Integrable dispersionless KdV hierarchy with sources

An integrable dispersionless KdV hierarchy with sources (dKdVHWS) is derived. Lax pair equations and bi-Hamiltonian formulation for dKdVHWS are formulated. Hodograph solution for the dispersionless KdV equation with sources (dKdVWS) is obtained via hodograph transformation. Furthermore, the dispersionless Gelfand-Dickey hierarchy with sources (dGDHWS) is presented.Comment: 15 pages, to be published in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

Adverse Selection and the Challenges to Stand-Alone Prescription Drug Insurance

This paper investigates a possible predictor of adverse selection problems in unsubsidized stand-alone' prescription drug insurance: the persistence of an individual's high spending over multiple years. Using MEDSTAT claims data and data from the Medicare Survey of Current Beneficiaries, we find that persistence is much higher for outpatient drug expenses than for other categories of medical expenses. We then use these estimates to develop a simple and intuitive model of adverse selection in competitive insurance markets and show that this high relative persistence makes it unlikely that unsubsidized drug insurance can be offered for sale, even with premiums partially risk adjusted, without a probable adverse selection death spiral. We show that this outcome can be avoided if drug coverage is bundled with other coverage, and briefly discuss the need either for comprehensive coverage or generous subsidies if adverse selection is to be avoided in private and Medicare insurance markets.

Negaton and Positon solutions of the soliton equation with self-consistent sources

The KdV equation with self-consistent sources (KdVES) is used as a model to illustrate the method. A generalized binary Darboux transformation (GBDT) with an arbitrary time-dependent function for the KdVES as well as the formula for $N$-times repeated GBDT are presented. This GBDT provides non-auto-B\"{a}cklund transformation between two KdV equations with different degrees of sources and enable us to construct more general solutions with $N$ arbitrary $t$-dependent functions. By taking the special $t$-function, we obtain multisoliton, multipositon, multinegaton, multisoliton-positon, multinegaton-positon and multisoliton-negaton solutions of KdVES. Some properties of these solutions are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, no figues, to be published in J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

The Advantage of Playing Home in NBA: Microscopic, Team-Specific and Evolving Features

The idea that the success rate of a team increases when playing home is broadly accepted and documented for a wide variety of sports. Investigations on the so-called home advantage phenomenon date back to the 70's and every since has attracted the attention of scholars and sport enthusiasts. These studies have been mainly focused on identifying the phenomenon and trying to correlate it with external factors such as crowd noise and referee bias. Much less is known about the effects of home advantage in the microscopic dynamics of the game (within the game) or possible team-specific and evolving features of this phenomenon. Here we present a detailed study of these previous features in the National Basketball Association (NBA). By analyzing play-by-play events of more than sixteen thousand games that span thirteen NBA seasons, we have found that home advantage affects the microscopic dynamics of the game by increasing the scoring rates and decreasing the time intervals between scores of teams playing home. We verified that these two features are different among the NBA teams, for instance, the scoring rate of the Cleveland Cavaliers team is increased 0.16 points per minute (on average the seasons 2004-05 to 2013-14) when playing home, whereas for the New Jersey Nets (now the Brooklyn Nets) this rate increases in only 0.04 points per minute. We further observed that these microscopic features have evolved over time in a non-trivial manner when analyzing the results team-by-team. However, after averaging over all teams some regularities emerge; in particular, we noticed that the average differences in the scoring rates and in the characteristic times (related to the time intervals between scores) have slightly decreased over time, suggesting a weakening of the phenomenon.Comment: Accepted for publication in PLoS ON

Death Spiral or Euthanasia? The Demise of Generous Group Health Insurance Coverage

Employers must determine which sorts of healthcare insurance plans to offer employees and also set employee premiums for each plan provided. Depending on how they structure the premiums that employees pay across different healthcare insurance plans, plan sponsors alter the incentives to choose one plan over another. If employees know they differ by risk level but premiums do not fully reflect these risk differences, this can give rise to a so-called "death spiral" due to adverse selection. In this paper use longitudinal information from a natural experiment in the management of health benefits for a large employer to explore the impact of moving from a fixed dollar contribution policy to a risk-adjusted employer contribution policy. Our results suggest that implementing a significant risk adjustment had no discernable effect on adverse selection against the most generous indemnity insurance policy. This stands in stark contrast to previous studies, which have tended to find large impacts. Further analysis suggests that previous studies which appeared to detect plans in the throes of a death spiral, may instead have been experiencing an inexorable movement away from a non-preferred product, one that would have been inefficient for almost all workers even in the absence of adverse selection.

On the Toda Lattice Equation with Self-Consistent Sources

The Toda lattice hierarchy with self-consistent sources and their Lax representation are derived. We construct a forward Darboux transformation (FDT) with arbitrary functions of time and a generalized forward Darboux transformation (GFDT) for Toda lattice with self-consistent sources (TLSCS), which can serve as a non-auto-Backlund transformation between TLSCS with different degrees of sources. With the help of such DT, we can construct many type of solutions to TLSCS, such as rational solution, solitons, positons, negetons, and soliton-positons, soliton-negatons, positon-negatons etc., and study properties and interactions of these solutions.Comment: 20 page

The Solutions of the NLS Equations with Self-Consistent Sources

We construct the generalized Darboux transformation with arbitrary functions in time $t$ for the AKNS equation with self-consistent sources (AKNSESCS) which, in contrast with the Darboux transformation for the AKNS equation, provides a non-auto-B\"{a}cklund transformation between two AKNSESCSs with different degrees of sources. The formula for N-times repeated generalized Darboux transformation is proposed. By reduction the generalized Darboux transformation with arbitrary functions in time $t$ for the Nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation with self-consistent sources (NLSESCS) is obtained and enables us to find the dark soliton, bright soliton and positon solutions for NLS$^{+}$ESCS and NLS$^{-}$ESCS. The properties of these solution are analyzed.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Genera

Generalized Darboux transformations for the KP equation with self-consistent sources

The KP equation with self-consistent sources (KPESCS) is treated in the framework of the constrained KP equation. This offers a natural way to obtain the Lax representation for the KPESCS. Based on the conjugate Lax pairs, we construct the generalized binary Darboux transformation with arbitrary functions in time $t$ for the KPESCS which, in contrast with the binary Darboux transformation of the KP equation, provides a non-auto-B\"{a}cklund transformation between two KPESCSs with different degrees. The formula for N-times repeated generalized binary Darboux transformation is proposed and enables us to find the N-soliton solution and lump solution as well as some other solutions of the KPESCS.Comment: 20 pages, no figure