243 research outputs found
EQ insurance : the next phase of growth
No full textThis case study outlines the strategic, marketing, and organizational issues facing EQI as it continues to grow. The information provided in the case is accurate as at 31st March 2012.
From a teaching standpoint, the general insurance industry allows instructors to discuss about companies competing in an undifferentiated market. Readers must think strategically about the restrictions and limitations that small-medium enterprises face as they grow and look for ways to overcome these issues. Beyond limitations of the company, readers should be able to identify the problems of seeking growth in a mature industry.
This case illustrates the challenges associated with expansion for a small-and-medium enterprise. It highlights the importance of understanding the market forces of the general insurance industry and also explores human capital and marketing issues. Readers will provide strategic suggestions for the management of EQI after considering all the key information.
This case is written by Chin Mei Yi, Jeremy Gan Zhi Kai and Yuen Wei Wen, three undergraduates from the Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University as part of their applied research project (ARP), under the supervision of Clive Choo, a lecturer in the Division of Strategy, Management and Organisation. The purpose of this case is written solely for the purpose of teaching illustration in a strategic management class for undergraduates. It should not be interpreted as the effective or ineffective handling of a business situation. No part of this publication may be copied, stored, transmitted, reproduced, or distributed in any form or medium without the permission of the case writers.BUSINES
Interventions for preventing abuse in the elderly
No full textFree to read\ud
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Background\ud
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Maltreatment of older people (elder abuse) includes psychological, physical, sexual abuse, neglect and financial exploitation. Evidence suggests that 10% of older adults experience some form of abuse, and only a fraction of cases are actually reported or referred to social services agencies. Elder abuse is associated with significant morbidity and premature mortality. Numerous interventions have been implemented to address the issue of elder maltreatment. It is, however, unclear which interventions best serve to prevent or reduce elder abuse.\ud
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Objectives\ud
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The objective of this review was to assess the effectiveness of primary, secondary and tertiary intervention programmes used to reduce or prevent abuse of the elderly in their own home, in organisational or institutional and community settings. The secondary objective was to investigate whether intervention effects are modified by types of abuse, types of participants, setting of intervention, or the cognitive status of older people.\ud
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Search methods\ud
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We searched 19 databases (AgeLine, CINAHL, Psycinfo, MEDLINE, Embase, Proquest Central, Social Services Abstracts, ASSIA, Sociological Abstracts, ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, Web of Science, LILACS, EPPI, InfoBase, CENTRAL, HMIC, Opengrey and Zetoc) on 12 platforms, including multidisciplinary disciplines covering medical, health, social sciences, social services, legal, finance and education. We also browsed related organisational websites, contacted authors of relevant articles and checked reference lists. Searches of databases were conducted between 30 August 2015 and 16 March 2016 and were not restricted by language.\ud
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Selection criteria\ud
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We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cluster-randomised trials, and quasi-RCTs, before-and-after studies, and interrupted time series. Only studies with at least 12 weeks of follow-up investigating the effect of interventions in preventing or reducing abuse of elderly people and those who interact with the elderly were included.\ud
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Data collection and analysis\ud
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Two review authors independently extracted data and assessed the studies' risk of bias. Studies were categorised as: 1) education on elder abuse, 2) programmes to reduce factors influencing elder abuse, 3) specific policies for elder abuse, 4) legislation on elder abuse, 5) programmes to increase detection rate on elder abuse, 6) programmes targeted to victims of elder abuse, and 7) rehabilitation programmes for perpetrators of elder abuse. All studies were assessed for study methodology, intervention type, setting, targeted audience, intervention components and intervention intensity.\ud
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Main results\ud
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The search and selection process produced seven eligible studies which included a total of 1924 elderly participants and 740 other people. Four of the above seven categories of interventions were evaluated by included studies that varied in study design. Eligible studies of rehabilitation programmes, specific policies for elder abuse and legislation on elder abuse were not found. All included studies contained a control group, with five of the seven studies describing the method of allocation as randomised. We used the Cochrane 'Risk of bias' tool and EPOC assessment criteria to assess risk of bias. The results suggest that risk of bias across the included body of research was high, with at least 40% of the included studies judged as being at high risk of bias. Only one study was judged as having no domains at high risk of bias, with two studies having two of 11 domains at high risk. One study was judged as being at high risk of bias across eight of 11 domains.\ud
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All included studies were set in high-income countries, as determined by the World Bank economic classification (USA four, Taiwan one, UK two). None of the studies provided specific information or analysis on equity considerations, including by socio-economic disadvantage, although one study was described as being set in a housing project. One study performed some form of cost-effectiveness analysis on the implementation of their intervention programmes, although there were few details on the components and analysis of the costing.\ud
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We are uncertain whether these interventions reduce the occurrence or recurrence of elder abuse due to variation in settings, measures and effects reported in the included studies, some of which were very small and at a high risk of bias (low- and very low-quality evidence).Two studies measured the occurrence of elder abuse. A high risk of bias study found a difference in the post-test scores (P value 0.048 and 0.18). In a low risk of bias study there was no difference found (adjusted odds ratio (OR) =0.48, 95% 0.18 to 1.27) (n = 214). For interventions measuring abuse recurrence, one small study (n = 16) reported no difference in post-test means, whilst another found higher levels of abuse reported for the intervention arms (Cox regression, combined intervention hazard ratio (HR) = 1.78, alpha level = 0.01).\ud
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It is uncertain whether targeted educational interventions improve the relevant knowledge of health professionals and caregivers (very low-quality evidence), although they may improve detection of resident-to-resident abuse. The concept of measuring improvement in detection or reporting as opposed to measuring the occurrence or recurrence of abuse is complicated. An intervention of public education and support services aimed at victims may also improve rates of reporting, however it is unclear whether this was due to an increase in abuse recurrence or better reporting of abuse.The effectiveness of service planning interventions at improving the assessment and documentation of related domains is uncertain. Unintended outcomes were not reported in the studies.\ud
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Authors' conclusions\ud
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There is inadequate trustworthy evidence to assess the effects of elder abuse interventions on occurrence or recurrence of abuse, although there is some evidence to suggest it may change the combined measure of anxiety and depression of caregivers. There is a need for high-quality trials, including from low- or middle-income countries, with adequate statistical power and appropriate study characteristics to determine whether specific intervention programmes, and which components of these programmes, are effective in preventing or reducing abuse episodes among the elderly. It is uncertain whether the use of educational interventions improves knowledge and attitude of caregivers, and whether such programmes also reduce occurrence of abuse, thus future research is warranted. In addition, all future research should include a component of cost-effectiveness analysis, implementation assessment and equity considerations of the specific interventions under review
The dynamical influences of a hard transition zone on post-glacial uplifts and rotational signatures
No full textRecent investigations from laboratory and Monte-Carlo inversion of geophysical signatures have suggested that the transition zone of the mantle between 400 and 670 km depth may be stiffer than the lower and the upper mantle. By means of a five-layer viscoelastic spherical Earth model, we have calculated the displacement fields associated with post-glacial rebound, the induced polar motions, the temporal variations of the coefficients of the geopotential up to degree eight and the stress fields induced by deglaciation in the lithosphere and the upper mantle. Temporal variations of stress fields in the lithosphere reveal a non-monotonic behaviour due to the viscosity stratification. The results demonstrate the importance of the coming LAGEOS II geodetic satellite mission on constraining the rheological nature of the transition zone in the mantle. -from Author
The dynamical influences of a hard transition zone on post-glacial uplifts and rotational signatures
No full textRecent investigations from laboratory and Monte-Carlo inversion of geophysical signatures have suggested that the transition zone of the mantle between 400 and 670 km depth may be stiffer than the lower and the upper mantle. By means of a five-layer viscoelastic spherical Earth model, we have calculated the displacement fields associated with post-glacial rebound, the induced polar motions, the temporal variations of the coefficients of the geopotential up to degree eight and the stress fields induced by deglaciation in the lithosphere and the upper mantle. Temporal variations of stress fields in the lithosphere reveal a non-monotonic behaviour due to the viscosity stratification. The results demonstrate the importance of the coming LAGEOS II geodetic satellite mission on constraining the rheological nature of the transition zone in the mantle. -from Author
Teacher Reporting Attitudes Scale (TRAS): confirmatory and exploratory factor analyses with a Malaysian sample.
No full textThe Teacher Reporting Attitude Scale (TRAS) is a newly developed tool to assess teachers’ attitudes toward reporting child abuse and neglect. This article reports on an investigation of the factor structure and psychometric properties of the short form Malay version of the TRAS. A self-report cross-sectional survey was conducted with 667 teachers in 14 randomly selected schools in Selangor state, Malaysia. Analyses were conducted in a 3-stage process using both confirmatory (stages 1 and 3) and exploratory factor analyses (stage 2) to test, modify, and confirm the underlying factor structure of the TRAS in a non-Western teacher sample. Confirmatory factor analysis did not support a 3-factor model previously reported in the original TRAS study. Exploratory factor analysis revealed an 8-item, 4-factor structure. Further confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated appropriateness of the 4-factor structure. Reliability estimates for the four factors—commitment, value, concern, and confidence—were moderate. The modified short form TRAS (Malay version) has potential to be used as a simple tool for relatively quick assessment of teachers’ attitudes toward reporting child abuse and neglect. Cross-cultural differences in attitudes toward reporting may exist and the transferability of newly developed instruments to other populations should be evaluated. \ud
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Design and test of a gust generator
No full textAircraft accidents rate may be falling as technology improves and maintenance practices are enhanced by the latest know-how in the industry but a fatal accident will still result in the loss of hundreds of life, especially when technology enables an aircraft to carry more passengers per flight than was possible half a century ago. When it comes to accidents that are a result of the forces of nature, namely sudden wind gusts, every bit of effort should be made to improve the resilience of the aircraft structure. This project aims to provide a preliminary study on the unsteady flow produced from a low-cost gust generator of simple design. The gust generator proved to be successful in producing unsteady flow and subsequently, experiments were conducted to analyse the unsteady flow.Bachelor of Engineering (Aerospace Engineering
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