Health Insurance,Health Conditions,and Veteran Health Care Utilization

Abstract

The utilization of health care services by veterans has received much attention in recent years. However, the impact of the large array of factors affecting the veterans’ demand for health care services remains understudied. These factors include individual socio-demographic and economic characteristics, the availability of various sources of health insurance, and the prevalence of medical conditions. We use public data to analyze how veterans’ utilization of health care services varies with these factors. We also analyze how the reliance on VA services varies when alternative sources of health insurance are available to veterans. Based on the estimated relationships, we use a micro-simulation model to forecast future health care utilization, both inside and outside of VA.     

一种基于耦合的三维拓扑结构表示方法

基于一定的空间划分 ,提出了一种基于耦合的三维拓扑结构表示方法。这种三维拓扑结构基于耦合 (orientedface ,arc)定义了四种基本的拓扑关系。基于这些基本的拓扑关系 ,讨论了四种重要的拓扑查询的实现算法 ,从而证明了这种拓扑结构的价值 :不依赖几何嵌入 ,快速推导出各种拓扑关系 ,尤其是与体对象相关的三维拓扑关系     

Effect of energy content of the nitraminic plastic bonded explosives on their performance and sensitivity characteristics

Information about the forty nine nitraminic plastic bonded explosives (PBXs) and different nitramines were collected. Fillers of these PBXs are nitramines 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazinane (RDX) and β-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5-tetrazocane (β-HMX), cis-1,3,4,6-tetranitro-octahydroimidazo-[4,5-d]imidazole (bicyclo-HMX, BCHMX) and ε-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexanitro-2,4,6,8,10,12-hexaazaisowurtzitane (ε-HNIW, CL-20) which are bonded by polyfluoro-elastomers, polydimethyl-siloxane, poly-glycidyl azide, polyisobutylene, polystyrene-butadiene, poly-acrylonitrile-butadiene and hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene in addition to a melt cast compositions based on 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene. For thirty two of these PBXs the relationships are specified and analyzed between heats of their combustion and relative explosive strengths; by means of these relationships it might be possible to estimate, which groupings in the macromolecule of binder could be liable to their primary fission in the PBXs initiation. Similarly, for forty two of these explosives, the relationships are described and analyzed between their enthalpies of formation and impact sensitivities; here is especially attention paid to PBXs filled by BCHMX. Specific rate constants from Vacuum Stability Test (VST) of four nitramines and twenty PBXs are introduced into relationships with their enthalpies of formation. Regarding to all the mentioned cases, increasing of energy content of the studied explosives leads to increase of the relative explosive strength or initiation reactivity, respectively. Exception with the opposite trend, the outputs of VST are for BCHMX, where in PBXs are matrices with the esteric plasticizers or the energetic poly-glycidyl azide. Admixture of RDX or HMX, respectively, into the BCHX PBXs gives ternary PBXs whose thermal stability, in the sense of applied VST, is higher comparing to the original binary explosives.     

SPEED BUMP ON THE ROAD TO GLOBAL ZERO

The prospect of the United States continuing to reduce the size of its nuclear arsenal to “very low numbers” has raised questions in Japan and South Korea, where US extended deterrence guarantees are premised on the “nuclear umbrella.” In both countries, however, concerns focus less on numerical arsenal size than on the sufficiency of specific nuclear and non-nuclear capabilities to meet evolving threats and on the degree of broader US commitment to these alliances. This article assesses developments in US-Japan and US-South Korea relationships in response to the Obama administration's nuclear disarmament policies, focusing on how the evolutionary course of those relationships may in turn condition prospects for sustaining this US nuclear policy direction. The analysis finds that the challenges of deterrence credibility and allied reassurance are difficult and long-term, but also that US nuclear arsenal size is secondary to broader political, strategic, and military factors in meeting these challenges. The evaluation concludes that strong alliance relationships and strategic stability in East Asia can be maintained while the size of the US nuclear arsenal continues to decline, but also that deterioration of these relationships could imperil core US nuclear policy and nonproliferation objectives.     

Multiobjective fractional programming duality theory

Results of Geoffrion for efficient and properly efficient solutions of multiobjective programming problems are extended to multiobjective fractional programming problems. Duality relationships are given for these problems where the functions are generalized convex or invex.     

Development of proxy relationships: a case study of the Lebanese Civil War

Proxy warfare is a consistent element in international warfare. However, it is unclear why proxy relationships form in cases where states have multiple options of groups to support. Existing research identifies the presence of transnational constituencies, shared interstate rivalries, and moderate relative strength of militant groups as highly influential on the development of a proxy relationship. This study examines the presence of these variables within the context of the Lebanese Civil War. The results of this demonstrate that each state places greater importance on some variables and ignores others when choosing a proxy. Additionally, this study further demonstrates the presence of new variables that are key to the development of proxy relationships.     

A hybrid algorithm for the one machine sequencing problem to minimize total tardiness

In a recent paper, Hamilton Emmons has established theorems relating to the order in which pairs of jobs are to be processed in an optimal schedule to minimize the total tardiness of performing n jobs on one machine. Using these theorems, the algorithm of this paper determines the precedence relationships among pairs of jobs (whenever possible) and eliminates the first and the last few jobs in an optimal sequence. The remaining jobs are then ordered by incorporating the precedence relationships in a dynamic programming framework. Propositions are proved which considerably reduce the total computation involved in the dynamic programming phase. Computational results indicate that the solution time goes up less than linearly with the size (n) of the problem. The median solution time for solving 50 job problems was 0.36 second on UNIVAC 1108 computer.     

A Reversal of Fortunes? Extended Deterrence and Assurance in Europe and East Asia1

ABSTRACT

The extended deterrence relationships between the United States and its allies in Europe and East Asia have been critical to regional and global security and stability, as well as to nonproliferation efforts, since the late 1950s. These relationships developed in different regional contexts, and reflect differing cultural, political and military realities in the US allies and their relations with the United States. Although extended deterrence and assurance relations have very different histories, and have to some extent been controversial through the years, there has been a rethinking of these relations in recent years. Many Europeans face a diminished threat situation as well as economic and political pressures on the maintenance of extended deterrence, and are looking at the East Asian relationships, which do not involve forward deployed forces as more attractive than NATO’s risk-and-burden-sharing concepts involving the US nuclear forces deployed in Europe. On the other hand, the East Asian allies are looking favorably at NATO nuclear consultations, and in the case of South Korea, renewed US nuclear deployments (which were ended in 1991), to meet increased security concerns posed by a nuclear North Korea and more assertive China. This paper explores the history of current relationships and the changes that have led the allies to view those of others as more suitable for meeting their current needs.     

变工况下轴承健康监测的相关向量机与自适应阈值模型方法

工况在旋转机械运行过程中通常是变化的。变化的工况和故障一样,也会引起机械振动特征发生改变,从而引起诊断误差。为此,提出一种用于变工况下轴承健康监测的新方法。该方法使用相关向量机拟合振动特征的统计量随工况参数的变化,得到特征统计量与工况参数之间的连续函数关系;基于不同工况下的特征统计,构建自适应阈值模型。将该方法用于不同转速下的轴承健康监测,结果表明,当转速超过某一个较小的值时,该方法有效。     

Epidemics,national security,and US immigration policy

What are relationships between epidemics, national security, and US immigration policy? This question is important because it sheds light on transnational or nontraditional security areas, American immigration policy, and a pressing issue for US leaders who have recently faced epidemics such as the West Africa Ebola outbreak that began in 2013. This article answers it and lays ground in the area by reviewing epidemics in world history, using International Relations and Security Studies works to specify dangers of contagions for states, and identifying three general immigration measures that American leaders have utilized from the seventeenth century to the present day to protect against contagions, which are (1) policies restricting entrance of foreigners thought to carry specified diseases, (2) the isolation or quarantining of immigrants with contagious disease, and (3) delegating the President with authority to stop immigration in the event of an epidemic abroad. This study has implications for research and contemporary US immigration policy.     

手绘非规则军标图形的结构化识别方法

在基于草图的态势标绘系统中,线状和面状军标图形通常是依具体地形、战况、意图等标绘的,没有规则的形状,难以采用基于表观的方法进行识别。针对这类手绘非规则军标图形提出了一种结构化识别方法,基于非规则军标图形集的特点定义了9种图元和4种图元间空间结构关系,将图形表示为图元向量和图元结构关系矩阵,通过匹配图元向量和图元结构关系矩阵来识别图形类别,并估计未知图形与模板图形之间的图元对应关系。实验结果表明:本文方法能有效克服图形形状变化的影响,对手绘的常用非规则军标图形的类别和图元对应关系具有较高的识别正确率和识别速度。     

Too little,too late: protecting American soft networks in COIN/CT

ABSTRACT

Assistance of local-national partners is necessary to the USA in order to protect its national security interests throughout the world. These partners, typically individuals who support USA diplomats, service members, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in non-combatant roles, form USA soft networks. Due to the nature of their work, many of these individuals associated with the policy and actions of the USA become vulnerable to violent threats from adversaries. In fact, adversaries have grasped that attacking USA soft networks is a logical approach for enemies fighting from positions of weakness. As a result, examination of other domains may yield best practices that build resiliency in USA soft networks, thereby cementing national security interests. Further, agency theory illuminates critical principles in the relationships between local-national partners and field practitioners, and informs policy development efforts as a result.     

Switching costs,dynamic uncertainty,and buyer–seller relationships

We analyze strategic relationships between buyers and sellers in markets with switching costs and dynamic uncertainty by investigating the scenario wherein a representative buyer trades with two foreign sellers located in the same foreign country. We show that, under exchange rate uncertainty, switching costs may lead to switching equilibria where both sellers co‐exist in the market with the buyer, or no‐switching equilibria where either seller captures the market. The presence of exchange rate uncertainty facilitates competition by allowing the sellers to co‐exist in the market with the buyer. However, if the level of uncertainty is beyond a threshold, the only viable equilibria are those where one of the sellers captures the market. Further, depending on the level of exchange rate uncertainty and the sellers' variable costs, switching costs may either raise or lower the level of prices in long‐term contracts between the buyer and the sellers. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2007     

On Brokers,Commodification of Information and Liberian Former Combatants

ABSTRACT

This article investigates research brokers and commodification of information. When combined with inherently asymmetric research relationships and successful gatekeeping, brokers create demand and become indispensable. Potential negative effects of brokerage and commodification of information are discussed through experiences studying former combatants in Liberia. There bargains with brokers who could facilitate access to this hidden population resulted in a vicious circle as brokers confirmed what researchers wanted to hear. The attention to this issue was first brought by subsequent ethnography and participant observation, which also offer the promise of an ethically defensible way of collecting information.     

重大活动安全警卫工作之我见

当前，重要会议、重大活动已经成为群众上访制造事端扩大影响的首选目标。同时，也成为敌对分子、恐怖组织企图实施阴谋暗害和恐怖破坏活动的主要选择场所。为防止上述事件发生，警卫部队要处理好三种关系，掌握情报信息。严密部署。     

Equalities in transportation problems and characterizations of optimal solutions

This paper considers the classical finite linear transportation Problem (I) and two relaxations, (II) and (III), of it based on papers by Kantorovich and Rubinstein, and Kretschmer. Pseudo-metric type conditions on the cost matrix are given under which Problems (I) and (II) have common optimal value, and a proper subset of these conditions is sufficient for Problems (II) and (III) to have common optimal value. The relationships between the three problems provide a proof of Kantorovich's original characterization of optimal solutions to the standard transportation problem having as many origins as destinations. The result are extended to problems having cost matrices which are nonnegative row-column equivalent.     

A new look on the electric spark sensitivity of nitramines

Electric spark energy, E_ES, for a 50% probability of initiation of the 14 nitramines was determined using a measuring instrument in which the electrodes are in direct contact with the sample. Indirectly proportional relationships were established between the logarithm of the E_ES values and the length of the longest N–N bond in the nitramine molecule. This finding is compatible with the mechanism of the first step in the electro-reduction of the nitramine grouping. Directly proportional relationships were found to exist between the E_ES values and the crystal lattice free volumes, ΔV (i.e. an increase in the ΔV values increases the nitramine's resistance to electric sparks) but there were several nitramines with the opposite course of this relationship. Also a semilogarithic relationships between the E_ES values and a ratio of intrinsic volumes of molecule, V_int, to the ΔV values were described as well as ambiguous linear dependence between these energies and a sum of the positive and negative extremes of the molecular surface electrostatic potentials, V_S,Σ. Several nitramines studied (always the same ones) display roughly the same distribution in the coordinate systems of relationships with lengths of the longest N–N bonds, the V_int/ΔV ratio and the sum V_S,Σ as the independent variables. It was found that, typically, such relationships start from a single identical point, in effect a point corresponding to data for a structural unit from which the studied nitramines can be hypothetically generated, and/or are converging on another point, often the one corresponding to the data for HNIW. All the findings point to a fundamental influence of the intermolecular forces on reactivity of nitramines exposed to electric sparks.     

C2组织指挥控制关系的形式化描述*

针对C2组织的指挥控制关系目前还缺少很好地形式化描述方法,其量化研究比较困难,从C2组织的实体及实体之间的关系出发,形式化描述C2组织指挥(纵向)关系、横向关系、资源配置关系、执行关系等四种关系,最终构建出一个指挥控制关系网,为运用复杂网络理论以及图论等方法对指挥控制关系的量化分析研究提供基础。     

Worst‐case performance of approximation algorithms for tool management problems

Since the introduction of flexible manufacturing systems, researchers have investigated various planning and scheduling problems faced by the users of such systems. Several of these problems are not encountered in more classical production settings, and so‐called tool management problems appear to be among the more fundamental ones of these problems. Most tool management problems are hard to solve, so that numerous approximate solution techniques have been proposed to tackle them. In this paper, we investigate the quality of such algorithms by means of worst‐case analysis. We consider several polynomial‐time approximation algorithms described in the literature, and we show that all these algorithms exhibit rather poor worst‐case behavior. We also study the complexity of solving tool management problems approximately. In this respect, we investigate the interrelationships among tool management problems, as well as their relationships with other well‐known combinatorial problems such as the maximum clique problem or the set covering problem, and we prove several negative results on the approximability of various tool management problems. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 46: 445–462, 1999     

Ethnicity,class, and civil war: the role of hierarchy,segmentation, and cross-cutting cleavages

Why are some countries prone to ethno-nationalist conflict, whereas others are plagued by class conflict? This is a question that has seldom been raised and rarely been examined empirically. This paper presents a social-structural theory to account for the variable incidence of these two forms of political instability. These two types of conflict result from distinct principles of group solidarity – ethnicity and class – and since each individual is simultaneously a member of an ethnic group (or many such groups) and a particular class, these two principles vary in the degree to which they are mutually exclusive or cross-cutting. The degree of economic stratification between groups and economic segmentation within them shapes the relative salience of each principle of group solidarity in any society and is associated with a characteristic form of political mobilization. In places where between-group inequalities are high, and within-group inequalities low, ethnicity should be the dominant principle of group solidarity and serve as the primary basis of group conflict. By contrast, in countries where between-group inequalities are low, and within-group inequalities high, class is more likely to serve as the dominant principle of group solidarity, and conflicts along class lines are more likely. We test these conjectures with data in over 100 countries on cross-cutting cleavages, ethnic war, and class conflict. The results are supportive of the theory, and provide evidence that how groups are stratified and segmented in societies shapes the type of civil war.