Pro Rata Research Articles

Characteristics of Economic Fairness in the Music Streaming Economy: A Comparative Analysis of Current Distribution Models

This article compares current distribution models in the music streaming economy. The models presented are the pro rata model, the user-centric model (UCM), a progressive extension of the UCM and an alternative model. It focuses on a critique of the UCM as an alternative remuneration model, arguing that the UCM has the potential for economic devaluation, which can be exposed through simple logical analysis. It also provides criteria for fair remuneration in a distribution model.

The Principles of the Insolvency Procedure in Romania

The insolvency law in Romania is one with tradition, its first form being adopted in 1995. At that time, although no principles were expressly stipulated to govern this procedure, they could somehow be deduced from the interpretation of the legal norms. The legal consecration of the principles of the insolvency procedure can only be found in Law No. 85/2014, still in force today. It should be mentioned that Law no. 216/2022 amended the legal rules regarding the principles applicable to insolvency. These principles can be summarised as follows: encouraging negotiations regarding the prevention of insolvency, maximising the debtor's wealth, enabling effective restructuring, efficiency, reasonableness in the procedure, insolvency of the creditor mass, transparency and predictability, pro rata and pari passu rules, credit risk limitation, the superpriority of financing in the procedure, a representative and fairly assumed reorganisation plan, useful and efficient capitalisation, procedural coordination in the matter of the group of companies and legality control. Keywords: Insolvency; Principles; Rules.

In Vitro Human Dermal Absorption Studies on Pesticides in Complex Mixtures: Investigation of Guidance Criteria and Possible Impact Parameters.

Pesticides must not pose unacceptable risks to human health, so risk assessments are conducted before products are authorised. Dermal exposure is often the main route of intake, so estimating realistic and trustworthy dermal absorption values is crucial for risk assessment. Although there are agreed test guidelines for in vitro dermal absorption studies, not every product is tested due to cost reasons. The present dataset consists of 945 individual in vitro experiments on the dermal absorption of human skin with 179 active substances of pesticides in 353 different mixtures, including concentrates and dilutions. The dataset was evaluated to identify the possible impacts of experimental conditions and physico-chemical properties on dermal absorption. The dataset was also analysed to assess the appropriateness of the pro rata correction for untested dilutions, and the set concentration cut-off to decide on the dilution status for choosing a default value on dermal absorption. The study found that the implementation of specific guidelines improved the harmonisation of study conduct, with support for approaches such as pro rata correction and default values. Further analysis of the specific co-formulants may identify influencing factors that may be more important than the experimental variables.

Multiperiod peer‐to‐peer risk sharing

AbstractRisk sharing has been practiced in various forms in the financial industry. This paper is the first to study both dynamic and static risk‐sharing mechanisms for a group of participants over multiple periods. The design of risk‐sharing strategies is based on the Pareto optimization of quadratic utilities of participants' reserves. Such a framework builds a connection between portfolio optimization in the finance literature and that for risk sharing in the insurance literature. Building on the most common form of reinsurance—pro rata treaties, we propose a peer‐to‐peer (P2P) network for risk sharing. Assuming independent multivariate losses over time, we find that the optimal risk‐sharing allocation exhibits a three‐component structure with the long‐term limit and two correction terms. This allows us to show convergence of the risk‐sharing solution and the ratios of long‐term reserves. Furthermore, we study the impact of actuarial fairness on various risk‐sharing strategies and their long‐term limits.

The Francovich Principle as the Basis of State Responsibility for Laborer Loss Due to Company Bankruptcy

<div class="WordSection1"><p><em>The absence of legal certainty in the application of the pari passu pro rata parte principle in the distribution of bankrupt accounts in Indonesia has given rise to uncertainty regarding the protection of the rights of laborers whose employers or companies have faced bankruptcy. This article considers that Indonesia requires a set of formulations enabling the state to provide legal protection for the rights of laborers affected by employer or company bankruptcy. The article explores the feasibility of adopting the Francovich Principle in Indonesia, defining it as a principle holding the state accountable for the losses incurred by laborers due to company bankruptcies. The article concludes that several conditions must be met to apply the Francovich Principle, including the establishment of a guarantee institution, the obligation for financial contributions from companies, and the implementation of specific measures to prevent abuse. The state’s effort to adopt the Francovich Principle involves establishing a priority scale in drafting laws related to the Francovich Principle into the Priority National Legislation Program. Furthermore, the government needs to revitalize institutions related to the Francovich Principle within the national legal and regulatory system</em></p></div>

Fair and efficient vaccine allocation: A generalized Gini index approach

The paper proposes an optimization model for the allocation of vaccines to a heterogeneous population composed of several subpopulations with different sizes and epidemiological disease transmission parameters. As the objective, an aggregated function combining a standard utilitarian efficiency criterion with a Gini index–related penalty term is considered. Contrary to previous work, we adopt an outcome equity view: The inequity measure is not based on vaccination fractions or other input factors, but on the fractions of individuals escaping infection, as predicted by an susceptible‐infectious‐removed (SIR) model. An adjusted pro rata (APR) policy of vaccine allocation minimizing inequity in this outcome view is introduced, and a numerical procedure for its determination is presented. The concepts are developed both for the case of segregated subpopulations and for that of interactions between the subpopulations. Interestingly, in a large number of instances, the optimal solution under the aggregated objective function turns out to be identical to APR. Whether APR is locally or even globally optimal in a concrete case depends on the relation of an inequity aversion parameter to certain threshold values. While the local optimality threshold can be determined by linear programming, the determination of the global optimality threshold, as the vaccine allocation problem itself, is a problem of nonconvex optimization. We suggest an exact optimization approach for smaller instances, and propose algorithms building on particle swarm optimization for threshold determination and allocation optimization at larger instances. Extensions to alternative outcome measures such as the number of fatalities are presented as well. In addition to the investigation of randomly generated instances, two test cases from the literature are revisited in the context of the present work. Moreover, a new case study based on data from the COVID‐19 outbreak in Austria in 2020 is introduced and analyzed.

Relationship between clinical features and droplet digital PCR copy number in non-HIV patients with pneumocystis pneumonia

ObjectiveDroplet digital PCR (ddPCR) is a novel assay to detect pneumocystis jjrovecii (Pj) which has been defined to be more sensitive than qPCR in recent studies. We aimed to explore whether clinical features of pneumocystis pneumonia (PCP) were associated with ddPCR copy numbers of Pj.MethodsA total of 48 PCP patients were retrospectively included. Pj detection was implemented by ddPCR assay within 4 h. Bronchoalveolar fluid (BALF) samples were collected from 48 patients with molecular diagnosis as PCP via metagenomic next generation sequencing (mNGS) or quantitative PCR detection. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were performed to screen out possible indicators for the severity of PCP. The patients were divided into two groups according to ddPCR copy numbers, and their clinical features were further analyzed.ResultsPj loading was a pro rata increase with serum (1,3)-beta-D glucan, D-dimmer, neutrophil percentage, procalcitonin and BALF polymorphonuclear leucocyte percentage, while negative correlation with albumin, PaO2/FiO2, BALF cell count, and BALF lymphocyte percentage. D-dimmer and ddPCR copy number of Pj were independent indicators for moderate/severe PCP patients with PaO2/FiO2 lower than 300. We made a ROC analysis of ddPCR copy number of Pj for PaO2/FiO2 index and grouped the patients according to the cut-off value (2.75). The high copy numbers group was characterized by higher level of inflammatory markers. Compared to low copy number group, there was lower level of the total cell count while higher level of polymorphonuclear leucocyte percentage in BALF in the high copy numbers group. Different from patients with high copy numbers, those with high copy numbers had a tendency to develop more severe complications and required advanced respiratory support.ConclusionThe scenarios of patients infected with high ddPCR copy numbers of Pj showed more adverse clinical conditions. Pj loading could reflect the severity of PCP to some extent.

An Empirical Analysis of SEC Rule 6C-11's Impact on the Usage of Heartbeat Trades by Exchange-Traded Funds

In September 2019, the SEC promulgated Rule 6c-11 to standardize the operation of all exchange-traded funds. Importantly, this rule provided all ETFs with the ability to issue “custom baskets,” which are baskets of stocks that are not composed of a pro rata representation of a fund’s holdings. Such baskets are important because they give ETFs additional flexibility to lower their tax liability by using custom baskets to remove stocks that would incur the highest capital gains from their portfolios. This Note analyzes how expanded custom basket access impacts ETFs use of a certain type of tax-evading trade known as a “heartbeat” trade. It finds that there has been a substantial increase in such trades since the Rule went into effect and that the increase was much larger among funds who were only able to use custom baskets after Rule 6c-11.

Failure Mode Effect Analysis of Composites Prepreg Manufacturing Process for Airworthiness Certification - A Case Study

Airworthiness certification of aircraft structures requires a holistic approach ranging from material manufacturing process to design evaluation of airframe components. Present day airframe structures find greater applications of composite materials owing to their extraordinary mechanical properties on pro rata weight basis. In case of polymer based composites, the prepreg form of material is preferred for several applications due to matrix efficiency (high fiber-to-volume ratio) and ease of application. As part of composite material certification, the design audit of composite prepreg manufacturing process is carried out to assess the possible failure scenarios. Manufacturing Process Design and Control plays a significant role in satisfactory realization of composite parts right from raw material stage. Process variability/ scatter can lead to large variation in performance of the final product and thus stringent control of process parameters is essential to achieve aero-grade composite structures. This study provides basic understanding of composite prepreg manufacturing process and application of FMEA as a process design tool to detect and assess potential failures with an aim to devise preventive measures for improved process control. The complete process of manufacturing prepregs is divided into three stages viz.: Fabric weaving, Resin formulation and Prepregging operation. FMEA principles are used to identify the predominantly vulnerable operations and to quantify the inherent risk associated. Risk Priority Numbers (RPN) are evaluated for various operations in these three stages. Based on process technology and engineering expertise, suitable corrective and preventive measures are offered according to the potential risk factors and failure types. Emphasis is to prioritize the efforts and attention towards major preventive measures by targeting the least number of factors causing the maximum impact for failures (Pareto principle). Present study substantiates the significance of trained personnel, proper documentation of operating procedures and work instructions along with contamination control as critical factors in eliminating failures in composite prepreg manufacturing process.

SDGs and ESG Criteria in Housing: Defining Local Evaluation Criteria and Indicators for Verifying Project Sustainability Using Florence Metropolitan Area as a Case Study

According to recent estimates (Reuters), the cost of implementing the sustainable development goals of Agenda 2030 will be USD 176 trillion. This amount seems unattainable, even when considering the public resources currently available to governments that are part of the United Nations. It is undoubtedly necessary to involve the private financial sector, within the so-called finance for sustainable development. To achieve the SDGs, it may be also necessary to schedule local-level initiatives and actions that consider the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, which can be used to source forms of private finance for sustainable development and contribute to the implementation of the SDGs. Based on these observations, this article deals with the study of clearly defined parameters: (1) the factors that should be considered when assessing the sustainability of a (local) real-estate project and, in particular, of a housing project, in order for the project to be considered sustainable and participate, albeit pro rata, in achieving one (or more) of the eleven SDG sub-goals; and (2) funding opportunities in the world of sustainable-development finance. The specific goal of the research contribution presented in this paper was to use the Delphi method to define a set of local-level evaluation criteria and indicators for real-estate projects, specifically housing projects, with an ESG matrix and in line with some of the SDG 11 targets, considering the Florence Metropolitan Area as a case study. The application of the Delphi method to the case study made it possible to test the usability of this method for the definition of the criteria and indicators, at the local level, for assessing the level of implementation of the SDGs. Specifically, a set of 48 criteria and 74 indicators were defined for assessing the consistency of housing projects with SDG 11 and ESG criteria.

Equitable and effective vaccine access considering vaccine hesitancy and capacity constraints

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have an unprecedented impact on people’s lives and the economy worldwide. Vaccines are the strongest evidence-based defense against the spread of the disease. The release of COVID-19 vaccines to the general public created policy challenges associated with how to best allocate vaccines among different sub-regions. In the United States, after vaccines became widely available for all eligible adults, policymakers faced objectives such as (i) achieving an equitable allocation to reduce populations’ travel times to get vaccinated and (ii) effectively allocating vaccine doses to minimize waste and unmet need. This problem was further exacerbated by the underlying factors of population vaccine hesitancy and sub-regions’ varying capacity levels to administer vaccines to eligible and willing populations. Although simple to implement, commonly used pro rata policies do not capture the complexities of this problem. We propose two alternatives to simple pro rata policies. The first alternative is based on a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming Model that minimizes the maximum travel duration of patients and aims to achieve an equitable and effective allocation of vaccines to sub-regions while considering capacity and vaccine hesitancy. A second alternative is a heuristic approach that may be more palatable for policymakers who (i) are not familiar with mathematical modeling, (ii) are reluctant to use black-box models, and (iii) prefer algorithms that are easy to understand and implement. We demonstrate the results of our model through a case study based on real data from the state of Alabama and show that substantial improvements in travel time-based equity are achievable through capacity improvements in a small subset of counties. We perform additional computational experiments that compare the proposed methods in terms of several metrics and demonstrate the promising performance of our model and proposed heuristic. We find that while our mathematical model can achieve equitable and effective vaccine allocation, the proposed heuristic performs better if the goal is to minimize average travel duration. Finally, we explore two model extensions that aim to (i) lower vaccine hesitancy by allocating vaccines, and (ii) prioritize vaccine access for certain high-risk sub-populations.

Modeling emission reduction benefits of the premium point-to-point bus service in Metropolitan Manila, Philippines – a scenario analysis

Road transport has been one of the largest contributors to global carbon emissions. In the Philippines, one such measure is the introduction of a relatively new public transport mode called the “Premium Point-to-Point (P2P) Bus Service”, which features shorter travel time and lower emission intensity than conventional buses. In light of the significant deficiency in transport emission studies for Philippine cities, this paper presents a scenario-based method for quantifying the potential emission reduction benefits of the P2P bus in Metropolitan Manila. Based on a pro rata mode shift assumption, it is estimated that a 1% mode shift of passengers from existing motor modes to P2P buses would lead to 0.64% reduction of total emissions over selected travel routes in Metro Manila. The analytical method addresses the acute emission data scarcity in the Philippines, and provides early evidence on the aggregate environmental benefits of P2P buses. Extensive sensitivity tests are conducted to verify the simulation results and identify key determinants of emission reduction. The tests confirm the robustness of research findings and further uncover the great potential of increasing vehicle occupancy levels to mitigate vehicle emissions in Metro Manila. Policy implications for enhancing the environmental benefits of P2P buses are provided.

Optimal spatial evaluation of a pro rata vaccine distribution rule for COVID-19

The COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) is a World Health Organization (WHO) initiative that aims for an equitable access of COVID-19 vaccines. Despite potential heterogeneous infection levels across a country, countries receiving allotments of vaccines may follow WHO’s allocation guidelines and distribute vaccines based on a jurisdictions’ relative population size. Utilizing economic—epidemiological modeling, we benchmark the performance of this pro rata allocation rule by comparing it to an optimal one that minimizes the economic damages and expenditures over time, including a penalty representing the social costs of deviating from the pro rata strategy. The pro rata rule performs better when the duration of naturally- and vaccine-acquired immunity is short, when there is population mixing, when the supply of vaccine is high, and when there is minimal heterogeneity in demographics. Despite behavioral and epidemiological uncertainty diminishing the performance of the optimal allocation, it generally outperforms the pro rata vaccine distribution rule.

HIERARCHY OF THE DISTRIBUTION OF BANKRUPTCY PROPERTY IN SYNDICATED LOAN FACILITY AGREEMENT FOR THE BANKRUPT DEBTOR

The position of individual creditors over the collateral in syndicated loan is represented by security agent as the recipient of collateral and the holder of material collateral. It is the legal consequence of agency relation as regulated in Syndicated Loan Facility Agreement. Therefore, the security agent in this syndicated loan, for the sake of law, serves as preference creditor to other syndication participation. This research aims to answer the problems related to the implementation of pari passu pro rata parte principles in determining the hierarchy of creditor in syndicated loan facility agreement to the bankrupt debtor. Firstly, it is intended to find out the position of individual creditors to the collateral in syndicated loan in bankruptcy position and secondly, it is intended to the hierarchy of bankruptcy property payment to the debtor of syndicated loan in bankruptcy position. The research method employed in this research was a normative research. It used juridical normative research type aiming to find the truth based on the legal science logic from its normative side. Data source used in this research was secondary data including laws, court verdicts, books, journals, articles, materials from internet, and dictionaries.

The economics of prepackaged bankruptcy

The economics of prepackaged bankruptcy

Frequency control of asynchronous motor for an irrigation pump of machine irrigation systems

The working state of freguency-operated asinchronous motor of irrigation pump in the closed system with feedback by velocity are considered. The system issue coefficient, provided a constancy of given value, loading coefficient of motor for voltage control pro rata control freguency are determined. Let us consider the static mode of operation of a frequency-controlled AM in a closed system with speed feedback. A decrease in the rotation speed in irrigation pumps to regulate their productivity is possible up to a certain minimum value, at which the pump head (H) becomes equal to the static head (Hst). The pump output (Q) then drops to zero. The value “k” has been determined, which ensures the constancy of the AM overload factor over the entire range of control frequency change in a closed-loop frequency control system with feedback on the engine speed.

Procedural Fairness in Exchange Matching Systems.

The move from open outcry to electronic trading added another responsibility to futures exchanges-that of matching orders between buyers and sellers. Matching systems can affect the level and speed of price discovery, the distribution of revenue, as well as the level of price efficiency of a given market. Whether the matching system is procedurally fair is another important consideration. I argue that while FIFO (First In First Out) is a fair procedure in principle and is perceived as the default matching system, it is not a fair procedure in practice. Likewise, while pro rata is a fair procedure in principle, it is not so in practice. Nevertheless, both FIFO and pro rata are relics of an open outcry system. Instead, I propose an alternative approach to matching systems that builds on the strengths of electronic trading-the ability to randomize in real time. I introduce random selection for service (RSS) as a matching system that is procedurally fair both in principle and in practice.

Review of Various Transmission Loss Allocation Methods: A Case Study of Integrated Nepal Power System using Best Method

This paper presents a review of the most relevant and practical methods for allocating transmission loss in a deregulated market. They are the pro-rata (PR) method, the marginal allocation (ITL) method, the proportional sharing (PS) method, and the Z-Bus method. This study has also performed a qualitative comparison of four methods using the IEEE 14 bus system. Finally, the Z-Bus method is selected as the best option for implementation in the Integrated Nepalese Power System Network (INPS). As of 2022, the loss allocation is determined at all 132 and 220 kV substations of INPS. The study of transmission loss allocation for INPS is carried out for six different cases, considering the variation in patterns of energy generation and demand, i.e., system full generation, summer peak, winter peak, average peak, dry peak, and contingency condition. The result shows the load, like Kathmandu Valley, which is in the region of generation, and the generator, like in the eastern region, which is in the region of demand, are mostly compensated with negative losses. Loads in the western region and generators like the Upper Tamakhoshi, which are far from the generator or load, are assigned the highest positive loss. Loss allocation to load and generator can vary depending on the loading conditions that INPS is operating under. The generation is comparably distributed in the full generation, summer, and contingency instances; as a result, the loss allocation to both loads and generators is significant. However, the bulk of losses are only attributed to the generator side in the three other scenarios with less generation, when the majority of the generation is only aggregated in a specific location. This is a result of the remote generator's long-distance power flow, which raises system loss. As a result, the Z-Bus method assigned the generator side the majority of the losses. Additionally, the majority of INPS's generation is determined to be remotely located, which increases their risk of transmission loss. Because of this, INPS is best served by the Z-Bus approach, which takes into account the locations of buses within the network. In order to minimize system loss, this encourages big demand or generation to be positioned close to the center of generation or demand.

FN v. Universiteit Antwerpen: The cold shoulder on the principles of effet utile and pro rata temporis

In May 2022, the CJEU delivered the judgment FN v. Universiteit Antwerpen, dealing with the interpretation of the Framework Agreements on fixed-term and part-time work in higher education. This contribution studies the Court's position on the four referred questions and provides a critical analysis of its reasoning. It finds, first and foremost, that a poor legal phrasing by the referring court and the lack of substance provided by the claimant weakened the position of the applicant and the possibility of receiving better protection from the directives. Nevertheless, the analysils also finds that the Court failed to see this case in light of important and well-established principles of EU law, particularly regarding the principle of pro rata temporis and effectiveness of EU law. It shows that this (lack of) interpretation by the Court undermines an already flawed protection of the directives and fails to shield a growing group of atypical workers from increasingly precarious labour patterns.

O4-3 An evaluation of the Time to Move workplace physical activity intervention

BackgroundWorkplace physical activity interventions have shown positive outcomes for employee health, productivity and absenteeism (1,2). However, the majority prescribe the duration and/or type of activity to be undertaken. In response to strong public opinion that employers should do more to improve the health of their workforce, Public Health Wales, the public health agency for Wales, developed a 12-month pilot physical activity initiative - Time to Move (TTM). TTM allowed participants to use one hour/week (pro rata) of paid work time for any physical activity. We evaluated TTM to understand its impact and identify learning.MethodsUsing pre-experimental time series design, data were collected from participating employees: baseline (June-August 2018), mid-initiative (December 2018) and at 12-months (June-August 2019). Using validated scales where possible, questionnaires recorded: physical activity (MET-minutes/week), general health (0, poor-100, good), mental well-being (SWEMWBS), job satisfaction (1, very dissatisfied-5, very satisfied) and demographics. Biometric measures (baseline, 12-months) included Body Mass Index (BMI) and blood pressure. Analyses used descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis and generalized linear modelling. Focus groups explored participants' perceptions of TTM, analysed thematically.Results542 participants completed all measures (63.1% of baseline). Compared to baseline, at 12-months 57.7% reported increased physical activity (30.6% decreased; 11.6% no change) with 75.3% meeting UK activity guidelines (58.8% baseline). Those with the lowest levels of physical activity at baseline (n = 223) increased their weekly moderate activity by > 2.5 hours, whilst those with moderate activity (n = 269) increased by 58 minutes/week. A small improvement was reported in mental well-being (mean scores; 22.4 baseline, 23.2 12-months), with participants with low mental well-being at baseline improving the most. Self-reported health and job satisfaction also improved. However, BMI and blood pressure changes were non-meaningful. Employee attitudes to TTM were positive. Organisational support was a motivating factor for participation, with competing demands a barrier.ConclusionsThe provision of paid time to engage in physical activity can improve employee health and well-being. TTM provides an example of how organisations can promote physical activity and change workplace culture. However, further research should explore the long-term impact of the intervention, including the potential impact of COVID-19-related restrictions.