You will complete 1 Comprehensive Problem. The problem is found in Appendix C of the textbook and is titled “Individual Tax Return Problem 3”. Your work must be submitted as a PDF file using the tax software of your choosing, provided it may be attached as a PDF file.

One such program is ProSeries by Intuit. You can find it at http://proseries.intuit.com/. Click “Try it Free” to get started. You can use the Professional or Basic product. Or, you may choose to prepare the return by hand. In order to do this, you’ll need to copy the necessary forms and schedules from the textbook, scan them, and upload them into Blackboard as a PDF file.

As you complete this assignment, pay special attention to accuracy and the potential impact of errors. Any impact of an error will be taken into account for future return calculations and will not necessarily effect the point deductions. Points are deducted based on the number of mistakes.

Two important notes:

1. You must submit the tax return as a PDF file

In this essay, you will be considering how the elements of Buddha’s Eightfold Path and the basic ideas Rahula gives us about Buddhism or the nature of Buddha’s teaching might be applied to the information in the documentary “Doing Time Doing Vipassana,” a documentary that explores an experiment in which vipassana meditation was taught in India’s Tihar prison.  The question to write on is:

Can it be argued that all eight parts of the Eightfold Path and some ideas from Rahula’s introductory chapter on Buddha/Buddhist ideas show up in one way or another in this documentary?  What, if anything should we learn from the experiment in Tihar?  Give reasons in support of your position.  Why might someone else reasonably disagree and how would you respond?  (50 pts.)

For the first part of this essay (35 pts.) you need to consider whether all eight parts of the Path show up in some way and I suggest the following method of proceeding (note that here I am talking about method; I am not outlining what you should include as I did in the question on Frankl):

• The first step would be to gain a basic understanding of what each aspect of the Path requires and how it affects dukkha for the individual and others.  (Personally, I would make a list or chart that I could refer to in watching the documentary.)   Review your notes on the first chapter of Rahula’s book so that those are fresh in your mind as well.
• Watch the documentary, noting specific things that seem relevant or important (also note the time at which they occur in the documentary so that you can go back and check on them later and/or cite them if needed).  After watching the whole thing, reflect some more.  For some parts of the Path, the application is obvious.  For others, you may need to think more creatively.
• It is important to watch the whole documentary.  Some of you might be tempted to quit halfway through thinking, “I have enough.”  If you do that, you will miss some important possibilities from the later part of the film.

For the second part of the essay (15 pts) which covers what, if anything, we should learn from the documentary as well as an objection and response, I recommend putting together your argument and letting it sit a day or two and then revisiting it.  (Actually I recommend doing this with the entire exam and anything you write for this class.)

• Does your essay clearly make the points you want it to make?  Does it need more explanation?
• Does it over-explain (i.e., does it spend too much time on relatively obvious points or talk so much about a couple points that there is no room for others)?

In this essay, the main bulk of the essay should be the first part.  I would expect the second part to be about one-fourth of the essay, perhaps a bit less.

As with the Frankl essay, give citations in the way described for the Trump essay.  The difference will be that to refer to a place in the documentary, just indicate in parentheses the time when it occurred.  So, (34:12) would indicate that whatever you were referring to occurred at 34 minutes and 12 seconds.

Instructions: 

The Excel file for this assignment contains a database with information about the tax assessment value assigned to medical office buildings in a city. The following is a list of the variables in the database:

• FloorArea: square feet of floor space
• Offices: number of offices in the building
• Entrances: number of customer entrances
• Age: age of the building (years)
• AssessedValue: tax assessment value (thousands of dollars)

Use the data to construct a model that predicts the tax assessment value assigned to medical office buildings with specific characteristics.

• Construct a scatter plot in Excel with FloorArea as the independent variable and AssessmentValue as the dependent variable. Insert the bivariate linear regression equation and r^2 in your graph. Do you observe a linear relationship between the 2 variables?
• Use Excel’s Analysis ToolPak to conduct a regression analysis of FloorArea and AssessmentValue. Is FloorArea a significant predictor of AssessmentValue?
• Construct a scatter plot in Excel with Age as the independent variable and AssessmentValue as the dependent variable. Insert the bivariate linear regression equation and r^2 in your graph. Do you observe a linear relationship between the 2 variables?
• Use Excel’s Analysis ToolPak to conduct a regression analysis of Age and Assessment Value. Is Age a significant predictor of AssessmentValue?

Construct a multiple regression model.

• Use Excel’s Analysis ToolPak to conduct a regression analysis with AssessmentValue as the dependent variable and FloorArea, Offices, Entrances, and Age as independent variables. What is the overall fit r^2? What is the adjusted r^2?
• Which predictors are considered significant if we work with α=0.05? Which predictors can be eliminated?
• What is the final model if we only use FloorArea and Offices as predictors?
• Suppose our final model is:
• AssessedValue = 115.9 + 0.26 x FloorArea + 78.34 x Offices
• What wouldbe the assessed value of a medical office building with a floor area of 3500 sq. ft., 2 offices, that was built 15 years ago? Is this assessed value consistent with what appears in the database?

There are a variety of ways that a cyber-attack can cause economic damage. In many cases, attackers try to “penetrate” systems in order to steal technology or other sensitive information. When do you think an attack can be classified as cyber terrorism?

A substantive post will do at least TWO of the following:

• Ask an interesting, thoughtful question pertaining to the topic
• Answer a question (in detail) posted by another student or the instructor
• Provide extensive additional information on the topic
• Explain, define, or analyze the topic in detail
• Share an applicable personal experience
• Make an argument concerning the topic.

At least one scholarly source should be used in the initial discussion thread. Be sure to use information from your readings and other sources from the UC Library. Use proper citations and references in your post.