Mechanisms of Evolutionary Change
Discussion Topic 1
Natural Selection
A novel fungicide is introduced and widely applied to cereal crops. After five years, resistant genotypes of the fungal pathogen are detected at a frequency of about 1%; resistance is widely distributed across the pathogen’s range. Within two years, these have become so common that the fungicide becomes worthless.
Explain how this pattern can be explained by the basic features of natural selection. Include in your answer:
- A brief description of what natural selection is.
- The conditions that must be met in order for natural selection to occur.
- How natural selection explains the scenario above.
Discussion Topic 2
Mechanisms of Evolutionary Change
This unit we are learning that there are several mechanisms that lead to evolutionary change within a population or species: mutation, migration, genetic drift, non-random breeding and natural selection.
- What is meant by “evolutionary change”; meaning what is it and how would you know when it has occurred?
- Select two of the mechanisms listed above and explain how each can lead to evolutionary change as defined in Q#1. Be specific and use an example of each.
Wk 1 – flowchart improvement process
Purpose of Assignment
The purpose of this assignment is for students to learn process flowcharting/improving a process and summarizing the results.
Resources
Microsoft® PowerPoint®
Assignment Steps
Select a complex process from your personal life or work.
Use Microsoft® PowerPoint® to create a flowchart of the as-is process.
Define metrics and measure the current process.
Use process improvement techniques to improve the process.
Use Microsoft® PowerPoint® to create an improved process flowchart.
Use judgmental forecasting, which is your professional judgement, to ascertain how the future process will perform according to your metrics.
Develop a 525-word executive summary in which you describe your process improvement project (including the as-is process flowchart and the improved process flowchart).
Format your assignment according to APA guidelines.
Submit your assignment.
how mergers and acquisitions have affected the way in which companies do business.
Type: Individual Project Deliverable Length: 4-5 Body Pages
Antitrust laws were essentially created to stop businesses that got too large from blocking competition and abusing their power. Mergers and monopolies can limit the choices offered to consumers because smaller businesses are not usually able to compete. Although free and open competition ensures lower prices and new and better products, it has the potential to significantly limit market diversity.
Look at the 2 examples below of how mergers and acquisitions have affected the way in which companies do business.
Read each of the 2 examples below. Prepare a APA formatted research paper that responds to the aligned questions. Specifically, your paper must:
- Identify the two firms with similar problems from different countries
- Conduct a comparative analysis of the firms
- Analyze political, social, ethical and legal differences and their impact on management decision making
- Provide substantive conclusion and recommendations
Example 1
Federal antitrust enforcers are investigating whether a multinational pharmaceutical company has attempted to minimize the impact of generic competition to one of its most profitable prescription drugs. This anti-depressant drug is the company’s best seller, with sales last year of $2.11 billion, representing a 22% increase from the year before.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is conducting an investigation to determine whether the company has engaged in activities to prevent generic alternatives to the prescription drug from entering the market. Specifically, the FTC is challenging a practice among brand-name and generic-drug manufacturers to agree to delay the introduction of the lower priced generic drugs to the market.
Answer the following questions:
- Why would the drug maker want to stymie generic competition? Explain.
- What types of legal barriers to market entry exist?
- What are the possible ethical dilemmas present in this example?
Example 2
The boards of 2 major telecommunications companies recently agreed to a $16 billion-dollar merger that would create the world’s largest telecommunications company in the world. Although some agree that the synergy between these companies could be dynamic, others feel consumers could ultimately pay the price for the merger depending on which company becomes dominant in the various service areas.
Answer the following questions:
- Why do you think consumer advocates have expressed concern over such merger possibilities?
- Other than pricing, what are some pitfalls that consumers might have to deal with when 2 major companies merge?
- What are the possible ethical dilemmas present in this example?
Explain what should qualify as global leadership
Global leadership is a term that may be confusing in its scope. For some, global leadership may mean anything from a domestic executive whose job description includes just a few international tasks, to someone with completely global responsibilities. Explain what should qualify as global leadership considering the depth and breadth of their tasks, their physical location (domestically, internationally, or virtually) or even a manager who is working in a capacity nationally when that manager is from another culture, or someone with relationships that involve multiple countries regardless of location or task. Once you develop and support your definition of global leadership using critical thinking skills, then describe behaviors and skills your global leader must learn to do well.
Embed course material concepts, principles, and theories (including supporting citations) along with at least one current, scholarly, peer-reviewed journal article. You may find that your discussion of leadership characteristics is easily supported with such current scholarly research while the information about how your chosen leader exhibits those leadership characteristics is supported by popular research.
Keep in mind that current research means published in the last five years.
Compare and contrast the 10 Commandments with the 8-Fold Path of Buddhism, the Confucian Virtues, and the 12 Vows of Jainism.
One of the criticisms of the Hebrew Bible is the violence of God. Scriptures from other religions (Hinduism: The Bhagavad Gita is set entirely in war; the Qur’an talks of war; Christianity is based on a final battle and destruction of the world) depict their gods as violent as well. However, throughout the Hebrew Bible God is also depicted as a God of love.
Main discussion questions for the week:
Given the Covenants between the Israelites and God, the 10 Commandments, the beauty of the Psalms, and the predictions of the prophets, provide three (3) of your own observations about this violent/loving God.
Judaism is a religion of doing and faith is seen in actions towards others.
- Compare and contrast the 10 Commandments with the 8-Fold Path of Buddhism, the Confucian Virtues, and the 12 Vows of Jainism.
- Are we seeing the same concept of doing and faith today, or has there been a shift as we move to Western religions?
What other strategic processes are closely tied to ERM?
For this written assignment, answer the questions below in a typed document. Outside sources should not be necessary, but if they are used, cite them using APA format.
1. What other strategic processes are closely tied to ERM?
2. What three kinds of risks are identified within the City of Edmonton?
3. What two criteria must be balanced in a successful ERM model?
4. Who is responsible for dealing with and mitigating risks?
5. To what body must the City’s strategic risks be reported?
Assignment 1: network access control
In a business environment, controlling who has access to business information and at what level is critical for facilitating day-to-day business operations. The emphasis of Network Access Control (NAC) it to decide who or what has authorized permission to access resources on the network. In a new age of risks, it is important to re-identify access controls.
Scenario: You have been hired as an IT Security Specialist for a company called LOTR Experience. The leadership at LOTR has recently expressed concerns over various possible security issues. They would like you to be “a new set of eyes” and lead the efforts to review their current security protocols. As an expert in this field, your first task involves assessing NAC and providing a high-level assessment to leadership.
Review the following documents: LOTR Organization Chart, LOTR Network Design, and LOTR AD Design.
Write a technical assessment in which you:
- Analyze NAC Best Practices and how these can be detrimental to LOTR, outlining goals for the following areas:
- Endpoint Security
- Direct Login
- Remote Access
- Determine what type of mechanisms will be used to enforce and monitor NAC controls and the frequency with which these should be implemented.
- After assessing the LOTR Network Design, outline five (5) potential issues related to NAC that you see in the network’s overall design (high-level overview).
- Describe any operational risks that could affect business processes.
- Describe the consequences of a threat or vulnerability to the infrastructure.
- Recommend network changes that will implement the proper NAC controls.
- Use at least three quality resources in this assignment. Note: Wikipedia and similar websites do not qualify as quality 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 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 specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:
- Examine methods that mitigate risk to an IT infrastructure with confidentiality, integrity, availability, and access controls.
- Determine appropriate access controls for information systems within IT infrastructures.
Grading for this assignment will be based on answer quality, logic/organization of the paper, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.
What is the resource-based theory of competitive advantage for stakeholder analysis?
Competitive advantage is an important concept of strategic planning and healthcare leadership today for stakeholder analysis. In this unit’s assignment, you will consider and discuss a specific theory of competitive advantage held by some of America’s leading health systems.
For this assignment, address the following questions.
What is the resource-based theory of competitive advantage for stakeholder analysis?
What are the competitive strengths and weaknesses?
As chief executive officer (CEO) of a health system, how could you put this theory to work for you and use the strengths and weaknesses for developing a strategic plan and gaining competitive advantage in your own healthcare market organization?
Your assignment should be a minimum of two pages in length and should include a title page and reference page (title and reference pages do not count toward the minimum page requirement). To supplement your discussion, you should include at least two sources, and one should be your textbook. References and citations must be provided using APA style. All sources used must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations.
Textbook:
Ginter, P. M., Duncan, W. J., & Swayne, L. E. (2018). Strategic management of health care organizations (8th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
Lay out the design for two between-subjects experiments
Lay out the design for two between-subjects experiments: (a) an experiment involving an experimental group and a control group, and (b) a factorial design with three independent variables that have 3, 2, and 2 levels, respectively.
Please include scholarly references and in-text citations
250-400 words
Do some library or Internet research on the MIT professor Jay Forrester, who virtually invented the field of “system dynamics.”
Do some library or Internet research on the MIT professor Jay Forrester, who virtually invented the field of “system dynamics.”
Study what he has to say about the operation of “systems” and apply those principles to be strategic operations of a healthcare organization.
APA format (6 references)
Article summary:
Summary for 6 article references.
(4 pages Paper and 1 page Article summary)
