Causal forecasting obtains a forecast for a dependent variable by relating it directly to one or more independent variables. a. True
b. False

Computing equivalent units is especially important for: (a) goods that take a relatively short time to produce, such as plastic bottles. (b) goods with sustainability implications in their production processes. (c) goods that are started and completed during the same period. (d) goods that take a long time to produce, such as airplanes.

Imagine us is a startup that offers high definition 3d prenatal ultrasounds for high-end customers. the service process includes four activities that are conducted in the sequence described below. (the time required for each activity is shown in parentheses): activity 1: welcome a patient and explain the procedure. (20 minutes)activity 2: prep the patient (e. g., show them to the room, apply ultrasound gel). (17 minutes) (*your id number represents the amount of time needed to complete this task)activity 3: take images. (5 minutes)activity 4: discuss diagnostic with patient. (20 minutes)at each location there are employees (servers) s1, s2, and s3. the assignment of tasks to servers is the following: s1 does activities 1 and 2.s2 does activity 3.s3 does activity 4.a. what is the capacity of this process (in customers per hour)? b. suppose 3 patients arrive every hour on average. ignoring any “start of day” or “end of day” effects, what are the utilizations of all three servers (%)? c. suppose each activity can be done by any server and any server can do any set of activities. however, each activity is done by only one server. for example, a possible assignment includes: s1 does activity 1, s2 does activity 2, and s3 does activities 3 and 4. of course, the original assignment of servers to activities is also feasible. what is the maximum capacity of the process (in customers per hour)? d. now consider the capacity measures in (c) and (a), what is the percentage change? why can you improve capacity without using additional resources? (there is no free lunch, right? )note: for all hw assignments, show your process of getting the results. only providing the final answers is not acceptable and will get 0%. if necessary, use a separate sheet of paper to show your work.

Our uncle has $300,000 invested at 7.5%, and he now wants to retire. he wants to withdraw $35,000 at the end of each year, starting at the end of this year. he also wants to have $25,000 left to give you when he ceases to withdraw funds from the account. for how many years can he make the $35,000 withdrawals and still have $25,000 left in the end? a. 14.21b. 14.96c. 15.71d. 16.49e. 17.32