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The study aims to address a critical gap in existing healthcare payment schemes and care service pricing by recognizing the influential role of patients' decisions on self-management efforts. These decisions not only impact health outcomes but also shape the demand for care, subsequently influencing care costs. Despite the significance of this interplay, current payment schemes often overlook these dynamics. The research focuses on investigating the implications of a novel behavior-based payment scheme, designed to align incentives and establish a direct connection between patients' decisions and care costs. The primary objective is to comprehensively understand whether and how this innovative payment scheme structure influences key stakeholders, including patients, care providers, insurers and overall social welfare.

In this paper, we propose a game-theoretical model to incorporate the performance of self-management with the demand for healthcare service, compare the patient's effort decision for self-management and provider's price decision for healthcare service under a behavior-based scheme with that under two implemented widely payment schemes, that is, co-payment scheme and co-insurance scheme.

Our findings confirm that the behavior-based scheme incentives patient self-management more than current schemes while reducing their possibility of seeking healthcare service, which indirectly induces the provider to lower the price of the service. The stakeholders' utility under various payment schemes is sensitive to the cost of treatment and the perceived health utility of patients. Especially, patient health awareness is not always benefited provider profit, as it motivates patient self-management while diminishing the demand for care.

We provide a novel framework for characterizing behavior-based payment schemes. Our results confirm the need for modification of the current payment scheme to incentivize patient self-management.

While there is a rich literature on the role of partnerships between statutory agencies and third sector organisations for public service delivery in health and social care, the evidence base on, partnerships between community-based groups and charities for older people in the UK is lacking. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data, the purpose of this paper is to examines partnerships within 46 live at home (LAH) schemes. These schemes were specifically designed to tackle isolation and promote independence and wellbeing by providing a wide range of activities, based on the needs of its members.

This study is based on an online survey of 46 LAH schemes and face-to-face interviews with seven scheme managers to capture data on the various partnership initiatives within the LAH schemes.

Third sector partnerships for older people varied by type – formal, semi-formal and informal. In addition, third sector partnership working fosters the achievement of clear outcomes for older people who LAH and could be a mechanism for building social capital in communities. The study also identified barriers to developing third sector partnerships within this context. Mapping existing partnerships in LAH schemes were considered to be useful in engaging with partners. LAH scheme managers were better able to identify partnerships that could be deepened and broadened, depending on the desired outcomes.

To the author’s knowledge, there are few studies on third sector partnership working in LAH schemes for older people. According to Age UK, there are 1.2m chronically lonely older people in the UK. Over half of all people aged 75 and over live alone (ONS, 2015). Loneliness and social isolation in later life are considered to be two of the largest health concerns we face. Scaling up these third sector partnerships may offer a credible way to shore up support for older people who live alone or want to live at home.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the regulation of the financial crime of Ponzi scheme in Mauritius. Contrary to money laundering which has a legal framework to combat it, for Ponzi scheme, there is no specific legal mechanism to combat this particular financial crime. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to provide for an analysis of Ponzi scheme which includes, inter alia, the definition of a Ponzi scheme, its modus operandi and how it should be tackled. Focus will be placed on devising a specific legal framework for it in Mauritius.

The research method used to conduct this research and write this paper is a black letter legal research method. An analysis of several laws and cases is carried out so as to provide for the legal background of the research.

The investigation conducted in this paper will lead to the conclusion that Mauritius has to devise a law which will specifically combat Ponzi schemes. This law shall provide for the ways to counter this financial crime as well as the duties of the various financial supervisory bodies.

The paper provides for an analysis of the operation of Ponzi scheme in the Mauritian context. The paper also examines the existing legal framework that combats this financial crime in Mauritius and highlights its strengths and weaknesses.

Public leisure service providers have become increasingly conscious of the need to improve the quality of their service provision as a result of increasing customer expectations, growing competition and government legislation. This paper presents the findings of a survey carried out in the UK, investigating the role of quality schemes in public leisure services. The study shows that a significant proportion of public leisure service providers are using quality schemes to manage the quality of their facilities. In addition, the findings show that managers are using quality schemes to improve customer satisfaction and improve management effectiveness. Finally, the study provides evidence of the positive effect of quality schemes upon service delivery aspects of these facilities, but little evidence of the financial advantages of such schemes.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the utility to consumers of hygiene disclosure schemes for eating places.

A sample of hygiene disclosure schemes operated by local authorities in the UK was examined for features that might be expected to influence consumer awareness and behaviour.

The survey revealed that schemes differed in the interpretation of scores, the extent of information disclosed, the communication channels used to disclose information and the amount of publicity provided for businesses and the public. The majority of schemes provide certificates which businesses are encouraged to display prominently. Hygiene inspection information is posted on the web sites of all the local authorities.

The number of schemes in this study was limited. A comprehensive evaluation of the current UK “Scores on Doors” schemes will have to take into account a large number of schemes with a very large number of variables, making its feasibility questionable.

The “Scores on Doors” schemes will only be successful if the public are fully aware of them and the schemes are well respected. They will have to be well publicised, to operate in an open, transparent manner and be consistent and fair. This study shows that, although the schemes have some features in common, there is considerable lack of consistency, particularly in the representation of scores as symbols.

Published evaluations of hygiene disclosure schemes relate to schemes operating outside the UK. This study examines some of the features of current UK schemes that will require consideration if a consistent nation‐wide scheme is to be developed.

Where postal services are slow, unreliable or expensive, dedicated transport schemes for interlending purposes should be considered; their usefulness will vary from one country to another, according to local circumstances. In the UK, feasibility studies were followed by the setting up of transport schemes in a number of the UK library regions, and a national scheme linking the regions was envisaged. Transport schemes were not considered worthwhile in the larger regions with less interlending activity. A methodology for setting up schemes has been devised. The present transport schemes are financially competitive and likely to remain so. UK experience might provide a framework for assessing potential schemes in other countries.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a hybrid algorithm of the heuristic algorithm and the orthogonal design to optimize schemes of welding points (WPs). Assembly variation plays an important role in product manufacture. Different schemes of WPs can influence the sensitivity matrices between part and assembly variations.

The paper proposes a hybrid algorithm to optimize schemes of WPs among components. The hybrid algorithm is composed of the heuristic algorithm and the orthogonal design. The heuristic algorithm is used to optimize the initial scheme; moreover, the last result is generated according to the orthogonal table. Although the algorithm cannot assure generating the optimal scheme, it can acquire the satisfying result by using few times of finite element analysis.

Finally, a rear bracket lamp assembly is illustrated to optimize the schemes of WPs between two components. Results show that the algorithm is efficient to generate the optimized WPs scheme for sheet metal assemblies.

A hybrid algorithm is proposed to optimize schemes of WPs among components, which is composed of the heuristic algorithm and the orthogonal design.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relative risks and benefits associated with defined contribution (DC) and defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. New regulatory and governance requirements and demographic changes have all significantly raised the costs and reduced the expected benefits to employers of operating DB schemes. In response, many employers have either closed down their DB schemes, closed the scheme to new members and/or to capped any further accruing of benefits for existing members. This decline in DB schemes and their replacement by less generous DC schemes, has been overwhelmingly seen by employees, the general public and Government as an unwelcome development that shifts significant pension risks from the employer onto the employee.

The paper evaluates claims that DB schemes are less risky than DC schemes and, whether their passing ought to be such a cause of concern.

The paper finds that DC schemes are not inherently riskier than DB schemes. Indeed, it is argued that the low operational, governance and regulatory costs and flexibility of DC schemes provide employers and employees with the most cost‐effective means of saving for a pension. In contrast, despite the appearance that the employer rather than the employee is the primary risk bearer in respect of DB schemes, it is shown that this is largely a fallacy. Such an arrangement merely substitutes an employer's covenant for some portion of an independent (of the employer) investment portfolio. This reliance upon an employer's promises to continue to support and fund the pension scheme imposes a raft of additional firm‐specific (i.e. non‐diversifiable) risks and regulatory and governance costs upon the members of both DB and DC schemes.

The paper provides a topical and useful review of the risks, costs and benefits of DC and DB pension schemes in the UK.

This paper sets out to implement bounded high‐order (HO) resolution schemes in a hybrid finite volume/finite element method for the solution of the radiative transfer equation.

The hybrid finite volume/finite element method had formerly been developed using the step scheme, which is only first‐order accurate, for the spatial discretization. Here, several bounded HO resolution schemes, namely the MINMOD, CLAM, MUSCL and SMART schemes, formulated using the normalized variable diagram, were implemented using the deferred correction procedure.

The results obtained reveal an interaction between spatial and angular discretization errors, and show that the HO resolution schemes yield improved accuracy over the step scheme if the angular discretization error is small.

Although the HO resolution schemes reduce the spatial discretization error, they do not influence the angular discretization error. Therefore, the global error is only reduced if the angular discretization error is also small.

The use of HO resolution schemes is only effective if the angular refinement yields low‐angular discretization errors. Moreover, spatial and angular refinement should be carried out simultaneously.

The paper extends a methodology formerly developed in computational fluid dynamics, and aimed at the improvement of the solution accuracy, to the hybrid finite volume/finite element method for the solution of the radiative transfer equation.

The Bill provides for five different ombudsman schemes and three other complaint handling schemes into a single unified scheme. All the existing schemes have different legal derivations and industry coverage; defining the scope, functions and funding of the new scheme will be a considerable challenge. This paper analyses the FSA proposals and highlights some of the critical legal and policy issues to be resolved.