A Case Study of Strategic Planning for Perdana Cigna Insurance Berhad

The after effects of Asian Currency Crisis were still lingering in the economies of South East Asia countries. The crisis begun in July 1997, however, the general insurance industry took the brunt of the economic downturn in 1998. The 1997 financial result for general insurance companies shown good return and potential growth in gross and net written premium, and profit for the next financial year. Most general insurance companies including Perdana CIGNA Insurance Berhad h ad targeted major growth in 1998. The uncertain economic conditions dashed the company's hopes of producing the desired results. The general insurance market or premium size had shrunk considerable, especially, in motor insurance, as there are less new cars and devaluation of second hand car value. Other general insurance lines like fire was also affected as the value of properties were reduced, along with the fire insurance premium. The general insurance companies competed among each other to achieve growth and profitable, thus, reduction of premium occurred as too many insurers were fighting for business. Perdana CIGNA Insurance Berhad had a small portfolio of motor insurance, therefore, massive drop of turnover or net written premium did not occurred. However, losses i n claims were high and desirable growth was not achieved in 1998. Despite of the economic downturn, companies must reorganized and planned to take on new challenges or fight for survival as the most cost efficient and innovative company would be able to weather out the bad economic conditions

Planning by contract through developemnt planning

Thesis (B.Sc)--University of Hong Kong, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 126-129) and index.published_or_final_versio

A geochemical and petrological study of volcanic rocks in the Beardmore-Geraldton Archaean Greenstone Belt, Northwestern Ontario

Three repetitive sequences of northward youngIng, east striking, linear, volcano-sedimentary units are found in the late Archaean BeardmoreGeraldton greenstone belt, situated within the Wabigoon subprovince of the Superior Province of northwestern Ontario. The volcanic components are characterised by basaltic flows that are pillowed at the top and underlain by variably deformed massive flows which may In part be intrusive. Petrographic examination of the volcanic units indicates regional metamorphism up to greenschist facies (T=3250 C - 4500 C, P=2kbars) overprinted by a lower amphibolite facies thermal event (T=5750 C, P=2kbars) confined to the south-eastern portion of the belt. Chemical element results suggest olivine, plagioclase and pyroxene are the main fractionating mineral phases. Mobility studies on the varIOUS chemical elements indicate that K, Ca, Na and Sr are relatively mobile, while P, Zr, Ti, Fet (total iron = Fe203) and Mg are relatively immobile. Discriminant diagrams employing immobile element suggests that the majority of the samples are of oceanic affinity with a minor proportion displaying an island arc affinity. Such a transitional tectonic setting IS also refle.cted in REE data where two groups of volcanic samples are recognised. Oceanic tholeiites are LREE depleted with [La/Sm] N = 0.65 and a relatively flat HREE profile with [Sm/Yb] N = 1.2. Island arc type basalts (calc-alkaline) are LREE enriched, with a [La/Sm] N = 1.6, and a relatively higher fractionated HREE profile with [Sm/Yb] N = 1.9. Petrogenetic modelling performed on oceanIC tholeiites suggests derivation from a depleted spinel lherzolite source which undergoes 20% partial melting. Island arc type basalts can be derived by 10% partial melting of a hypothetical amphibolitised oceanic tholeiite source. The majority of the volcanic rocks in the Beardmore-Geraldton Belt are interpreted to represent fragments of oceanic crust trapped at a consuming plate margin. Subsequent post accretionary intrusion of gabbroic rocks (sensu lato) with calc-alkaline affinity is considered to result in the apparent hybrid tectonic setting recognized for the BGB

Simulation Training on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation

Conventional extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) training usually only consists of didactic lectures and water drill of ECMO circuit. However, learners cannot “experience” changes of clinical condition of patients. Simulation-based learning is a perfect answer to this by providing participantsauthentic, interactive, team-based training without risk to real patients. Hospital Authority (HA) of Hong Kong has implemented a corporatewide ECMO simulation-based training program since 2014. It aims to provide a structural and standardized training opportunity for clinical staff members to gain hands-on experience in ECMO circuit management and troubleshooting technique. In the program, participants will go through three categories of scenarios: (1) replicate common real patient clinical experience; (2) replicate incident that only happens infrequently; and (3) imitate clinical situation that is rarely happened but life threatening, and where prompt and correct actions are necessary. Every scenario has its own debriefing session that covers technical and human factor issues.Since 2014, 32 identical full-day courses were conducted and 285 doctors and nurses were trained. All participants were satisfied with the training and expressed that the simulation was an effective model for ECMO training. The training met their need and they could apply what they learned in real-life practice

Amotivation as a Predictor of Academic Achievement: A Comparative Study of Science and Art Students' GPA

Intrinsic motivation is characterized by engaging in activities for their inherent satisfaction, whereas amotivation is marked by a lack of intention to act, stemming from beliefs of ineffectiveness or disinterest in the activity. Prior research has established a positive correlation between intrinsic motivation and academic performance among science students; however, its applicability to arts students remains unexplored. The present study aims to examine the hypothesis that motivation, in its various forms, correlates with the Grade Point Average (GPA) among both science and arts undergraduates. A convenience sampling strategy yielded 230 science students (GPA range: 1.8 – 3.89) and 284 arts students (GPA range: 1.5 – 3.84), who participated in a structured questionnaire interview. This instrument assessed intrinsic motivation, amotivation, and study effort using a 5-point Likert scale (ranging from 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). Average scores were computed and contrasted between the bottom and top quintiles of GPA within each discipline. The findings revealed a universally high level of study effort across participants. Notably, students within the top 20% GPA bracket reported significantly greater academic effort than their lower 20% counterparts. A distinct pattern of significant amotivation was observed among science students with lower GPAs. Conversely, arts students with lower GPAs exhibited high levels of intrinsic motivation, akin to those observed in students with higher GPAs

Multi-objective Optimization of Wind Farm Layouts Under Energy Generation and Noise propagation

Wind farm design deals with the optimal placement of turbines in a wind farm. Past studies have focused on energymaximization, cost-minimization or revenue-maximization objectives. As land is more extensively exploited for onshore wind farms, wind farms are more likely to be in close proximity with human dwellings. Therefore governments, developers, and landowners have to be aware of wind farms’ environmental impacts. After considering land constraints due to environmental features, noise generation remains the main environmental/health concern for wind farm design. Therefore, noise generation is sometimes included in optimization models as a constraint. Here we present continuous-location models for layout optimization that take noise and energy as objective functions, in order to fully characterize the design and performance spaces of the optimal wind farm layout problem. Based on Jensen’s wake model and ISO-9613-2 noise calculations, we used single- and multiobjective genetic algorithms (NSGA-II) to solve the optimization problem. Preliminary results from the biobjective optimization model illustrate the trade-off between energy generation and noise production by identifying several key parts of Pareto frontiers. In addition, comparison of single-objective noise and energy optimization models show that the turbine layouts and the inter-turbine distance distributions are different when considering these objectives individually. The relevance of these results for wind farm layout designers is explored

Influences of Elevated Thermal Decomposition of Ammonia Gas on Indium Nitride Grown by Sol-Gel Spin Coating Method

Indium nitride (lnN) with unique properties such as small energy band gap of 0.7 eV, high electron affinity and carrier density, is a potential semiconductor material in the applications of optical and electronic devices [I , 2] . Despite, the suitable growth conditions of InN are very stringent due to its low dissociation temperature and volatility of atomic nitrogen [3] . In this study, InN thin films grown on aluminium nitride (AIN) on p-type silicon(! II) [AIN/p-type Si(lll)] substrates are prepared via sol-gel spin coating method followed by nitridation process. Sol-gel spin coating is a low cost, fast processing and dilute solution based deposition method to produce thin and uniform film on substrate. The spin-coater is programmed to operate in a two-step spin profile; the first spinning speed is slower than the second. In subsequent, two three-zone tube furnaces connected in parallel manner are used for nitriding process; the passage of ammonia gas (NH3) into the first furnace is decomposed to produce reactive nitrogen radicals and brought into the second furnace for crystallization oflnN at 600°C. The effects of thermal decomposition of NH3 gas on structural properties and surface morphologies of the depos ited films are explored. X-ray diffraction results reveal that the crystalline quality of InN degrades markedly with increasing thermal decomposition ofNH3 gas from 700 to 850 °C; in which, the association of indium oxide in the deposited film is detected. In the meantime, thermal etching effect and formation of indium droplet on the film can be observed at 850 oc; the findings are aligned with the cross-sectional analysis obtained by energy dispersive spectroscopy attached field-emission scanning electron microscopy, where the film thickness is found to be reduced tremendously. This phenomenon is mainly due to the increase of hydrogen partial pressure at elevated thermal decomposition of N H3 gas. On the other hand, the film surface with densely packed InN grains and film thickness of approximately to 620 nm is obtained at 700 oc. The results deduce that this temperature is in favor for the growth of InN thin films

The use of tibial Less Invasive Stabilization System (LISS) plate [AO-ASIF] for the treatment of paediatric supracondylar fracture of femur: a case report

Paediatric supracondylar fractures of the femur are not common. The treatment options depend on the age of child, the site of the fracture, the pattern of injury and the surgeon's preference. We report a case of an 11-year old boy who sustained a comminuted displaced supracondylar fracture of the femur and was treated with indirect reduction and internal fixation with the Less Invasive Stabilization System (LISS) tibial plate

The limits of log-ratios

BACKGROUND: DNA microarray assays typically compare two biological samples and present the results of those comparisons gene-by-gene as the logarithm base two of the ratio of the measured expression levels for the two samples. RESULTS: Because of the fixed dynamic range of fluorescence and other detection systems, there is a limit to the range of comparisons that can be made using any array technology, and this must be taken into account when interpreting the results of any such analysis. CONCLUSIONS: The dynamic range of microarray data collection systems results in limits in the comparative analyses that can be derived from such measurements and suggests that optimal results can be obtained by making measurements that avoid the boundaries of that dynamic range