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41080 Theory of Computing science Assessment Task 1-Individual Programming Assignment [Code] Format: Program and short Report Length:
TASK 2a Documentation Description You are to produce a developed spatial design based on the integration of construction systems, materials and building services. You are to consider construction and material considerations for walls, floor and ceiling as well as for joinery assemblies incorporating site and flexible programmatic requirements. As deliverables you are to produce a series of documentation drawings in a selected CAD program. The drawings need to be annotated and formatted to industry drawing standard and will form. part of a tender set.
DISTRIBUTIONS ON Rd EXAMPLES FOR STUDY & PRACTICE 1. Continuous approximation of rectangles on (Rd, Bd) [Prop.4.3.1, p.35] Given any > 0, any probability P on Bd, and any a < b in Rd , for each of the four types of rectangle: (a, b], [a, b),(a, b), [a, b] Rd, there is a δ > 0 with P ( (a±δ1, b±δ1]) = 0 for which we get all four approximations simultaneously 2. Suppose that (X, Y ) ~ unif(C) where C = (0, 1]2+(1, 2]2 in R2. a) Determine the stochastic behaviour of each of the coordinate variables, X and Y . b) Obtain both the conditional probability P(X ≤ 3/2 | Y ≤ 1/2) and corresponding marginal probability P(X ≤ 3/2). c) Evaluate the correlation coefficient ρ(X, Y ). 3. statistical independence w. the uniform. a) For U ~ unif(C), 0 < vol(C) < ∞ with U = (X,Y) on Rd = RrxRs, verify that, if C open & connected, then b) U ~ unif(C) with U1,...,Ud (mutually) statistically independent then C open & connected C = (a, b) for some a < b in Rd. 4. uniform. in the unit ball: X ~ unif(Bn), Bn = { t | |t| < 1 } a) Determine the distribution function, FR(r), of the radial distance R = |X| and thus describe the distribution of Rn. b) Uniformity can be deceptive in higher dimensions: if n is large, the random variable X will spend most of its time far from the origin, very close to its own boundary, Sn−1. Obtain asymptotic values of the mean and the standard deviation, ER & σ(R), as well as the first value of n such that P(R>.99) > .99. c) Since we already know that X2 ~ Dn(1/21; 1), it is perfectly straight-forward to obtain the correlation thus to verify directly that X1,...,Xn are not statistically independent. 5. Suppose where T = Z+W, Z ~ G(1), W ~ G(2) and Z ?? W. a) Obtain E|X|, EX and σ(X). b) Let and determine EY and σ(Y). c) Obtain the correlation ρ(X, Y). 6. Suppose that (X, Y) is uniformly distributed on the triangle with vertices (0, 0), (1, 1), (−1, 1) a) Obtain EX, σ(X) and EY, σ(Y ) b) Determine the correlation ρ(X, Y). c) Obtain the distribution of the radial distance 7. Lebesgue linear spaces in Rk: the multivariate Lp-spaces, p > 0 Establish the following basic facts a) For every p > 0 and k 2 N, is a vector space, i.e. < Rk. b) For any k ∈ N, if 0
COMP3670 / COMP6670: Introduction to Machine Learning Semester 2, 2025 Tutorial Week 2 In the lecture slides, the following table of derivatives of common functions are given. The following useful rules are given, assuming g, h are differentiable functions. • If f(x) = g(x) + h(x), then f'(x) = g'(x) + h'(x). • If f(x) = g(x) − h(x), then f'(x) = g'(x) − h'(x). • If f(x) = c · g(x) where c is a constant, then f'(x) = c · g'(x). • (product rule) If f(x) = g(x) · h(x), then f'(x) = g(x) · h'(x) + g'(x) · h(x). • (quotient rule) If f(x) = h(x)/g(x), when h(x) ≠ 0, we have: • (chain rule) If f(x) = g(h(x)), then f'(x) = g'(h(x)) · h'(x). Question 1 Making sense of parameters of a hypothesis class In a supervised learning task, each datapoint represents a second-hand tablet. The features are the phone’s capacity (x1) and age (x2), while the label is its price. A linear model is used: y = θ0 + θ1x1 + θ2x2 . What signs do you expect for θ0, θ1 and θ2? Justify your answer. Question 2 Formal definition of derivative Compute the derivative of f : R → R, f(x) = x3 by using the formal limit definition of the derivative. Question 3 Differentiation using table and rules By using the table and rules provided at the beginning of this document, compute the derivatives of the following functions: (a) f(x) = e2x (b) f(x) = (2x + 1)e2x (c) f(x) = 1+x3/x2 Question 4 Local minima, local maxima, or neither? Let f(x) = 2x3 − 21x2 + 60x + 4. (a) Compute f'(x), and verify that f'(5) = 0. (b) Factorize f'(x). (c) Without plotting the graph of f, determine whether x = 5 is a local minima of f, a local maxima of f, or neither. Question 5 Computing the gradient of a multi-dimensional function Let f(x1, x2, x3) = (x1)2e2x2 lnx3. Compute ∇f(x1, x2, x3). Question 6 Gradient descent and step sizes In the lecture, we gave an example of gradient descent on the function f(x) = x2. (a) For any step size λ, write down the explicit gradient descent update rule. (b) Using part (a), explain what will happen when (i) 0 < λ < 1 (ii) λ = 1 (iii) λ > 1
OENG1189-Project 1 Optimizing a simple bridge structure from a scratch Due date: 31 August 2025 Assessment submission file: PDF file preferred and a video file Assessment submission types: Online Submission for each student 1. Brief introduction of the project Figure 1 Building site of the bridge in Melbourne CBD This is an individual task for each student. You are required to conduct a structural optimization design on a bridge structure using Abaqus to simulate its behaviour. This bridge is supposed to replace an existing Church St Bridge on church St, Melbourne VIC 3141 as shown in Figure 1. Google map coordinates: -37.83384, 144.99664. You should measure the size of the bridge sites using images you snap-shot on google map. You should use the two red lines in Figure 1 as the scale reference. To personalise the assignment, the height, HR, of the red line on the right side in Figure 1 is 6.00m + the last two digits of your student number, i.e. if you student number is s3543485, then, the length of the red line is 6.85m. Please indicate the possible errors in your measurement. You will measure other sizes (i.e. length, width) of the bridge using this size as reference. 2. Optimization design You should follow the optimization design cycle as illustrated in lecture 1 (or lecture 4 in details) to do your design. Generally, you will follow two routes. In the first route, you will act as an optimizer with ESO principle and remove inefficient materials-i.e. regions with lower stress level. You will get an optimal design manually with at least 3 iterations. The second route is to use the MATLAB code with proper input parameters to get an optimal design. Some detailed guidance and requirements are listed in the following sections. 2.1 Expected design space for optimization You should determine the approximate sizes of the design space (usually larger than the size of real existing bridge) to be optimized. You should consider the following factors: • Apply symmetry and consider only half of bridge; • Length and depth are the same as old bridge, height HD can be changed, and is up to k times of the old bridge (k=2+middle two digits of student number/100, i.e., if your student no is s3543485, then k=2+34/100=2.34); • Enough height (3.5 m or more) for the vehicles to travel under the designed bridge; • Only the selected region of the bridge will be considered as outlined by red dash line in Figure 1. Foundations and supporting columns are considered as rigid enough to be considered as a fixed end support, no underground support will be considered in your optimization design; • The bridge will not change along the out of plane direction of Figure 1, so it can be simplified as a 2D bridge with a plane-strain stress state; • A uniformly distributed load acting on the half of the height (HD/2) of the bridge is considered. The magnitude of the total load acting on the bridge should be xx kN, (first two digits of your student number after 3, i.e., if your student no is s3543485, then your total load is 54 kN). An example of the acceptable design region is illustrated in Figure 2, and this design domain is used in the MATLAB code provided in the Assignment 1. Figure 2. Example of an acceptable design domain for the bridge 2.2 Material and critical load information of the optimization design You are required to design a bridge with an optimal stiffness using concrete. This design is supposed to be constructed by 3D construction printer. The concrete material has a Young’s modulus of 40GPa and Poisson’s ratio of 0.26. The compressive strength of the fully cured concrete is 40MPa and tensile strength is 4 MPa. The critical load for validation of your simplified Finite Element Model (FEM) can be considered as a total load of 800kN in the bridge with a maximum deflection less than 1/250 of the length of the bridge and around 0.3mm. 2.3 Expected content in your report You are expected to demonstrate the completion and accuracy of the optimization design in your report. Some detailed guidance and requirements are listed in the following sections. 2.3.1 Expected results from optimization design For the manual optimization with ESO, you will provide the following information: • the topology for each iteration and corresponding parameters, i.e., stress level used, Initial volume of design domain, removed volume in current iteration, volume fraction etc • Build the right FEM for the final topology and obtain the maximum deflection For the optimization with MATLAB code, you will provide the following information: • the topology for each optimal design and its corresponding parameters, i.e., input parameters used, volume remained, the maximum displacement etc • build the right FEM with optimal topology obtained and present detailed information for one optimal design you choose (preferable with a larger rmin value) • conduct verification and validation of the optimal design • vary input parameters and obtain different innovative designs and specify their merits (how it looks, how good are its performance, will it save more materials etc) by comparing it to other designs You should compare the finite element results from different designs and finalise different innovative designs. For each innovative design, you should provide • 3D model of the optimal design • Rendered view of the optimal design by putting it in construction site • Specify the merits ofthis design by comparing with other designs 2.3.2 Expected work from finite element analysis You are expected to use Abaqus to check the performance of your design through the following steps • provide all required finite element modelling information for the final optimal design (from 2D model with a topology obtained by MATLAB code). The modelling information includes the parameters used for FEM (Figure to show dimensions, Figure to show boundary, load conditions and mesh, a table to include all used input parameters including material properties, section thickness, step time and increments, pressure value, length of fixed end, approximate global size, element type, element & node number etc.) • the detailed finite element analysis results of the optimal design (refer 2.3.3 for details • build an idealised FE model (an initiative design for optimization) with a similar topology to the initial design domain shown in Figure 2 for the manual optimization • build the right FEM with the optimal topology from MATLAB Code and verify and validate this FE model, i.e. for validation, the experimental results on a portal frame like design show that the maximum deflection of the bridge under total load of 800 kN is around 0.3 mm. 2.3.3 Detailed results from finite element analysis The following results from finite element analysis using Abaqus should be included in your report: • Maximum deflection - data in a table • Distribution of deformation - a screen shot from Abaqus contour plot • Distribution of Von Mises stress - a screen shot from Abaqus contour plot • Maximum tensile stress and compressive stress -data in a table • Load-displacement curve (Load is from the supports and displacement is on the centre point of the bridge) - a graphic plot using excel or MATLAB or other professional software 3. Detailed requirements of the project: In your report, you should provide evidence (Screen shots of contour plot from Abaqus or MATLAB, table for data input, sketch, charts etc) to show the completion of the following required tasks for Project 1: 3.1. Evidence for the major tasks for FEA using 2D FEM with optimal topology from MATLAB code (It is acceptable to do those tasks through 2D FEM with a topology of the existing bridge if you started your assignment from week 2) • Geometry modelling of a bridge with detailed sizes • Material model and corresponding parameters • Loading conditions and boundary conditions • Meshing information • FE model verification-convergence (Software report, force equilibrium, following expectation and mesh convergence check) • Model validation through comparison of simplified equivalent model with other models and virtual experiment data, i.e., the experimental result on the equivalent model shows that the maximum deflection of the bridge under total load of 800 kN is around 0.3 mm. 3.2. Major tasks for structural optimization: • Overall optimization design procedure of your structure - flowchart • Site surveying (Virtual visit is preferred) • Design domain, objectives, constraints, optimization statement • Obtaining manually the optimal results by ESO principle and its iteration steps (at least 3 iterations) and optimal design using MATLAB code with the right input parameters • Verify, validate and render your optimal design by comparing the results in previous with the one from BESO method (BESO2D_Bridge2025.m). • Applying different geometry constraints to obtain different innovative designs and identify the merits for each innovative design by comparing it with other designs. 3.3. Video presentation: • The total presenting time -3 minutes • Project introduction - optimisation design of a bridge in Melbourne, locations, requirements, optimization design procedure and results • Merits of your recommended optimal design • Your feeling on your first project in this course and expectations for future assignments. 3.4 Brief marking rules The total mark of this assignment 1 is 30 marks. There will 5 criteria to mark this assignment. Criteria 1 - Accuracy. The modelling information, procedures and results are accurate. Criteria 2 - Completeness. All required tasks should be completed for this project 1. Criteria 3 - Professional Report. The report is written in a professional way. Criteria 4 - Innovative. The final optimal structures obtained should be innovative. Criteria 5 - Presentation. A clear video report to illustrate the overall project and its outcomes. More detailed information to earn marks can be found in the detailed marking rubrics as attached at the end of this assignment illustration. 4. Penalty for late submission of the project: Late submission of this assignment will incur a penalty of 5% of total mark of this assignment each date after the due date.
Entrepreneur Self-Portrait Overview For this individual project, students will reflect on the personal characteristics that have led them to pursue entrepreneurship. Directions 1. Think of a metaphor or symbol that represents entrepreneurship to you and create something artistic to share with the class. You can choose: · An original drawing(labeled or captioned) · A poem · A sculptural item · A transformed object · Another artistic idea of your own 2. Write an explanation of your creation and upload it to Canvas by 9:00 am, Session 4. As part of this self-portrait, students will identify and analyze the characteristics and skills of an admired leader in a relevant feld, compare those characteristics and skills with their own, and evaluate which skills might be developed and integrated into the self-portrait to support their entrepreneurial activities. The project will also include strategies for further development of their entrepreneurial skill set. Please use the outline below as a guide for your paper: · Personal Characteristics and Skills: · Reflect on and identify the personal skills and characteristics that have inspired you to become an entrepreneur. · Explain how your characteristics/skills as a leader will support the success of an entrepreneurial activity. · Select a Successful Entrepreneur You Admire and Analyze and Evaluate Valuable Characteristics and Actions: · Choose a prominent leader in a relevant feld with whom you identify and explain why this figure was chosen. · Explain the characteristics and skills that make this figure a successful leader. · Compare your chosen leader's characteristics and skills with your own personal characteristics and skills. · Identify Personal Goals for Training, Development, and Actions: · Based on this comparison, reflect on what type of training or development you might pursue to complement or refine your leadership characteristics and skills to be a more successful entrepreneur. Deliverable Students will create an artistic representation of their entrepreneurial spirit suitable for display in their future workspace. The assignment includes a written explanation that addresses each element above. Students must include a References page and follow the standard guidelines forAmerican Psychological Association (APA) formatting for paper organization and references, and use Times New Roman, 12-point font, 1-inch margins, and double-spaced text. It is a graduate-level expectation that the paper will reflect the APA 7 style, be well-organized, well-articulated, and demonstrate excellent grammar and mechanics. Students whose work does not reflect these expectations must revise and resubmit. Do not use Al to write your paper.I want to hear your authentic voice. Deadline Upload your assignment submission paper by 9:00 am on the day of Session 4.Bring your artistic representation to class for sharing with your peers.
ACCT1002: Business Simulation instruction document As you will be completing this exercise as part of an assessment, please note that you will be awarded marks at three distinct milestones: 1. This Simulation is used as an assessment, and full mark will be awarded for playing the simulation (i.e. making all decisions, without leaving any decisions incomplete). Your profit/loss will have no impact on your marks. 2. Additional marks will be awarded for the correct calculations of all ratios (for both “Ratio Analysis” tabs). Please note that there is a total of 30 ratios that you will need to complete (15 from each “Ration Analysis” tabs). Please ensure to calculate all, using the formula provided next to each ratio. 3. The final component of this assessment (once you have played the simulation game, and calculated all ratios) will be to write a report to compare the movement of each ratio. You will also be required to write a short paragraph analysing the movement of each ratio from 2019 to 2020 and providing a potential explanation. Please use template provided on Blackboard under “Assessment > Assessment 3 > Business Simulation Spreadsheet and Template”. When doing so, please structure your answer as such: i.Profitability Ratios – Net Profit Margin As seen from our ratio analysis, the 2019 net profit margin was 0.5 (222,222/444,444) and the 2020 net profit margin was calculated as 0.38 (150,000/400,000). This demonstrates a drop of 24%. This movement can be explained by a decline in both the Net Profit (from $222,222 in 2019 to $150,000 in 2020) and decline in Net Sales (from $444,444 in 2019 to $400,000 in 2020). However, the reduction in Net Profit was proportionately higher than the reduction in Net Sales. This decline can be explained by the reduction in sales volume and selling price for pizzas (as a result of offering combo deals) due to COVID 19. {Numbers used in this example are assumed figures). The % movement is calculated as (2020figure-2019figure)/2019figure (i.e. [(0.38 — 0.5)/0.5}. Once you have completed all three milestones described above, you will be required to upload both the excel spreadsheet simulation and your word document report as follows: a) Business Simulation Excel Spreadsheet (20%): This is where you will be able to find the Business Simulation Spreadsheet for you to play the simulation game: “Assessment > Assessment 3 - Business Simulation and Report > Business Simulation Spreadsheet and Report Template”; as below: Once you have completed the simulation game and answered all the ratio calculations, please label the file as “studentno.lastname.campus.xlsx” (i.e. “12345678.Smith.Bentley.xlsx”) and upload to Blackboard under “Assessment > Assessment 3 > Business Simulation and Report > Business Simulation Excel Submission” ; as illustrated below: i. Click on the “Assessment” tab of Blackboard as below: ii. Click on “Assessment 3 – Business Simulation and Report as below: iii. Scroll all the way to the bottom, until you see “Business Simulation Excel Submission” (note the word Excel); as below: b) Word document report (20%): You will be able to download the template as shown below: Once you have completed the report using the above mentioned template, (ensuring that you follow the structure as provided in the example in the unit outline above) in word version, please label the file as “studentno.lastname.campus.doc” (i.e. “12345678.Smith.Bentley.docx”) and upload to Turnitin as instructed below: i. Click on the “Assessment” tab of Blackboard as below: ii. Click on “Assessment 3 — Business Simulation and Report as below: iii. Scroll all the way to the bottom, until you see “Business Simulation Report Submission” (note the word Report); as below: iv. Click on “view / complete v. Choose your name from the list “under Author” and upload your word document. More instructions (including a marking guide) will be provided on Blackboard. Welcome to a short instruction document on the business simulation excel file. This file will briefly explain what you will see in the simulation and give you a short set of instructions on things you may be unsure of. PLEASE NOTE: THERE ARE A LOT OF TABS IN THIS SPREADSHEET. TO NAVIGATE TO THE NEXT SET OF TABS, THENAGIVATION BUTTONS ARE ON THE BOTTOM LEFT The first two tabs are for your Student Details and some background information. Please fill these in fully with all the requested details. These will be kept confidential and will not be shared with 3rd parties
Course Outline Course Number MG-GY 8683 Economics & Strategies for Digital Platforms Fall 2025, 9/4/2025 – 12/11/2025 Course Meetings: Thursdays, 6-8.30pm, online via Zoom Course Scope and Mission The goal of this course is to equip students with the economic tools and strategic thinking necessary to understand how platform. markets function and how to carefully analyze, evaluate and develop strategies for digital platforms. Many companies are pursuing digital strategies, from a multitude of startups to major players including Google, Amazon, and Meta. This course will cover topics that help inform. platform. strategy, such as two-sided markets, first mover advantage, network effects, chicken-or-egg dilemma, monetization strategy, freemium, intellectual property rights, crowdsourcing, platform. governance, regulation, societal aspects of platforms, how platforms change competition, and why platforms fail. We will apply economic and strategic thinking to the study of business cases of different platforms. The course will be delivered synchronously online and will have a flipped classroom model, with a blend of prerecorded lectures and live classroom discussion and case work. Book (recommended) Geoffrey G. Parker, Marshall W. Van Alstyne, and Sangeet Paul Choudary. Platform. Revolution. 2016. W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Evaluation and Grades Grades are a measure of the performance of a student in individual courses. Students will be evaluated on the basis of how well they command the course materials. i. Participation/Group Platform. Exercise 10% Ongoing ii. Case Questions Write-ups 10% Ongoing iii. Quiz 1 (Individual) 20% Oct. 9 iv. Quiz 2 (Individual) 20% Nov. 13 v. Group Platform. Exercise Presentation & Paper 40% Dec. 18 (Pres. Dec. 11) Grade Conversion A: 94 – 100 A-: 90 – 93 B+: 87 – 89 B: 84 – 86 B-: 80 – 83 C+: 77 – 79 C: 74 – 76 C-: 70 – 73 D+: 67 – 69 D: 65 – 66 F: Below 65 COURSE FORMAT AND EXPECTATIONS i. Class Participation/Group Platform. Exercise (10%) One of the primary goals of this course is to help you develop the ability both to clarify your own position on a strategic question related to digital platforms and to be able to articulate and defend it clearly. As this class is highly interactive, regular class attendance and class participation are a critical part of this course. Class contribution is based on attendance and participation in the weekly group platform. exercises. Each class, we will be doing a group exercise, where we apply the concepts learned in the lectures that week to the development of a platform. business model. At the start of the course, I will ask you to form. groups (~5 students) and come up with an idea for a platform. Each class we will apply new concepts to your platform. By the end of the course, you should have a well-developed platform. business plan. ii. Case Question Write-Ups (10%) For each class that has a case, I will provide an overview and background of the case, and pose some questions that are relevant to the theme of that week’s topic. You are asked to form. groups (~5 students) and work on the questions, writing up in sentence form. answers to each question. I will ask each group to email me the write-ups (one per group) and we will then reconvene as a class and have a group discussion about each case question. Case writeups will receive 1 or 0, based on completion. With cases, you should be able to identify the key issues, problems, and opportunities facing the platform, to articulate and evaluate alternative approaches to the problems, and to describe the course of action that you recommend and reasons for your recommendations. iii. Quiz 1 (20%) A one-hour quiz on October 9, 6-7pm that will cover material from Classes 1–5. iv. Quiz 2 (20%) A one-hour quiz on November 13, 6-7pm that will cover material from Classes 7–10. v. Group Platform. Exercise: Presentation & Paper (40%) Throughout the semester, you’ll be working weekly in groups to develop your platforms. For the final group assignment, due on December 18, you’re asked to write a paper of up to 1,500 words (due December 18) and do a presentation on December 11. This assignment consists of two parts. The first part is a 10 minute in-class “pitch deck”-style. presentation consisting of 10 slides (below) on December 11 (5%). This should be a concise presentation that provides an overview of your platform’s business plan. Your 10 slides should address the following: Pitch Deck – Key Components: 1. Introduction: Briefly introduce the platform, its name, and a one-liner that captures its essence (e.g., “A marketplace connecting freelancers with businesses.”) 2. Problem: Define the problem that exists in the market that your platform. is designed to solve. 3. Solution: Describe how your platform. solves this problem, including the key features and functionalities that enable users to connect, transact, or interact more efficiently. 4. Chicken or Egg Dilemma & Network Effects: How will your platform. solve the chicken or egg dilemma? How will it achieve positive network effects to create value? 5. Monetization Strategy: Describe how your platform. makes money. 6. Competitive Landscape: Discuss existing competitors (comparing, e.g., monetization strategy, number of users, etc.), and emphasize your unique value proposition and differentiation strategy. 7. Intellectual Property: How will you approach intellectual property? 8. Governance: How will you create and sustain good governance on your platform? 9. Regulation: What regulatory issues might your platform. raise, and how will you mitigate them? 10. Conclusion: End with a strong conclusion that reinforces the platform’s potential, the impact it could have, and your vision for the future. The second part is a paper, due December 18 (35%), that goes into more detail on the questions underlying the presentation.
Department of Technology Management and Innovation MG-GY 6013 E Organization Behavior Fall 2025 Course Description: Introduction to theory, research, and practice to better understand human behavior. in organizations. Topics include motivation and job satisfaction; decision making; group dynamics; work teams; leadership; communication; power, politics, and conflict; organization culture, structure, and design; impact of technology; management of work stress; organizational change and development; and career management. Analysis of organizational behavior. problems by self-assessment, case studies and simulations. Course Objective: · Develop teamwork and cooperation skills. · Develop written and oral communications skills. · Develop analytic and problem-solving skills. · Enhance self-awareness and human relations skills. Course Structure: This course is On-Site and will meet once a week on Wednesdays. Brightspace is the learning management system we will use for assignments, announcements, and emails. All assignments will be provided in the designated Brightspace section (Assignments) prior to the start of the course. Students are responsible for ensuring they understand the requirements and are responsible for checking Brightspace prior to the beginning of the course, and subsequently prior to each class for any updates. The course is comprised of several different components. Each component is designed to provide you with a specific set of skills, tools, analytical framework, and knowledge. Collectively, the course components should provide you with a balanced and robust foundation in Organizational Behavior. that you can reference in your careers and further education. Specifically: · In Class Interactive Component. This is a highly interactive class that provides you with a great opportunity to learn, to challenge yourself and others, and develop your critical thinking and communication skills. Come to class ready to work, participate, contribute, and have some fun. My teaching style. is direct and facilitative, please feel free to challenge me, ask me questions and draw upon my experience in business, as well as my subject matter expertise. · Case Component. We will discuss at least one case per week; to practice analysis of organizational situations, and to learn how to recommend various interventions or redesign opportunities. This is to practice perception, analysis, action capability, and to learn vicariously from others’ situations. o Intellectual Component: This component focuses more on your cognitive abilities, and includes reading, learning models of behavior, design, and leadership, discussing ideas from the readings and from other sources. Specifically, in this class we will focus on 4 dimensions of learning, knowledge transfer and skill development: a. Factual Knowledge is knowledge that is basic to specific disciplines. This dimension refers to essential facts, terminology, details or elements students must know or be familiar with in order to understand a discipline or solve a problem in it. o Conceptual Knowledge is knowledge of classifications, principles, generalizations, theories, models, or structures pertinent to a particular disciplinary area. o Procedural Knowledge refers to information or knowledge that helps students to do something specific to a discipline, subject, and area of study. It also refers to methods of inquiry, very specific or finite skills, algorithms, techniques, and particular methodologies. o Metacognitive Knowledge is the awareness of one's own cognition and particular cognitive processes. It is strategic or reflective knowledge about how to go about solving problems, cognitive tasks, to include contextual and conditional knowledge and knowledge of self. · Team Performance Component. You will have one team project assignment this semester. You will formally write-up your project and briefly present your findings and your experience as a team to the class. Group members will be expected to clearly identify their contributions and will be assessed on the content and quality of that contribution individually. The individual effort will be 60% of the final project grade and the remaining 40% for the group effort (based on team work, sharing knowledge, learning, and building consensus), and presentation. Thus, the overall grade for the final project will be a combination of the individual contribution (60%) and the group contribution and presentation (40%). o Individual Performance Component: Each student will be expected prepare a 3 to 5-page written paper which reports on one framework or theory involved in solving the team’s case. For example, if the problem in the case relates to supervisor-subordinate communication, each team member will research and report on one aspect of that issue, e.g. cross-cultural communication. Readings: · Robbins, Stephen P. and Judge, Timothy A. (2019) “Organizational Behavior” 18th Ed., Pearson ISBN 978-0134729329, or 0134729323 (an eText version is available but the MyLab option will not be used). · All assigned readings and cases will be posted to Brightspace · Power-point lecture slides and any handouts will be posted to Brightspace with each week’s lesson. Course Assignments and Grading: Participation and Graded Assignments/Activities Percent Individual Term Paper (Individual grade) 30% Class Participation (based on ACTIVE ORAL PARTICIPATION in all IN-CLASS DISCUSSIONS) 05% Final – Group paper (Group shared grade) 20% Quizzes 45% Total 100% Major Assignments Group Project and Presentation (30 points): Each team will be assigned a Case from the cases scenarios supplied by the professor. The team is tasked to solve the problem presented in the case using the concepts and frameworks presented in lectures and reviewed in the text. For example, XYZ Tech has a turnover problem, 1) What does your team believe are the root causes of the problem? 2) What methods and interventions would your team propose to solve the problem? 3) How would you test to see if the problem is fixed? Preparing Your Case Study: It helps to have a system when sitting down to prepare a case study as the amount of information and issues to be resolved can initially seem quite overwhelming. The following is a good way to start. At this point, the task consists of two parts: 1. A detailed reading of the case, and then 2. Analyzing the case. When you are doing the detailed reading of the case study, look for the following sections: 1. Opening paragraph: introduces the situation. 1. Background information: industry, organization, products, history, competition, financial information, and anything else of significance. 2. Specific (functional) area of interest: marketing, finance, operations, human resources, or integrated. 3. The specific problem or decision(s) to be made. 4. Alternatives open to the decision maker, which may or may not be stated in the case. 5. Conclusion: sets up the task, any constraints or limitations, and the urgency of the situation. Most, but not all case studies will follow this format. The purpose here is to thoroughly understand the situation and the decisions that will need to be made. Take your time, make notes, and keep focused on your objectives. Analyzing the case should take the following steps: 1. Defining the issue(s) 2. Analyzing the case data 3. Generating alternatives 4. Selecting decision criteria 5. Analyzing and evaluating alternatives 6. Selecting the preferred alternative 7. Developing an action/implementation plan Defining the issue(s)/Problem Statement The problem statement should be a clear, concise statement of exactly what needs to be addressed. This is not easy to write! The work that you did in the short cycle process answered the basic questions. Now it is time to decide what the main issues to be addressed are going to be in much more detail. Asking yourself the following questions may help: 1. What appears to be the problem(s) here? 2. How do I know that this is a problem? Note that by asking this question, you will be helping to differentiate the symptoms of the problem from the problem itself. Example: while declining sales or unhappy employees are a problem to most companies, they are in fact, symptoms of underlying problems which need to addressed. 3. What are the immediate issues that need to be addressed? This helps to differentiate between issues that can be resolved within the context of the case, and those that are bigger issues that needed to addressed at a another time (preferably by someone else!). 4. Differentiate between importance and urgency for the issues identified. Some issues may appear to be urgent, but upon closer examination are relatively unimportant, while others may be far more important (relative to solving our problem) than urgent. You want to deal with important issues in order of urgency to keep focused on your objective. Important issues are those that have a significant effect on: 1. profitability, 2. strategic direction of the company, 3. source of competitive advantage, 4. morale of the company's employees, and/or 5. customer satisfaction. The problem statement may be framed as a question, eg: What should Joe do? or How can Mr. Smith improve market share? Usually the problem statement has to be rewritten several times during the analysis of a case, as you peel back the layers of symptoms or causation. Analyzing Case Data In analyzing the case data, you are trying to answer the following: 1. Why or how did these issues arise? You are trying to determine cause and effect for the problems identified. You cannot solve a problem that you cannot determine the cause of! It may be helpful to think of the organization in question as consisting of the following components: 1. resources, such as materials, equipment, or supplies, and 2. people who transform. these resources using 3. processes, which creates something of greater value. Now, where are the problems being caused within this framework, and why? 2. Who is affected most by this issues? You are trying to identify who are the relevant stakeholders to the situation, and who will be affected by the decisions to be made. 3. What are the constraints and opportunities implicit to this situation? It is very rare that resources are not a constraint, and allocations must be made on the assumption that not enough will be available to please everyone. 4. What do the numbers tell you? You need to take a look at the numbers given in the case study and make a judgement as to their relevance to the problem identified. Not all numbers will be immediately useful or relevant, but you need to be careful not to overlook anything. When deciding to analyze numbers, keep in mind why you are doing it, and what you intend to do with the result. Use common sense and comparisons to industry standards when making judgements as to the meaning of your answers to avoid jumping to conclusions. Generating Alternatives This section deals with different ways in which the problem can be resolved. Typically, there are many (the joke is at least three), and being creative at this stage helps. Things to remember at this stage are: 1. Be realistic! While you might be able to find a dozen alternatives, keep in mind that they should be realistic and fit within the constraints of the situation. 2. The alternatives should be mutually exclusive, that is, they cannot happen at the same time. 3. Not making a decision pending further investigation is not an acceptable decision for any case study that you will analyze. A manager can always delay making a decision to gather more information, which is not managing at all! The whole point to this exercise is to learn how to make good decisions, and having imperfect information is normal for most business decisions, not the exception. 4. Doing nothing as in not changing your strategy can be a viable alternative, provided it is being recommended for the correct reasons, as will be discussed below. 5. Avoid the meat sandwich method of providing only two other clearly undesirable alternatives to make one reasonable alternative look better by comparison. This will be painfully obvious to the reader, and just shows laziness on your part in not being able to come up with more than one decent alternative. 6. Keep in mind that any alternative chosen will need to be implemented at some point, and if serious obstacles exist to successfully doing this, then you are the one who will look bad for suggesting it. Once the alternatives have been identified, a method of evaluating them and selecting the most appropriate one needs to be used to arrive at a decision. Key Decision Criteria A very important concept to understand, they answer the question of how you are going to decide which alternative is the best one to choose. Other than choosing randomly, we will always employ some criteria in making any decision. Think about the last time that you make a purchase decision for an article of clothing. Why did you choose the article that you did? The criteria that you may have used could have been: 1. fit 2. price 3. fashion 4. color 5. approval of friend/family 6. availability Note that any one of these criteria could appropriately finish the sentence, the brand/style. that I choose to purchase must.... These criteria are also how you will define or determine that a successful purchase decision has been made. For a business situation, the key decision criteria are those things that are important to the organization making the decision, and they will be used to evaluate the suitability of each alternative recommended. Key decision criteria should be: 1. Brief, preferably in point form, such as 1. improve (or at least maintain) profitability, 2. increase sales, market share, or return on investment, 3. maintain customer satisfaction, corporate image, 4. be consistent with the corporate mission or strategy, 5. within our present (or future) resources and capabilities, 6. within acceptable risk parameters, 7. ease or speed of implementation, 8. employee morale, safety, or turnover, 9. retain flexibility, and/or 10. minimize environmental impact. 2. Measurable, at least to the point of comparison, such as alternative A will improve profitability more that alternative B. 3. Be related to your problem statement, and alternatives. If you find that you are talking about something else, that is a sign of a missing alternative or key decision criteria, or a poorly formed problem statement. Evaluation of Alternatives If you have done the above properly, this should be straightforward. You measure the alternatives against each key decision criteria. Often you can set up a simple table with key decision criteria as columns and alternatives as rows, and write this section based on the table. Each alternative must be compared to each criteria and its suitability ranked in some way, such as met/not met, or in relation to the other alternatives, such as better than, or highest. This will be important to selecting an alternative. Another method that can be used is to list the advantages and disadvantages (pros/cons) of each alternative, and then discussing the short and long term implications of choosing each. Note that this implies that you have already predicted the most likely outcome of each of the alternatives. Some students find it helpful to consider three different levels of outcome, such as best, worst, and most likely, as another way of evaluating alternatives. Recommendation You must have one! Business people are decision-makers; this is your opportunity to practice making decisions. Give a justification for your decision (use the KDC's). Check to make sure that it is one (and only one) of your Alternatives and that it does resolve what you defined as the Problem. Structure of the Written Report Papers should be at least 25 pages in length double spaced written using the APA format. For this course, the report should have the following sections in this order: 1. Title page 2. Table of contents 3. Executive summary 4. Problem (Issue) statement 5. Data analysis 6. Key Decision Criteria 7. Alternatives analysis 8. Recommendations 9. Action and Implementation Plan 10. Exhibits Teams will meet in class and virtually to discuss the evidence presented in the case and to apply the learning of each situation and complete their case analysis and recommendations using PowerPoint slides (details to be provided later). Each team will work a unique case, no two teams will work on the same case. Teams will be graded on team participation, quality of presentation, the amount of course knowledge presented in the case presentation, and appropriateness of the final solution to the case. Individual Student Term Paper (25 points): Students will prepare a written paper which reports on one framework, major topic, or theory identified in the team’s case. For example, if the problem in the case relates to supervisor-subordinate communication, each team member will research and report on one aspect of that issue, e.g. cross-cultural communication, motivation, leadership, etc. Papers are to be well researched with at least 3 - 4 reputable referenced resources, 10 to 12-pages in length, double-spaced, 10pt Arial font, written using the APA format. The following format may be used in the construction of the paper: 1. Abstract 2. Definitions – definition of the framework or theory 3. Literature Review – research on the topic from the perspective of at least two proponents of the framework or theory. 4. Organizational Advantages / Disadvantages 5. Implication for Managers 6. Conclusions 7. References
MG 6033 – Financial Analysis for Tech Managers MG-GY 6033, Sections: A, B Spring 2025 1. Course Description The course will focus on accounting issues as well as financing and investment functions/decisions of the financial manager as applied to practical real-world situations. We will first cover basic concepts of accounting (including cost accounting); as well as basic concepts of finance. Some of the course will involve analysis of actual case studies of real business situations. In the process of analyzing the cases, students will be able to apply these accounting and finance concepts to actual business problems and their solutions. 2. Course Materials The textbook we will use is Fundamentals of Corporate Finance (13th Edition) by Ross, Westerfield and Jordan. ISBN 9781265166410 Your course is participating in the Follett Access program. This is a NYU Bookstore initiative that delivers required course materials at the lowest possible price. The book, Fundamentals of Corporate Finance by Ross will be delivered to you digitally through the McGraw Hill CONNECT platform. The cost of the book will be added as a “book charge” to your bursar bill. 3. Mode of Instruction and Attendance This class is scheduled to meet in person. Information about absences can be found the Procedures, Policies, and Forms webpages of the Office of Student Affairs. Appendix A outlines the course schedule. The schedule should be followed rigorously to keep on track during the semester. This schedule is subject to change. The instructor reserves the right and may convene communication via teleconferencing, phone, or the internet (by Zoom, or something similar), at other times than scheduled, or require you to do tasks at a specific prescheduled date/time, including some field work. As a guideline, students should expect to devote at least three to four times the amount of credit hours per course. For example, a three-credit course should require at least nine to twelve hours during the week dedicated to assignments, which include reading, practice problems, and other assignments to advance your understanding of the material. Students must read the chapters and are responsible for any content in each chapter unless the instructor specifically states the content that students are not responsible. Unless otherwise stated, homework assignments will be graded. Students must be prepared to discuss the topics and assignments when asked. Assignments are subject to change as the course progresses. 4. Course Grading Grading Criteria Percent Quizzes 50% Weight of Each Deliverable of the 50% Total Exam One 25% Exam Two 35% Exam Three 40% Signature Term Project 50% Weight of Each Deliverable of the 50% Total Deliverable One 15% Deliverable Two 25% Deliverable Three 35% Deliverable Four 15% Deliverable Five 10% Total 100% The grading criteria for NYU are described in the following table: Score Letter Grade GPA Points Excellent From 93 to 100 A 4.0 From 90 to less than 93 A – 3.7 Good - Above Average From 87 to less than 90 B+ 3.3 Satisfactory From 83 to less than 87 B 3.0 Below Avg From 80 to less than 83 B– 2.7 Poor From 77 to less than 80 C+ 2.3 From 73 to less than 77 C 2.0 From 70 to less than 73 C – 2.0 Failure Below 70 F 0.0 5. Homework Assignments through McGraw-Hill Connect McGraw–Hill Connect offers algorithmic homework assignments on the topics presented in this course. You will be required to complete assigned homework problems, all of which are graded. To receive credit, all homework and video McGraw–Hill Connect assignments are due by the end of the semester. The homework is due on the due date set in McGraw–Hill. There are no extensions. You must manage your time appropriately to get the homework completed in a timely manner. Homework is generally due about two weeks after we discuss the topic in class. Note: The SmartBook exercises are not graded and have no due date. You don’t have to complete them. They are optional, but it is highly suggested that you complete them. The homework assignments have the following features: • Questions will normally consist of a mix of multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank type of questions. • You can print the homework assignment, if that is your preference, but still must be completed via Brightspace linked to McGraw-Hill Connect. The instructor will not accept printed versions or PDF files. • You can refer back to your e-text and other resources while completing homework assignments. • Students may check if their answers are correct before submitting. • There is no time limit to solve problems after opening them, other than the date on which they are due. • Because questions are algorithmic, each student will have the same type of question, but certain information will be different for each question, such as the numbers. This is intended to encourage students to learn how to solve problems independently, rather than relying on classmates for answers. • Each question has a 1% numeric tolerance, which means that you can be more or less than 1% of the actual number. This is intended to address potential rounding errors. • Correct spacing and punctuation are not required, nor is correct letter case required. • Students can revise the previous attempt without having to start over. • No extensions will be given for the homework assignments. Once the semester is completed, homework submissions are final. 6. Video Assignments through McGraw-Hill Connect McGraw-Hill Connect offers short videos on the topics presented in this course. You will be required to watch the video and answer questions related to the course content, all of which are graded. There is no time limit to solve problems after opening them, except for the date by which they are due. The video topics are presented in Appendix A. The video assignments have the same features as the homework assignments. 7. Exams Generally, there are three examinations fairly evenly distributed over the semester. The graded examinations are all administered through McGraw-Hill Connect. If you need an accommodation and cannot take the exam via McGraw-Hill Connect, please discuss it with me and we will make alternate arrangements to administer a paper examination. Generally, the examinations will have the following parameters: • Once started, examinations must be completed in one sitting. There is only one attempt per examination. Time limits may be altered for those who have been granted accommodations. • All exams will be taken through Brightspace with links to McGraw-Hill Connect. • They will be administered in class at the designated time and place of the class. • The examinations are generally 20-30 questions, and you have about 90-150 minutes to complete. • Each question has a 1% numeric tolerance, meaning your answer can be more or less than 1% of the actual number. This is intended to address potential rounding errors. • Test results and any possible feedback will usually be available after the due date. • After the due date, homework assignments will be available to students as a resource.
PSYC3010 Multiple Regression (MR) Assignment 2025 (maximum 600 words, excluding R output and syntax) Objective: Create ONE multiple-choice quiz question (JUST ONE) with FIVE response options based on the content taught in Lectures 1-6 and Tutorials 1-3. You must use the data set provided for THIS assignment (mr_assignment_data_2025). The participants in this dataset were Australian 1st year psychology students (N=182). You do not need to describe the participants for your assignment. Using this data set, you need to: 1. Choose ANY SIX variables: ONE dependent variable (DV) and FIVE independent variables (IVs). 2. Postulate your research question and conduct the relevant analyses using R. You are NOT required to cite existing research, but your question must be plausible and interesting to psychologists! a. Your analyses must contain one DV and five IVs chosen from the data set provided. b. The five IVs must be chosen from at least four different clusters detailed in the 'Description of Variables' document (e.g., NOT all from the COPE Inventory or Personality Item Pool). c. Correlations between the independent variables must be below |.50|. d. You must conduct a simultaneous multiple regression (not sequential or simple linear regression). e. The results must include at least TWO statistically significant predictors. At least one of the statistically significant predictors must yield a negative regression coefficient. f. Do NOT include any interaction terms or categorical variables in the analyses for THIS assignment. 3. For the response options: a. You need to have FIVE multiple-choice response options, labelled A, B, C, D, and E. b. Only ONE of the response options is to be correct, and it must be labelled with an asterisk (*). c. Each response option must include reasons as to why it is a CORRECT or INCORRECT response (see the multiple examples provided in the practice quizzes). d. You CANNOT use response options such as “All of the Above” or “None of the Above” or “Both a and b” . e. Your quiz question CANNOT be “Which of the following five options is FALSE?” 4. For the CONTENT of your FIVE response options: (plenty of examples can be found in the lectures/tutorials) a. Response option A must be based on interpretation of the unstandardised or standardised regression coefficient(s). b. Response option B must be based on part correlations or unique variance. c. Response option C must be based on the overall regression model. d. Response option D must be based on a take-home message given your research question and output. e. Response option E is completely up to you (surprise us ). 5. You will need to submit ONE pdf OR word file containing: a. Your research question (approx. 25-50 words), specifying the names of the variables that you used in parentheses (plenty of examples can be found in the lectures/tutorials) b. Your multiple-choice quiz item (including all five response options and the reasons for each being correct/incorrect) c. Relevant syntax (pasted into the Appendix) and the correlation matrix (see template) d. All submissions will be processed through Turnitin. Plagiarism of any sort will not be tolerated. e. Copy and paste the R output as text using a monospace font like Courier New. Also, copy and paste the R syntax as text, so that we can re-run it during marking. Any tables used in your quiz item can either be in APA format or copied directly from R output (make sure the entire table fits on the page). Whatever R output is required to answer your quiz question must be included in the quiz item section (see template). Your syntax needs to be included in the Appendix (see template). Marking Criteria [out of 100] Your assignment will be marked based on: 1) [10 marks] Plausibility of the research question and general setup of the regression model (i.e., a coherent and reasonable set of DV and IVs). Conducting the appropriate analyses and submitting a complete Appendix. NB: we do NOT expect you to cite any research! 2) [75 marks] Accuracy and quality of the five response options (15 marks each) a. Accuracy of each proposed response option AND feedback in terms of theoretical/statistical analysis, interpretation, calculation, justification, etc, (focussing on the details provided in the instructions). b. Quality of the proposed response options AND feedback. For example, having good distractors—reasonably plausible on the surface, sufficiently difficult to reject, and being incorrect for good reasons (instead of typos, etc). Amount of non-trivial details in the distractors. 3) [5 marks] Overall coherency and formatting (everything neatly presented) of your quiz item. 4) [10 marks] Independent, original thought. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Please direct all questions about the assignment to [email protected]. Answers to common questions will be posted in the FAQ section of the MR Assignment page on Canvas. Please double-check this page for updates before submitting your assignment. Q: Do I need to describe how each variable was measured in the research question? A: No, you do not need to repeat this information from the Description of Variables document. Q: Can I hide some numbers in the R output for my quiz question? A: Yes. Q: Do I have to use the given template? A: No, the assignment template is just a suggestion. You may use your own template (or quiz question) if you wish. Please ensure that all the information is clearly presented and well-organised in your assignment. Q: Can I paste the output from multiple analyses for my quiz item? A: Yes, you may conduct and present multiple analyses, but you are NOT required to do so, and it must be clear to the person answering your quiz question: which piece(s) of output comes from which analysis, and which analyses are relevant for each response option. If you decide to present output from multiple analyses, all response options should (at minimum) require the marker to evaluate what you have written against the results from a simultaneous regression with 1 DV and 5 IVs. Q: Do I need to write the correct answer in the feedback for the incorrect response options? A: Providing the correct answer in your written feedback can improve clarity. However, providing only the correct answer without explanation is less useful as feedback. Q: Can I base option E on content specified for options A-D (e.g., using a different angle to interpret the unstandardised or standardised regression coefficients)? A: You will have greater scope to show independent, original thought if the five response options are clearly distinct from each other. So, we recommend that you base option E on different content. Apart from option E, we will also be looking for independent, original thought in your response options and feedback for options A-D as well.
CHE5882/6882 Biomass and Biorefineries -2025 Group Case Study #3B: Biotechnology with Enzymes and Microbes Release: Friday, Week 2 Due: Friday, Week 5, 11:55 PM (approx. midnight) Biological transformations are emerging as viable competition to traditional chemical transformations due to the relatively mild conditions required, utilising less energy, producing less emissions, and a reliance on renewable feedstocks. However, there are complications and adjustments that need to be made to operate biological plants, and issues around supply chains, product value/volume, etc are more nuanced. You have been tasked with researching the production of PRODUCT using biological conversion processes, using feedstocks available in Australia (for your specific product, please see the spreadsheet in the assessment link on Moodle). Note - in this Case Study, you will be required to find your own information about your feedstock, the bioconversion processes, and the products, whether it be academic papers, market reports, etc. Be sure to use a combination of text, figures and tables (original tables/figs preferred) and calculations in your report, based on exercises from practicals in w2-5. 1) Compare and contrast the feedstocks available (between 2 and 4 sources) which could be used to produce the product, regardless of the conversion process. • Include information about known composition, relative costs, potential providers (e.g. what type of industry could provide this, can you find examples of companies?) • 1-page - 30% 2) Choose one particular bioconversion system (either enzymatic or cell-based), justifying your choice on techno-economic aspects. (e.g. which enzyme or microbe would you employ, under what conditions, requiring what pre-treatment of feed to achieve max efficiency). Provide a block flow diagram of the process, from raw material feeds through to product and waste streams, and provide an overview of the unit processes required. Estimate the product yield and selectivity for your chosen reaction, and explain your assumptions underpinning the calculations. • 2-page max- 40% 3) Provide your business recommendation. What are the business opportunities and challenges associated with your recommendations over the short vs. long term? Provide a value-volume curve that includes several other products to illustrate your point. • Be factual and very specific • 1-page max- 30% Submitting your Report To submit your assignment, please use the Case Study #3 submission link on the Moodle site, available under ‘Assessment Information’. • Have a cover page • While I do advise not to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) for this analytical assignment – should you decide to use it- it MUST BE STATED and described. • There will be NO extension granted. • You are expected to find and refer to any additional references needed to support your analysis.
CS597 Advanced Cryptography Homework 2 Instructions: To be turned in on paper at the beginning of class on Wednesday. To earn points, every problem must start on a new page, and each page must have the following: 2. The answer for that problem and subproblems in your own words. from later, etc. 3. Citations or an explanation of outside sources used so that I can reproduce what you did. If you do use outside sources, you will likely learn less (not good for life, or erams). Some notation from the book: 1. [a mod N] denotes the remainder of a divided by N, with 0< la mod N] < N. In class the brackets were dropped. 2. xlly denotes unambiguous concatenation of the strings z and y. Here "unambiguous" means that z and y can be recovered from zlly. Three problems to turn in: 1. Consider the double (ASCII) Vigenère cipher, where we choose two keys (possibly of different lengths) ki, k2, and then encrypt a message by encrypting it first using the ASCII Vigenère cipher with ki to obtain an intermediate ciphertext c', and then encrypting c' using the ASCII Vigenère cipher with k2 to obtain the final ciphertext c. How would you attack this scheme? 2. Prove or refute: An encryption scheme with message space M is perfectly secret if and onlyl if for every probability distr. over M and every co,C1 EC we have Pr[C=co] = Pr[C= ci]. 3. For each of the following encryption schemes, state whether the scheme is perfectly secret. Justify your answer in each case. (a) The message space is M = {0,...,4). Algorithm Gen chooses a uniform. key from the key space {0,...,5}. Enck(m) returns [k+ m mod 5], and Deck(c) returns [c- k mod 5]. (b) The message space is M= {m E {0,1} | the last bit of m is 0}. Gen chooses a uniform. key from {0,1)-1. Enck(m) returns ciphertext m(kll0), and Deck(c) returns c(kl0).
BFF5956 Mid-semester Test - Semester 2 2025 SAMPLE TEST QUESTIONS signed toallow you togetafeelofhowthe actual testwill work. They shouldnotbe the first-stop source o you solely rely on th ions:- Section A(6 marks): e-choice theoretical questions- Section B(12 marks): le-choice numerical questions- Section C(17 marks): The test is graded out of35 marks, contributing toward 35%ofyourfinalgrade. estion.Ifyoudonotseewhatyou sest to youranswer.You must answer all questions.ly.Assets Liabilities Cash 0 Debt 200 Other Assets500Equity300Year 0 123Free Cash Flows (100) 405060Debt Level ($million)0405060708090ProbabilityofFinancialDistress0%0%1%2%7%16%31%
Lab 3. Search Algorithms for Solving Optimisation Problems Aims: This lab provides an opportunity for you to exercise three local search algorithms, ie., hill climbing, simulated annealing, and genetic algorithm, to solve a simple optimisation problem. Tasks: Task 1. Download the student lab3 pack from the Lab3 page and unpack the files to your lab3 folder in your own google drive. Task 2. Learn from your tutor about how to “mount drive” in your notebook in order to access files in your google drive. Task 3. Learn from your tutor about how to upload datasets through reading local csv files. Task 4. Learn from your tutor’s demo of how to create required data structure from the given data files for using the local search algorithms. Task 5. Learn from your tutor’s demo of how the Genetic Algorithm (GA) algorithm works in solving the given local search problem. You should learn how the population evolves, how the objective function or fitness values change over generations in the search process and understand how the search process terminates. Task 6. Work in a small group to first choose one from the Hill Climbing (HC) and Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithms, then run the code segments for the chosen algorithm and lastly explain how the search process unfolds and how the cost/energy function values change during the search process using the outputs of running the code. Task 7. Present your work in Task 6 in a group, i.e., your understanding of how the chosen algorithm works in the context of solving the given problem. Pay attention to the problem representation, connection between the problem representation and the search algorithm, meta-parameters used and how the algorithm works using the problem information.
Lab 2. Classic Search Algorithms Aims: This lab provides an opportunity for you to understand how typical classic search algorithms (which are BFS, DFS, UCS, GBFS and A*) work in solving a simple navigational problem. Tasks: Task 1. Download the student lab2 pack from the Lab2 page, unpack the files locally and upload them to your lab2 folder in your own google drive. Task 2. Learn from your tutor about how to “mount drive” in your notebook in order to access files in your google drive. Task 3. Learn from your tutor about how to upload local csv files for defining the navigational problem with focus on how to find the path to these files. Task 4. Learn from your tutor’s demo of how to create required data structure from the given data files for using the classic search algorithms. Task 5. Learn from your tutor’s demo of how the greedy best first search (GBFS) algorithm works in solving the given navigational problem. You should be able to trace how the frontier changes in the search process and understand how the result is produced. Task 6. Work in a small group (pair) to do the following: （1）Choose one from the following four algorithm: · Breadth first search (BFS) · Depth first search (DFS) · Uniform. cost (UCS) search, · A* search algorithm （2）Run the code segments for the chosen algorithm, and (3) Explain how the frontier changes during the search process using the outputs, you can compare the frontier states with the ones in the illustrative examples in the file “student task.xlsx” used in the workshop 2. Task 7. Give presentation of how your chosen algorithm solves the given problem, including your understanding of how the problem is presented, how it is passed to the algorithm function, how the algorithm works from the initialization, through looping to generate the solution or result. Explain what happens in an iteration, including the updates on the frontier, tests performed and updates on the explored set. Note: A heuristic function is needed when you use an informed search algorithm with heuristics, such as greedy best first and A start algorithms. The Euclidean distance (or the line distance, or the airline distance) between a given node and the goal node is used for the heuristic function in this lab. The Euclidean distance between two city nodes A(x1,y1) and B(x2,y2) can be calculated by using the Pythagorean Theorem, as follows:
CSSE6400 CoughOverflow Software Architecture Semester 1, 2025 Summary In this assignment, you will demonstrate your ability to design, implement, and deploy a web API that can process a high load, i.e. a scalable application. You are to deploy an API to analyse images of saliva samples to identify if a patient has COVID-19 or avian influenza (H5N1), which is commonly called bird flu. Specially your application needs to support: • Analysing an image received via an API request. • Providing access to a specified REST API, e.g. for use by front-end interfaces and other applications. • Remaining responsive while analysing images. Your service will be deployed to AWS and will undergo automated correctness and load-testing to ensure it meets the requirements. 1 Introduction For this assignment, you are working for CoughOverflow, a new UQ start-up. CoughOverflow uses ma- chine learning techniques developed by QDHeC to analyse images of saliva samples. The analysis is able to identify if an individual is infected with one of a few pathogens. The initial service focuses on identifi- cation of COVID-19 or H5N1, due to their current level of risk to the public. Task CoughOverflow uses a microservices architecture to implement their analysis platform. The CTO saw on your resume that you are taking Software Architecture and has assigned you to design and imple- ment the pathogen analysis service. This service must scale to cope with the anticipated large number of tests. Requirements Automated identification of pathogens is an important service. Manual testing by lab technicians is labour intensive and time consuming. Automated tests free lab technicians for more im- portant work, and provide faster responses to healthcare staff. This is critical in an epidemic or pandemic scenario, when tens or hundreds of thousands of tests need to be performed daily. CoughOverflow’s pathogen analysis service (PAS) needs to be designed to scale to match demand. Pathology labs will obtain saliva samples from patients. The labs will create images of the cells in the samples. These images will be sent to the PAS for analysis. The algorithms used to analyse the images are computationally intensive. It is not possible to return a result immediately for a submitted image. Labs, or other healthcare providers, will need to query the PAS to obtain results at a later time. Results can be queried for a single test, or a batch of tests for a lab or patient. As COVID-19 and H5N1 are potentially life threatening to some patients, the service must be able to provide test results in a timely manner. Early treatment and effective isolation practices can significantly reduce the impacts of these diseases, as well as reducing strain on healthcare resources. Persistence is an important characteristic of the platform. Resubmitting analysis requests due to lost data would place unnecessary strain on pathology labs, at times when they may be under extreme pressure to deliver results. Upon receiving an analysis request, and after error checking, the PAS must guarantee that the data has been saved to persistent storage before returning a success response. 2 Interface As you are operating in a microservices context, other service providers have been given an API specifi- cation for your service. They have been developing their services based on this specification so you must match it exactly. The interface specification is available to all service owners online: https://csse6400.uqcloud.net/assessment/coughoverflow 3 Implementation The following constraints apply to the implementation of your assignment solution. 3.1 Analysis Engine You have been provided with a command line tool called overflowengine that must be used to analyse sample images. This tool was developed by AI and medical researchers at QDHeC. The tool has varying performance, due to how clear the pathogen markers are in the cell sample images. You will have to work around this bottleneck in the design and development of the PAS. Your service must utilise the overflowengine command line tool provided for this assignment. The compiled binaries are available in the tool’s GitHub repository: https://github.com/CSSE6400/CoughOverflow-Engine. Warning You are not allowed to reimplement or modify this tool. The analysis engine requires pre-processing of cell sample images to highlight pathogen markers. This pre-processing is done by the pathology labs. For testing purposes, you must use the sample images provided in the analysis engine’s repository. If you try to generate your own images, they are likely to fail analysis or give false results. 3.2 AWS Services Please make note of the AWS services that you can use in the AWS Learner Lab, and the limitations that are placed on the usage of these services. To view this page you need to be logged in to yourAWS Learner Lab environment and have a lab open. 3.3 External Services You may not use services or products from outside of theAWS Learner Lab environment. For example, you may not host instancesofthe overflowengine command line tool on another cloud platform (e.g. Google Cloud). You may not use services or products that run on AWS infrastructure external to your Learner Lab environment. For example, you may not deploy a third-party product like MongoDB Atlas on AWS and then use it from your service. You may not deploy machine learning or GPU backed services. 4 Submission This assignment has three submissions. 1. April 4th – API Functionality 2. April 17th – Deployed to Cloud 3. May 9th – Scalable Application All submissions are due at 15:00 on the specified date. Your solution for each submission must be com- mitted and pushed to the GitHub repository specified in Section 4.3. Each submission isto be in its own branch. You must use the branch names exactly as indicated below. Failure to use these branch names may result in your submission not being marked, and you obtaining a grade of 0 for the submission. • stage-1 for API Functionality, due on April 4th • stage-2 for Deployed to Cloud, due on April 17th • stage-3 for Scalable Application, due on May 9th When marking a stage, we will checkout the branch for that stage. Any code in the main branch or any other branch, will be ignored when marking. We will checkout the latest commit in the branch being marked. If the commit date and time is after the submission deadline, late penalties will be applied, unless you have an extension. Late penalties are described in the course profile. Note: Experience has shown that the large majority of students who make a late submission, lose more marks from the late penalty than they gain from any improvements they make to their solution. We strongly encourage you to submit your work on-time. You should commit and push your work to your repository regularly. If a misconduct case is raised about your submission, a history of regular progress on the assignment through a series of commits could support your argument that the work was your own. Extension requests must be made prior to the submission deadline via my.UQ. Your repository must contain everything required to successfully deploy your application. 4.1 API Functionality Submission Your first submission must include all of the following in your repository: • Docker image (Dockerfile) of your implementation of the service API, including the source code and a mechanism to build and run the service. • A local . sh script. that can be used to build and run your service locally. This script. must be in the root directory of your repository. The local . sh script must launch your container with port 8080 being passed from the container to the testing environment, and your service must be available at http://localhost:8080/. We will run a suite of tests against your API at this URL. 4.2 Deployed to Cloud & Scalability Submissions The second and third submissions must include all of the following in your repository: • Your implementation of the service API, including the source code and a mechanism to build the service. • Terraform. code that provisions your service in a fresh AWS environment. • A deploy . sh script. that uses your Terraform code to deploy your application. This script. must be in the root directory of your repository. This script may perform other tasks as required by your implementation. When deploying your second and third submissions to mark, we will follow reproducible steps, outlined below. You may re-create the process yourself. 1. Your Git repository will be cloned locally. The submission branch will be checked out. 2. AWS credentials will be copied into your repository in the root directory, in a file called credentials. 3. The script. deploy . sh in the root directory will be run. 4. The deploy. sh script. must create a file named api. txt, which contains the URL at which your API is deployed, e.g. http://my-api. com/ or http://123.231.213.012/. 5. We will run automated functionality and load-testing on the URL provided in the api . txt file. Important Note: Ensure your service does not exceed the resource limits of AWS Learner Labs. For exam- ple, AWS will deactivate your account if more than fifteen EC2 instances are running. If you use up your allocated budget in the Learner Lab, you will not be able to run any services. 4.3 GitHub Repository You will be provisioned with a private repository on GitHub for this assignment, via GitHub Classroom. You must click on the link below and associate your GitHub username with your UQ student ID in the Classroom. https://classroom.github.com/a/o7GwUHX6 Associating your GitHub username with another student’s ID, or getting someone else to associate their GitHub username with your student ID, is academic misconduct. If for some reason you have accidentally associated your GitHub username with the wrong student ID, contact the course staff as soon as possible.
Assignment 1 - Fire Prediction Due 23:59 Sunday 30th March 2025 You are required to make a prediction on the likely extent and intensity of a fire using your knowledge of different fire models and fire behaviour characteristics. Specifically, you will predict the progress of the Muskvale fire which occurred just south of Daylesford on 23 rd February 2009. Fire Specifics A fire started on the side of the road near Sailors Falls at about 1510 hrs and had spread to the extent shown in red on the map by 1600 hrs. The fire was burning in forest, not too dissimilar to the forests around Creswick. The weather over the course of the fire is given in the table below. Due to a prolonged dry season, the Keetch-Byram Drought Index was 120 and the last rainfall was 15 mm 3 weeks earlier. A wind change, due to the passage of a cold front, affected the fire area at 1800 hrs. Table 1. Weather observations at Muskvale during the fire. Use these weather observations for the manual predictions. Data for the computer predictions will be provided separately. Table 2. Fuel within forested areas Hazard Height Surface VH Near surface High 50 cm Elevated High 1.5 m Bark Extreme Table 3. Number, type and availability of suppression resources. Note that the resources available in later time periods are in addition to those available earlier. Resource availability 30-minutes 60-minutes 2 hours Aircraft - reconnaissance 0 1 2 Aircraft - firebomber (Eriksen) 0 1 4 D4 dozer 0 1 2 Tanker 4000 litre 1 3 6 Tanker 400 litre 2 8 15 Rakehoe crews 0 3 5 Tasks to complete Manual prediction 1) Draw on the map where you think the fire would be for each hour of the afternoon until 2100 hours, including the extent of the area affected by spotting. 2) What difference does it make whether you use the VESTA model or the McArthur Mk5 model? Explain why there are differences. Computer prediction 3) Using Phoenix and SPARK, model and map the progression of the fire as well as the extent of spotting. What were your assumptions in the simulation(s)? Note: Outputs for Phoenix will be provided as the program does not run on Mac computers. Comparison of methods 4) What were the main differences between the methods of prediction? Consider the manual Vs computer predictions, and Phoenix Vs Spark predictions. Why do you think these differences occurred? 5) What was the maximum fire intensity reached by this fire using the different methods of prediction? This could be summarised in a table. If differences occurred, what were they and why? Impact of the fire 6) There are a number of settlements in the area, namely Muskvale, Leonards Hill, Musk, Bullarto and Bullarto South. • Which of these settlements are likely to come under threat from this fire? • When are the threatened settlements likely to be affected? Consider using a table in your answer to show time of impact from spotting and the fire front. 7) A water reservoir and catchment (Wombat Creek Dam) is also in the general vicinity of the fire. This is the primary water supply for Daylesford, a town of 5,000 people and a significant tourist town. Trees in this catchment are 30-40 m tall. • Is the water catchment likely to be affected by this fire? • If so, how severely will it be burnt? Suppression 8) Given the predicted spread rate for the fire, the nature of the forest and the resources available as shown in Table 3, how would you go about suppressing this fire? • Briefly describe your suppression plan Prediction Uncertainty 9) What factors are the most critical to know precisely to be able to answer the above questions about the extent and timing of this fire? Give some examples of how different the answer might have been if you were uncertain about some factors.
