Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for University

Government Favorability

Local > State > Federal. Government favorability has been on a decline since 2001.

Participation Correlation

• High Participation: Elections with high participation rates, a strong mayor form of government, and elections held concurrently with state and national elections.
• Large Cities: Culturally diverse cities.
• Controversial Topics: Low participation, the opposite of high participation.

Types of Local Governments

Numbers of Local Governments:

• The number of Special Districts has been on the rise.
• The number of School districts has decreased.
• The number of Municipalities, Townships, and Counties has stayed the same.

Functions of Local Governments

• Municipal: Woven throughout the others.
• County governments: Primarily for governing

Functions and Arguments

A function is a module of program code that takes input (arguments) and produces output (a return value).

• Arguments allow us to customize the operation performed by the function.
• The return value is often the result of executing the code.
• Calling a function causes the code in a function to execute. If called again, it will execute again.

To document a function, use a multi-line comment immediately after the def line.

Local Variables

Local variables are variables used inside functions.

• They are accessible/usable within that function only.
• This refers to the variable's scope.

Global Variables

Global variables are variables used outside of a function.

• Global variables' scope includes both inside and outside of functions.
• However, since

Industrial Conveyor Systems and Functions

Conveyors transport goods within operational units, such as production sites, warehouses, transshipment terminals, or airports. Beyond their primary task of conveying, these technologies facilitate distributing, sorting, collecting, buffering, and picking.

Classification of Conveyor Technologies

• Discontinuous conveyors: These produce an intermittent stream of goods and operate in individual working cycles.
• Continuous conveyors: These transport bulk or general cargo continuously.
• Floor-bound conveyors: These operate on the floor or on installations that are flush-mounted in the floor.
• Supported conveyors: These move above the floor on supports or supported rails.
• Suspended conveyors: These move along rails

Types of Inventory Costs

Ordering Costs (Setup Costs, Replenishment Costs): Expenses incurred every time an order is placed.

• Examples: Order processing fees, clerical costs for invoice processing, amortization of the EDI system.

Carrying Costs (Holding Costs): Costs associated with storing inventory.

• Examples: Storage space rental, insurance, utilities, and inventory management software.

Stock-out Costs (Shortage Costs): Expenses arising from inventory shortages.

• Examples: Lost sales, expedited shipping costs, and damage to customer relationships.

III. Inventory Cost: Ordering Costs

1. Order Processing Costs

• Fixed cost, independent of the order quantity.
• Includes fees for placing orders, clerical costs for invoice processing, and amortization of the

Invasive Species in the United States

Outbreak populations of invasive species in the United States cover a land and water area approximately the size of California, at over 100,000,000 acres!

The annual economic cost (including impact and control measures) to the United States is well over $120 billion/year.

Characteristics of Invasive Plant Species

Invasive plant species owe their success to one or more of the following characteristics:

• They tend to be generalists that tolerate a variety of different habitats.
• They grow rapidly and often produce abundant seeds.
• They lack natural enemies (competitors, predators, parasites) in their new ecosystem.

Profiles of Invasive Species

Mile-a-Minute Vine

One found in Fowl Meadow on trip: mile-a-minute vine.

Melaleuca

What is Soil?

Soil is a complex mixture of eroded rock, dead organic matter, and many kinds of living organisms.

Key Factors in Soil Formation

1. Parent material: Bedrock, till, and fluvial soil.
2. Climate: Temperature and precipitation levels.
3. Biotic factors: Plant roots breaking up parent material, decomposers, and bacteria adding nitrogen.
4. Topography: Slopes experience greater weathering and erosion (shallow soils), while level areas have deeper soils.
5. Time: All of the above processes require significant time.

Soil Particle Sizes and Permeability

The Ideal

Taylor Series

f(x+h) = f(x) + f'(x)h + f''(x)h² /2! + f'''(x)h³ /3! + ...

Secant Method (Find Root)

1. Rewrite as f(x)=0
2. Set initial points
3. f'(x₂) = (f(x₂) - f(x₁)) / (x₂-x₁)
4. New point becomes x₂
5. Iterate

LU Decomposition

A = LU

Crout's

Identity top

Doolittle

Identity bottom

1. Set up LU
2. Find components through matrix multiplication and solve for variables

Solving for b matrix

LUX=B

1. Set UX = Y
2. Solve LY = B using algebra
3. Solve UX = Y using algebra

Norm

Absolute value of the largest row sum

Condition

||A||_inf||A^-1||_inf

Gauss-Seidel

1. Set each equation to a variable
2. Use any initial values for the first equation
3. Use the x₁ from the first equation to solve x₂
4. Iterate (Fast version of Jacobi Method)

Discrete Least Squares Approximation

AX = B

1. Make matrix A by [ n ∑(x) ∑(x²) ...]
2. Make

Margaret Thatcher

was a British stateswoman who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to have been appointed.

Apartheid

(in the Republic of South Africa) a rigid former policy of segregating and economically and politically oppressing the nonwhite population. Any system or practice that separates people according to color, ethnicity, caste, etc.

Baby boomers

are the demographic cohort following the Silent Generation. There are no precise dates for when this cohort starts or ends; demographers and researchers typically use starting birth years ranging from the early-to-mid 1940s and... Continue reading "Key Events and Figures of the 20th Century" »

Working Capital

Working capital is equal to current assets minus current liabilities.

Liquidity Ratios

Current Ratio

The current ratio is equal to current assets divided by current liabilities.

Quick Ratio (Acid-Test)

The quick ratio (acid-test) is found by dividing the most liquid current assets (cash, marketable securities, and accounts receivable) by current liabilities.

Accounts Receivable Turnover

The accounts receivable turnover is found by dividing net credit sales (if not available, then total sales) by the average accounts receivable.

Average accounts receivable is typically found by adding the beginning accounts receivable to the ending accounts receivable and dividing by 2.

Average Collection Period

The average collection period is found by... Continue reading "Financial Ratio Analysis" »