Author: chris

The topic of your project needs to be a contemporary societal problem, such as healthcare reform, immigration reform, privacy rights, euthanasia, First Amendment Rights, stem cell research, capital punishment, corporate prisons, legalizing drugs, ageism, animal rights, cloning, prayer in schools, racial profiling, recycling/conservation, sexism, outsourcing jobs, workplace bullying, etc. The topic must focus on a single aspect, as in “How far do corporations intrude into the private lives of their employers?” or “The social costs of financing the distribution of custom-designed drugs.” You may suggest another topic to use, but the instructor must approve the topic during the Week Two Discussion.

The Final Research Project will present research relating the responsibilities of a critical thinker to contemporary society. In this assignment, you will do the following:

• Research one aspect of a contemporary social problem.
• Define the problem.
• Propose a possible solution for the problem.
• Create an argument that supports your thesis position. You should take on the perspective of a critically thinking researcher. The argument must present a thesis statement and evidence to support the thesis statement.
• Evaluate the ethical outcomes that result from the position you take on the issue and explain how those outcomes would influence society and culture.
• Interpret statistical data from at least two peer-reviewed scholarly sources.
• Evaluate evidence using the following standards: validity, reliability, and bias related to the chosen topic and accurately identify strengths and weaknesses.

Research and Define the Problem

You must take on the perspective of your major field of study and explain in your paper what that perspective is and how it informs your view of the topic. The topics listed above are far too broad to write about in 10–12 pages (3,300–3,900 words). Instead, you must choose a narrowly defined thesis and approach it from the perspective of your field.

Example: If you are an economics major, and you are interested in immigration reform, you should approach a very specific aspect of immigration reform through the lens of economic theory and practice. A specific thesis question would not be, “How does illegal immigration influence the U.S. economy?” One could write thousands of pages on such a topic. Instead, a better question would be, “How do illegal immigrant hotel workers in Chicago impact the economy of Northern Illinois?” You would then want to do the research and determine the positive and negative impacts they have, ultimately trying to conclude how illegal immigration in this area should be approached ethically.

How to Hone Your Thesis: It is important that you start your research early in this course. Try to find the most important contemporary questions and theories in your field of study and then align the most important questions with a very specific aspect of the general topics above. For example, if you are a psychology major, you might want to start thinking within the realm of healthcare reform or aspects of mental health and criminality in the prison system.

Your Argument

You must present a complete argument, including a major claim with at least five points of evidence, information, or data that will prove the claim.

• The thesis statement must be
  • A clear, simple declarative sentence as the first or last sentence in the opening paragraph of the essay.
  • Of such a nature that it can be substantiated, corroborated, verified, and proved through appeal to primary or secondary academic research source materials.
• The introductory paragraph must
  • Present the thesis statement, an explanation for the importance of the topic, and its relation to the student’s field of study.
• Beliefs, opinions, and personal opinions must not be introduced at any point in the essay.
• All beliefs and opinions should be supported with academic evidence. Sweeping generalizations with no supporting academicevidence do not reflect adequate critical thinking skills.
• Do not include rhetorical questions in your essays. All the questions that are pertinent to your project need to be answered in your essay and your answers again need to be supported with evidence from peer-reviewed journal articles and academically published books.

Attributes of Good Critical Thinking in Papers

• Your paper should include academic sources that explain multiple sides of the issue.
• The evidence that you use should come from high-level researchers engaged in your field of study.
• Your interpretations of the evidence should be objective and state the conclusions and theses presented in the evidence clearly and fairly.
• Your paper should place the various forms of evidence in relation to one another and demonstrate why one form or perspective is stronger than the other positions that one could take on the issue.
• Your paper should point out the limitations of current evidence and attempt to indicate areas for future research.

Ethical Outcomes of the Position You Take

After you have defined the problem and created an argument about how one ought to respond to the issue, you need to explain the ethical outcomes of the position you have taken. This should again be in relation to the field of study in which you are working. There might be different ethical outcomes that result from your analysis. For example, going back to the example issue above, from an economic standpoint, illegal immigrants might contribute positively to the economy of Northern Illinois in a specific number of ways. Thus, an economist who believes that positive impact to the economy is the greatest good would say that one should promote the use of illegal immigrants. However, because these workers are often paid less than others and eliminate jobs that could be done by residents of Chicago, there could be other negative ethical outcomes that would outweigh the positive impacts to the economy. It is your goal to draw out the ethical implications of your thesis and explain the underlying rationale that is the foundation for your claim that one action is better than another.

• Critical thinkers are those who can outline the positive and negative ethical impacts of their positions. In addition, they are able to provide a rationale for why they believe a specific position is the right position, even when it leads to negative outcomes.
• Critical thinkers are also able to be honest and objective about the limitations and gray areas that pertain to their theses.

Final Research Project Requirements

The Final Research Project may be presented as a formal research paper (essay format), a PowerPoint presentation, a video, or a podcast equivalent to a minimum of 10 – 12 pages in APA format (approximately 3,300 – 3,900 typewritten words, excluding title page and reference pages). Written essays must adhere to all APA formatting standards and requirements, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

PowerPoint presentations must include the full text (at least 3,300 words) in the speaker notes portion of the slides, with appropriate citations, and full reference pages. PowerPoint presentations must adhere to the basic principles of PowerPoint presentation design and must include citations and references according to APA standards and requirements.

Videos and podcasts must include a full transcript, in APA format, including appropriate in-text citations and a references page.

Quotations:

There must be no more than 15% quoted content in the body of your essay. All quoted material must bear quotation marks and a full quotation citation.

Source Documents:

• There must be 10 or more source documents used, cited, and referenced.
• Multimedia sources (such as videos) may be used, but no more than two such sources may be used. If multimedia sources are used, then they must be authored and distributed by credible sources, such as universities, law schools, medical schools, or professors, or found in the Ashford University Library.
• Where print documents are used for source materials, those must be peer-reviewed, scholarly journal articles, and academically published books. Popular media sources (e.g., newspapers, magazines, television and radio shows, etc.) may not be used. Materials from advocacy groups (e.g., Greenpeace, Human Rights Campaign, National Organization for Women, etc.) may not be used.
• Two of the peer-reviewed scholarly sources used must include statistical evidence, which must be accurately interpreted.
• Sites such as ProCon.org and Wikipedia should not be used.
• Religious texts are neither peer-reviewed nor scholarly and so may not be used in any way.

Write a 500- to 700-word magazine article that discusses visual imagery. Includethe following in your article:

• A contrast of verbal and visual imagery
• An argument about which of these you consider most important
• A justification of your argument with research

Include at least three scholarly articles.

 

Assignment 1 – Strategic Site Evaluation

Overview

Every construction project is different, and has its own unique set of constraints, which combine to influence and drive the strategic plan for that particular site. The strategic plan aims to manage the site as effectively and efficiently as possible by coordinating a range of variables including the construction methodology employed, the materials used, the allocation of resources, time management strategies, the construction programme, and quality management processes.

Site constraints may result from a range of factors such as the geology and history of the site, specific town planning requirements, physical barriers on or surrounding the site, new or existing services and infrastructure, or even just a lack of proper planning of the works. They may have existed prior to the commencement of construction (and therefore have been taken into account during the tender process), or they may have become evident as a result of undertaking the on-site construction activities.

But these constraints can and do have a decided influence on the way in which project management techniques are selected and applied to a particular project, and the management of constraints becomes appreciably more complicated when it is applied to multiple construction projects.

 

Project Requirements

Your assessment task requires you to prepare a comprehensive and professional management report based on your engagement with an active multiple construction site (or sites) which clearly demonstrates your understanding of critical project management techniques and processes.

To help facilitate your learning for this task, you will need to arrange access to a suitable site (see subject notes explaining what constitutes a multiple site), or two separate sites (ideally operated by the same builder), for the purposes of identifying, and assessing the particular constraints of your chosen sites, (and their surroundings), and developing an understanding of the strategic planning that has had to be implemented on your projects.

The site will preferably involve a commercial or industrial project, but alternatively can be a multi-unit residential construction site. An individual dwelling or dual occupancy site is not suitable for this task.

You are required to monitor and inspect your sites progressively for at least four weeks prior to submitting your final report, but the frequency of your visits will be determined by the nature of the activities taking place on the sites at the time, and your ability to gain regular access to the site. The primary objective is for you to observe as much as possible of the construction progress during this period. It is therefore strongly recommended that you find sites which are close to your home or work, to give you the maximum number of opportunities to observe the site operations, and interact with the site management teams.

Commencing in Week 1 of the Trimester, students should locate their project sites, make contact with the builder, and establish a contact person who is involved directly with the project in order to;

• Obtain permission to observe (and photograph) the site,
• Ask questions about the known constraints applicable to the project,
• Find out how these constraints have influenced the strategic planning for the 
project including resource allocation, time management techniques, construction programming, construction methodology, material selections, and quality management processes, and
• Discuss how the site management team has dealt with these issues. 
As part of your strategic site evaluation, you should firstly establish the background to the project such as the project cost, overall build time, names and backgrounds of the builders, and current status of the project. You will also need to find out how the construction team has planned for and dealt with their particular constraints, with a strong emphasis on how the multiple project aspect of the site (or sites) has influenced their thinking. This research should encompass the project management techniques the site has employed, the types and complexity of project scheduling, the role of quality management, and the use of time management techniques. You should also research other options which may have been available to the site management team.

Imagine you have been working for a health care organization for an extended period of time. It is clear that you have a wealth of information about the accountability and liability that individuals and organizations should be aware of. You have been asked to create an informational handout for new employees to inform them of the importance of being an accountable and liable individual in a health care organization.

Select a representative from the health care industry below who will represent the perspective of your paper:

• Long-term care manager
• Physician’s front office manager
• Billing specialist

Create a 1,050- to 1,400-word pamphlet that conveys the following information:

• Evaluate accountability and liability implications for individuals and organizations in the health care industry.
  • Evaluate standards of care and potential liability for health care professionals and organizations.
  • Evaluate the status of provider rights and responsibilities in the delivery of health care.
  • Evaluate the state and federal statutory and regulatory enactments relative to patient rights and responsibilities.
  • Evaluate various forms of health care fraud.
  • Evaluate civil and criminal penalties associated with fraudulent activities.
  • Analyze the legal and ethical implications of using technology in the health care industry.

Format your assignment consistent with APA guidelines.

Cite 3 peer-reviewed, scholarly, or similar references.

After watching the documentary http://www.veoh.com/watch/v19243569aQj7ZexY answer the following question in one page (Single spacing using a font size of 12)

• Identify at least four countries and discuss the differences in their health care systems. Conclude this section by stating your preferred health care system and the reason why.
• Discuss at least three effects of differences in healthcare systems on global health [I am looking for specific effects (whether positive or negative) like medical tourism etc.]

 

• Healthcare systems tend to be national NOT global – explain two innovative ideas around healthcare systems that you would recommend to WHO for implementation in order to have galvanic improvements in global health.

Draft a memo to a chief executive officer explaining the procurement contract process. Include the following elements:

• Provide a general description of the procurement contract life cycle.
• Explain why a company would want to use contracts.
• Describe the benefits to a company that uses this process.
• Provide an example of a company that successfully uses the procurement contract life cycle and how that company has benefited from it.

1500-1800 words

Watch the documentary and answer one or more of the following questions in a 2-3 pages paper:

– What is the relation between colonialism and the industrial revolution?

– What is the role played by missionaries, explorers, businessmen, local chiefs, colonial officers, journalists etc.?

– How were colonialism and exploitation justified?

Links to the documentary

 

Here is some additional info:

http://www.africanfilm.com/Congo.htm

For this assignment, you should use the information in the textbook and the information found on the official Department of Labor website, http://www.bls.gov/home.htm.

Unemployment is one of the major concerns that people have in today’s economy, since losing one’s job can be one of the most devastating events a person can experience. But what do the numbers actually mean? What is the actual state of the economy, in terms of its ability to generate jobs for its citizens?

Questions:

1. What is the labor force participation rate? What was the labor force participation rate in 2008? How has it changed since 2008 and what does this change imply for the state of the economy? Does the labor force participation rate effect the unemployment rates reported in the media?

2. How is unemployment measured and reported?

3. What is a discouraged worker? Are they included in the basic unemployment rate? Are they included in any measure of unemployment? How has the number of discouraged workers changed since 2008? How does the exclusion of the discouraged worker affect the basic unemployment rate reported in the media?

4. What is frictional unemployment? What is structural unemployment? What is cyclical unemployment? What economic policies should be used to deal with these types of unemployment? Which type is most prevalent in today’s economy?

5. Unemployment insurance is designed to help the unemployed. Do these benefits encourage or discourage a person from looking for work? How long should these benefits last?

6. Does the existence of unions help or hurt the overall economy and the employment rate? Why or why not?

Your final paper should run about 8 pages.

Structure

This is a traditional research paper.  You should begin with a question or series of questions, your account of research and the state of debate on your question and a conclusion based on your research.

 

Topics

The topic must be related to the theme of the course – the development and current state of the economies of Asia.  Below is a list of possible topics, though you may choose another topic as long as it is relevant to the course.

• To what extent have the major economies of Asia relied on state-led development?
• What has been the role of export-led growth in Asia (or in a particular country)?
• How important has the use of capital and exchange controls been in countries that have used them (India, China, Malaysia)?
• Are the growth rates of India and/or another country or group of countries sustainable?
• What is the role of trade with China and Japan in the development of other economies in Asia?
• What kind of development path has a particular country pursued?
• To what extent has the development of the smaller economies of Asia (or a particular country) been driven by FDI from other countries?
• To what extent has the development of Asian economies (or a particular country) been driven by low wages?
• What do social indicators tell us about the state of human development in Asia (or in a particular country)?
• What is Abenommics and is it likely to pull Japan out of its stagnation?
• How has fiscal policy in China helped avert stagnation since the 2008 world economic downturn?
• How has the world economic downturn affected other economies in Asia?
• How has industrialization and growth of a country impacted the environment?
• How has economic reform impacted poverty rates or other measures of social well-being?
• To what extent are the economies of Asia dependent on exports to the US and EU and how is this likely to change, given the weakness of these economies?

 

 

You may also choose a historical topic, like whether conditions improved for working people under Maoism in China, whether India’s five year plans were successful in alleviating poverty.

 

These are just ideas.  You may choose any other related topic.

Policy Development: Draft Instructions

Law enforcement organizations are facing a tremendous problem with social media. On one hand, social media such as Facebook, My Space, and Twitter can be extremely useful for effective and efficient communication. On the other hand, Law Enforcement Executives are constantly facing situations in which employee misconduct is occurring through social media. Police Officers are accessing social media from their workstations and patrol cars during their shifts. Police Officers are posting information that is unbecoming for an officer as well as degrading and disrespectful to the profession. Police unions and police officer organizations such as the Fraternal Order of Police and the PBA are opposed to departmental policies that infringe on police officers’ constitutional rights.

******Answer these questions as well******

How do law enforcement organizations regulate the use of social media? Just about every major law enforcement organization has a Facebook account associated with the organization’s website. Therefore, should law enforcement organizations regulate individual officer’s social media activity?

 

——As the policy manager for your law enforcement organization, please research the best practices related to the regulation of police officers’ use of social media and develop a department policy. This research should include interviews with your local law enforcement leaders to determine how they are addressing this issue. 

You must have at least 5 pages not including your title page.