These days, it's rare to pick up a newspaper and not see a story related to intelligence. From the investigations of the 9/11 commission, to accusations of illegal wiretapping, to debates on whether it's acceptable to torture prisoners for information, intelligence—both accurate and not—is driving domestic and foreign policy. And yet, in part because of its inherently secretive nature, intelligence has received very little scholarly study. Into this void comes Reforming Intelligence, a timely collection of case studies written by intelligence experts, and sponsored by the Center for Civil-Military Relations (CCMR) at the Naval Postgraduate School, that collectively outline the best practices for intelligence services in the United States and other democratic states.

Reforming Intelligence suggests that intelligence is best conceptualized as a subfield of civil-military relations, and is best compared through institutions. The authors examine intelligence practices in the United States, United Kingdom, and France, as well as such developing democracies as Brazil, Taiwan, Argentina, and Russia. While there is much more data related to established democracies, there are lessons to be learned from states that have created (or re-created) intelligence institutions in the contemporary political climate. In the end, reading about the successes of Brazil and Taiwan, the failures of Argentina and Russia, and the ongoing reforms in the United States yields a handful of hard truths. In the murky world of intelligence, that's an unqualified achievement.

This article focuses on the healthcare system reforms in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) over the past decade. The first section provides an overview of healthcare financing, social insurance frameworks, and the public/private mix in service delivery. The second section discusses four reform challenges in CEE that are perhaps also relevant for China:

1. subsidizing the supply side or demand side (that is, a national health service Beveridge model vs. Bismarckian social insurance);
   
2. establishing a single payer or insurance competition;
   
3. confronting the legacy of soft budget constraints; and
   
4. provider payment reforms.
   

A brief conclusion uses the lens of current health policy controversies in Hungary to highlight some of the trade-offs implicit in the complex political economy of health system reforms.

The inquiry into the economics, political and legal reasons for third countries to align, or refrain from aligning, their domestic rules, institutions and policies with the acquis communautaire, wholly or partially, falls squarely within the emerging third generation of European integration scholarship - a 'top-out' prism that asks whether and how the European Union's (EU) institutions, rules and policy-making processes impact the laws, institutions, and even identities of third countries beyond Europe.

Background: Women with acute myocardial infarction have a higher hospital mortality rate than men. This difference has been ascribed to their older age, more frequent comorbidities, and less frequent use of revascularization. The aim of this study is to assess these factors in relation to excess mortality in women.

Methods and Results All hospital admissions in France with a discharge diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction were extracted from the national payment database. Logistic regression on mortality was performed for age, comorbidities, and coronary interventions. Nonparametric microsimulation models estimated the percutaneous coronary intervention and mortality rates that women would experience if they were "treated like men." Data were analyzed from 74 389 patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction, 30.0% of whom were women. Women were older (75 versus 63 years of age; P0.001) and had a higher rate of hospital mortality (14.8% versus 6.1%; P0.0001) than men. Percutaneous coronary interventions were more frequent in men (7.4% versus 4.8%; 24.4% versus 14.2% with stent; P0.001). Mortality adjusted for age and comorbidities was higher in women (P0.001), with an excess adjusted absolute mortality of 1.95%. Simulation models related 0.46% of this excess to reduced use of procedures. Survival benefit related to percutaneous coronary intervention was lower among women.

Conclusions The difference in mortality rate between men and women with acute myocardial infarction is due largely to the different age structure of these populations. However, age-adjusted hospital mortality was higher for women and was associated with a lower rate of percutaneous coronary intervention. Simulations suggest that women would derive benefit from more frequent use of percutaneous coronary intervention, although these procedures appear less protective in women than in men.

The developing LNG trade does not have symmetric participants. LNG buyers in continental European and Japan tend to be monopoly gas and electricity companies with incentive and financial ability to sign long-term contracts. In contrast, prospective LNG buyers in the US and the UK participate in competitive wholesale markets and regulatory oversight with disincentives for volume commitments. As a result, integrated LNG sellers use US and UK as "markets of last resort" with implications for variability in actual LNG deliveries and for the division of rents in the growing LNG trade.

This text is a working paper version of Chapter 5 in Mark Hayes' doctoral dissertation to be published in 2007 by Stanford University Press.

Growing LNG imports will impact the value of gas storage and regional price spreads. In this chapter the author describes a model that incorporates seasonal gas demand, and relevant supply chain costs that will drive month-scale LNG flows. This text is a working paper version of Chapter 3 in Mark Hayes' doctoral dissertation to be published in 2007 by Stanford University Press.

Random (stochastic) variability in gas demand and prices creates significant option value for LNG suppliers with destination flexibility. In this chapter the author describes an analytical model to value the option of cargo diversion and to draw insights about the potential for future regional price convergence. This text is a working paper version of Chapter 4 in Mark Hayes' doctoral dissertation to be published in 2007 by Stanford University Press.