Architecting fire safe hierarchical polymer nanocomposite films with excellent electromagnetic interference shielding via interface engineering.

Integrating high flame retardancy and excellent electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding into polymetric materials is extremely necessary, and well dispersing conductive fillers into polymeric materials is still a great challenge because of incompatible interfacial polarity between polymer matrix and conductive fillers. Therefore, under the premise of maintaining integral conductive films in the process of hot compression, constructing a novel EMI shielding polymer nanocomposites where conductive films closely adhere to polymer nanocmposites layers should be a fascinating stratety. In this work, salicylaldehyde-modified chitosan decorated titanium carbide nanohybrid (Ti3C2Tx-SCS) was combined with piperazine-modified ammonium polyphosphate (PA-APP) to fabricate thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) nanocomposites, which were used for construction of hierarchical nanocomposite films by inserting reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films into TPU/PA-APP/Ti3C2Tx-SCS nanocomposite layers through our self-developed air assisted hot pressing technique. The total heat release, total smoke release and total carbon monoxide yield for TPU nanocomposite containing 4.0 wt% Ti3C2Tx-SCS nanohybrid were 58.0%, 58.4% and 75.8% lower than those of pristine TPU, respectively. Besides, the hierarchical TPU nanocomposite film containing 1.0 wt% Ti3C2Tx-SCS presented an averaged EMI shielding effectiveness of 21.3 dB in X band. This work provides a promising strategy for fabricating fire safe and EMI shielding polymer nanocomposites.

Decreased Contribution Rates Increase Public Pension Fund Revenue: Evidence from China.

The basic pension plan for urban enterprise workers (PPUEW) is the primary form of public pension system in China and is managed by provincial governments. Although the federal government requires that employers contribute 20% and individuals 8%, provincial governments have the right to adjust the rate. As different rates apply in different provinces, this study assesses the effect of rates on enterprises' incentive to participate in the PPUEW, using data from the 2011 China Annual Survey of Industrial Firms. As rates increase, employers and employees pay more; however, once the contribution ratio reaches a tipping point, they try to reduce deductibles. The findings suggest that a lower contribution rate motivates enterprises to participate in the PPUEW and boosts the fund's revenue.

Out-Patient Service and in-Patient Service: The Impact of Health Insurance on the Healthcare Utilization of Mid-Aged and Older Residents in Urban China.

PURPOSE: Medical insurance is a disease risk-sharing mechanism that can improve residents' financial access to medical treatment and thus increase their utilization of health services. This paper aims to identify the impact of different kinds of medical insurances on the use of healthcare for Chinese mid-aged and older urban residents from four aspects: outpatient behaviour, outpatient costs, inpatient behaviour and inpatient costs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data used in this study were from 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) conducted by Peking University. Binary logit model and multiple linear regression model were used to analyse the impact of health insurance on the use of healthcare, and the PSM method was used to test the robustness of the results. RESULTS: Participating in either BMIUSE or BMISURR can significantly improve all kinds of healthcare utilization for mid-aged and older urban groups. However, there are huge differences on the healthcare utilization between BMISUE and BMISURR. Specifically, the probability of using inpatient care and inpatient costs of urban residents enrolled in the BMISUE are 4.2% and 45% higher, respectively, than those covered by the BMISURR, but there are no differences in outpatient care utilization and outpatient costs between these two health insurance programs. CONCLUSION: This paper suggests that the large gaps between BMISUE and BMISURR only reflect on inpatient care and inpatient costs, there is no difference in outpatient services between these two health insurance programs. "Excessive demand", "induced demand" and other moral hazard phenomena in BMISUE should be avoided when receiving hospitalization services.

Real-Time Detection of Orbital Maneuvers Using Epoch-Differenced Carrier Phase Observations and Broadcast Ephemeris Data: A Case Study of the BDS Dataset.

The orbital maneuvers of the global navigation satellite system (GNSSs) have a significant influence on the performance of the precise positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) services. Because the Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) has three types of satellites in the geostationary orbit (GEO), inclined geosynchronous orbit (IGSO), and medium earth orbit (MEO) maneuvers occur more frequently. Thus, it is essential to determine an effective approach for the detection of orbital maneuvers. This study proposes a method for the detection of orbital maneuvers using epoch-differenced carrier phase observations and broadcast ephemeris data. When using the epoch-differenced velocity estimation as a basic data solution model, the time discrimination and satellite identification factors are defined and used for the real-time detection of the beginning and the pseudorandom noise code (PRN) of satellites. The datasets from four GNSS stations (WUH1, BJF1, POHN, CUT0) from the year 2016 were collected and analyzed. The validations showed that the beginning, the PRN of the orbital maneuver of the satellite can be precisely detected in real time for all GEO, IGSO, and MEO satellites, and the detected results also showed good consistency, with the beginning time at a difference of 1-2 min across different stations. The proposed approach was observed to be more sensitive, and the detected beginning time was about 30 min earlier than the single point positioning approach when the high-precision carrier phase observation was used. Thus, orbital maneuvering can be accurately detected by the proposed method. It not only improves the utilization of the collected data but also improves the performance of PNT services.

The Impact of Internet Medical Information Overflow on Residents' Medical Expenditure Based on China's Observations.

Background: The rapid rise of medical expenditure is a common problem in the field of public health around the world, but the challenges for the Chinese government are even greater. How to control the rapid rise in medical expenditure and reduce individuals' economic burden when receiving medical treatment has become one of the core issues that the Chinese government urgently needs to solve. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of Internet use on individuals' medical expenditure and further discuss the potential impact mechanism. Methods: The data used in this study were from the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted by Peking University. The Heckman sample selection model was used to analyse the impact of Internet use on individuals' medical expenditure. Results: Internet use reduced the medical expenditure of individuals by 6.19%; high frequency Internet use reduced the medical expenditure of individuals by 15.1%, while low frequency Internet use had no impact. In addition, Internet use had different impacts on individuals' medical expenditure at different levels of hospitals. Specifically, Internet use reduced the medical expenditure of individuals who received medical treatment at general hospitals by 9.63%, and high frequency Internet use reduced the medical expenditure of individuals by 22.2%. However, Internet use had no impact on the medical expenditure of individuals who received medical treatment at primary hospitals. Conclusions: Findings from this study underscore the importance of Internet use as an important role in reducing individuals' medical expenditure. The use of the Internet can significantly reduce the level of individuals' medical expenditure, and high frequency Internet use has a greater effect. However, Internet use has different impacts on individuals' medical expenditure among different levels of hospitals. The reduction effect of Internet use on individuals' medical expenditure is mainly concentrated in general hospitals but has no effect in primary hospitals.

Analyzing the Satellite-Induced Code Bias Variation Characteristics for the BDS-3 Via a 40 m Dish Antenna.

The satellite-induced code bias variation of geostationary satellite orbit satellites and medium earth orbit satellites of the second-generation BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS-2) exceeds 1 m, which severely affects the accuracy and stability of the ambiguity resolution and high-precision positioning. With the development of the third-generation BDS (BDS-3) with a new system design and new technology, analysis of the satellite-induced code variation characteristics of BDS-3 has become increasingly important. At present, many scholars have explored the satellite-induced code bias of BDS-3, but most of them focus on BDS-3 experimental satellites via normal geodetic antenna. Compared to normal geodetic antenna, the 40-m dish antenna from the National Time Service Center can accurately detect satellite-induced code variations with low noise and high gain. Thus, observational data from fifteen BDS-3 medium earth orbit satellites are collected with the B1I/B2b/B3I/B1C/B2a frequency bands on the day of year (DOY) 199-206 in 2019, the PRN numbers of which are C19/C20/C21/C22/C23/C24/C25/C26/C27/C28/C30/C32/C33 /C35/C37, via the 40 m dish antenna to analyze the code bias variation characteristics. The results show that the obvious satellite-induced elevation­dependent code bias variations exist in the B1I/B2b/B3I/B1C/B2a frequency bands of C28, compared with other satellites. Similarly, the multipath (MP) combination of B3I has an obvious elevation­dependent variation within a range of 0.1 m for C21/C24/C27/C28/C37 and elevation­dependent variation of the B2a and B2b frequency bands also exists in most satellites with a range of 0.1 m. However, the MP combination values of some satellites are asymmetric with respect to elevation, which is different from BDS-2 satellites and especially obvious for BDS-3 satellites B1I and BIC frequency bands with elevation­dependent variations of 0.2 m, indicating that the code bias variation is not uniquely related to elevation, especially for the B1I/BIC frequency bands. What's more, the satellite-induced code bias variation of the BDS-3 satellites is greatly reduced compared with that of the BDS-2 satellites. In addition, the similar code bias variation appears at the Xia1 station with a normal geodetic antenna of B1I/B1C/B3I/B2a/B2b of C21, B3I/B2a/B2b of C24 and B2b of C28 among B1I/B1C/B3I/B2a/B2b of C21/C24/C27/C28/C37. The influence of the BDS-3 satellite-induced elevation­dependent code bias on precision positioning and ambiguity fixing is worth further study using different antennas or receivers.

The impact of medical insurance programmes on the health of the insured: Evidence from China.

The impact of medical insurance on the health of the insured has long been an issue of major concern within academia. From the beginning of the 21st century, the Chinese government has invested a large amount of money in national medical insurance programmes. China's current national medical insurance system consists of three types of programmes: basic medical insurance for urban employees (BMIUE), basic medical insurance for urban and rural residents (BMIURR), and public medical insurance (PMI). These three types of medical insurance have significant differences in terms of premiums, policy deductibles, and levels of coinsurance, thus providing us with the opportunity to study the different impacts these programmes have on their covered members. Based on the 2016 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted by the China Social Science Research Centre in Peking University, this paper applies the ordered probit model to study the various impacts of these three programmes on the insured under each plan. The study found that compared with citizens who are not enrolled in any insurance programme, citizens who are covered by one of the three programmes report better health; compared with those covered by the BMIUE and BMIURR plans, members covered under the PMI programme report significantly better health; and after controlling for the adverse selection of participants in either the BMIUE or BMIURR plan, citizens who are enrolled in the BMIUE programme have a higher utilization rate of medical resources and report better health than those enrolled in the BMIURR plan.

The impact of religious beliefs on the health of the residents-Evidence from China.

This study conducted empirical research on Chinese residents to explore the relationship between religious beliefs and health based on the China General Social Survey (CGSS) data for 2015. Considering the reciprocal correlations between religion and health, this paper uses an instrumental variable to recognize religion's influence on health. The instrumental variable was the number of religious sites per 10 000 residents in every province (including autonomous regions and municipalities) in 2004. The results indicate that religion had different impacts on the health of different groups in China. It was found that religion significantly improved the health of those aged 60 or older; however, for those younger than 60 years old, their health was not affected by following a religion. Second, after classifying the samples according to urban and rural areas, it was found that religion significantly improved the health of urban residents, while rural residents were not affected by this factor.

SNR-Dependent Environmental Model: Application in Real-Time GNSS Landslide Monitoring.

The Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) is currently one of the important tools for landslide monitoring and early warning. However, the majority of GNSS devices are installed in mountainous areas and a variety of vegetation. These harsh environments lead to defective signals at high elevation angles, rendering real-time successive and reliable positioning results for monitoring difficult. In this study, an environmental model derived from signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is proposed to enhance the precision and convergence time of positioning in harsh environments. A series of experiments are conducted on weighting and ambiguity-fixed models to evaluate performance. The results indicate that the proposed SNR-dependent environment model could lead to a significant improvement in precision and convergence time; with an obtained root mean squared result on the millimeter level, a convergence time of a few seconds, and utilization which could reach 100%, for continuous and reliable positioning results. These results indicate that the proposed SNR-dependent environment model enhances the performance of GNSS monitoring and early warning to provide continuous and reliable positioning results in real-time.

Institutional differences and geographical disparity: the impact of medical insurance on the equity of health services utilization by the floating elderly population - evidence from China.

BACKGROUND: The Chinese government has now achieved universal coverage of medical insurance through two systems: the Basic Medical Insurance System for Urban Employees (BMISUE) and the Basic Medical Insurance System for Urban and Rural Residents (BMISURR). This paper aims to identify the impact of China's current medical insurance system on equity in the use of health services by the floating elderly population from two aspects: institutional differences and geographical disparity. METHODS: The data used in the study are from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) conducted by the National Health and Wellness Council of China. This study uses the Logit model to estimate the impact of the medical insurance system on the utilization of health services and the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method to further test the robustness of the results. RESULTS: The study found that the type of medical insurance does not affect health services utilization by the floating elderly population in China. However, for those participating in the same medical insurance, participation in different regions will significantly affect the use of health service resources. For the BMISURR, when the place of the insurance is the same as the place of residence, the proportion of the floating elderly population that will see a doctor when they are sick will increase by 4.80%. For the BMISUE, when the place of the insurance is the same as the place of residence, the proportion of the floating elderly population that will see a doctor when they are sick will increase by 10.30%. CONCLUSIONS: The difference between the place of insurance and the place of residence results in the unbalanced utilization of health services by the floating elderly population participating in the same medical insurance system.

The Impact of Health Insurance Policy on the Health of the Senior Floating Population-Evidence from China.

The impact of health insurance on residents' health is one of the focal points of academic research. Due to the fact that China's medical insurance system is composed of a variety of programs and that the pooling districts are at the lower administrative level, enrollment in different medical insurance programs or at different places may have certain influences on the health of residents. This has mostly been neglected by previous studies. This paper uses data from the 2015 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS), focusing on the senior floating population and taking the difference in government subsidy proportions as an instrumental variable in order to identify the effects of health insurance programs and regional differences on the health of the senior floating population. Three effects were observed: First, participation in the health insurance system significantly improves floating seniors' self-rated health. Second, the health status of floating seniors affects their choice of health insurance program: Less healthy persons tend to choose high-paying, wide-coverage basic medical insurance available for urban employees. Using an instrumental variable to control for the problem of endogeneity, it is discovered that compared with the basic medical insurance system for urban residents, the system for urban employees significantly enhances the health of the senior floating population. Third, "adverse selection" could be observed in the choice between enrolling in health insurance at the place of settlement or another place. Senior migrants with worse self-rated health tend to choose place of settlement in order to enjoy higher compensation and less complex reimbursement procedures. With an instrumental variable to control for the problem of endogeneity, it was found that compared with joining the medical insurance system at other places, joining at a place of settlement could improve the health of the floating senior population.

A New Azimuth-Dependent Elevation Weight (ADEW) Model for Real-Time Deformation Monitoring in Complex Environment by Multi-GNSS.

Global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) have provided an excellent way to monitor micro-deformation in real-time. However, at local sites where landslides frequently occur, the environment can include complex surroundings with mountains, dense vegetation, and human settlements, which can severely degrade the accuracy of positioning with the GNSS technique. In this study, we propose an azimuth-dependent elevation weight (ADEW) model using an azimuth-dependent elevation mask (ADEM) to reduce the effects of multipath errors and improve the accuracy of real-time deformation monitoring in such environments. We developed an adaptive fixed-elevation mask to serve as the outlier of low precision observations at lower elevations for the ADEM, and then, we applied the weighted phase observations into the mitigation process for the effects of multipath errors. The real numerical results indicate that the ADEM model performs better than the conventional model, and the average improvements were 18.91% and 34.93% in the horizontal and vertical direction, respectively. The ADEW model further improved upon the ADEM model results by an additional 21.9% and 29.8% in the horizontal and vertical direction, respectively. Therefore, we propose that the ADEW model can significantly mitigate the effects of multipath errors and improve the accuracy of micro-deformation monitoring via GNSS receivers.