Chinese Basic Pension Substitution Rate: A Monte Carlo Demonstration of the Individual Account Model

At the end of 2005, the State Council of China passed ”The Decision on adjusting the Individual Account of Basic Pension System”, which adjusted the individual account in the 1997 basic pension system. In this essay, we will analyze the adjustment above, and use Life Annuity Actuarial Theory to establish the basic pension substitution rate model. Monte Carlo simulation is also used to prove the rationality of the model. Some suggestions are put forward associated with the substitution rate according to the current policy.

Internally Displaced Persons Rights in Human Rights Perspective(Specifically Focused on Pakistani IDPs Example) : “Basic Human Rights of IDPs to Attain Equality in Dignity and Rights”

After the WWII, there was much concern to protect human rights situation all over the world. During the cold wars, huge displacement took place within different countries due to internal arms/ethnic conflicts. Millions of IDPs, who were uprooted by armed conflict or ethnic strife faced human rights violence. In 2002, there were estimated between 20-25 millions IDPs in the world (Phuong, p.1). Internally displacement is a worldwide problem and millions of the people displaced in Africa and Asia. These all Internal displacements of the people are only the result of the conflicts or the violations of the Human Rights but also sometimes it happened because of the natural disasters. “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights..."(Streich, Article 1) This article works as the foundation of human rights which gives every human being an equal rights and opportunity to maintain his/her dignity. Human Rights issues related to human dignity must be taken very seriously and should not be ignored at any level; Many human rights issues are not always visible, issues such as: privacy, security, equality, protection of social and cultural values etc. In this paper I am going to apply theoretical approach of “all human being are equal in dignity and rights” to defend IDPs rights.

Animalism and Person as a Basic Sort

In this paper Animalism is analysed. It will be argued that Animalism is correct in claiming (i) that being of a certain sort of animal S is a fundamental individuative substance sortal concept (animal of the species Homo Sapiens), (ii) that this implies that Animalism is correct in claiming that persons such as us are, by necessity, human beings, (iii) that remaining the same animal is a necessary condition for our identity over time. Contrary to Animalism it will be argued that this does not imply that person should be understood as a phased sortal concept. It will be argued that Animalism rests upon a prior conception of person, and that this implies that person must be understood as a basic substance sortal concept through which we have to individuate ourselves and others. It is further argued that this, together with the insights of Animalism, implies that persons, by necessity, are beings of a biological nature.

On Arbitrary Selection Strategies for Basic Superposition

For first-order Horn clauses without equality, resolution is complete with an arbitrary selection of a single literal in each clause [dN 96]. Here we extend this result to the case of clauses with equality for superposition-based inference systems. Our result is a generalization of the result given in [BG 01]. We answer their question about the completeness of a superposition-based system for general clauses with an arbitrary selection strategy, provided there exists a refutation without applications of the factoring inference rule.

Regular Derivations in Basic Superposition-Based Calculi

We prove the completeness of the regular strategy of derivations for superposition-based calculi. The regular strategy was pioneered by Kanger in [Kan63], who proposed that all equality inferences take place before all other steps in the proof. We show that the strategy is complete with the elimination of tautologies. The implication of our result is the completeness of non-standard selection functions by which in non-relational clauses only equality literals (and all of them) are selected.

Public investment in basic education and economic growth

The main objective of this paper was to visualize the relation between government spending on basic education and the human capital accumulation process, observing the impacts of this spending on individual investments in higher education, and on economic growth. It is used an overlapping-generations model where the government tax the adult generation and spent it in basic education of the next generations. It was demonstrated that the magnitude of the marginal effect of government spending in basic education on growth crucially depends on public budget constrains. The paper explains why some countries with a lot of public investment in basic education growth at low rates. In that sense if a country has only a lot of public investment in basic education without investment in higher education it may growth at low rates because the taxation can cause distortions in the agents incentives to invest in higher education.

Introducing higher moments in the CAPM: some basic ideas

We show how to include in the CAPM moments of any order, extending the mean-variance or mean-variance-skewness versions available until now. Then, we present a simple way to modify the formulae, in order to avoid the appearance of utility parameters. The results can be easily applied to practical portfolio design, with econometric inference and testing based on generalised method of moments procedures. An empirical application to the Brazilian stock market is discussed.

New bacterial cellulose nanocomposites prepared by in situ radical polymerization of methacrylate monomers

Bacterial cellulose/polymethacrylate nanocomposites have received attention in numerous areas of study and in a variety of applications. The attractive properties of methacrylate polymers and bacterial cellulose, BC, allow the synthesis of new nanocomposites with distinct characteristics. In this study, BC/poly(glycidylmethacrylate) (BC/PGMA) and BC/poly(ethyleneglycol)methacrylate (BC/PPEGMA) nanocomposites were prepared through in situ free radical polymerization of GMA and PEGMA, respectively. Ammonium persulphate (APS) was used as an initiator and N,N’methylenebisacrilamide (MBA) was used as a crosslinker in BC/PGMA. Chemical composition, morphology, thermal stability, water absorption, mechanic and surface properties were determined through specific characterization techniques. The optimal polymerization was obtained at (1:2) for BC/PGMA, (1:2:0.2) ratio for BC/GMA/MBA and (1:20) for BC/PPEGMA, with 0.5% of initiator at 60 ºC during 6 h. A maximum of 67% and 87% of incorporation percentage was obtained, respectively, for the nanocomposites BC/PGMA/MBA and BC/PPEGMA. BC/PGMA nanocomposites exhibited an increase of roughness and compactation of the three-dimensional structure, an improvement in the thermal and mechanical properties, and a decrease in their swelling ability and crystallinity. On the other hand, BC/PPEGMA showed a decrease of stiffness of three-dimensional structure, improvement in thermal and mechanical properties, an increase in their swelling ability and a decrease the crystallinity. Both BC/polymethacrylate nanocomposites exhibited a basic surface character. The acid treatment showed to be a suitable strategy to modifiy BC/PGMA nanocomposites through epoxide ring-opening reaction mechanism. Nanocomposites became more compact, smooth and with more water retention ability. A decrease in the thermal and mechanical proprieties was observed. The new nanocomposites acquired properties useful to biomedical applications or/and removal of heavy metals due to the presence of functional groups.

Effects of the basic fibroblast growth factor and its anti-factor in the healing and collagen maturation of infected skin wound

PURPOSE: The infection is one of the main factors that affect the physiological evolution of the surgical wounds. The aim of this work is to evaluate the effects of fibroblast growth factor (FGFâ) and anti-FGFâ in the healing, synthesis and maturation of collagen when topically used on infected skin wounds of rats. METHODS: An experimental study was perfomed in 60 male Wistar rats. All animals were divided in two groups (A and B). Each group was divided in three subgroups A1, B1; A2, B2 and A3, B3. After anesthesia with pentobarbital, two open squared wounds (1cm2), 4cm distant to each other, were done in the dorsal skin of all the rats. In group A (n=30) the wounds were contaminated with multibacterial standard solution, and in group B(n=30) the wounds were maintained sterile. These wounds were named F1 (for inflammation analysis) and F2 (for collagen study). The open wounds of A1 and B1 rats were topically treated with saline solution, A2 and B2 were treated with FGFâ and subgroups A3 and B3 were treated with FGFâ and anti-FGFâ. The rats were observed until complete epitelization of F2 wounds for determination of healing time and the expression of types I and III collagen, using Picro Sirius Red staining. Inflammatory reaction in F1 wounds was studied using hematoxilineosin staining. The three variable was measured by the Image Pro-Plus Média Cybernetics software. The statistical analysis was performed by ANOVA and Tukey test, considering p<0.05 as significant. RESULTS: It was observed that infection retarded significantly (p<0.05) the time of wound scarring and the topical application of FCFb reverted the inhibition of healing caused by bacteria. The inflammatory reaction was greater in the subgroup B2 than in B1 and A3, and the difference was significant (p<0.05). It was observed greater expression of type I collagen in all the subgroups treated with FCFb, when compared with the untreated subgroups. Type III collagen was significantly decreased in wounds of B3 rats, comparing to the other subgroups. CONCLUSIONS: The FCFb accelerated the healing of open infected wounds and contributed with maturation of collagen, enhancing the type I collagen density. The anti-FCFb antibody was able to attenuate the production of both type I and III collagen

Exchangeable basic cations and nitrogen distribution in soil as affected by crop residues and nitrogen

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Exploiting the versatility of taste sensors based on impedance spectroscopy

The versatility of sensor arrays made from nanostructured Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) and layer-by-layer (LBL) films is demonstrated in two ways. First, different combinations of sensing units are employed to distinguish the basic tastes, viz. sweet, sour, bitter, and salty tastes, produced, respectively, by small concentrations (down to 0.01 g/mol) of sucrose, HCl, quinine, and NaCl solutions. The sensing units are comprised of LB and/or LBL films from semiconducting polymers, a ruthenium complex, and sulfonated lignin. Then, sensor arrays were used to identify wines from different sources, with the high distinguishing ability being demonstrated in principal component analysis (PCA) plots. Particularly important was the fact that the sensing ability does not depend on specific interactions between analytes and the film materials, but a judicious choice of materials is, nevertheless, required for the materials to respond differently to a given sample. It is also shown that the interaction with the analyte may affect the morphology of the nanostructured films, as indicated with scanning electron microscopy. For instance, in wine analysis these changes are not irreversible and the original film morphology is retrieved if the sensing unit is washed with copious amounts of water, thus allowing the sensor unit to be reused.