This is an opportunity to investigate the many ways that the concept of “slope” touches our daily lives.

Open the file called Grade Pitch and Slippery Slopes. Pick ONE of the questions that has not already been answered by a classmate. Click on Post New Thread and make the problem number and the topic (#1 Highway Grade) the subject of your post so that people can tell at a glance which problems have already been answered.

Give a full and complete answer to the question. I would like you to find out about the material and describe the answer in your own words. Most of these topics require some research. Don’t forget that you must give attribution to your source. Be sure to cut and paste the URL of the site from which you got the information. Sometimes other students decide that a topic is interesting and would like to learn more about it. Your source will provide them with a good starting point. This initial post is worth 6 points.

You must also give a substantive response to two classmate’s posts (worth 2 points each). You may ask questions to elicit a more in-depth explanation, add additional information to your own posting in response to questions, share additional knowledge on another posting or share an example from your own life related to the topic. Simply saying “Good post!” will not earn any points.

14)What was the motivation for the invention of the San Francisco cable cars?

250 words

Before starting on this assignment, make sure to thoroughly review the required background materials. Make sure you fully understand both the basic concepts as well as how to calculate payback period, NPV, IRR, and WACC. Submit your answers in a Word document. Make sure to show your work for all quantitative questions and fully explain your answers using references to the background readings for any conceptual questions. Questions 1 and 2 will require Excel. Attach an Excel file to show your computations for Questions 1 and 2.  

Case Assignment- CAPITAL BUDGETING AND THE COST OF CAPITAL

1. The table below gives the initial investment and expected cash flows over the next five years for two different projects. Assume that the industry you are in expects a return of 10%, which you use as the discount rate in net present value (NPV) calculations and as the required rate of return for purposes of deciding on projects. Also, assume that management only wants to invest in projects that pay off within four years.

For each project, compute the payback period, NPV, and internal rate of return (IRR). Then explain whether each project should be accepted based on these three criteria.

Project A

Project B

Initial Investment

$40,000

$28,000

Year

Cash Flows

1

$10,000

$10,000

2

$10,000

$13,000

3

$10,000

$5,000

4

$10,000

$5,000

5

$10,000

$6,000

1. Suppose you are planning on becoming a vendor at the arena where your favorite sports team plays. You are trying to decide between opening up a souvenir stand selling T-shirts, caps, etc., with your sports team’s logo or opening up a hot dog and beer stand. It is more expensive to open up the hot dog and beer stand because you need to purchase a license to serve alcohol and you need to spend money to comply with health department regulations. Revenue from the souvenir stand is likely to be unpredictable because fans of your favorite team tend to want to purchase hats and T-shirts only when the team is winning. Revenue from hot dogs and beer seem to be a little more steady since fans want to eat and drink regardless of whether the team is winning.

   Below is a table with the initial investment cost of each type of stand and the annual payments you expect over the next five years. The annual payments will be different depending on how well your team does. Therefore, you will estimate how much cash flow you will get depending on whether your team does better than expected (optimistic), the same as the past few years (most likely), and worse than expected (pessimistic). Use a discount rate of 8%.

Based on the table below, answer the following items:

1. Calculate the net present value (NPV) for each type of stand under each of the three scenarios. Calculate the range of possible NPV values for each type of stand.
2. Based on your answer to A) above and your own guesses about how well you think your favorite team will do over the next five years, which type of stand would you rather invest in?

Souvenir Stand

Hot Dog and Beer Stand

Initial Investment

$100,000

$150,000

Annual Cash Inflows (5 Years)

Outcome

 Pessimistic

$30,000

$50,000

 Most likely

$50,000

$60,000

 Optimistic

$70,000

$70,000

1. Suppose you are a corn farmer in your home state. You have to decide between two projects. One project is to purchase new equipment for your farm that will help boost your profits for the next 10 years. You also find out that you can purchase a large banana farm in Brazil for the same price as the equipment, and at the current market price for bananas you will make a lot more profit than you would from purchasing new corn farming equipment.

   After asking around, you find out that the standard discount rate for evaluating the NPV of the farming project is 6%. Most farmers in your home state seem to use this rate successfully. However, you don’t know any other banana farmers and you don’t know too much about farming in Brazil, so you have to make a guess on an appropriate discount rate for the Brazilian banana farm. Based on the concepts from the background readings, would you say the Brazilian banana farm will need a lower or higher discount rate? A lot larger or smaller, or only a little?

2. Calculate the following:
   1. The cost of equity if the risk-free rate is 2%, the market risk premium is 8%, and the beta for the company is 1.3.
   2. The cost of equity if the company paid a dividend of $2 last year and is expected to grow at a constant rate of 7%. The stock price is currently $40.
   3. The weighted average cost of capital (WACC) if the company has a total value of $1 million with a market value of its debt at $600,000 and a market value of its equity at $400,000. Its cost of debt is 6% and its cost of equity is 15%. The tax rate it pays is 25%.
3. Suppose you own a chain of dry cleaners and the WACC you’ve been using to make decisions on new purchases of dry cleaning equipment is a steady 9%. Recently, gambling has been made legal in your home town so you decide to expand and open up a casino. Should you use the same WACC to evaluate purchases of casino equipment? Why or why not? What are some alternatives to using the same WACC to make decisions on casino equipment? Explain your reasoning, and make references to concepts from the background readings.  

Assignment Expectations

• Answer the assignment questions directly.
• Stay focused on the precise assignment questions. Do not go off on tangents or devote a lot of space to summarizing general background materials.
• For computational problems, make sure to show your work and explain your steps.

 Step 1:

Practice Final Exam

To help you prepare for the Week 5 – Final, there is a practice final exam, the Week 5 – Practice Final, within MyStatLab. The advantage of completing a practice final is that questions are similar to those on the final, and all the help features are included. You will be able to view a similar solved example or check out the most applicable textbook pages as you learn on the Week 5 – Practice Final. You are required to take the Week 5 – Practice Final, but you don’t need to ace it. A score of 30% or better is required to move forward to take the graded final.

This preparation is important since you can only take the final one time. You must answer the questions in order and you may not return to a question after you have worked on it, so be sure to complete the question before clicking NEXT or SAVE FOR LATER. The final is timed; you need not complete it in a single sitting as the “Save for Later” option is enabled. It may be less stressful to complete half of the final, save the final and complete the rest later. Note: When you return to complete the final, you cannot revise answers on any questions previously viewed or answered.

To access the practice final exam, click on the following link:

• Week 5 – Practice Final Exam

Step 2:

Final Exam

This final exam must be completed on the MyStatLab system by the deadline. The exam contains 20 multiple choice and short answer questions. You have four hours to complete the exam and just one attempt. Other than StatCrunch, help is not included on the final exam.

Topics covered in the final exam include

• the empirical rule (68-95-99.7 rule),
• reading and interpreting normal distributions,
• applying the central limit theorem,
• determining whether variables are correlated,
• finding the correlation coefficient, r,
• constructing scatterplots,
• finding best fit lines,
• finding and interpreting confidence intervals, and
• determining if a normal distribution is present when given real life variables

Respond  to your  colleagues by comparing the differential diagnostic features of the  disorder you were assigned to the diagnostic features of the disorder  your colleagues were assigned.   

NOTE: Positive comment (bellow is attached the sleep disorder assigned to me)

                                                                Main Post

Substance /Medication Induced Sexual Dysfunction (SMISD)

            The purpose of this discussion is to  explain the diagnostic criteria for SMISD, and evidence-based  psychotherapy and psychopharmacological

treatment for SMISD. I will be supporting these  treatments and diagnostic criteria with learning course resources and  other academic resources. The

diagnosis of SMISD is when there is evidence of  substance intoxication or withdrawal that is apparent from the history  physical examination or laboratory

results. The sexual dysfunction SMISD occurs soon  after significant substance intoxication or withdrawal, or after  exposure to a medication or a change in

medication use. Some examples of substances and  medications that cause SMISD are alcohol amphetamines or related  substances, cocaine, opioids,

sedatives-hypnotics, anxiolytics, and other known or  unknown substances (Sadock et al., 2014). Almost every pharmacological  agent, especially those in the

psychiatry field have been associated with an effect  on sexuality. In men these effects include low sex drive, erectile  failure, low volume of ejaculate, and

delayed or retrograde ejaculation. In women there is  decreased sex drive, decreased vaginal lubrication, inhibited, or  delayed orgasm and decreased or

absent vaginal contractions may occur. Drugs may also  enhance the sexual responses and increase the sex drive, but this is  less common than adverse

effects (Sadock et al., 2014).

Diagnostic criteria 

            The diagnostic criteria for SMISD requires  that a significant disturbance in sexual function is predominant in the  clinical picture. There SMISD must be

evident from the history, physical examination, or  laboratory findings of a significant sexual dysfunction during or soon  after substance intoxication or

withdrawal or after exposure to her medication. The  involved medication can produce sexual dysfunction symptoms. In  addition, the dysfunction must not

be a result of another dysfunction that is not drug-  induced must not occur during delirium and must cause clinically  significant distress in the client

(Association, 2015).

Psychopharmacology and Psychotherapy for SMISD 

            SMISD can be treated by pharmacologic or  psychotherapy or both. Some classes of medication that can cause sexual  dysfunction antipsychotics. The

prevalence of low libido and problems with orgasm in  patients treated with antipsychotics regardless of sex is 54.2% and  41.7% respectively. A widely

accepted mechanism underlying antipsychotic associated  sexual dysfunction is dopamine D2 receptor antagonism. This causes high  prolactin levels, which

can subsequently lead to a variety of sexual problems  including erectile dysfunction, ejaculatory disturbances and  gynecomastia in men, amenorrhea, and

vaginal dryness in woman. Also, low libido,  anorgasmia, and galactorrhea in both sexes. Some other medications that  cause sexual dysfunction are

antipsychotics, antiparkinsonian drugs,  anticholinergics, antiepileptics, muscle relaxants, cannabis, opioids  and anti-anxiety drugs (Downing et al., 2019).

Psychopharmacological treatments: 

1. Dose reduction or abstinence  
2. Switching to a prolactin sparing antipsychotic example Aripiprazole, Olanzapine and Quetiapine 
3. Augmenting with Aripiprazole. 
4. Adding Phosphodiesterase inhibitors specifically to treat Ed, PDE-5 inhibitors like Sildenafil can be used. 
5.  Androgen therapy for male and female. 
6. Bupropion and some second-generation antipsychotics. 
7. Testosterone replacement and low  hepatic impact medications, H1 receptor antagonism with allergic  antihistamine use improves ED. 
8. Alprostadil and injectable medications Edex, MUSE and Brevital. 
9. Anti-depressants can be used for treating phobic sex. 
10. Trazodone can be used to increase nocturnal erections (Razdan et al., 2017). 

Psychotherapy 

1. Dual-sex therapy 
2. Hypnotherapy 
3. Behavior therapy 
4.  Mindfulness in cognitive technique 
5. Group therapy 
6. Specific techniques and exercises 
7. Analytically oriented sex therapy (Sadock et al., 2014) 

Conclusion

            Clinicians need to be more vigilant about  antipsychotic- associated sexual dysfunction and available treatment  options, because these adverse effects

can affect a patient’s quality of life and adherence  to anti-psychotic medication (Downing et al., 2019). Maintaining good  sexual health and function is

especially important in these patients to help improve  their mood, quality of life and medication compliance. The specific  aspect of sexual function that is

affected by psychiatric drugs is often ambiguous when  described in current literature. Broad questionnaires like the Arizona  Sexual Experience Scale can be

used to evaluate many components of sexual health (Razdan et al., 2017).

References

            Association, A. P. (2015). Dsm-5® (5th ed.). American Psychiatric Association.

            Downing, L., Kim, D. D., Procyshyn, R. M., & Tibbo, P. (2019). Management of sexual adverse

                          effects induced by atypical antipsychotic medication. Journal of Psychiatry and 

                          Neuroscience, 44(4), 287–288. https://doi.org/10.1503/jpn.190053

           Razdan, S., Greer, A. B., Patel, A., Alameddine, M., Jue, J. S., & Ramasamy, R. (2017). Effect

                          of prescription medications on erectile dysfunction. Postgraduate Medical Journal,

                         94(1109), 171–178. https://doi.org/10.1136/postgradmedj-2017-135233

            Sadock, B. J., Sadock, V. A., & Pedro, R. M. (2014). Kaplan and sadock’s synopsis of 

                          psychiatry: Behavioral sciences/clinical psychiatry (11th ed.). Lww.