Fraudster’s and victims’ profiles and loss predictors’ hierarchy in the mental healthcare industry in the US

Abstract

Background

Fraud- or theft-related crimes account for the highest number of crimes in the mental health industry in the US.     

基于两次平衡计算的南昌市耕作层土壤剥离再利用空间配置研究

研究目的:探讨耕作层土壤剥离再利用空间配置思路与方法,并以南昌市为例进行实证研究,为相关工作提供借鉴。研究方法:提出基于线性规划及OD成本矩阵方法的两次平衡计算的耕作层土壤剥离再利用土方空间配置思路。首先,确定剥离、覆土优先度并结合供求关系划定供需圈,在供需圈内部进行第一次调配平衡;其次,对于内部不能平衡的供需圈,进行第二次跨圈调配平衡,达到缩短运输距离,控制成本目的。研究结果:(1)南昌市耕作层剥离量能够满足覆土数量与质量的需求;(2)空间配置结果共划定18个供需圈,供需圈内土方调配加权平均运输距离为6 682 m,小于期望值10 km,满足项目实施要求;(3)共有15个供需圈存在土方量不平衡问题,跨圈调配的距离平均为72 071 m,满足短距离运输的要求。研究结论:以耕作层土壤剥离、覆土优先度及供求关系为基础划定供需圈,基于线性规划及OD成本矩阵的两次平衡计算的空间配置思路与方法,可以优化运输距离,减少运输成本,提高项目实施效益。本文提出的空间配置思路可以为耕作层剥离再利用工程的顺利实施提供理论与方法借鉴。     

Too Little or too much? Exploring U‐shaped Relationships between Corporate Environmental Performance and Corporate Financial Performance

Despite 40 years of research on the relationship between corporate environmental performance (CEP) and corporate financial performance (CFP), there is no generally accepted theoretical framework that explains the contradictory results that have emerged. This unsatisfactory status may be attributed to the fact that linear models dominate the research. Based on an international sample of 2361 firm‐years from 2008 to 2012, we find empirical evidence of a non‐linear, specifically a U‐shaped, relationship between carbon performance and profitability as well as between waste intensity and profitability. The same result holds for the relationship between carbon performance and stock market performance, but solely for manufacturing industries. Our empirical findings provide evidence for the theoretical framework of a ‘too‐little‐of‐a‐good‐thing’ (TLGT) effect, which indicates that the type of relationship (positive, negative) depends on the level of CEP. More precisely, there is a negative CEP–CFP relationship for companies with low CEP and a positive association for high CEP. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Infrastructure development for alternative fuel vehicles on a highway road system

A new mathematical model for positioning alternative fuel (AF) refueling stations on directed-transportation networks with the objective of maximizing the coverage of path flow volume is proposed. This model is especially designed for developing an AF infrastructure on toll roads and other highways, where vehicles do not need to exit the road network for refueling, some candidate station locations are not located at interchanges, and some stations may only service vehicles on one driving direction. The proposed model is applied to the Pennsylvania Turnpike System using the 2011 truck traffic data and considering different vehicle driving ranges.     

Nonparametric fixed effects model for panel data with locally stationary regressors

We develop methods for inference in nonparametric time-varying fixed effects panel data models that allow for locally stationary regressors and for the time series length $T$ and cross-section size $N$ both being large. We first develop a pooled nonparametric profile least squares dummy variable approach to estimate the nonparametric function, and establish the optimal convergence rate and asymptotic normality of the resultant estimator. We then propose a test statistic to check whether the bivariate nonparametric function is time-varying or the time effect is separable, and derive the asymptotic distribution of the proposed test statistic. We present several simulated examples and two real data analyses to illustrate the finite sample performance of the proposed methods.     

村级尺度耕地产能空间分异及其影响因子分析

[目的]通过探究耕地产能空间分异规律与影响因子,识别地区粮食生产关键制约因素,提升高标准基本农田建设的针对性和建设效果。[方法]采用空间自相关模型刻画了村级尺度耕地产能空间分异规律,对比分析了线性回归模型和地理加权回归模型在耕地产能影响因子识别的效果,并依此划分产能提升类型区。[结果](1)海伦市耕地产能呈现中西部高北部偏低的态势,且具有较强的空间自相关特征。(2)海伦市耕地产能与黑土层厚度、出现障碍层深度、耕作距离、田块状况和质地等变量显著相关,且均呈正相关,但在空间上表现出不同程度的异质性。(3)基于地理加权回归模型的耕地产能影响因子,提出了产能保持区、耕作条件改良区、质地改良区、障碍层改良区和保护性耕作区5类耕地产能提升类型区。[结论]文章所采用的基于村级尺度耕地产能及其空间分异因素模型相关研究,能够较好揭示村级耕地产能空间分布特点、空间自相关性特征及影响因子分布特征,基于此所划分的耕地产能提升类型区较已有研究对耕地分类管理具有更精准的支撑作用。     

土地经营规模对农户种粮收入的影响分析——以吉林省公主岭市为例

土地是财富之母,土地作为农民进行农业生产的基本生产资料,是农民收入来源的重要依托。家庭联产承包责任制实施至今虽然取得很大成就,但是以家庭经营为主的传统经营方式弊端日益显现,农民种粮收入难以实现有效增长。[目的]为了达到农村土地适度规模经营,调整农村产业结构、促进农民增收、加快小城镇建设等目的。[方法]通过选取产粮大县公主岭市为研究对象,利用实地调研数据对不同土地经营规模下的种粮成本及利润水平进行比较,并运用c-D生产函数对数据进行多元线性回归分析。[结果]从种植成本来看,5~20hm~2中等经营规模投入的综合成本低于5hm~2以下小规模和20hm~2以上大规模经营;从利润来看,5~20hm~2中等经营规模无论是自有承包地还是转包地所获得的每667m~2平均利润均高于小规模和大规模的经营规模。[结论]公主岭市农户土地经营面积为5~20hm~2的中规模优于其他土地经营规模。同时运用多元线性回归模型分析其对农户种粮收入的影响程度,进一步证实土地经营规模对农民种粮收入具有积极促进作用。从而提出推进公主岭市土地适度规模经营的对策建议。     

ARBITRAGE BOUNDS FOR PRICES OF WEIGHTED VARIANCE SWAPS

We develop a theory of robust pricing and hedging of a weighted variance swap given market prices for a finite number of co‐maturing put options. We assume the put option prices do not admit arbitrage and deduce no‐arbitrage bounds on the weighted variance swap along with super‐ and sub‐replicating strategies that enforce them. We find that market quotes for variance swaps are surprisingly close to the model‐free lower bounds we determine. We solve the problem by transforming it into an analogous question for a European option with a convex payoff. The lower bound becomes a problem in semi‐infinite linear programming which we solve in detail. The upper bound is explicit. We work in a model‐independent and probability‐free setup. In particular, we use and extend Föllmer's pathwise stochastic calculus. Appropriate notions of arbitrage and admissibility are introduced. This allows us to establish the usual hedging relation between the variance swap and the “log contract” and similar connections for weighted variance swaps. Our results take the form of a FTAP: we show that the absence of (weak) arbitrage is equivalent to the existence of a classical model which reproduces the observed prices via risk‐neutral expectations of discounted payoffs.     

Methods for Scalar‐on‐Function Regression

Recent years have seen an explosion of activity in the field of functional data analysis (FDA), in which curves, spectra, images and so on are considered as basic functional data units. A central problem in FDA is how to fit regression models with scalar responses and functional data points as predictors. We review some of the main approaches to this problem, categorising the basic model types as linear, non‐linear and non‐parametric. We discuss publicly available software packages and illustrate some of the procedures by application to a functional magnetic resonance imaging data set.     

Maximizing benefits in project selection: a hybrid approach

Charitable foundations and government programmes should endeavour to allocate their limited resources to best serve their constituents. Yet, mathematical programming techniques are rarely used despite overwhelming evidence of their superiority in selecting projects that yield higher levels of total benefits. We present a novel ‘hybrid selection model’ that combines binary linear programming and heuristic rank-based models applied to two case studies. The first case focuses on providing services to women and shows a hybrid model would have selected the top three ‘signature’ projects and maintained an above-average overall project benefit while securing a 180% improvement in the number of projects funded, a 66% improvement in the number of women served and a 132% improvement in the total benefit achieved. In the second case, we apply the hybrid approach to data from the US government’s largest forest preservation programme and demonstrate that the hybrid approach could allow the programme to select up to 11 top-scoring projects while still achieving a 97% gain in the total overall benefit compared to their traditional method. These case studies show that the hybrid approach has the potential to be applied in a variety of settings and improve how foundations and programmes achieve their goals.