Within the Speciality Engineering Insurance Field the use of engineering opinion is the main component in risk analysis for underwriting decision making. The use of risk analysis tools to quantify the risk associated with perils such as mechanical breakdown is limited. A reliability model for the risk analysis of mechanical breakdown risk for the power generation sector, PowerRAT, has been developed and its performance evaluated against historic claim data. It has proven to closely forecast actual losses over a portfolio of power plants, and differentiate between power plant type; conventional steam, simple and combined cycle gas turbine plants. Differentiation based on the factors of equipment type and policy terms has been demonstrated. A review of existing survey report methodology has shown highly variable quality of reports with significant missing information on which to make underwriting decisions. A best practice survey report contents has been proposed in order to provide a consistent level of information for comparison with other risks. The development cycle of PowerRAT has led to a proposed framework for the development of future risk assessment tools for insurance. This is built on four main areas: risk identification, data analysis, calculation methodology and insurance factors.

The functional food industry has expanded yet research into consumer perceptions of functional foods is limited. Among consumers, older adults could benefit from functional foods due to age-related health concerns. This thesis aimed to generate information about the consumption of functional foods among community-dwelling older adults (>60 years old, n=200) using a researcher-administered questionnaire. Prevalence of functional food consumption was 93.0% and yogurt with probiotics (56.0%) was the top product consumed. The primary functional food matrix consumed was yogurt (51.5%) and dietary fibre was the primary functional food bioactive consumed (79.5%). Most participants (86.2%) consume functional foods to improve health and osteoporosis/bone health (67.5%), heart disease (61.0%) and arthritis (55.0%) were the primary health areas identified. Participants wanted more information about functional foods (63.5%) with preferred sources being newspapers/magazines/books (68.5%) and food labels (66.1%). These results inform stakeholders regarding the potential of functional foods to promote improved health among older adults. / Canadian Foundation for Dietetic Research

Šiame darbe autorė nagrinėja reikalavimo perleidimo ir faktoringo institutų teisinio reglamentavimo ypatumus, jų santykį, bei siekia nustatyti juos siejančius ir skiriančius požymius. Analizuojamos cesijos ir faktoringo sąvokos bei šių institutų teisinė prigimtis Lietuvos bei užsienio civilinės teisės sistemoje, apžvelgiama susiklosčiusi Lietuvos Aukščiausiojo Teismo praktika. Cesijos ir faktoringo teisiniais santykiais yra siekiama tų pačių tikslų – perleisti reikalavimo teisę. Cesijos ir faktoringo teisinis reglamentavimas, kuris įtvirtintas Lietuvos Respublikos Civiliniame kodekse, suponuoja išvadą, kad cesija neabejotinai sudaro pagrindinį faktoringo sutarties elementą. Darbe siekiama ne tik atskleisti reikalavimo perleidimo ir faktoringo prigimtį, bet ir išanalizuoti kokiais būdais reikalavimas gali būti perleistas, kokios teisės ir pareigos yra suteiktos cesijos ir faktoringo sandorio šalims. Daug dėmesio skiriama reikalavimo perleidimo bei faktoringo sąlygų nustatymui ir analizavimui. Taip pat aptariamos minėtų institutų pasekmės. Tyrimas remiasi Lietuvos, Rusijos, Vokietijos, Prancūzijos ir Jungtinės Karalystės teisinio reglamentavimo ir mokslinės lietartūros analize. Yra pateikiama minėtų valstybių teisės doktrinų atstovų teiginiais nagrinėjamais aspektais, lyginamas šalių teisinis reglamantavimas taikant cesijos ir faktoringo institutus. Magistro baigiamojo darbo pabaigoje autorė pateikia tyrimą apibendrinančias išvadas. / In this final master thesis author is analyzing regulatory features of an assignment of claim and factoring institutes and also seeks to determine the main differences and the similarities of them. The conception of an assignment of claim and factoring, the legal nature of these institutes in Lithuania and foreign civil law systems are analyzed, additionally the emerged court practice of the Supreme Court of Lithuania are being discussed in the work. The purpose that the creditor seeks using an assignment of claim or factoring is the same – to transfer the valid claim. The legal regulation of an assignment of claim and factoring, provided in the Civil Code of the Republic of Lithuania, supposes the conclusion that an assignment of claim certainly is the main element of the factoring agreement. In this work author seeks nor only to reveal the nature of an assignment of claim and factoring, but also to analyze the ways a valid claim can be transferred. He also uncovers the rights and obligations of the parties of an assignment of claim and factoring agreement. This thesis at large scale approaches to detection and analyzation of conditions of an assignment of claim and factoring. Also the consequences of these institutes are being discussed. Research is based on Lithuanian, Russian, French, German and United Kingdom‘s deep analysis of legal regulation and existing academical literature. Author compares and discusses various affirmations of spokesmen representing... [to full text]

Following growing public awareness of the danger from hurricanes and tremendous demands for analysis of loss, many researchers have conducted studies to develop hurricane damage analysis methods. Although researchers have identified the significant indicators, there currently is no comprehensive research for identifying the relationship among the vulnerabilities, natural disasters, and economic losses associated with individual buildings. To address this lack of research, this study will identify vulnerabilities and hurricane indicators, develop metrics to measure the influence of economic losses from hurricanes, and visualize the spatial distribution of vulnerability to evaluate overall hurricane damage. This paper has utilized the Geographic Information System (GIS) to facilitate collecting and managing data, and has combined vulnerability factors to assess the financial losses suffered by Texas coastal counties. A multiple linear regression method has been applied to develop hurricane economic damage predicting models. To reflect the pecuniary loss, insured loss payment was used as the dependent variable to predict the actual financial damage and ratio. Geographical vulnerability indicators, built environment vulnerability indicators, and hurricane indicators were all used as independent variables. Accordingly, the models and findings may possibly provide vital references for government agencies, emergency planners, and insurance companies hoping to predict hurricane damage.

According to legislation, common law and case law, South African educators have a responsibility to ensure the safety of learners. Above all, God has placed children in our care and it is our God-given duty to take care of them. For educators to be able to perform this duty of care as it should be, they need to be equipped with the necessary legal knowledge. However, the acquisition of this knowledge remains the primary responsibility of each educator. Other educational role-players also have some moral obligation and responsibility to assist educators in attaining such knowledge. As educators should acquaint themselves with the relevant legislation regarding duty of care, such legislation should be accessible to all educators. Principals should encourage educators to become acquainted with the content of the relevant education laws. All the determinants regarding duty of care ought to be general knowledge to educators. Principles such as what torts comprise of, the requirements of delictual accountability, reasonable foreseeability and preventability and the reasonable educator test should be as well-known as subject didactical knowledge. Real-life situations and case law should be used to ensure a clear understanding of these principles. Tendencies in international law should also be communicated to educators. This study determined that educators do not have sound legal knowledge to meet the minimum requirements set by legislation, common law and case law. Tertiary institutions will have to compile training programs urgently so that education departments, trade unions, governing bodies and principals can make it available to educators, who, in turn can empower themselves with relevant, practical education law knowledge. / Thesis (M.Ed.)--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

This thesis examines the historical development and current state of amendment law in the Australian patent system. Initial research on modern amendment cases immediately showed that the confused, inconsistent and complex state of the law is a significant problem. There is a plethora of different analytical tools and legal tests being applied to assess an amendment, yet they were developed in a different area of patent law, that of fair basing. Such tools and tests are ill equipped to provide any real assistance to decision-makers faced with assessing an amendment. In fact, they seem to lead decision-makers away from applying the correct investigation as set out in the amendment provisions of the legislation. The thesis examines the history of amendment law so as to place its discussion of the current problems in context and provide a better understanding of why the problems arose. Four major events are discussed in the thesis. Together, these events have shaped Australian amendment law over the past century: (i) the development and introduction of the “substantially larger than or substantially different from” test into the British and Australian statutory amendment provisions; (ii) the development and introduction of the concept of fair basing into British and Australian patent law; (iii) the development and introduction of the modern British and Australian statutory test for amendments and the tiered amendment scheme; and (iv) the analogies drawn in modern British and Australian cases between fair basing and amendment that ultimately led to fair basing tests being cross-applied in Australia to assess the allowability of amendments. The thesis shows how the very harsh early British treatment of requests for amendment ultimately led to statutory change. It also locates, for the first time, the common law origins of the notion of “fair basing.” The 1949 British legislation implemented a new and different statutory test that was intended to liberalise the whole area of amendment law. It also added the requirement of “fair basing” into the legislation. However, the thesis shows that this last development occurred via well-intentioned legislators with a significant misunderstanding of patent law. The notion of fair basing injected a great deal of uncertainty into an area of law that was previously settled. Theoretically, and in practical application, it caused problems. Then, when decision-makers sought guidance on the new amendment provision, they applied the tests developed in fair basing cases to assess amendments, with the consequent deleterious effects. The Australian experience largely mirrored the British experience until 1977 when the British Act changed. The significance of the thesis is that it clearly demonstrates that the currently accepted dogma – that fair basing is equivalent to the “in substance disclosure” statutory test for amendments, so fair basing tests can be used to assess amendment – is unsound. The thesis isolates the problems inherent in the dogma and the examination of relevant case law confirms the main hypothesis that the current approach should be rejected. It simply operates to the prejudice of inventors, their competitors, the public and the patent system itself. Most importantly, the thesis shows that reform is urgently needed. Some possibilities for reform are suggested.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Problemet som avhandlats i detta projekt är plockkvalitén på DHL Supply Chain i Örebro som opererar som ett distributionscenter för Ford och Volvo. Fokus i detta projekt har varit på plockprocessen på Fords avdelning. Med stigande reklamationskostnader utan vidare ökning av omsättning av varor, har detta problem varit i fokus i syfte att identifiera orsakerna samt presentera lönsamma och implementeringsbara förbättringsförslag. Problemet att avhandla har därmed varit: ”På vilket sätt kan orderprocessen effektiviseras för att minska reklamationskostnader?” De tre reklamationstyperna som varit aktuella på grund av att de är mer vanligt förekommande är: • Fel kvantitet levererat • Fel artikel levererad • Skadad artikel levererad Dessa reklamationstyper har behandlats med hjälp av olika verktyg, samt Lean-principer. Jidoka låg till grund för att bygga in kvalitet i processen genom Poka Yoke för att försvåra potentialen att plocka fel i lagret. Även Paretodiagram har varit av stor vikt för att identifiera reklamationstypen som hade störst inverkan på processen. Resultatet av detta arbete är bl.a. förbättringsförslag i form av implementering av streckkodsläsare eller pick to voice. Även förbättringsförslag i form av en modifiering av en algoritm för att försöka minska felen i val av emballage för plocket har presenterats. / The problem that was studied in this project is the pick quality in DHL Supply Chain in Örebro, which operates as a distribution center for Ford and Volvo. This project focuses entirely on the processes of the Ford department. With rising claim costs without further increase in turnover of goods, this problem has been the focus in order to identify the causes to this condition and present profitable and implementable improvement proposals to enhance the current state. The main research question that is analyzed in this thesis has thus been “How can the efficiency of the ordering process be enhanced to reduce the claim costs?”. The three types of claims that have been relevant because of their higher occurrence rate are: • Wrong quantity delivered • Wrong item delivered • Damaged item delivered These types of claims have been processed using various tools and Lean principles. Jidoka was the basis for building quality in the process through Poka Yoke, to raise the difficulty of potential picking errors in the warehouse. Even Paretodiagram have been of great importance to identify the type of claim that have the greatest impact on the process. The result of this project is, among other things, improvement suggestions that include the implementation of handscanners and pick to voice. Even improvements in the form of a modification of an algorithm to try to reduce the errors in the selection of packaging for the picking process have been presented.

A abrangente constitucionalização, o acesso ao direito, ainda que incipiente, no Brasil, o dinamismo de uma sociedade massificada e o fluxo quase instantâneo de informações e de ideias colocaram e vem colocando em xeque o Estado enquanto provedor dos direitos básicos e, dentre eles, o acesso à justiça e a correlata função jurisdicional. Autorizado magistério doutrinário vislumbrou, como se verá, apresentar o sistema brasileiro, no que concerne à estabilização da relação processual, em específico, mais desvantagens do que vantagens. Entreviu-se, assim, oportunidade de uma revisitação do sistema processual, aproveitando-se a legislação e ideário vigentes, em uma perspectiva mais profícua e no intuito de se conferir tudo aquilo e exatamente aquilo que se busca pelo processo, enfim, maior probabilidade de pacificação. Assim, o propósito da presente dissertação é estudar o aproveitamento da demanda quanto aos fatos dedutíveis pelas partes e que advenham ou sejam conhecidos no curso do processo como meio, então, de concretização do processo justo, um processo balizado por garantias, um processo humanizado e conforme os reclamos da sociedade hodierna. A pesquisa se concentra na legislação, doutrina e jurisprudência brasileiras, contando, outrossim, com singelo exame de ordenamentos similares. Em paralelo, estudam-se os princípios que suportam o tema, notadamente o princípio do contraditório participativo, qualificado que é pela ampla participação dos sujeitos da crise de direito material. O trabalho procura demonstrar, enfim, que é viável a proposta no contexto de um Direito Processual afinado com os ditames constitucionais.

Ancorados no princípio nemo ad factum praecise cogi potest e limitados pela completa ineficácia das ferramentas processuais disponibilizadas, nossos Tribunais vinham ofertando à parte prejudicada com o descumprimento de uma obrigação de fazer, não fazer ou entregar coisa apenas o equivalente pecuniário da prestação inadimplida. A percepção de que a via indenizatória nem sempre repararia de forma integral os danos experimentados e a conscientização de que o uso de meio coercitivo indireto para o desempenho da obrigação anteriormente assumida não caracterizaria ofensa à liberdade individual (entre tantos outros fatores) fizeram com que esse quadro começasse a ser contestado. Atendendo a reivindicação da doutrina, o legislador empreendeu uma série de reformas no Código de Processo Civil, quebrando o paradigma: a tutela específica passou a ocupar o lugar de primazia que vinha sendo indevidamente ocupado pelo sucedâneo indenizatório. O presente estudo se dedica a examinar a principal ferramenta processual utilizada para a obtenção da tutela específica em juízo: as astreintes. São analisados, neste trabalho, os antecedentes históricos da tutela específica e dos meios de coerção nos sistemas romano e lusitano e no próprio direito pátrio bem como os institutos assemelhados à multa coercitiva brasileira no direito francês e anglo-saxão. Com base nessa retrospectiva histórica e tendo em conta os institutos do direito comparado, o estudo define a natureza, função e campo de incidência das astreintes. Após, abordam-se temas polêmicos em torno da aplicabilidade da multa coercitiva: possibilidade de cumulação com outras formas de coerções/sanções, periodicidade e valor inicial, termo a quo e ad quem, existência ou não de limitação legal ou principiológica para o montante final, a possibilidade da alteração de seu valor e a questão do enriquecimento sem causa do credor. Por fim, é tratada a execução da multa coercitiva. Tudo para demonstrar que, a despeito da falta de regramento detalhado e das várias divergências doutrinárias e jurisprudenciais que daí advém, as astreintes se mostram como a mais efetiva ferramenta para a obtenção da tutela específica em juízo - tendência do processo civil contemporâneo. / Based on the principle of nemo ad factum praecise cogi potest and restrained by the total inefficacy of the available procedural tools, our Courts have been granting to the party affected by an obligation of specific performance only the pecuniary equivalent of the defaulted service provision. Such scenario started to be challenged upon the perception that the indemnity path would not always fully repair the damages suffered and in view of the awareness that the use of an indirect coercive means for the previously undertaken obligation to be fulfilled would not qualify as offense to the individual freedom (among many other factors). In response to the doctrine\'s claims, the lawmaker made a number of amendments to the Code of Civil Procedure, overturning the paradigm: the specific relief was given the primacy that had been unduly given to the indemnity substitute. This paper examines the main procedural tool used to obtain the specific relief in court: the daily fines. This paper analyzes the historical precedents of the specific relief and the coercive means in the Roman and Portuguese system and in Brazilian law, as well as the institutions similar to the Brazilian coercive fine in the French and Anglo-Saxon laws. Based on such historical review and considering the institutions in comparative law, the study defines the nature, function and coverage of the daily fines. It further addresses controversial issues revolving around the applicability of the coercive fine: possibility of accumulation with other types of coercion / sanctions, periodicity and initial value, term a quo and ad quem, existence or not of limitation for the final amount, arising from law or principle, possibility of changing its value and the issue of creditor\'s enrichment without cause. Finally, this paper addresses the execution of the coercive fine. The aim is to show that, in spite of the fact that there is not a detailed ruling and that several doctrine and jurisprudence controversies arise from it, the daily fines are the most effective tool to obtain the specific relief in court - a trend in contemporaneous civil procedure.