An attack is mounted on a group signature scheme based on lattice posted in Asia Crypt 2010.It shows the group signature scheme is vulnerable to trap attacks and a dishonest group manager can get all group members′ signing keys and then forge all group members′ valid signatures.Meanwhile,the scheme can′t increase or delete group members flexibly and efficiently which is not applicable to dynamic groups.Every time a new member joins,the system has to update the public key and all group members′ signing keys which are of huge calculation and low efficiency.Also,the scheme doesn′t provide an effective method to revoke group members.Using statistical zero-knowledge proofs and time parameters,an improved scheme based on the hardness of the closest vector problem is proposed.The improved scheme is anti-trap attacks and can dynamic increase or deletes group members more efficiently and applicably.
In this paper, we present a solution to the problem of e–contract validation in a supply chain with chain contracting topology. In chain contracting, there are multiple bi–lateral contracts that are related, for example one original contract between two partners is modified by subsequent negotiations to form other bi–lateral contracts between other parties in the supply chain. We study how to validate these contracts and ensure appropriate relationship between these contracts. We first identify key technical requirements for such a solution and then present our models that address these requirements. The models are based on the concepts of commitment scheme and zero–knowledge proof. It can be implemented in a contract engine that supports both the contract formation and contract execution phases of the contract life cycle. Also proposed is a cryptographic scheme to facilitate the electronic transfer of payments.
In WS-BPEL process, Extensible Access Control Markup Language (XACML) is used as an authenticated tool to provide several services for an employee in an organization. There are several policies (XACML) used as an access control in Web Services. XACML policy as RBAC profile to support role based access controls policies. In an organization, there are several roles assigned to an employee based on their attributes. The attributes are used as an authenticating tool to assign the role and perform the task. The identity attributes are used for role provisioning policies to a particular employee i.e. social security number, date of birth, etc. are assigned as an identity attributes. In this aggregate zero knowledge proof knowledge (AgZKPK) and Oblivious commitment based envelope (OCBE) protocols are used during service (information) sharing between employees and to make it more flexible. This process may provide privacy to the user information and support multi-domain environment.
F iscal centralization and decentralization guide Brazilian political life like systolic and diastolic movements. The country’s federation rose as a result of the dismemberment of the unitary state, and not the will of its member states. Economic growth, completely uneven among the regions and concentrated mainly in São Paulo, made it necessary to distribute taxation powers in a differentiated manner. The federation was born decentralized and underwent a centralization process during the years of the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas, which opened a door to industrialization. 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.
The existing direct anonymous attestation scheme achieves anonymous attestation using group signature,identity managed,certificate system technology and so on,which has the defect being slow implementation of the efficiency and poor safety.The computing speed of the new XTR public key cryptosystem is fast,and its safety is well.Based on the XTR public key cryptosystem,using zero-knowledge proof,this article improved the original direct anonymous attestation scheme.Demonstrated by analyzing,compared with the original mechanism,the security and implementation of this new scheme have been improved greatly.
RFID is one of the wireless network key technologies in NGN(next generation network).RFID tag dues to its basic functionsl,eading to the leak privacy problemI.ntroduces the RFID system composition,working principle,and analyzes the RFID in existing in the application of privacy issues of reason,then on RFID existing privacy protection schemes are analyzed,and points out its shortcomings.After the comprehensive understanding RFID’s privacy issues and some privacy protection technology founded,proposes a RFID identify agreement based on zero knowledge proof to promote healthy development of NGN.
General attestation protocol relies entirely on platform configuration,and it fails when platform updates software and hardware configuration frequently.To overcome the problem,this paper presents an improved property—based attestation protocol scheme,employing cryptographic tools such as zero-knowledge proof and blind signature scheme,Analysis proves that the protocol can solve the exiting problem with better security,while computing cost only increases by a negligible amount.
This paper studies the impact of access to education in a search and matching model of the labor market representing a developping economy. It then addresses the issue of the impact on the market efficiency of public policies aiming at increasing education. Developing economies are well known for having a large pool of uneducated (low-productive) workers in the informal sector whereas the formal sector captures almost all educated (higher-productive) workers. Access to education may therefore distort the structure of the labor market and thus global output.To address this issue, we consider a segmented labor market with a formal sector and an informal sector. 3 states coexists: unemployment, formal employment and informal employment. Uneducated workers are forced to apply to the informal sector whereas educated workers may apply in both sectors depending on model specifications. The formal sector is subject to market frictions whereas the competitive wage clears the informal labor market. Unemployment thus only exists in the formal sector and acts as a pool of entry to formal employment. Informal employees may possibly search on-the-job for a formal job. This last feature of the model implies that modifying access to education distorts the repartition of workers in the labor market. Two assumptions are made: first, education is increased by external intervention (international subvention to education). Second, education is self-financed by taxes paid by the formal sector (the local government faces a budget constraint). We compare the decentralized equilibrium situation to the social planner equilibrium.Without any foundings consideration, 1) increasing education raises the number of workers applying in the formal sector. In the presence of search frictions in this sector, the probability of obtaining a formal job is reduced as well as formal job wages. 2) The asset values of informal and formal workers are getting closer which discourages informal on-the-job seeker to look for a formal job. The two impacts leads to opposite effect on informality. Further results on efficiency are on the run.
This paper is studying the degree of financial independence and decision of local authorities, in a number of transition countries in South-Eastern Europe. Our research identified the strengths and weaknesses of public finance reform, for each country, followed by a classification of decentralization in the analyzed area.
Popular and policy discussions have focused extensively “entrepreneurship.” While entrepreneurship is often viewed from the perspective the individuals’ benefits - an increase in standard of living, flexibility in hours, and so forth - much of the policy interest derives from the presumption that entrepreneurs provide economy-wide benefits in the form of new products, lower prices, innovations, and increased productivity. How large are these effects? Using a rich panel of state-level data we quantify the relationship between productivity growth - by state and by industry - and entrepreneurship. Specifically, we use state-of-the-art econometric techniques for panel data to determine whether variations in the birth rate and death rate for firms are related to increases in productivity. We find that shocks to productivity are quite persistent. Thus, to the extent that policies directly raise labor productivity, these effects will be long lasting. In addition, the data reveal that increases in the birth rate of firms leads, after some lag, to higher levels of productivity, a relationship reminiscent of Schumpeterian creative destruction. Given previous evidence that government policies raise the rate of entry of new entrepreneurs, our findings link these policies to enhanced productivity.
Two firms selling a homogenous product to two types of buyers are involved in a sequential pricing game with zero costs. The pricing strategy available involves a fixed price and a royalty. It is shown that there exists a unique subgame perfect equilibrium with positive profits to both firms if and only if buyers differ significantly in their willingness to pay. In particular, the incumbent sets a positive royalty and sells to the low demand buyer while the entrant only charges a fixed price and sells to the high demand buyer, resulting in an undercut-proof subgame perfect equilibrium.
Suzanne J. Konzelmann, Neil Conway, Linda Trenberth, Frank Wilkinson
This paper investigates the effect of different forms of corporate governance on the structure and nature of stakeholder relationships within organizations and the consequent impact on employment relations within the firm. In this, HRM assumes a dual role in delivering improvements in production efficiency and in fostering employee commitment to the organization and its objectives. However, different forms of corporate governance prioritize stakeholder interests in ways that may bring these two objectives into conflict. To address these questions, we examine the interrelationship between corporate governance, HRM practices and HRM outcomes in a comparative analysis of companies operating under alternative forms of governance, including private sector, public sector and family-owned firms. The empirical analysis is based on the UK Work and Employment Relations Survey (WERS98).
Published as: Jorge Martinez and Paul Smoke. Conclusion in <em>Local Government Finance: The Challenges of the 21st Century. </em>United Cities and Local Governments' Second Global Report on Decentralization and Local Democracy, Barcelona 2010.Edward Elgar, 2011. (c) United Cities and Local Governments. Published by <a href="http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/">Edward Elgar</a>. Posted with the permission of the publisher for personal use only.
Tatiana Moșteanu, Carmen Maria Lăcătuş, Mirela Anca Postole
This paper work aims to identify the issues of Romanian local public decentralization, recommending measures to streamline the public finance circuit. The reorganization of the public government in three levels, the growth of the financial independence of local authorities and public administration’s decisions’ transparency next to a better information of citizens, coupled with their empowerment and involvement in public affairs, all these represents key points for the discharge of decentralization of public finances: to increase social welfare.
This chapter is intended to examine the influence of the current worldwide financial and economic crisis on local government finance in Bulgaria and identify the answers from central and local governments to the critical situation in the context of specific conditions of the national economy and the stage of financial decentralization reform. It contains three sections. Section one describes the level of fiscal decentralization at the beginning of the crisis and the general effects of the crisis in the country. Analysis is focused on the dynamics of the main macro economic indicators, such as GDP growth, inflation rate, unemployment rate, consolidated budget balance (deficit / surplus), consolidated public debt, and its impact on public finance. The assessment is based on factual figures for the period 1990–2009 and forecast for the period 2010–2011. A comparison is made between the loss of the Bulgarian economy at the beginning of transition (1991–1993), during the financial crisis in 1996–1997, caused by a credit crunch and a series of bank bankruptcies, and the current financial and economic crisis. Section two outlines the most important actions taken by the national government to consolidate the crisis and the respective effects on local finance. Section three concludes.
Interest in decentralization reforms in public sector was quite common for both developed and developing countries in the period after 1990. Russia was one of the countries that decided to decentralize its health care administration, but many authors, describing this particular reform, argue that its implementation was not done in a quality manner and they blame decentralization processes for the problems connected with addressing “collective heath needs”. One of these problems is the issue connected with the inequalities in health care provision between various regions and districts in Russian Federation.
This paper, basing on the theoretical assumptions on the influence of socio-economic, political and administrative forces on the process of decentralization reform, aims to find out which of these forces could possibly lead to the creation and reinforcement of the inequalities in health care provision between six Russian regions (Moscow, Ivanovo, Tver’, Leningrad, Samara and Chelyabinsk) between 1995 and 2008, and therefore to identify which factors should the reformers pay attention to in the framework of decentralization (or recentralization) in Russian health care administration. On the basis of the analysis that had been conducted, this paper describes the influence of the changes in Gross Regional Product and the degree of decentralization, which were chosen as independent variables, on the level of equity in six Russian regions and provides with the recommendations concerning the following investigations of the topic.
This study shows that that the degree of decentralization connected with such functions of health care administration as financing, provision, regulatory and steering on the regional level did not influence the inequalities in health care provision between six Russian regions. This paper has therefore proved the theoretical assumption on the indivisibility of political and administrative forces in the case of post-Soviet Russia, as the degree of decentralization of each of the variables in the given period was consistent for all the regions, the reform was implemented under the control of central powers (and the above mentioned functions of health care administration were not completely devolved to the regional authorities) , and the changes were introduced simultaneously in all the regions of the country. The correlation between changes in Gross Regional Product and the inequalities in health care provision (defined in the study as the number of doctors per 10000) in six regions is negative – the highest Gross Regional Product corresponds to the least amount of doctors per capita. This study suggests involving more of socio-economic indicators (such as morbidity level and the amounts of salary
payouts for the doctors) in the future researches on the topic in order to find the precise explanation for these results.
Key words: decentralization in health care administration, Russian Federation, model of public management reform, Gross Regional Product (GRP), degree of decentralization, inequality in health care provision, post-Soviet reform.
This book, compiled from the 2nd Global Report of United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) on Decentralization and Local Democracy, analyzes the architecture of fiscal decentralization in one hundred and ten countries as well as in major metropolitan areas. In the majority of these countries, local authorities are taking on more and more responsibilities for public investment and the provision of services that are essential for both economic development and the well being of their citizens.
Bulgaria is one of the first countries from the former socialist block, which adopted a new democratic Constitution as early as 1991. The Constitution affirms the model of modern democratic state and outlines the principle of decentralization, admitting the right of self-government to the municipalities. Development of the legal frame of the local self-government and the enlargement of its functions, including the regulation of the financial independence of the municipalities, was accepted as a good perspective for further development of the local self-government. \n \nBased on the above the paper analyses: \n• Political, administrative and financial decentralization in Bulgaria as an integral part of the process of making public institutions more efficient, responsive and accountable to citizens; \n• Historical background of the decentralization process - undertaken reforms; adoption of legal texts; Constitutional amendment for providing local authorities with taxation powers; establishment of a joint Working Group on Financial Decentralization; adoption of a Concept and a Program for Financial Decentralization; creation of a system of incentives which target higher local revenues, consolidated financial management potential, and maximum level of local autonomy to determine the type, scope and provision of municipal services; division of municipal budget financed public services into two groups (state delegated and local); development of Strategy for decentralization and a Program for its implementation; \n• The impact of national and international (Council of Europe, European Commission) institutions and NGO’s on the decentralization process. \n \nThe purpose of the paper is not only to reveal the past reforms, but to stress on the present results and to examine the intergovernmental fiscal relations and local financial management. Unfortunately despite the positive changes, made in the first years after the period of centralized economy and governance, nowadays the local finance system is almost unchanged. Some of the ascertained problems might be summarized in the following: \n \n- Presence of permanent structural deficit in the municipal budgets, caused by the discrepancy between expenditure responsibilities and the income base; \n- Complicated, non-transparent and frequently changing transfer system; \n- Insufficient financing of delegated responsibilities; \n- Reduction of the recourses for municipal investments. \n \nThe experience in our country shows that a number of former decisions and initial intentions in the sphere of decentralization end with stabilization of the centralization. In this respect the paper searches arguments, connected with the reasons for the above described situation – is it a result from: \n• the unpreparedness of local government institutions and local stakeholders to operate in a reformed environment and the limited capacity to design, implement and monitor decentralization policies; \n• or from the wish for realizing a lot of changes for very short period of time; \n• or the reason is in the lack of political will.
Construction of the public finance system provides financial security for public services,such as education.The financial expenditure data of 1998-2006 Year National Statistical Yearbook shows that,local governments did not increase public finance in the proportion of public service,but reduced the expenditure of public finance in the proportion of public services.This paper points out that this phenomenon is attributed to Fiscal Decentralization,one administrative system,M-type organizational structure and pressure-type system.Thus improving the fiscal decentralization reform,setting scientific and reasonable performance index,appropriately extending the term of office of local officials,and finding the balance between one man government administrative system and the central balance of public finance shall be the system of protection for the expansion of public finance in the proportion of expenditure on public services.
The primary purpose of this chapter is to review global trends in decentralization, that is, the transfer of decision-making power and responsibilities from central to local authorities, along with changes in public finance, in the past decade.1 In highlighting common features in the process of decentralization, the secondary objective is to spot linkages in policy and practice that have relevance for local economic development (LED).
Memorizing Mathematics: The Failure to Apply Mathematical Axioms Within Restrictive Models Rony Patel Rutgers University Jennifer Jacobs Rutgers University Rochel Gelman Rutgers University Abstract: Arithmetic, along with all mathematics, is built on axioms. Mathematical education, however, favors mathematical models or algorithms without appeal to the axioms they depend on. Our series of studies demonstrate adult subjects’ inability to take advantage of the knowledge embodied in arithmetic axioms. It is likely that students’ ability to master generative proofs is related to the reliance on restrictive models. Our first set of studies focused on subjects’ ability to apply the addition-rule (mutually exclusive events) and the multiplication-rule (independent events) with multiple rational number representations (percentages, decimals, fractions, etc.). A second set of studies tested the understanding of group theory properties, exploiting the effect of the order of numbers (commutativity) and the effect of the digit zero (additive identity) on the long multiplication model (LMM). All studies conducted revealed participants ability to accurately perform arithmetic on chosen representation, but poor performance on choosing representation.
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Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques
Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills