La mediación en la contratación de seguros

El Anteproyecto de Ley del Código Mercantil de 2014 regula la mediación en la contratación de seguros desde una perspectiva parcial, abordando únicamente la actividad derivada de los contratos de mediación, ya sea en la modalidad de agencia ya sea en la de correduría de seguros. Dedicamos este trabajo al estudio, también, del aspecto subjetivo de tal actividad, el de los protagonistas de la mediación en seguros privados. Junto a su régimen general, aplicable tanto a la agencia como a la correduría, nos centramos en la especificidad de cada modalidad, tomando en consideración asimismo no sólo la relación contractual que les une a la entidad aseguradora (y en el caso del corredor, también al cliente) sino también la especialidad del agente de seguros con naturaleza crediticia (el operador de banca-seguros). Referencia destacada merece la doble posibilidad de vinculación contractual del agente de seguros (y del operador de banca-seguros) con una o varias entidades de seguros, con el calificativo añadido de exclusivo o vinculado, respectivamente

CITIDEL Collection Building

The aim of this study is to facilitate the goals of the Computing and Information Technology Interactive Digital Educational Library (CITIDEL) by increasing the number of collections available to it. This study will help in achieving this goal by focusing on four diverse collections

Estudio necrópsico de la muerte súbita cardíaca de origen isquémico, en un cuerpo en avanzado estado de descomposición

Es evidente que los cambios que se inician en un cadáver como consecuencia de la putrefacción suponen importantes trabas para la determinación de la causa de la muerte. Aunque un cadáver se encuentre en avanzado estado de descomposición, la realización de una autopsia detallada puede aportar una gran y rica información acerca de la etiología de la muerte y sobre el intervalo postmortem (IPM). En el caso que analizamos, a pesar de tener un cuerpo en fase colicuativa, podemos establecer que con bastante probabilidad el individuo estudiado falleció por una muerte súbita cardiaca (MSC) de origen isquémico. A esta conclusión se llega a través del análisis conjunto de los hallazgos en el cadáver durante la autopsia, la fisiopatología de la MSC de origen isquémico y los elementos fundamentales que caracterizan a este tipo de muerte. Se pudo establecer, además, un IPM de unas dos semanas.It´s evident that the changes that begin in the corpse as a consequence of putrefaction are important obstacles to determine the cause of death. Even in a body in an advanced stage of decomposition, a detailed autopsy can provide great information about the ethiology of death and postmortem interval (PMI). In the case under study, despite having a body in colliquative stage, we can establish that the cause of death was, with a high level of certainty, a sudden cardiac death (SCD) of ischemic origin. This conclusion was reached through analysis of the findings in the body during the autopsy, along with the pathophysiology of ischemic SCD and the key elements that characterize this type of death. Also it was determined a PMI of two weeks approximately

South African transfer pricing income tax legislation: is there still a gap?

A research report to be submitted to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Commerce (specialising in Taxation), Johannesburg, 2017Transfer pricing is a continuously evolving phenomenon and is a topical issue world-wide. With increasing inter-company cross-border transactions, multinational enterprises are using loopholes in the interaction of tax legislation of different countries as a tool to shift profits to a more favourable jurisdiction, thereby avoiding tax in the jurisdiction in which they are resident and eroding the resident jurisdiction’s tax base. This research report examines and discusses the substituted South African transfer pricing legislation that applies for the years of assessment commencing on or after 1 April 2012 as well as the related SARS guidance. An analysis of transfer pricing legislation and guidelines in three selected countries and the OECD transfer pricing guidelines will also be performed. The comparisons of the legislation and guidelines will highlight whether there are still weaknesses in the South African transfer pricing legislation and will indicate possible solutions to these weaknesses which will assist in reducing the erosion of the South African tax base. Key words: Tax, Transfer pricing, Tax avoidance, Base erosion and profit shifting, Multinational enterprises (‘MNEs’), South African Revenue Service (‘SARS’), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (‘OECD’).GR201

Bayes classifiers for imbalanced traffic accidents datasets

[EN] Traffic accidents data sets are usually imbalanced, where the number of instances classified under the killed or severe injuries class (minority) is much lower than those classified under the slight injuries class (majority). This, however, supposes a challenging problem for classification algorithms and may cause obtaining a model that well cover the slight injuries instances whereas the killed or severe injuries instances are misclassified frequently. Based on traffic accidents data collected on urban and suburban roads in Jordan for three years (2009-2011); three different data balancing techniques were used: under sampling which removes some instances of the majority class, oversampling which creates new instances of the minority class and a mix technique that combines both. In addition, different Bayes classifiers were compared for the different imbalanced and balanced data sets: Averaged One-Dependence Estimators, Weightily Average One-Dependence Estimators, and Bayesian networks in order to identify factors that affect the severity of an accident. The results indicated that using the balanced data sets, especially those created using oversampling techniques, with Bayesian networks improved classifying a traffic accident according to its severity and reduced the misclassification of killed and severe injuries instances. On the other hand, the following variables were found to contribute to the occurrence of a killed causality or a severe injury in a traffic accident: number of vehicles involved, accident pattern, number of directions, accident type, lighting, surface condition, and speed limit. This work, to the knowledge of the authors, is the first that aims at analyzing historical data records for traffic accidents occurring in Jordan and the first to apply balancing techniques to analyze injury severity of traffic accidents. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.The authors are grateful to the Police Traffic Department in Jordan for providing the data necessary for this research. Griselda Lopez wishes to express her acknowledgement to the regional ministry of Economy, Innovation and Science of the regional government of Andalusia (Spain) for their scholarship to train teachers and researchers in Deficit Areas, which has made this work possible. The authors appreciate the reviewers' comments and effort in order to improve the paper.Mujalli, R.; López-Maldonado, G.; Garach, L. (2016). Bayes classifiers for imbalanced traffic accidents datasets. Accident Analysis & Prevention. 88:37-51. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2015.12.003S37518

Which clinical parameters predict a CSF diagnosis of meningitis in a population with high HIV prevalence?

Background. The HIV epidemic has changed the aetiology of meningitis in sub-Saharan Africa, and frontline clinicians are faced with a variety of meningitic presentations. Doctors working in resource-limited settings have the challenge of appropriately selecting patients for lumbar puncture (LP), a potentially risky procedure that requires laboratory analysis.Methods. In a rural South African hospital, the practice of performing LPs was audited against local guidelines. Data were collected retrospectively between February and June 2013. Symptoms and signs of meningitis, HIV status, investigations performed prior to LP and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) results were recorded. With the aim of determining statistically significantclinical predictors of meningitis, parameters were explored using univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses.Results. A total of 107 patients were included, of whom 43% had an  abnormal CSF result. The majority (76%) of patients were HIV-positive (CD4+ cell count <200 cells/ìl in 46%). Cryptococcal meningitis (CCM) was the most prevalent microbiological diagnosis, confirmed in 10 out of 12 patients. Of the non-microbiological diagnoses, lymphocytic predominance was the most common abnormality, present in 17 out of 33 patients. Confusion (p=0.011) was the most statistically significant predictor of anabnormal CSF result. Headache (p=0.355), fever (p=0.660) and  photophobia (p=0.634) were not statistically predictive.Conclusion. The high incidence of CCM correlates with previous data from sub-Saharan Africa. In populations with high HIV prevalence, the classic meningitic symptoms of headache, fever and photophobia, while common presenting symptoms, are significantly less predictive of a meningitis diagnosis than confusion

Rice vinegar removes Candida albicans from denture acrylic resins

Denture stomatitis, mainly caused by Candida albicans, often affect denture wearers. To manage these patients, denture hygiene is of utmost importance. There is a need for low cost, easily accessible denture disinfectants. To investigate the efficacy of rice vinegar and other disinfecting solutions in removing C. albicans from acrylic resins. Hundred and eighty acrylic resin plates were contaminated with C. albicans strains and divided into five groups. These were immersed in apple cider vinegar (ACV), white wine vinegar (WWV), rice vinegar (RV), chlorhexidine (CHX), and sterile distilled H2O (control). The plates were incubated at room temperature for 30 minutes, 1 hour and 8 hours. Candida removing ability of the disinfecting solutions was evaluated, and data was analyzed using two-way ANOVAwith Tukey post-test. Significance level of p< 0.05 was used. RV, ACV, WWV and CHX showed the highest efficacy (100%) in removing both C. albicans strains at 8 hours (p>0.05). CHX was the most effective disinfectant in removing both C. albicans strains at 30 minutes, 1 hour, and 8 hours (99%-100%). RV was as effective as ACV, WWV and CHX in removing C. albicans from acrylic plates at 8 hours