...smarter, better, stronger, to increase their intelligence, height, or other traits (Zane). Testing for medical tendencies to screen and reduce the possibility of future illness or diseases is now feasible. Genetic testing can enhance and improve lives with immeasurable benefits. The rewards of this testing outweigh any reservations. Genetic testing are examinations of blood and other tissues of the body that doctors in the medical field prepare to test for possible defects of the body. These DNA based tests generally involves direct examination of the DNA molecule itself and are very sophisticated techniques of testing genetic disorders in the bodies of human beings. Prenatal genetic testing with the procedure of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD is a technique whereby testing is performed of an approximate three-day-old embryo to confirm that it does not carry a particular disease or diseases (Naik). The test predicts, with variable confidence, what the possible medical problems will be in the future. Then the doctor implants this embryo, which is free of that syndrome, in the mother's womb. It appears to be relatively easy to check the DNA and eliminate future diseases that are linked to a single malfunctioning gene such as cystic fibrosis or autism. In the 1990s, this type of prenatal genetic testing, PGD, was first introduced with vast numbers of parents utilizing this screening to avoid the potential hereditary passing of many deadly disorders to their children (Naik)...
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...INTERNATIONAL STUDENT HEALTH INSURANCE: SILVER PLAN S INTRODUCTION This insurance covers medical expenses from sickness or injury, and losses arising from sudden and unforeseen circumstances. Coverage is subject to certain limitations and exclusions, which are explained in this policy. This policy is underwritten by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (Sun Life). Imagine Financial Ltd., operating as Ingle International, performs enrolment and provides customer service. Emergency Assistance is provided by Intrepid 24/7, a member of the Ingle Group of Companies. All benefit limits are expressed in Canadian currency. Sun Life will pay the benefits stated in this policy, subject to all of its terms, conditions, limitations, exclusions and other provisions for Reasonable and Customary expenses that are incurred as a result of an unexpected Sickness or Injury up to the benefit maximum for that particular benefit, or to the overall policy maximum. All maximums stated in this policy are per Insured Person per 365 day period unless otherwise stated, and are stated in Canadian dollar currency. You must call Emergency Assistance to ensure coverage of certain expenses. See the Pre-Approval Requirements in Section III for further details. You may be responsible for a portion of the expenses if the insurer is not notified promptly. Emergency Assistance: we’re here to help This policy is in force only if Ingle International confirms your coverage after receiving your enrolment application...
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...[pic] Executive Summary The following report is an examination of the Far East Asian country of Japan. This report includes a look at the past, present, and future of Japan’s economic stance, cultural values, and business opportunities. Our group examined the relations between the Georgia-based insurance company AFLAC, and their Japanese counterparts. This report explains AFLAC’s strategic motives and successes they have found in doing business in Japan. It also identifies some of the weakness and threats that are in the near future if current practices are not altered. With over 70% of the revenue coming from the Japanese market, AFLAC should be concerned with any changes in economic forecasting for the country as it will be sure to have a direct effect on the future of AFLAC U.S. Japan has long been, and continues to be a major ally to the United States in terms of business relationships and cultural influences. Our report serves to outline some of the noteworthy things to consider when conducting business with the Japanese. Through an examination of AFLAC’s individual experiences in Japan, this report demonstrates the need for professional businesspersons to be aware of the countries cultural, personal, and business preferences. With the increase in the age gap of Japan’s population, in addition to the change of workforce demographics, it is becoming increasingly more important for U.S. businesses to consider expanding their products and/or services...
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...Bank of America 2012 U.S. Benefits Summary This document is intended as an overview only and does not describe all eligibility restrictions and benefit limitations. All programs and benefits are subject to change at any time. For detailed information on your Bank of America benefits available to employees in the U.S., refer to the Benefits & Pay tab on Flagscape® or the most recent edition of the Associate Handbook, also available on Flagscape. Additional sources of information are listed in the benefits resources section of this booklet. If there is a difference between this brochure and what is written in the benefits policies or plan documents, the policies or plan documents will govern. 1 Revised: 9-2012 Health and Insurance Health Care Benefits Eligibility Full-time and part-time (working more than 20 hours) employees are generally eligible for health and insurance benefits. Part-time employees working less than 20 hours are generally not eligible for health and insurance benefits. Coverage under the plans for which you are eligible generally begins on the first day of the month after you have completed one full month of continuous full-time or parttime employment. The month you begin work as a full- or part- time employee does not count as one full month of continuous employment. For example, if you begin work as a full- or part-time employee in the month of May, your benefit coverage generally begins on July 1. For some benefits, coverage may...
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...Employment News 11 - 17 February 2012 www.employmentnews.gov.in 21 Union Public Service Commission EXAMINATION NOTICE NO. 04/2012-CSP DATED 11.02.2012 (LAST DATE FOR RECEIPT OF APPLICATIONS : 05.03.2012) CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION, 2012 (Commission's website - http://www.upsc.gov.in) F. No. 1/4/2011-E.I(B) : Preliminary Examination of the Civil Services Examination for recruitment to the Services and Posts mentioned below will be held by the Union Public Service Commission on 20th May, 2012 in accordance with the Rules published by the Department of Personnel & Training in the Gazette of India Extraordinary dated 4th February, 2012. (i) Indian Administrative Service. (ii) Indian Foreign Service. (iii) Indian Police Service. (iv) Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service, Group ‘A’. (v) Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’. (vi) Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise), Group ‘A’. (vii) Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’. (viii) Indian Revenue Service (I.T.), Group ‘A’. (ix) Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group ‘A’ (Assistant Works Manager, Administration). (x) Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’. (xi) Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’. (xii) Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group ‘A’. (xiii) Indian Railway Accounts Service, Group 'A'. (xiv) Indian Railway Personnel Service, Group ‘A’. (xv) Post of Assistant Security Commissioner in Railway Protection Force, Group ‘A’ (xvi) Indian Defence Estates Service, Group ‘A’. (xvii) Indian Information...
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...Employment News 31 May - 6 June 2014 www.employmentnews.gov.in 21 UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION EXAMINATION NOTICE NO. 09/2014-CSP (LAST DATE FOR RECEIPT OF APPLICATIONS : 30/06/2014) DATE :31.05.2014 CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION, 2014 (Commission’s website-http://upsc.gov.in) F. No. 1/5/2013-E.I(B) : Preliminary Examination of the Civil Services Examination for recruitment to the Services and Posts mentioned below will be held by the Union Public Service Commission on 24th Aug., 2014 in accordance with the Rules published by the Department of Personnel & Training in the Gazette of India Extraordinary dated 31st May, 2014. (i) Indian Administrative Service. (ii) Indian Foreign Service. (iii) Indian Police Service. (iv) Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service, Group ‘A’. (v) Indian Audit and Accounts Service, Group ‘A’. (vi) Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise), Group ‘A’. (vii) Indian Defence Accounts Service, Group ‘A’. (viii) Indian Revenue Service (I.T.), Group ‘A’. (ix) Indian Ordnance Factories Service, Group ‘A’ (Assistant Works Manager, Administration). (x) Indian Postal Service, Group ‘A’. (xi) Indian Civil Accounts Service, Group ‘A’. (xii) Indian Railway Traffic Service, Group ‘A’. (xiii) Indian Railway Accounts Service, Group 'A'. (xiv) Indian Railway Personnel Service, Group ‘A’. (xv) Post of Assistant Security Commissioner in Railway Protection Force, Group ‘A’ (xvi) Indian Defence Estates Service, Group...
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...Secure Data Sharing in the Cloud Danan Thilakanathan, Shiping Chen, Surya Nepal and Rafael A. Calvo 1 Introduction Cloud systems [1, 2] can be used to enable data sharing capabilities and this can provide an abundant of benefits to the user. There is currently a push for IT organisations to increase their data sharing efforts. According to a survey by InformationWeek [3], nearly all organisations shared their data somehow with 74 % sharing their data with customers and 64 % sharing with suppliers. A fourth of the surveyed organisations consider data sharing a top priority. The benefits organisations can gain from data sharing is higher productivity. With multiple users from different organisations contributing to data in the Cloud, the time and cost will be much less compared to having to manually exchange data and hence creating a clutter of redundant and possibly out-of-date documents. With social networking services such as Facebook, the benefits of sharing data are numerous [4] such as the ability to share photos, videos, information and events, creates a sense of enhanced enjoyment in one’s life and can enrich the lives of some people as they are amazed at how many people are interested in their life and well-being. For students and group-related projects, there has been a major importance for group collaborative tools [5]. Google Docs provides data sharing capabilities as groups of students or teams working on a project can share documents and can collaborate...
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...FINAL EXAMINATION TIMETABLE SEMESTER 2 2013 ST LUCIA CAMPUS 02 November to 16 November 2013 Important information about attendance at examinations: Please see information available on myAdvisor regarding attendance and conduct at examinations, including information on Student ID cards, permitted materials, use of calculators, and late arrival - http://www.uq.edu.au/myadvisor/index.html?page=108936 Information about the examination timetable: Exam start times: Students should arrive at the examination venue at least 15 minutes prior to the commencement time of the examination and 30 minutes if the examination is held at the UQ Centre. Please note that start times for examinations held on Saturdays differ to those held Monday to Friday, eg. first exam session at 9:30am on Saturdays, and 8:00am on Mondays. Venues Venues are displayed with the Building Name, (Building Number), and Room Number. Where 'Contact School' is shown as the venue, please contact the School for details. Please check your exam venues thoroughly before your exam, and ensure you know where the venue is located. You will not be permitted entry to an exam venue if you arrive 30 minutes after commencement of working time, and no additional time will be granted. Student Split Where an examination is held across multiple venues, students are allocated to a venue based on Family Name. The surname split is displayed in a range and is shown as FAMILY NAME, First Name (first 3 letters). Students...
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...2013 2014 nash-rOCky mOunt PuBliC sChOOls stuDEnt/ParEnt hanDBOOk Superintendent’s Message August 2013 Dear NRMPS Students and Parents, The School Board, faculty, staff and administrators of Nash-Rocky Mount Public Schools are committed to providing a safe, orderly, secure and disruption free environment that will produce globally competitive students, who are prepared for bright and prosperous futures, when they graduate. High quality instruction will offer challenging curriculum based on rigor, relevance and adequate resources for all students. Expectations for student behavior are high in every school. The Code of Student Conduct is revised annually to align with state and federal laws and to address other issues critical to providing a safe and quality educational environment. Included in the Code of Conduct are expectations for behavior on school buses that you should be aware of even if your child does not ride a bus to or from school since these expectations apply for field trips, athletic contest trips and other school approved activities. To ensure consistency with student understanding of school division expectations, the Code of Student Conduct is reviewed at the beginning of each school year. In addition, I urge each parent to read and review this material with your child to ensure that you understand our expectations prior to any potential issues. Being unaware of the rules of conduct and behavior is not a defense if your child actually violates...
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...The WACC Fallacy: The Real Effects of Using a Unique Discount Rate 1 Philipp Kr¨ ger u Geneva Finance Research Institute - Universit´ de Gen`ve e e Augustin Landier Toulouse School of Economics David Thesmar HEC Paris and CEPR First Version: February 2011 This Version: September 2011 We greatly appreciate comments and suggestions by Malcolm Baker, Andor Gy¨rgy, Owen Lamont, o Masahiro Watanabe, Jeff Wurgler and seminar participants at the NBER Behavioral Finance Spring Meeting, the University of Mannheim, the 2011 European Financial Management Association meetings, the 2011 European Finance Association meetings, the CEPR European Summer Symposium on Financial Markets and HEC Lausanne. Boris Vall´e provided excellent research assistance. Thesmar e thanks the HEC Foundation for financial support. Corresponding Author: Philipp Kr¨ger. Email: u philipp.krueger@unige.ch, Telephone: +41 (0)22 379 85 69. Augustin Landier, augustin.landier@tsefr.eu, Telephone: +33 (0)5 61 12 86 88. David Thesmar, thesmar@hec.fr, Telephone: +33 (0)1 39 67 94 12. 1 Electronic copy available at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1764024 The WACC Fallacy: The Real Effects of Using a Unique Discount Rate Abstract We document investment distortions induced by the use of a single discount rate within firms. According to textbook capital budgeting, firms should value any project using a discount rate determined by the risk characteristics of the project. If they use a unique company-wide discount...
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...Table of Contents Index to Financial Statements UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Washington, D.C. 20549 FORM 10-K (Mark One) x ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011 or ¨ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 For the transition period from to Commission File Number: 001-07434 Aflac Incorporated (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter) Georgia (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) 58-1167100 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) 1932 Wynnton Road, Columbus, Georgia (Address of principal executive offices) 31999 (ZIP Code) Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: 706.323.3431 Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act: Title of each class Common Stock, $.10 Par Value Name of each exchange on which registered New York Stock Exchange Tokyo Stock Exchange Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. None Yes ¨ Yes ¨ No No Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities...
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...Summary of Plan Benefits Plan Information Standard Plan N300S Product: Plan #: Satisfaction Guarantee If you purchase this plan and you are not satisfied with your plan for any reason, you may return the Plan Certificate/Policy and the Confirmation/ Declaration within 10 days of receipt and your plan payment will be refunded, provided you have not filed a claim or departed on your trip. One Call Worldwide Travel Services Network One Call Travel Services Network, Inc. provides: medical, legal and travel assistance services available 24 hours a day/365 days a year. A complete list of these services is included in your Certificate/Policy. Schedule of Benefits - SRTC-2000-WA-AH Plan Benefits Maximum Benefit Amount Accidental Death & Dismemberment..............................$5,000 Emergency Sickness/Accident Medical Expense.....$100,000 . Hospital Advancement....................................................$500 Schedule of Benefits - SRTC-2000-WA-PC Plan Benefits Maximum Benefit Amount Trip Cancellation............................................. Up to Trip Cost * . Single Occupancy................................................... Included . Trip Interruption............................................... Up to Trip Cost * Baggage/Personal Effects............................................. $1,000 Per Article...................................................................... $500 Combined Maximum Benefit......................................... $500...
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...Journal of Operations Management 31 (2013) 169–180 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Journal of Operations Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jom Servitization: Disentangling the impact of service business model innovation on manufacturing firm performance Ivanka Visnjic Kastalli a,b,∗ , Bart Van Looy c,d a Operations and Innovation Management Department, ESADE Business School, Spain Cambridge Service Alliance, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom Faculty of Business and Economics, KU Leuven, Belgium d School of Management and Governance, University of Twente, Netherlands b c a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 27 June 2011 Received in revised form 20 December 2012 Accepted 16 February 2013 Available online 7 March 2013 Keywords: Servitization Open service innovation Business model Performance a b s t r a c t As manufacturing businesses operate in an ever more competitive, global economy where products are easily commoditized, innovating by adding services to the core product offering has become a popular strategy. Contrary to the economic benefits expected, recent findings pinpoint implementation hurdles that lead to a potential performance decline, the so-called ‘servitization paradox’. In this paper, we analyze this paradox by disentangling the value creation and value appropriation processes of 44 national subsidiaries of a global manufacturing firm turned product-service provider, in the 2001–2007 period. Our findings show...
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...RESEARCH PAPER 06/36 19 JUNE 2006 A Political and Economic Introduction to China “If the 20th century ended in 1989, the 21st began in 1978” Martin Jacques, The Guardian, 25 May 2006 China’s political and economic rise and what it means for the world is now a central preoccupation of analysts and policy-makers. Public awareness of China is likely to increase as the 2008 Olympics in Beijing draw near. This Research Paper is intended to act as a resource that Members of Parliament and their staff can draw upon when engaging with China’s remarkable transformation. Part I provides key facts and figures about China. Parts II and III review recent developments and future prospects by addressing four key questions. Is political authoritarianism sustainable? Can China’s development be peaceful? What are the main domestic economic challenges facing China? What is China’s impact on the world economy? Part IV summarises key aspects of UK and EU relations with China. The Paper ends with a select bibliography of key sources. The Research Paper is intended to act as a platform for a series of Library Standard Notes that will address in more depth specific issues about China that there is space here only to discuss briefly. Jon Lunn, Maria Lalic, Ben Smith and Claire Taylor INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS AND DEFENCE SECTION Ed Beale, Ed Potton, Ian Townsend and Dominic Webb ECONOMIC POLICY AND STATISTICS SECTION HOUSE OF COMMONS LIBRARY Recent Library Research Papers include: List of 15...
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...A STUDY ON DRUG ABUSE AMONG YOUTHS AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIP 青年濫藥與家庭關係的研究 THE FINAL REPORT (FINAL version) February 2011 1 PREFACE The project on the study on “DRUG ABUSE AMONG YOUTHS AND FAMILY RELATIONSHIP” (“the Study”) is being undertaken by the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention and the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong (“the Consultant”). The research team comprises the principal investigator (PI), Professor Paul YIP, Director of the Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention and Professor of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration at the University of Hong Kong, and eight co-investigators (Co-Is), Dr. CHEUNG Siu Lan Karen (Demographer), Dr. Sandra Tsang (Social and Family Worker), Dr. Samson Tse (Focus group expert on mental health and drug abuse), Dr. Wong Oi Ling (Family therapist, Family Institute), Prof. Karen Laidler (Sociologist, expertise on assessing drug abuse problem), Dr. Paul Wong (Clinical psychologist), Ms. Frances Law (Social Worker), and Dr. Lilian Wong (Associate Consultant, Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, Tseung Kwan O Hospital, Hospital Authority). We would like to thank Mr. Gary Ip, the research assistant of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration, Ms. Garlum Lau, the senior research officer 2 of the Department of Sociology, the participants and NGOs for focus groups and case studies for their kind and valuable support on this...
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