A balloon in a graph G is a maximal 2-edge-connected subgraph incident to exactly one cut-edge of G. Let b(G) be the number of balloons, let c(G) be the number of cut-edges, and let ′(G) be the maximum size of a matching. Let Fn,r be the family of connected (2r+1)regular graphs with n vertices, and let b=max{b(G) :G∈Fn,r}. For G∈Fn,r, we prove the sharp inequalities c(G)≤ [r(n−2)−2] / (2r2+2r−1...

A valuation model for equity-linked life insurance contracts incorporating stochastic interest rates is presented. Our model generalizes some previous pricing results based on deterministic interest rates. Moreover, a design of a new equity-linked product with some appealing features is proposed and compared with the periodical premium contract of Brennan and Schwartz (1976). Our new product is...

Background Purchasing refers to the process by which pooled funds are paid to providers in order to deliver a set of health care interventions. Very little is known about purchasing arrangements in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and certainly not in Kenya. This study aimed to critically analyse purchasing arrangements in Kenya, using the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) as a c...

A Bulgarian research project funded by the Bulgarian National Science Fund under the thematic priority Information and Communication Technologies, contract D002-308/19.12.2008 is presented in this article. The main goal and tasks are outlined. Some already achieved results are pointed.

ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of Islamic intellectual capital that consists Structural Capital, Human and Capital Employed on takaful financial performance in Southeast Asia Middle East during 2016-2019. The dependent variable, performance, is measured from firm’s ROE. independent variables current are Efficiency (HCE), (SCE), (CEE), Audit Opinion used as a control variable. descripti...

We investigate the relationship of (jumps of) the degrees of splittings of a computably enumerable set and the degree of the set. We prove that there is a high computably enumerable set whose only proper splittings are low2. ∗Research partially supported by the U.S. ARO through ACSyAM at the Mathematical Sciences Institute of Cornell University Contract DAAL03-91-C-0027, the IGC of Victoria Uni...

The Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) has been purchasing primary health care services from the Costa Rican Cooperative, COOPESALUD. The CCSS has made significant progress in establishing performance indicators and conducting evaluations of progress against those indicators. After laying out a general framework for developing performance indicators, this paper analyzes the CCSS's evaluati...