Statutory reserves in life insurance companies are required by regulation laws. Regulators monitor insurers’ statutory reserves to protect policy holders’ future benefits and ensure the insurers are financially healthy. The purpose of this report is to give a brief introduction to statutory reserves in life insurance companies. In this report, assumptions and valuation methods for statutory reserve valuations are explained and discussed. The comparisons between statutory reserves and GAAP reserves are also discussed. / text

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In response to concern about the model of trade and investment liberalization reflected in existing and proposed trade and investment agreements (TIAs), efforts have been made to balance the economic orientation of trade with social considerations. One proposal that has garnered significant attention in this regard is the social clause (SC): a set of labour rights to be attached to the text of TIAs. Although the idea of including labour rights in TIAs seems laudable, significant opposition to the particular SC recommendations developed by Canadian and international labour organizations has emerged. Some critics charge that the addition of a clause to TIAs will not only prove unproductive, but will actually serve to legitimate problematic aspects of these agreements. Others insist that the content of the SC will exacerbate existing inequalities in the international trade order. In this thesis, I reconstruct debate over the SC to determine whether this instrument can effectively contribute to the realization of a more socially responsible trade and investment regime. Using proposals advanced by the Canadian Labour Congress as a key point of reference, I argue that there are resources available to clause proponents to respond to claims that the SC is an inadequate approach to the goal of resisting the current model of liberalization. As such, there is room to resist the conclusion that the SC should be rejected in its entirety. While it may be possible to preserve the SC approach, however, the same cannot be said about the content of current clause proposals. Criticisms of the narrow range of issues covered by existing SC recommendations clearly demonstrate that a rethinking of the content of the clause is not only warranted, but also necessary. Accordingly, I conclude by exploring three considerations that should be factored into the development of what would constitute a more adequate SC: first, existing patterns of inequality in the international trade system; second, the range of issues addressed by the clause; and third, the location of the clause within the context of the international trade regime.

This thesis seeks to develop background knowledge about actors in the Province of British Columbia. The British Columbia Labour Relations Act defines actors as employees. The federal Status of the Artist Act recognizes them as self-employed. How did this conflict arise, and how does it affect the role of actors in Canadian cultural life? The status of actors individually and severally under the Vagrancy Acts of England from 1572 is analyzed. The censure of. artists by a U.S. Congressional Committee in the twentieth century is reviewed. The international model of cultural self- determination and freedom of individual conscience as promulgated by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and UNESCO Charter is outlined. The arms-length model suggested in the 1951 Massey Report; and the 1957 Canada Council. Act is examined. The erosion of the arms-length principle in Canadian cultural affairs is linked to the politicizing of the arts in Canada: art production coupled with social policy and political initiatives in the 1970's; the cultural industries identified as a source of economic benefits in the 1980's; and regional industrial strategy initiatives presented as cultural policy in the 1990's. In conclusion, an assessment of current trends in cultural policy affecting actors' status, rights, professional development, and artistic freedom in British Columbia is followed by a draft Status of the Artist Act, policy recommendations in culture, and a proposal for an Actors' Development Company.

Goal of this thesis is to study four problems. In chapters 3-5, we consider scalar conser- vation law in one space dimension with strictly convex flux. First problem is to know the profile of the entropy solution. In spite of the fact that, this was studied extensively in last several decades, the complete profile of the entropy solution is not well understood. Second problem is the exact controllability. This was studied for Burgers equation and some partial results are obtained for large time. It was a challenging problem to know the controllability for all time and also for general convex flux. In a seminal paper [25], Dafermos introduces the characteristic curves and obtain some qualitative properties of a solution of a convex conservation law. In this thesis, we further study the finer properties of these characteristic curves. Here we solve these two problems in complete generality. In view of the explicit formulas of Lax - Oleinik [31], Joseph - Gowda [40], target func- tions must satisfy some necessary conditions. In this thesis we prove that these are also sufficient. Method of the proof depends highly on the characteristic methods and explicit formula given by Lax - Oleinik and the proof is constructive. Third problem is to solve the optimal controllability problem. In chapter 5 we derive a method to obtain a solution of an optimal control problem for the scalar conservation laws with convex flux. By using the method of descent, this type of problem was considered by Castro-Palacios-Zuazua in [23] for the Burgers equation. Our approach is simple and based on the explicit formulas of Hopf and Lax-Olenik. Last but not the least is about the problem of total variation bound for solution of scalar conservation laws with discontinuous flux. For the scalar con- servation laws with discontinuous flux, an infinite family (A, B)-interface entropies are introduced and each one of them has been shown to form an L1 -contraction semigroup (see, [8]). One of the main unsettled questions concerning conservation law with discon- tinuous flux is boundedness of total variation of the solution. Away from the interface, boundedness of total variation of the solution has been proved in a recent paper [16]. In the chapter 6, we discuss this particular issue in detail and produce a counter example to show that the solution, in general, has unbounded total variation near the interface. In fact this example illustrates that smallness of BV norm of the initial data is immaterial. We hereby settled the question of determining for which of the aforementioned (A, B) pairs, the solution will have bounded total variation in case of strictly convex fluxes.

The thesis focuses on the branding phenomenon in its relationship with territory. Owners of global brands seek to defend a set of positive associations that goes beyond the concept of trademark per se. In that undertaking, the territorial limitation of trademark rights is perceived as an impediment to a worldwide protection of the branded myth. / The thesis analyses the branding phenomenon and the territoriality principle of trademark law. It also depicts the methods currently employed by trademark owners to circumvent national legislations. The thesis supports alternative approaches, which successfully combine branding and territorial values. / Eventually, the conflict of applying domestic law to "universal" trademarks can be solved by an adequate use of the global branding notion and through the establishment or strengthening of relevant regional blocks.

In the context of economic globalisation, the unequal distribution of wealth among nations often leads to infringe fundamental workers' rights, so that it has become a major concern for politicians, scholars, jurists and NGOs. Therefore the question is how the social market can be regulated today. The ILO is the first international organisation that has dealt with workers' rights, especially fundamental rights, its goal being to protect workers universally. If its legitimacy had been unquestioned for years, it is shattered by external economic factors today: state's loss of power in regulating social relations, the emergence of new political counterbalances on the international scene---unknown by international public law---and self-governance by social labels or codes of conducts. The author will attempt, by a critical appraisal, to demonstrate that the ILO has its own constitutional and logistical means to implement fundamental workers' rights efficiently and independently: union freedom and collective negotiation, prohibition of hard labour, prohibition of child labour, prohibition of discrimination. According to the author, the ILO is undergoing an institutional transition. The latter is adapting to the new economic context. In Geneva centralised procedures are still very centralised but they are in the same time counterweighted by local actions or soft procedures. These more flexible and discrete procedures are the keystone of the ILO system of supervision to implement fundamental rights. Finally it is relevant to have a look at regional organisations which deal with those fundamental rights, as they have a special role in implementing the ILO fundamental rights.

No abstract available. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2006.