you chose the first option, which two companies did you choose? Describe the nature of these businesses and explain why you chose these companies.
  • If you chose the second option, identify the country you chose and explain why. Include an overview of some identifying socioeconomic, political, and other important factors about that country.
  • If you chose the third option, briefly describe the differences in Middle Eastern and Asian business perspectives. Include an overview of some common and diverse socioeconomic, political, and other important factors about these regions.
  • If you chose a different topic, describe your topic and the region or country your project will cover. Explain why it is significant for a topic on international business. 
• Include a minimum of three sources, which may consist of readings from the University Library, your text, and other selections
• Format your paper using West Writing Style Handbook guidelines.
  

 

Research Proposal Specifics

 

 

 

 

 

1. Working individually, you will:

 

• Have chosen a clear and specific research question/ aim/ hypothesis for your research;

• Have contextualised your research question/ aim within the academic literature;

• Understand the philosophical and methodological bases for your research;

• Have a sound method to address the research question/ aim/ hypothesis.

   

  2. Use Harvard style in-text citation and referencing.

   

  3. Do not copy any materials you use word for word unless you identify these sections clearly as quotations.

   

  4. If you paraphrase any materials, you must identify sources through in-text referencing.

   

  5. This is an individual assignment please do not work closely with anyone else.

   

  6. Write 3000 words (+ or – 10%) excluding the header sheet, cover page, contents page, reference list, footnotes and appendices.

   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Structuring The Research Proposal

 

 

 

1. Introduction (~200 words)

 

Explain the issue you are examining and why it is significant.

 

• Describe the general area to be studied
• Explain why this area is important to the general area under study (e.g., psychology of language, second language acquisition, teaching methods)

 

 

 

 

 

2. Background/Review of the Literature (~1000 words)

 

A description of what has already known about this area and short discussion of why the background studies are not sufficient.

 

 

 

• Summarise what is already known about the field. Include a summary of the basic background information on the topic gleaned from your literature review
• Discuss several critical studies that have already been done in this area (cite according to Harvard style).
• Point out why these background studies are insufficient. In other words, what question(s) do they leave unresolved that you would like to study?

 

 

 

3. Research Objective (~500 words)

 

A contextualisation and description of the questions you are examining and an exploration of the claims.

 

 

 

• Outline the methodological position you will take (ontology and epistemology)
• Outline the overarching research aim, objective or hypothesis that you will explore.
• List the specific question(s) that you are exploring.
• Explain how these research questions are related to the larger issues raised in the introduction.

 

 

 

4. Method and Design (~900 words)

 

A description of how you would go about collecting data and test the questions you are exploring. (You are not required to come up with a new or original method!).

 

 

 

• Describe the general method you choose for your study, in order to explore your research objective or test your hypothesis(es).
• Explain why this method is the best for your purposes.
• Explain any potential difficulties in collecting data and how these will be overcome
• Explain the design features that ensure acceptability for ethical purposes
• Describe the participants (if any) and explain how you selected the sample
• Explain how you will present the collected data and how it will be able to be analysed the results to explore the research aim or to test the research hypothesis

 

 

 

5. Significance and Conclusion (~400 words)

 

Discuss, in general, how your proposed research would lead to a significant improvement over the original studies, and how it would benefit the field. (In other words, why should someone care?

 

 

 

6. References (not in word count)

 

Include all references in Harvard style.

 

 

 

Appendix: (not in word count)

 

Dissertation structure in chapters

 

Gantt Chart or timeline

 

 

Review the two cases. Based on the information you learned from your assigned weekly readings from your textbook, respond to the following:

• Which of the persons may be more prone to a mood disorder? Apply DSM-IV-TR criteria.
• What else would you need to know to diagnose a mood disorder? Apply DSM-IV-TR criteria.
• What are the primary causal factors of mood disorders?
• If either of the persons were to be treated for a disorder, what are some of the treatment strategy risks or consequences?
• Does the given life stage (childhood, adolescence, adulthood, old age) of the person impact your understanding of the causal factors or treatment strategy?

Write your initial response in 1–2 paragraphs. If you refer to research information, cite sources applying APA standards.

By Monday, June 23, 2014, post your response to the appropriate Discussion Area.