中国古代程序公正缺失的原因

刑事程序公正一直是法律界讨论的热点问题。但是在古代中国,刑事程序公正却一直处于缺失状态。本文从诉讼地位的不平等、罪从供定原则以及纠问式审判方式等三个方面分析,就中国古代刑事程序缺失的原因做了简要分析。     

论我国《合同法》有关试用买卖规定的完善

试用买卖是一种特种买卖。我国《合同法》在170条和171条首次对其进行了规定。这些规定过于简单,仅涉及试用期间和试用买卖效果的规定,对于承认、标的物风险负担、试用期间的法律后果及其试用费用承担等方面规定有必要进一步研讨并完善。     

反腐败视域下监察机关证据补查的三种模式

随着纪检监察体制改革的持续深入,中国监察机关的证据补查体系逐渐呈现出退回重新调查、退回补充调查和直接补充证据三种模式。监察机关审理阶段证据补查的三种模式各有其形成的原因及运行机制,也都有独立存续的空间。退回重新调查模式和退回补充调查模式在监督制约监察机关调查权和保障案件质量方面具有一定的积极作用,但是两者容易引发内部机构之间的矛盾,进而导致案件办理效率降低。直接补充证据模式有助于提高案件的办理效率和促进内部和谐,但却模糊了监察机关内部机构之间的职责边界,容易引发制约不足而配合有余的风险。未来应当秉持法治意识、程序意识和证据意识,在保障内部监督制约和案件办理效率的基础上,严格依法适用监察机关证据补查的三种模式。     

Time-to-event calibration-free odds design: A robust efficient design for phase I trials with late-onset outcomes

Compared with most of the existing phase I designs, the recently proposed calibration-free odds (CFO) design has been demonstrated to be robust, model-free, and easy to use in practice. However, the original CFO design cannot handle late-onset toxicities, which have been commonly encountered in phase I oncology dose-finding trials with targeted agents or immunotherapies. To account for late-onset outcomes, we extend the CFO design to its time-to-event (TITE) version, which inherits the calibration-free and model-free properties. One salient feature of CFO-type designs is to adopt game theory by competing three doses at a time, including the current dose and the two neighboring doses, while interval-based designs only use the data at the current dose and is thus less efficient. We conduct comprehensive numerical studies for the TITE-CFO design under both fixed and randomly generated scenarios. TITE-CFO shows robust and efficient performances compared with interval-based and model-based counterparts. As a conclusion, the TITE-CFO design provides robust, efficient, and easy-to-use alternatives for phase I trials when the toxicity outcome is late-onset.     

Bayesian single-to-double arm transition design using both short-term and long-term endpoints

The choice between single-arm designs versus randomized double-arm designs has been contentiously debated in the literature of phase II oncology trials. Recently, as a compromise, the single-to-double arm transition design was proposed, combining the two designs into one trial over two stages. Successful implementation of the two-stage transition design requires a suspension period at the end of the first stage to collect the response data of the already enrolled patients. When the evaluation of the primary efficacy endpoint is overly long, the between-stage suspension period may unfavorably prolong the trial duration and cause a delay in treating future eligible patients. To accelerate the trial, we propose a Bayesian single-to-double arm design with short-term endpoints (BSDS), where an intermediate short-term endpoint is used for making early termination decisions at the end of the single-arm stage, followed by an evaluation of the long-term endpoint at the end of the subsequent double-arm stage. Bayesian posterior probabilities are used as the primary decision-making tool at the end of the trial. Design calibration steps are proposed for this Bayesian monitoring process to control the frequentist operating characteristics and minimize the expected sample size. Extensive simulation studies have demonstrated that our design has comparable power and average sample size but a much shorter trial duration than conventional single-to-double arm design. Applications of the design are illustrated using two phase II oncology trials with binary endpoints.     

公司人格否认:裁判逻辑、检视与导正

法人独立人格与公司人格否认是现代公司责任制度的基石,公司人格否认是对股东有限责任的修正及补救。债权人为实现其债权,往往考虑最大限度增加可求偿的主体,公司的股东甚至关联主体进入其视野。《公司法》第20条就股东在一定条件下对公司债务承担连带责任的规定,成为债权人要求股东和/或关联主体承担清偿责任的法律依据,也成为股东或关联主体抗辩之要点。分析最高人民法院有关公司人格否认的裁判认定,人格混同、资本显著不足、过度支配和控制的案件所占比例最高,这与《全国法院民商事审判工作会议纪要》的具体规定呈现部分契合;最高人民法院第15号指导性案例亦为关联公司之间人格否认的认定,提供了类案参考价值。但是,不管最高人民法院第15号指导性案例,还是《全国法院民商事审判工作会议纪要》仍无法全面解决司法实践中的问题,亟需从理论上对公司人格否认的适用问题进行深入梳理和研讨,以推动公司人格否认制度之完善。回归公司责任制度的基本法理,公司人格否认的内核是股东有限责任与债权人利益保护的法权博弈与公私角力,是公司股东责任的有限性与股东权利滥用之间的法益平衡。公司人格否认并非是为了消解公司的法人独立性,而是将滥用权利的股东排除于股东有限责任的保护之外,将其与公司视为同一责任主体,对公司债权人承担连带责任。制度完善的考量因素,当以权利滥用定性公司人格否认的正当性基础,不仅"正向刺破",亦或是"反向刺破" "关联刺破",权利滥用都可为法院的裁判提供正当性。而权利滥用的抽象化与形态化的相互增益,可以打破制定法条款的局限性与滥用行为各形态的救济困境,使人格否认从立法向司法跃进。司法审查股东滥用权利行为与损害债权人利益之间的因果关系,并赋予债权人公司人格否认与损害赔偿的法适用选择权,既符合法理又可以避免债权人的权利滥用;司法裁判要对股东权利滥用进行扩大解释及导入利益衡平机制进行法益衡量,在股东有限责任与债权人利益保护之间寻求平衡。     

A Bayesian optimal interval design for dose optimization with a randomization scheme based on pharmacokinetics outcomes in oncology

The primary objective of an oncology dose-finding trial for novel therapies, such as molecularly targeted agents and immune-oncology therapies, is to identify the optimal dose (OD) that is tolerable and therapeutically beneficial for subjects in subsequent clinical trials. Pharmacokinetic (PK) information is considered an appropriate indicator for evaluating the level of drug intervention in humans from a pharmacological perspective. Several novel anticancer agents have been shown to have significant exposure-efficacy relationships, and some PK information has been considered an important predictor of efficacy. This paper proposes a Bayesian optimal interval design for dose optimization with a randomization scheme based on PK outcomes in oncology. A simulation study shows that the proposed design has advantages compared to the other designs in the percentage of correct OD selection and the average number of patients allocated to OD in various realistic settings.     

Informing employees in small and medium-sized firms about training: Results of a randomized field experiment

We mailed brochures to 10,000 randomly chosen employed German workers who were eligible for a subsidized occupational training program called WeGebAU, informing them about the importance of skills-upgrading training in general and about WeGebAU in particular. Using survey and register data, we estimate effects of the informational brochure on awareness of the program, on take-up of WeGebAU and other training, and on subsequent employment. The brochure more than doubles awareness of the program. There are no effects on WeGebAU take-up, but participation in other (unsubsidized) training increases among employees aged under 45. Short-term labor market outcomes are not affected.     

Alone,together: On the benefits of Bayesian borrowing in a meta-analytic setting

It is common practice to use hierarchical Bayesian model for the informing of a pediatric randomized controlled trial (RCT) by adult data, using a prespecified borrowing fraction parameter (BFP). This implicitly assumes that the BFP is intuitive and corresponds to the degree of similarity between the populations. Generalizing this model to any $K\ge 1$ historical studies, naturally leads to empirical Bayes meta-analysis. In this paper we calculate the Bayesian BFPs and study the factors that drive them. We prove that simultaneous mean squared error reduction relative to an uninformed model is always achievable through application of this model. Power and sample size calculations for a future RCT, designed to be informed by multiple external RCTs, are also provided. Potential applications include inference on treatment efficacy from independent trials involving either heterogeneous patient populations or different therapies from a common class.     

Sample size re-estimation in Phase 2 dose-finding: Conditional power versus Bayesian predictive power

Unblinded sample size re-estimation (SSR) is often planned in a clinical trial when there is large uncertainty about the true treatment effect. For Proof-of Concept (PoC) in a Phase II dose finding study, contrast test can be adopted to leverage information from all treatment groups. In this article, we propose two-stage SSR designs using frequentist conditional power (CP) and Bayesian predictive power (PP) for both single and multiple contrast tests. The Bayesian SSR can be implemented under a wide range of prior settings to incorporate different prior knowledge. Taking the adaptivity into account, all type I errors of final analysis in this paper are rigorously protected. Simulation studies are carried out to demonstrate the advantages of unblinded SSR in multi-arm trials.