Blockchain Papers

Yi Guo

No abstract is available for this record.

Yanhua Chen, YE Cheng-qing, Peng Zhang

A small size group signature scheme based on RSA cryptosystem is described in this paper. Due to the special algebraic structure of RSA, one public key and two corresponding private keys are available. The two private keys are used as signature keys for group members. The signature operation includes an ordinary RSA signature and a zero knowledge proof about signature key. Compared with most group schemes, it has low computational cost as to signature and verification.

Elena Ianchovichina, Lili Liu, Mohan Nagarajan

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.

이용환

This paper proposes the basis of governmental and fiscal policies for Gyeonggi provincial government. Firstly, the role of Gyeonggi Province should be established under the decentralized governing system. This enhances the provincial autonomous capacity. It is also correspondent with central government’s devolution policy as well. Secondly, the relationship among the different levels of governments(central-province-cityㆍcounty) should be horizontally mutual. There are two major ways to reach the horizontal intergovernmental relationship. One is that central and provincial governments should rearrange their roles and functions. The other is that Gyeonggi province should maintain friendly relations with the cities and counties by switching the direct guidance or supervising to technical advice and cooperation. Thirdly, the provincial government of Gyeonggi needs to carry out policies for the citizens with the new public management tools such as running a flexible organization, engaging official positions openly and executing performance-based management system. Fourthly, the reform and renovation of Gyeonggi Province’s public sector is essential for performing the leading role of the national development. Finally, Gyeonggi Province needs to build collaborative partnership with NGOs for improving the democratic decision-making and civil society.

Pi Jian-yong, Liu Xin-song, Wu Ai, Dan Liu

In this paper, we propose a novel cryptography for ad hoc network security. In this cryptography, we present a new digital signature algorithm for identity authentication and key agreement scheme. The identity authentication is validated by zero-knowledge proof, and the identity authentication process includes the key agreement process, so the cryptography has high efficiency. Because of the fully distributed characteristics of ad hoc network, our security scheme has no central administration in the on-line process. The security analysis for our scheme indicated that the scheme can withstand the man-in-middle attack and message replay attack. The security of the scheme is guaranteed by the intractability of computing discrete logarithm

Jeffrey Melnick

"Soul" Jeffrey Melnick (bio) Sometime in the mid-1990s, Steve Bernstein was asked by John Zorn to make a record for Zorn's Radical Jewish Culture series. Bernstein is a downtown New York avant-garde jazz trumpeter and bandleader—a member of John Lurie's Lounge Lizard's and leader of his own Sex Mob—a group that specializes in free jazz versions of James Bond theme songs and covers of Abba and Prince. Bernstein explains that he was initially puzzled by Zorn's invitation. He writes in the liner notes to Diaspora Soul, the record he finally made for Zorn: "I was left with an enigmatic question. How does a Jewish musician who has spent his life studying 'other' musical cultures make a 'Jewish' record, when, by nature, all of one's music is already 'Jewish'?" Bernstein, by his own account, struggled for three years with this question, and then finally had what he calls his "Gulf Coast epiphany":"I had been doing a lot of reading and listening for the past few months to the music of New Orleans, and had been developing a theory about the evolution of New Orleans marching band music not into what we call jazz, but into rhythm and blues."1 Those of us familiar with the discourses of Black-Jewish likeness see now where this is going, and forgive us if we are cringing: somehow Bernstein will punctuate this musicological genealogy with some definitive proof that the diasporic souls of Black folk and Jewish folk are linked and that these links take musical forms which, if not identical, exist at least in some kind of natural harmony. This is a line of thought that's been promoted for almost a century now: Alexander Woollcott said it about Irving Berlin, stride pianist Willie the Lion Smith said it about himself, Harvard professor Isaac Goldberg said it about George Gershwin, Mezz Mezzrow said it about himself . . . and the list goes on and on. In academic discourse this position was staked out most influentially by Irving Howe, in his World of Our Fathers, where he described Jews in blackface as sympathetic actors who used the Black mask as a vehicle to articulate their own woe. Amazingly, Michael Alexander, in his recent book Jazz Age Jews,2 pushes this insensitive argument even further: according to Alexander, [End Page 13] Jolson was so sympathetic to African Americans that he was willing to compromise his own upward mobility by donning blackface. Michael Alexander's Jazz Age Jews is only the most egregious and relatively recent expression of an ahistorical and politically dangerous axiom undergirding much of what passes for "Jewish Studies." The axiom is "We all know what 'Jew' signifies and we all know it is kind of a synonym for 'Black' anyway." Even the newer Jewish studies tends to make indefensible claims about the meaning of Jewishness—while these claims vary from place to place there are consistent assumptions being made that there is an audience out there in agreement that "Jew" still marks off some recognizable territory or activity. The purpose of my paper is to argue against unanimity, against consensus. My primary motivation is political: in an era when "Jew" too often signifies an "us" putatively opposed to "them" (Arabs) I want to suggest we take a break from imagining "Jew" as any kind of stable or singular identity. And as a cultural historian I want to take note of a new generation of cultural actors and activists—Jewish one way or another—who are busy inventing heretofore unknown ways of being, sounding, looking, and "acting" Jewish. These new Jews range from the immensely talented Jonathan Safran Foer, whose first novel3 offers a Ukrainian descendant of Nazi collaborators as its hero, thereby purposely denying the easy comforts of an us vs. them orientation, to the Jewish two-thirds of Sleater-Kinney, the all-woman band that redefined punk rock as a woman-centered activity in the 1990s and early 2000s, and the Jewish two-thirds of Northern State, who seem poised to do the same for hip hop. My standards are loose here: this is a Jewish "generation" only insofar as I say so...

Ira Daniel Breite

No abstract is available for this record.

Steven A. Wernke

Abstract In this paper I investigate the community-level articulation of imperial and local political structures during the Inka occupation of the Collagua Province, located in the Colca Valley of highland southern Peru. Combined ethnohistorical and archaeological analysis document the emergence of a hybrid imperial/local political formation in the shift from autonomous rule during the Late Intermediate period (A.D. 1000–1450) to the Inka occupation during the Late horizon (A.D. 1450–1532). Documentary evidence reveals considerable but uneven penetration of Inka imperial institutions across the two ranked moieties that structure local community organization, with remarkably close conformity between Inkaic ideals of rank and hierarchy among the communities (ayllus) of the lower moiety, but greater autonomy among the higher-ranking ayllus of the upper moiety. New data from a systematic survey around the provincial capital documents a decentralized Late Intermediate period settlement pattern associated with fortifications, suggesting segmentary autonomous political organization. The subsequent Late horizon settlement pattern signals overall occupational continuity, but with the establishment of an Inka administrative center and the installation of central plazas and Inka structures at large settlements with local elite domestic architecture. The two data sets combined provide a integrated view of centralized, but locally mediated, Inka administration.

Minh-Huyen Nguyen, Salil Vadhan

We prove that every problem in NP that has a zero-knowledge proof also has a zero-knowledge proof where the prover can be implemented in probabilistic polynomial time given an NP witness. Moreover, if the original proof system is statistical zero knowledge, so is the resulting efficient-prover proof system. An equivalence of zero knowledge and efficient-prover zero knowledge was previously known only under the assumption that one-way functions exist (whereas our result is unconditional), and no such equivalence was known for statistical zero knowledge. Our results allow us to translate the many general results and characterizations known for zero knowledge with inefficient provers to zero knowledge with efficient provers.

Jenann Ismael

Dennett argues that the decentralized view of human cognitive organization finding increasing support in parts of cognitive science undermines talk of an inner self. On his view, the causal underpinnings of behavior are distributed across a collection of autonomous subsystems operating without any centralized supervision. Selves are fictions contrived to simplify description and facilitate prediction of behavior with no real correlate inside the mind. Dennett often uses an analogy with termite colonies whose behavior looks organized and purposeful to the external eye, but which is actually the emergent product of uncoordinated activity of separate components marching to the beat of their individual drums. I examine the cognitive organization of a system steering by an internal model of self and environment, and argue that it provides a model that lies between the image of mind as termite colony and a naïve Cartesianism that views the self as inner substance.

Blazej Bulka, Matthew E. Gaston, Marie desJardins

No abstract is available for this record.

Thaksaphon Thamarangsi

Historical evidence shows that although alcoholic beverages have been consumed in Thailand for many thousands of years they have played a minimal role in the lives of our ancestors, especially among ordinary people (Thanomsri 1999). A French Crown servant noted 400 years ago that ‘Siamese live in the most frugal style, ordinary people drink only pure water, eat steamed rice with dried fish and some fruits’ (Anusart 1991) [Siam is the former name of Thailand]. The main reason for abstention and low consumption is the strong faith in Buddhism, which discourages alcohol use among its followers. Nevertheless, historically, alcohol has had an important place in the political economy of Thailand. Chinese migrants introduced the distillation technique for production of Lao Rong, or manufactured spirit, during the Ayuthaya period (1350–1767). Chinese migrants were then the first authorized concessionaires, running a production and distribution monopoly in that period (Phaisal Wisalo Bhikkhu 1984). Some historians point out that the Chinese drinking culture still influences the current Thai drinking pattern, for example in the volume units of beverage. In the later Ayuthaya period the Excise Master System, a concession system for alcohol tax-collecting duty, replaced the state-run system because of lower than expected levels of revenue due to a lack of diligence by the state officials. Alcohol consumption became more common in Thai society in the early Ratanakosin period (after 1782), as the proportion of Chinese migrants increased to a quarter of the total population. Records indicate that alcohol distillation sites were common in Chinese communities. In 1786, the first king of the Chakri dynasty overhauled the alcohol laws by banning home production and strengthening the monopoly system for production, trade and tax collection. This gave the Excise Master two mandates: to collect alcohol excise tax and to suppress illegal production. As a result, alcohol was one of the main sources of revenue in this period and, along with gambling and opium, produced up to 51% of total state income in 1895 (Sornphaisarn 2005). Because the concession fee decreased unacceptably in the early 1900s, the Excise Master System was abolished and replaced by a state-run decentralized system for tax collection in 1909. However, production and distribution concessions were left to the private sector. The Minister of the Interior ordered the Lord Lieutenants (the governors of each administrative region) to enforce the alcohol tax law strictly and remit revenues back. Rewards and punishment were applied to governors depending on the volume of alcohol trading in their respective areas. At the same time the Ministry of Finance promoted the alcohol trade by rewarding over-target dealers and local leaders who could suppress illegal beverages, as well as encouraging influential local elites to be authorized alcohol producers and distributors. In the first period of the decentralized system alcohol trade expanded, in some regions outstripping supply. Between 1927 and 1948 alcohol production had become a state-run monopoly. In its first period, state-run production increased annually by 9%. Domestic production increased significantly during the Second World War, taking advantage of the scarcity of imported beverages. As a result, alcohol tax revenue grew threefold in the decade after the war (Sornphaisarn 2005). Recently, the government campaigned for an alcohol ‘free market’ by cancelling concessions for production and distribution of fermented beverages in 1990, and distilled beverages in 1999 (Sornphaisarn 2005). This campaign stated clearly that the taxation system should not be any obstruction to the development and growth of the alcohol industry, particularly the domestic industry (Nikomborirak 2002). In summary, the history of Thai alcohol policy indicates that economic interest, especially revenue generation, has been the most important consideration. The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Alcohol Database tracks the increase in Thai adult per capita consumption from 0.26 litres in 1961 to 8.47 litres of pure alcohol in 2001 (World Health Organization 2006). This trend is confirmed by data from the Excise Department, which declares that per adult drinking volume (litres of beverage) doubled in the 14 years between 1988 and 2002 (Wibulpolprasert 2005). The increasing trend is for both beer and spirit segments, while wine consumption is low and comparatively static. Spirits have been the dominant alcoholic beverage in Thai society, in pure alcohol consumed; for instance, spirits were 5.4 times higher than beer in 2001. However, beer consumption showed an eightfold increase between 1982 and 2001. There has been a shift from unrecorded, especially illegal, to recorded consumption in developing countries (Babor et al. 2003, p. 38). A group of experts estimated unrecorded consumption at 2 litres of pure alcohol per Thai adult in 1995 (European Addiction Research 2001). In 2004, the proportion of drinkers was estimated to be 33% of the Thai adult population, with five times more prevalence among males (56%) than females (10%). Approximately half of drinkers consume less than once a month. Between 1991 and 2004, the percentage of drinkers among young females increased by 14% and 50% in the 15–19-year-old and 20–24-year-old age groups, respectively, while there was a 30% decrease in the > 50 female age group (National Statistics Office 2005; Wibulpolprasert 2005). The state of the economy has been a critical factor for the growth in alcohol consumption. There was a strong association between adult per capita consumption and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) between 1961 and 2000 (Thamarangsi 2005). Another study on beer consumption points out that Thailand had the world’s highest income elasticity of demand in the period between 1996 and 2005 (Euromonitor 2001). Thailand’s alcohol beverage market is dominated by very few companies (Richupan 2005). The business of a single company accounted for more than 90% of the domestic spirits market in 1999 and 64% of the beer market in 2001 (Nikomborirak 2002). Currently, imported beverages have only a small foothold: for example, 3.9% of the total spirits and less than 0.1% of the beer market between 1998 and 2000 (Excise Department 2005). In the locally produced spirits market, white spirit, the cheapest uncoloured and unseasoned rice spirits, shared almost three-quarters of overall production volume in 2004, while re-legalized traditional spirits had a 7.4% share. Data on beer production in the first 8 months of 2004 show that the two leading Thai brands constituted 92.2%, while the strongest international brand accounted for only 5.8%. Recently, the alcohol industry has focused on the beer and ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages markets, which still have an annual growth rate of 5–6%. Many brands have been introduced to the Thai market, particularly domestically produced international brand beverages. Such joint ventures enjoy custom tax-free status; for example, an RTD beverage could be sold at half price after switching to domestic production (Manager Newspaper 2005d). Moreover, there has been a trend for international brand beverages to enter the Thai market, in particular under the influence of the free market concept. For example, beverages imported from Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA) countries are taxed at one-twelfth the rate of products from other countries (Kajorntham et al. 2004). The Thai alcohol industry has also invested in the export of Thai brands to international markets, for example signing a 2 million pound per year sponsorship contract with an English football club. In Thailand, alcohol has been estimated to be the third most significant health risk factor, with 5.3% of overall disability adjusted life years (DALYs) attributed to its consumption. Moreover, there is a significant gender difference for alcohol-related DALYs. Alcohol ranks third as a health risk factor for Thai males (at 8.2% of DALYs) and 11th for women (1.0%) (Thai Working Group on Burden of Disease 2002). Liver disease mortality (1977–2000), road accident morbidity and mortality rates (1984–2000) have increased along with the level of alcohol consumption (Thamarangsi 2005). The alcohol-related problem causing most concern is road traffic injury. It is the second highest cause of death, at approximately 13 000 deaths annually in recent years (Wibulpolprasert 2005), or 22 per 100 000 population. Road traffic crashes accounted for 12.3% and 6.0% of years of life loss (YLLs) in males and females, respectively, in 1999 (Thai Working Group on Burden of Disease 2002). The economic cost of road traffic smashes was estimated at 2.3–3.5% of GDP in 2001 (Thai Health Promotion Foundation & Stopdrink Network 2003). A survey in 2004, among injured people from road traffic accidents in that year, indicates that alcohol is involved in three-fifths of cases (National Statistics Office 2005). In 2001, the prevalence of alcohol dependence in Thailand was 19.4% and 4.1% among male and female adults, respectively. Furthermore, there are strong associations between alcohol and psychological disorders. Among the alcohol-dependent population, 51.2% suffer from severe stress, 48.6% have severe depression, 11.9% have suicidal thoughts and last but not least, 11.3% have homicidal thoughts (Silapakit et al. 2001). Alcohol consumption has direct and indirect impacts on spouses and children, in psychological and physical trauma as well as educational, social and financial handicaps. For example, teenage children of fathers with alcohol dependence have an 11.5 times greater risk of psychological disorders (Sakulthong 1988 referenced in Thai Health Promotion Foundation and Stopdrink Network 2003), and more than half of alcohol-dependent in-patients have marital and working problems (Intaprasert 1988). A recent study reiterates that families with drinking member(s) have a 3.84 times higher risk for family violence (Kongsagon 2005). Alcohol consumption was involved in up to 1198 front-page crimes in 13 newspapers in 2003 (Phipitkul 2005). Data from the provincial courts indicate that, for instance, alcohol consumption was related to 59.1% of asset-related crimes and 34.8% of sex-related crimes (Poshyachinda 2001). Alcohol policy process in Thailand reflects the incompatibility of different interests, particularly between health and social well-being and economic interests. While policy remains fiscally driven, many strong measures, such as taxation and control on physical availability, are criticized for neglecting public health values (Kajorntham et al. 2004; Sornphaisarn 2005). Furthermore, reliability of enforcement is a critical problem in policy implementation, undermining policy effectiveness in Thailand. The alcohol industry has had a significant role in the Thai alcohol policy process and in the last review of taxation, both Thai and foreign businesses negotiated directly with the government (Manager Newspaper 2005b, 2005c). Moreover, the local alcohol industries have begun to formulate a policy network and have established a ‘social aspects organization’, promoting industry self-regulation and practice codes (Manager Newspaper 2005a). All beverage alcohol is taxed on the basis of maximum public profit using one of two calculation methods, whichever provides the higher figure: (1) 40–60% of declared production cost; and (2) 100 and 400 Baht per litre of pure alcohol for fermented and distilled spirits, respectively. However, some types of beverages, especially cheap beverages, are exempt and so are taxed at below the maximum rate for some specific purposes. For example, the by-volume taxation rate for white spirits is only 70 Baht per litre of pure alcohol, one-sixth of the maximum rate. The exclusion of white and traditional spirits, which make up the majority of alcohol consumed, from a tax increase in September 2005 provides clear evidence that the taxation system is focused on revenue generation rather than reducing consumption, as stated by the government. The main explanation for the exemption is the government’s professed concern for the negative impact on grass-roots alcohol entrepreneurs (Khaosod Newspaper 2005), despite the fact that the traditional and white spirits market are dominated by domestic industrialized alcohol companies. Consumption is predicted to shift from highly taxed spirits to cheaper beverages, especially beer and white spirits (Posttoday Newspaper 2005). In addition, overall consumption is unlikely to decrease as a result of this campaign. The alcohol outlet licensing system provides almost no barrier to Thai drinkers. Geographical prohibitions apply only to areas in educational and religious institutions. In addition the low yearly licensing fee (100 Baht: approximately 2.5 $US) and uncomplicated licensing procedures provide no hurdle for existing and would-be outlet and tavern owners. In the 2004 fiscal year there was one authorized alcohol dealer for every 110 people. Thai drinkers take an average of 7.5 minutes to obtain their beverages and only 3% had to make significant journeys (Poapongsakorn et al. 2005). The 1972 law on hours of sale regulation, permitting retail sale in two periods, 11 a.m.−2 p.m. and 5 p.m.−12 p.m., had not been enforced before December 2004 and the long-term reliability of enforcement remains unmonitored. The regulation of alcohol promotion, revised mainly in 2003, covers three aspects of advertising: (1) sites of promotion, which disallows billboard promotions in areas near educational institutions; (2) time of promotion, which bans broadcast advertisements between 5.00 a.m. and 10 p.m.; and (3) the content of promotions, which restricts any content concerning drinking persuasion and beverage properties, as well as requiring warning messages to be attached. Prior to the revision of the regulations, spending on alcohol promotion in the broadcast media had grown sevenfold between 1989 and 2003 (Wibulpolprasert 2005). The alcohol industry has found ways to circumvent the regulations by using indirect advertising in the controlled media and increasing promotions in unregulated, below-the-line media. A study in 2004 reports the high frequency of logos and names of alcohol beverages broadcast during prohibited times, as well as the promotion of logo and name-sharing products (Phipitkul & Sornphaisarn 2005). Another finding is that the budget for mobile advertisements, such as advertisements on vehicles and on-site promotions at venues, for example, increased from 2003 by 583% and 148%, respectively. In 2001, the Cabinet issued the Thai Health Promotion Foundation Act, B.E. 2544 to establish a progressive financial mechanism for health promotion. This foundation, known as ThaiHealth, receives a 2% surcharge from tobacco and alcohol taxes, and works as a catalytic funding agency for civil movements leading to any improvement in well-being of Thai citizens (Siwaraksa 2005). Alcohol certainly qualifies as a major health risk factor and in response ThaiHealth has developed its Alcohol Consumption Control Program, aimed at reducing consumption and harm, promoting sensible attitudes, particularly among youth, supporting alcohol control units and strengthening research capacity (Thai Health Promotion Foundation 2005). In September 2004 ThaiHealth, together with the Health System Research Institute (HSRI), established the Center for Alcohol Studies (CAS) as a national research and knowledge management institute for the reduction of consumption and alcohol-related harm (Center for Alcohol Studies 2005). In its early years, ThaiHealth has built nation-wide health networks and advocated successfully on alcohol policies, especially alcohol promotion control and drinking-driving countermeasures. Furthermore, ThaiHealth has supported alcohol consumption reduction programmes using various methods for different target groups, such as applying religious beliefs to promote a 3-month abstinence campaign among adults, using celebrities as anti-alcohol role models, and peer persuasion for teenagers. The integration of consumption and harm reduction strategies is critical in responding to alcohol-related harms. These harm reduction policies, targeting high-risk situations, will receive comparatively more support. Drinking-driving countermeasures, in particular, have shown initial success by reducing mortality and the death toll in recent years. However, strategies aimed at reducing consumption in the general population may be another issue. After recovering from the 1997 economic crisis the Thai economy has continued to grow gradually, and if the association between wealth and consumption continues, as it has for the last four decades, increasing consumption is forecast. As the free market becomes the main economic force, competition among alcohol industries will create more influential marketing strategies. Despite the fact that the government has clearly announced alcohol consumption reduction as a target for the Healthy Thailand Project by the year 2017, there is little light at the end of the tunnel in terms of effective policies as mechanisms to achieve this goal. Evidence-based effective health-orientated alcohol policies and effective enforcement are now urgently required. Thanks to Sally Casswell, Tim McCreanor and staffs of the Centre for Social and Health Outcome Research and Evaluation (SHORE) for providing assistance in preparing this manuscript.

Jay Dratler

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.

Richard A. King

The global movement to improve education by decentralizing governance and financial management and by holding school personnel accountable for outcomes aligned with standards extends even to traditionally centralized systems in Asia. The author explores research questions related to how resources are acquired, who decides how best to use resources within schools, and accountability for school performance in Taiwan. During 2004-2005, the author interviewed principals of nine elementary, junior high, and senior high schools in three regions (large and small cities; rural communities). On-site interviews and reviews of such documents as school budgets and brochures describing goals and programs reveal similarities and differences in the following: sources of funds; budget development; the determination of priorities for curriculum, special programs, and hiring personnel; school-level control of resources; use of student outcomes in curricular and budget decisions; and external accountability systems. Following a qualitative case study method, the author discusses conclusions within three themes that emerged from the data: dependence; relationships; and accountability. Overview Like many nations, Taiwan is experiencing educational reform. 1 The current movement to improve schooling urges flexibility in program and budget decisions at the site level as school personnel follow national curriculum guidelines. This study is set in the schools of Taiwan in order to explore principals’ perspectives on the acquisition of resources, decisions about how best to use resources within schools, and external accountability. The governance structure throughout the world over the past century can be characterized as centralized. This model lodged control over education largely at the national (or state) and regional (local education authority in other nations or school districts in the U.S.) levels. Critics of public education (see, for example, Boyer, 1983; Chubb & Moe, 1990) believed that this degree of centralization had been a primary cause of the system’s inefficiencies. They urged the devolution of control to the school level, providing principals, teachers, and parents a larger voice about many aspects of education. Policy changes and the adoption of school-based management and budgeting in many locations did not, however, fully decentralize control over schooling. The devolution of authority from national, state or regional levels to individual schools occurred concurrently with reforms to standardize curricular expectations and assessments of outcomes within national or state accountability systems. These two movements simultaneously centralize such functions as setting curricular and performance standards and allocating public funds and decentralize such functions as school organization, operations and budgeting (King, Swanson, & Sweetland, 2003). Policy makers believe that this “dual reform” (Wohlstetter & Anderson, 1994) strategy brings necessary

Ana Sojo

Health quasi-markets aim to introduce competition into the public sphere by separating functions in order to improve efficiency and quality. In different public-private mixes, according to the morphology of health systems, different regulations can govern insurance, financing, and provision of services. The objective is to link financing to productivity, coverage, performance, and accomplishment of goals. Specifying guarantees to provide services for determined beneficiaries implies the formation of a purchase function based on strategic criteria involves three financing decisions: which interventions will be purchased, how they will be purchased, and from which providers. Some health systems in the region have established a separation of functions and some initial finance mechanisms based on results that allow them to be considered developing quasi-markets. On the other hand, some of them have introduced guarantees for various health services. Although such guarantees in all cases aim to improve equity in the level of health enjoyed by the population, they have very different repercussions in terms of the general organization of the related health systems depending on the level of development and the characteristics of the health coverage that the population already has. This study considers in the first place the introduction of health benefits guarantees in quite underdeveloped health systems, analyzing with more detail the case of Guatemala and briefly, Bolivia. Afterwards, a thorough analysis of Chile is done, showing how the health guarantees imply a partial overcome of the fundamental duality of the health system. Finally is considered the recent experience of the popular health insurance in Mexico, whose health insurance system is highly segmented. As we shall see in all the experiences, both the decentralization process and the specific public-private mix play an important role in the organisation of the health guarantees.

Dilip Mookherjee

Separation of ownership from management, multidivisional firm organizations, delegation of production decisions to worker teams, delegation of pricing and advertising decisions to retail franchisers, reliance on intermediaries in trade or finance, and distribution of regulatory authority across different agencies represent examples of organizations that delegate and distribute decision-making authority instead of centralizing it. This paper reviews literature on costs and benefits of delegated decision making in hierarchical organizations or contracting networks with regard to problems of incentives and coordination. It starts by describing incentive and coordination costs of delegation in simple canonical examples of hierarchies where both information and incentives of different decisionmakers differ. One class of models pertain to contexts where the classical Revelation Principle applies, i.e., where costs of contractual complexity, information processing, or communication are absent, agents do not collude, and the mechanism designer can commit to the mechanism. Delegation may conceivably entail a loss of control and coordination arising from the divergence of information and incentives. Sufficient and necessary conditions for this loss to be mitigated entirely include risk neutrality, top-down contracting, and monitoring of transfers or production assignments between subordinates. The next class of models introduces communication costs that restrict the performance of centralized arrangements relative to delegation owing to a resulting loss of flexibility, which has to be traded off against possible control losses of delegation. Finally, consequences of collusion among agents is discussed, which typically enlarge the range of circumstances under which delegation can attain optimal second-best outcomes. The paper concludes with a discussion of the relevance of this theoretical literature to recently emerging empirical studies of industrial organizations where delegated decision making plays an important role: adoption of innovative human resource management practices, new information technologies and retail franchising.

Bernard Vanlauwe, K.E. Giller

No abstract is available for this record.

Giorgi Japaridze

No abstract is available for this record.

Barry Wellman

This article introduces the Symposium on the History of CITASA, the Communication and Information Technologies section of the American Sociological Association, from 1988 through 2005. It traces this history from the interest of those who founded the original Microcomputing section in developing computer applications for doing sociological research and teaching. It discusses the fit of this interest with the continuing “war” in the organization of computing between computer center centralization and individually autonomous decentralization. It explains the expansion of the scope and membership of the session to encompass the sociological study of communication and information technologies.

Mari Sako

This chapter turns to intra-sectoral differences in union strategy and structure, an important aspect of the Strategy-Structure-Institutions (SSI) Framework explained in Chapter 1. The chapter compares the historical evolution of Nissan Roren and that of the Toyota Roren case presented in Chapter 4. Compared to Toyota Roren, Nissan Roren formulated a clearer strategy of organizing smaller suppliers in an earlier period (in the late 1950s). Consequently, Nissan's roren was much more centralized, with respect to union finance, personnel, and collective bargaining until pressure from the 1990s to decentralize and diversify.

Billy R. Hammond, Billy R. Wooten, Bill Smollon

We are pleased to respond to Gellerman and Bernstein's (G&B) critique of our review. Unlike many fields, science is self-corrective and largely succeeds because of its openness to criticism. We applaud G&B's efforts to develop a useful device for the important purpose of measuring macular pigment (MP) noninvasively. We were disappointed, however, that G&B feel that we have an “unyielding bias against the use of Raman spectroscopy to quantify MP in vivo” We would criticize any method that made claims regarding these important issues that were not supported by reasonable evidence. In our review, we critically analyzed both psychophysical and physical methods and noted shortcomings and strengths. We pointed out that “as currently conceived,” the Raman method of MP optical density measurement is invalid. In a recent review,1 however, we provide many suggestions for how the method could be improved. An acceptable response to our criticisms would be to restrict counterclaims to those supported by reasonable evidence or, even better, to actually test the critical assumptions. For example, one could measure lens density and diffusion at 488 and 527 nm, pupil size, head movements, and so on, on a sample of varying age and quantify the effects of these variables on the Raman signal. If these factors really do have minimal influence as G&B continue to assert, our questions, which are legitimate despite their protestations, could be easily addressed. Providing solid evidence and/or reasoned arguments is undoubtedly a better scientific practice than simply responding negatively and, personally, to being critiqued. Readers can, after all, evaluate the arguments and evidence and come to their own conclusions. What we hope is obvious to all readers is that personal motivations, even if they do exist, are completely irrelevant. For example, G&B suggest that our critique of their method is biased because of a commercial interest by one of the authors. They also describe our review as a “string of shortcomings, misrepresentations, and flawed conclusions.” Such charges do not address content; they simply seek to discredit the source. G&B also suggest that our critique simply duplicated our earlier published correspondence on these issues. It is, however, legitimate to raise similar issues in different papers (G&B, however, often duplicate text and graphs verbatim, which is not an accepted practice). When there was sufficient overlap, we simply referenced earlier sources. Our primary goal with the Raman section of our review was to quantify the confounds that we had identified in earlier papers. G&B also note that our review fails to include any of their rebuttals to our arguments. However, we were careful to note that there is debate regarding these issues and refer the readers to the relevant literature. Most of our criticism of the Raman method is organized around addressing the points that G&B have made in their many publications using the Raman device (often quoting the points G&B made directly). It is, of course, proper scientific practice to cite debate when discussing an issue for which significant debate exists. This is a practice G&B do not follow, e.g., see the most recent papers by Bernstein et al., Ermakov et al., and Ermakov et al.2-4 We have been motivated to write about the Raman method because of the importance of this area and the dramatic claims made by G&B. For example, recently Ermakov et al.3 wrote “The ease and rapidity of Raman MP measurements, the simplicity of the instrumentation, the high accuracy of the measurements, and the lack of significant systematic errors should make this technology attractive for widespread clinical research.” As long as G&B continue to assert validity claims in the absence of evidence, they should expect “incessant” criticism of such claims to continue. This is simply a manifestation of the rigor of our discipline. The validity of a method has nothing to do with its assumed subjectivity or objectivity. One could, for example, argue that the Raman method has an important subjective component because it relies on a subject's own perception of whether they are, or are not, properly aligned. According to Vogt,5 subjective methods are based on the feelings and intuitions of the researcher. Objective methods, in contrast, are based on the “object,” i.e., they are independent of the feelings, beliefs, or desires of the researcher or subject. Based on this definition, all methods currently used to measure MP are objective. Referring to psychophysical methods as subjective seems to reflect a general bias based on the idea that if a test requires a subject's response, it is inherently less accurate despite means for controlling bias, validating the response, and so on. A similar general bias appears to apply in the opposite direction. To some, direct physical methods appear inherently more accurate and less subject to bias despite free parameters, questionable assumptions, a lack of validity testing, and so on. Such biases have no bearing on the actual validity of a method. Validity has to be determined based on a specifiable and reasonable criterion. G&B take some issue with our criterion: matching spectral absorbance profiles with ex vivo curves. This, however, is a common criterion for determining the identity of a signal (i.e., if the spectral curves match, one can be confident that they are measuring carotenoids). George Wald, for instance, originally used this method to identify MP as composed of xanthophylls.6 G&B are, of course, correct in noting that one cannot determine wholly from spectral curves whether they have correctly measured absolute quantity. Essentially, G&B argue that the HFP method yields values that cannot be directly evaluated against known standards and is, therefore, not validated (This argument is, of course, the very one that we have made about the Raman method and has not been refuted by G&B.). When applied to HFP, however, the argument is specious. HFP relies on a derivation strategy rather than a calibration-against-a-standard procedure as is possible in bench scenarios. This derivation is based on a double normalization procedure using wavelength (i.e., relative sensitivity at two wavelengths, those absorbed by MP, e.g., 460 nm, and a reference wavelength that is not, e.g., 560 nm) and retinal site comparisons (two sites, one where MP is present, e.g., the foveal center, and one where MP is known to be optically undetectable, e.g., 7° off the fovea). These normalization procedures are based on the well-established extinction spectrum of MP and the near identity (when using appropriate stimulus conditions) of the relative spectral sensitivity of the response mechanisms at the retinal sites of comparison. The rationale for these assumptions is based on an extensive and well-established literature that is covered in our review. G&B are incorrect in their notion that HFP would be nonlinear as a result of saturation effects. In fact, the inherent perfect linearity of HFP as a measure of MP is an important strength of the method. This is because HFP relies on quantal absorption in outer segments, which are, of course, located behind the MP. Thus, the MP is treated as a filter that merely attenuates the light reaching the receptors. The receptors merely act like photocells responding to quanta. Furthermore, HFP uses a criterion response rather than response amplitude. In other words, the null flicker response is achieved whenever the quantal rate of the variable short-wave component results in a magnitude of response equal to that of the fixed midwave standard. Thus, independent of the amount of MP, the response that determines the match point is of fixed amplitude. The subject merely adjusts the amount of short-wave light until the null point is achieved. A departure from nonlinearity at high OD levels would only result from such extreme light levels as to cause anatomic damage to the eye, an absurdity because such light levels would correspond to an MP OD many orders of magnitude above observed values. As we note within our review, linearity is, of course, a central issue. In comparison even to other physical methods, the Raman method fares particularly poorly in this respect because the signal is returned directly from the molecules of MP. Thus, the deeper layers are screened by the shallower layers. For lower OD levels (approximately <0.30),1 the response could be considered acceptably linear. This range of acceptable linearity could, theoretically, be increased by increasing the intensity of the stimulating laser, but then safety issues would become a serious concern. Using current intensity levels, the response is increasingly nonlinear past 0.30 and this problem cannot be corrected, adjusted, or calibrated away. It is fair to question whether a method designed to measure MP levels returns accurate quantitative estimates for individual subjects. In our review, we discuss this issue with respect to all of the in vivo methods. The Raman method fails seriously even at low levels where the method might be considered acceptably linear. For example, imagine an individual has a true MP OD of 0.30. The Raman signal could be as high as 1500 if none of the signal is lost, or the signal could be near zero if lens absorbance is as high as 0.30 at 488 and 527 nm and scatter is large (such individuals have been identified in the empiric literature, especially at older ages). This permits a range of error that makes interpretation of RCs (Raman count) impossible even on an ordinal scale. In this example, a subject could appear to have either zero MP or average MP density with no way of knowing the true values. G&B note that we did not cite Savage et al.7 and Zagers et al.8 and conclude that “if these more recent results had been used for their calculations, their putative reduction factors would have been much lower in magnitude.” We estimated that the amount of reduction in the Raman signal resulting from lens absorbance between the ages of approximately 20 and 60 was 41%. As we note in our review (footnote h), this estimate is quite similar to that made by G&B,9 which was 38% between the ages of 20 and 60 years. If our “putative reduction factor would have been much lower in magnitude,” it would then be much lower than the estimate made by G&B themselves. Lens absorbance could be easily corrected for if it was simply the average error introduced by the lens that was important. Unfortunately, to interpret individual RCs, knowing the amount of attenuation resulting from absorption by an individual lens is critical. Despite their own estimate of a systematic age-related error of 38%, Ermakov et al.3 wrote that there were no “significant systematic errors” with the method. In another recent paper, Ermakov et al.4 wrote that “To our knowledge there are no serious confounding factors for the technology” These assertions directly contradict G&B's own analysis and conclusions (and inspire our “incessant letters”). The Zagers et al.8 paper was not available when we wrote our review, which was submitted in March 2003. We have since discussed the Zagers et al. and Savage et al. papers in a more recent review1 pointing out that all of the ex vivo data and all of the other in vivo data also support the idea that lens OD at the Raman wavelengths of 488 and 527 nm is significant, increases with age, and is quite variable across subjects at all ages. The fact that two papers conclude that lens absorbance is not as high at the Raman wavelengths as all other papers (>20 other papers using both ex vivo and in vivo methods) find is missing the point. Unless the majority of empiric papers on this topic are incorrect and the lens is perfectly transparent at the relevant wavelengths for all subjects irrespective of age, it will represent an unknown source of error. Although G&B persist in simply claiming that this error is insignificant, that determination cannot be made in the absence of evidence. This is not a “misleading, pejorative statement” that reflects an “unyielding bias.” Based on the author's own conclusions, this is a legitimate question. In fact, confounding by lens absorption alone would invalidate their method, e.g., it could introduce approximately 30% to 40% error of unknown direction. The comparison of HFP and Raman results, cited in the review by Bernstein et al.,2 would have been difficult to evaluate (even if their paper would have been available when writing our review) because virtually no details were provided regarding the comparison. In a more recent review,1 we do discuss the available data regarding the comparison between HFP and the Raman method. The only study that has been published as a full manuscript (including full detail regarding the methods and procedures) is Neelam et al.10 Neelam et al. found that the relation between HFP and RCs was described by an r2 of approximately 0.10. The fact that the methods are measuring the same variable in the same individuals at the same time and only explain approximately 10% of the variance is not a strong argument that the methods agree (particularly if one tried to expand the sample to include the elderly). True agreement would also have to be reflected in the ability to translate the scores such that the relation could be described with an intercept near zero and a slope close to one. It is worth noting also that G&B continue to tout the significance of the correlation between HFP and Raman as evidence for the validity of their method because they argue that HFP is not particularly reliable and may not be valid (see their points 1 and 8). For example, Ermakov et al.3 recently wrote “As a precaution, we avoid media-opacity-related problems by limiting the measurements to subjects with visual acuity better than 20/80. A correlation of our MP Raman responses with data derived by high-performance liquid chromatography and flicker techniques is proof that these precautions are adequate.” We assumed that the authors evaluated the validity of the HFP technique before citing it as evidence. With respect to the former statement, excluding subjects based on visual acuity will not reduce confounds based on individual differences in the lens density of normal subjects because the two have not been shown to be related. It is certainly true, however, that many of the physical methods have shown much more pronounced deflections than is generally seen in the HFP data. How these types of deflections reflect the underlying biology of the retina is an interesting question. It is therefore important to confirm that these topographic irregularities are real. In some cases, for instance, they may reflect artifacts with the method. For example, G&B, when using the Raman method in the imaging mode, report on an individual that they observe had a “central hole in the MP distribution.” Based on what is known regarding the underlying anatomy, it is hard to imagine an actual hole in the center of the MP distribution of a normal healthy individual. Unusual results require careful scrutiny. As we note in a recent review,1 the inherent nonlinearity of the Raman signal could create distortions when used to map MP spatial profiles (as a result of different proportions of the pigment being measured based on location). For example, Hammond et al.13 provide MP spatial density data for a subject whose central MP peak was 1.63 OD (based on an extrapolation from the measured point of 1.35 at a radius of 6 minutes) but whose MP density at 3° was 0.30. Using the Raman calibration curves, the central peak for such a subject would be underestimated by 53%, whereas the 3° site would not be underestimated. In this instance, artifacts with the method would create distortions in the profile that did not, in truth, exist. All areas of science tend to share a focus on methodology. We agree with G&B that the pursuit of multiple methods of measuring MP in vivo is extremely beneficial, including resonance Raman spectroscopy. G&B have claimed that our review of their methodology is biased as a result of the commercial interest of one of the coauthors. One of the coauthors, Dr. Wooten, has built a relatively small number of HFP-based macular densitometers for fellow researchers and colleagues. Our review, however, was in no way designed to promote this instrument nor was the instrument even mentioned. We do not hold a patent or claim ownership of the HFP technique, in specific, or obviously psychophysics, in general. Many laboratories have used HFP to measure MP and results have been published using the method before our laboratory (e.g., Bone).16 Ultimately, critical evaluation must stand on its own merit, irrespective of the author, and is a central feature of our field and an obligation of all scientists. If researchers in the area of macular pigment do not critique their own work, then who will? Billy Wooten, a coauthor of this letter and the original article, is a principal in Macular Metrics Corp. (Providence, RI), which manufactures densitometers. These densitometers use heterochromatic flicker photometry and are used to measure MP. Billy R. Hammond, Jr Vision Science Laboratory University of Georgia Athens, Georgia Billy R. Wooten Bill Smollon Walter S. Hunter Laboratory Brown University Providence, Rhode Island

Christian De Cock, Christopher Land

In this paper we develop a particular way of understanding literature and organization with the aim of drawing on and extending the relationship between the two. Hence our subtitle: exploring the seam. Although the use of literary concepts and theories within our discipline is now well established, the way in which such ideas are taken up often neglects debate and contestation by treating ‘literature’ as a relatively homogeneous field. By following some of the ardent debates relating to issues of representation, the relation between text and extra-textual reality, and literature’s disclosure of its status as fiction, we find a discussion of (social) organization at the heart of contemporary literary theory. It is the oscillation between literature and organization that structures this paper and gives us our argument: that ‘organization’ and ‘literature’ are mutually co-articulating and interdependent concepts and fields of enquiry.

Eric J. Brunner, Jon Sonstelie

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.

Pravin Chandrasekaran, Roy Katayama

In India, municipal development projects benefiting the public often get impeded by the political and institutional framework of the Central Government. In many cases in India, a major constraint is financing these projects. According to the 12th Finance Commission report most of the infrastructure initiatives have been stalled due to financial constraints. For instance, the shortfall in financing to achieve the water and sanitation sector goals in India’s Tenth Plan is estimated at INR 179 billion. Without the discretion to issue municipal bonds, municipalities are often dependent on transfers from the Government of India (GOI) since direct investment for these projects is difficult to secure. While municipal governments are responsible for public service provision, their ability to do so is often constrained by inadequate GOI appropriations and/or missing municipal bond markets. On the other hand, private investors often lack the incentives to invest in public service projects due to high risks and insufficient returns. As a result, the provision of public goods such as infrastructure projects can be delayed or cancelled. Tax-free municipal bonds provide a potential mechanism to bridge the financing gap. We have described the actual process of municipal bond process using the example of Corporation of Chennai and the desalination water project they propose to build. We present how tax incentives, transfers and private savings tie into the municipal bond framework. We believe that only a well performing municipality can be allowed to be fiscally independent and thus chose the Corporation of Chennai for analysis and go on to show what checks and balances are needed in the Indian scenario to support such a move towards sustainable financial decentralization. This policy paper analyzes four key dimensions of the expansion of the municipal bond market. Firstly, we analyze the driving forces for the evolution of a municipal bond market. Secondly, we develop an economic framework to value a municipal debt instrument and to estimate the optimal debt for the municipality to issue. In this section we also discuss the dynamics of the model and impacts of shocks and economic transfers on the municipal debt. Thirdly, we map the stakeholders and analyze the threats and benefits of a municipal bond issuance for these stakeholders. Finally, we recommend a framework for expansion of the municipal bond market while minimizing the potential for fiscal irresponsibility and uncontrolled growth of sub-national debt. We propose the creation of Special Municipal Zones based on strong credit rating, accrual based accounting systems, optimal debt to revenue collection ratios and a strong financial need of the municipalities. To support such Special Municipal Zones, we recommend several key changes in the institutional framework including creation of the Municipal Securities Board of India.