A Risk Analysis of Ambrosia Furniture Company

The following analysis was created upon request from Ambrosia Furniture Company in an attempt to fully identify, analyze, and address exposure to risk. In order to evaluate and identify specific areas of risk, the report takes into consideration financial records, history of losses, and reviews company policies. These areas of risk were then further examined and analyzed to determine what actions and managerial techniques would best minimize their costs and effects. With these principles in mind, this report has further delineated these exposures into five primary groups. These groups were then correlated so as to allow for a more efficient evaluation of similar areas. When discussing direct property exposures, this report is referring to that property defined as personal property, improvements and betterments, aircraft, and watercraft, along with certain other categories. Replacement values for all exposures have been calculated and included in the analysis. These values and others are used in formulating the suggested course of action for Ambrosia Furniture Company. All recommendations are made with the expressed intent of minimizing loss due to risk, while certain others are intention but in reference to other related items. Indirect and consequential loss exposures include business interruption, contingent business interruption, and extra expenses incurred to avoid such interruptions, along with a number of various smaller exposures. The associated dollar value of loss for these exposures has been estimated; Excel sheets in the appendices are included to fully explain the calculations used in this report. Along with identifying these exposures, this report has moved on to suggest both means to reduce each exposure and what, if any, insurance mechanism might best be used to minimize costs. made with the same 9 Liability exposures were also examined; the primary exposures include, but are not limited to, employer liability, employer practices, products, and the liability arising from premises and operation. Again, these exposures were examined with a purpose of minimizing costs. With that goal in mind, appropriate recommendations on loss control, changes in company policy, and other similar risk management techniques have been provided. Included in this section is an in depth examination of available insurance policies that are designed to address the above exposures. Clarification as to which policies will and will not cover an exposure is provided in this section as well. The discussion is then rounded out with the benefits of umbrella liability insurance being examined. Personal risk exposures are those exposures that include employee benefits, worker compensation, and business continuation expenses. As part of the analysis of Ambrosia Furniture Company, past worker compensation claims have been fully analyzed and included in the appendices in an attempt to aid management in discerning important trends in the data. Also discussed is an analysis of employee benefits, along with appropriate recommendations as to implementing a new employee benefits plan. Further, suggestions have been made in an attempt to mitigate the costs associated with the loss of key personnel within Ambrosia Furniture Company. Crime exposures are the last to be examined in this report. To better understand the nature of these exposures, they have been split into two primary categories: employee dishonesty and then theft, robbery, and other loss exposures. Employee dishonesty is discussed first, along with what may be the appropriate level of coverage needed and what steps may be taken to reduce this exposure and its associated losses. Theft and other losses are then examined in a similar fashion. All calculations used in formulating the figures used in this section are included in the appendices. The following analysis was created upon request from Ambrosia Furniture Company in an attempt to fully identify, analyze, and address exposure to risk. In order to evaluate and identify specific areas of risk, the report takes into consideration financial records, history of losses, and reviews company policies. These areas of risk were then further examined and analyzed to determine what actions and managerial techniques would best minimize their costs and effects. With these principles in mind, this report has further delineated these exposures into five primary groups. These groups were then correlated so as to allow for a more efficient evaluation of similar areas. When discussing direct property exposures, this report is referring to that property defined as personal property, improvements and betterments, aircraft, and watercraft, along with certain other categories. Replacement values for all exposures have been calculated and included in the analysis. These values and others are used in formulating the suggested course of action for Ambrosia Furniture Company. All recommendations are made with the expressed intent of minimizing loss due to risk, while certain others are intention but in reference to other related items. Indirect and consequential loss exposures include business interruption, contingent business interruption, and extra expenses incurred to avoid such interruptions, along with a number of various smaller exposures. The associated dollar value of loss for these exposures has been estimated; Excel sheets in the appendices are included to fully explain the calculations used in this report. Along with identifying these exposures, this report has moved on to suggest both means to reduce each exposure and what, if any, insurance mechanism might best be used to minimize costs. made with the same 9 Liability exposures were also examined; the primary exposures include, but are not limited to, employer liability, employer practices, products, and the liability arising from premises and operation. Again, these exposures were examined with a purpose of minimizing costs. With that goal in mind, appropriate recommendations on loss control, changes in company policy, and other similar risk management techniques have been provided. Included in this section is an in depth examination of available insurance policies that are designed to address the above exposures. Clarification as to which policies will and will not cover an exposure is provided in this section as well. The discussion is then rounded out with the benefits of umbrella liability insurance being examined. Personal risk exposures are those exposures that include employee benefits, worker compensation, and business continuation expenses. As part of the analysis of Ambrosia Furniture Company, past worker compensation claims have been fully analyzed and included in the appendices in an attempt to aid management in discerning important trends in the data. Also discussed is an analysis of employee benefits, along with appropriate recommendations as to implementing a new employee benefits plan. Further, suggestions have been made in an attempt to mitigate the costs associated with the loss of key personnel within Ambrosia Furniture Company. Crime exposures are the last to be examined in this report. To better understand the nature of these exposures, they have been split into two primary categories: employee dishonesty and then theft, robbery, and other loss exposures. Employee dishonesty is discussed first, along with what may be the appropriate level of coverage needed and what steps may be taken to reduce this exposure and its associated losses. Theft and other losses are then examined in a similar fashion. All calculations used in formulating the figures used in this section are included in the appendices.

Advanced Computing Systems for Scientific Research

An advanced computing system was constructed at Bridgewater State University to provide students access to computing machines tailored to the purpose of computational scientific research. This paper provides an overview of the construction, design, capability, and future potential of the computing system. Project Reasoning During the course of projects utilizing a numerical weather prediction (NWP) model, it became evident that the desktop computing machines provided to students in computer labs were not capable of yielding results in a reasonable amount of time for non-standard applications. The standard configuration of computers in the Conant Science and Mathematics Center at Bridgewater State University is sufficient for the majority of student purposes; however, these standard computers become insufficient for more comprehensive applications. Because of this insufficiency, it became necessary to seek better performing computer systems to support research applications. Project Execution To increase the computational power of computing systems on campus, two distinct steps were taken. The first step was the upgrade of a standard desktop computer. This upgrade provided a single desktop machine with superior computing capability to the standard machines available to students. The second step was the construction of a Linux computer cluster from several networked previous generation machines

Supersolid phases of light in extended Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard systems

Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard lattices provide unique properties for the study of correlated phases as they exhibit convenient state preparation and measurement, as well as "in situ" tuning of parameters. We show how to realize charge density and supersolid phases in Jaynes-Cummings-Hubbard lattices in the presence of long-range interactions. The long-range interactions are realized by the consideration of Rydberg states in coupled atom-cavity systems and the introduction of additional capacitive couplings in quantum-electrodynamics circuits. We demonstrate the emergence of supersolid and checkerboard solid phases, for calculations which take into account nearest neighbour couplings, through a mean-field decoupling.Comment: 9 pages with 6 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review

Bloch-Redfield equations for modeling light-harvesting complexes

We challenge the misconception that Bloch-Redfield equations are a less powerful tool than phenomenological Lindblad equations for modeling exciton transport in photosynthetic complexes. This view predominantly originates from an indiscriminate use of the secular approximation. We provide a detailed description of how to model both coherent oscillations and several types of noise, giving explicit examples. All issues with non-positivity are overcome by a consistent straightforward physical noise model. Herein also lies the strength of the Bloch-Redfield approach because it facilitates the analysis of noise-effects by linking them back to physical parameters of the noise environment. This includes temporal and spatial correlations and the strength and type of interaction between the noise and the system of interest. Finally we analyze a prototypical dimer system as well as a 7-site Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex in regards to spatial correlation length of the noise, noise strength, temperature and their connection to the transfer time and transfer

FINANCIAL RESOURCES AS A STRATEGIC DRIVER ON PERFORMANCE OF AGENCY BANKING IN COMMERCIAL BANKS IN KENYA

The study sought to establish the influence of financial resources on the performance of agency banking in commercial banks in Kenya. The study reviewed previous studies done to support the research objectives from which the research gaps were extracted. The study used descriptive survey research design. The target population for this study was the 18 commercial banks in Kenya licensed by Central Bank of Kenya to operate agency banking. The branch managers, ICT managers, operations managers, human resource managers and customer relations managers were the key targets respondents in the study. Primary and secondary data was collected using questionnaires and checklist guide respectively. Inferential analysis was carried out to establish the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The study established that Financial Resources had a positive significant influence on the performance of agency banking among the commercial banks in Kenya. The financial resources availed to agency banking through shareholders’ fund, liquidity ratio and value of assets also positively influenced the performance of agency banking. The study concluded that financial resources were essential in steering the performance of agency banking thus recommending that the commercial banks through the management ought to uphold these strategic drivers in order to enhance the performance of agency banking

The Effects of Athletic Transitions on Identity and Psychiatric Symptomology in a Student-Athlete Sample

Transition periods in athletics can be potentially detrimental to the psychiatric health and identity of student-athletes in the college environment. Currently, minimal research is available that investigates the changes in psychiatric symptomology and identity during sports transitions such as following an injury, during the athletic off-season, and after retirement from collegiate sports. This study uses a cross-sectional survey to investigate the relationship between these transition periods and psychiatric symptomology in Division 1 NCAA athletes. The survey employed questions regarding depression, anxiety, and disordered eating symptomology in addition to athletic identity and was administered electronically to a sample of current and recently retired student-athletes across a number of sports and disciplines. Significant differences appeared in a number of psychiatric assessments between groups of athletes who differ in injury status (depression score, anxiety score, disordered eating global score, weight concern score, shape concern score), sport type (depression score), and sex (anxiety score, disordered eating global score, weight concern score, shape concern score). Additionally, each possible combination of the four variables of interest (depression score, anxiety score, athletic identity score, and disordered eating global score) were significantly positively correlated. Based on these results, we will be better prepared to understand and potentially mitigate the harmful psychiatric effects of athletic transition periods on collegiate athletes.Bachelor of Art

The application of prediction markets to business

Thesis (M. Eng. in Logistics)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Engineering Systems Division, 2004.Includes bibliographical references (p. 47-48).According to financial theory, open markets efficiently and effectively aggregate all available information about future events into their prices. Recent empirical evidence has shown that speculative markets, from gambling to web-games, are better at predicting the future than more commonly used statistical or survey-based forecasting methods. As a result, a number of companies have conducted experiments to evaluate the use of prediction markets as an alternative forecasting methodology. This paper offers a comprehensive framework for determining when and how prediction markets should be employed in a business context.by Jared M. Schrieber.M.Eng.in Logistic