Changes in technology can cause changes in the productivity of a resource. Technological change can be economy-wide, industry-specific, or can occur within one firm's production process. Explain how a change in the productivity of a resource changes the demand for the resource. Give an example.

Ursus, inc., is considering a project that would have a five-year life and would require a $1,650,000 investment in equipment. at the end of five years, the project would terminate and the equipment would have no salvage value. the project would provide net operating income each year as follows (ignore income taxes.):

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.

Which of the following best explains why online retail companies have an advantage over regular stores? a. their employees make less money because they mostly perform unskilled tasks. b. they are able to keep distribution costs low by negotiating deals with shipping companies. c. their transactions require expensive state-of-the-art technological devices. d. they have a larger number of potential customers because people anywhere can buy from them.