Este trabalho objetiva promover a breve descrição das principais modalidades contratuais aplicáveis às obras de construção civil de edifícios para super e hipermercados, os quais possuem suas premissas e restrições dentro da contextualização exposta. Aborda como os diferentes arranjos contratuais determinam e evidenciam o relacionamento e integração entre as partes, e como promovem a obtenção dos objetivos destas, através de diferentes formas de alocação dos riscos e metodologia de gestão, passíveis de serem aplicadas para o controle de reivindicações. Através do levantamento de campo apresentado, o trabalho traz dados relevantes que fundamentam recomendações para uma melhor estratégia contratual e seleção de modalidade de contrato a ser aplicada, para a contratação de obras de super e hipermercados. / The objective of this dissertation is to give a brief description of the main contractual arrangements for the construction of buildings for supermarkets and hypermarkets, which have their premises and constraints within the exposed context exposed. It broaches how different contractual arrangements determines the relationship and integration between the parties, and facilitate the achieving of the objectives participants, the risks allocation and risk management methodology applied to the control of contractual claims. Through the survey presented, it brings relevant data that will support the best strategy and type of contract selection to be applied for the construction of super and hypermarkets.

O objeto do estudo diz respeito a como demandas individuais podem resultar em demandas coletivas. Interesses são relações entre necessidades e os bens capazes de satisfazê-las. Nesse sentido, interesses podem ser entendidos como uma demanda por um bem. Interesses coletivos se relacionam a bens capazes de satisfazer necessidades de uma coletividade. O conflito de interesses ocorre nos casos em que o atendimento a um interesse importa a denegação de outro. O Direito pode ser visto como um instrumento ético de resolução de conflito de interesses. O processo civil tradicionalmente foi concebido para a resolução de conflitos individuais. Com o reconhecimento dos interesses coletivos pelo Direito, novas técnicas processuais foram desenvolvidas para permitir a resolução de conflitos coletivos. Apesar disso, o número de demandas individuais relacionadas com questões coletivas cresce exponencialmente, causando o congestionamento de processos nos tribunais e a denegação de justiça. Questões estruturais, culturais e legais são fatores que levam a esse problema. Novas técnicas deveriam ser implementadas para a conversão de demandas individuais em demandas coletivas nos casos em que o seu objeto seja incindível e pertinente a uma coletividade. / The scope of the study pertains to how individual claims may result in collective (aggregated) claims. Interests are relationships between needs and the goods that can fulfill them. In this sense, interests can be conceived as a claim for a good. Collective interests relate to goods that are able to satisfy needs of a group of people. A conflict of interests takes place when the accomplishment of one precludes the other. The Law may be conceived as an ethical tool to the resolution of conflict of interests. Traditional litigation schemes were designed for the resolution of individual conflicts. With the recognition of collective rights by the Law, new civil procedure techniques were developed to allow resolution of collective conflicts. Despite that, the number of individual claims related to collective issues grows exponentially, causing a backlog of cases and the denial of justice. Structural, cultural and legal issues are factors leading to this problem. New techniques should be designed to convert individual claims into collective claims in cases where their object is indivisible and pertains to a group.

This paper analyzes the approaches of the insurance companies on the Czech insurance market to the settlement of claims. It deals with activities of the settlement of claims from report of a claim to the payment of an indemnity. In the analysis of the approaches of insurance companies to the settlement of claims this paper focuses on the five topics: direct settlement, elektronic file application, approach to the solutions of the insurance fraud, product advantage in connection with the claims experience and approach to the amortization.

O presente estudo tem como tema central a análise do tratamento diferenciado entre os credores sujeitos à recuperação judicial, disciplinada pela Lei 11.101/2005. A necessidade de tratar credores de forma igualitária encontra-se prevista no princípio clássico do direito concursal chamado par condicio creditorum. Assim, busca-se analisar a aplicabilidade desse princípio na recuperação judicial, bem como os elementos que permitam uma compreensão do instituto a fim de construir uma base teórica, problematizar a funcionalidade da Lei através do exame da jurisprudência e doutrina e estabelecer critérios. A relevância do tema justifica-se em razão da matéria ser controvertida e de grande aplicação prática pela existência de diferenciação de tratamento entre credores na maioria das recuperações judiciais. Para tanto, no primeiro capítulo, analisa-se os conceitos básicos e origens para estudo da par condicio creditorum e o contexto dos princípios que norteiam o direito concursal. No segundo capítulo é abordada a importância da jurisprudência e dos credores na construção da recuperação judicial, destacando a problemática existente nas classes de credores originalmente previstas na legislação e a natureza jurídica do plano de recuperação judicial. No terceiro capítulo são analisados os principais casos em que ocorre o tratamento diferenciado entre credores na recuperação judicial, como a criação de subclasses, a existência de credor estratégico ou colaborativo que financie a empresa devedora e a consolidação substantiva de grupos societários, objetivando estabelecer critérios. Finalmente, no quarto capítulo discute-se a soberania da assembleia-geral de credores, o papel do juiz na homologação do plano de recuperação judicial e as hipóteses de controle de legalidade pelo judiciário. Ao final, são expostas as conclusões sobre a pesquisa. / The present study has as its central theme the analysis of the unfair discrimination among creditors subject to reorganization, disciplined by Law 11.101/2005. The need to treat creditors in an egalitarian manner is provided for in the classic principle of bankruptcy law called par condicio creditorum. Thus, the study seeks to analyze the applicability of this principle in reorganization, as well as the elements that allow an understanding of the institute in order to build a theoretical basis, problematize the functionality of the Law through the examination of jurisprudence and doctrine and establish criteria. The relevance of the topic is justified because the matter is controversial and of great practical application by the existence of different treatment between creditors in most reorganization process. To do so, the first chapter analyzes the basic concepts and origins for the study of par condicio creditorum and the context of the principles that guide bankruptcy law. The second chapter deals with the importance of jurisprudence and creditors in the construction of the reorganization process, highlighting the problems existing in the classes of claims originally foreseen in the legislation and the legal nature of the plan of reorganization. The third chapter analyzes the main cases in which unfair discrimination occurs between creditors in reorganization process, such as the creation of subclasses, the existence of essential venders that finances the debtor company and the substantive consolidation of corporate groups, aiming to establish criteria. Finally, the fourth chapter discusses the sovereignty of the general assembly of creditors, the role of the judge in the confirmation of the reorganization plan and the hypotheses of legality control by the judiciary. At the end, the conclusions about the research are presented.

Neste trabalho, apresentamos um método de simulação Monte Carlo para o cálculo do hedging dinâmico de opções do tipo europeia em mercados multidimensionais do tipo Browniano e livres de arbitragem. Baseado em aproximações martingales de variação limitada para as decomposições de Galtchouk-Kunita-Watanabe, propomos uma metodologia factível e construtiva que nos permite calcular estratégias de hedging puras com respeito a qualquer opção quadrado integrável em mercados completos e incompletos. Uma vantagem da abordagem apresentada aqui é a flexibilidade de aplicação do método para os critérios quadráticos de minimização do risco local e de variância média de forma geral, sem a necessidade de se considerar hipóteses de suavidade para a função payoff. Em particular, a metodologia pode ser aplicada para calcular estratégias de hedging quadráticas multidimensionais para opções que dependem de toda a trajetória dos ativos subjacentes em modelos de volatilidade estocástica e com funções payoff descontínuas. Ilustramos nossa metodologia, fornecendo exemplos numéricos dos cálculos das estratégias de hedging para opções vanilla e opções exóticas que dependem de toda a trajetória dos ativos subjacentes escritas sobre modelos de volatilidade local e modelos de volatilidade estocástica. Ressaltamos que as simulações são baseadas em aproximações para os processos de preços descontados e, para estas aproximações, utilizamos o método numérico de Euler-Maruyama aplicado em uma discretização aleatória simples. Além disso, fornecemos alguns resultados teóricos acerca da convergência desta aproximação para modelos simples em que podemos considerar a condição de Lipschitz e para o modelo de volatilidade estocástica de Heston. / In this work, we present a Monte Carlo simulation method to compute de dynamic hedging of european-type contingent claims in a multidimensional Brownian-type and arbitrage-free market. Based on bounded variation martingale approximations for the Galtchouk-Kunita- Watanabe decomposition, we propose a feasible and constructive methodology which allows us to compute pure hedging strategies with respect to any square-integrable contingent claim in complete and incomplete markets. An advantage of our approach is the exibility of quadratic hedging in full generality without a priori smoothness assumptions on the payoff function. In particular, the methodology can be applied to compute multidimensional quadratic hedgingtype strategies for fully path-dependent options with stochastic volatility and discontinuous payoffs. We illustrate our methodology, providing some numerical examples of the hedging strategies to vanilla and exotic contingent claims written on local volatility and stochastic volatility models. The simulations are based in approximations to the discounted price processes and, for these approximations, we use an Euler-Maruyama-type method applied to a simple random discretization. We also provide some theoretical results about the convergence of this approximation in simple models where the Lipschitz condition is satisfied and the Heston\'s stochastic volatility model.

Understanding how health care markets function is important not only because competition has a direct influence on the price and utilization of health care services, but also because the proper functioning, or lack thereof, of health care markets has a very real impact on patients who depend on health care markets and providers for their personal well-being. In this dissertation, I examine the role of government policies and regulation in health care markets, with a focus on the response of health care providers. In Chapter 1, I analyze the impact of Medicare payment rules on hospital ownership of physician practices. Since the mid-2000’s, there has been a rapid increase in hospital ownership of physician practices, however, there is little empirical research which addresses the causes of this recent wave of integration. Medicare’s “provider-based” billing policy allows hospital-owned physician practices to charge higher reimbursement rates for services provided compared to a freestanding, independent physician practice, without altering how or where services are provided. This “site-based” differential creates a premium for physicians to integrate with hospitals, and the size of this differential varies with the types of health care services provided. I find that Medicare payment rules have contributed to hospital ownership of physician practices and that the response varies across physician specialties. A 10 percent increase in the relative reimbursement rate paid to integrated physicians leads to a 1.9 percentage point increase in the probability of hospital ownership for Medical Care specialties, including cardiology, neurology, and dermatology, which explains about one-third of observed integration of these specialties from 2005 through 2015. Magnitudes for Surgical Care specialties are similar, but more sensitive across specifications. There is no significant response for Primary Care physicians. In combination with other empirical literature which finds that integration between physicians and hospitals typically results in higher prices with no impact on costs or quality of care, I cautiously interpret this responsiveness as evidence that Medicare’s provider-based billing policy overcompensates integrated physician practices and leads to an inefficiently high level of vertical integration between physician and hospitals. In Chapter 2, I analyze the effect of anti-fraud enforcement activity on Medicaid spending, with a particular focus on the False Claims Act. The False Claims Act (FCA) is a federal statute which protects the government from making undeserved payments to contractors and suppliers. Individual states have chosen to enact their own versions of the federal FCA, and these statutes have increasingly been used to target health care fraud. FCA statutes commonly include substantial monetary penalties such as “per-violation” monetary fines and tripled damages, as well as a “whistleblower” provision which allows private plaintiffs to initiate a lawsuit and collect a portion of recoveries as a reward. Using variation in statelevel FCA legislation, I find state FCAs reduce Medicaid prescription drug spending by 21 percent, while other spending categories - which are less lucrative for FCA lawsuits - are unresponsive. Within the prescription drug category, drugs prone to off-label use show larger declines in response to the whistleblower laws, consistent with FCA lawsuits being used to prosecute pharmaceutical manufacturers for off-label marketing and promotion. Spending and prescription volume for drugs prone to off-label use fall by up to 14 percent. This effect could be driven by pharmaceutical manufacturers’ changes in physician detailing for drugs prone to off-label use and/or physicians’ changes in prescribing behavior.

Since 1980, many convertible bonds have been issued by Swedish companies. Most of these issues have been aimed at the employees. The great number of these employee issues gave rise to a new tax law. This tax law made it necessary to obtain a value on a convertible bond certificate at issue. In the first part of the dissertation, the institutional setting for the issuing of convertible bonds in Sweden is discussed. The relevant tax laws and recommendations given by different organizations are described. Also other features related to the issues are described. Furthermore, an empirical study of convertible bonds issues to emplyees in listed companies is carried out. The main purpose of the study is to quantify the volume of convertible bond issues to employees which have defaulted. Issues with a nominal value of around 500 million Swedish Crowns have been involved in some form of default. In this study, several models are compared to investigate whether the choice of model for valuing convertible bonds is important. These models all fall within the framework of Contingent Claims Analysis. Contingent Claims Analysis is an option based technique for determining the value of a claim whose payoffs depend upon the development of one or several underlying variables. In the study, it is shown in great detail how to set up and use those models. It is shown that the choice of model is important for the value of a convertible bond in certain situations. Those situations are identified by an empirical study of Swedish convertible bonds and through sensitivity analysis. / <p>Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögskolan, 1993</p>

Increased trade and exchange within the European Community has brought with it the need for less restricted circulation of judgments. The situation has improved greatly due to the enactment of Regulation (EC) No. 44/2001 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters (the Brussels I Regulation). Despite recent improvements the proceedings are still time-consuming and difficult. Many creditors refrain from having judgments recognized and enforced as the proceedings cost too much time and are too time-consuming. On January the 21st 2005 a new Regulation entered into force, Regulation (EC) No. 805/2004 creating a European Enforcement Order for uncontested claims (The Enforcement Order Regulation). The purpose of the Regulation is to permit free circulation of judgments. A judgment can be certified as a European Enforcement Order and is thereby directly enforceable throughout the European Community. Intermediate proceedings declaring the judgment enforceable are abolished. An issued European Enforcement Order furthermore prevents the parties from opposing enforcement. The exequatur is abolished and the judgment is examined only by the Member State of origin before being certified as a European Enforcement Order. The Regulation applies from October the 21st 2005. Until then only speculations can be made about its impact on the recognition and enforcement of foreign judgments. This study of the Enforcement Order Regulation and its scope shows some weak points. The Enforcement Order Regulation does however in general seem to be well suited to obtain the stated purpose: permitting free circulation of judgments. / Gränsöverskridande handel och samfärdsel inom den Europeiska gemenskapen har fört med sig ett behov av domar som gäller i andra medlemsstater. Både möjligheterna till och förfarandena för erkännande och verkställighet har förbättrats avsevärt med ikraftträdandet av förordning (EG) nr. 44/2001 om domstols behörighet och om erkännande och verkställighet av domar på privaträttens område (Bryssel I-förordningen). Trots utvecklingen är förfarandena fortfarande invecklade och utdragna. Många borgenärer underlåter att försöka få domar erkända och verkställda eftersom kostnaderna i såväl tid som pengar avskräcker. Den 21 januari 2005 trädde en ny förordning i kraft på området, förordning (EG) nr. 805/2004 om införande av en europeisk exekutionstitel för obestridda fordringar (exekutionstitelsförordningen). Förordningen syftar till att möjliggöra fri rörlighet av domar. Ett intyg om europeisk exekutionstitel utfärdas och kan direkt läggas till grund för verkställighet inom gemenskapen, utan mellankommande nationella förfaranden som förklarar en dom verkställbar. Intyget om en europeisk exekutionstitel medför också att en part inte kan motsätta sig verkställighet. Exekvaturförfarandet avskaffas alltså och domen kontrolleras endast i ursprungsstaten innan den godkänns som europeisk exekutionstitel. Förordningen börjar tillämpas den 21 oktober 2005 och fram till dess går det bara att spekulera i dess betydelse för erkännande och verkställighet av vissa utländska domar. Denna studie av förordningen och dess tillämpning visar att vissa brister föreligger. Den tycks dock på det hela taget vara tillfredsställande utformad för att uppnå sitt syfte: att underlätta fri rörlighet av domar.

This study conducts a critical analysis and defnse of John Hick's philosohpy of religious pluralism. Contrary to his critics, Hick's theory is shown to be philosophically plausible and logically coherent. However, while the pluralist hypothesis can be defended philosophically, there are theological or religious problems with it. Both the strengths and weaknesses of the hypothesis are drawn out in this study, which is conducted under four main categories - epistemology, ontology, truth calims, and eschatology. Major criticisms of the hypothesis are debunked. Important concepts of Hick's overall philosophy of religion, such as experiencing-as, soul-making, and the Kantian connection, are explored in relation to the hypothesis, as are Hick's influences from the various religions.

This thesis attempts to analyze a part of the big and complex process of how intellectual property ownership and technological innovation influence the performance of firms and their revenues. Here I analyze a firm's stock market performance as a function of the quantity and quality of intellectual property (patents) owned by the firm in context of the three US high-technology sectors, Pharmaceuticals, Semiconductors and Wireless. In these sectors, value of a firm is predominantly driven by the technologies which a firm owns. I use citation based indicators and number of claims to measure the quality of patents. This research presents empirical evidence for the hypothesis that in high-tech sectors, companies which generate better quality intellectual property perform better than average in the stock market. I also posit that firms which are producing better quality technologies (good R&D) invest more in R&D regardless of their market performance. Furthermore, though smaller firms get relatively less returns on quality and quantity of innovation, they tend to invest a bigger fraction of their total assets in R&D when they are generating high quality patents. Larger firms enjoy the super-additivity effects in terms of market performance as the same intellectual property gives better returns to them. In addition, returns to R&D are relatively higher in the pharmaceutical industry than semiconductor or wireless industries.