Risk Management in Insurance Companies

Insurance is the uncertain business in uncertain society. Today, insures face more complex and difficult risks. Efficient risk management mechanisms are essential for the insurers. The paper is set out initially to explore UK insurance companies risk management and risk disclosure by examining companies annual report after all the listed insurance companies are required to disclose risk information in their annual report, which seeks to reflect the recent development in UK insurance companies practices on risk management and risk disclosure. In particular, the author sought to understand: companies compliance with IFRS 4 on the requirement of risk disclosure; the rationale of companies risk management practice; the development of risk management in terms of risk management function improvement and risk management process development; and how all these issues are influenced by a companys nature. The main findings are regulators requirements could have a significant effect, and companies risk management and risk disclosure subject to their nature

The uncertainty analysis of the MODIS GPP product in global maize croplands

Gross primary productivity (GPP) is very important in the global carbon cycle. Currently, the newly released estimates of 8-day GPP at 500 m spatial resolution (Collection 6) are provided by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Land Science Team for the global land surface via the improved light use efficiency (LUE) model. However, few studies have evaluated its performance. In this study, the MODIS GPP products (GPPMOD) were compared with the observed GPP (GPPEC) values from site-level eddy covariance measurements over seven maize flux sites in different areas around the world. The results indicate that the annual GPPMOD was underestimated by 6%‒58% across sites. Nevertheless, after incorporating the parameters of the calibrated LUE, the measurements of meteorological variables and the reconstructed Fractional Photosynthetic Active Radiation (FPAR) into the GPPMOD algorithm in steps, the accuracies of GPPMOD estimates were improved greatly, albeit to varying degrees. The differences between the GPPMOD and the GPPEC were primarily due to the magnitude of LUE and FPAR. The underestimate of maize cropland LUE was a widespread problem which exerted the largest impact on the GPPMOD algorithm. In American and European sites, the performance of the FPAR exhibited distinct differences in capturing vegetation GPP during the growing season due to the canopy heterogeneity. In addition, at the DE-Kli site, the GPPMOD abruptly produced extreme low values during the growing season because of the contaminated FPAR from a continuous rainy season. After correcting the noise of the FPAR, the accuracy of the GPPMOD was improved by approximately 14%. Therefore, it is crucial to further improve the accuracy of global GPPMOD, especially for the maize crop ecosystem, to maintain food security and better understand global carbon cycle

Trifolirhizin relieves renal injury in a diabetic nephropathy model by inducing autophagy and inhibiting oxidative stress through the regulation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of trifolirhizin on diabetic nephropathy (DN), and the mechanism of action. Methods: Male db/db mice (8 weeks, n = 24) and age-matched control mice (n = 6) were obtained. The mice were further divided into four groups and administered increasing doses of trifolirhizin (0, 12.5, 25 and 50 mg/kg). Histological analysis of renal tissues were performed by H & E staining. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and creatinine were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Immunoblot and TUNEL assay were performed to investigate the effect of trifolirhizin on autophagy and apoptosis, while ELISA and dihydroethidium (DHE) staining were conducted to evaluate reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels. The effect of trifolirhizin on PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway was determined using Immunoblot assays. Results: Trifolirhizin alleviated renal injury in diabetic mice, and also activate autophagy and inhibited apoptosis in the renal tissues in diabetic mice (p < 0.001). In addition, trifolirhizin inhibited the oxidative stress response in the renal tissue in diabetic mice (p < 0.001). Trifolirhizin further inhibited PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and therefore relieved renal injury in the diabetic nephropathy model (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Trifolirhizin alleviates renal injury in diabetic mice, activates autophagy, and inhibits apoptosis in renal tissue of diabetic mice. Therefore, trifolirhizin is a promising a promising drug for the treatment of DN

A study of instability in a miniature flying-wing aircraft in high-speed taxi

AbstractThis study investigates an instability that was observed during high-speed taxi tests of an experimental flying-wing aircraft. In order to resolve the reason of instability and probable solution of it, the instability was reproduced in simulations. An analysis revealed the unique stability characteristics of this aircraft. This aircraft has a rigid connection between the nose wheel steering mechanism and an electric servo, which is different from aircraft with a conventional tricycle landing gear system. The analysis based on simulation results suggests that there are two reasons for the instability. The first reason is a reversal of the lateral velocity of the nose wheel. The second reason is that the moment about the center of gravity created by the lateral friction force from the nose wheel is larger than that from the lateral friction force from the main wheels. These problems were corrected by changing the ground pitch angle. Simulations show that reducing the ground pitch angle can eliminate the instability in high-speed taxi

Cloning and analysis of plant fatty acid desaturase 7 gene promoter from Brassica napus

In order to investigate the regulation mode of Brassica napus FAD7 gene in response of thermal stress, we measured the protein levels of BnFAD7 in plant at low and high temperature, and then analyzed promoter activity of 5’-flanking regions of BnFAD7 by transient gene expression in B. napus protoplasts at different temperatures. Our studies indicated that no significant change occurred in the expression level of BnFAD7 both at high and low temperature, while BnFAD7 promoter showed a heat-induced regulation mode and slowly increased activity at the chilling conditions, which suggested there are heat-induced cis-action element lies in BnFAD7 promoter sequence. Our data also suggested that a post-transcription regulation pattern existed to ensure BnFAD7 function in the acclimation to temperature stress. Furthermore, our studies give new evidence for the hypothesis that BnFAD7 and BnFAD8 gene may come from the same ancestor gene.Keywords: Brassica napus, fatty acids desaturase, promoter analysis, transient expression, BnFAD

Parametric Sensitivity Analysis for Importance Measure on Failure Probability and Its Efficient Kriging Solution

The moment-independent importance measure (IM) on the failure probability is important in system reliability engineering, and it is always influenced by the distribution parameters of inputs. For the purpose of identifying the influential distribution parameters, the parametric sensitivity of IM on the failure probability based on local and global sensitivity analysis technology is proposed. Then the definitions of the parametric sensitivities of IM on the failure probability are given, and their computational formulae are derived. The parametric sensitivity finds out how the IM can be changed by varying the distribution parameters, which provides an important reference to improve or modify the reliability properties. When the sensitivity indicator is larger, the basic distribution parameter becomes more important to the IM. Meanwhile, for the issue that the computational effort of the IM and its parametric sensitivity is usually too expensive, an active learning Kriging (ALK) solution is established in this study. Two numerical examples and two engineering examples are examined to demonstrate the significance of the proposed parametric sensitivity index, as well as the efficiency and precision of the calculation method

Over-expression of Arabidopsis DnaJ (Hsp40) contributes to NaCl-stress tolerance

DnaJ (Hsp40), a heat shock protein, is a molecular chaperones responsive to various environmental stress. To analyze the protective role of DnaJ, we obtained sense transgenic Arabidopsis plants that constitutively expressed elevated levels of DnaJ. In this study, sense transgenic plants show large thinner, fade color and malformed leaves, as well as less floss of back leaves. Plants with enhanced levels of DnaJ in their transgenic sense lines exhibited tolerance to NaCl stress. Under 120 mM NaCl, root length was higher in transgenic sense plants than wild-type plants. In vitro expression system, DnaJ protein shows tolerance to high NaCl. These results suggest that over-expression of DnaJ can confer NaCl-stress tolerance

Green technology innovation and carbon emissions nexus in China: Does industrial structure upgrading matter?

Compared with traditional technological innovation modes, green technology innovation is more targeted for low carbon development and critical support for countries worldwide to combat climate change. The impact of green technology innovation on carbon emissions is considered in terms of fixed effect and mediating effect models through industrial structure upgrading. For this purpose, the sample dataset of 30 provincial administrative areas in China from 2008 to 2020 is employed. The results demonstrate that green technology innovation exerts significantly inhibitory effects on carbon emissions, whose conclusion still holds after removing municipalities and replacing the dependent variable. Industrial structure upgrading is vital for green technology innovation to diminish carbon emissions. There is significant regional heterogeneity in the effects of green technology innovation on carbon emissions, i.e., the direct and indirect impact of green technology innovation on carbon emission reduction is significant in the eastern-central area, but its effect is insignificant in the western region. Therefore, it is essential to realize carbon emission reduction by further bolstering green technology innovation and accelerating industrial structure upgrading to fulfill the synergy of technology and structure

Quantum frequency conversion and single-photon detection with lithium niobate nanophotonic chips

In the past few years, the lithium niobate on insulator (LNOI) platform has revolutionized lithium niobate materials, and a series of quantum photonic chips based on LNOI have shown unprecedented performances. Quantum frequency conversion (QFC) photonic chips, which enable quantum state preservation during frequency tuning, are crucial in quantum technology. In this work, we demonstrate a low-noise QFC process on an LNOI nanophotonic platform designed to connect telecom and near-visible bands with sum-frequency generation by long-wavelength pumping. An internal conversion efficiency of 73% and an on-chip noise count rate of 900 counts per second (cps) are achieved. Moreover, the on-chip preservation of quantum statistical properties is verified, showing that the QFC chip is promising for extensive applications of LNOI integrated circuits in quantum information. Based on the QFC chip, we construct an upconversion single-photon detector with the sum-frequency output spectrally filtered and detected by a silicon single-photon avalanche photodiode, demonstrating the feasibility of an upconversion single-photon detector on-chip with a detection efficiency of 8.7% and a noise count rate of 300 cps. The realization of a low-noise QFC device paves the way for practical chip-scale QFC-based quantum systems in heterogeneous configurations.Comment: 8pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl