...Strategic Thinking Many city departments in other states have faced similar issues as the Houston Public Library. The Houston Public Library can benchmark those companies that have demonstrated strategic thinking to resolve parallel issues. Strategic thinking is the approach in which group in an organization think about, access, view, and creates the future for themselves and their associates. It is more than responding to day-to-day as well as long-term problems, opportunities, and new realities; it is creating tomorrow. Strategic thinking is not reactive, but proactive. It focuses on how to create a better future by being proactive and adding value to society-through the accomplishment of high payoff results. Strategic thinking always involves change, and often, profound personal change. It is a change in ones mindset. Strategic thinking is imagining the results one wants to achieve in the future and creating an ideal future by defining and achieving results that adds values to the company. The Houston Public Library can also review how the Houston Zoo went from a city department to a private foundation. Strategy, in business, is the combination of foresight, planning, and decision-making that prepares an enterprise to achieve long-term goals and manage the consequences of contemporary decisions. When creating a strategy the firm needs to decide on both short-term and long-term objectives. The qualities of effective short-term objectives are measurable, priorities, and must...
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...plan land development (Caplan, 2008). With respect to Pigovian taxes, given that land supply is relatively inelastic, these will have little effect on the mitigation of negative externalities of, for example, urban sprawl (Caplan, 2012). Further, the Coasian solution to deal with land use externalities involves deal-making between parties which, if there are no transaction costs result in the internalization of externalities. In practice, the Coasian solution is at work in tandem with zoning regulation which affects transaction costs (Staley, 1997). Because of the pervasiveness of zoning regulation throughout the United States, the following will examine two different cases of land use regulation, namely, the lack of formal zoning in Houston, Texas and private zoning in the town of Celebration, Florida. It will be shown that the effectiveness land use regulation is...
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...presented. You will develop a product that expresses your point of view about the use of Native American mascots for school or sport teams. Role: You will assume the role of an avid sports fan or the resident of a community that has a sports team with a Native American mascot. Audience: The president of the professional sports team, president of the college or university, or local school board (all with Native American mascots) Situation: Recently Houston ISD joined a growing list of organizations that no longer allows the use of Native American names as mascots for their teams or school. Stanford University, for example, changed its mascot from the Indian to a redwood tree in 1972, and others have followed suit after an NCAA ban and public outrage over what is considered by some to be ethnically offensive stereotypes that belittle Native Americans. Others believe that these names are embraced by fans who are honoring the heritage and history of the American Indian. Your challenge is to review all of the documents in the library and determine whether Native American representations should or shouldn’t be used as team mascots. You must convince your audience of your position by using evidence from at least three of the resources in the document...
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...Meeting the Challenges of Stakeholder Engagement and Communication: Lessons From Teacher Incentive Fund Grantees The Harvesting Project Julia E. Koppich J. Koppich & Associates Meeting the Challenges of Stakeholder Engagement and Communication: Lessons From Teacher Incentive Fund Grantees As of August 2010, a total of 33 states, school districts, charter school coalitions, and other education organizations¹ had received Teacher Incentive Funds (TIF) to redesign compensation programs for teachers and principals. The U.S. Department of Education named a new cohort of TIF grantees on September 23, 2010. TIF grantees have faced a number of challenges as they have worked to design and implement new educator pay programs. Among the most demanding challenges has been developing a targeted set of metrics around available and manageable data. Grantees use these metrics to measure teacher or principal effectiveness and assign pay. Recently, grantees have made it a priority to sustain operation programs once their federal funding expires. TIF grantees have also found, often belatedly and unexpectedly, that effective stakeholder engagement and communication are challenging and essential to the success of their pay programs. Stakeholder engagement helps to create buy-in and initial acceptance of the TIF plan. It allows different voices and perspectives to be heard and recognized as new approaches to compensation develop. Communication provides the synergy to broaden buy-in and...
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...Spring 14 Spring 14 08 Fall 08 Fall US Army Corps of Engineers Ken Lynch A brief analysis of the US Army Corps of Engineers role in locks and dams US Army Corps of Engineers Ken Lynch A brief analysis of the US Army Corps of Engineers role in locks and dams US Army Corps of Engineers Nature has constructed a labyrinth of highways perfect for resourceful materials handling. The web of rivers cutting their way throughout this country comprises the United States Inland Waterway System. There are over 12,000 navigable miles carrying almost 625 million tons of commodities annually on the rivers (C. James Kruse). An in depth look in one of the oldest methods of transportation describes the design, creation, implementation, and maintenance of locks and dams as conducted by the US Army Corps of Engineers. A closer look will also be taken at the history of the US ACE. A brief explanation of what is the inland waterway helps to understand the significance the US Army Corps of Engineers has played in shaping the capacity of waterborne transportation. The United States has used rivers for materials handling dating back hundreds of years. As time went on, the potential for using rivers became more and more apparent. Locks and dams had to be constructed to fully utilize the waterways. The rivers were already in place but for barges to travel up and down the rivers the implementation of locks and dams alleviated the problems arising from drops in river elevation...
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...1.0 BACKGROUND In assignment 2, I was assigned to find the relationship between Free Cash Flow (from now on refer as FCF), Economic Value Added (from now on refer as EVA) and Market Value Added (from now on refer as MVA), specifically whether a company with high FCF also have high EVA and MVA. Explanation using empirical evidence is also needed to support my reasoning and arguments. Therefore, in order to complete this assignment, I have used a few types of references which are financial management reference books, journals, articles from Fortune magazine and set-up an interview with Mr. Amiruddin b. Abdul Shukor which is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Nationwide Express Courier Services Berhad. Throughout his career, he had worked in Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB), Permodalan Terengganu Berhad (PTB), Securities Comission Malaysia (SC) and Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Berhad (MIDF). An interview session was set with him on 2/12/2011 at his office in the headquarters of Nationwide Express Courier Services Berhad in Shah Alam, Selangor. 2.0 FINDINGS 2.1 Free Cash Flow In definition, FCF is the cash flow actually available for distribution for investors after the company has made all the investment in fixed assets and working capital necessary to sustain ongoing operations (Brigham & Ehrhardt, 2005). Basically, the formula for FCF is as follows: In the investors’ perspective, positive value of FCF is more favorable than negative value because...
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...Summary Enron Corporation is an energy trading, natural gas, and electric utilities company based in Houston, Texas. Formed in 1931, it was originally known as Northern Natural Gas Company. In 1985, Enron was formed by Kenneth Lay after the merger of Houston natural Gas Company and Inter North (Nebraska Pipeline Company). Fortune magazine named Enron “America’s most innovative company for 6 consecutive years. But all that came crashing down in a very bad scandal better known as the Enron Scandal, and it also led to the dissolution of Arthur Andersen, which was one of the five largest audit and accountancy partnerships in the world. Enron’s stock price went down to pennies from over $90. It is ever the most famous company in the world, but it also is one of companies which fell down too fast. The aim of this paper is to analyze how and why the Enron Scandal took place, how the energy giant suddenly collapsed and eventually filed for bankruptcy. I. Special Purpose Entities Enron created partnerships within their own organization which led to them creating new financial instruments, called SPE’s which was used to falsify the accounting. Enron used SPE’s such as LJM Cayman LP, LJM2 Co-Investment LP, and Raptor vehicles, which is designed in part to hedge an Enron investment in a bankrupt broadband company Rhythm NetConnections, to “increase leverage and ROA without having to report debt on its balance sheet” (Journal of Accountancy, 2002). Enron entered into a series of transactions...
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...by the time they reach the eight grade. Evidence exist within the Houston County School District that A grant was written in 2009 requesting two million dollars to bridge the digital divide within our community. The grant was approved and a motion to coordinate a curriculum develop project has been accepted by the schools board committee. The goal of this project is to integrate technology among all middle schools that is at present an underserved community with limited access to technology. All stakeholders will be compiled into committees and a point of direct contact will be delegated for each group. After all decisions have been made and the implementation phase begins, the program will receive formative and summative evaluations that will continue to occur as for the duration of the program. Power in Technology The Houston County School District, plagued with a high crime rate, high unemployment, and extreme poverty, has found itself deficient of the skills needed to perform day-to-day-tasks. Many of the people in this community have been impacted by deficiencies passed down from generation to generation. For example, some of the women who currently receive governmental assistance (public housing, welfare and food vouchers) are descendents of those who received the same assistance. This sometimes extends as far back as 4 generations. With this taken into consideration the Houston County School District (HCSD) has hired, Bridgett Standring, to assemble...
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...Compliance Interview and Report Assignment BA 3301 Legal Environment of Business Associate Professor Lee Usnick, JD I. ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW Virtually all business activities conducted in the United States are highly regulated, not only by governmental entities, but by professional entities as well. Compliance with all federal, state, and local laws and regulations is a prerequisite to the long term health and survival of a business. Also important is compliance with standards issued by the professional and accrediting bodies responsible for licensing and certification. Certain industries are more regulated than others. For example, health care, financial services, and public utilities are all highly regulated with extensive licensing and operational standards. When a business fails to comply with all applicable regulations and standards, the business and the individuals who manage it can face a variety of sanctions, from loss of license and program certification, to civil and criminal sanctions including monetary penalties and prison. In this assignment, you will learn how a person working in your selected industry meets the challenges of current compliance requirements. It is not necessary to address all aspects of compliance in this industry or selected company. Rather, you should educate yourself in broad terms about the kinds of governmental and industry standards covering your interviewee's business, then select a few key aspects to explore in depth with your...
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...Economics Development Impacts High Speed Rail Tom Kayo TMLT601, I001, Fall 15 American Public University Emmet Fritch December 26, 2015 Abstract This paper premise is the economic development impacts of transportation in general, as examined by Kumares, Sinha & Labi (2007). Multiple studies have revealed that investments in public transportation ultimately drives productivity and economic growth (Kumares, Sinha & Labi, 2007). This paper however will move away from highways and most common types of transit systems to focus on high speed rail and its potential economic development impacts in the United States. By examining additional resources such as World Bank analysis, papers from the MIT library, and reports from non-profit advocacy groups, this paper seeks answers on why a project with tremendous economic benefits has not yet happened in a country known for always being first when it comes to leading in innovation and economic development. Introduction In Kumares et al.’s. (2007), two types of transportation impact on economic development are listed. One is the impact on the overall economic development, driving income and jobs, for instance, and the other is the positive effect on investment, property appreciation and tax revenue. All of this correlates with higher wages and better communities. At the same times, when looking at other developed and emerging countries, like countries of the European Union and China for example it’s...
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...Bullying in Schools 1 PRAIRIE VIEW A&M UNIVERSITY THE COLLEGE OF EDUCATION EXPERIENCES, PERCEPTIONS, AND ATTITUDES OF THIRD GRADERS TOWARDS BULLYING A RESEARCH REPORT RESEARCH ADMIN 5163 BY Jimmy C. Clark. PRAIRIE VIEW, TEXAS 2008 Bullying in Schools 2 Table of Contents Page Abstract……………………………………………………………………………3 Chapter 1. Statement of the Problem Introduction-Background and Content………………………………………….5 Statement of the Problem……………………………………………………...10 Purpose of the Study…………………………………………………………..11 Research Questions…………………………………………………………....11 Null Hypothesis………………………………………………………………..11 Significance of the Problem…………………………………………………....11 Operational Definition………………………………………………………….12 Chapter 2. Review of Literature……………………………………………………12 Chapter 3. Method…………………………………………………………………...20 Identification of the Research……………………………………………………20 Design……………………………………………………………………………20 Target Population………………………………………………………………..21 Sample of Participants…………………………………………………………...22 Sampling of Procedure…………………………………………………………..22 The Instrument…………………………………………………………………...23 Statistical Techniques……………………………………………………………27 Summary of Research Procedure………………………………………………..27 References……………………………………………………………………………28...
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...The Alternative Sentencing Policies and Solutions This comprehensive analysis describes the different possible alternative solutions for women, and juvenile offenders. The Bureau of Justice Grant programs developed incentives for other programs to decrease the overcrowded conditions for most state and federal prisons. These grant programs provided the information and incentives for state governments to expand, build, and adapt closed military bases as extension of the federal penal prison system. This initiative encouraged local and state courts to implement truth-in-sentencing and alternative sentencing concepts to lessen the burden of overcrowded prison systems. The grants divided in half for building prisons to increase the bed space for violent offenders, and the other half for alternative solutions to incarceration. The incentive funds used for more alternative solutions; prison islands, or barges, or closed military bases. Sentencing Drug Statistics The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported four to one ratio of prisoners showed under the influence of drugs, or alcohol while committing the current crime, or at the time of the violation (Langan, P, & Levin, D, 2002). The BJS showed detailed statistics report of 400; 000 people arrested for drugs, or drug-related offenses; 70% sent to state prisons, 40% drug-related offenses, 32% alcohol-related offenses, and 20% other violent crimes. The survey researched by the Department of Justice (DOJ) along with the (BJS) report...
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...Anti-Cancer Drug Cost Regulations- Cost-Containment for the Pharmaceutical Companies Brenda Roberson University of Maryland University College Abstract Drug development is a long, inefficient, and expensive process and takes 10 to 15 years for development at a cost of about $1.3 billion (Nelson, 2014). When speaking of research and development (R&D) for new drugs; a large number of drugs that go through research do not make it to the FDA or the marketplace. Critics of pharmaceutical companies point out that only a small portion of the pharmaceutical companies’ expenditures account for research and development (R&D). The majority of the money’s spent in marketing and administration. There is also controversy over the $1.3 billion figure as an actual cost. Reported by Nelson (2014) Dr. Kantarjian of M.D. Anderson disputes the $1.3 billion figure for development; he believes this figure to be inflated to cover ancillary expenses, salaries, bonuses, stock market returns, and other indirect costs not related to R&D. The cost of cancer drug therapy is becoming impossible to justify or rationalize for both patient and society. New cancer drugs being approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are typically costing upwards of $100,000 per year and many times used in combination with other agents (Bunnell, 2012, p. 932) increasing the cost even more. These high priced anti-cancer drugs achieve only marginal benefit for the patient. Benefits achievements of...
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...Decreasing the Incidence of Non-Urgent Emergency Department Visits in Patients at PrimaryPlus Cynthia D. Schaefer MSN APRN, FNP-BC Maysville, Kentucky An Evidenced-Based DNP Project Report presented to Frontier Nursing University in partial fulfillment of the Degree: Doctor of Nursing Practice September 16th 2016 Dr. Jana Esden Committee Chair Name and Credentials of the chair None Committee Co-Chair (if applicable) Name and Credential of the co-chair Dr. Adit Ginde Content Expert Name and Credentials of the content expert Due in the Registrar’s Office for Graduation September 16th 2016 Decreasing the Incidence of Non-Urgent Emergency Department Visits in Patients at Primary Plus Cynthia D. Schaefer MSN APRN, FNP-BC Maysville, Kentucky Associates Degree in Nursing, Lincoln University, 1995 Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing, University of Missouri St. Louis, 1998 Master’s of Science in Nursing, Northern Kentucky University, 2008 An Evidenced-Based DNP Project Report presented to Frontier Nursing University in partial fulfillment of the Degree: Doctor of Nursing Practice September 16th 2016 Dr. Jana Esden Committee Chair Name and Credentials of the chair None Committee Co-Chair (if applicable) Name and Credential of the co-chair Dr. Adit Ginde Content Expert Name and Credentials of the content expert Due in the Registrar’s Office for Graduation September 16th 2016 Abstract Title: Decreasing the Incidence of Non-Urgent Emergency Department Visits in Patients...
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...The Alternative Sentencing Policies and Solutions This comprehensive analysis describes the different possible alternative solutions for women, and juvenile offenders. The Bureau of Justice Grant programs developed incentives for other programs to decrease the overcrowded conditions for most state and federal prisons. These grant programs provided the information and incentives for state governments to expand, build, and adapt closed military bases as extension of the federal penal prison system. This initiative encouraged local and state courts to implement truth-in-sentencing and alternative sentencing concepts to lessen the burden of overcrowded prison systems. The grants divided in half for building prisons to increase the bed space for violent offenders, and the other half for alternative solutions to incarceration. The incentive funds used for more alternative solutions; prison islands, or barges, or closed military bases. Sentencing Drug Statistics The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) reported four to one ratio of prisoners showed under the influence of drugs, or alcohol while committing the current crime, or at the time of the violation (Langan, P, & Levin, D, 2002). The BJS showed detailed statistics report of 400; 000 people arrested for drugs, or drug-related offenses; 70% sent to state prisons, 40% drug-related offenses, 32% alcohol-related offenses, and 20% other violent crimes. The survey researched by the Department of Justice (DOJ) along with the (BJS) report...
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