Category: Essays

Case Study 1—Abdominal Bloating and Diarrhea

Subjective

Amelia, a 25-year-old Caucasian female, presents to the primary care clinic with the chief complain of abdominal bloating and diarrhea, worsening over the past 2–3 months. This patient is generally healthy. Occasionally she comes to the clinic for an acute illness. Her last visit was almost a year ago. She had some flu-like symptoms. She goes to her gynecologist annually and considers this here routing health maintenance; her last visit was 6 months ago with no significant findings. She has a self-described long history of non-specific gastrointestinal malaise. She bloats, feels nauseous, and has inconsistent voiding patterns with a tendency to have loose stools. Over the past 2 months, however, more than 60% of her stools have been loose, which is, double the usual. She is voiding about 2 times a day, which feels frequent to her, although her elimination patter has never been consistent. Generalized abdominal bloating has been increasing in frequency and intensity, now occurring 4–5 times per week, generally 1 hour after eating. There is associated generalized cramping and pain that she rates a 6/10, though she has not pain right now. She has vomited 3 times without any resolution of symptoms. The patient denies making herself vomit. She reports that she had to leave work numerous times because of the pain and discomfort. Lying down and applying heat makes her symptoms more tolerable; but this is an unsustainable management technique; and she is worried and frustrated. She has not done any recent traveling.

Past medical history: Allergic rhinitis

Family history: Mother and father are alive and well, both with hypertension. Brother, 20, is alive and well with type 1 DM, which he manages well.

Social history: She is a college graduate currently working 50 hours per week for a community development nonprofit organization. She loves her job and sleeps well-though admittedly not enough- usually 6 or 7 hours per night. She goes to the gym for an hour 3–4 times per week, has an active social life, is applying for graduate school, and is generally pleased with her life. If she could change anything, “I would add a couple of hours to the day so I could slow down a little and still get things done. I am pretty type A, which is why this stomach thing is bothering me so much.” She drinks 2-3 cups of coffee a day; skips breakfast; eats a bagel, yogurt, and fruit for lunch; usually goes out or eats “healthy” takeout dinner. She drinks socially about 1 time per week. Denies any tobacco or other drug use.

Medications: Yaz, daily (birth control) multivitamin daily; OTC Claritin, 1 tab PRN for allergy symptoms; OTC Mucinex, PRN for cold symptoms

Allergies: Seasonal. NKDA or NKFA

Screening: Routing blood work last year WNL, but showed borderline iron deficient anemia. Negative Pap test last year.

OBJECTIVE

General: Well developed and well nourished, 25-year-old female who looks her stated age. She is in no acute distress.

Skin: Clear

HEENT: Unremarkable

Neck: No lymphadenopathy

Respiratory: Chest clear to auscultation (CTA)

Cardiac: RRR, without murmurs rubs or gallops

Abdominal: Symmetrical, soft, non-tender, non-distended, no organomegaly. Positive bowel sounds in all four quadrants.

List 3 differential diagnoses (rule in or out according to history, exam, or lab work).
Create a treatment plan for this patient.

Due no later than 11:55p on Sunday of Week 7

Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is for students to

1) identify and learn about a subtopic in American Popular Culture that is of interest to them;

2) become familiar with the online library resources; and

3) to develop some information literacy skills.

Students will develop an Annotated Bibliography based on a topic in American Popular Culture that is of interest to them. A minimum of 5 peer-reviewed sources and 5 popular and/or open-web sources will need to be used in the bibliography. **An annotated bibliography is a list of citations to books, articles, and documents. Each citation is followed by a brief descriptive and evaluative paragraph, the annotation. The purpose of the annotation is to inform the reader of the relevance and quality of the sources cited.**

The completed assignment will include:

1) List the topic in American Popular Culture that you chose to investigate for this assignment. (e.g. symbolic interactionism, doing gender, socialization over life course, mental illness, prejudice, etc.)

2) List of search terms you used in your searches (e.g. sport, sociology, “popular culture”)

3) Annotated entries for a minimum of 5 peer-reviewed articles and 5 popular and/or open-web sources (see below for what should be included in each entry)

Each source entry should include the following:

1) APA-formatted full reference for the source

2) Brief description of the source

3) Evaluation of where the source came from – i.e. peer-reviewed journal, blog, website, etc.

4) Brief discussion of how the source is relevant to your topic of interest

5) Brief discussion of the source’s strengths and weaknesses

Koch Industries is one of the most profitable privately held corporations in the country. In spite of being owned primarily by four brothers, it has not been immune from intense internal power plays and intrigue. A decades-long dispute between CEO Charles Koch and his younger brother Bill Koch led first to an internal battle for control of the company and ended with a lawsuit between the brothers.

Carefully review the background materials regarding sources of power within an organization and power tactics. Examples of sources of power include reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, and expert power. Examples of power tactics include forming coalitions, pressure, and exchanging favors. Make sure to understand the main power sources and tactics and know the vocabulary and definitions from the background materials before starting the assignment.

The epic battle between two of the Koch brothers tested the limits of both of their power bases within Koch Industries. Both used multiple tactics before Charles Koch ultimately secured his position of almost unrivaled power within the corporation. Do some research about this power struggle using the Trident Online Library and online news sources. Here are some articles to get you started:

Schulman, D. (2014, Jul). Koch vs. Koch. Mother Jones, 39, 16–27,64,2

Tomsho, R., (1989, Aug 09). Blood feud: Koch family is roiled by sibling squabbling over its oil empire: Fired by his brother, William sues often, helps feds to probe Koch Industries, haling mother into court.Wall Street Journal [ProQuest]

Once you have finished your research, write a 4- to 5-page paper addressing the following issues:

What were Charles and Bill Koch’s sources of power within Koch Industries? Did they have reward power, coercive power, legitimate power, or expert power? Any other sources of power? Refer to Anderson (1998) or Nair (2010) in your answer, as you should demonstrate a solid understanding of these readings as part of your answer.
What power tactics did each of them use in their battle for control? Refer to Anderson (1998) or Nair (2010) in your answer.
Ultimately what do you think led to Charles Koch’s victory in this battle, and what do you think are the most important lessons on organizational power that you learned from reading about this power struggle?

Assignment Expectations

Follow the assignment instructions closely and follow all steps listed in the instructions.
Stay focused on the precise assignment questions; don’t go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.
Make sure to cite readings from the background materials page. Rely primarily on the required background readings as your sources of information

A firm’s human resources are the people in an organization that are crucial to its performance and the quality of work life within it. Unlike computers, human beings have the potential to grow and develop, to increase our depth, complexity and capacity over time. Human resource management can be defined as designing management systems to ensure that human talent is used effectively and efficiently to accomplish organizational objectives. Furthermore, HRM is considered the nuts and bolts of an organization. Thus, managers and leaders should focus on investing and developing their human resources who have the capacity to make significant contributions to the organization’s overall mission. Many organizations have noticed the importance of continuously training their employees and offering educational incentive programs to help keep employees up-to-date in their fields because in a significant number of cases, people actually get worse at their jobs over time. Performance can be enhanced if an employee is able to learn new ways of conceptualizing complex situations and deciphering abstract information. An employee should have knowledge of new research and advancements in his or her respective field in order to be able to adapt and overcome any organizational change. By performing at higher levels and being productive, an employee starts creating value for an organization. Most employees are evaluated by the value they create. Top managers seek employees who can bring value to an organization. When employees feel appreciated, they tend to perform at higher levels, producing more value. Unfortunately, most organizations are unable to “indulge” their employees and as a result, employees all over the world feel neglected and inundated. Interestingly enough, Schwartz, Jones, and McCarthy (2010) explain that:

Only 38 percent of employees worldwide believe their senior managers are genuinely interested in their well-being. More than 50 percent feel they’re treated as if they don’t matter at all or that they’re just another part of the organization to be managed. Only one out of every ten employees feels they’re treated as vital corporate assets (p. 162).

With employees all over the world feeling like they “don’t matter” in their organizations, it is important for upper level administrators to continuously develop their leadership strategies. Furthermore, with organizations constantly evolving, strategic human resource management is the optimum way to enhance performance levels. At IBM, for example, a thousand software developers working in different time zones have been given the flexibility to decide when they work. Different strategies should be implemented in organizations all over the world to help “humanize” the workplace.

Reference: Schwartz, T., Jones, J., & McCarty, C. (2010). The Way We’re Working Isn’t Working. New York, NY: Free Press. (This book is not required).
Case Assignment

Drawing on the material in the background readings and doing additional research, please prepare a 3- to 4-page paper (not including the cover and reference pages) in which you:

Research the role of HR management in any organization. Next, what does human capital mean and why is important?
What can HR do to help employees feel as if they do matter?
As an HR manager, how would you humanize the workforce?

Assignment Expectations

Your paper will be evaluated on the following points:

Precision: Does the paper address the question(s) or task(s)?
Clarity: Is the writing clear and are the concepts articulated properly? Are responses made through paraphrasing and synthesis of concepts? (Or is there excessive use of quotations?) Are headings included in all papers longer than 2 pages?
Breadth: Is the full breadth of the subject addressed?
Depth: Does the paper address the topic in sufficient depth?
Grammar, spelling, and vocabulary: Is the paper well-written? Are the grammar, spelling, and vocabulary suitable to graduate-level work?
Referencing (citations and references): Does the paper use citations and quotation marks when appropriate?
Critical thinking: Is the subject thought about critically (i.e., accurately, logically, relevantly, and precisely)?

NTRO TO MICROBIOLOGY

[Pin It]

IN YOUR OWN WORDS, answer these questions reviewing the content in your Course Overview within the Syllabus:

– What will MIC 100 emphasize?

– Why is microbiology important to health professionals?

– How does death by infection compare to death by warfare?

– What issues surrounding antibiotic resistance are named?

– What STD epidemics are named?

– What websites contain excellent resources for this class?

Cells are the smallest unit of life. All cells are bound by a cell membrane which separates the internal parts of the cell from the external environment.

For the final part of this Case assignment, describe cell theory (hint: there are three components). Briefly describe the work of two scientists that contributed to this theory. Be sure to include your references for this answer.

Watch this video about your cells and answer these questions:

http://www.pearsoncustom.com/mct-comprehensive/asset.php?isbn=1269879944&id=8524

What does the video say is the function of:

-Cytoskeleton

-mictochondria

-DNA

Note: The assignment will require you to engage in independent research of cell theory. You will find information on scientists who contributed to this theory in your required reading for your SLP. You will also find additional resources on your ebrary bookshelf, such as the book, Cell Biology: Fundamentals and Applications, a great place to begin your investigation of cell theory and cell biology.

Please include a cover sheet for your Case Assignment. Use headings to separate each section’s questions, and answer each question using complete sentences.

References: List the references you used to describe cell theory. Cite them within your text (Author, date) and provide the full reference information in a References section

What is an important challenge facing the financial management of organizations today regarding financial analysis, and how would you go about addressing it? Explain.

Must be 300 words, and include Reference page

Multi-Touch Screens vs. Mouse-Driven Screens

Imagine that you are the Information Technology Director of a major chain restaurant, and you have been assigned to design a menu ordering application that can run on all devices. Examine whether using a touch-screen monitor, a tablet, or using a mouse to select menu items to place an order would be most efficient. Speculate how employees would interact with these devices and the type of emotional reaction that customers and employees will experience while placing a beverage, appetizer or entrée orde

Review the AT&T financial statements from the past three years.

Calculate the financial ratios for the assigned company’s financial statements, and then interpret those results against company historical data as well as industry benchmarks:

Compare the financial ratios with each of the preceding three (3) years (e.g. 2014 with 2013; 2013 with 2012; and 2012 with 2011).
Compare the calculated financial ratios against the industry benchmarks for the industry of your assigned company.

Write a 500 to 750 word summary of your analysis.

Show financial calculations where appropriate

Assignment 1: Evaluation of a peer-reviewed article (25 points):

Due no later than 11:55p ET on Sunday of Week 3

Purpose: The purpose of exercise is to conduct a detailed, critical evaluation of the research design, methods and analysis of a study written up and published in a peer-reviewed journal. Students will be using Wolfer’s (2007) critical questions for evaluating written research to evaluate an article; these questions are provided below.

Article selection tips:

– select an article from a peer-reviewed Sociology Journal

– the article should clearly be written about a study the author conducted

o a meta-analysis of multiple studies is not appropriate for this assignment

o secondary data analysis of an existing national data set is OK, but be sure you understand what you are reading

Requirements:

Your evaluation should include

– All sections 1-5,

– 1 section from 6-10 (based on design in your article), and

– 1 section from 11-12 (based on analysis in your article).

This assignment does not have to be written in essay format. You may organize it by section/chapter number, question number with question text, and then your answer. Include the questions so you are sure to respond to each question and not miss any!

APA formatting should be used throughout. Any time your paraphrase or directly quote a source (such as your article), in-text citations should be used. A full APA-formatted reference should be included at the beginning or end of assignment.

Disclaimer
Originality of attachments will be verified by Turnitin. Both you and your instructor will receive the results.

General Reminder: For each response, please provide at least 1-3 sentences to explain or describe, rather than just a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ answer — this will strengthen your review, and provide more a meaningful content to this assignment. These questions are to help guide you in reviewing this peer-reviewed journal article.

1.Title (3 pts) (What’s the title?)

1) Is the title specific enough to differentiate it from other related topics?

2) Do subtitles, if present, provide important information regarding the research?

3) Are the main variables expressed in the title?

4) Are the terms in the title easily understood by most people?

5) Does the title avoid any reference to the study’s results?

6) Overall, is this a good title? Why or why not?

2. Ethical Evaluation (2.5 pts)

7) Are the steps the researcher took to honor ethical responsibilities to individuals clear? Are they appropriate? Are they enough? (Hint: IRB and Human Subject protection)

8) If there were any findings (based on your readings of tables or other means of data presentation) that refuted the researcher’s hypothesis, did he address these findings?

9) If any results were unexpected, did the researcher discuss any explanations for the unexpected effects?

10) Did the researcher adequately acknowledge the limitations of the research?

11) Overall, has the researcher adequately fulfilled his ethical obligations?

3. Literature Review (4 pts)

12) Is the material presented in the literature review relevant to your research interests?

13) Is the special problem area identified in the first paragraph or two of the report?

14) Does the researcher establish the importance of the research problem?

15) Has the researcher been appropriately selective in deciding what studies to include in the literature review?

16) Is the research cited recent? (Hint: Look at the article’s ‘references’ — did they cite other research that are more recent or are these older research?)

17) Is the literature review critical? (Hint: Why or why not?)

18) Is the researcher clear as to what is research, theory and opinion? (Hint: Why or why not?)

19) Overall, do you think this is an adequate literature review? Why or why not?

4. Operationalization and Measurement (5.5 pts)

20) Is the conceptualization suitably specific?

21) Are the definitions productive?

22) How many different dimensions are being measured at once?

23) Are the various dimensions sufficient?

24) Are the actual questions (or a sample of them) provided?

25) Is the response format clear, or, when not already clear, does the researcher provide information on the response format? Is there any information on restrictions in respondents’ responses?

26) If the researcher is using a published instrument, does he or she cite sources where additional information can be found?

27) Has the researcher avoided overstating the preciseness of the measurement?

28) Does the researcher provide some measure of reliability? What type of reliability is established? Do the measures indicate adequate reliability for your purposes?

29) Does the research provide some measure of validity? What measures of validity are presented and are they adequate for your purposes?

30) Overall, is the measurement appropriate and adequate given the research purpose?

5. Sample Strategy (3 pts)

31) Does the research goal lend itself to generalization? Is the broad sampling method appropriate for the research goal?

32) Does the researcher provide information regarding the study population? The sample? (Hint: What are they?)

33) Is the exact sampling method (e.g. simple random, purposive) specified? Remember, it is not sufficient for a researcher to simply state that a sample was selected ‘randomly.’ (Hint: Provide further explanation what method was used)

34) Is the sample size sufficient, given the research goals, the degree of accuracy the researcher desires, and the nature of the population studied? Given the nature of the research, is the sample size sufficient?

35) If the researcher uses a probability sample, does he or she generalize the findings to the appropriate population? If the researcher uses a non-probability sample, does he or she refrain from generalizing to a wider population?

36) Overall, is the sampling appropriate?

Your evaluation should include only one of the following sections (pick one from 6 – 10) depending on the type of research method that was used in that article (4 pts):

6. Experiments

37) Can you identify a treatment variable that indicates that an experiment is the method of observation?

38) How many groups were studied?

a. If there were two or more groups, did the researcher use random assignments

b. If the researcher did not use random assignment, did the researcher present evidence that the groups were similar regarding key variables at the beginning of the study?

39) Is the treatment and any pre- or posttests described in sufficient detail that facilitates replication?

40) Is deception necessary?

a. If so, is the deception within the parameters of the research topic?

b. Have the participants been debriefed so they know the true nature of the study (and can enact their right to privacy by declining to participate after the fact?)

41) Based on the description of treatment and experimental procedure, do you see any red flags regarding ethical issues?

42) Did the researcher use assistants?

a. If so, did the researcher state that they were properly trained?

b. If so, did the researcher specify any special measures to make sure that the assistants administered the treatment properly?

43) Is the setting natural or artificial (in a laboratory)?

a. If it’s in a laboratory, does the researcher recognize that external validity may be weak?

b. If it’s in a natural setting, does the researcher recognize that there may be some differences in the environments of the various groups?

c. Overall, do you think the experimental design is sound?

7. Survey

44) Is the research topic worded appropriately for survey research?

45) Did the researcher specifically state which type of survey method was used? (Hint: what is it?)

46) Do the survey questions adequately address the topic?

47) Are the survey questions constructed correctly? (Hint: What are they like?)

48) Did the researcher provide any information about the response rate? Did the researcher provide any information about follow-up mailings or other ways of increasing response rate? What are the implications of the response rate?

49) Did the researcher explain how he or she guaranteed anonymity or confidentiality? (Hint: How was it done?)

50) Overall, is the survey methodology effective and appropriate?

8. Field Research

51) Does the research describe the selected site? Does the research provide some explanation as to how that site was chosen?

52) Did the researchers explain how they addressed gatekeepers? (Hint: who are the gatekeepers for their study, if any?)

53) Did the researcher address how he developed field relations? If conflict arose, did the researcher make any comment about how personal or research problems in the field were addressed?

54) Did the researcher adequately protect the identity of the respondents? Did the researcher address other ethical considerations? (Hint: How?)

55) Did the researcher describe, at least in passing, his method of note taking? Does the method seem adequate?

56) In the analysis, does the researcher present general patterns of behavior and support those patterns with data such as quoted comments? Does the researcher use quotes selectively?

57) Does the researcher make any mention of issues of validity and/or reliability? (Hint: what are they?)

58) Overall, is the research adequate? (Hint: why or why not?)

9. Unobtrusive Measures

59) What is the researcher’s research purpose or hypothesis? Is content analysis an appropriate method of observation?

60) What are the researcher’s units of analysis? What are the units of observation (if they are different than the units of analysis)?

61) Is the researcher studying a population or a sample of these units? If the researcher is studying a sample, is it a probability sample? If so, was it correctly drawn? If the researcher is not studying a population or a probability sample, is he or she appropriately cautious about the nature of any conclusions? (Hint: don’t guess, refer to the textbook as you explain the type of sample of this paper)

62) Does the researcher identify the characteristics and level of content being analyzed? Does the researcher explain how material is coded, especially for issues of latent content?

63) Did the researcher do any type of pre-test with other coders to test for reliability? Were they any tests for validity?

64) Are the conclusions consistent with the units of analysis?

65) Are the results clearly presented and the conclusions appropriate?

66) Generally, is the method of observation done appropriately? (Hint: why or why not?)

10. Evaluation Research

67) What is the purpose of the evaluation presented?

68) Is the nature of the program described in detail?

69) Are the goals presented and can the goals that the author presents be evaluated? (Hint: explain what the goals are, and why or why not they can be presented)

70) What type of observation method is used? Is it appropriate, given the real-life restrictions of evaluation research?

71) Is a control group used? If so, how has the researcher tried to show that it is equivalent to the experimental group? If not, does the researcher adequately explain its omission?

72) How are people selected for program participation? Does this affect the interpretation of findings, and, if so, does the researcher discuss this?

73) Are the results clearly explained? (Hint: Why or why not?)

74) How does the article address the other areas of evaluation discussed in earlier chapters?

Your evaluation should include one of the following sections (either 11 or 12) (3 pts):

11. Qualitative Analysis (Hint: Choose THIS if it is not does not mention statistics. Common for observation, field research, interviews, focus groups – see more about this in Babbie, 2011, pp. 24-25)

75) Is the results section a cohesive essay?

76) Does the researcher connect the results to any general research questions or goals?

77) Is the perspective of the results presentation appropriate? Does it match the research technique? (Hint: provide the justification)

78) Has the writer presented enough examples to support the conclusions? Do the examples make the readers ‘believe’ the researcher’s points? (Hint: why or why not?)

79) Do you have reason to believe that the presence of the researcher influenced the actions or statements of other group members? If this is possible, has the researcher addressed it in the research?

80) Especially in field research (although this may be an issue to a lesser degree in other forms of qualitative data gathering), does the researcher discuss how he or she interacted with subjects in the field, what problems arose, and how the researcher addressed them?

12. Quantitative Analysis (Hint: Choose this if the author speaks of some kind of instruments used, such as surveys, questionnaires, statistics, etc. Read more in Babbie, 2011, pp. 24-25)

81) Is the results section a cohesive essay with the important findings highlighted?

82) In the essay, does the researcher tie the results to the research hypotheses or goals stated in the introduction?

83) If there are tables or graphs, are they clearly presented?

84) Does the researcher present any descriptive statistics?

85) Are the statistics appropriate for the level of measurement? (Hint: Explain why or why not?)

86) Are the conclusions the researcher draws appropriate for the statistical information?

87) In the discussion section, does the researcher briefly summarize the research purposes, methodologies, and key findings (in a non-statistical manner)?

88) Does the researcher acknowledge any methodological or statistical weaknesses? (Hint: What are they?)

89) Are the implications of the research or suggestions for future research discussed?

90) Overall, is the results section adequate?

91) Overall, is the discussion section adequate?

Remember to include your Name and Title (cover) for this assignment, cite all resources, and include the Reference section (following the APA format)