This chapter is for mathematicians, specifically number theory enthusiasts. It presents several identity schemes with which Alice and Bob, and sometimes Cathy and Denise, can prove to each other that both have a secret group key previously received from a trusted host by secure means. We need to be really sneaky; not only is the secret never revealed, but an interceptor cannot cryptanalyze it by overhearing the protocol interchange, even if overhearing the exchange many times. In the sneakiest schemes, Bob and the girls do not even know the secret group key itself; these schemes are called zero-knowledge proofs.
Postindustrial society exhibits signs of postmodern culture. Not only because the reality of a temporal disjunction between past and present engenders liminal perspectives on knowedge, but because the nature of episteme becomes redefined in accordance with the incommensurability between repositories of knowledge and their technologies of archiving information to secure its reproduction. To understand what is at stake for the future of education, must ask an overwhelming question: Does knowledge have to be reduced to an archive to make it a teachable certainty as the truth of curriculum? The answer is: yes. But is it possible not to limit truth to a single and finite trajectory of meaning within curriculum? Only, if bring the concept of curriculum to closure, not an end, to begin thinking about the goals and objectives of education again without a nostalgia for a future sans curriculum. The suggestion will be ludicrous for some and welcome for others, which is not surprising: considering all that has been invested in the concept of curriculum as a way to guide and make sense of the educational project. We in the West, have invested the curriculum with an ideological subtext that promotes an ethic of infinite progress and self-betterment called lifelong learning. In the process, we have been rendered teachers and educational institutions accountable for the future of society and the survival of the State because of the power of curriculum to influence the minds, hearts, and bodies of a new generation. I have placed we in brackets not to sterilize the cultural ethnocentrism associated with the pronoun, but to emphasize the self-mocking nature of any attempt to divest from it meanings related to the subjective rendering of a possible world. By referring to a we, a subject has already identified with a group and claimed participation despite the free will of independent action. As an archive of knowledge, a curriculum presupposes the possibility of reducing knowledge to a set of mental decoding operations and performative outcomes that are empirical and therefore measurable of the cognitive and habitual changes call education. Knowledge is nothing if it is not grounded upon the possibility of a permanent record of physical data that can then be used to establish laws of science as the demonstrable evidence of the self-certainty of the truth of research in the practice of transmission and reproduction. Culture depends upon the feasibility of referring to relatively stable archives of meaning to endow expressions of understanding with the evidence of empirical value and predictive power. The failings of conscious memory require the continuing, verifiable proof of a past and a future to secure the possibility of a genealogical rendering of human experience. To mourn the death of curriculum after deconstruction resonates as premature. For the work--or the economy of the internal emotional and psychic labor--that sustains the logic driving the motivational force of this hyperintellectualized (theoretical) act of grieving is inopportune. Its effectivity as the moment of a nostalgia that seeks to idealize the past in a moment of perfect and perfectible memory mistakenly presupposes a common and universal recognition of the end of an epistemic tradition rooted in the rise of the Occident as an archive of teaching and learning. The force of this mourning of curriculum mobilizes and is mobilized by a lamentation of the violence perpetrated against the Archeology of the Letter, its arkhe and telos, the beginning and the finale of the history of metaphysics. Regret for the pure loss, (1) as Jacques Derrida has called it, of an ideal consignment of knowledge leaves a space (kenosis) for the possibility of an assembling or gathering (Versammlung), a coming together, of that which would mark the scene of a new beginning onto the futures of thinking, teaching and learning, with no programmable end in sight. …
This dissertation examines whether decentralization to municipal governments in Mexico has improved democratic governance. The research examines the effects of decentralization on democratic governance in three Mexican cities: Tijuana, Ciudad Nezahualcóyotl, and Chilpancingo and draws on key national indicators. The findings indicate that decentralization has significantly increased the authority and autonomy of Mexican municipalities, but that these changes have not necessarily led to local governments that are responsive and accountable to citizens or allow for citizens' active engagement in public affairs. Further analysis of these findings suggests that municipal political institutions create few incentives for public authorities to be responsive and accountable to citizens. The use of closed party lists, prohibitions on independent candidacies, guaranteed supermajorities for the leading party, and the prohibition on reelection all combine to undermine accountability and responsiveness. In this environment, public authorities tend to be more concerned about party leaders than citizens. As a result, citizens continue to be linked to local governments through political brokers within the principal political parties and there are few real opportunities for citizen engagement outside of these mediated channels despite the nominal existence of elaborate participatory planning processes. Nonetheless, the study also finds marked differences in the way that citizens are linked to the political system in different cities. Where strong social organizations existed prior to decentralization, citizens are more likely to have effective, albeit indirect, channels for voice in public affairs. Where these social organizations are linked closely to the principal political parties, they are even more likely to influence public policy than where these organizations are highly autonomous. Strong social organizations provide a necessary basis for ensuring citizen voice, but their linkages to the political process ultimately determine whether they are effective in influencing policy decisions. In other words, horizontal linkages in civil society--social capital--are a necessary precondition for good democratic governance, but vertical linkages between citizens and political actors are equally important.
Franco Guidi-Polanco, Claudio Cubillos, Giuseppe Menga
This work presents our agent-based architecture for the development of Global Automation Systems. These systems consist of software applications that manage all the processes in a network of enterprises, in distributed, decentralized and autonomous way. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
This policy analysis provides insight into the ongoing process of mental health reform and the difficulty of sustaining such reform in post-conflict areas. It is based on experiences in Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo in the former Yugoslavia. This could be the first health policy analysis specifically on the subject of mental health reform in post-conflict areas. Mental health reforms started in 1995 in Bosnia Herzegovina and in Kosovo in 1999, immediately following the end of armed conflict in these regions. As a result, there are now sufficient literature studies and experience available in both areas to make an initial evaluation and policy analysis. Both areas were studied during various stages of the implementation of mental health reform, and because of this provided insight into the different phases of this ongoing process. The insights provided by this study could have implications for things such as the development of strategies for improving the sustainability of mental health reform in similar situations in future. Mental health problems account for five of the 10 leading causes of disability worldwide, which amounts to 12% of the total global burden of disease.1 In general, war-related disabilities (physical injuries) and mental disorders have an increasing impact on the global burden of disease. Projections for 2020 rank unipolar major depression and war-related disabilities in first and eighth place, respectively, in their impact on the global burden of diseases; in 1990 they ranked fourth and sixteenth.1 Mental health reform refers to a shift from institutional mental health care towards community mental health and mental health care. The WHO's World Health Report 2001 showed worldwide interest in community mental health care, considered to be more cost-effective than institutional care. Care of this kind makes it possible to intervene early when mental disorders are developing, and to limit the stigma attached to treatment.2,3 This shift from institutional mental health care towards community mental health and mental health care marks an important change in the whole of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.4,5 Mental health reforms in the post-conflict areas of Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo have specific characteristics and dynamics, and are taking place within the context of huge foreign donor influence, overall health care reforms and reform of health care financing systems. There are many definitions of sustainability.6 Sustainability is defined here as a lasting, successful shift from a system where the main focus is on institutional, clinical mental health care to a system focusing on community mental health and integrated mental health care. The successful continuity of these new services also depends on cultural and financial characteristics. The following examples illustrate the difficulty of sustaining mental health reform in Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo: Planned community mental health centres are being implemented slowly.7–10 The general public is unaware of the mental health reforms and does not understand them.8–10 There are increasing problems of economic access to mental health care and services.11–14 Literature study of ‘grey’ policy documents and articles on health policy (including mental health policy) in Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo was undertaken. Policy documents were collected from many different actors such as the World Bank, several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including Médecins Sans Frontières, HealthNet International (HNI) and the International Organization for Migration, the WHO, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, key mental health and other health professionals and local ministries of health. For Bosnia Herzegovina, key informant interviews took place in August 2001 with: Various mental health and other health professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, nurses and social workers) and patients in 15 mental health institutions, including university hospitals with psychiatric departments, psychiatric clinics, psychiatric wards of general hospitals and community mental health centres all over Bosnia Herzegovina; Several NGOs (HNI, Medica Zenica, Vive Zene and War Child); WHO office for Bosnia Herzegovina; International Committee of the Red Cross; Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, Coordination office Sarajevo, Embassy of Switzerland; Assistant Minister of Human Rights of the state of Bosnia Herzegovina; Entity Ministry of Health of the Republika Srpska. For Kosovo, key informant interviews took place in March 2002 in Geneva with those WHO mental health professionals consulted on mental health reform in Kosovo. In addition, there were email contacts with mental health professionals working in Kosovo (in the Pristina university hospital and in community mental health centres) and with WHO support staff in Kosovo. Walt's analytical framework15,16 was used here to analyse the data collected in Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo. This framework distinguishes context, content and process, and the various actors involved in mental health reform. It is a systematic framework that can broadly analyse the implementation of health policies (involving many disciplines and sectors); such a broad analysis is necessary here for evaluating mental health reform. For the context analysis, data were collected on political history, the history of mental health services, psychiatric epidemiology, foreign influences, health care financing systems, medical anthropology and societal values. For the content analysis, data were collected on principles of mental health reform and implementation characteristics (like the establishment of community mental health centres and education of mental health professionals). For the process analysis, data were collected on the timing and pace of mental health reform. For the actors (or stakeholders) analysis, Michael Reich's initial political mapping17,18 was used within Walt's framework to show political and other support for and opposition to the various actors in mental health reform in these highly complex, political environments. Data were collected through on-the-spot interviews and literature study. In particular, the interviews with local actors could prevent information bias by the literature, which is mainly oriented towards international donors. A great deal of grey literature (all types of policy documents) was used, which is common practice for policy analysis. To strive for the maximum degree of reliability, triangulation of this qualitative information was done by double-checking information during the interviews and using information from various local and international sources with different interests. This triangulation resulted in further convergence towards the results. Meta-analysis of the results detected the most important central theme: the role of foreign influence. This resulted in the main findings on the role of foreign influence in mental health reforms in post-conflict areas. The collected qualitative and some quantitative data from the interviews and available literature were structured within Walt's framework. Tables 1 and 2 give the most important interview and literature data. The references cited within the tables refer to the relevant literature and Internet sources for each topic. Context of mental health reform in Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo Table 1 shows the most important context analysis data for mental health reform in Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo. Table 2 shows the most important content and process analysis data for Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo. Content and process of mental health reform in Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo Figure 1 is explained more extensively because this figure's characteristics are not as familiar in public health literature. Figure 1 shows political support for and opposition to different actors in mental health reform in Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo. The assessment of the amount of power per actor is interpreted from the interviews and policy documents.8–13 The footnotes to this figure explain the characteristics of the relevant health ministries. In general, figure 1 makes clear the processes of decentralization, economic dependency and involvement of professionals in mental health and health policy. Informal networking between the actors and other micropower processes are beyond the scope of this analysis. A more extensive explanation follows to give more specific insights into the interpretation of supporting or opposing power for every actor. Political mapping: showing political support for and opposition to different mental health reform actors in Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo In Bosnia Herzegovina, international donors are very powerful because they are funding the reform in an economically unstable country. After decentralization, the National Ministry of Health lost power in terms of responsibility for the health care system (such as financing and determining the essential drug list). On the other hand, the Federation's cantonal ministries and the entity ministry of Republika Srpska gained a great deal of power. Mental health professionals have a lot of power because they play key roles in implementing this reform and because some health professionals hold key positions in the different ministries. Some key mental health professionals oppose the reform, especially in Republika Srpska's entity ministry and in a number of the Federation's cantonal ministries. They prefer to maintain the pre-war institutional mental health care organization, and support further specialization of mental health care services, such as specialized clinics for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The public is not well organized (as in strong patient organizations), is not involved in policy making and so is not very powerful. Still, the public does have some power because they are the actual users of community mental health services. In Kosovo, international donors are very powerful for the same reason as they are in Bosnia Herzegovina. In 2002, decentralizing health care responsibilities towards the municipalities existed only on paper. Early in 2001, policy making and financial control of all health care was still a central responsibility of the United Nations (UN) Interim Administration Mission Kosovo Department of Health and Social Welfare. In 2002, this UN Department of Health started to transfer power to Kosovar ministries. From the beginning, mental health professionals have been heavily involved in drawing up the strategic plan for mental health reform in Kosovo; they reported no opposition to this. Public power has the same characteristics as those mentioned for Bosnia Herzegovina. Having all the data available in tables 1 and 2 and figure 1, triangulation and meta-analysis of these data resulted in further convergence towards the most important results on the identified central theme of foreign influence. The role of foreign influence was a central theme in many of the results. The context and process analysis showed that both areas became UN international protectorates and financially highly dependent on foreign donor funding. As a result, they became economically and politically dependent on the international community. The initiation, funding and also part of the operationalization of mental health reform was done by international organizations. For example, during the armed conflicts NGOs started new ambulatory emergency mental health services, and after the end of armed conflicts many NGOs entered the areas with their temporary ambulatory mental health activities focusing mainly on traumatization. Western health care financing models (mixed public–private insurance models) were quickly introduced in Bosnia Herzegovina, and health care financing became highly dependent on foreign donor funding. Local health administrators had to work according to new Western principles of efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The content analysis showed that many different mental health professionals were trained by a number of international organizations in the new concept of community mental health and mental health care. The actors analysis confirmed the power of international organizations to provide political support for mental health reform and also identified the concept of decentralization of political health care responsibilities supported by the international community. Particularly in the Federation of Bosnia Herzegovina, drastic decentralization took place using a Swiss cantonal model, which resulted in many small cantonal ministries of health.19 The input of qualitative data from the literature used was comparable for both Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo. The input of qualitative data from personal interviews differed between Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo. Although extensive personal interviews were held with many actors in Bosnia Herzegovina, owing to practical limitations the same kind of personal interviews were not possible inside Kosovo. This may have affected the input of qualitative data for Kosovo. To reduce this difference, thorough personal interviews took place with those WHO mental health professionals who were consultants on mental health reform there, and e-mail contacts were established with key mental health professionals. All these effects of foreign influence leave us with the following question: do they have a positive effect on mental health reform and its sustainability? Foreign technical and economic support versus lack of local awareness and lack of local ownership. Clearly, foreign influence, with its technical, political and economic support, pushed the reform forward just after the end of armed conflict. In particular, the foreign training of many different mental health professionals in the new concept of community mental health and mental health care was an important positive contribution to mental health reform. However, many years after the reform's initiation the general public is still not aware of this new concept, and some mental health professionals perceive it as a reform from abroad. This public lack of awareness together with the perception by professionals creates a lack of local ownership for mental health reform. Obviously, this endangers the reform's sustainability. Although it may be very difficult to change local beliefs on mental health-seeking behaviour and professional perceptions, the following two possible strategies could influence these firmly held beliefs and attitudes more successfully. Possible strategies. First of all, there could be more methodical ‘marketing'. In other words, taking local beliefs into account when developing mental health promotion strategies for the new concept of community mental health and mental health care could result in more successful sustainability of mental health reform. Examples of such marketing within the Bosnian and Kosovar context are mental health promotion within family, school and religious networks, and integrating community mental health services into existing somatic health services. Also, more anthropological research on mental health-seeking behaviour patterns could help tailor mental health promotion strategies. Secondly, the example of Kosovo showed that immediate involvement of local mental health professionals in strategic plans for mental health reform results in more sustainable reform. This is because local key mental health professionals will not perceive the changes as a reform from abroad, and will therefore be less likely to develop opposition to the reform in a later phase. Considering the epidemiology with its high prevalence of PTSD, it was logical for the different NGOs to start mental health programmes that focused on this mental health problem. However, parallel and overlapping mental health activities (‘trauma businesses') appeared that were unmanaged and chaotic. These were temporary, and because of this, endangered the sustainability of overall mental health reform, which includes all mental health problems. Possible strategies. If NGOs better combined their mental health activities, with PTSD treatment as a first priority, with existing mental health and somatic health services now under reform, sustainable mental health reform would probably stand a better chance. Introducing Western insurance models and privatization created increasing problems of access to mental and other health care. Private insurance schemes were implemented only by law, not in practise. Bosnia Herzegovina in particular did not seem to be ready for an insurance model. In 2001 Kosovo did not yet have a health care financing system, and even the World Bank suggested reintroducing the old national health insurance or tax model with payroll tax. Possible strategies. Introducing a financing system closer to the original existing system and taking into account to what extent the area is ready for this could result in increased chances for both sustainable mental health reform and a more sustainable health care system in general. The concept of decentralization promoted by many international organizations aimed at more local involvement was in part counterproductive, especially in Bosnia Herzegovina. It produced microbureaucratic procedures for many health care financing issues like insurance logistics. This created increasing access problems to mental and other health care. Local health care administrators used to centralized bureaucratic principles suddenly had to work from a decentralized, powerful position according to new utilitarian principles like cost-effectiveness and efficiency. One cannot expect a centralized East European post-conflict country to be immediately ready to switch to a decentralized Swiss cantonal model. Possible strategies. Introducing decentralization less drastically at a local level and at a slower pace by well-trained administrators ready to take over responsibilities would probably reduce the risk of additional access problems and increase local involvement and the chances for sustainability. As shown by the examples of Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo, this policy analysis provides insight into the difficult policy and process of mental health reform in post-conflict areas. These examples show the difficulty of sustaining mental health reform several years after the end of armed conflict and the initiation of such reform. This insight was gained by collecting all kinds of data (mostly qualitative, some quantitative) on many different topics and themes and from many different sources from various political positions. The method of analysis used—Walt's framework together with Michael Reich's political mapping—was a useful way to structure all these different and extensive qualitative data. This manner of structuring, along with ongoing triangulation and meta-analysis of the data, resulted in convergence towards the most important results, which follow here. As illustrated by the examples of Bosnia Herzegovina and Kosovo, foreign influence in post-conflict areas appeared to be a central theme of these results. Foreign influence has the following effects on mental health reform and its sustainability: Foreign influence has a stimulating effect on the initiation of mental health reforms by introducing this new concept and by technical and economic support along with technical education. Foreign influence by various actors can threaten the sustainability of mental health reform in the following ways: by creating a lack of local ownership of the new concept of community mental health and mental health care; by creating chaos with many overlapping short-term mental health programmes (mainly dealing with traumatization); by forcing rapid changes in health care financing systems (such as privatization), and introducing new insurance models too rapidly; and by forcing rapid decentralization of health care responsibilities. In conclusion, to achieve sustainable mental health reform, foreign aid provided in these difficult post-conflict situations has to achieve a balance between measured foreign influence and involvement of existing local structures. This policy analysis provides insight into mental health reform and the difficulty of sustaining such reform in post-conflict areas. Foreign influence accelerates mental health reform in post-conflict areas, but can also threaten its sustainability in various ways. The insights help to develop strategies for studying and improving sustainability of health reforms in similar (post-conflict) situations. Walt's analytical framework with Michael Reich's political mapping is a suitable method to analyse health reforms in post-conflict areas. Foreign influence in post conflict areas can threaten health reforms by creating chaos and a lack of local ownership and by forcing quick privatization and decentralization.
Ministerio de Transporte y Comunicaciones Provias Rural
The development objective of the Decentralized Rural Infrastructure Project for Peru aims at increasing the effective and productive use of sustainable rural transport services, through scaling up the entire country decentralized rural roads policies. This indigenous peoples plan (IPP) evaluated indigenous peoples in the area of influence of the project, reviewed their cultural heritage and established guidelines that will ensure that their rights, including their dignity and cultural identity are respected. The following actions are included in the IPP document : guarantee the participation of affected indigenous peoples in every decision making process during and after project implementation; avoid, minimize or mitigate adverse impacts throughout and after implementation of the project; develop an institutional strengthening program for local governments to prepare them to participate in rural infrastructure financing, routine maintenance and to assume with efficiency the decentralization of the rural transport; guarantee the participation of affected indigenous peoples in every decision making process during project preparation and implementation; and finally, ensure project benefits to indigenous communities are culturally appropriate and that their quality of life will be improve if not restored to pre-project standards.
Government authority must always rest at the proper locations to respond to the changing times and the changing needs of citizens in a mature society. The division of roles between the public and private sectors, and within the public sector, must constantly be reviewed and clarified. This paper discusses desirable business methods and management structures from the perspective of the division of roles between the public and private sectors in public transportation. Specifically, after discussing the outline of public corporations (in Section 2), the paper examines (in Section 3) standards for the roles of public corporations from the perspective of having the government support and make the greatest possible use of private sector know-how. The paper proceeds to discuss (in Section 4) the governance of public corporations, and then focuses on Japan's public transportation (buses and subways), which provides a relatively unified range of services, to present the current state, impediments to improving efficiency, and effects of reforms. The paper then concludes with the following policy recommendations derived from these discussions. First is the need to reform the division of roles between the public and private sectors. The division of powers needs to be rectified using diverse contract methods to make the greatest possible use of private sector know-how while securing the public interest. However, external governance over both the public and private sectors is required to make these reforms feasible and sustainable. Second is the need to reform the division of roles between the central and local governments. Considering how the unclear division of roles within the public sector is hindering efforts to reform that between the public and private sectors, the division of roles between the central and local governments needs to be clarified. It is desirable that areas which should be under the purview of the central government be financed using a simple subsidy system, with clear standards for guaranteeing funding sources or other involvement; and that areas which should be under the purview of local governments be operated under self-financing by the local governments.
Technological development in the information and communication sector is an unavoidable phenomenon to attain sustainability in today’s global era. Cities have developed satellite towns at the periphery with hi-fidelity digital and physical infrastructure which startup as a small town offering competitive economic environment that, later turns into a larger urban setting and thus converts a single centered city into a multi centered one. In case of Klang Valley Metropolitan Area the shift of civic services to Putrajaya and in addition, development of Multimedia Super Corridor offering avant-garde global competitive incentives to local and foreign companies in order to develop a super block of research and development based economic sector to spearhead the Malaysian Vision 2020 of a knowledge based economy and society, is an attraction to the business community all over Malaysia. The purpose of this study is to discuss the key factors that have lured the companies from Kuala Lumpur Metropolitan Area to move to Multimedia Super Corridor physically. For which, companies were selected focusing on businesses in Finance, Insurance and Real-estate and a survey was conducted, the data gathered was analyzed to evaluate the ranking of variables of Bill of Guarantees offered in Multimedia Super Corridor policy using Mann-Whitney U test. The findings of the study has been that in addition to good infrastructure and good working environment the incentives offered in Bill of Guarantees of tax exemption primarily, has been the driver for companies to decentralize. The other factors include low cost of doing business as well as competitive conditions as attraction for companies to take up the special status. There are the problems of accessibility for clients and workers, high rental rates of the property in addition to limited estate and slow development of supportive public amenities such as public telephone booths, restaurants, shopping areas, etc. which is restricting companies from taking up the special status. Thus, the problems identified should be dealt by the Multimedia Development Corporation in order to achieve the task of getting more global companies to take up the Multimedia Super Corridor status in the second phase of development till 2010
This comparison is not restricted to Mumbai and Shanghai but also to Bangalore and Hangzhou, Delhi and Beijing and so on. The Chinese and Indian economies are expected to be the growth engines of the global economy. In this process cities are expected to play an important role, through their transformation into “World Class” cities, a term now doing rounds in the policy circles in Mumbai, to be achieved through massive infrastructure investments made in them. In China, this has been possible because of the decentralized administrative and fiscal system in China. In contrast, in India, the system of urban infrastructure is currently evolving and making a transition from a centralized to a decentralized system. This paper: (i) compares the Chinese and Indian financial systems to explain differences in the quantum of funds available in cities in both countries; (ii) looks at urban responsibility allocations in terms of institutions; and (iii) compares capital investments made by one city each in the two countries, in Beijing (China) and in Mumbai (India). Edited by Xinyu Fan
Watrous had presented the first proof of zero-knowledge property of a proof system against a quantum verifier. The key of the proof is the construction of a quantum simulator. In the construction, the 'failure state' is rotated to the 'success' state by a tricky operation which is initially developped for the amplification of QMA proof systems. This manuscript presents a new and simpler construction of a simulator. In the construction, we simply amplify the success probability of a classical simulator using Grover's amplification.
The Russian Federation has undergone a process of major constitutional change in the post-communist period, as a strong central government has ceded extensive powers to the regions. This has important implications for the organization of the health care system which, as with other elements of the Soviet system, had previously been highly centralized. Although it is now well-recognized that the powers of the Federal Health Ministry have weakened considerably, the precise scale and nature of the process of decentralization remain imperfectly understood. This paper provides new evidence on the nature of decentralization in the Russian Federation since the breakdown of the USSR, reporting the results of case studies undertaken in six regions of Russia (Samara, Tver, Tula, Chelyabinsk, Sverdlovsk and Moscow oblasts) to describe the organization of health care financing, regulation and delivery. It shows that while there is a common model of health system (with the exception of Samara, where an innovative model was implemented), there are many minor variations. The study confirms the limited scope for action by Federal authorities, but also shows that the power vested in the regional governments is more limited than was previously thought. Instead, the municipalities (rayons) emerge as important bodies, as they own the facilities in which much of the routine health care is delivered and, both directly and indirectly, by virtue of their contributions of insurance premiums for the non-working, provide a substantial amount of health care financing. The study demonstrates the complexity of the Russian health care system and identifies the widespread absence of mechanisms that might be used to bring about much needed change.
Many mathematical models of statistical physics in two dimensions are either known or conjectured to exhibit conformal invariance. Over the years, physicists proposed predictions of various exponents describing the behavior of these models. Only recently have some of these predictions become accessible to mathematical proof. One of the new developments is the discovery of a one-parameter family of random curves called stochastic Loewner evolution or SLE. The SLE curves appear as limits of interfaces or paths occurring in a variety of statistical physics models as the mesh of the grid on which the model is defined tends to zero. The main purpose of this article is to list a collection of open problems. Some of the open problems indicate aspects of the physics knowledge that have not yet been understood mathematically. Other problems are questions about the nature of the SLE curves themselves. Before we present the open problems, the definition of SLE will be motivated and explained, and a brief sketch of recent results will be presented.
In order to attain the national goal of regionally balanced development, a method for enhancing the innovative capacity of the local government, which will be the subject of decentralization, as well as decentralization itself as a legal, systemic device should be studied and theorized. With this perspective, this study performed a preliminary analysis on the composition and assessment of an index to prepare a system that can assess the innovative capacity of a local government. The index was composed of personal factors, physical factors in terms of system, procedure and finance and external environmental factors in terms of politics, economy, society and culture. The validity and the results of the index were reviewed by manipulating and assessing the items and variables in each area. Based on the results, I suggest perspectives on developmental operation by a local government and the embodiment of innovative capacity.
Diverse Approaches in Healthcare and Education Studies
A.J. Chakravarti, Gerald Baumgartner, Mario Lauria
The Organic Grid is a biologically inspired and fully decentralized approach to the organization of computation that is based on the autonomous scheduling of strongly mobile agents on a peer-to-peer network. Through the careful design of agent behavior, the emerging organization of the computation can be customized for different classes of applications. In this paper, we report on our experience in adapting the general framework to run two representative applications on our Organic Grid prototype: the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) basic local alignment search tool (BLAST) code for sequence alignment, and the Cannon's algorithm for matrix multiplication. The first is an example of independent task application, a type of application commonly used for grid scheduling research because of its easily decomposable nature and absence of intra-node communication. The second is a popular block algorithm for parallel matrix multiplication, and represents a challenging application for grid platforms because of its highly structured and synchronous communication pattern. Agent behavior completely determines the way computation is organized on the Organic Grid. We intentionally chose two applications at opposite ends of the distributed computing spectrum having very different requirements in terms of communication topology, resource use, and response to faults. We detail the design of the agent behavior and show how the different requirements can be satisfied. By encapsulating application code and scheduling functionality into mobile agents, we decouple both computation and scheduling from the underlying grid infrastructure. In the resulting system, every node can inject a computation onto the grid; the computation naturally organizes itself around available resources.
Two candidates compete for elective office. Each candidate has information she would like to reveal to the voters, but this requires costly advertising. The candidates can solicit contributions from interest groups to finance such advertising. These contributions are secured by promises to perform favors for the contributors, should the candidate win the election. Voters understand this and elect the candidate they like best, taking into account their expectations about promises to special interests. There is an incumbency advantage in fundraising, which is sometimes so great that the incumbent faces no serious opposition at all. Introducing partial public financing through matching funds improves voter welfare in districts that have advertising under the decentralized system, while it can reduce welfare in other districts. The optimal policy must strike a balance between these two effects.
This paper is an extended version of math.OA/0601528 where we point out and remedy a gap in the proof by P. Julg and G. Kasparov of the Baum-Connes conjecture for discrete subgroups of SU(n,1). In particular, here we explain in details why the non-microlocality of the Heisenberg calculus prevents us from implementing into this framework the classical approach of Seeley to pseudodifferential complex powers, which was the main issue at stake in math.OA/0601528.
In this note we point out and fill a gap in the proof by Julg-Kasparov of the Baum-Connes conjecture with coefficients for discrete subgroups of $\op{SU}(n,1)$. The issue at stake is the proof that the complex powers of the contact Laplacian are element of the Heisenberg calculus. In particular, we explain why we cannot implement into the setting of the Heisenberg calculus the classical Seeley's approach to complex powers.
China's transition into a market economy has exerted some influence on the health sector in terms of a significant growth of facilities, but it has also produced a range of destabilizing social costs. \n \n \n \nThis thesis analyzes the relations between healthcare pricing and payment reforms and the different delivery aspects such as the exemption program for the poor, public health programs for tuberculosis control and the provision of hospital services. A health economics and systems conceptual framework is used for analyzing aspects of the health systems in terms of market failures and the institutional response from governments and regulators. \n \n \n \nIn study I, the exemption programs for hospitals where the poor are relieved of paying the price or user charges are analyzed. The study is a case study where patient records from nine hospitals were reviewed, together with interviews with key informants and community representatives. The study showed that the discount offered was limited, where only a minority of indigents received discounts and the hospitals lacked incentives for efficiently carrying out the programs. \n \n \n \nStudy II investigates the effect of the new urban health insurance system on hospital charges. The study uses two tracers, acute appendicitis and normal childbirth, at six hospitals from two cities with different insurance systems. The result showed a lower rate of increase in hospitals charges in the city implementing the urban health insurance reform. Regression analysis showed contracting mechanisms and length of stay to be the main determinants for hospital charges. \n \n \n \nStudy III analyzes the operation of TB control programs in a decentralized financial system. A case study was conducted in four counties with different economic developments in the Shandong province. Data was collected from a review of documents and interviews with patients and key informants. The study showed weak government support to the TB control program and less developed DOT (directly observed therapy) programs in the poorer counties. TB patients suffered heavy financial burdens. The decentralized financing system had negatively affected the provision of public health programs such as TB control programs. \n \n \n \nIn study IV, the impact of retail price control of drugs on hospital drug expenditures was examined. The study is a case study at two hospitals. Total drug expenditures were analyzed based on financial records and a tracer, cerebral infarction, was used for an in-depth examination of prices, volume, expenditures and rationality of drug use. Findings showed that after the implementation of the drug pricing policy, total drug expenditures increased as rapidly as before. Drug expenditure per patient for cerebral infarction showed indistinct results, indicating that the regulation was not effective. Utilization rather than price was more determinative for drug expenditures. \n \n \n \nStudy V investigates the development of revenues, costs and performance in the hospital sector. In a sample of 41 hospitals in two cities, the use of inputs, investments and productivity was estimated. The findings showed that hospitals had expanded their staff and invested in new medical equipment. The corresponding change of outputs in terms of outpatient and inpatient performance showed a slower increasing rate, resulting in a diminishing productivity rate over time. \n \n \n \nThe market-oriented health care system in China is faced with different 'market failures' problems such as limited access to health services for the poor and the inaccuracy in relying on market mechanisms for services characterized by positive externalities, such as the public health programs. Financial autonomy has given health providers the incentives to maximize revenues. Government interventions to contain costs and improve efficiency show that a sole reliance on the price mechanism is insufficient and must be combined with other tools set by regulators and insurers.
We are now in the era of the G8, although the G7 still exists as a grouping for Finance Ministers. Why do G7 finance ministries and central banks co-operate? What are the implications of this co-operation for US power and the abilities of the other six states to exercise leadership? What role do the G7 play in global financial governance? How much authority do they possess and how is that authority exercised? This is the first major monograph on the political economy of G7 finance ministry and central bank co-operation. It argues that to understand the contribution of the G7 to global financial governance it is necessary to locate the process in the context of a wider world financial order comprised of decentralized globalization. It also provides original case study material on the G7's contribution to macroeconomic governance and to debates on the global financial architecture over the last decade. It assesses the G7's role in producing a system of global financial governance based on market supremacy and technocratic transgovernmental consensus and articulates normative criticisms of the G7's exclusivity. For researchers in the fields of IR/IPE generally, postgraduate students in the field of international organization and global governance, policy makers and financial journalists this is the most extensive analysis of the G7 and the political economy of global financial governance to date.
The cut polytope of a graph arises in many fields. Although much is known about facets of the cut polytope of the complete graph, very little is known for general graphs. The study of Bell inequalities in quantum information science requires knowledge of the facets of the cut polytope of the complete bipartite graph or, more generally, the complete k-partite graph. Lifting is a central tool to prove certain inequalities are facet inducing for the cut polytope. In this paper we introduce a lifting operation, named triangular elimination, applicable to the cut polytope of a wide range of graphs. Triangular elimination is a specific combination of zero-lifting and Fourier-Motzkin elimination using the triangle inequality. We prove sufficient conditions for the triangular elimination of facet inducing inequalities to be facet inducing. The proof is based on a variation of the lifting lemma adapted to general graphs. The result can be used to derive facet inducing inequalities of the cut polytope of various graphs from those of the complete graph. We also investigate the symmetry of facet inducing inequalities of the cut polytope of the complete bipartite graph derived by triangular elimination.
All but the Japanese Army had resigned themselves to the fact that the Red takeover was now a matter of ‘when’, not ‘if’. The Japanese had invested too much blood and yen in Eastern Siberia to abandon their stake timidly: 40 officers killed and a like number wounded, 730 enlisted men killed and 650 wounded, 500 soldiers dead from disease and anywhere from 180 to 500 million yen.1 In fact, in exchange for aid to the Whites, the Japanese now demanded Russian property with ‘written proof of equity’.2 Indeed, even several weeks later, the Japanese were ‘purchasing…many stores, forest lands, coal mines and all other property that they can get their hands on’.3 For 4 million yen, Japanese owners took control of the Chinese Eastern Railway’s fuel supply by purchasing a huge timber concession that came with its own railway spur and saw mill.4 However, if the Japanese Army had entertained any thoughts about departing Siberia, news of tragic events in the isolated town of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur forced them to remain to redeem their honor.
OBJECTIVE: To identify the effects of decentralization on health financing and governance policies in Mexico from the perspective of users and providers. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in four states that were selected according to geopolitical and administrative criteria. Four indicators were assessed: changes and effects on governance, financing sources and funds, the final destination of resources, and fund allocation mechanisms. Data collection was performed using in-depth interviews with health system key personnel and community leaders, consensus techniques and document analyses. The interviews were transcribed and analyzed by thematic segmentation. RESULTS: The results show different effectiveness levels for the four states regarding changes in financing policies and community participation. Effects on health financing after decentralization were identified in each state, including: greater participation of municipal and state governments in health expenditure, increased financial participation of households, greater community participation in low-income states, duality and confusion in the new mechanisms for coordination among the three government levels, absence of an accountability system, lack of human resources and technical skills to implement, monitor and evaluate changes in financing. CONCLUSIONS: In general, positive and negative effects of decentralization on health financing and governance were identified. The effects mentioned by health service providers and users were related to a diversification of financing sources, a greater margin for decisions around the use and final destination of financial resources and normative development for the use of resources. At the community level, direct financial contributions were mentioned, as well as in-kind contributions, particularly in the form of community work.