论环境侵权中风险责任的确立

基于环境侵害具有潜伏性和不可逆转性的特点,以损害实际发生为归责前提的过错责任和无过错责任原则在环境侵权中的适用无法体现环境保护“预防为主”的思想。风险责任进入环境侵权归责体系则可以较好地解决这一问题,但风险责任的适用必须解决权利主体和义务主体的特定化问题、损害预防和经济发展的矛盾问题以及风险责任本身在侵权行为法中的立法体例问题。     

个人数据损害的类型及其确定

依告知同意原则构建的个人数据保护制度面临着过度收集、擅自披露与滥用等问题的严重挑战。公权保护路径存在监管力度、范围及效力的局限性,而传统侵权法上的损害观念架空了数据主体的私法救济权利。因此,为保障数字经济的健康发展,必须扩张侵权法上损害的含义。法律上可予赔偿的个人数据损害应延及两类新型损害：数据主体遭受次生损害的风险,以及社会分选歧视、数据监控、自动化决策等造成的人格利益减损。在确定具体赔偿数额时,为解决风险与人格利益减损所产生的经济量化与举证责任之困境,《个人信息保护法》应采用知识产权法中广泛适用的法定赔偿制度。     

从人域契约到自然契约：生态损害赔偿法理要义之证成与功能拓展

生态损害赔偿作为我国环境保护领域最重要的救济性制度之一,其规范的目的、动机、价值、架构等诸构件决定着生境主体及其权利何以成立的基础性承载和充足性解释。生态损害赔偿制度从人域契约的“人域法”层面确立了“生境”的独特价值、独立的存在权和独立的法律人格;从自然契约的“人际法”层面打破了“人域法”理论的封闭体系,将伦理价值植入环境法律规则之中,摆脱了传统“人域法”对非政治化和非伦理化的唯理主义形式的追求和表达,复兴了中华法系“法律应当伦理化而非工具化”的灵魂与传统,确立了法益保护从“人域优先”向“人际优先”法律价值的转换,丰富了环境法理学的秩序观念和学理原则,拓展了传统人域法“主体中心主义”规则体系的界限与边界,为开启我国环境法从“主体模式保护”向“关系模式保护”生态法律观的变革与价值功能的转换提供了超越性的实践尝试与理论探索。     

Accelerated life test sampling plans for the Weibull distribution under Type I progressive interval censoring with random removals

This paper considers the design of accelerated life test (ALT) sampling plans under Type I progressive interval censoring with random removals. We assume that the lifetime of products follows a Weibull distribution. Two levels of constant stress higher than the use condition are used. The sample size and the acceptability constant that satisfy given levels of producer's risk and consumer's risk are found. In particular, the optimal stress level and the allocation proportion are obtained by minimizing the generalized asymptotic variance of the maximum likelihood estimators of the model parameters. Furthermore, for validation purposes, a Monte Carlo simulation is conducted to assess the true probability of acceptance for the derived sampling plans.     

Likelihood estimation for a general class of inverse exponentiated distributions based on complete and progressively censored data

In this paper, we establish the existence and uniqueness of the maximum-likelihood estimates of the parameters of a general class of inverse exponentiated distributions based on complete as well as progressively Type-I and Type-II censored data.     

Inference for Weibull distribution under adaptive Type-I progressive hybrid censored competing risks data

In this paper, a competing risks model is considered under adaptive type-I progressive hybrid censoring scheme (AT-I PHCS). The lifetimes of the latent failure times have Weibull distributions with the same shape parameter. We investigate the maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters. Bayes estimates of the parameters are obtained based on squared error and LINEX loss functions under the assumption of independent gamma priors. We propose to apply Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques to carry out a Bayesian estimation procedure and in turn calculate the credible intervals. To evaluate the performance of the estimators, a simulation study is carried out.     

Designing for “touch”, “reach” and “movement” in postwar (1946–1972) English primary and infant school environments

ABSTRACT

This article examines the use and interpretation of the terms “touch”, “reach” and “movement” in Ministry of Education (later, Department of Education) official publications known as Building Bulletins between the years 1949–1972. A close critical reading of Building Bulletins concerned primarily with school design for young children (infant and primary schools) in the English context has been carried out and the results of this exercise are discussed in the wider context of close relationships established between architects designing schools and leading progressive educationalists in Britain. The wider international context, particularly progressive educational design in the USA, is used to further understand the use and interpretation of these terms. The article contributes to a current interest among historians of education in exploring material and sensory histories of schooling.     

The competing risks analysis for parallel and series systems using Type-II progressive censoring

Abstract

Recently, the study of the lifetime of systems in reliability and survival analysis in the presence of several causes of failure (competing risks) has attracted attention in the literature. In this paper, series and parallel systems with exponential lifetime for each item of the system are considered. Several causes of failure independently affect lifetime distributions and observations of failure times of the systems are considered under progressive Type-II censored scheme. For series systems, the maximum likelihood estimates of parameters are computed and confidence intervals for parameters of the model are obtained using Fisher information matrix. For parallel systems, the generalized EM algorithm which uses the Newton-Raphson algorithm inside the EM algorithm is used to compute the maximum likelihood estimates of parameters. Also, the standard errors of the maximum likelihood estimates are computed by using the supplemented EM algorithm. The simulation study confirms the good performance of the introduced approach.     

Bayesian estimation and prediction for Weibull model with progressive censoring

This article presents the statistical inferences on Weibull parameters with the data that are progressively type II censored. The maximum likelihood estimators are derived. For incorporation of previous information with current data, the Bayesian approach is considered. We obtain the Bayes estimators under squared error loss with a bivariate prior distribution, and derive the credible intervals for the parameters of Weibull distribution. Also, the Bayes prediction intervals for future observations are obtained in the one- and two-sample cases. The method is shown to be practical, although a computer program is required for its implementation. A numerical example is presented for illustration and some simulation study are performed.     

Inverse gaussian accelerated test models based on cumulative damage

The failure of a system under environmental stress often can be described by an accelerated test model which incorporates the environmental variable L. Here, the failure of such a system at environmental level L is modeled as the first passage of accumulated damage to a critical threshold value. Assuming a discrete additive damage model leads to a Birnbaum–Saunders-type distribution for the failure time which can be closely approximated by an inverse Gaussian-type model. However, if a continuous damage model based on a Gaussian process is assumed, a more general family of inverse Gaussian accelerated test models is obtained. Three sets of failure data are discussed to illustrate the usefulness of this general family.