Blockchain Papers

Rafail Ostrovsky, Alessandra Scafuro, Muthuramakrishnan Venkitasubramaniam

We show how to construct a O(1)-round resettably-sound zero-knowledge argument of knowledge based on one-way functions where additionally the construction and proof of se-curity is black-box. Zero-knowledge proofs (ZK) are fundamental cryptographic constructs used in numerous applications. Formalized using a “simulation ” paradigm, ZK requires that for every malicious verifier there exists a “simulator ” that can indistinguishably reproduce the view of the verifier in an interaction with the honest prover. Resettable-soundness introduced by Barak, Goldreich, Goldwasser and Lindell (FOCS 01) additionally demands the soundness property to hold even if the malicious prover is allowed to “reset ” and “restart ” the verifier. Using the breakthrough non-black-box technique of Barak (FOCS 01) they also provided a constant-round construction of a resettably-sound ZK argument relying on the existence of collision-resistance hash-functions. This construction and subsequent constructions all rely on the underlying cryptographic primitive in a non black-box way. Recently, Goyal, Ostro-vsky, Scafuro and Visconti (STOC 14) showed how to extend the Barak’s technique to obtain a construction and proof of security that relies on the collision-resistant hash-function in a black-box manner while still having a non black-box simulator. Such a construction is referred to as semi black-box. From the work of Chung, Pass and Seth (STOC 13) we know that the minimal assumption required to construct resettably-sound ZK argument is the existence of one-way functions. In this work we close the gap between (semi) black-box and non black-box constructions by showing a black-box (round-efficient) resettably-sound argument relying on one-way functions only. 1

Benoît Libert, Marc Jóye, Moti Yung, Thomas Peters

To gain strong confidence in the security of a public-key scheme, it is most desirable for the security proof to feature a tight reduction between the adversary and the algorithm solving the underlying hard problem. Recently, Chen and Wee (Crypto’13) described the first Identity-Based Encryption scheme with almost tight security under a standard assumption. Here, “almost tight” means that the security reduction only loses a factor O(λ) —where λ is the security parameter— instead of a factor proportional to the number of adversarial queries. Chen and Wee also gave the shortest signatures whose security almost tightly relates to a simple assumption in the standard model. Also recently, Hofheinz and Jager (Crypto ’12) constructed the first CCA-secure public-key encryption scheme in the multi-user setting with tight security. These constructions give schemes that are significantly less efficient in length (and thus, processing) when compared with the earlier schemes with loose reductions in their proof of security. Hofheinz and Jager’s scheme has a ciphertext of a few hundreds of group elements, and they left open the problem of finding truly efficient constructions. Likewise, Chen and Wee’s signatures and IBE schemes are somewhat less efficient than previous constructions with loose reductions from the same assumptions. In this paper, we consider space-efficient schemes with security almost tightly related to standard assumptions. We construct an efficient CCA-secure public-key encryption scheme whose chosen-ciphertext security in the multi-challenge, multi-user setting almost tightly relates to the DLIN assumption (in the standard model). Quite remarkably, the ciphertext size decreases to 69 group elements under the DLIN assumption whereas the best previous solution required about 400 group elements. Our scheme is obtained by taking advantage of a new almost tightly secure signature scheme (in the standard model) which is based on the recent concise proofs of linear subspace membership in the quasi-adaptive non-interactive zero-knowledge setting (QA-NIZK) defined by Jutla and Roy (Asiacrypt’13). Our signature scheme reduces the length of the previous such signatures (by Chen and Wee) by 37% under the Decision Linear assumption, by almost 50% under the K-LIN assumption, and it becomes only 3 group elements long under the Symmetric eXternal Diffie-Hellman assumption. Our signatures are obtained by carefully combining the proof technique of Chen and Wee and the above mentioned QA-NIZK proofs.

Gebara M.F., L. Muccillo, May P., Claudia Suzanne Marie Nathalie Vitel · 6 authors

Key lessons<br><ul><li>While the constitutional rights (e.g. property rights) of indigenous peoples (IP) are strong in Brazil and may help to overcome their vulnerability, they are rarely enforceable and do not offer sufficient safeguards.</li><li>Informed consultation and a structured free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) process that considers cultural issues are fundamental to ensuring acceptance and consent by IP.</li><li>Local environmental funds can be a tool for increasing autonomy and decentralization while sharing benefits with IP and financing long-term and specific demands that can change over time.</li><li>Safeguard strategies implemented by the Amazon Fund to avoid conflicts of interest may result in restrictions on the participation of IP, having implications related to the legitimacy of decision-making in the distribution of benefits.</li><li>The absence of timely financial flows to meet IP needs may be a considerable risk since it can encourage environmentally damaging activities.</li><li>Relying on the voluntary market may be risky for IP initiatives because of market instability and possible lack of funding.</li></ul>

Nathalie Stråle Johansson, Malin Tjernström

Created in 2009, the digital currency of bitcoin is a relatively new phenomenon. During this short period of time, it has however displayed a strong development of both price and trade volume. This ...

Gregory M Karch

Bitcoin is the world's first decentralized digital currency. According to Lawrence Lessig, cryptography is "the most important technological breakthrough in the last one thousand years" and will be transformative. Bitcoin, capitalizing on cryptography, is a revolutionary digital currency protocol--a software system capable of tracking financial transactions without the need for a third party intermediary. The Bitcoin software is a "community-driven open source project released under an MIT license.” This paper begins by briefly reviewing the mechanics of Bitcoin in Section I. Section II then surveys the rapidly expanding uses of Bitcoin, as well as the emerging application of Bitcoin. Since all new technologies face risk and downside, Section III will address a few of the risks and the highly publicized dark side of Bitcoin. Finally, Section IV will break down how the various governments have initially assessed this new technology and discuss policy implications going forward, as well as touch on the parameters for a twenty-first century regulatory framework by addressing emerging legal and policy issues. As the implementation of Bitcoin and other digital currencies continues, public policy makers should be encouraged to step back and assess the impact of the nascent technology prior to implementing regulatory schemes based upon pre-existing laws based upon outdated assumptions. The multiple applications of the emerging technology suggests policymakers take an innovative approach and adopt public policies and legal frameworks that accommodate the entire scope of its application. The new public policy formulates a regulatory scheme based upon a holistic understanding of the full range of characteristics of Bitcoin and digital currencies. Policymakers, starting with U.S. Congress and state legislatures, should develop public policies that recognize Bitcoin and digital currencies as possessing all of the following characteristics: currencies, payment systems, commodities, properties, investments, systems of commerce, and even systems of contracts. As this dynamic Smartmoney emerges, so emerges the requirement for a new innovative approach to laws and regulations: smart government.

Emmanuel Comte

Although academic and practical interest in non-fungible tokens (NFTs) has continuously increased over the last few years, there is still a need to better understand their social acceptability. The aim of the study was to explore the double edge of NFT legitimacy for NFTs by unveiling the role of sustainability and by adopting technology legitimacy and the field of sustainability transition studies as a theoretical lens. Specifically, this research investigates the role of sustainability in securing and maintaining technology legitimacy within NFT projects. We interviewed 12 experts through exploratory qualitative research. The findings highlight three main ways in which sustainability participates in the legitimation of NFT projects. While sustainability can be inherent in the NFT project itself, this legitimation can also be derived from the perceived sustainability of the NFT technology or be part of innovative business models. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications are then discussed. JEL CODES: O33, O35, O50

Zhao Ji-lu

This paper from the perspective of social management system project,discussed the interaction between the institution,system and mechanism of social management.From the institution,system and mechanism dimensional perspective,it proposed the transform nature of the social management structure to maximize the public interest,to establish democratization social management process,transition from coercion management to state of coercion management coexistence with autonomous management.In terms of social management system the government should take responsibility for moderation,government decentralization and social collaborative governance should be based on policies and regulations.In the process of social management system reform,governments need to adopt policies and regulations institutionalized means,organization,mobilization,coordination,monitoring NGO management assume management responsibilities.In the process of building social management mechanism,since the powers and duties of NGO and citizens to participate in social management lack of clearly defined,cause social autonomous management and oversight mechanisms not really set up.Because it is short of an institutional reasonable social evaluation index,thus failed to establish the effective social control mechanism.Due to the lack of the necessary institutionalized norms and the corresponding organizational management system of the virtual society,thus the administration system of virtual society is unsound.In this case,the social supervisor should establish the three dimensional horizon and realm of social management system,organization system and mechanism.Establish a unified structure and function social management system in which the society coordinated with economic,political and cultural.Straightened out the compartmentalization of social management system,and set up a dedicated social management agency.At least it constructs the some effective social management mechanisms like the floating population service,help and education for special groups,comprehensive management of public security,social risk warning,social interest demands,social supervision and regulation,social integration services.

Nazneen Ahmed, Enamul Kabir

While the Government of Bangladesh has gained itself a good reputation with regards to achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 7, institutional reforms and modernisation of public service providers in the local governments are still needed for quality delivery and maintenance of water supply and sanitation services. Decentralisation of decision making and financial management to LGIs, along with bridging gap between the citizens and public representatives through participatory planning is one of the vital pre-requisites of integrated rural development. HYSAWA (Hygiene, Sanitation & Water) Fund, an autonomous financing organization, mobilizes resources and technical support for the LGIs for delivery of decentralized WatSan services in a transparent and accountable manner. Direct linkage with the funding source is regarded as a key to empower local governments, which, together with capacity building inputs will promote greater devolution of administrative and financial power to them. An effective engagement of local government is needed for sustainability of WASH services.

Torres Barriga, Erika Vanessa

The present research study had led us to pose like a proposal the design of a Model of Human Resource Management for Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Government of Salcedo city, this has an objective, to provide tools to improve existing processes and implement new trends in subsystems of human talent management, allowing to increase the productivity and job performance of employees and workers of the institution and therefore to develop in a suitable environment and obey all requirements emitting from control entities. Of this way it´ll help to the Head of Human Resource in coordination with the Office of Organizational Development to have a starting point to improve the management with respect to administrative and operational staff, ensuring better conditions in his position and post to perform; since the admissions staff is integrating skilled people to develop in their workplace, which will receive induction, security, and occupational health; they´ll be follow and at the end the develop test.

Antti Puupponen, Ari Paloviita

This article is based on a case study that examines climate change adaptation of food supply chain inthree Finnish inland provinces Central Finland, Pirkanmaa and South Savo. The focus of the study was onfood processing enterprises and their adaptation strategies. For the study, 14 thematic interviews wereconducted and the research data was analysed using qualitative content analysis. The persons interviewedwere food entrepreneurs, managers of food enterprises and representatives of trade organizations andexpert organizations. The main research questions addressed in the article are: what kind of threat doesclimate change pose to food enterprises? What kind of adaptation aspects can be identified in the foodchain with respect to food supply chain management? According to the results, adaptation to climate changecan be characterized as reactive or autonomous strategy based on localization and decentralization offood supply chain as well as on regional food systems. We conclude that value-based strategic partnershipsin the food chain could enhance the regions’ adaptive capacity and resilience. Further research onregional impacts of climate change on the supply chain is required to provide decision-makers with morecomprehensive guidance.

Nico Döttling, Daniel Kraschewski, Jörn Müller‐Quade, Tobias Nilges

Universally composable secure computation was assumed to require trusted setups, until it was realized that parties exchanging (untrusted) tamper-proof hardware tokens allow an alternative approach (Katz; EUROCRYPT 2007). This discovery initialized a line of research dealing with two different types of tokens. Using only a single stateful token, one can implement general statistically secure two-party computation (Dottling, Kraschewski, Muller-Quade; TCC 2011); though all security is lost if an adversarial token receiver manages to physically reset and rerun the token. Stateless tokens, which are secure by definition against any such resetting-attacks, however, do provably not suffice for statistically secure computation in general (Goyal, Ishai, Mahmoody, Sahai; CRYPTO 2010). We investigate the natural question of what is possible if an adversary can reset a token at most a bounded number of times (e.g., because each resetting attempt imposes a significant risk to trigger a self-destruction mechanism of the token). Somewhat surprisingly, our results come close to the known positive results with respect to non-resettable stateful tokens. In particular, we construct polynomially many instances of statistically secure and universally composable oblivious transfer, using only a constant number of tokens. Our techniques have some abstract similarities to previous solutions, which we grasp by defining a new security property for protocols that use oracle access. Additionally, we apply our techniques to zero-knowledge proofs and obtain a protocol that achieves the same properties as bounded-query zero-knowledge PCPs (Kilian, Petrank, Tardos; STOC 1997), even if a malicious prover may issue stateful PCP oracles.

Mohsen Toorani

J-PAKE is a Password-Authenticated Key Exchange protocol, proposed in 2008 and presented again in 2010 and 2011. It does not require any public key infrastructure but uses zero-knowledge proofs. J-PAKE has been submitted as a candidate for the IEEE P1363.2 standard for password-based public key cryptography, and included in OpenSSL and OpenSSH. Since December 2010, J-PAKE has been used in Mozilla Firefox web browser. In this paper, we show that J-PAKE is vulnerable to password compromise impersonation attack, replay attack, and unknown key-share attack. We also propose some improvements for thwarting replay and unknown key-share attacks.

Hasini Gunasinghe, Elisa Bertino

No abstract is available for this record.

Ran Canetti, Abhishek Jain, Omer Paneth

The traditional setting for concurrent zero knowledge considers a server that proves a statement in zero-knowledge to multiple clients in multiple concurrent sessions, where the server’s actions in a session are independent of all other sessions. Persiano and Visconti [ICALP 05] show how keeping a limited amount of global state across sessions allows the server to significantly reduce the overall complexity while retaining the ability to interact concurrently with an unbounded number of clients. Specifically, they show a protocol that has only slightly super-constant number of rounds; however the communication complexity in each session of their protocol depends on the number of other sessions and has no a-priori bound. This has the drawback that the client has no way to know in advance the amount of resources required for completing a session of the protocol up to the moment where the session is completed. We show a protocol that does not have this drawback. Specifically, in our protocol the client obtains a bound on the communication complexity of each session at the start of the session. Additionally the protocol is constant-rounds. Our protocol is fully concurrent, and assumes only collision-resistant hash functions. The proof requires considerably different techniques than those of Persiano and Visconti. Our main technical tool is an adaptation of the “committed-simulator ” technique of Deng et. al [FOCS 09]. 1

Sara Hillman

On New Year’s Eve of 1933 a train carrying a single passenger crossed the border into Switzerland. The passenger was the German-Jewish poet, philosopher, and literary critic Margarete Susman (1872-1966). Reflecting on the reasons for her departure, Susman later recalled: “When I left … my true Heimat I did so above all as a German who could not bear this new Germany. The Jewish destiny was not apparent in its entire horror at the time.”1 Sixty-one years old at the time of emigration, Susman was granted asylum in Switzerland. Soon, she would find a spiritual home among the religious socialists that had begun coalescing around the figure of the Protestant theologian Leonhard Ragaz (1868-1945) almost three decades earlier.2 It is her involvement in this leftist religious movement with its emphasis on dialogue between members of different creeds that constitutes the core of this article.3 The aim of genuine dialogue is to understand one’s partner, not to convert him or her to one’s own viewpoint. “Dialogue speaks to the Other with a full respect of what the Other is and has to say” in the words of religious scholar Edward Kessler. “This is never less than personal but can develop in such a way as to be extended to a group and even to communities. However, it begins with the individual and not with the community.”4 Kessler’s emphasis on the individual basis of dialogue is particularly pertinent to this inquiry. Susman and Ragaz were both interested in how each faith helped illuminate the other, sometimes to the point of blurring crucial doctrinal distinctions. Ultimately, their intellectual engagement centered on the urgent attempt to come to terms with some of the most pressing religious questions of their day. So far, this fascinating encounter has received virtually no scholarly attention, perhaps precisely because of its unorthodox nature and the difficulty of pigeonholing its protagonists.5 An inquiry into Susman’s and Ragaz’s dialogue, or “faith conversation” (Glaubensgespräch) as she called it, is important not only for the light it sheds on the intellectual and spiritual life of one German-Jewish émigré and a renegade Swiss pastor, but also for the time and place of its occurrence. The fact that this interaction took place in unoccupied German-speaking Europe, at a time when Jews had become social pariahs and ultimately victims of genocide, challenges the conventional understanding of the incipience of the Jewish-Christian dialogue after the Holocaust.6 Though Susman’s concern for interreligious dialogue did not amount to formal participation in an institutionalized network – which in any case did not exist at the time – I argue that her and Ragaz’s efforts constituted an important precursor to the phenomenon of interfaith encounter that suddenly burst upon the scene in postwar central Europe. Despite its uncongenial political climate, German-speaking Switzerland provided the essential cultural environment for their dialogue.7 Like so many members of the secularized Jewish bourgeoisie in the German Empire, Margarete Susman grew up largely divorced from her Jewish heritage. A daily prayer and the annual Christmas tree seem to have been the family’s only concessions to religious custom. When Margarete was ten, her family left her native Hamburg for Switzerland, apparently for economic reasons. For the next several years she was educated in the Protestant faith at the public school she attended in Zurich. It was not until she was already in her early twenties, having moved back to Germany, that she sought the instruction of the Reform rabbi Caesar Seligmann. At the time, she was scarcely aware of the differences between Christianity and Judaism, as she later remembered: “Back then the distinction between Judaism and Christianity had almost melted away in my soul. I perceived Christianity in Judaism and Judaism in Christianity. And yet, [my] profound love for Christ notwithstanding, the High Priest’s tearing of the garment in the face of the incarnate son of the One whom no eye may behold has always remained an ultimate truth for me.”8 Whether she actually justified her loyalty to Judaism in these terms at the time is of course doubtful. In any case, Seligmann’s teachings made a profound impact on her.9 To the end of her life she would be attracted to such Reform tenets as Judaism’s role as a ‘world religion’ and the Jews’ messianic mission. Despite a slowly growing interest in the Jewish faith, Susman was still preoccupied with Christianity. This preoccupation received a strong impetus when she became engaged to the non-Jewish painter Eduard von Bendemann. Encouraged by her prospective in-laws, she planned to convert but pulled back from an already scheduled baptism at the last moment. It suddenly became utterly impossible for her, she would subsequently recall, to abandon the “foundations” of her life.10 Her scruples notwithstanding, she would raise her only son Erwin, born in 1906, in the Christian faith – precisely because she herself had so painfully felt her exclusion from the “brilliant” world of Christianity.11 It stands to reason that her sympathy for Christianity affected her understanding of Judaism and what it meant to be Jewish. The decisive fact of her refusal to convert, however, speaks volumes of her life-long loyalty to the ancestral faith. As was the case with many of her intellectual peers, the First World War proved to be an extremely traumatic and transformative event for Susman. For the first time in her life she became aware of the devastating impact of history on human life. It dawned on her that henceforth it would be impossible to live a life of apolitical detachment. This realization did not translate into active political engagement, at least not within the confines of a particular party. Instead, Susman now turned her energies towards lecturing and writing on issues that were more explicitly socio-political as well as Jewish.12 From 1925 onwards she contributed to some of the Weimar Republic’s most prominent Jewish periodicals including Der Jude and Die Kreatur.13 Professional success might have alleviated, but could not undo, personal calamity. In the late twenties her marriage fell apart, and Susman suffered a deep depression from which she recovered only slowly. No doubt work provided a palliative to her misery. When she finally left Germany at the end of 1933, never to return to the land of her birth, she had gained a reputation as one of Germany’s most insightful commentators on intellectual, religious, and literary trends. In emigration Susman’s material situation In to a she had to her which in her having to for an she did not from up she was to herself for a time by writing for and including Ragaz’s a particularly had attracted the eye of the she was a left and from and – a she to in by a a she now on the of including the Ragaz family who helped her way of life in a on the and her in by her Leonhard Ragaz in particular became a intellectual and Susman’s by Ragaz had up as one of of a in Despite the family’s economic it was that the Leonhard school and On in and to work as a Protestant pastor, first in a then at the In the of for at by the a German and of Ragaz it to with what the and of the and the at As a felt from the Christian with their emphasis on the In a to towards the end of the First World that it had not been for their would have up years and become a In finally the to from and on what true From now on Ragaz would all energies to the religious and political of which took place in the a and for that in a in Zurich. 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that helped religious The to to interested from different and was precisely for its Ragaz any or at or An of the and to not any of of any Whether was always to to this to be As the and then the Ragaz became more by of and both of which were with of the of To the Swiss were from towards Jews and political who the border from 1933 Ragaz and family had their for The Ragaz became the first point for many in Susman having been one of In in Ragaz and family were to live up to the of the of and on from a to a renegade and social was did the between and Jews into In an late in life Margarete Susman her understanding of the or of Judaism and Christianity as Judaism for the Christianity has already … the as well as the the of the is on the it is one and faith and the the love which the the among as the true in both As Ragaz had in early Judaism and Christianity were in one from one to one of the that from what called the with nature and above life and And it was understanding of that had to and true – in the of the Susman as the Ragaz to be and that human history In were one and the Like Ragaz the as a of history – more not only as any but as most important of was that the not only in history in but that it actually as in the to Die As a of the world as and still in the of and not only was still in the of As it, is the of the new and the new in which did the Jews into this and for Ragaz the of could not be the the Jews were the had been the messianic for on the had even as that the had already was in was Judaism’s of the figure of Christ as the and return to – only then would the true as Ragaz it come into this the of a point that Ragaz’s of a true that a messianic Christianity with a Judaism that Christ even to a of Jews of The in of Ragaz’s in the of religious by such as and the perhaps more than any with individual Ragaz’s for the interreligious dialogue and the not respect among Jewish The impact of to not be as the Jewish German religious the years of the Jews such as from Ragaz’s in a a which would never be by the This was Ragaz that had more in with Jews such as than with most for having recovered the and that felt almost to than to and to than to Christian the in a to of in the true of even when the political had begun to it from the notwithstanding, it would be to that and Ragaz’s in the with one of particularly with that had to be and of a new would be however, in this as or as an attempt at Jews into the Christian was at was a of both Judaism and Christianity that Ragaz essential for the of the In Ragaz a which as a and In the the to a – perhaps to Susman’s of the in an on in the Weimar The to to illuminate the and that made an encounter from different The up Ragaz’s as first had to become true and Jews true only then could work towards the realization of for faith had to with the that the of on was its ultimate that is with the of a point of that was to both true in Ragaz’s meant the of as of Jewish in as the last of a of in had to that the of the of had not been ultimate was still was some for both – to with the of the a basis for an encounter in the and This and between true and true Jews was to be in the by the of one the other, by of all by but in a different by of a the of each to and then by the of each to that which the had the of of and now a new for the the to Christ in this not only to Christ but was to be in In a personal Susman later to be in the Ragaz explicitly her on the of the Her to it had been to but not only in the of had of Though the Jewish of was an important concern to and the not place of Judaism in in In this as to Judaism was and is only a of my this to my faith in the of For the of the of the One all of and many Jews received Ragaz’s of a with to the The a of Though the was by no Ragaz was in role in the Swiss it him that efforts to a between the creeds were not perceived as the not have been it the of when the and with which even the Jews to the had the of to was now on a has and have – – not even Ragaz to would at least have constituted a genuine a Ragaz aware of the nature of For the Jews had been of and all of a the who one of their precisely of the that of having to Ragaz’s particularly the of in the of the Jews was in full full to the Susman him the as of Swiss less of as a In a Jewish on of she had for the first time, she how the Jews felt by the figure of In their she Christ was a to their own and to their loyalty and Ragaz that by no had all Jews on and then a crucial in one when of It was a she herself had Susman’s notwithstanding, it that she would have with of what called Her own had provided her with to the and nature of the what would she have that the and of the of had always been in the of a It was this Ragaz that had had to the of who had to be the the situation was no destiny in the of the to this as well to her, and as was not that she convert, for it was precisely her that her to between Jews and Susman took her role as she with Ragaz’s is from her for the but ultimately in the religious Der Ragaz could have for a more from a The was of an understanding so and the of which have not in the entire history of Susman The was in of Judaism and Christianity and did not to for the figure of both had Ragaz did not engaged in a between of the the Jewish was at this particular it was upon Susman to to this that did not to convert but to For this was not the of faith that had place the Weimar had genuine she these efforts which had of the in an as she it, Ragaz’s attempt had from within the and was less than a for the of was particularly Susman in of the fact that Ragaz was to the Jews in be no the particular Jewish the as the realization of the true The ultimate aim of – how could it be – was ultimate aim of history to all Christ as the of all was this not in Christianity the all to the as for Ragaz’s and Susman’s and for the of their one but at the of such at a time when a Christian was in the of to the Jewish Susman’s of her her in Jews such as the her of not how she to this Though she by she her role as an Ragaz and the is she to her I have now how and how of a I even for the Susman’s to Ragaz and her in a in of the fact that towards the end of life Ragaz to a for a of the in Christian than to some Judaism would it did not to was not and the in to the with and the of could be As in the of the Jewish or to last on Judaism and Christianity had in a from of the to the tree no in Judaism and Christianity of I Christianity … to be and Judaism the Susman is no she would it be for it to at the of the destiny as it so in her Judaism and Christianity the the one as a the as an individual In Ragaz had made the The of from the that also Christianity. The fact that this the of Christianity not It is an of that Christianity and Judaism on the Christianity – of the that the – and as well as in and many of its this was a more devastating and on the In to understand to such Susman to the of could the Jewish destiny be in light of the of the of the and years of writing what would to be her most important Susman was in with both in and by and In this in of its most or were at least in the dialogue with In its a of the of with of the entire Jewish In this the destiny of the by a of more stands as the of the Jewish the destiny of a with the of for it has not For to live in the full of and the of this is what the of is ultimately meant to be Jewish – to and not to the of the even only Susman that it was not up to to no how and might to the of the had the of in the this had only been with and to she it had not been the by the on life that had a new among the a that after of and had finally the to no Susman is not to the of a return to a but to the of the – the of a to the world for the of the The way she it, was of a of faith, a of life. the is it in The however, an to the end of And a crucial in Jews to the Like Ragaz as the of who with and who among the of Ragaz as the of Susman as the of the messianic as it was not to as in the of In Susman had Ragaz how she had been by one of on the of a this new world were to Ragaz apparently had it would largely be to in world history – a that had her however, she her difficulty in to the that had actually in her Susman had to the Jewish of the of her she was in for a The to the because of its non-Jewish her one of the of the her that her had to essential it did not with between Judaism and and it than the Jewish towards and the of Judaism however, as a to the in which as spiritual Susman had no more with non-Jewish and of the on of its which of as an In the the was by of Zurich. the its for a by Susman’s Like her a German-Jewish the to Other Jewish were for the scholar of the was affected by the particularly its first and in a way that Susman as and Susman’s first of Judaism, Caesar to be by the had it three and each time had been more Susman’s who had been from the in Susman had to and Jewish in its entire with all the and with all and and with an and that was To be was with her on a Jewish which a Christian may as but it at a Susman’s by a no a Jewish Christian up on the of and between the An for Susman that a group of and were to Susman have to this for several later that her was for because it is a for to the understanding of with and an could such such as these the Christian were to from Susman’s Whether the of her is a different A at the impact of is important for what it the Susman was and by both Jews and To be her unorthodox to the of in with her left her to from the Jewish as well as the Christian Susman to have some of these still in the of she to to as I had suddenly a new of Ragaz’s and I – for more than one Susman on a crucial point her with not to Jews such as her of having come to And Susman’s to that she was aware of how her had from was a but so was of would have engaged in dialogue with the had it not been for their on the of their And – and this point to be and – were from the of a and a As Susman herself had to the Jews and had to each on a basis of to to as Christian and In the she never of that Leonhard Ragaz on after the end of the World War in Europe. did not live to the of interreligious and that to the German and Swiss social after Margarete however, was a of and in this In she took in a of and Jews by the At the she helped the Her involvement with Ragaz had the way for her engagement in the Jewish-Christian Susman and Ragaz engaged in what constitutes a provided the essential basis for this dialogue because it was the religious in the of in some that such a than to an and religious religious socialists sought the realization of what Ragaz called the of a even the of as Ragaz it in on the their as from the institutionalized dialogue that after as from such as in it an of of different religious and for some of their most pressing and of interreligious dialogue not to the different such took in the the of the in which Ragaz and Susman to each be When Jews Christian to in religious in the Weimar these were all by what one might the between the only did the almost always with Jews – a of interest on the Christian – but respect was in these At its most this of respect was in and at to and the of Christianity the essential of a interreligious dialogue were from these between the in dialogue and of all of In the case of Margarete Susman and the religious socialists around however, the three for dialogue were all the to the of the the of the and the of the for the This last is of particular I would to all from what by the of dialogue to to the of the of the in the words of the of the three As have Susman was to Christianity than many of her Jews felt can be no however, that she of herself as a In a a Jewish the by which and their in their with and is the one can to the Jewish individual within the individual aim the first of the – and is almost strong a – that first when in the of the world and by that for the first time to the to an old for Though Susman to in some way her understanding of what was to be of a to When her only son Erwin, whom she had as a was to Judaism, she a even a is the of that only a who has no of Judaism is of One not convert to Judaism as to one has it in or it by The is one is not born a but a by to in this of destiny In a of of as a daily might of the daily to be of the Jewish And for Susman this a faith between Jews and As as Ragaz was for the of the and have been well aware that sympathy for and the left made him in their but this did not him from at did not doubt the genuine nature of Christianity. sympathy for Judaism, and the of at a time when such were the of in the of this inquiry was as a to with And this was and No Ragaz would have been moved by the fact that the him as one of the the was to the who had to a true understanding between the of and a true of an as which would on a Jewish a Christian but on that of the of and of the of the between the personal and the of the dialogue with by of by and in the was for him the dialogue between these The to Susman who was even more aware of the of the Jewish-Christian dialogue and of the and of the attempt to a a At the time of the Jews’ Margarete Susman the the of the which the world to up with its true between a and a of constitutes a of from a of the messianic

Joanshelley Rubin

The year 2013 marked the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Lawrence Levine's Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America. The book was immediately, and wildly, influential among American cultural historians and students of American literature. I remember attending a national meeting shortly after it came out where participants reverentially invoked Levine's key terms and assumptions, as if they had discovered in the book's pages an explanation, deeply satisfying both ideologically and emotionally, for a phenomenon that had long been troubling them. In the years since 1988, Highbrow/Lowbrow has exhibited the staying power of a classic, a status certified by the book's appearance on countless syllabi and oral exam lists. Today it remains available in paperback and in a Kindle version, and I am told that a French edition was just recently published.Many of us have profited a great deal from Levine's study, and we lament his untimely death in 2006. Yet those of us who have been working in the history of the book and related areas have arrived at a point where we might profitably reassess the arguments of Highbrow/Lowbrow, instead of merely appropriating its framework. What have we learned over the last twenty-five years about cultural hierarchy in America? What perspectives might be useful for the future? I want to consider those questions by bringing to bear both the insights of other scholars who have written since 1988 and the results of my own research.The first third of Highbrow/Lowbrow directly concerns students of reception because it is about the changing position of Shakespeare in American culture. Levine begins by documenting not only the frequent performance of Shakespeare on the nineteenth-century American stage but also the travesties, soliloquies, afterpieces, and other theatrical presentations that often juxtaposed adaptations of Shakespearean drama and poetry to “magicians, dancers, singers, acrobats, minstrels, and comics.”1 Because “people cannot parody what is not familiar,” Levine concludes, Shakespeare was an integral part of popular culture during the early years of American history (4). For Levine, “popular” referred to “those creations of expressive culture that actually had a large audience” (31) rather than to the traditions produced by ordinary people, as historians such as Peter Burke and David Vincent have used the word.Filled with exuberant spectators unconstrained by genteel decorum, the theater itself was thoroughly democratic, housing under one roof, as Levine puts it, “a microcosm of American society” (25). But the situation was in flux. As early as the middle of the nineteenth century, separate theaters had emerged to serve more refined audiences as part of a growing “bifurcation” of “serious” and “popular” culture (68, 81). Eventually, Shakespearean drama as a popular possession was a casualty of this process, which Levine labels the “sacralization” of culture; Shakespeare became an “elite” author separated from ordinary people by an “unbridgeable gulf,” and his work receded to the rarefied realm of high art (79).The middle section of Highbrow/Lowbrow traces other forms of this process of sacralization under way at roughly the same time. Champions of symphonic music such as John Sullivan Dwight and Henry Lee Higginson articulated a vision of the classical concert as a vehicle for the transmission of art, as distinct from lighter fare, which was often segregated in separate “pops” performances. The opera house and the art museum furnish further examples wherein audiences learned, in Levine's words, to “approach the masters and their works with proper respect and proper seriousness, for aesthetic and spiritual elevation rather than mere entertainment” (146).In the last third of Highbrow/Lowbrow, Levine attempts to explain those developments, situating what he calls the fragmentation of culture into “high” and “low” in the context of the massive societal changes of the late nineteenth century, as immigration, urbanization, and industrialization proceeded apace. In a phrase that I have always found particularly resonant, he ascribes to figures such as Henry James and other white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants the perception that America had become a “new universe of strangers.” Their way of navigating this “unstable,” threatening environment was to insist on the value of discipline, self-control, and order (177). In consequence, Levine notes with dismay, the opportunity for democratically composed audiences to act “naturally” and to participate actively in cultural experiences gave way to passivity and stultifying propriety (179). Works of art and the institutions that supported them acquired the function of taming democracy, of diffusing “culture” to foster “civilization” (204). But more Americans, Levine observes, sought not to “proselytize among the people” but, rather, to make culture “an oasis of refuge from and a barrier against them” (207). Matthew Arnold's definition of culture as “the best that has been thought and known [or thought and said] in the world” became a widespread ideal, and along with it came hierarchies (best, worst, higher, lower, elite, popular) that Arnold's formulation buttressed (224). Although Levine is careful to state that the sacralization of culture was not “primarily a mechanism for social control,” he does not hesitate to single out “an elite group with a vested interest” in maintaining its authority as the party responsible for an increasingly hierarchical, fragmented culture (206, 227). From the late nineteenth century forward, theater and concert audiences had no choice but to encounter art on the terms that those elite individuals prescribed.In an epilogue, Levine indicates the extent to which recent developments had eradicated some of the distance between highbrow and lowbrow, citing, among other examples, the crossover repertoire of the Kronos Quartet and the efforts of Joseph Papp to bring Shakespeare to a large public. But, writing twenty-five years ago, he still finds the “sense that culture is something created by the few for the few, threatened by the many, and imperiled by democracy” remains both powerful and pervasive (252).There is much that is right about the picture Levine painted. It is undeniable that spectators grew quieter over the course of the nineteenth century, and that less raucousness was accompanied by less diversity, as when “wealthy elites banded together to build their own opera houses.”2 Whether or not the religious overtones of the term are helpful, it is likewise undeniable that a kind of sacralization took place, whereby the entr'acte jugglers, parodists, and minstrels became dissociated from an ostensibly pure Shakespeare, the opera grew isolated from other musical events, and classical European “masterpieces” came to occupy a status higher than the works of popular composers. It is equally true that the agents of sacralization—the founders of museums, orchestras, and concert halls—were members of the privileged classes, with the resources and social connections to launch such institutions.It is hard not to be captivated by Levine's democratic sympathies and even by the sense of loss that, he acknowledged, suffuses his book. Americans have a penchant for narratives of declension, after all, and Levine's depiction of unity giving way to fragmentation, of egalitarianism undermined, is squarely in that tradition. But can we set aside our attraction to Levine's politics and sensibility and dispassionately interrogate his premises?Let us start with the beginning of his story: the assumption that a shared public culture characterized American life in the early republic. If widespread familiarity with Shakespeare is the proof of this shared culture, it is worth noting, as Alden T. Vaughan and Virginia Mason Vaughan point out in Shakespeare in America, that the Shakespearean texts Americans read “often differed markedly” from the scripts that actors used in theaters, even when the actors were not engaged in performing excerpts or parodies.3 Moreover, printed texts adhered closely to British versions up to the mid-nineteenth century. In other words, to speak of Shakespeare as a popular possession ignores that not everyone owned the same thing, nor was that possession necessarily distinctively American.As for the theater audience as a microcosm of American society, the persistence of religious objections to theatrical performances meant that, at various times and places, a significant segment of the population did not participate in watching Shakespeare. An older work of local history records, for example, that Rochester, New York, was known as a poor theater town well into the 1840s as a result of the antipathy to the stage generated by adherents of the revivalist Charles Finney.4 Furthermore, although Levine was surely right that the theater gathered heterogeneous groups under a single roof (as in New York's Bowery Theater in the Jacksonian period), this was not a case of a diverse population bonded by common responses or shared values. As Richard Butsch has revealed, the rowdy Bowery b'hoys who occupied the pit and the gallery provoked antagonism from wealthier individuals seated in the boxes. In Butsch's words, “Audiences were neither homogeneous nor unanimous, but often divided along class lines…. The middle and upper classes demanded more restraint, and young workers seemed intent on refusing to cooperate.”5More generally, the premise that a unified American culture gave way to fragmentation does not hold up if we turn to the lessons furnished by scholars working in book history. The title of the second volume of A History of the Book in America, An Extensive Republic, signals the argument that Robert A. Gross and Mary Kelley, the volume's editors, have posited throughout. In contrast to the idea that the years between 1790 and 1840 marked the rise of a national print culture, they emphasize that in that period the United States was “a decentralized polity,” a and and in no single and a of and the one print culture was and to the of British on the other it was in the case of the the Gross a century of of the and of were in “the and of took at the United Although print had the to audiences social it also to and party and no of and as the to from no single of a because of the of people in Extensive also us to the of cultural hierarchy the by the of a elite to “the of as David the of learned culture sought to foster a of for the of this democratic with the that on the of a group of to the of what was as “the higher likewise to which as as the century and the century. the key is Richard The of America. which was a shared to of such as and became integral to the of a middle For to the exuberant that Levine were of this recent the idea of a democratic, unified culture in the early nineteenth century is us turn to the other of the the between highbrow and that Levine was in by Shakespeare in American of members of more than Shakespeare that in the late nineteenth and early that Shakespeare to ordinary that in large and America the idea that Shakespeare was for not just cultural elites in a of Shakespeare in that became a for and for a of the and work an to a of unity giving way to sacralization and sacralization was to the for Shakespeare as Shakespeare as a work them the opportunity to their for higher But a of Shakespeare as high culture as because of its to and aesthetic not with democratic if it is to of at art who from “the growing of in printed and who often in areas on that a process of in the of high to own into the history of the Shakespeare in and by for Americans, a further The British had created Shakespeare in with an to their of they were to be but and with “a which at a act and and no the were to to the the of as well as the idea that art more than was for but the aesthetic the Shakespeare was to was In the United States and in of which found their way to and The for and America over the first years of the was of the of sacralization and and the of art and from and The of book are the American who in Highbrow/Lowbrow only as figures a of and the author of the in the late nineteenth the and of the James the and and the and to the American and the Charles of those individuals in Highbrow/Lowbrow as of cultural fragmentation and to them instead in the context of an that the status particularly with respect to the of religious and by John to what as the American the that the and of the the same when had the opportunity for and In other words, for such the of Shakespeare or opera into art was a not a a democratic Levine for in the as a of the between of and the ordinary people they ostensibly as a for with the of “a democratic of aesthetic that “a into of was not an culture instead both and democratic large of 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his or the to that concert the aesthetic responses that from and responses can be in their own As the has written with to Levine, when we the founders of only as of social and when we merely as or as of we a of the widespread of music that classical to art the that audience members of social classes sought with the that “a significant of the musical public was not just by of the but also by an of musical experiences of more than and that, as one of the it, the and the the rise of and the of a between “serious” and the for such experiences have been the of a theatrical culture that demanded the of Shakespeare on terms of art and in rather than gave spectators opportunity to aesthetic from the with and (as the American their students of we to not just to our sense of cultural hierarchy the middle between highbrow and also to as both the and the of for and the same we bear in that that and responses in individuals and and about or high culture that to and us to for the twenty-five

조기태, Si-Kyung Lee

No abstract is available for this record.

Ramon H. Myers, Fiki Ardiansyah

Key messages<br><ul><li>In different provinces or districts, the same laws can be applied in very different ways.</li><li>Participation of customary land users and local communities remains ad hoc and requires that implementing regulations are strengthened, as the existing safeguarding laws are not sufficiently specific.</li><li>Further developments of safeguarding laws and regulations (specifically the distribution of benefits from carbon financing) need to be well defined and better aligned with decentralization processes.</li><li>Subnational actors are unclear on their role in a national REDD+ strategy and how they will be involved in decision making.</li><li>REDD+ is challenged by a misalignment between land use decision-making powers and REDD+ management powers allocated to different bodies and levels.

Joseph Bonneau

No abstract is available for this record.

Zhang Che

Bitcoin is a new kind of digital currency which was born in 2009. With its difference from traditional electronic currency and the point-to-point transaction characteristics of the virtual currency,bitcoin quickly catches on around the world and becomes what is called the most freecurrency. A series of unique properties of bitcoin not only attracted the attention of a large number of speculators,but also hid risk of money laundering crime. Governments around the world hold a conservative attitude of legal status of the bitcoin for its highly unstable price threat to the financial markets. Although the bitcoin and its derivative currency is full of uncertainty in the future,what is certain is that the digital cash is difficult to disappear within a few years. Rather than deny its legal status or letting its development,what the government should do is to use legal framework to effectively monitor the possible risk. It's the practical and effective method to safeguard the legitimate interests of the bitcoin users.

John Michael Grant

This paper explores legal and economic issues related to a fascinating new technology called the blockchain protocol. The most popular and important blockchain commodity is currently bitcoin (Part I). Bitcoin is intuitively understood as a “virtual currency.” However, it is possible that bitcoin fails to meet an economist’s definition of money (Part II). In Part III, I survey the academic literature and conduct an empirical study of my own that compares bitcoin prices and other assets from July 12, 2013 until December 16, 2014. Ultimately, I conclude that bitcoin is not money and does not behave like money. Later, I analyze two potential legal questions connected to the question of whether bitcoin is money: how will bitcoin derivatives be regulated? (Part IV), and whether transferred bitcoins are free of security interests under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code (Part V).

P. Carl Mullan

One possible future for Bitcoin in the United States would be as a commercial service provided by Bitcoin merchant services or BMSs. The service could deliver a turnkey payment platform taking the risk and headaches out of a merchant’s hands. BMS could handle: refunds on merchandise returns, dispute resolution, theft protection and insurance on Bitcoin wallets and trading platforms, consumer protection and guarantees on performance of Bitcoin exchange transactions, and escrow payments on money remittance and commercial transactions. 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.

Leyla Ateş

No abstract is available for this record.

Irwansyah Irwansyah, M.Pol.Admin Ratminto

In order to carry out the arrangement bureaucracy more effective and efficient, the government established a decentralized system that start with Act No. 5 of 1974 and then changed again into Law No. 22 of 1999 on Regional Government, in relation to governance also formed Government Regulation No. 25 of 2000 on the authority of provinces as autonomous region as well as Government Regulation No. 84 of 2000 on Guidelines for Organization of the Region. It turns out a variety of these regulations has not been able to create more effective and efficient bureaucracy, it appears evident from various short comings and multiple interpretations when these regulations are set. The the Government Regulation was changed to Government Regulation No. 8 of 2003 is expected to improve the exiting deficiencies in the previous regulations. However, when applied to such problems also arise sweeling number of regional organizations. For institutional aspects later replaced by Act No. 32 of 2004 on Regional Government which are presented in that Regulation No. 41 of 2007 for structuring regional organizations, with the established of this regulation expected to create an effective and efficient bureaucracy. This paper evaluates the implementation of Government Regulation No. 41 of 2007, especially in the city of Yogyakarta