The Cognitive and Emotional Reactions of Commercial Casualty Insurance Underwriters to the Use of Predictive Analytics

The rise of big data and predictive analytics continues to proliferate throughout many industries across the globe and the commercial insurance industry is no exception. One of the core operations of any insurance company is underwriting, where underwriters make important decisions about which risks the insurance company accepts (or rejects), at what price and what terms. These decisions have traditionally been made through a balance of human intuition, judgment and actuarial science but now, with the ability to capture large bodies of data and the application of sophisticated algorithms, insurance companies are developing new decision-making tools that may change the traditional underwriting process and methodology. This exploratory study examines the cognitive and emotional reactions of underwriters to these new tools. Although a limited amount of research exists dealing with human reactions to computer-based decision making, a near complete gap exists examining the interaction of commercial casualty underwriters and predictive analytics. A quantitative research methodology was used as the framework for an online survey was completed by 46 commercial casualty underwriters from various insurance companies. Purposeful sampling was used to select participants for the study and a simple statistical analysis was used to develop inferences about the population. The prominent finding showed that underwriters often acquiesced to the output produced by algorithmic based tools when they did not agree with the result. This in turn caused frustration and ambivalence toward the model. In addition, the majority of underwriters did not always agree with the model setting the stage for more frustration. Interestingly the data showed a notable split in how underwriters do their job now in the face of predictive analytics. The majority are still underwriting the same and considered predictive analytics as a complementary piece, rather than an exclusive one, signaling that underwriters still had meaningful influence in the decision making process while a sizable portion spent less time underwriting knowing the model would ultimately trump their decision

Англійська мова для студентів електромеханічних спеціальностей

Навчальний посібник розрахований на студентів напряму підготовки 6.050702 Електромеханіка. Містить уроки, що структуровані за тематичними розділами, граматичний коментар, короткі англо-український і українсько- англійський словники та додатки, які спрямовані на закріплення загальних навичок володіння англійською мовою. Акцентований на ɨсобливості термінології, що застосовується у науково-технічній галузі, зокрема, в електромеханіці та виконання запропонованих завдань, що буде сприяти формуванню навичок перекладу з англійської та української мов, сприйняттю письмової та усної англійської мови, вмінню письмового викладення англійською мовою науково-технічних та інших текстів під час професійної діяльності, спілкуванню з професійних та загальних питань тощо

MINERVA 2015

This issue of Minerva includes an interview with Honors alumnus and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Bernard Lown; a celebration of retiring Assistant Dean, Barbara Ouellette; and memorial articles celebrating the lives of notable Honors supporters, Betsy Leitch and Dennis Rezendes. Other highlights include a spread on Honors student travel and community engagement; and an article on Honors graduate, Jill Pelto, whose artwork graces the front and back covers of the 2015 Minerva

Research reports: 1985 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program

A compilation of 40 technical reports on research conducted by participants in the 1985 NASA/ASEE Summer Faculty Fellowship Program at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) is given. Weibull density functions, reliability analysis, directional solidification, space stations, jet stream, fracture mechanics, composite materials, orbital maneuvering vehicles, stellar winds and gamma ray bursts are among the topics discussed

Integration of Virtual Programming Lab in a process of teaching programming EduScrum based

Programming teaching is a key factor for technological evolution. The efficient way to learn to program is by programming and hard training and thus feedback is a crucial factor in the success and flow of the process. This work aims to analyse the potential use of VPL in the teaching process of programming in higher education. It also intends to verify whether, with VPL, it is possible to make students learning more effective and autonomous, with a reduction in the volume of assessment work by teachers. Experiments were carried out with the VPL, in the practical-laboratory classes of a curricular unit of initiation to programming in a higher education institution. The results supported by the responses to surveys, point to the validity of the model

The radical integration of science, religion, and poetry in the writings of Loren Eiseley and Richard Wilbur

In a postmodern world turning away from the rigid categories of the past and "the univocal literalism" (Tarnas) of the modern mind, Loren Eiseley and Richard Wilbur bridge the schism between religion and science. Their essays and poems reinvigorate the romantic reconciliation between the mind and nature, subject and object, because, like Goethe, Wilbur and Eiseley see the human mind as a product of nature and the agent of nature's self revelation

The development of the mathematical department of the Educational Times from 1847 to 1862.

Mathematics held an important place in the first twelve of years of the Educational Times (1847-1923), and in November 1848 a department of mathematical questions and solutions was launched. In 1864 this department was reprinted in a daughter journal: Mathematical Questions with Their solutions from The Educational Times (MQ). This thesis concentrates on the development of this department from its inception until 1862, when William John Clarke Miller became its editor; and is considered in terms of the editors, contributors and mathematics. To facilitate this research, a source-oriented database using K L E I O (kleio) software was constructed. It contains data taken from the questions and solutions and also miscellaneous items from the journal. Database analysis was used in conjunction with traditional, archival sources; for example, the respective, previously unknown correspondence of two of the main contributors, Thomas Turner Wilkinson and Miller. The development of the department fell into two main periods: the early 1850s when it was edited by Richard Wilson then James Wharton and had an educational bias; and the late 1850s when it was dominated by Miller and Stephen Watson who contributed moderately complex problems of a reasonably high standard on conic sections, probability and number theory. In 1850 Miller started contributing with a group of pupils and masters, including Robert Harley, from the Dissenters' College, Taunton. Another group of contributors which emerged was one of northern geometers, with whom Wilkinson was connected. He collaborated with Thomas Stephens Davies on geometry and this influenced his contributions to the department. Miller edited the department from 1862 to 1897 and MQ from 1863 to 1897 and made MO an international journal of renown for its original research. It contained contributions from some of the most eminent national and international mathematicians, including Cayley, Sylvester, Hirst and Clifford. The start of this new phase is briefly introduced and reviewed

A study of the boundaries of existence

This paper reflects the author's intense disquietude with the conventional attitudes concerning the vicissitudes of existence and wo/mankind's conduct in its facticity. Surveying the historical centrality of myths and relaying the creation myths from various cultures, the author muses over the power of myth and its archetypical importance to modern wo/man as the wellspring of existence. The problematic nature of wo/mankinds incessant need to know, to dominate and to control is explicated by a review of thoughts and writings of major philosophers and authors. This epistemic hunger manifested chiefly in the form of curosity is examined historically and existentially and its contribution to the progress of wo/mankind critically questioned. The present dilemma of human existence revealing itself in meaninglessness and purposelessness and resulting in wo/mans inhumanity to wo/man, extreme patriarchy, oppression, domination, subordination, competition and greed is lamented. The historical and present realization of absurdity and despair is presented through the thoughts and writings of existential philosophers