The law of insurance contractsi n the People's Republic of China. Comparative analysis of policyholders' rights.

The implementation of China's economic reforms, beginning in the early 80's, and the formal establishment of a "Socialist Market Economy" in the following decade, stimulated substantial changes and improvements in the Insurance Laws and Regulations of the People's Republic of China (hereafter: PRC). The need for a modern and sophisticated legal framework aimed at regulating rights and remedies arising out of insurance contracts, as well as the insurance business in general, became clear and compelling as soon as the Communist State began its slow but inexorable retreat and it ceased to take care of every aspect of the life of the Chinese People. In the new socialist market context, the insurance contract is predestined to become the most important legal and economic tool available to those individuals who are not willing and/or able to bear the entirety of the risks associated with the implementation of the modern economic reforms. Against such backdrop, this paper is aimed at exploring the history of insurance in China as well as the framework of insurance laws and regulation enacted in the PRC during the recent years. In particular, the focus of this essay will be upon the legal principles and rules that currently govern insurance contracts and the relationship thereby established between the insurance company and the insured. Hence, the analysis of the legal protection of policyholders' rights and interests in China will center around the rules of insurance contracts interpretation, integration and performance at present in force. In light of the international nature of the contract of insurance, this paper will also offer a comparison of different approaches to policyholders' protection adopted in various legal systems belonging to both the common law and the civil law tradition.

How to interpret the CPIS data on the distribution of foreign portfolio assets in the presence of sizeable cross-border positions in mutual funds. Evidence for Italy and the main euro-area countries

The data collected by the IMF in the Coordinated Portfolio Investment Survey (CPIS) provide a unique source for foreign portfolio asset holdings, with details on the breakdown by instrument and counterpart country. In the presence of sizeable cross-border positions in mutual funds, which are indistinctly classified as equity assets, the economic interpretation of the instrument and geographic composition of a country’s foreign assets might be distorted. The instrument composition tends to be skewed towards equity assets; the geographical one tends to be biased towards the countries hosting the mutual funds. This is the case of Italy, whose position in Irish and Luxembourgian mutual funds represents more than half of its entire foreign portfolio equity assets. France, Germany and Spain are in a similar, yet less disproportionate, situation. The paper proposes a correction method in order to ‘pierce the veils’ introduced by positions in foreign mutual funds.CPIS, asset allocation, mutual funds, index of foreign bias

Evolution of protein bound Maillard reaction end-products and free Amadori compounds in low lactose milk in presence of fructosamine oxidase I

Thermal treatments and storage influence milk quality, particularly in low lactose milk as the higher concentration of reducing sugars can lead to the increased formation of the Maillard reaction products (MRPs). The control of the Amadori products (APs) formation is the key step to mitigate the Maillard reaction (MR) in milk. The use of fructosamine oxidases, (Faox) provided promising results. In this paper, the effects of Faox I were evaluated by monitoring the concentration of free and bound MRPs in low lactose milk during shelf life. Results showed that the enzyme reduced the formation of protein-bound MRPs down to 79% after six days at 37 °C. Faox I lowered the glycation of almost all the free amino acids resulting effective on basic and polar amino acids. Data here reported corroborate previous findings on the potentiality of Faox enzymes in controlling the early stage of the MR in foods

The isoperimetric problem for regular and crystalline norms in H1\mathbb H^1

We study the isoperimetric problem for anisotropic left-invariant perimeter measures on $\mathbb R^3$, endowed with the Heisenberg group structure. The perimeter is associated with a left-invariant norm $\phi$ on the horizontal distribution. We first prove a representation formula for the $\phi$-perimeter of regular sets and, assuming some regularity on $\phi$ and on its dual norm $\phi^*$, we deduce a foliation property by sub-Finsler geodesics of $\mathrm C^2$-smooth surfaces with constant $\phi$-curvature. We then prove that the characteristic set of $\mathrm C^2$-smooth surfaces that are locally extremal for the isoperimetric problem is made of isolated points and horizontal curves satisfying a suitable differential equation. Based on such a characterization, we characterize $\mathrm C^2$-smooth $\phi$-isoperimetric sets as the sub-Finsler analogue of Pansu's bubbles. We also show, under suitable regularity properties on $\phi$, that such sub-Finsler candidate isoperimetric sets are indeed $\mathrm C^2$-smooth. By an approximation procedure, we finally prove a conditional minimality property for the candidate solutions in the general case (including the case where $\phi$ is crystalline)

Cytoplasmic lattices are not linked to mouse 2-cell embryos developmental arrest

Cytoplasmic lattices are important regulators of oocyte maturation. They store components of the protein synthesis machinery including ribosomes and, among others, they are involved in the regulation of microtubule dynamics in both mouse and human. Cytoplasmic lattices undergo dramatic reorganizations at crucial stages of oocyte maturation, where they are abundantly present in the cytoplasm of developmentally competent oocytes named SN (Surrounded Nucleolus) while they are rare in the cytoplasm of 2-cell stage-arresting NSN (Not Surrounded Nucleolus) oocytes, suggestive of a requirement of cytoplasmic lattices for development past the 2-cell stage. Here, to elucidate this requirement, 2-cell mouse embryos derived from SN and NSN oocytes were analyzed by transmission electron microscopy. Contrary to what had been proposed hitherto, cytoplasmic lattices are present in 2-cell embryos derived not only from SN, but also from NSN oocytes, irrespective of the embryo production system (intra cytoplasmic sperm injection, parthenogenesis). Hence our conclusion that cytoplasmic lattices do not count among the factor(s) responsible for the embryo arrest at this crucial stage of development

Is the Trend your Friend? An Analysis of Technology 4.0 Investment Decisions in Agricultural SMEs

Smart Agriculture and 4.0 Technologies have brought several benefits to agricultural small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Nonetheless, the penetration of such digital technologies is still poor and slow. This study addresses the issue and provides some insights on the reasons related to the still limited adoption of 4.0 technologies within agricultural SMEs. Authors do not simply focus on the adoption per se, but rather devote attention to the SMEs owners/managers' subjective perception of the opportunity behind the technology adoption, and of the incentives or constraints given by the external environment as well as the organizational capabilities as embedded in the owners/managers\u2019 skills and organizational routines. Authors analyze data collected by surveying 96 Italian agricultural SMEs owners/managers, and empirically confirm the relevance of managerial capabilities, managerial cognition, and managerial perception of the external environment for the adoption of 4.0 technologies in agricultural SMEs. The results of this research support the conclusion that organizational capabilities related to the search for evidence-based knowledge by the SME\u2019s decision-maker are crucial for the technology\u2019s adoption. In addition, we show the statistical significance relevance of the managerial perception of technological usefulness and of the availability of a supporting business environment either in the form of professional services or institutional support, on the technology\u2019s adoption. The article ends by discussing the results and highlighting relevant managerial implications

Influence of envelope design in the optimization of the operational energy costs of a multi-family building

The international efforts for improving energy efficiency in buildings and reducing their environmental impact also constitute a challenge for working against the risk of energy poverty. The work aims to test a methodology for optimizing the operational costs of the different flats of a multi-family building for social housing. The method combines the use of TRNSYS building energy simulation program with GenOpt Generic Optimization program in a so-called simulation-based optimization method. A typical floor of a real case study building was modeled and the energy costs for heating and cooling due to the variation of design variables related to the building envelope was studied. The optimization led to reduce the total operational costs of the flats by the range 17%-23%. The different share of heating, cooling, ventilation and DHW in the total operational costs was studied and resulted differences in energy rating and costs between flats were analyzed