A new approach of coordination of decisions in a multi site system is proposed. It is based this approach on a multi-agent concept and on the principle of distributed network of enterprises. For this purpose, each enterprise is defined as autonomous and performs simultaneously at the local and global levels. The basic component of our approach is a so-called Virtual Enterprise Node (VEN), where the enterprise network is represented as a set of tiers (like in a product breakdown structure). Within the network, each partner constitutes a VEN, which is in contact with several customers and suppliers. Exchanges between the VENs ensure the autonomy of decision, and guarantiee the consistency of information and material flows. Only two complementary VEN agents are necessary: one for external interactions, the Negotiator Agent (NA) and one for the planning of internal decisions, the Planner Agent (PA). If supply problems occur in the network, two other agents are defined: the Tier Negotiator Agent (TNA) working at the tier level only and the Supply Chain Mediator Agent (SCMA) working at the level of the enterprise network. These two agents are only active when the perturbation occurs. Otherwise, the VENs process the flow of information alone. With this new approach, managing enterprise network becomes much more transparent and looks like managing a simple enterprise in the network. The use of a Multi-Agent System (MAS) allows physical distribution of the decisional system, and procures a heterarchical organization structure with a decentralized control that guaranties the autonomy of each entity and the flexibility of the network.
O sistema de financiamento da educação no Brasil se caracteriza por uma estrutura complexa, com problemas de eficiência, eficácia e eqüidade, ao tempo em que se apresentam algumas iniciativas novas como possíveis soluções para as dificuldades enfrentadas. Estas características têm sido objeto de interesse crescente por parte de estudiosos e formuladores de políticas, tanto pela percepção das limitações do sistema vigente como pelas mudanças administrativas e fiscais promovidas pela Constituição de 1988 e, mais recentemente, por alguns governos estaduais e municipais. Este artigo analisa o referido sistema, examinando cada um dos aspectos acima mencionados. O texto inicia descrevendo a organização e estrutura do sistema, fornecendo, a seguir, um panorama das despesas em educação; identifica os problemas principais e descreve algumas experiências recentes que, de forma ainda parcial, tentam solucioná-los. Na sua conclusão, os autores argumentam que, para que se efetive as recentes mudanças, há necessidade de implementar-se procedimentos de avaliação e acompanhamento de forma a saber em que medida os remédios combatem as doenças ou os primeiros podem ser aperfeiçoados. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: educação; finanças públicas; sistema educacional; despesas em educação; municipalização; descentralização. Financing public education in Brazil: A political-economical perspective The system of financing education in Brazil is characterized by a complex structure, with efficiency, efficacy and equity problems, while presenting some new initiatives as possible solutions for the difficulties that are being faced. These characteristics have been the object of growing interest on the part scholars and policy makers, in terms of the perceived limitations of the system, as well as by the fiscal and administrative changes promoted by the 1988 Constitution, and more recently by some state and municipal governments. This article analyses the system, beginning with its organization and structure, and then provides an overview of education expenditures. It identifies the major problems and describes some recent experiences, trying to solve them in a partial way. In its conclusion the authors discuss that to put the recent changes into practice it is necessary to implement evaluation and assessment procedures that enable the identification and improvement of the most effective initiatives. KEY WORDS: education; public finances; educational system; expenses on education; municipality issues; decentralization. Publicação Online do Caderno CRH: http://www.cadernocrh.ufba.br
Many electronic voting systems, classified mainly as homomorphic cryptography based, mix-net based and blind signature based, appear after the eighties when zero knowledge proofs were introduced. The common ground for all these three systems is that none of them works without real time cryptologic calculations that should be held on a server. As far as known, the agent-based approach has not been used in a secure electronic voting system. In this study, an agent-based electronic voting schema, which does not contain real time calculations on the server side, is proposed. Conventional cryptologic methods are used in the proposed schema and some of the requirements of an electronic voting system are constructed within the schema. The schema seems quite secure if the used cryptologic methods and agents are secure. In this paper, proposed schema will be explained and compared with already known electronic voting systems.
Este é um trabalho sobre desenhos institucionais e seus resultados redistributivos, que toma como objeto de análise a política de saúde no Brasil. O modelo de descentralização do Sistema Único de Saúde – SUS –caracteriza-se por concentrar autoridade no governo federal, assim como financiar a política de saúde através de um sistema abrangente de transferências interregionais. Este sistema pretendeu, em período recente, acentuar seus objetivos redistributivos com a introdução do Piso da Atenção Básica – PAB, na Norma de Operação Básica – NOB98. Este trabalho pretende examinar a extensão em que um sistema descentralizado, cujo desenho institucional concentra autoridade no governo central para implementar políticas com finalidades redistributivas, logra reduzir as diferenças regionais no acesso aos serviços públicos. Para isto, testaremos inicialmente a extensão do processo de descentralização da política de saúde no Brasil, para em seguida analisarmos a extensão da equalização na provisão de serviços de saúde. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: política de saúde, descentralização, federalismo, desenhos institucionais, Brasil LOCAL CONDITIONANTS OF DECENTRALIZATION OF HEALTH POLICIES This paper is about institutional designs and ist redistributive results, and has as its object of analysis the Brazilian Health Policy. The decentralization model of the SUS – United Health System has as its characteristics to concentrate authority on the Federal governmet and financing the health policy through an ample system of interregional transferences. This system intended, in recent times, to increase its redistributive objectives with the intriduction of the PAB – Basic Attention Floor int the NOB98 – Basic Operation Procedure. This paper intends to examine the extension to which a decentralized system, which institutional design concentrates authority on the central government to enforce policies with redistributive intentions, achieves reduction of the regional differences in access to public services. To do this, we will initially test the extent of the decentralization process in Brazilian health policy, and after that we will analyse the extent of equalization on providing health services. KEY WORD: health policy; decentralization; federalism; institutional designs; Brazil. CONDITIONS LOCALES DE LA DECENTRALISATION DES POLITIQUES DE SANTE Cet article sur les schémas institutionnels et les résultas de leur redistribution a pour objet l’analyse de la politique de santé au Brésil. Le modèle de décentralisation du SUS est caractérisé par la concentration de l’autorité dans le gouvernement fédéral, ainsi que par le financement de la politique de santé par un vaste système de transferts interrégionaux. Ce système prétendait récemment souligner ses objectifs de redistribution grâce à l’introduction du PAB, à la NOB98. Cet article prétend examiner jusqu’à quel point un système décentralisé, dont le schéma institutionnel concentre l’autorité dans le gouvernement central pour mettre en oeuvre des politiques à finalité de redistribution, réussit à réduire les différences régionales pour l’accès aux services publics. Pour cela, on examinera d’abord l’étendue du processus de décentralisation de la politique de santé au Brésil, pour analyser ensuite à quel point il est équitable lors de la fourniture des services de santé. MOTS-CLES: politique de santé, décentralisation, fédéralisme, schémas institutionnels, Brésil. Publicação Online do Caderno CRH: http://www.cadernocrh.ufba.br
The past decade has been a period of introspection in the radiological protection community. The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has set out to produce a new set of recommendations; a draft document has been produced and made available on the ICRP web site. That draft has been widely reviewed and support for the proposed recommendations has been muted to say the least [1]. A subsequent draft is now being reviewed. As we wait for the final version it seems worthwhile to reaffirm the fundamental base for radiological protection as we practise it. The base is the set of three principles; justification, protection of the individual, and optimization of protection (the ALARA principle). Their importance seemed to be lost in the detail of the initial draft recommendations. I feel that without a clear statement of their primacy in the protection system we are in danger of the minutiae of the recommendations being applied in a far too arbitrary and restrictive way. There was a hint of this in the draft ICRP document on optimization that was available for review earlier this summer, in which it was argued that the so-called precautionary principle had been the driver for the evolution of the ICRP's thinking [2]. Some argue, correctly I believe, that this is not really a principle; it is more a poorly-defined and open-ended method of handling or reacting to uncertainties in our knowledge of risk. We see the precautionary principle rather loosely invoked in some risk management decisions as justifying arbitrary safety factors. `Applying the precautionary principle' sounds more substantial and scientific than just saying `to be on the safe side'. The influence of the principle is far more widespread though. The idea behind the precautionary principle originated in Germany in the 1960s but it was not until 1982 that it was endorsed internationally when the UN included it in the World Charter for Nature. It gained prominence in European treaties and was advocated by the UN Rio Declaration on Environment and Development in 1992. Initially the idea was that `uncertainty does not justify inaction'. The idea evolved and precaution began to take the place of science-based risk assessment and management. By the late 1990s the idea was that uncertainty also required shifting the burden and standard of proof [3]. The principle became `When an activity raises threats of harm to human health or the environment, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. In this context, the proponent of an activity, rather than the public, should bear the burden of proof.' [4,5] In other words, uncertain risk requires forbidding the potentially risky activity until the proponent of the activity demonstrates that it poses no (or acceptable) risk. We are all aware of the impossibility of proving a zero but this wording may sound reasonable provided that the parenthetic `or acceptable' is the operative qualifier. For many though, it is not. Adams has described what he calls the {\it environmentalist paradigm}, in which possibility replaces probability as a criterion for protection regulation, and any agent harmful at high doses is considered harmful at exceedingly low doses [6]. Only zero risk is then acceptable when the precautionary principle is applied. This is a stultifying situation. Morris comments, in a broad-ranging critique, that the precautionary principle not only lacks any clear guidance on when and how it does apply, but perhaps more importantly it is devoid of any limitations of when it does apply [7]. Without such limitations, he notes, the precautionary principle will be a vacuum that can consume any and all products and technologies, since some risk and uncertainty is associated with every human activity. We could conclude that in radiological protection we would have no optimizing; no applying the ALARA principle. Radiation regulations based on the three fundamental ICRP principles have achieved an acceptable level of protection for decades. We should not abandon them to the arbitrariness of the precautionary principle when we have a sound basis for radiological protection in the clearly-enunciated principles of justification, individual dose limitation and optimization of protection. Radiological protection based on these principles includes elements of precaution. Why do we need a precautionary principle? This has been indirectly answered by asking: What if we were to apply the precautionary principle to itself? Its application carries the burden of untold risks and uncertainties. Thus, by its own definition, it should be abandoned [4]. This is not to argue that we should throw caution to the wind. The key is reasonableness. As Nilsson points out, though it is certainly better to be safe than sorry, it is important to distinguish unjustified precautionary action from justifiable precautionary action based on sound science and an appropriate assessment of the costs and benefits of taking action [8]. The precautionary principle fails to distinguish between the two, by elevating to the status of universal `principle' a notion that is only narrowly applicable. In Canada we are fortunate that we have sensible wording in the Federal Nuclear Safety and Control Act that provides the framework for many of the radiological protection regulations in Canada [9]. Part of its stated purpose is the limitation, to a reasonable level , of the risks to the health and safety of persons and the environment. The ICRP principle of dose limitation and the ALARA principle are coherent with this. Further, the Federal Government's Privy Council Office (PCO) has published guidance for its agencies on the application of precaution in science-based decision-making that reinforces the approach we have been taking in radiological protection and, in particular, emphasizes the importance of what is in essence the ALARA principle [10]. It notes that sound scientific information and its evaluation must be the basis for applying precaution. Peer review represents a concrete test for the practical application of precaution to decision making. A peer-review process can assess the soundness of the scientific evidence and its inherent credibility within the scientific community. Scientific advisors should give weight to peer-reviewed science and aim at sound and reasonable evidence on which to base their judgments. Moreover, the science function can be further supplemented by formal, structured and, where warranted, independent advisory processes that include widely recognized and credible individuals. I believe we can heartily subscribe to this. The guidance document lays out five principles that should guide the application of precautionary measures. They should be: Subject to reconsideration, on the basis of the evolution of science, technology and society's chosen level of protection. Proportional to the potential severity of the risk being addressed and to society's chosen level of protection. Non-discriminatory and consistent with measures taken in similar circumstances. Cost-effective, with the goal of generating an overall net benefit for society at least cost, and efficiency in the choice of measures. Finally, where more than one option reasonably meets the above characteristics, then the least trade-restrictive measure should be applied. We can see all three radiological protection principles reflected in this guidance. Particularly important is the emphasis on the link to scientific knowledge, rather than the whims of activist groups, together with the exhortation to assess the real and potential impacts of making a precautionary decision (whether to act or not to act), including social, economic and other relevant factors and risk-risk trade-offs. Apply the ALARA principle in other words. The guidance concludes with the expectation that Canadian agency officials will consider its guiding principles in decision-making and will work together in developing, in consultation with their stakeholders, guidance for the application of precaution in t
In the present work, a framework is proposed for studying autonomous agents which interact locally yet effect a globally coherent behavior. This problem of locally induced organization is ubiquitous in decentralized multi-robot environments and various micro- and macroscopic biological contexts (e.g., cellular chemotaxis, avian flocking). In analogy with the local equations of motion which arise in various elastic rod and vorticity theories, we pursue this question in a continuum setting where agents are uniquely associated with material points of a virtual filament. The governing dynamics for this filament are chosen so that an established set of control objectives is achieved. The appropriate configuration space of continua is shown to be an infinite dimensional Hilbert Lie group admitting a separable topology. A class of filament models is studied in a Lagrangian formalism on this manifold, leading to a natural curvature feedback law.
Rahul Jain, Alexandra Kolla, Gatis Midrijānis, Ben W. Reichardt
Let L be a language decided by a constant-round quantum Arthur-Merlin (QAM)\nprotocol with negligible soundness error and all but possibly the last message\nbeing classical. We prove that if this protocol is zero knowledge with a\nblack-box, quantum simulator S, then L in BQP. Our result also applies to any\nlanguage having a three-round quantum interactive proof (QIP), with all but\npossibly the last message being classical, with negligible soundness error and\na black-box quantum simulator.\n These results in particular make it unlikely that certain protocols can be\ncomposed in parallel in order to reduce soundness error, while maintaining zero\nknowledge with a black-box quantum simulator. They generalize analogous\nclassical results of Goldreich and Krawczyk (1990).\n Our proof goes via a reduction to quantum black-box search. We show that the\nexistence of a black-box quantum simulator for such protocols when L notin BQP\nwould imply an impossibly-good quantum search algorithm.\n
The following provides a review, discussion, and description of how sediment transport pathways are obtained. It excludes the details of the mathematical proof, demonstrating the changes in grain size distributions that occur with transport as contained in McLaren and Bowles (1985). Sediment trend analysis (STA) requires for its data the grain size distributions of sediments collected on regular grid spacing over the aquatic site of interest. The sampled sediments are described in statistical terms (by the moment measures of mean, sorting, and skewness), and the basic underlying assumption is that processes causing sediment transport will affect the statistics of the sediments in a predictable way. For this purpose, a grain size distribution defines for any size class the probability of the sediment being found in that size class. Size classes are defined in terms of the well-known ϕ (phi) unit, where d is the effective diameter (diameter of the sphere with equivalent volume) of the grain in millimeters. Given that the grain size distribution g(s), where s is the grain size in phi units, is a probability distribution, then In practice, grain size distributions do not extend over the full range of s and are not continuous functions of s. Instead, discretized versions of g(s) with estimates of g(s) in finitesized bins of 0.5ϕ widths are used. Selection of the bin width is largely empirically derived. An increase in width can result in losing information contained in the distribution, whereas a decrease in width can produce an increasingly noisy distribution (a discussion of this dilemma is found in Bowles and McLaren [1985]). Three parameters related to the first 3 central moments of the grain size distribution are of fundamental importance in STA. They are defined here, both for a continuous g(s) and for its discretized approximation with N size classes. The 1st parameter is the mean grain size (m), defined as The 2nd parameter is sorting (s), which is equivalent to the variance of the distribution, defined as Finally, the coefficient of skewness (k) is defined as With the removal of r(s) from g(s), the remaining sediment (a lag) has a new distribution denoted by l(s) (Figure A1) where The function t(s) is defined as a sediment transfer function and is described in exactly the same manner as a grain size probability function except that it is not normalized. It can be thought of as a function that incorporates all sedimentary and dynamic processes that result in initial movement and transport of particular grain sizes. Data from flume experiments show that distributions of transfer functions change from having a high negative skewness to being nearly symmetrical (although still negatively skewed) as the energy of the eroding/transporting process increases. These 2 extremes in the shape of t(s) are termed low-energy and high-energy transfer functions, respectively (Figure A2). The shape of t(s) is also dependent not only on changing energy levels of the process involved in erosion and transport, but also on the initial distribution of the original bed material, g(s) (Figure A1). The coarser g(s) is, the less likely it is to be acted on by a high-energy transfer function. Conversely, the finer g(s) is, the easier it becomes for a high-energy transfer function to operate on it. In other words, the same process can be represented by a high-energy transfer function when acting on fine sediments and by a low-energy transfer function when acting on coarse sediments. The terms high and low energy are, therefore, relative to the distribution of g(s) rather than to the actual process responsible for erosion and transport. Sediment transport model to develop a lag deposit (see the text for a definition of terms). That t(s) appears to be mainly a negatively skewed function results in r(s), the sediment in transport, always becoming finer and more negatively skewed than g(s). The function 1 — t(s) (Figure A1) is, therefore, positively skewed, with the result that l(s), the lag remaining after r(s) has been removed, will always be coarser and more positively skewed than the original source sediment. McLaren and Bowles (1985) provide the mathematical proof for these statements. If t(s) is applied to g(s) many times (i.e., n times, where n is large), then the variance of both g(s) and l(s) will approach zero (i.e., sorting will become better). Depending on the initial distribution of g(s), it is mathematically possible for variance to become greater before eventually decreasing. In reality, an increase in variance in the direction of transport is rarely observed. Given 2 sediments whose distributions are, d1(s) and d2(s), and d2(s) is coarser, better sorted, and more positively skewed than d1(s), it might be possible to infer that d2(s) is a lag of d1(s) and that the 2 distributions were originally the same (Table A1, case A). Consider a sequence of deposits d1(s), d2(s), d3(s), … dn(s) that follows the direction of net sediment transport (Figure A3). Each deposit is derived from its corresponding sediment in transport according to the 3-box model shown in Figure A1. Each dn(s) can be considered a lag of each rn(s). Thus, dn(s) will be coarser, better sorted, and more positively skewed than rn(s). Similarly, each rn(s) is acted on by its corresponding tn(s), with the result that the sediment in transport becomes progressively finer, better sorted, and more negatively skewed. Any 2 sequential deposits (e.g., d1[s] and d2[s]) can be related to each other by a function X(s) (Eqn. 9). As illustrated in Figure A3, d2(s) can also be related to d1(s) by The function X(s) combines the effects of 2 transfer functions, t1(s) and t2(s) (Eqn. 10b). It could also be considered a transfer function in that it provides the statistical relationship between the 2 deposits and it incorporates all of the processes responsible for sediment erosion, transport, and deposition. The distribution of deposit d2(s) will, therefore, change relative to d1(s) according to the shape of X(s), which in turn is derived from the combination of t1(s) and t2(s) as expressed in Equation 10b. It is important to note that X(s) can be derived from the distributions of the deposits d1(s) and d2(s) (Eqn. 10a), and it provides the relative probability of any particular sized grain being eroded from d1, transported, and deposited at d2. With the use of empirically derived t(s) functions, it can be shown that when the energy level of the transporting process decreases in the direction of transport (i.e., t2[si] < t1[si]) and both are low-energy functions, then X(s) is always a negatively skewed distribution (Figure A4). This will result in d2(s) becoming finer, better sorted, and more negatively skewed than d1(s). Therefore, given 2 sediments (d1 and d2), where d2(s) is finer, better sorted, and more negatively skewed than d1(s), it might be possible to infer that the direction of sediment transport is from d1 to d2 (Table A1). Diagram showing the extremes in the shape of transfer functions t(s). In the event that t1(s) is a high-energy function and t2(si) > t1(si) (i.e., energy is decreasing in the direction of transport), the result of Equation 10b will produce a positively skewed X(s) distribution (Figure A4). Therefore, d2(s) will become coarser, better sorted, and more positively skewed than d1(s) in the direction of transport. When these changes occur between 2 deposits, it might be possible to infer that the direction of transport is from d1 to d2 (Table A1). Sediment coarsening along a transport path will be limited by the ability of t1(s) to remain a high-energy function. As the deposits become coarser, it will be less and less likely that the transport processes will maintain high-energy characteristics. With coarsening, the transfer function will eventually revert to its low-energy shape (Figure A2), with the result that the sediment must become finer again. Cases A and C produce identical grain size changes between d1 and d2 (Table A1). Generally, however, the geological interpretation of the environments being sampled will differentiate between the 2 cases. The above model indicates that grain size distributions of sedimentary deposits will change in the direction of net sediment transport according to either case B or case C (Table A1 and Figure A5). Thus, if any 2 samples (d1 and d2) are compared sequentially (i.e., at 2 locations within a sedimentary facies) and their distributions are found to change in the described manner, the direction of net sediment transport can be inferred. Sediment transport model relating deposits in the direction of transport. Summary diagram of t1 and t2 and corresponding X distribution (Eqn. 10b) for cases B and C (Table A1). Changes in grain size descriptors along transport paths. In reality, perfect sequential changes along a transport path as determined by the model and summarized in Figure A5 are rarely observed. This is because of a variety of uncertainties that can be introduced in sampling, in the analytical technique to obtain grain size distributions, in the assumptions of the transport model, and in the statistics used in describing the grain size distributions. These uncertainties are discussed in further detail (see Uncertainties section). One approach that appears to be successful in minimizing uncertainty is a simple statistical method whereby the case (Table A1) is determined among all possible sample pairs contained in a specified sequence. Given a sequence of n samples, (n2 - n)/2 directionally orientated pairs can exhibit a transport trend in one direction and an equal number of pairs in the opposite direction. When any 2 samples are compared with respect to their distributions, the mean can become finer (F) or coarser (C), the sorting can become better (B) or poorer (P), and the skewness can become more positive (+) or more negative (-). These 3 parameters provide 8 possible combinations (Table A2). In STA, if it is postulated that a certain relationship exists among the set of n samples and that this relationship is evidenced by particular changes in sediment size descriptors between pairs of samples, then the number of pairs for which the trend relationship occurs should exceed the number of pairs that would be expected to occur at random by a sufficient amount to state confidently that the trend relationship exists. Suppose that the probability of any trend existing between any pair of samples, if the trend relationships were established randomly, is p. Since there are 8 possible trend relationships among 3 sediment descriptors, and it is assumed that each of these is equally likely to occur, the p value is set to 0.125. To determine whether the number of occurrences of a particular case exceeding the random probability of 0.125, the following 2 hypotheses are tested: H0: p > 0.125 with no preferred direction H1: p < 0.125 and transport occurs in the preferred direction. The Z statistic is considered valid for N < 30 (i.e., a large sample). Thus, for this application, a suite of 8 or 9 samples is the minimum required to evaluate a transport direction. To assess the validity of any transport line, we use the Z score and an additional statistic, the linear correlation coefficient R2, defined as The value of R2 can range from 0 to 1. The definition of R2 is based on the use of a model to relate a dependent parameter y to 1 or more independent parameters (x1, x2, …). In this case, the model used is linear, which can be written as The data (y, x1, x2) are grain size distribution statistics, and the parameters (a0, a1, a2) are from the data with a The dependent parameter is defined as the and the independent parameters are the mean size and the An assumption is that distributions from samples along a transport if in in Figure would to be along a The of the line, which are the would on the of transport or there is no to a linear relationship among the 3 descriptors, there is also no any other of according to the of the relationship for the not to be except from a in of R2 with a high value of the Z score provide in the validity of the transport A low R2 can occur, when the Z score statistic is the of the of many sediment trend from many it appears that low R2 can result when sediments on an assumed transport path are, in reality, from and valid trend statistics the sediments are from a but the sequence is only a approximation of the actual transport and sediments been introduced the transport as in the case of R2, therefore, is and can provide information on the sediment transport The Z score and R2 statistics for each of the sample (Figure used to determine the sediment transport in the are in The McLaren and Bowles (1985) model requires that the grain size distributions of the sampled sediments be described in statistical terms (by the moment measures of mean, sorting, and The basic underlying assumption is that sequential deposits following the of net sediment transport will affect the statistics of the size distributions of the sediments in a predictable way. from this the size distributions of the sediments provide the data with which to for of net sediment transport. in the transport method is used to requires a model of the sediment transport The model is based on the assumption that are more than (i.e., the probability of transport, on a phi as grain size this it can be shown that erosion and of sediments will change the moments of their size distributions in a predictable in the direction of transport. as in transfer functions from sediment data in flume this assumption might not always be the transfer function over only a of the grain before to contained within the assumption is a further assumption that the probability of transport of 1 particular grain size must be independent of the transport of other grain sizes. as whereby the of can the transport of an increase in the of the finer or a decrease in the ability of the process to additional with all that the transport process is a function related to the sediment distribution and the of the erosion Thus, the of the the that the probability of transport must increase over a large range of in the deposits to produce the As and the technique to determine net transport pathways in a variety of and environments has been empirically the use of that an assumption be size distribution of a particular can be the result of sediment from and at It is assumed that is sampled is the of all the sediment derived from an number of The transport direction might not to that for a with a transport In STA, it is assumed that a sample provides a of a sediment facies) with no the to which the sample any that the sample in the for a of many Each might a particular transport and event at a might be from that of the transport as a The can be determined by the in a that a sufficient number of are the sample to the assumption that the sample an of the The distribution of all the the can be compared with a sample on the To provide d1 might be a sample an over whereas d2 of deposition. The trend analysis whether a possible sediment transport relationship or between the 2 deposits exists. might be to transport With between sample locations an of sediments by transport. in further detail in the indicates that to a continuous with samples, the must be sampled at the contained in the This would that for STA, sample could only transport over a in the of or over less than would as or could transport pathways the process of In practice, of a sample spacing must the number of environments likely to affect the the of the sediment and the shape and of the and samples will be by random These can in the the effects of and a sediment and random Sediment trend analysis is, in many to In the information is to a where a is that both the information as as The must be of the information from the noisy In sedimentary the information is the transport direction and the is the sediment The of is to the information from the noisy In the information can be by the from the an approach that in because the of the information and the are both This however, will be in because the of the information the is A large of analytical has been to in These 2 and For in the is as a a the all other than the The then for the to the original the the level of the to the to be the it easier to because of of the It is important to note that is being for is of importance in the would not be sufficient to the In STA, with no to the other of might to the in is with the use of that the level for the range of the If these of the the will the of the and the can be that increase the to The in is not as because the is not and the of the is only In this by can be because the can however, statistical might be to the In a sedimentary can be considered in 2 sample and in a sediment samples can be by One to this would be to many samples in and to produce a method that to this is For there has been on the use of a to sediments because it appears to provide a to many deposits and to the of STA, it has been shown that parameters of the distribution should change in the of erosion or and It that erosion and the parameters of the distribution to in particular when on the shape of the distribution and all however, are that distributions provide information (e.g., and and McLaren whether or is based on the assumption that sediments distributions. a to the sedimentary it is assumed that that do not on the are and are In this if in sediments do to the If do then the process as as a could be more noisy than the original In the approach of STA, the of are because only the data of each sediment grain size distribution are used from which the moments are sediment is over a can be To this of of samples could be used. of the by are, in reality, to in this manner (i.e., the Z as described or the of and These of of samples, which is not If the of the and the information is not the of samples can the information more than it the is to random by a number of samples from the same to a better distribution of that In STA, the assumption is that is and to the trend as the after these might in might provide more and In it is to the from the (i.e., a that over to the which the of the (i.e., the amount of the that is by all of the this is with a which the its the an is to the to the In sediment the rather than but exactly the same analysis can be In this case, the data grain size distributions of the sediment can be represented as a of with a the is a of the sedimentary deposits that how over For 1 would the of changes over a over a that the sample as discussed will set as to can be the in this the to be how is it is In the information is it it would be if not to in a simple analysis of the sedimentary data (e.g., the in the mean grain it is that a transport direction would be To the it is to an assumption as to is being It is then possible to the data to this and whether in a corresponding to the assumption is For a transport process that would produce the of sediments over a To this a can be and all with of less than could be An of the data would then over the The important of this approach in the approach discussed is the use of many sample to the transport direction. This the level of The however, is that it is to because the number of possible transport in a given can be large to The of a transport direction be and can only be to a level and information from other (e.g., In the Z score statistic, however, a transport trend can be determined whereby all possible pairs in a sample sequence are compared with each When either a case B or case C trend random probability within the sample the direction of net sediment transport can be inferred. As the grid spacing must be with the and the number of environments likely to be the shape of the and the statistical of the For it has been found for in sample spacing should not exceed 1 in spacing can be to For (e.g., to determine the transport for a sample spacing will be that a minimum number of samples can be to has also shown that samples should be over of (e.g., and in which the regular grid is to (e.g., and the direction of transport over an many sample this the sediment that should at the sample the with the Z score statistic from the grain size distributions of the and the assumed direction and the the is from the when a and of transport pathways is that or nearly of the samples, the assumption that information transport is contained in the grain size has been the to all the uncertainties that might be It must be that the actual processes responsible for the transport of along the derived pathways are They might in one be in a in the and in still the effects of one of the in the transport is to assess the processes that are likely to The shape of the X distribution is important in the of transport of the along a the of X is Consider a transport N X is then defined as in Equation d2 in one pair is d1 in and of d2 and d1 are with Equation that X is not defined as the of the mean value of d2 by the mean value of d1, the results of the 2 are For of d1, and X are before in there is no to that the of the X distribution should be X(s) can be thought of as a function that the relative probability of each being from d1 and deposited at d2. of X distributions from a large number of environments has shown that basic are when compared with the distributions of the deposits d1(s) and d2(s) (Figure 1. shape of the X distributions d1(s) and The relative probability of being transported, therefore, is a distribution to the actual Thus, the probability of a particular sized grain in the deposit is equal to the probability of its transport and (i.e., there must be a along the transport The bed is and is, therefore, in dynamic An X distribution dynamic can be found in either case B or case C transport, a fine between erosion and when environments are both case B and case C can be along the sample sequence. This is to as a and when this it is that the transport is also a state of dynamic of the 3 distributions are but the of X is finer than the of d1(s) and The of X can be thought of as the size that is the the of the deposits are coarser than these are more deposited than The therefore, must be in a state of net can only be in case B transport. Summary of the given to the of X distributions relative to the d1 and d2 the of the 3 distributions are but the of X is coarser than of d1(s) and This is the of net the size is coarser than the As a the deposits are erosion along the transport erosion can only be in case C transport. of the of d1(s) and d2(s), the X distribution more or less over the size range of the Sediment must fine in the direction of transport however, the bed is no it is a of sediment that with from transport The of is to sediments. X only in fine sediments when the mean grain size is a fine or the X distribution can be sediments are found from their and the of the X distribution that their is no related to size In other words, all an equal probability of being This of the X distribution 1st in the deposits of a and is described in McLaren the occur in fine in which any changes in the distributions are X distributions can be found in both case B and case C R2 is the correlation coefficient derived from the mean, sorting, and skewness of each sample pair a This is a relative of how the samples are related by transport. becoming finer, better sorted, and more negatively skewed in the direction of transport. becoming coarser, better sorted, and more positively skewed in the direction of transport. N is the number of possible pairs in the of X is the number of pairs a particular trend in a direction. Z is the Z score at the level are indicates transport in the direction. indicates transport in the direction. defines the dynamic of the sediments the of samples (i.e., 1 for a
In the late 1990s the Indian state of Tamil Nadu experienced an unprecedented fiscal deterioration, which was part of the widespread fiscal deterioration in Indian states. This deterioration was troubling because current expenditure outgrew total revenue, leaving little fiscal space for infrastructure spending. The paper presents a framework for subnational fiscal sustainability analysis and applies it to Tamil Nadu where subsequent fiscal adjustment has been ambitious and politically challenging, but has promised to put state finance on a sustainable path and create fiscal space for infrastructure investment. The paper emphasizes the differences between fiscal sustainability analysis at the national and subnational levels, attempts to take into account uncertainty, and discusses the key components of the state's fiscal accounts and how they respond to reforms and shocks. Risks to Tamil Nadu's fiscal outlook include interest rate shocks, pressures on the primary balance, and contingent liabilities. Though the state's efforts to remove constraints to economic growth, minimize recurrent expenditures and maximize its revenue potential will be critical for fiscal sustainability, national policies feature prominently in subnational fiscal adjustment. Tamil Nadu's quest for fiscal sustainability is relevant for other countries. Decentralization has given subnational governments in developing countries significant spending and taxation responsibilities, and the capacity to incur debt. The fiscal stress of the Indian states echoed the fiscal crises of subnational governments in several other major emerging economies.
The Federal Trade Commission's 2003 innovation report revealed an interesting fact: the pharmaceutical industry is largely satisfied with today's patent system while the electronics, software and Internet industries are not. This article suggests that a difference in governing law accounts for the difference in satisfaction. The federal Food and Drug Act requires pharmaceutical inventions to be proven safe and effective before they can be sold. It thus requires completion of the entire inventive process for pharmaceuticals. Our patent system, however, has no analogous requirement for the other fields. In them, applicants may stake a claim to rivals' later inventive effort after completing only the very first step - conceptualizing - of a lengthy inventive process. The result is patents on abstractions that hold up real inventors, as in Blackberry, eBay and countless other cases to come. Unfortunately, developments in biotechnology, including patenting gene segments, suggest that the biotech industry may be closing the gap in early-stage patenting. This article suggests two ways to improve our patent system and reduce the difference in industry satisfaction. The first is to abolish the doctrine of constructive reduction to practice. A statutory amendment would require inventors, before receiving a patent, to invest reasonably in making, building, testing or at least simulating something concrete, in order both to demonstrate feasibility and to attract real seed capital. A second amendment would convert Section 103's nonobviousness criterion from an abstract test of cognitive difficulty to an economically meaningful test. The new test would encourage review of concrete economic factors such as investment of risk capital, real progress in bringing an invention to market, the assumption of technological risk, i.e., risk of total failure for nonmarket reasons, and a proven need for protection from free riders. Unlike current Section 103, the new test would consider how the invention was made and would permit hindsight. It would do so on the theory that patents protect not cognitive brilliance, but investment of risk capital in the entire process of invention, in which conceptualization is only a first step. The test would also recognize that investment, concrete progress, and risk are susceptible to proof in retrospect. The article outlines how, if adopted, these changes could help rationalize our patent system economically and eliminate the difference in satisfaction between pharmaceuticals and other fields of industry, whose own participants now see patents as impeding progress as often as promoting it.
The 1971 ruling of the California Supreme Court in the case of Serrano v. Priest initiated a chain of events that abruptly ended local financing of public schools in California. In seven short years, California transformed its school finance system from a decentralized one in which local communities chose how much to spend on their schools to a centralized one in which the state legislature determines the expenditures of every school district. This paper begins by describing California's school finance system before Serrano and the transformation from local to state finance. It then delineates some consequences of that transformation and draws lessons from California's experience with school finance reform.
This dissertation examines whether decentralization to municipal governments in Mexico has improved democratic governance. The research examines the effects of decentralization on democratic governance in three Mexican cities: Tijuana, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, and Chilpancingo and draws on key national indicators. The findings indicate that decentralization has significantly increased the authority and autonomy of Mexican municipalities, but that these changes have not necessarily led to local governments that are responsive and accountable to citizens or allow for citizens' active engagement in public affairs. Further analysis of these findings suggests that municipal political institutions create few incentives for public authorities to be responsive and accountable to citizens. The use of closed party lists, prohibitions on independent candidacies, guaranteed supermajorities for the leading party, and the prohibition on reelection all combine to undermine accountability and responsiveness. In this environment, public authorities tend to be more concerned about party leaders than citizens. As a result, citizens continue to be linked to local governments through political brokers within the principal political parties and there are few real opportunities for citizen engagement outside of these mediated channels despite the nominal existence of elaborate participatory planning processes. Nonetheless, the study also finds marked differences in the way that citizens are linked to the political system in different cities. Where strong social organizations existed prior to decentralization, citizens are more likely to have effective, albeit indirect, channels for voice in public affairs. Where these social organizations are linked closely to the principal political parties, they are even more likely to influence public policy than where these organizations are highly autonomous. Strong social organizations provide a necessary basis for ensuring citizen voice, but their linkages to the political process ultimately determine whether they are effective in influencing policy decisions. In other words, horizontal linkages in civil society--social capital--are a necessary precondition for good democratic governance, but vertical linkages between citizens and political actors are equally important.
Franco Guidi-Polanco, Claudio Cubillos, Giuseppe Menga
This work presents our agent-based architecture for the development of Global Automation Systems. These systems consist of software applications that manage all the processes in a network of enterprises, in distributed, decentralized and autonomous way. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Watrous had presented the first proof of zero-knowledge property of a proof system against a quantum verifier. The key of the proof is the construction of a quantum simulator. In the construction, the 'failure state' is rotated to the 'success' state by a tricky operation which is initially developped for the amplification of QMA proof systems. This manuscript presents a new and simpler construction of a simulator. In the construction, we simply amplify the success probability of a classical simulator using Grover's amplification.
The Russian Federation has undergone a process of major constitutional change in the post-communist period, as a strong central government has ceded extensive powers to the regions. This has important implications for the organization of the health care system which, as with other elements of the Soviet system, had previously been highly centralized. Although it is now well-recognized that the powers of the Federal Health Ministry have weakened considerably, the precise scale and nature of the process of decentralization remain imperfectly understood. This paper provides new evidence on the nature of decentralization in the Russian Federation since the breakdown of the USSR, reporting the results of case studies undertaken in six regions of Russia (Samara, Tver, Tula, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk and Moscow oblasts) to describe the organization of health care financing, regulation and delivery. It shows that while there is a common model of health system (with the exception of Samara, where an innovative model was implemented), there are many minor variations. The study confirms the limited scope for action by Federal authorities, but also shows that the power vested in the regional governments is more limited than was previously thought. Instead, the municipalities (rayons) emerge as important bodies, as they own the facilities in which much of the routine health care is delivered and, both directly and indirectly, by virtue of their contributions of insurance premiums for the non-working, provide a substantial amount of health care financing. The study demonstrates the complexity of the Russian health care system and identifies the widespread absence of mechanisms that might be used to bring about much needed change.
Many mathematical models of statistical physics in two dimensions are either known or conjectured to exhibit conformal invariance. Over the years, physicists proposed predictions of various exponents describing the behavior of these models. Only recently have some of these predictions become accessible to mathematical proof. One of the new developments is the discovery of a one-parameter family of random curves called stochastic Loewner evolution or SLE. The SLE curves appear as limits of interfaces or paths occurring in a variety of statistical physics models as the mesh of the grid on which the model is defined tends to zero. The main purpose of this article is to list a collection of open problems. Some of the open problems indicate aspects of the physics knowledge that have not yet been understood mathematically. Other problems are questions about the nature of the SLE curves themselves. Before we present the open problems, the definition of SLE will be motivated and explained, and a brief sketch of recent results will be presented.
This paper is an extended version of math.OA/0601528 where we point out and remedy a gap in the proof by P. Julg and G. Kasparov of the Baum-Connes conjecture for discrete subgroups of SU(n,1). In particular, here we explain in details why the non-microlocality of the Heisenberg calculus prevents us from implementing into this framework the classical approach of Seeley to pseudodifferential complex powers, which was the main issue at stake in math.OA/0601528.
In this note we point out and fill a gap in the proof by Julg-Kasparov of the Baum-Connes conjecture with coefficients for discrete subgroups of $\op{SU}(n,1)$. The issue at stake is the proof that the complex powers of the contact Laplacian are element of the Heisenberg calculus. In particular, we explain why we cannot implement into the setting of the Heisenberg calculus the classical Seeley's approach to complex powers.
China's transition into a market economy has exerted some influence on the health sector in terms of a significant growth of facilities, but it has also produced a range of destabilizing social costs. \n \n \n \nThis thesis analyzes the relations between healthcare pricing and payment reforms and the different delivery aspects such as the exemption program for the poor, public health programs for tuberculosis control and the provision of hospital services. A health economics and systems conceptual framework is used for analyzing aspects of the health systems in terms of market failures and the institutional response from governments and regulators. \n \n \n \nIn study I, the exemption programs for hospitals where the poor are relieved of paying the price or user charges are analyzed. The study is a case study where patient records from nine hospitals were reviewed, together with interviews with key informants and community representatives. The study showed that the discount offered was limited, where only a minority of indigents received discounts and the hospitals lacked incentives for efficiently carrying out the programs. \n \n \n \nStudy II investigates the effect of the new urban health insurance system on hospital charges. The study uses two tracers, acute appendicitis and normal childbirth, at six hospitals from two cities with different insurance systems. The result showed a lower rate of increase in hospitals charges in the city implementing the urban health insurance reform. Regression analysis showed contracting mechanisms and length of stay to be the main determinants for hospital charges. \n \n \n \nStudy III analyzes the operation of TB control programs in a decentralized financial system. A case study was conducted in four counties with different economic developments in the Shandong province. Data was collected from a review of documents and interviews with patients and key informants. The study showed weak government support to the TB control program and less developed DOT (directly observed therapy) programs in the poorer counties. TB patients suffered heavy financial burdens. The decentralized financing system had negatively affected the provision of public health programs such as TB control programs. \n \n \n \nIn study IV, the impact of retail price control of drugs on hospital drug expenditures was examined. The study is a case study at two hospitals. Total drug expenditures were analyzed based on financial records and a tracer, cerebral infarction, was used for an in-depth examination of prices, volume, expenditures and rationality of drug use. Findings showed that after the implementation of the drug pricing policy, total drug expenditures increased as rapidly as before. Drug expenditure per patient for cerebral infarction showed indistinct results, indicating that the regulation was not effective. Utilization rather than price was more determinative for drug expenditures. \n \n \n \nStudy V investigates the development of revenues, costs and performance in the hospital sector. In a sample of 41 hospitals in two cities, the use of inputs, investments and productivity was estimated. The findings showed that hospitals had expanded their staff and invested in new medical equipment. The corresponding change of outputs in terms of outpatient and inpatient performance showed a slower increasing rate, resulting in a diminishing productivity rate over time. \n \n \n \nThe market-oriented health care system in China is faced with different 'market failures' problems such as limited access to health services for the poor and the inaccuracy in relying on market mechanisms for services characterized by positive externalities, such as the public health programs. Financial autonomy has given health providers the incentives to maximize revenues. Government interventions to contain costs and improve efficiency show that a sole reliance on the price mechanism is insufficient and must be combined with other tools set by regulators and insurers.
We are now in the era of the G8, although the G7 still exists as a grouping for Finance Ministers. Why do G7 finance ministries and central banks co-operate? What are the implications of this co-operation for US power and the abilities of the other six states to exercise leadership? What role do the G7 play in global financial governance? How much authority do they possess and how is that authority exercised? This is the first major monograph on the political economy of G7 finance ministry and central bank co-operation. It argues that to understand the contribution of the G7 to global financial governance it is necessary to locate the process in the context of a wider world financial order comprised of decentralized globalization. It also provides original case study material on the G7's contribution to macroeconomic governance and to debates on the global financial architecture over the last decade. It assesses the G7's role in producing a system of global financial governance based on market supremacy and technocratic transgovernmental consensus and articulates normative criticisms of the G7's exclusivity. For researchers in the fields of IR/IPE generally, postgraduate students in the field of international organization and global governance, policy makers and financial journalists this is the most extensive analysis of the G7 and the political economy of global financial governance to date.