Factors That Increase The Risk Of Developing Breast Cancer...

List the factors in the patient’s history that increase the risk of developing breast cancer. Breast cancer is a type of cancer that can be identified early by looking at the risk factors and family history that a patient has for the specific disease. Because Thompson had a family history where her mother and cousin had breast cancer, her chances are increased. Because she is older than 50 and has never had children and is still having her menstrual cycle are indicators to show that she has breast cancer. If Ann has not been living an active lifestyle, her chances are greatly increased or if she is overweight the likelihood of contracting breast cancer increases. Describe her possible signs of breast cancer. Mrs. Ann Thompson has several signs of breast cancer that she has noticed herself. She has been doing regular breast self-examination and because of that, she has found a lump in her breast. Even though she may not have pain with the lump, which is a true characteristic of a malignant tumour. If she has discolouration/redness of the breast and thickening of the skin (depending on how far the cancer has grown), these are also signs of breast cancer. Ann also might have fatigue and weight loss due to the systemic pain or sickness that she might feel. There are many other signs that could be evident, but these are just a few that are most likely for Ann. Explain why this lump is not typical of a benign condition. Generally, in a malignant tumour of the breast, there isShow MoreRelated Breast Cancer Essay742 Words   |  3 PagesBreast Cancer The thought of having breast cancer is frightening to every woman, and devastating to some. However, ignoring the possibility that you may get breast cancer, or avoiding the things you should do to detect and avoid cancer, can be even more dangerous. Breast cancer is a devastating disease that may affect one out of nine women in the United States. This year alone, a patient will be diagnosed every three minutes and a woman will die from breast cancer every thirteen minutesRead MoreBreast Cancer : Risk Factors And Prevention1526 Words   |  7 PagesBreast Cancer: Risk Factors and Prevention When malignant cells form in the tissues of the breast, breast cancer occurs. One in 8 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime (Stuckey, 2011). Breast cancer also occurs in men; however, the number of cases is small compared to women accounting for only 1% of the breast cancer cases in the United States (Stuckey, 2011). Breast cancer is the third most frequent type of cancer in the world (Stuckey, 2011), and the second most common typeRead MoreGender, Ethnicity, Race And Socio Economics Play923 Words   |  4 Pagesdetection of cancer, particularly breast cancer in women. Cancer is a disease caused by a mutation and rapid division of cells. Cancer is a general term describing many diseases; essentially there is a wide array of types of cancers. This vast differentiation makes it difficult to combat this disease and similarly the differences among individuals cause the course of this disease to vary greatly, cancer effects people differently. Breast cancer is one of the more well-known forms of cancer and is frequentlyRead MoreA Brief Look at Breast Cancer Essay1736 Words   |  7 PagesBREAST CANCER Introduction/Background Cancer is characterized by unregulated/uncontrolled growth and spread of abnormal cells. The etiological factors of Cancer include both external factors (tobacco, infectious organisms, chemicals, and radiation) and inherent factors (inherited mutations, hormones, immune conditions, and mutations that occur from metabolism). The etiological factors may act together or in sequence to trigger the development of cancer. It may take several years for the manifestationRead More72 New Gene Mutation Essay1074 Words   |  5 PagesGenetic Mutations Linked to Hereditary Breast Cancer According to the National Cancer Institute, invasive breast cancer affects approximately 1 in 8 U.S. women, and about 5% to 10% of all breast cancers are hereditary. At present, most people are familiar with BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene mutations, which are inherited gene mutations—or abnormalities in the DNA sequencing—that increase the risk of developing breast cancer. According to statistics from the National Cancer Institute, by age 70, 55% to 65% ofRead MoreA Brief Note On Breast Cancer Research Paper863 Words   |  4 PagesGabriela Rolon November 3, 2014 Biology 101 Section-13 Melissa Romero Breast Cancer Research Paper Proto-oncogenes can become mutated and become known as oncogenes, which are also known as cancer cells. The main purpose for proto-oncogenes is to divide the cell, prevent cell differentiation, and to stop cell death. When they are mutated they are called oncogenes, which increase cell division, cell differentiation is decreased instead of preventing it, and prevent cell death. The tumor suppressorRead MoreThe Complicated Biology of Breast Cancer977 Words   |  4 PagesAfter hearing your concerns about breast cancer, I decided to use my knowledge and research to guide you through the more complicated biological side of breast cancer. Within this letter I hope to better your understanding of cancer, especially breast cancer. Its the causes, pros and cons of genetic testing, and my recommendations for you and your daughters. I will also discuss the controversial decision of actress Angelina Jolie. Cancer is a term used to describe diseases that include abnormalRead MoreTaking a Look for Breast Cancer1083 Words   |  4 Pagesdiagnose for breast cancer is a regular self-check for changes in the chest or breast area. 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It is estimated that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their life time and it will claim as many as 40,000 lives in the US only.( http://www.nationalbreastcancer.org/breast-cancer-facts) Primary prevention can play a key role in substantially reducing the chances of developing breast cancer Early detection through screening can makeRead MoreBreast Cancer : Causes, Signs And Symptoms And Risk Factors1539 Words   |  7 Pagessection is going to review literature on overview of breast cancer, its causes, signs and symptoms and risk factors. It will also look at literature on screening methods of breast cancer, particularly mammogram. OVERVIEW OF BREAST CANCER According to Rodney et al (2003), breast cancer is the commonly occurring cancer in women, responsible for one third of all malignancies in females. It is said to be the second to lung cancer as a cause of cancer mortality and has been found to be the leading cause

Bilingual Education Policy in Australia Concerning...

From the time the British first settled the continent to the present, the Aboriginal people of Australia and the English-speaking Australian government have had a rocky relationship. For many years, aboriginal Australians experienced much discrimination and racism. Like Native Americans in the United States, the Aborigines were displaced from their tribal lands and forced into designated settlements. This was all part of an attempt on the part of the government and the European settlers to eradicate Aboriginal culture. Though overtly racist policies have now been done away with and formal apologies given, much of Aboriginal culture has been lost. Efforts to revive it are now underway, and at the forefront of these are efforts to revitalize†¦show more content†¦Ensuring that Aboriginal children are able to become fully proficient in Standard Australian English is important, since it greatly expands the number of opportunities available to them in higher education, employment, and access to services (McKay, 300). Aboriginal parents are eager for these children to gain access to these opportunities through mastery of Standard Australian English, but do not wish their own languages to be lost in the process (McKay, 305). Aboriginal Australians, even those who do not themselves speak an Aboriginal language, show great pride in their language as part of their cultural identity (McKay, 299). As such, it is necessary for schools to display â€Å"recognition of each language’s intrinsic cultural value and linguistic complexity and uniqueness† (Gale, 282). Concrete evidence of the value of these languages to Aboriginal people is shown by the fact that knowledge of an Aboriginal language decreases the likelihood of excessive alcohol consumption and illicit drug use in 15 to 24 year old Aborigines (McKay, 300). In the past, well-implemented bilingual education programs have resulted in a stronger relationship between schools and their surrounding com munities, as well as an increase in the interest of Aboriginal people in becoming teachers (McKay, 312). Teachers who have been involved in bilingual education programs know the positive effects they have onShow MoreRelatedIntercultural Competence Of International Recruiters37.9088 Words   |  37 Pagesstudy abroad learning outcomes through proven testing methods (Anderson Lawton, 2015, p. 39). Study abroad is one of several strategies that educators in higher education utilize as a method for internationalizing the campus as students depart from the comfort zone of their home institution and expose themselves to new languages and cultures. (Chieffo Griffiths, 2004, Kurt, Olitsky, Geis, 2013; Maharaja, 2009). Demonstrated outcomes as a result of international experiences are vital to developingRead MoreBusiness in Singapore30736 Words   |  123 Pagestrading partners for 2010, and their respective share of its total trade, are shown in the chart below. Singapore’s Key Trading Partners 2010 Share of Total Trade By Top Trading Partners (%) Others 12.2% Malaysia* S$106.6 billion (11.8%) Australia S$21.8 billion (2.4%) Philippines* S$22.3 billion (2.5%) India S$30.7 billion (3.4%) Thailand* S$31.3 billion (3.5%) Middle East S$36.3 billion (4.0%) Taiwan S$42.7 billion (4.7%) Korea S$44.1 billion (4.9%) Japan S$55.6 billion (6.2%) EU S$99

Citizenship During the Great War Free Essays

At the onset of the First World War in 1914, England was experiencing a social transformation fueled by years of massive immigration from central Europe and changes prompted by industrial and technological developments. The availability of inexpensive immigrant labor and these developments produced a social environment that permitted a realignment of gender roles and the potential for a revolutionary shift in the role of women in British society. Nicoletta Gullace’s central premise is that there was an appetite for social change in prewar Britain and that cultural instability produced by the war allowed those social forces to coalesce, which Gullace details. We will write a custom essay sample on Citizenship During the Great War or any similar topic only for you Order Now Among these were the lingering humiliation resulting from scandals experienced during the Boer War of 1900, which left the British public with little desire to engage in further foreign conflict. The outbreak of the World War neutralized that bias, and horrific reports of German Army behavior reversed the sentiment. These reports detailed the suffering endured in the populated areas of Belgium that were behind the German lines, creating an overwhelming sympathy for the victims of German abuse that transformed the British perception of the war role they needed to play. The War also produced new unprecedented internal social realities, including a million women going to work in British factories. British society was transformed by the ensuing changes and one of the least understood changes, according to Gullace, was the restructuring of the political and economic roles thereafter played by women. There were radical external forces affecting British society as well. Early in World War I, atrocity stories appeared accusing the Germans of inhumane brutality. These reports saturated the British media, fueled by alleged first hand accounts by private citizens, newspaper reports, novels, songs, and even official government investigations. The official Bryce Report concluded that the lurid tales of mutilations and sexual atrocities were in fact occurring. Bryce had relied upon media reports and their original sources as his primary source to reach his conclusions, which were discounted by later historians. Gullace refers to this â€Å"wartime imagery† as at once being â€Å"†¦sentimental and sexual, patriotic and pornographic, effective and subversive (p. 18). This imagery painted the German foes as, â€Å"One vast gang of Jack-the-Rippers,† guilty of sadism such as raping and mutilating naked women and bayoneting babies. Gullace illustrates the social influence of these stories as demonstrated by the 1915 play, â€Å"Rada,† which had a dramatic scene were the women of a household were being raped by German soldiers. A young daughter cries out, â€Å"Oh British! British come! Come quickly British! † Gullace also attributes the exaggerated atrocity stories to the media’s hunger to exploit public passions to sell newspapers, and the government’s compulsion to justify British involvement in another foreign war. Gullace describes the latter circumstance in terms of the pre-war British self-image. It had faltered during the 1900 Boer War when it was discovered that British soldiers had sexually abused imprisoned Boer women and the shame was still carried in the national conscience. Now, in 1914, Gullace posits, the atrocity stories permitted the British public to escape that stigma onto higher moral ground. Gullace also examines the cultural forces that produced the social phenomenon of British women asserting their patriotism at the expense of the men. It became fashionable and socially acceptable for British women to ostracize those men who they believed were avoiding their patriotic duty – which was to join the Army and fight. The sentiment received popular approval and was officially sanctioned. The â€Å"ideal† British man was characterized everywhere as â€Å"Tommy Adkins,† the popular term for a British soldier – who was brave, cheerful, and fair. Gullace cites this image as an outgrowth of the literary works of Rudyard Kipling during the Boer War, idealizing the British soldier. One poet characterized Tommy Adkins as the â€Å"†¦guardian of England’s honor, avenger of her dead, and protector of her children. † (p. 36) The image of Tommy Adkins seized the public’s fancy and deviation from soldierly and patriotic sacrifice was not tolerated. Gullace quotes one newspaper editor’s advice to a female reader who wanted to hold on to her man, as: â€Å"†¦there is much we can do at home. One of the things is to cheer our dear ones, – husbands, sweethearts, fathers, and brothers – and send them off to their calling with brave, noble hearts. † (p. 53) Perhaps the epitome of these passions can be best realized by The British Women’s Union appeal to its members to â€Å"GIVE YOUR SONS. † British women were in the patriotic vanguard, something unique in British. history. The â€Å"White Feather Brigade† and â€Å"The Order of the White Feather† organized women to confront male shirkers and present them with the symbol of cowardice – the white feather. The white feather leagues didn’t last long, but they did presage the organization of feminists into what would emerge as the Suffragette Movement. One of Gullace’s central theses is that the role at home that women played in the war prepared and persuaded the British nation that women were due complete citizenship, and that meant Suffrage. Gullace describes this political acquisition as a â€Å"negotiated right,† and cites previous work by Susan Kingsley Kent, illustrating that until the revolutionary gender changes produced by the war, men and women had inhabited separate social spheres. Taking advantage of the war time opportunity, women had asserted themselves into a full share of patriotic responsibility, they would then subsequently leverage into an equal share of social power. Women’s rights to full citizenship aren’t conventionally linked to the events and consequences of World War I, but Nicoletta F. Gullace makes a persuasive and detailed case that the British ladies of that era successfully fought their own war that led directly to women’s suffrage. How to cite Citizenship During the Great War, Papers

Employee Retention and Commitment †Free Samples to Students

Question: Discuss about the Employee Retention and Commitment. Answer: Introduction Employee development is one of the critical human resource aspects of every organization that needs consideration. This research paper examines the development of employees and meeting the training needs of employees. It commences with analysis the questions on the article based on merit and impact on the development of employee skills and knowledge. Further, the paper discusses ideal steps and direction to arrive at a practical and efficient training needs analysis program that seeks to address gaps in performances. The research later highlights and addresses additional questions that potential employee of an organization can be asked to shape their expectations and determine their worthiness to the company. Finally, the article closes with a conclusion. Thus, it is critical for unveiling valuable information regarding the employee development. Organizations need to have right staff with relevant skills and experience for them to achieve their goals and objectives. Achievement of these requirements propels companies to the realization of corporate goals and objectives. This, therefore, calls for gap analysis of the organization's employees and plans initiated to commence training needs exercise. Training requirements program is of importance to address the gaps identified in workers and resolve them for the company to achieve optimum performance (Bidisha Mukulesh, 2013. The human resource personnel needs to prioritize training needs basing on the connection and impact on employees responsibilities and duties. This will also give weight to training requirements and focus and necessary interests directed from the employees. Additionally, prioritizing the needs will save the company response time to an issue affecting the core operation so the business than focusing on trivial matters (Noe, Alena Howard, 2014). Due to this, organization's resources are adequately spent on this area. Process and Steps to Consider in Achieving an Adequate Training Need Program The process of designing training needs is important to capture entirely and satisfactorily the areas the employees of the organization need improvement and additional training. The process needs to be friendly and employee-centered so that the management get it right in regards to the realities on the ground. This, therefore, calls for best practices which include involving all the stakeholders in this process (Gandel, 2015). Ideally, training assessment should be rolled out to the employees in procedurally considering their corporate levels and time coincidence. Consequently, feedback from the training assessment will help guide the whole organizations on areas to relook and major when designing the training needs program. Further, the steps involved in forming training needs plan is as important as the final product. The roadmap to this effective program will ensure that all factors are considered and factored in the final program. Training needs plan seeks to address different gaps as viewed in various employees. Due to the disparity in levels of the employees, the human resource personnel needs to have different and customized communication done to their employees basing on their positions in the organizations. This will save incidences of embarrassment and also information passed to irrelevant people (Buller McEvoy, 2012. Further, the human resource personnel will achieve sufficient communication by targeting specifics in a separate flow of information. Matters of remuneration..and compensation in an organization is very crucial to the team morale and future productivity. Employees will be productive when they are satisfied that what they earn is equivalent to their labors, skills, and experience. Further, the employees should be accorded benefits equal to their job levels and factor the departmental budgets. Otherwise, they will perform their duties with de-motivation and frustrations. It is important for the organization to review the employees' salaries to reflect competitiveness in the industry (Kossivi, Xu Kalgora, 2016). Training Needs Program With the feedback from training needs analysis, the human resource personnel can undertake comfortably to draft the training need program. To put in consideration is the different status and levels of employees in the organization. The corporate levels are at the helm of organization characterized by an abundance of experience, knowledge, and skills. Their purpose is to formulate the strategies and goals of their departments and cascade to their juniors to operationalize. The retail levels are simply operators and people who actualize the strategies through tactics in their daily responsibilities and duties (Allen Shanock, 2013). Because of the disparity in the organizational levels, the human resource personnel will be prudent to draft separate training needs based on the feedback of the assessment. This will also preserve the element of respect (Nikpour, 2017). The training needs process and exercise needs to be of the required standards and interesting to have a durable and significant impact on the trainees. Multi-media systems can be added to provide for both visual and audio format of the training. Another characteristic of multi-media channels is its interactivity nature. The systems can facilitate high interactivity despite geographical disparity saving both time and money to the organization undertaking the training need exercise. It is, therefore, the mandate of the human resource managers to design and operationalize the rightful training needs programme that will be effective and efficient to the organization (Rohan Madhumita, 2012. Training is a major factor to the reputation and operational health of an organization. Lack of it will eventually result in reduced productivity from the employees, lost of customers and reputation dent to the organization. Performance of employees needs to be optimal for the organization to realize set objectives and goals. This, therefore, inform the decision for the human resource managers in collaboration with departmental managers to evaluate and monitor the performance of the team (Hassan, 2016). Further, by assessing the performance of employees, the organization will be able to rate its efficiency and determine the levels of input to achieve targeted performances.How will the organization help you achieve your goals and objectives? It is important for the organization to recognize the needs and suggestion from their employees meant to improve their performances. This pro-activeness from the employee's side will fasten the realization of improvement and the gap filling process. How often and why should the company review your performance? Should the report be connected to compensation benefits? This question will explore the determination of the candidate to perform and live to and above the organization expectations. Pausing the issue will set the potential employee to a path of achievement and self-appraisal to ensure consistent improvement in their performance. Further, employee review ought to be tied to compensation benefits as a motivational aspect. This will guarantee the realization of consistently high performance (Mita, Aarti Ravneeta, 2014). Organizations have to invest in training their staffs. It means training needs ought to be factored in the departmental budget to guarantee its efficiency and effectiveness. The leadership of an organization needs to strike a balance between insufficient and excess spending of their budget with other organizational needs. Employees need to be all-rounded to perform well in their duties and responsibilities. Because of this, there are several vital skills and knowledge employees need to possess or to be acquired through several pieces of training. These are highlighted below; Technical training:- The technical training entails training the employees on the technological aspects of their duties and responsibilities. Example, training employees on how to use a computer system (Rama Nagurvali, 2012. Skills Training:- The skills training majors on the proficiencies needed by the employee to perform their job. It is important to test the employees on this aspect and ensure they are competent. Soft Skills Training:- The soft skills training on communication and other interactive skills. Examples, personality traits, social graces, communication. Conclusion In conclusion, the development of employees should be at the core of organizational strategies. It reveals employees need to be assessed based on their performances and gaps identified for addressing further, training requirements programme should be initiated by human resource personnel that will seek to improve employees performance and leads to the eventual attainment of organizational goals and objectives. References Allen, D. Shanock, L. (2013) Perceived Organizational Support and Embeddedness as Key Mechanisms Connecting Socialization Tactics to Commitment and Turnover among New Employees. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34, pp. 350-369. Bidisha, L. Mukulesh, B. (2013) Employee Retention: A Review of Literature. Journal of Business and Management, 14, pp. 8-16. Buller, P., McEvoy, G. (2012). Strategy, Human Resource Management, and Performance: Gandel, S. (2015). Here's What It Would Cost Uber Company to Pay Its Drivers as Employees. Fortune. Retrieved Sep. 25, 2017, from https://fortune.com/2015/09/17/ubernomics/ Hassan, S. (2016). Impact of HRM Practices on Employees Performance. International Journal of the Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, 6(1), pp. 15-22. Kossivi, B., Xu, M., Kalgora, B. (2016). Study on determining factors of employee retention. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 4(05), pp. 261. Mita, M., Aarti, K. Ravneeta, D. (2014). Study on Employee Retention and Commitment. International Journal of the Advance Research in Computer Science and Management Studies, 2, pp. 154-164. Nikpour, A. (2017). The impact of organizational culture on organizational performance: The mediating role of employee's organizational commitment. International Journal of Organizational Leadership, 6(1), pp. 65. Noe, R., Alena D. Howard, J. (2014). Learning in the Twenty-first-century Workplace. Annual Review of the Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior Rama, V. Nagurvali, S. (2012). "Training Development A Jump Starter For Employee Performance And Organizational Effectiveness." International Journal Of the Social Science Interdisciplinary Research Vol.1 Issue 7, July 2012, ISBN 2277 3630. Rohan, S. Madhumita, M. (2012). "Impact of the Training Practices on Employee Productivity: A Comparative Study." Inter Science Management Review (IMR) ISSN: 2231-1513 Volume-2. Sharpening Line of Sight. Human Resource Management Review, 22, pp. 43-56

Americans In Civil War Essays - Slavery In The United States

Americans In Civil War The foundation for black participation in the Civil War began more than a hundred years before the outbreak of the war. Blacks in America had been in bondage since early colonial times. In 1776, when Jefferson proclaimed mankind's inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, the institution of slavery had become firmly established in America. Blacks worked in the tobacco fields of Virginia, in the rice fields of South Carolina, and toiled in small farms and shops in the North. Foner and Mahoney report in A House Divided, America in the Age of Lincoln that, "In 1776, slaves composed forty percent of the population of the colonies from Maryland south to Georgia, but well below ten percent in the colonies to the North." The invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 provided a demand for cotton thus increasing the demand for slaves. By the 1800's slavery was an institution throughout the South, an institution in which slaves had few rights, and could be sold or leased by their owners. They lacked any voice in the government and lived a life of hardship. Considering these circumstances, the slave population never abandoned the desire for freedom or the determination to resist control by the slave owners. The slave's reaction to this desire and determination resulted in outright rebellion and individual acts of defiance. However, historians place the strongest reaction in the enlisting of blacks in the war itself. Batty in The Divided Union: The Story of the Great American War, 1861-65, concur with Foner and Mahoney about the importance of outright rebellion in their analysis of the Nat Turner Rebellion, which took place in 1831. This revolt demonstrated that not all slaves were willing to accept this "institution of slavery" passively. Foner and Mahoney note that the significance of this uprising is found in its aftermath because of the numerous reports of "insubordinate" behavior by slaves. 8 Individual acts of defiance ranged from the use of the Underground Railroad - a secret, organized network of people who helped fugitive slaves reach the Northern states and Canada - to the daily resistance or silent sabotage found on the plantations. Stokesbury acknowledges in, A Short History of the Civil War, the existence of the Underground Railroad but disagrees with other historians as to its importance. He notes that it never became as well organized or as successful as the South believed. Even with the groundwork having been laid for resistance, the prevalent racial climate in America in 1860 found it unthinkable that blacks would bear arms against white Americans. However, by 1865 these black soldiers had proven their value. Wilson writes in great detail describing the struggles and achievements of the black soldiers in his book The Black Phalanx. McPherson discusses in The Negro's Civil War that widespread opposition to the use of blacks as soldiers prevailed among northern whites. Whereas McPherson relates the events cumulating in the passage of two laws that aided black enlistment, Wilson focuses on the actual enlistment. He notes that the first regiment of free blacks came into service at New Orleans in September 1862 through the efforts of Butler. Wilson credits Butler's three regiments of blacks as the first officially mustered into Union ranks. North Carolina and Kansas also organized additional black units where minor skirmishes proved to be successful. Wilson also notes that "Kansas has ... the honor of being the first State in the Union to begin the organization of Negroes as soldiers for the Federal army." McPherson believes that up to this point President Lincoln had opposed the idea of blacks fighting for the Union but after the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared that slaves in states still in rebellion on January 1, 1863, "shall be then, thence forward, and forever free," he reversed his 8 thinking. At the end of the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln announced that the freed blacks "would be received into the armed service of the United States...." Lincoln planned to tap into a new source of fighting individuals, "...the great available and as yet unavailed of, force for the restoration of the Union.". Lincoln thought this would both weaken the enemy and strengthen the Union. The recruitment of the blacks took laborers from the South and placed "these men in the Union army in places which otherwise must be filled with so many white men." Lincoln also felt that seeing the blacks fighting against the Confederacy would have a psychological effect upon the South. With the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1,

A Beautiful Mind - A film review essays

A Beautiful Mind - A film review essays The director Ron Howard's latest film, A Beautiful Mind, is a entertaining, enlightening and compassionate drama witch tackles the trials and tribulations of a genius suffering from schizophrenia. The film is a the true story of a mathematician named John Forbes Nash Jr. who is played by Russell Crowe whom won a Academy Oscar for his portrait as Maximus in The Gladiator. We first meet John Nash at Princeton University in 1947 as a mathematician with social problems due to paranoid schizophrenia. Hes brilliant and doesnt hold back on expressing the capacity and merits of his brain to his peers. As a matter of fact he is already so above the institutional standards that he chooses to skip classes. He doesnt have much luck with women either and found himself being slapped in the face all too often with his blunt, "why don't we skip to the sex" line. Still, he understand his personal condition, so he has as little contact with people as possible, and spends most of his time in his dorm room searching for a discovery of a new theory. He is basically a smart, shy jerk with a wry sense of humour. Shortly after receiving recognition for his theories at Princeton, he becomes a professor at the prestigious school of MIT and begins teaching. He attracts the attention of one of his physic students, Alicia Larde, (played by Jennifer Connelly) and she finds Nash's eccentricities charming and asks him out to dinner. By 1957 the two were married. But at about the same time he meets his future wife, he also meets the compelling government agent (Ed Harris) who recruits the professor to break codes for the Department of Defence. It is only a few years later that Nash's schizophrenia is diagnosed. He becomes paranoid and delusional and at times violent. His world comes crashing down around him. People and things he believes are real are only in his head. Nash can no longer be convinced about who is real and who is in his h...

Genetically modified food Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Genetically modified food - Essay Example As per the current scientific situation, most foods that are as a result of genetic modifications come from plants, but as time goes by, attempts are being made in order to come with foods from plants or animals that contain microbial genes and improved characteristics (Kim, 2009). Most of the genetically modified food crops are produced so as maximize on their yield while at the same time allowing for introduction of resistance genes that help in surviving during infection with diseases. Other genes may also be introduced so as to increase tolerance of the plant to herbicides while at the same time having high yields. It is prospected that this genetic modification at some point will be aimed at making changes on the nutrient content of the genetically altered foods and at least minimizing the potential of some foods to cause allergic reactions. It is however important to perform assessments of all genetically modified foods before they are brought into the market for human consumption since any mistakes done during the process of generating the GMOs may have a fatal effect on huge numbers of people (Kawata, Murakami & Ishikawa, 2009). The first step in the process of manufacture of genetically modified foods involves isolation of the specific genes of interest from heir well-known sources. It is therefore essential that prior knowledge on the structure, role and positional location of the particular gene required for the unique traits is available. Such a trait or genetic characteristic for example may be the trait of drought resistance or resistance to attack by insects. This step is followed by insertion of the isolated gene of interest into a selected vector and in most cases the vector used is the bacteria Agrobacterium tumefaciens. The gene insert that contains the gene of interest is inserted into the plasmid of the vector by use of an alternative in the various

Oliver Stone films representing the war Research Paper

Oliver Stone films representing the war - Research Paper Example 1. JFK: This film portrays the events leading to the unfortunate assassination of President Kennedy. It is assumed that this film is based on two books from other authors exploring the same issue. But while the books attracted acclaim, Stone’s JFK instantly got slathered with harsh criticism. Furious historians and critics argued that Stone’s carefree attitude with important historical facts contributed to creation of a highly twisted picture. However, the way JFK later gained confidence and amassed many Academy nominations raises embarrassing questions about the angry criticism published in American newspapers upon the movie’s release. The way Jim Garrison in JFK investigates the assassination from a completely different perspective implying an infamous scheme within the government responsible for Kennedy’s death actually ended up interesting people far more than any book ever did written on the same subject. In fact, the magnitude of excitement felt by people who read books is dwarfed by the magnitude of thrilling suspense experienced by people who viewed the movie, in reference to how the picture reveals different ways by which powerful people use authority to manipulate events (Rendall). The fact that movies can speak louder than words is made emphatic by the way historical events are intelligently portrayed in JFK.

Development of database security Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Development of database security - Essay Example The database security is concerned with the unauthorized access or misuse of the authorized user which leads to the leakage of personal or potential information. A database is said to be a reliable data storage source if it does not compromise on confidentiality (data security), integrity (the correctness of data) and availability. The integrity of data is dependent on the data gathering and storing process, moreover, if the database could be accessed by unauthorized users can influence the correctness of data. Therefore, it can be stated that the database security is one of the critical factors to be achieved in developing a dependable database. There are many techniques could be utilized for developing a secured database (Kayarkar, n.d) includes the access control (implementing data access rights to the users), database monitoring (to review the actions performed on the database), authentication (identifying the accurate user) and encryption (data encoding). Moreover, the data can be made secure by the application security and database integrity controls. The Elmasri and Navathe in 2004 a methodology have been introduced for developing a database design. The database designing methodology has following three (3) main phases include the Conceptual database design, Logical database design, and Physical database design. As the objective of this document s to present a review of the database security concerns for avoiding illegal access, therefore, the document limits the discussion to the logical database design phase.

Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance

Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance Introduction In the first chapter of this research study, an introduction on insurance will be presented. While, on the other hand, there will be a highlight on the differences between conventional and Islamic insurance. Following this, will be the problem discussion and the objectives of this study. Finally, there will be the justification and significance, following by organization of the study. What Exactly Is Insurance Means Buying insurance has become a trend in this twentieth century. According to The Star daily(2007), in the first half of year 2007, the combined premium income for insurance industry increase 9.8 percent compared to the same period for year 2006. The industry is further expanded in line with the favorable economics performance. People bought the insurance for their car, family, and business. People spend a lot of money on paying the insurance premium annually. While, do they actually clear on what kind of plan they had bought and what had they insured for their life, property and so on? Do they really distinct on the concept of the insurance that they had disbursed so much? According to Bank Negara Malaysia, insurance is the transfer of risk by an individual, such as yourself or an organization, such as your business to an insurance company. You or your organization will then be known as policy holder or insured while the insurance company is the insurer. The insurance company receives the payment in the form of premium. Then the insurance company utilized the premium collect from their policy holder to make some investment for their company. They will compensate their policy holder in the event of losses or damages which is sustained by the premium paid. In other word, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss by paying an amount of premium. It is an effective risk transfer mechanism for insured to exchange their uncertainty financial loss with the certain amount of premium (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). This kind of insurance we titled as conventional insurance which is the ordinary type of insurance that accepted by the society in general. While, other than the conventional insurance which we normally approached to, there are another type of insurance which we called as Islamic insurance. The Islamic insurance was step into Malaysia insurance market since November of year 1984 (Renat Bekkin, 2008). The first Islamic insurance company established in Malaysia was Takaful Malaysia Berhad. Early than that, Islamic insurance has stepping into the market of Sudan and Arab. What is Islamic insurance Islamic insurance is a mode of financial management which compliance to Shariah law. Islamic insurance is provided under a principle called Takaful. According to Islamic Banking, the term Takaful is derived from the Arabic word Kafaala meaning guaranteeing. Takaful means guaranteeing each other and refer to the concept of permissible Islamic insurance or Halal insurance. While by referring to Takaful Act 1984, Article 2, Takaful means a scheme based on brotherhood, solidarity and mutual assistance which provides for mutual financial aid and assistance to the participants in case of need whereby the participants mutually agree to contribute for that purpose. Literally, Takaful defines responsibility, shared guarantee, collective assurance and mutual undertakings. (Masum Billah, 2007) Some Muslims believe insurance is unnecessary, as society should helps its victims. Muslims can no longer ignore the fact that they live, they trade and communicate with open global systems, and they can no longer ignore the need for banking and insurance (Dr Aly Khorshid, 2004). In the eyes of Muslims, the concepts used by conventional insurance are against the law of Shariah. This is because conventional insurance is based on a contract of exchange (sale) between the insurance company and the covered person. This contract is void because it has the elements which are not permissible from Shariahs perspective. The elements are Gharar which means uncertainty. Conventional insurance has an element of Gharar due to the promise to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of unsuspected events. The other elements are Maysir which refer to gambling. Existence of Gharar (uncertainties) leads to Maysir (gambling) in conventional insurance. The insured may either lose the entire premium he has paid or be compensated for the losses he incurs for the insured event. Riba was also one of the not permissible elements in the law of Shariah. Riba means interest. The investment of insurance funds in interest bearing securities such bonds and stocks, which do not comply with the Shariah principles, pose a major Muslims who purchase the conventional insurance (Alburn Mountain, 2008). In conventional insurance, vendors, the insurance company, sells their insurance plans to their clients, which we called as policy holder in the other way and invest the premium paid for the profit of its shareholder. Then, the policy holders do enjoy the risk transference that they are receiving the compensation if they face the financial loss on the events they insured. According to Islamic Banking, Takaful was grant as Islamic insurance because of the apparent similarity between the contract of kafaala and insurance. Takaful is an Islamic concept which grounded in Islamic Mualamat which define as banking transaction (SP Media, 2009). This concept already practices in diverse form over 1400 years long (Salam, 2008). Generally, Takaful is an insurance plan which based on Shariah principles. The members are to contribute a certain amount of money to a common pool which is Takaful fund in the form of participative contribution that also called as Tabarru. Tabarru means a donation, charity or gift which cannot be taken back (Dr Qaradawi, 2002). In general Takaful, a percentage of the participants contribution is considered as Tabarru, thus it cannot be taken back by the participants as it is the joint guarantee principle to help other participants. A portion of a participants contribution will be allocate through Tabarru principle to help participants from a sudden but defined risks. After contributing the money into Takaful mutual fund, they will undertake a contract which called as Aqad in Islam, to become one of the participants by agreeing to mutually help each other, should any of the participants suffer a defined loss (Arshad Shaikh, 2007). In Islamic insurance, participants (policyholders) are co-operating among themselves for their common goods. Every participants are to pay a part of the contribution (premium) as a donation to help those need assistance. Other than that, in Takaful system, losses are divided and liabilities spread according to the community pooling system. In order to eliminate the element of uncertainty in Takaful contract, the concept of Tabarru is incorporated. This is to enable the participant to fulfill his obligation of mutual help and joint guarantee should any of his fellow participants suffer a defined loss. In conventional insurance, policy holder can buy more than one policy or plan to hedge the particular risk in the event of loss or damage. By this, the policy holders are lessening the claims of the insurance company because the same amount of compensation has now burden by two companies. This is called reinsurance which an insurance company can transfer to another insurer, the reinsurer all or part of its liabilities in respect of claims arising under the contracts of insurance. This is to protect itself against the risk that its total claims costs in any year may wiping out of its profits and cause it to insolvent. As same in Islamic insurance, participants can buy more than one plan from other licensed Takaful operator. This is called as Retakaful in Islamic insurance (Bahrain, 2005). Why Takaful Insurance instead of Conventional Insurance In Islamic view, the concept used in conventional insurance is in conflict with the injunction of Islam (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). The conflicts were not against the concepts used by conventional insurance that trades and contracts were appeared in the concept. While the struggling are the weaknesses and the imperfect phrase which existed in the insurance contract. The objections are actually against the phrase of Gharar which means uncertainty, Maisir refers to gambling and the word Riba which point to the interest. The criticism was the word of Gharar is happened in the contract of insurance. Other than that, the phrase of gambling is presenting in its extreme form. Whats more is the element of interest is existed in the contract. These three phrases were the points appeared in the contract of conventional insurance that prohibited in Islamic view. Thus, they lead to the contradiction between conventional insurance and Islamic view (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). While, there are the person who does not agree the above matters. According to Dr Yusof al-Qaradawi (2002), he does not think that the concept used in conventional insurance is conflict with Islamic law, but he agrees that the conventional insurance is in need of some improvement to move in line with Islamic teachings. Problem Statement People are following the track of buying insurance nowadays. People buy insurance when there is a new born baby. They buy insurance during their travelling. Insurance also bought when people purchase a residential property. People also buy insurance for the sake of retiring. People buy insurance whenever they think there was an unseen risk hidden, but do they really know what is about insurance and what type of insurance is available in the market? Throughout a number of searching by using the Google search engine and the library in campus, which was found that there are the surveys doing on Islamic Banking which may mentioned in various perspectives for instances the growth of Islamic banking in the world. Like what mentioning by Radio Australia, Islamic banking was one of the fastest growing sectors in the finance world which reveals by the value of the industry which worth of USD 1 Trillion in the year 2008. An addition, according to the bankers Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution survey, assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than that, what was found is there are quite a number of researches which study on the topic related to insurance. There are talked about the insurance expansion in the industry, growth of the insurance industry, the rate of market penetration. According to KCLAU (2007), the market penetration of life insurance as measured in terms of the total number of policies in force to total population, grew to 39.3 percent as at end of June 2007. While, besides the conventional which is generally accepted by the society, there are another type of risk transfer mechanism which is Islamic insurance was emerged in the other part of the globe. Islamic insurance was first widely spread over the Islamic country like Sudan, Arabic, India, South East Asia, and some other place in the world. The Islamic insurance also practiced in the region which is non Islamic country like European country and United of State. Since the growing of Islamic insurance throughout the world is in such a fast track, while, the doubt appeared was, it was hard to find the study on Islamic insurance rather than the conventional insurance. Another doubt was appeared that what is the reason to separate insurance into Islamic and conventional? What is the different perspective between Islamic insurance and conventional insurance? While, the most is, do people aware of the existence of Islamic insurance in the insurance industry which they approached ordinarily? Following by this, is the discussion on conventional and Islamic insurance. Research Objectives The general objective of this study is to clarify the different perspectives between conventional and Islamic insurance. While the other specific objectives as stated below which I am to study in this research. The specific objectives: To investigate the different perception of Muslim and Non Muslim towards conventional and Islamic insurance To investigate the determinants of demand for insurance in Malaysians To determine the level of awareness on Islamic insurance in the region of Malaysia Significance of Study This study may help the Malaysian Islamic Finance market to move a step up due to the hike up of the level of awareness on the conventional and Islamic insurance. Other than that, the study also provides the Muslim and Non Muslim within Malaysia to walk out of the religious teachings and some other factors in order to know more about the issues of insurance. Therefrom, Malaysias Islamic finance market may improve follow by the fast track in other country like what happened to the Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution, that assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than impacts on the country income and economic condition, this study also might helpful to the family or person who thinks of purchase insurance. By gone through this study, they are able to better analyze the product available in the market whether from the conventional insurance company or the Takaful operator which offer the Shariah compliance products and services. Then they are able to choose the best product which suit to them in terms of their needs, budget and also the religious teachings. Other than this, the study also may help the insurance company or the operators to determine the consumers intention of buying on their product. They may use the useful information to improve their products in order to enhance or even develop a better market position for their company. The growing in the insurance market plays an important role in the economic growth of the country. The growing may bring the country to a higher position in the world financial sector. Thus, Malaysia will stand still on the top of the world in the financial sector which playing the role of developing the conventional and Islamic insurance to the various country on the globe. Organization of Study This research report comprises of five chapters. The first chapter serves the introduction on insurance. It consists of the detail for conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. Problem statement and research objective is also discussed. Following the significance of study is presented. Lastly, the chapter one will end by the organization of study which show the flow out of the whole research project. Basically, chapter two will present the literature review which forms the foundation of this study. It consists of the related empirical study which done by other researchers previously. There are few factors which impact on the demand of insurance and influential to customers perception are included in this chapter. In chapter three, the research methodology of the study will be discussed. The research framework will be shown together with the hypothesis developed link together the variables in the study. Other than that, the sample planning, sources of data and data collection will also be carried out. Questionnaire design will also be laid out in this chapter following by the data analysis method which is the last part of this chapter. Following by this is chapter four which describe the results and discussion. Hence, the graph and table will be widely used to better interpret the findings and result of the study. Finally, chapter five will be the conclusion and the recommendation of this research. The level of awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will finally be presented and end this study. Chapter Two Literature Review INTRODUCTION Continue with the first chapter presented previously, this study is to observe the perception of Malaysia towards conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. For the sake of gaining a clearer view on this, exploring to the related literature is a must. Following, the overview of insurance and takaful will be presented. In 2.2, the discussion about the determinants impact on demand for insurance will be presented. Then, the study will indicate the perception of consumers towards conventional and Islamic methods of finance in few factors like the service quality, accessibility, convenience and status of the organizations. Lastly in 2.4, the awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will be discussed. Overview of Insurance and Islamic Insurance Insurance is a form of risk-management which transfer the possible risks like accident, theft, natural disaster and illness of ones or a group to the more financially sound entity, insurers in exchange with a small amount of payment which we called as premium. The meaning of insurance is essentially to understand for everybody who is considering of purchase an insurance policy or to understand the basics of what if finance. This instrument is used in hedging risk precautionary against the future contingent losses (Stanley St Labs, n.d). While, according to Insurance Info, insurance is being categorized two main categories which are life insurance and general insurance. The risks that covered by life insurance including premature death, income during retirement and illness. While the main products in life insurance are Whole life, Endowment, Term, Investment-linked, Life annuity plan, Medical and health. For general insurance, it is basically a policy that protects you from losses and damages which other than those covered by life insurance, for instance, property loss like stolen car and burnt house. Other than that, liability arising from damage caused by oneself to a third party, accidental death or injury also covered by the general insurance. The products offered under general insurance are Motor insurance, Fire/House owner/Householder insurance, Personal accident insurance, Medical and health insurance and Travel insurance. While for Islamic insurance, takaful, is a protection plan based on Shariah principles compliance. By contributing a sum of money to a common takaful fund in the form of participative contribution (tabarru), the person is undertaking a contract (aqad) to become one of the participants which agree to mutually help each other if any of the participants suffer a defined loss. Both takaul and insurance have similar basic principles where the insured must have a legitimate financial interest in the risk you are insuring, which means the insured must suffer a financial loss when the insured event occurred. In takaful, the life insurance is granted as family takaful. The products offered under family takaful are Family Takaful, Investment linked takaful, Child education takaful, Medical and health takaful. While for general takaful, there are Home takaful, Motor takaful and Personal accidents takaful. Perception towards Conventional and Islamic Insurance Perception, as defined by Stephen P. Robbins (2005) is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. Perception is important in decision making process. An individual must fully understand the decision must make along with all of the facts and information involved. If an individual has a bad perception of the situation and do not consider all of the facts that are involved like the external factors which anyone else have no control over the individual may lead to a wrong decision. In turn, this will cause negative consequences for the organization and the individual. In order to have a good perception on any given situation, an individual must analyze all of the significant information involved in a timely manner, without making a hasty decision (Wally Sparks, 2007). Service Quality According to Shahril Bin Shafie (2003), quality is sought by all organizations, especially in the service sector. Service quality is commonly noted as a critical prerequisite for establishing and sustaining satisfying relationships between organization and the customers (Lassar et al., 2000). According to Yap, S.F., and Kew, M.L., there are many researchers who have defined service quality in different ways. Among them, Bitner, Booms and Mohr (1994) define service quality as the consumers overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and its services. While, other researchers like Cronin and Taylor (1994), view service quality as a form of attitude representing a long run overall evaluation. Service quality has determining the repeated purchase and customer loyalty to an organization. When a customer choose a provider that provides service quality that meets or exceeds his or her expectations, then the customer is more likely to choose the same pro vider again. According to Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. By referring to a study conduct by Erdener Kaynak and Talha D. Harcar (2005) is found that, the service quality provide by conventional banking system is excellent than the others. The study indicated that the customer maintain a higher level of confidence in conventional bank rather than Islamic bank. In this study, the service being tested including the swiftness in correcting errors, fast and efficient service, and consumer complains handling and the courtesy personnel. While according to Hendrik, L., Hirun, A., Razli, C.R., Halim, M.L., Khairul, A. A., and Darwina, A.A. (n.d), indicate that customer satisfaction on Islamic banking products and services is different across the cities. The service quality is satisfied within Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur and Penang because these cities are bigger which also contains more populations, and are more economically developed. Due to these reasons, the service provided is more satisfactory because of the customers characteristics which different from income level, gender and also educational level.Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. The emergence of the Internet provides an opportunity for organizations to conduct business in cyberspace. Steven et al (2002), Soliman (2003), Wirtz (2001), Coltman (2001) had studied that Internet adoption and factors influencing the propensity and pattern of adoption among different sectors and sizes of organizations worldwide and in Malaysia, empirical data on online insurance has been limited (Fatimah et al, 2000; Yusserie at el, 2002). One of the reasons may be because the insurance industry has been slow to respond to the usage of Internet for business,, as compared to the other financial service (Esters, 1997). In 1999, recognizing the potential of the Internet, Bank Negara Malaysia allowed a group of insurers to establish the industry first interactive insurance website, which enabled policy owners to transact on the line for renewal of policy and also premium payment(BNM 2000). Internet via individual companys website allows customers to gain more information about the product and services offered by the companies (Ruquet, 2001). While, not all the business organizations are adopting Internet in their business due to various reasons like customer readiness, cost and the risks involved. Zinkewicz (2000) said that business do not use the Internet for business because customers do not trust the process involved, instead, they prefer human interactions (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Accessibility Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product or service is accessible by as many people as possible. It also viewed as the ability to access the functionality and possible benefits of some system or entity like information of the particular products and services (Wikipedia, 2009). In Malaysia, there are total up 1,752 numbers of registered insurance agencies distributed throughout the thirteen states and two federal territories. Among of all, there are agencies which offer both life insurance and also general insurance business like American International Assurance Bhd, Etiqa Insurance Berhad, Hong Leong Assurance Berhad and so on (BNM, 2008). Other than that, there are only eight licensed Takaful operator in Malaysia which are CIMB Aviva Takaful Berhad, Etiqa Takaful Berhad, Hong Leong Tokio Marine Takaful Berhad, HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, MAA Takaful Berhad, Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad,Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad and also Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd (BNM, 2008). Convenience Convenience is composed of number factors including the availability of parking space, location of branches, long operation hours. (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Customers will always prefer the products and services are available near to their working place or house area for the convenience of visiting. The sufficient parking space and long operation hours is for the convenience when visiting to the branch. Internet adoption is a type of convenience which offered by the insurance companies to their consumers, where consumers can get the products and services information through the website (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Other than that, interior comfort and external design also included affect the consumers perception on the convenience of selecting financial products. Status Status of an organization show measured through the strength of financial position, reputation and also the risk. As Islamic finance continue to expand. Islamic principles strong emphasis on the economic, ethical, moral and social dimensions, to enhance equality and fairness for the good of society as a whole should also have appeal for the ethnically minded (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Study which conducted by Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki (2009) also revealed that banks name and reputation is a strong effect on selecting a bank. In order to penetrate the youth market, Takaful Malaysia announced on 11th November, that RM 15 million has been pumped into the companys rebranding exercise. After twenty-five years of leading in Islamic insurance company in the country, Takaful Malaysia is setting on conquering the insurance industry by transforming itself into a more youthful outfit. Reflective of its tagline of modern, young and energetic, the company will unveils its new fresh-looking logo, a color fusion of apple green and olive green, described by Takaful Malaysia group director Datuk Hassan Kamil as vibrant and energetic. Takaful Malaysia believes that its latest approach will enhance its image and make it more appealing to the younger age-group which Hassan deems as a highly potential market segment (Joseph Kaos JR, 2009). Others Other than the above criteria, according to a study conducted in Jordan indicated that profit motivated criteria was an important factor to choose a bank service. However, other findings are that peer group influence plays an important role in selecting Islamic banks as depository institution. Other than that, politeness and friendliness of the personnel will also impact on the customers perception towards the financial institutions (Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki, 2009). Determinants of demand for insurance Insurance has become an important part of a financial sector over the past forty years. It provides a range of investments product for consumers. It also becomes the major source of investment in the capital market. Yet, the reasons for consumption of insurance are various across the countries. Demographic factors were amongst (Thorsten Beck, 2003; Ian Webb, 2003, Yvette Reisinger, 2009). While according to the study conducted by Truett et al. (1990), the consumption of insurance is depend on the price of insurance, income level of individual, and also the demographic factors such as age of individual insured and also the educational level. Gender The majority women of American have health insurance through either employer or through a public program. There are 66.67 percents of all women aged from 18 to 64 owned insurance through their employer, while another 16 percents through public program in year 2007. In contrast, there is 7 percents of nonelderly women in year 2007 purchase health coverage directly from insurance companies which we known as the individual market. Yet, the National Womens Law Centre (NWLC) investigated two phenomena, the gender gap which refers to the difference in premium charged to female and male applicants of the same age and health status. Another phenomenon is the availability and affordability of coverage for maternity care across the country. Based on the research, NWLC (2008) found that the individual market is a place which is very hard for women to purchase the health coverage. This is because insurance companies can refuse to sell women coverage due to the historic data that women have a higher percentage compared to men in suffering from a chronic condition which requiring ongoing treatment for instances asthma or arthritis. In addition, if the insurers discovered that an applicant underwent a Caesarean Section (C-Section) during the medical underwriting process, the company may charge a higher premium, or impose an exclusionary period which it refuses to cover another C-Section or pregnancy. New reports also revealed that women are more likely than men in taking prescription medication on a regular basis. In these conditions, the insurance company may reject the applications. On the other hand, it is difficult and costly for women to find health insurance that cover maternity care. A limited number of insurers offered this in separately for an additional fees which known as rider. Yet, this supplemental coverage is often far higher than ordinary plan. So typically, women have no other choice to select more or less comprehensive rider policy (NWLC, 2008). Educational Level According to Tienyu Hwang (2003) and Simon Gao (2003), the level of education plays a very important role in affecting the demand of insurance. It has been shown that the increasing of the educated population in a country, the recognition of the availability of insurance products will also be increased. Thus, the demand for insurance will also be growing in the country. Despite the education level in China is relatively low (Truett and monitor, 1996; World Bank, 1998), the increase in the education level will lead to a large number of people being realizing and able to recognize the essentiality of insurance. Therefore, it is likely to create a demand to purchase insurance. On the other hand, although the level of education in China remains low, china has made a great progress in improving the education system since the economic reform. This has increase the education level which leads to a greater awareness and understanding on the role of insurance. Hence, the level of education and demand for insurance is positively correlated. However, Szpiro and Outreville (198) proved that higher education leads to lower risk aversion, and that, in turn, leads to more risk taking by skilled and well educated people. While accor Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance Perceptions Towards Islamic Banking and Insurance Introduction In the first chapter of this research study, an introduction on insurance will be presented. While, on the other hand, there will be a highlight on the differences between conventional and Islamic insurance. Following this, will be the problem discussion and the objectives of this study. Finally, there will be the justification and significance, following by organization of the study. What Exactly Is Insurance Means Buying insurance has become a trend in this twentieth century. According to The Star daily(2007), in the first half of year 2007, the combined premium income for insurance industry increase 9.8 percent compared to the same period for year 2006. The industry is further expanded in line with the favorable economics performance. People bought the insurance for their car, family, and business. People spend a lot of money on paying the insurance premium annually. While, do they actually clear on what kind of plan they had bought and what had they insured for their life, property and so on? Do they really distinct on the concept of the insurance that they had disbursed so much? According to Bank Negara Malaysia, insurance is the transfer of risk by an individual, such as yourself or an organization, such as your business to an insurance company. You or your organization will then be known as policy holder or insured while the insurance company is the insurer. The insurance company receives the payment in the form of premium. Then the insurance company utilized the premium collect from their policy holder to make some investment for their company. They will compensate their policy holder in the event of losses or damages which is sustained by the premium paid. In other word, insurance is a form of risk management primarily used to hedge against the risk of a contingent loss by paying an amount of premium. It is an effective risk transfer mechanism for insured to exchange their uncertainty financial loss with the certain amount of premium (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). This kind of insurance we titled as conventional insurance which is the ordinary type of insurance that accepted by the society in general. While, other than the conventional insurance which we normally approached to, there are another type of insurance which we called as Islamic insurance. The Islamic insurance was step into Malaysia insurance market since November of year 1984 (Renat Bekkin, 2008). The first Islamic insurance company established in Malaysia was Takaful Malaysia Berhad. Early than that, Islamic insurance has stepping into the market of Sudan and Arab. What is Islamic insurance Islamic insurance is a mode of financial management which compliance to Shariah law. Islamic insurance is provided under a principle called Takaful. According to Islamic Banking, the term Takaful is derived from the Arabic word Kafaala meaning guaranteeing. Takaful means guaranteeing each other and refer to the concept of permissible Islamic insurance or Halal insurance. While by referring to Takaful Act 1984, Article 2, Takaful means a scheme based on brotherhood, solidarity and mutual assistance which provides for mutual financial aid and assistance to the participants in case of need whereby the participants mutually agree to contribute for that purpose. Literally, Takaful defines responsibility, shared guarantee, collective assurance and mutual undertakings. (Masum Billah, 2007) Some Muslims believe insurance is unnecessary, as society should helps its victims. Muslims can no longer ignore the fact that they live, they trade and communicate with open global systems, and they can no longer ignore the need for banking and insurance (Dr Aly Khorshid, 2004). In the eyes of Muslims, the concepts used by conventional insurance are against the law of Shariah. This is because conventional insurance is based on a contract of exchange (sale) between the insurance company and the covered person. This contract is void because it has the elements which are not permissible from Shariahs perspective. The elements are Gharar which means uncertainty. Conventional insurance has an element of Gharar due to the promise to pay a sum of money upon the occurrence of unsuspected events. The other elements are Maysir which refer to gambling. Existence of Gharar (uncertainties) leads to Maysir (gambling) in conventional insurance. The insured may either lose the entire premium he has paid or be compensated for the losses he incurs for the insured event. Riba was also one of the not permissible elements in the law of Shariah. Riba means interest. The investment of insurance funds in interest bearing securities such bonds and stocks, which do not comply with the Shariah principles, pose a major Muslims who purchase the conventional insurance (Alburn Mountain, 2008). In conventional insurance, vendors, the insurance company, sells their insurance plans to their clients, which we called as policy holder in the other way and invest the premium paid for the profit of its shareholder. Then, the policy holders do enjoy the risk transference that they are receiving the compensation if they face the financial loss on the events they insured. According to Islamic Banking, Takaful was grant as Islamic insurance because of the apparent similarity between the contract of kafaala and insurance. Takaful is an Islamic concept which grounded in Islamic Mualamat which define as banking transaction (SP Media, 2009). This concept already practices in diverse form over 1400 years long (Salam, 2008). Generally, Takaful is an insurance plan which based on Shariah principles. The members are to contribute a certain amount of money to a common pool which is Takaful fund in the form of participative contribution that also called as Tabarru. Tabarru means a donation, charity or gift which cannot be taken back (Dr Qaradawi, 2002). In general Takaful, a percentage of the participants contribution is considered as Tabarru, thus it cannot be taken back by the participants as it is the joint guarantee principle to help other participants. A portion of a participants contribution will be allocate through Tabarru principle to help participants from a sudden but defined risks. After contributing the money into Takaful mutual fund, they will undertake a contract which called as Aqad in Islam, to become one of the participants by agreeing to mutually help each other, should any of the participants suffer a defined loss (Arshad Shaikh, 2007). In Islamic insurance, participants (policyholders) are co-operating among themselves for their common goods. Every participants are to pay a part of the contribution (premium) as a donation to help those need assistance. Other than that, in Takaful system, losses are divided and liabilities spread according to the community pooling system. In order to eliminate the element of uncertainty in Takaful contract, the concept of Tabarru is incorporated. This is to enable the participant to fulfill his obligation of mutual help and joint guarantee should any of his fellow participants suffer a defined loss. In conventional insurance, policy holder can buy more than one policy or plan to hedge the particular risk in the event of loss or damage. By this, the policy holders are lessening the claims of the insurance company because the same amount of compensation has now burden by two companies. This is called reinsurance which an insurance company can transfer to another insurer, the reinsurer all or part of its liabilities in respect of claims arising under the contracts of insurance. This is to protect itself against the risk that its total claims costs in any year may wiping out of its profits and cause it to insolvent. As same in Islamic insurance, participants can buy more than one plan from other licensed Takaful operator. This is called as Retakaful in Islamic insurance (Bahrain, 2005). Why Takaful Insurance instead of Conventional Insurance In Islamic view, the concept used in conventional insurance is in conflict with the injunction of Islam (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). The conflicts were not against the concepts used by conventional insurance that trades and contracts were appeared in the concept. While the struggling are the weaknesses and the imperfect phrase which existed in the insurance contract. The objections are actually against the phrase of Gharar which means uncertainty, Maisir refers to gambling and the word Riba which point to the interest. The criticism was the word of Gharar is happened in the contract of insurance. Other than that, the phrase of gambling is presenting in its extreme form. Whats more is the element of interest is existed in the contract. These three phrases were the points appeared in the contract of conventional insurance that prohibited in Islamic view. Thus, they lead to the contradiction between conventional insurance and Islamic view (Ahmad Ali Khan, 2003). While, there are the person who does not agree the above matters. According to Dr Yusof al-Qaradawi (2002), he does not think that the concept used in conventional insurance is conflict with Islamic law, but he agrees that the conventional insurance is in need of some improvement to move in line with Islamic teachings. Problem Statement People are following the track of buying insurance nowadays. People buy insurance when there is a new born baby. They buy insurance during their travelling. Insurance also bought when people purchase a residential property. People also buy insurance for the sake of retiring. People buy insurance whenever they think there was an unseen risk hidden, but do they really know what is about insurance and what type of insurance is available in the market? Throughout a number of searching by using the Google search engine and the library in campus, which was found that there are the surveys doing on Islamic Banking which may mentioned in various perspectives for instances the growth of Islamic banking in the world. Like what mentioning by Radio Australia, Islamic banking was one of the fastest growing sectors in the finance world which reveals by the value of the industry which worth of USD 1 Trillion in the year 2008. An addition, according to the bankers Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution survey, assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than that, what was found is there are quite a number of researches which study on the topic related to insurance. There are talked about the insurance expansion in the industry, growth of the insurance industry, the rate of market penetration. According to KCLAU (2007), the market penetration of life insurance as measured in terms of the total number of policies in force to total population, grew to 39.3 percent as at end of June 2007. While, besides the conventional which is generally accepted by the society, there are another type of risk transfer mechanism which is Islamic insurance was emerged in the other part of the globe. Islamic insurance was first widely spread over the Islamic country like Sudan, Arabic, India, South East Asia, and some other place in the world. The Islamic insurance also practiced in the region which is non Islamic country like European country and United of State. Since the growing of Islamic insurance throughout the world is in such a fast track, while, the doubt appeared was, it was hard to find the study on Islamic insurance rather than the conventional insurance. Another doubt was appeared that what is the reason to separate insurance into Islamic and conventional? What is the different perspective between Islamic insurance and conventional insurance? While, the most is, do people aware of the existence of Islamic insurance in the insurance industry which they approached ordinarily? Following by this, is the discussion on conventional and Islamic insurance. Research Objectives The general objective of this study is to clarify the different perspectives between conventional and Islamic insurance. While the other specific objectives as stated below which I am to study in this research. The specific objectives: To investigate the different perception of Muslim and Non Muslim towards conventional and Islamic insurance To investigate the determinants of demand for insurance in Malaysians To determine the level of awareness on Islamic insurance in the region of Malaysia Significance of Study This study may help the Malaysian Islamic Finance market to move a step up due to the hike up of the level of awareness on the conventional and Islamic insurance. Other than that, the study also provides the Muslim and Non Muslim within Malaysia to walk out of the religious teachings and some other factors in order to know more about the issues of insurance. Therefrom, Malaysias Islamic finance market may improve follow by the fast track in other country like what happened to the Top 500 Islamic Financial Institution, that assets held by Islamic bank in year 2009 rose by 28.6 percent to 822 billion dollar from 639 billion dollar in year 2008. It posted a double-digit growth in the year 2009 despite of the economic slowdown occurred in the earlier year (Soren Billing, 2009). Other than impacts on the country income and economic condition, this study also might helpful to the family or person who thinks of purchase insurance. By gone through this study, they are able to better analyze the product available in the market whether from the conventional insurance company or the Takaful operator which offer the Shariah compliance products and services. Then they are able to choose the best product which suit to them in terms of their needs, budget and also the religious teachings. Other than this, the study also may help the insurance company or the operators to determine the consumers intention of buying on their product. They may use the useful information to improve their products in order to enhance or even develop a better market position for their company. The growing in the insurance market plays an important role in the economic growth of the country. The growing may bring the country to a higher position in the world financial sector. Thus, Malaysia will stand still on the top of the world in the financial sector which playing the role of developing the conventional and Islamic insurance to the various country on the globe. Organization of Study This research report comprises of five chapters. The first chapter serves the introduction on insurance. It consists of the detail for conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. Problem statement and research objective is also discussed. Following the significance of study is presented. Lastly, the chapter one will end by the organization of study which show the flow out of the whole research project. Basically, chapter two will present the literature review which forms the foundation of this study. It consists of the related empirical study which done by other researchers previously. There are few factors which impact on the demand of insurance and influential to customers perception are included in this chapter. In chapter three, the research methodology of the study will be discussed. The research framework will be shown together with the hypothesis developed link together the variables in the study. Other than that, the sample planning, sources of data and data collection will also be carried out. Questionnaire design will also be laid out in this chapter following by the data analysis method which is the last part of this chapter. Following by this is chapter four which describe the results and discussion. Hence, the graph and table will be widely used to better interpret the findings and result of the study. Finally, chapter five will be the conclusion and the recommendation of this research. The level of awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will finally be presented and end this study. Chapter Two Literature Review INTRODUCTION Continue with the first chapter presented previously, this study is to observe the perception of Malaysia towards conventional insurance and Islamic insurance. For the sake of gaining a clearer view on this, exploring to the related literature is a must. Following, the overview of insurance and takaful will be presented. In 2.2, the discussion about the determinants impact on demand for insurance will be presented. Then, the study will indicate the perception of consumers towards conventional and Islamic methods of finance in few factors like the service quality, accessibility, convenience and status of the organizations. Lastly in 2.4, the awareness among Malaysian towards Islamic insurance will be discussed. Overview of Insurance and Islamic Insurance Insurance is a form of risk-management which transfer the possible risks like accident, theft, natural disaster and illness of ones or a group to the more financially sound entity, insurers in exchange with a small amount of payment which we called as premium. The meaning of insurance is essentially to understand for everybody who is considering of purchase an insurance policy or to understand the basics of what if finance. This instrument is used in hedging risk precautionary against the future contingent losses (Stanley St Labs, n.d). While, according to Insurance Info, insurance is being categorized two main categories which are life insurance and general insurance. The risks that covered by life insurance including premature death, income during retirement and illness. While the main products in life insurance are Whole life, Endowment, Term, Investment-linked, Life annuity plan, Medical and health. For general insurance, it is basically a policy that protects you from losses and damages which other than those covered by life insurance, for instance, property loss like stolen car and burnt house. Other than that, liability arising from damage caused by oneself to a third party, accidental death or injury also covered by the general insurance. The products offered under general insurance are Motor insurance, Fire/House owner/Householder insurance, Personal accident insurance, Medical and health insurance and Travel insurance. While for Islamic insurance, takaful, is a protection plan based on Shariah principles compliance. By contributing a sum of money to a common takaful fund in the form of participative contribution (tabarru), the person is undertaking a contract (aqad) to become one of the participants which agree to mutually help each other if any of the participants suffer a defined loss. Both takaul and insurance have similar basic principles where the insured must have a legitimate financial interest in the risk you are insuring, which means the insured must suffer a financial loss when the insured event occurred. In takaful, the life insurance is granted as family takaful. The products offered under family takaful are Family Takaful, Investment linked takaful, Child education takaful, Medical and health takaful. While for general takaful, there are Home takaful, Motor takaful and Personal accidents takaful. Perception towards Conventional and Islamic Insurance Perception, as defined by Stephen P. Robbins (2005) is a process by which individuals organize and interpret their sensory impressions in order to give meaning to their environment. Perception is important in decision making process. An individual must fully understand the decision must make along with all of the facts and information involved. If an individual has a bad perception of the situation and do not consider all of the facts that are involved like the external factors which anyone else have no control over the individual may lead to a wrong decision. In turn, this will cause negative consequences for the organization and the individual. In order to have a good perception on any given situation, an individual must analyze all of the significant information involved in a timely manner, without making a hasty decision (Wally Sparks, 2007). Service Quality According to Shahril Bin Shafie (2003), quality is sought by all organizations, especially in the service sector. Service quality is commonly noted as a critical prerequisite for establishing and sustaining satisfying relationships between organization and the customers (Lassar et al., 2000). According to Yap, S.F., and Kew, M.L., there are many researchers who have defined service quality in different ways. Among them, Bitner, Booms and Mohr (1994) define service quality as the consumers overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and its services. While, other researchers like Cronin and Taylor (1994), view service quality as a form of attitude representing a long run overall evaluation. Service quality has determining the repeated purchase and customer loyalty to an organization. When a customer choose a provider that provides service quality that meets or exceeds his or her expectations, then the customer is more likely to choose the same pro vider again. According to Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. By referring to a study conduct by Erdener Kaynak and Talha D. Harcar (2005) is found that, the service quality provide by conventional banking system is excellent than the others. The study indicated that the customer maintain a higher level of confidence in conventional bank rather than Islamic bank. In this study, the service being tested including the swiftness in correcting errors, fast and efficient service, and consumer complains handling and the courtesy personnel. While according to Hendrik, L., Hirun, A., Razli, C.R., Halim, M.L., Khairul, A. A., and Darwina, A.A. (n.d), indicate that customer satisfaction on Islamic banking products and services is different across the cities. The service quality is satisfied within Johor Bahru, Kuala Lumpur and Penang because these cities are bigger which also contains more populations, and are more economically developed. Due to these reasons, the service provided is more satisfactory because of the customers characteristics which different from income level, gender and also educational level.Erol and El-Bdour (1989), Erol, Kaynak, and El-Bdour (1990) and Haron, Ahmad and Planisek (1994) observed that Islamic bank consumers rated the speed and efficiency of services near their top selection criterion on finance service provider. The emergence of the Internet provides an opportunity for organizations to conduct business in cyberspace. Steven et al (2002), Soliman (2003), Wirtz (2001), Coltman (2001) had studied that Internet adoption and factors influencing the propensity and pattern of adoption among different sectors and sizes of organizations worldwide and in Malaysia, empirical data on online insurance has been limited (Fatimah et al, 2000; Yusserie at el, 2002). One of the reasons may be because the insurance industry has been slow to respond to the usage of Internet for business,, as compared to the other financial service (Esters, 1997). In 1999, recognizing the potential of the Internet, Bank Negara Malaysia allowed a group of insurers to establish the industry first interactive insurance website, which enabled policy owners to transact on the line for renewal of policy and also premium payment(BNM 2000). Internet via individual companys website allows customers to gain more information about the product and services offered by the companies (Ruquet, 2001). While, not all the business organizations are adopting Internet in their business due to various reasons like customer readiness, cost and the risks involved. Zinkewicz (2000) said that business do not use the Internet for business because customers do not trust the process involved, instead, they prefer human interactions (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Accessibility Accessibility is a general term used to describe the degree to which a product or service is accessible by as many people as possible. It also viewed as the ability to access the functionality and possible benefits of some system or entity like information of the particular products and services (Wikipedia, 2009). In Malaysia, there are total up 1,752 numbers of registered insurance agencies distributed throughout the thirteen states and two federal territories. Among of all, there are agencies which offer both life insurance and also general insurance business like American International Assurance Bhd, Etiqa Insurance Berhad, Hong Leong Assurance Berhad and so on (BNM, 2008). Other than that, there are only eight licensed Takaful operator in Malaysia which are CIMB Aviva Takaful Berhad, Etiqa Takaful Berhad, Hong Leong Tokio Marine Takaful Berhad, HSBC Amanah Takaful (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, MAA Takaful Berhad, Prudential BSN Takaful Berhad,Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad and also Takaful Ikhlas Sdn Bhd (BNM, 2008). Convenience Convenience is composed of number factors including the availability of parking space, location of branches, long operation hours. (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Customers will always prefer the products and services are available near to their working place or house area for the convenience of visiting. The sufficient parking space and long operation hours is for the convenience when visiting to the branch. Internet adoption is a type of convenience which offered by the insurance companies to their consumers, where consumers can get the products and services information through the website (Ainin and Jaafar, 2003). Other than that, interior comfort and external design also included affect the consumers perception on the convenience of selecting financial products. Status Status of an organization show measured through the strength of financial position, reputation and also the risk. As Islamic finance continue to expand. Islamic principles strong emphasis on the economic, ethical, moral and social dimensions, to enhance equality and fairness for the good of society as a whole should also have appeal for the ethnically minded (Jasmi Al-Ajmi, Hameeda Abo Hussain and Nadhem Al-Saleh, 2009). Study which conducted by Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki (2009) also revealed that banks name and reputation is a strong effect on selecting a bank. In order to penetrate the youth market, Takaful Malaysia announced on 11th November, that RM 15 million has been pumped into the companys rebranding exercise. After twenty-five years of leading in Islamic insurance company in the country, Takaful Malaysia is setting on conquering the insurance industry by transforming itself into a more youthful outfit. Reflective of its tagline of modern, young and energetic, the company will unveils its new fresh-looking logo, a color fusion of apple green and olive green, described by Takaful Malaysia group director Datuk Hassan Kamil as vibrant and energetic. Takaful Malaysia believes that its latest approach will enhance its image and make it more appealing to the younger age-group which Hassan deems as a highly potential market segment (Joseph Kaos JR, 2009). Others Other than the above criteria, according to a study conducted in Jordan indicated that profit motivated criteria was an important factor to choose a bank service. However, other findings are that peer group influence plays an important role in selecting Islamic banks as depository institution. Other than that, politeness and friendliness of the personnel will also impact on the customers perception towards the financial institutions (Ahasanul Haque, Jamil Osman and Ahmad Zaki, 2009). Determinants of demand for insurance Insurance has become an important part of a financial sector over the past forty years. It provides a range of investments product for consumers. It also becomes the major source of investment in the capital market. Yet, the reasons for consumption of insurance are various across the countries. Demographic factors were amongst (Thorsten Beck, 2003; Ian Webb, 2003, Yvette Reisinger, 2009). While according to the study conducted by Truett et al. (1990), the consumption of insurance is depend on the price of insurance, income level of individual, and also the demographic factors such as age of individual insured and also the educational level. Gender The majority women of American have health insurance through either employer or through a public program. There are 66.67 percents of all women aged from 18 to 64 owned insurance through their employer, while another 16 percents through public program in year 2007. In contrast, there is 7 percents of nonelderly women in year 2007 purchase health coverage directly from insurance companies which we known as the individual market. Yet, the National Womens Law Centre (NWLC) investigated two phenomena, the gender gap which refers to the difference in premium charged to female and male applicants of the same age and health status. Another phenomenon is the availability and affordability of coverage for maternity care across the country. Based on the research, NWLC (2008) found that the individual market is a place which is very hard for women to purchase the health coverage. This is because insurance companies can refuse to sell women coverage due to the historic data that women have a higher percentage compared to men in suffering from a chronic condition which requiring ongoing treatment for instances asthma or arthritis. In addition, if the insurers discovered that an applicant underwent a Caesarean Section (C-Section) during the medical underwriting process, the company may charge a higher premium, or impose an exclusionary period which it refuses to cover another C-Section or pregnancy. New reports also revealed that women are more likely than men in taking prescription medication on a regular basis. In these conditions, the insurance company may reject the applications. On the other hand, it is difficult and costly for women to find health insurance that cover maternity care. A limited number of insurers offered this in separately for an additional fees which known as rider. Yet, this supplemental coverage is often far higher than ordinary plan. So typically, women have no other choice to select more or less comprehensive rider policy (NWLC, 2008). Educational Level According to Tienyu Hwang (2003) and Simon Gao (2003), the level of education plays a very important role in affecting the demand of insurance. It has been shown that the increasing of the educated population in a country, the recognition of the availability of insurance products will also be increased. Thus, the demand for insurance will also be growing in the country. Despite the education level in China is relatively low (Truett and monitor, 1996; World Bank, 1998), the increase in the education level will lead to a large number of people being realizing and able to recognize the essentiality of insurance. Therefore, it is likely to create a demand to purchase insurance. On the other hand, although the level of education in China remains low, china has made a great progress in improving the education system since the economic reform. This has increase the education level which leads to a greater awareness and understanding on the role of insurance. Hence, the level of education and demand for insurance is positively correlated. However, Szpiro and Outreville (198) proved that higher education leads to lower risk aversion, and that, in turn, leads to more risk taking by skilled and well educated people. While accor