Is It the Beginning of the Era of the Rule of the Constitution? Reinterpreting China\u27s First Constitutional Case

The subject of this article is the so-called first constitutional case in China. The Qi Yuling case is, in a sense, the very first time since the foundation of the People\u27s Republic of China that constitutional provisions have been directly invoked by the Supreme People\u27s Court in a civil lawsuit to protect a citizen\u27s right to receive education, one of the fundamental rights protected by the Constitution. The Qi Yuling case, therefore, has given rise to much discussion on issues of judicial interpretation of the Constitution and the Constitution\u27s application in the private domain, as well as the institution of judicial review in China. Professor Shen\u27s article discusses the ramifications of Qi Yuling, specifically centering on the theory of constitutional justiciability from a comparative perspective, and the prospects of constitutional justiciability in China

Optimal reinsurance/investment problems for general insurance models

In this paper the utility optimization problem for a general insurance model is studied. The reserve process of the insurance company is described by a stochastic differential equation driven by a Brownian motion and a Poisson random measure, representing the randomness from the financial market and the insurance claims, respectively. The random safety loading and stochastic interest rates are allowed in the model so that the reserve process is non-Markovian in general. The insurance company can manage the reserves through both portfolios of the investment and a reinsurance policy to optimize a certain utility function, defined in a generic way. The main feature of the problem lies in the intrinsic constraint on the part of reinsurance policy, which is only proportional to the claim-size instead of the current level of reserve, and hence it is quite different from the optimal investment/consumption problem with constraints in finance. Necessary and sufficient conditions for both well posedness and solvability will be given by modifying the ``duality method'' in finance and with the help of the solvability of a special type of backward stochastic differential equations.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/08-AAP582 the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Pulsation-assisted fluidized bed for the fluidization of high moisture and irregular particles and its application for brown coal fluidization

High moisture content and irregular particle is difficult to be fluidized. This is due to the existence of large particles which would affect the fluidization performance. Also, a high moisture content would induce channeling during the fluidization. Pulsation-assisted fluidized bed (PAFB) with the combination of pulsed and steady flow as the fluidized gas was found to be able for the wet biomass particles fluidization [1]. In this study, fluidization performance of high moisture content particle with wide size distribution was investigated in both PAFB and steady fluidized bed. As shown in Fig. 1, oscillation was more serious and large bubbles were found in PAFB. The bubble size could be controlled in PAFB by adjusting the pulsed flow frequency. Results showed that compared with a steady-flow fluidized bed, pulsation-assisted flow (1~6 Hz) could increase the mass ratio of large particles at the bottom of the fluidized bed by over 10wt% (Fig. 2). Pulsation-assisted flow could also increase the mixing rate and break the liquid bridge between the solid particles by the large generated bubble. This could cause fluidization period 8 times than that with a steady flow, when high moisture content particles were added into the bed semi-continuously. Fluidization finally stopped due to the increasing bed moisture content (Fig. 3). A predicted model was developed to investigate the bubble size effect on the fluidization performance and compared with the experimental results. The optimal operation condition for the pulsed flow in PAFB was investigated based on the developed model. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Direct-To-Consumer Marketing of Predictive Medical Genetic Tests: Assessment of Current Practices and Policy Recommendations

This research reviews the current state of affairs in the fast-growing area of direct-to-consumer marketing of genetic tests. The authors identify the unique nature of genetic tests and the ensuing consumer vulnerability. They also present a comprehensive examination of the current legal environment and an empirical analysis of genetic testing companies\u27 online marketing practices. On the basis of the analysis and review, they make a set of policy recommendations that consists of consumer education, physician intervention and education, and direct regulation of marketing activities, especially as they relate to the online medium

Consuming Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Tests: The Role of Genetic Literacy and Knowledge Calibration

As direct-to-consumer marketing of medical genetic tests grows in popularity, there is an increasing need to better understand the ethical and public policy implications of such products. The complexity of genetic tests raises serious concerns about whether consumers possess the knowledge to make sound decisions about their use. This research examines the effects of educational intervention and feedback on consumers\u27 genetic literacy and calibration -- the gap between consumers\u27 actual knowledge and how much they think they know. The authors find that consumers\u27 genetic knowledge was generally low and that people tended to underestimate their knowledge level. Furthermore, consumers\u27 perceived rather than actual knowledge levels drove attitude and purchase intention. Regarding the effect of educational intervention, exposure to an online educational module improved both genetic knowledge and calibration. Offering instant feedback resulted in greater knowledge gain than delayed feedback. The worst learning outcome occurred when feedback was both delayed and brief. On the basis of these findings, the authors offer recommendations for formulating ethically sound public policies in this area