Category: Research / Dissertation

Performance Excellence – Malcolm Baldrige Awards

This research paper requires students to synthesize and generalize their analysis and recommendations into a success quality model. You will access to Baldrige Performance Excellence Program website and learn from organizations who have achieved world-class performance level at http://www.baldrige.nist.gov/Contacts_Profiles.htm . Baldrige is the United States national quality award from the President. These award recipients are categorized by sectors; education, healthcare, manufacturing, Non-profit, services, and small business.

From this provided website, you will select only one (1) organization awarded in 2015, 2016, or 2017 that you’re interested to learn about for your assignment. The details information of each award recipient are located in “Award Application Summary”, PDF file. ( http://patapsco.nist.gov/Award_Recipients/index.cfm )

Based on the research, recommendations and readings from the texts, you’ll answer the following questions:

What sets the successful companies apart from the unsuccessful companies?
Are successful companies more agile in the marketplace?
Have they cultivated a customer culture?
Is their quality a differentiator?
Have they embraced lean manufacturing or a zero defect perspective?
What are the success factors that set them apart?
What success factors do all of the companies have in common?
What success factors could be applied to make them even more successful?
What model could be developed (flowchart, decision tree, fishbone diagram) that would guide companies towards continuous improvement based on your research?

In your final product you will indicate the name of the selected organization and year of award recipients, provide brief company’s demographic data, and answer questions above. The paper should be within 5-6 pages (double space, Time NW).

Read “Case Study: Research on Intimate Partner Violence and the Duty to Protect”  Answer the discussion questions below in 450-500 words. Use one to two scholarly resources to support your answer. When appropriate, use in-text citations according to APA formatting.

1. Why is this an ethical dilemma? Which APA Ethical Principles help frame the nature of the dilemma?
2. How are APA Ethical Standards 2.01f, 3.04, 3.06, 4.01, 4.02, 4.05, and 8.01 relevant to this case? Which other standards might apply?
3. What are Dr. Yeung’s ethical alternatives for resolving this dilemma? Which alternative best reflects the Ethics Code aspirational principles and enforceable standards, legal standards, and obligations to stakeholders? Can you identify the ethical theory (discussed in Chapter 3) guiding your decision?
4. What steps should Dr. Yeung take to implement her decision and monitor its effect?
5. Aidan is a research participant in this scenario. What are rights to privacy and confidentiality? How was this established? Under the circumstances in this scenario, what are the ethical issues related to his confidentiality and/or privacy?

Action Research Literature Evaluation

Last week we focused on developing your area of focus based on an existing problem or challenge in early childhood education that you would like to change or improve. This week you will gain deeper insight into your area of focus by reviewing and evaluating literature related to your area of focus. You started this process in this week’s discussion, and will continue the same process for this assignment. You may use the article you reviewed in the discussion this week as one of the four resources required for review and evaluation.

For this assignment, you will utilize appropriate databases and digital tools to identify academic sources relevant to your action research area of focus, and then evaluate each source for research timeliness, relevancy, authority, accuracy, and purpose. Additionally, you will identify, evaluate, review, and summarize four relevant scholarly, peer-reviewed articles to inform your own action research proposal. The purpose of this assignment is to help you understand what others in the field have done to improve the same or similar challenges that you are interested in improving. Week 2 Literature Evaluation Assignment Template is available for developing your Week Two assignment. For this assignment, please use a minimum of four scholarly, peer-reviewed, full text journal articles. Articles must be current, meaning each article must have been published in the past five years.

You may use the Ashford Library or appropriate digital research tools (i.e., Google Scholar (Links to an external site.)) to locate scholarly sources for this assignment. Remember, not all sources and articles in the Ashford Library are scholarly, so please be sure to refer to the Instructor Guidance for this week and the MAECEL Source Guide for further tips and information on locating scholarly, peer reviewed journals.

You may also be interested in using an online bibliographic management program such as RefWorks (Links to an external site.), NoodleTools (Links to an external site.), or Diigo (Links to an external site.) to collect, manage, annotate, share, and cite your sources. Please be sure to carefully review the Instructor Guidance, the course Anchor Paper, and course readings for this week to inform the development of this assignment.

*Reminder to Students: Remember to save all copies of your work throughout the course as you will use each assignment as part of the Final Action Research Proposal. For many of the discussions and assignments, you are building on your work each week, so it is appropriate to use content from your discussions in your weekly assignments, generally expanding and extending concepts and sections as you progress from week to week. You will have the opportunity to make revisions to each section of your proposal based on instructor and peer feedback prior to your final version in the Final Action Research Proposal, so be sure to revisit the feedback you have received from your instructor and classmates each week to continuously refine your proposal throughout the course.

• Content Expectations
• Part 1: Article Summary Tables: For each of the four articles, complete one table using the Week Two assignment template to evaluate the source using the CRAAP test, and then provide a summary in the areas indicated in the table. Each section must be complete and add relevant information related to the article.
  • CRAAP Test: Using the CRAAP test, evaluate each of the four required sources for timeliness, relevancy, authority, accuracy, and purpose. Provide the overall score and a narrative with a summary of your evaluation.
  • Title, Author, Year: For each article, provide an accurate title, author, and year of publication.
  • Purpose of the Study: For each article, clearly explain the purpose of the study.
  • Subject/Participants: For each article, discuss the subjects or participants involved in the study.
  • Variables: For each article, identify the independent and dependent variables in the study.
  • Quantitative and/or Qualitative Instruments: For each article, examine the instruments used to collect data, including any pertinent information on the validity and reliability of the instruments.
  • Interventions: For each article, summarize the interventions used in the study to improve a situation or existing challenge that the research addressed.
  • Outcomes/Results: For each article,explain what kind of evidence used to support his/her claims.
  • Implications: For each article, examine the implications and conclusions of the study.
  • Relevance to Proposed Study: For each article, appraise how the study relates to the challenge or situation you are interested in improving in your own action research proposal.
  • Part 2: Literature Evaluation Table: Complete the summary table after completing each of the article summary tables for each article. The purpose of this table is for you to synthesize information from the articles you reviewed to determine how each one will inform your own action research proposal, specifically focusing in the interventions and qualitative and quantitative instruments. The content from this assignment will be used to support the development of the Week Three Assignment in ECE 660.
  • Literature Evaluation Table: Based on your four article summaries, use the literature evaluation table to organize your decisions regarding which interventions and instruments are the most relevant to your own action research proposal.
• Research and Resource Expectations
  • A minimum of four scholarly, peer-reviewed sources.
• Writing and Formatting Expectations
  • Title Page: Must include a separate title page with the following:
    • Title of paper
    • Student’s name
    • Course name and number
    • Instructor’s name
    • Date submitted
  • Academic Voice: Academic Voice is used (avoids casual language, limited use of “I” or first person, it is declarative).
    Purpose and Organization: Demonstrates logical progression of ideas.
    Syntax and Mechanics: Writing displays meticulous comprehension and organization of syntax and mechanics, such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation.
    APA Formatting: Papers are formatted properly and all sources are cited and referenced in APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center (Links to an external site.).
• Suggested Assignment Length
  • This assignment should be approximately five to six double-spaced pages in length (not including title and reference pages).
• Next Steps
  • Review and Submit the Assignment: Review your assignment with the Grading Rubric to ensure you have achieved the distinguished levels of performance for each criterion. Submit the assignment for evaluation no later than Day 7.

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.

Final Research Paper:  The course final research paper is a formatted APA paper.  It is 12 pages, double-spaced.  Paper length requirement is 12 pages of content from Title Page through References.  The Research Paper is worth 15% of the final grade.  The Final papers will contain a title page, TOC, abstract, introduction/topic paragraph, summary/conclusion, and references page.

Research paper topic:

IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Be advised that, your research paper will ONLY use research work that is “Peer-reviewed” from the  library for your paper.  Your paper must have a total of 10-references that support your research work.  It is important that you refer to the APA 6E guidance to make certain that your paper is APA 6E guide compliant.

FINC 330 Project Description

Research Project Part 2

This project is closely aligned with the Course Outcomes and Finance Program Objectives.  Completion of this project can be used as part of a portfolio to show potential employers the student is skilled at performing company valuations and financial statement analysis and can be included on the student’s resume.

Bond and Stock Performance Analysis

OBJECTIVE

In this part of the project you are to assume to have been hired to join a team serving as an internal financial analyst to THE COMPANY. Your client plans to invest in bonds and (or) stocks issued by THE COMPANY (SELECTED BY INSTRUCTOR). In part 6 of the assignment you are asked to provide some recommendations to THE COMPANY’S management.

THE COMPANY for part 2 of the project can be the company that you were using for the Research Project Part 1 or ANOTHER COMPANY determined by your professor. THE COMPANY for this part of the project must have bonds listed on the website http://finra-markets.morningstar.com/BondCenter/Default.jsp. To find the information on bonds, click on Search in the middle of the screen (under Market Center Bond Guide), under Quick Search type the Issuer Name and the Symbol, and click SHOW RESULTS.

Alternatively, you can request approval of another publicly traded company. This request must be submitted before the end of the first week of the course. The request must include

• identification of the company by ticker symbol and name
• a reasonable and appropriate explanation of why you want to examine the alternative company
• the source of the analyst’s report that will be used in the analysis (which must be submitted to me)
• acknowledgement by you that all the specific elements of the assignment (see below) will be prepared by you and included in the final research project report

SUGGESTED WEBSITES

www.morningstar.com – To find the information for your company you need to type the stock symbol in the Quotes window to get into the company’s page.

http://finra-markets.morningstar.com/BondCenter/Default.jsp – To find the information on bonds, click on Search in the middle of the screen (under Market Center Bond Guide), under Quick Search type the Issuer Name and the Symbol, and click SHOW RESULTS.

https://markets.businessinsider.com/bonds. To find the information on bonds, scroll down the page, type the name of the company in the window under Bond Finder, and click SEARCH.

www.marketwatch.com  -To find the information for your company you need to type the stock symbol in the Search window to get into the company’s page.

www.money.cnn.com  -To find the information for your company you need to type the stock symbol in the Search window to get into the company’s page.

www.finance.yahoo.com – To find the information for your company you need to type the stock symbol in the Search window to get into the company’s page.

www.nyse.com – Click on Data, then click on Stocks (under Quotes), and type the name of the company or the stock symbol in the window “Keyword or symbol” to get into the company’s page.

www.nasdaq.com – To find the information for your company you need to type the stock symbol in the Search window to get into the company’s page.

Company’s websites

YOUR SPECIFIC ASSIGNMENT

Using the information from the websites the student will develop evaluation of bond and stock performance for THE COMPANY (SELECTED BY INSTRUCTOR). (The evaluation portion will total 85% of the assignment grade)

-1—Background and Industry (one short paragraph).

-2- The financial leverage ratios (10% of the project grade)

a) Find the financial leverage ratios for THE COMPANY assigned for you of the project for the last 3-5 years in the Internet. Present these ratios as the table(s) in your project.

You can find these ratios in the Internet or calculate them. If you use published ratios you must indicate that and cite their source.

• Debt-to-assets ratio (Debt ratio)
• Debt-to Equity ratio
• Interest Coverage ratio (the Times Interest Earned)

b) Write (about) 1 page of the analysis of the ratio results. In your analysis you should answer the following questions. Please explain your answer to each question.

How is THE COMPANY financing its assets? Discuss how much risk is associated with the bonds issued by the company? How can this risk be measured? Please explain.

-3- Collect and evaluate the data about bond performance of the assigned company. (15% of the project grade).

The information on bonds can be found on the website http://finra-markets.morningstar.com/BondCenter/Default.jsp. To find the information on bonds, click on Search in the middle of the screen (under Market Center Bond Guide), under Quick Search type the Issuer Name and the Symbol, and click SHOW RESULTS.

Another useful website on bond information is https://markets.businessinsider.com/bonds. To find the information on bonds, scroll down the page, type the name of the company in the window under Bond Finder, and click SEARCH.

Copy the quotations of two bonds issued by THE COMPANY (SELECTED BY INSTRUCTOR) that contain the Price. Present these quotations in your project.

1. Assume that par value of the bond is $1,000. What were the last prices of the bonds in $$$ (listed in the Price column)? Show your work in your project.
2. Assume that par value of the bond is $1,000. Calculate the annual coupon interest payments. Show your work in your project.
3. Assume that par value of the bond is $1,000. Calculate the current yield of the bonds. Show your work in your project.
4. Write a 1-2 page of the analysis of the bonds. In your analysis you should answer the following questions. Please explain your answer to each question.
   1. How much is the YTM listed in quotations is for the bonds? Explain the meaning of YTM.
   2. If you are going to buy a bond issued by THE COMPANY, which bond would you choose? Why?
   3. Are these bonds callable? If the bonds that you chose are callable (non-callable), will it change your decision to buy them?
   4. If you are an investor who is looking for a bond to invest in, are you going to buy a bond that you chose? Take a look at the balance sheet and income statement of the company. What data or ratios support your decision to buy this bond or not? You may want to incorporate the results of the Research Project Part 1, as well as the results of the financial leverage ratios to answer this question. You should develop a specific recommendation, with supporting rationale to explain your answer.

-4- Collect and evaluate the data about stock performance of the assigned company for the last one year. (totally 35% of the project grade).

1) Find the market ratios for the company for the last 1-3 years and its major competitor for the last year in the Internet. (10% of the project grade)

• Price/Earnings ratio
• Market/Book ratio (also called (Price/Book ratio)
• Earnings per share
• Dividends per share
• Other market ratios on your choice

These ratios are available on www.morningstar.com > Company’s page – under Valuation, Financials, and under Dividends

You can find these ratios in the Internet or calculate them. If you use published ratios you must indicate that and cite their source.

1. Present the market ratios as the table(s) in your project.
2. Write about 1 page of analysis of the market ratio results that you found. Compare the market ratio results against the industry or main competitor. In your report please answer the question: Are the common stockholders receiving an adequate return on their investment?
3. Compare the P/E ratio of your company with the industry average or 5-year average. Is the stock overvalued, undervalued, or properly valued? Why?  In accordance with your findings, is it reasonable to buy the stock? Please explain your answers.

-2) Analysis of the historical stock prices trend for the last year. (10% of the project grade)

1. Collect and evaluate the data about stock prices of the assigned company for the last one year for the company and its major competitor.
2. Create the chart(s) using the stock price chart tools on the websites or Excel. Present the chart(s) in your project.
3. Write about 0.5 page of analysis the historic stock prices trend for the last year.

3) Apply the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) Security Market Line to estimate the required return on THE COMPANY stock. Note that you will need the risk-free rate and the market return. Show this information in your project. (15% of the project grade)

1. Apply the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) Security Market Line to estimate the required return on stock. Note that you will need the risk-free rate, beta, and the market return.

a) To get the current yield on 10-year Treasury securities go to www.finance.yahoo.com -click on Markets – U.S. Treasury Bonds Rates.  You will use the current yield on 10-year Treasury securities as the risk-free rate to estimate the required rate of return on stocks. Discuss how appropriate this rate is as a measure of risk.

b) Between 1926 and 2017, the compound annual rate of return of S&P 500 is estimated a 6.5%. We will use this number as the market return. Discuss how appropriate this rate is as a measure of return.

c) Beta is listed in www.finance.yahoo.com and in www.morningstar.com on the company’s front page. What is the beta listed for the company? What does it mean?

d)  Calculate the required return on the stock using the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) Security Market Line. Please show your work.

2. There are several methods how to calculate the growth rate. One of the possible ways is to calculate the sustainable growth rate as g = ROE *(1- Dividend payout ratio). You can find ROE and the Dividend Payout Ratio on www.morningstar.com > Company’s page – under Financials and under Dividends

Calculate the company’s sustainable growth rate. Please show your work.

3. Apply the Gordon model (constant growth rate model) to calculate the intrinsic (economic) value of the stock. Please show your work.

Please note that for some companies it is not possible to use the Gordon model. If that is the case, please explain why it is not possible to use this model for your company. What other models is it possible to use?

4. Compare the result of your calculations with the current stock price. Is the stock overvalued, undervalued, or properly valued? Why?  In accordance with your findings, is it reasonable to buy the stock? Why? Please explain your answer.

–5- Develop a specific recommendation, with supporting rationale for your client, as to whether the assigned company’s recent trend in financial and stock performance is of sufficient financial strength to warrant entering in a long-term investment in bonds and/or stocks of the company. Explain your answer (about 1 page) (10% of the project grade).

-6- Develop a specific recommendation, with supporting rationale for the COMPANY’S management – Think about the financial strategy of the company, how to best balance THE COMPANY’S financial leverage to optimize shareholder wealth going forward taking into consideration the company’s current market position, credit rating, dividend policy, etc.  (10% of the project grade).

-7- Reflection – the students should write a paragraph in their own words reflecting on what they learned from the assignment and how they think they could apply what they learned in the workplace. (5% of the project grade).

PRESENTATION OF PAPER AND WRITING (15%) of the project grade):

-Organization, Format and Presentation of Paper including the Title page, Introduction, Body, and Summary. Each section of the paper must begin with a sub-heading. Please use the sub-headings included in the assignment (4% of the project grade)

Use of Tables, Figures and Other Graphics to Summarize and Support Analysis Presented in the Paper (3% of the project grade)

Logical and Smooth Flowing Transitions and Relationships among Sections of the Written Report (3% of the project grade)

Research Sources and Significance of Research Information and Data, Use of APA Citation Methodology (5% of the project grade)

Research the website on What is EMDR Therapy on the emdria.org site

https://www.emdria.org/page/EMDREarlyIntervention

After researching the site, Write a 3-4 paper on the following

Ø what is EMDR therapy

Ø what is EMDR early intervention,

Ø EMDR Training and Certification and the process

Ø Tell me what you have learned and what to gain from learning and practicing EMDR therapy to Veterans with combat trauma

You do not need to create an account or sign in. You can navigate and search through the tabs in the site.

 

APA format and intext Citations and References

References to use

EMDR International Association. (2020). What is EMDR therapy?. Retrieved from https://www.emdria.org/

EMDR International Association. (2020). Combat Trauma . Retrieved from https://www.emdria.org/page/CombatTrauma

This will be a detailed summary of the research paper of at least 2 papers without abstract and references, and what you gained from the research.  Each week, you will find an article/peer-reviewed research paper that pertains “sustainable urban development, Governance and policy: A comparative overview of EU policies and projects”

The paper should contain in-text citations of (Abstract, body, conclusion), and References. Paper selection should be after 2015.

NOTE: All outside sources must be referenced and cited in your paper.  All papers will be reviewed with plagiarism software. Any references not properly referenced and cited will result in a 0 on your paper. Multiple violations will result in a failure for the course!

Explain how to avoid biases in a report. Explain how to avoid using words or phrases to draw conclusions. Provide an example. How do you improve your vocabulary? What is the importance of semantics?  Explain your answer and support with research.

Research and submit a paper on the Sri Lanka Easter Bombings it should be relevant to  the concept and practical application of intelligence-Led Policing.  The paper should be 10  double- spaced pages, should address the issue, and provide some background while exploring the concepts of Intelligence Led Policing and how it was applicable to the bombings.  Did the concepts work in this case? What were the “sweet spots” and the hard spots? Please provide your thesis up front, with supporting arguments based on fact, and a conclusion. Please cite appropriately using APA format.  Thank you.