In this local self-government era, in order to achieve real local decentralization, it is guaranteed to establish self-finances of certain administration level. Nowadays Local equalization scheme is carried out for insuring regional equal development and efficiency and effectiveness of administration and for solving vertical horizontal problem of unequal finance in local government. Local equalization scheme is the system to guarantee the financial source so that all local self-governing organizations can obtain national minimum standard while correcting the unbalance of finance and maldistribution of tax revenue source between regions. This paper presents the directions of improvement so that national subsidy and local tax can contribute to the finance balance of local self-governing organization in the uncertainties of future finance with weak financial ability. Consequently, it is required to operate the system according to balance principle by adjusting the operation form and distribution type such as national subsidy and local tax.
Indonesia's commitment to reform is continuing to accelerate economic growth, yet a staggering one third of its people live without access to electricity. It is difficult to imagine sustaining the current 6 percent economic growth rate if such large numbers of people are left behind and cannot enjoy the fruits of this prosperity. The Indonesian Government has recognized this problem and aims to provide electricity access to 90 percent of the population by 2020, a worthy goal which the World Bank strongly supports. At the request of the Government, this report, electricity for all: options for increasing access in Indonesia, was developed to provide some practical solutions by which Indonesia could reach their highly ambitious, yet achievable goal. The following report was developed to initiate a dialogue to further the discussion on increasing electricity access in Indonesia. It identifies the critical barriers that currently prevent electrification expansion at levels necessary to meet the Government's objective and articulates why business as usual will not suffice. Thereafter, the report proposes a number of policy improvements that will enhance the current enabling framework for electrification. At the heart of this report are several proposals for enhanced electrification models that can be implemented even under the present policy framework, although chances of success will be far greater should the recommended reforms occur. These electrification models bring to bear the best international experiences, yet are customized for application in the Indonesian context. Each option illustrates in detail the financing options, cost recovery aspects, and the institutional mechanisms that are necessary for implementation. They are also designed to take advantage of the recent decentralized governance structure in Indonesia, where sub-national governments are increasingly taking greater responsibility for providing services, including electricity, for their people.
Background theories in science are used both to prove and to disprove that theory choice is underdetermined by data. The alleged proof appeals to the fact that experiments to decide between theories typically require auxiliary assumptions from other theories. If this generates a kind of underdetermination, it shows that standards of scientific inference are fallible and must be appropriately contextualized. The alleged disproof appeals to the possibility of suitable background theories to show that no theory choice can be timelessly or noncontextually underdetermined: Foreground theories might be distinguished against different backgrounds. Philosophers have often replied to such a disproof by focussing their attention not on theories but on Total Sciences. If empirically equivalent Total Sciences were at stake, then there would be no background against which they could be differentiated. I offer several reasons to think that Total Science is a philosophersâ fiction. No respectable underdetermination can be based on it.
In recent years, formation flying has been recognized as an enabling technology for a variety of mission concepts in both the scientific and defense arenas. Examples of developing missions at NASA include magnetospheric multiscale (MMS), solar imaging radio array (SIRA), and terrestrial planet finder (TPF). For each of these missions, a multiple satellite approach is required in order to accomplish the large-scale geometries imposed by the science objectives. In addition, the paradigm shift of using a multiple satellite cluster rather than a large, monolithic spacecraft has also been motivated by the expected benefits of increased robustness, greater flexibility, and reduced cost. However, the operational costs of monitoring and commanding a fleet of close-orbiting satellites is likely to be unreasonable unless the onboard software is sufficiently autonomous, robust, and scalable to large clusters. This paper presents the prototype of a system that addresses these objectives-a decentralized guidance and control system that is distributed across spacecraft using a multiple team framework. The objective is to divide large clusters into teams of "manageable" size, so that the communication and computation demands driven by N decentralized units are related to the number of satellites in a team rather than the entire cluster. The system is designed to provide a high level of autonomy, to support clusters with large numbers of satellites, to enable the number of spacecraft in the cluster to change post-launch, and to provide for on-orbit software modification. The distributed guidance and control system will be implemented in an object-oriented style using a messaging architecture for networking and threaded applications (MANTA). In this architecture, tasks may be remotely added, removed, or replaced post launch to increase mission flexibility and robustness. This built-in adaptability will allow software modifications to be made on-orbit in a robust manner. The prototype system, which is implemented in Matlab, emulates the object-oriented and message-passing features of the MANTA software. In this paper, the multiple team organization of the cluster is described, and the modular software architecture is presented. The relative dynamics in eccentric reference orbits is reviewed, and families of periodic, relative trajectories are identified, expressed as sets of static geometric parameters. The guidance law design is presented, and an example reconfiguration scenario is used to illustrate the distributed process of assigning geometric goals to the cluster. Next, a decentralized maneuver planning approach is presented that utilizes linear-programming methods to enact reconfiguration and coarse formation keeping maneuvers. Finally, a method for performing online collision avoidance is discussed, and an example is provided to gauge its performance.
Grid computing is an open, heterogeneous and highly dynamic environment based on the principles of service oriented computing. It focuses on basic infrastructure for coordinated resource sharing among virtual organizations to achieve high performance and availability. However, use of existing Grid computing environment is quite complex and requires a lot of human intervention. In order to avoid this intervention, enhancements are required in bringing autonomy and semantics in existing Grid infrastructure. Semantics would act as glue for autonomy in the process of efficient resource discovery and utilization. Several ontologies and ontology languages have been proposed in this regard which not only have some shortcoming but also poses a sort of overhead for the Grid environment. On the other hand, agents are autonomous problem solving entities, and can negotiate semantically for interoperation with each other in dynamic environments. Inspired from the concept of Autonomous Decentralized Systems, we propose that the above mentioned goals can be achieved by integrating FIPA Multi Agent Systems with the Grid Service Architecture and hence to lay the foundation for Autonomous Semantic Grid. Autonomous Semantic Grid system architecture is aimed to provide an improved infrastructure by bringing autonomy, semantic interoperability and decentralization in the Grid computing for emerging applications. This paper then presents implementation details of first milestone toward Autonomous Semantic Grid realization based on a middleware, namely AgentWeb Gateway for integration of Multi Agent Systems and Grid Service Architecture. Evaluation of the system has also been performed over a number of application scenarios.
At first thought, there would appear to be little or no obvious connection between Landmarks in Hepatology and the essay recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine by 1986 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel.1 In 40 articles published over the past 4 years, the Landmarks series has not only documented the background of numerous discoveries in hepatology that have resulted from observation and experimentation, but it has also celebrated the physicians and investigators who brought us these new hepatological insights, investigations, and therapies. The Landmarks essays have been embellished with play on words and other attempts at humor, biography, history, politics, and the arts, and have presented for the readership abstruse facts and historical trivia to enhance the appreciation and enjoyment of the science and clinical innovation of hepatology. In contrast, Professor Wiesel's essay reminded us of one of the saddest eras in medical experimentation that serves as an archetype for inhumanity perpetrated by physicians, often but not always in the name of science, on hapless human subjects who had no choice but to participate in the most cruel and brutal experiments. It goes without saying that there was no semblance of informed consent. Wiesel refers, of course, to the medical experiments carried out by Nazi physicians and their henchmen and lackeys during the Dark Age known as the Third Reich. Out of this sordid experience, portrayed in the accounts of survivors and eyewitnesses, historical documents, and in the testimonies of those physicians who faced the Nuremberg Tribunal, ethical rules for experimentation on patients and volunteers were codified2 (Fig. 1). Surely, however, there is no connection between the celebration of hepatological discovery and the perversion of Nazi medical brutalityâbut there is. And because there is we have the opportunity, justification, and, in fact, the duty to confront the memory of these events so as to reinforce our vigilance and determination to uphold the highest ethical standards in hepatology and, indeed, in all of medicine, be it experimental science or routine clinical practice. This connection between discovery in hepatology and cruel experimentation was personified by one of the most prestigious and prodigious investigators in liver disease in the 1920s and 1930s; namely, Hans Eppinger. Observant and perceptive readers of Landmarks in Hepatology will surely have noticed that until now there has been no mention of Hans Eppinger nor any reference to his many contributions in the field. This purposeful exclusion came about, rightly or wrongly, because I felt unable to honor this physician-scientist for his early discoveries, knowing full well about his later utterly ethically unacceptable activities as a medical leader, physician-scientist, and human being. This month's article will therefore redress the balance with respect to both components of that man's extraordinary career, which ended ignominiously in self-destruction. My decision to revisit those tragic events was not taken lightly; it is also in full keeping with the commitment expressed in the first paragraph of the very first article in this series,3 which promised enlightenment in order to avoid repetition of past mistakes. Whereas it is hard to believe that anything as terrible as occurred under the auspices of Nazi medicine could happen now or in the future, we can never be reminded too often of the needs for obtaining true informed consent, for full disclosure in explaining the likely outcome of our actions as physicians, and of partnering with rather than patronizing our patients and study volunteers. Physicians have an abiding responsibility toward their patients and experimental subjects, whose rights must be protected and championed even when the good of the community, of the state, and of humankind appears to be at stake. It is timely to address this issue now in the closing days of the year that simultaneously commemorated the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi extermination camps at the end of the Second World War and saw the wide distribution and acclaim of the movie Hotel Rwanda, which poignantly and painfully chronicled a recent modern genocide so graphically. We have yet to learn the full extent of physician participation and complicity in the abuse and torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib.4, 5 To paraphrase Elie Wiesel in his interview with Professor Georg Klein6 on December 10, 2004, in connection with the Nobel Peace Prize that he was awarded for his work on genocide and for his message of peace, atonement, and human dignity, "It was not hatred that perished at AuschwitzâŠ.only the victims died." Hans Eppinger was born in Prague in 1879 supposedly into a part-Jewish family of so-called "Privileged Jews"7-10 who, thus entitled by the Emperor, enjoyed social, civil, and professional liberties that were out of reach to their less favored co-religionists. It may appear paradoxical that Eppinger was also apparently accredited years later as an "Official Aryan" by the National Socialist authorities, a designation that was clearly linked to his joining the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiter-Partei (NSDAP); i.e., the National Socialist German Workers' Party, nicknamed the Nazi Party. Yet it was not uncommon that exemptions to the 1935 Nuremberg Racial Laws were granted to certain Mischlinge; i.e., Jewish half-breeds, and incongruously many DeutschblĂŒtigkeitserklĂ€rĂŒngen (Certificates of German Blood) were actually signed by Adolf Hitler himself, thereby officially classifying the recipients as Aryans when such outright hypocrisy suited the FĂŒhrer and his kind.11 An astounding number of these Mischlinge were promoted to high rank in the German Armed Forces, and some even prospered politically.11 It should be noted, however, that the truth about Eppinger's ethnicity is still not known, and more discovery about it is needed. In 1902, more than 30 years before these grotesque events transpired, Eppinger was awarded his Doctorate in Medicine in Graz, where 20 years earlier his father, Hans Eppinger senior, had been appointed Professor of Pathological Anatomy. After staying for a few years, Eppinger moved to the famed Allgemeine Krankenhaus (General Hospital) in Vienna, where he rose to become First Assistant in the First Medical Clinic, which was headed by the internationally acclaimed cardiologist Karel Frederik Wenckebach. Later, when he was a full Professor of Medicine, Eppinger accepted the position of Chair of Medicine in Freiburg im Breisgau, after turning down offers from Strassburg, Halle, Königsberg, Leipzig, Frankfurt, and even Berlin. He left for Cologne in 1930, but it was there that in April 1933âironically, probably because of his part-Jewish heritageâhe fell foul of the Brown Shirts, Hitler's Sturmabteilung (SA or Storm Division). He hurriedly returned to Vienna to head the First Clinic but, importantly, because of his tussle with the German Reich, this appointment was permitted only after the intervention of Kurt von Schuschnigg, the Austrian Education Minister, who was to succeed Engelbert Dollfuss as Chancellor when the latter was assassinated in July 1934. Eppinger's professional interests and expertise ran the gamut of internal medicine and pathology, and he published extensively on topics as diverse as bundle branch block, diaphragmatic defects, cardiac asthma, circulatory dysfunction, nephrosis, hemolytic anemia, the inflammatory reaction, parathyroid disease, and many more besides.7 He was a fanatical and overzealous experimenter and at the same time a much sought-after clinical consultant for monarchs, heads of state, and other notables, including Josef Stalin and the Dowager Queen Marie of Rumania. It was rumored that he had also attended Adolf Hitler, but this possibility was dismissed by the late Fritz Redlich (1910-2004) in his biography of the German dictator,12 on the grounds that Hitler did not like famous and overbearing academic physicians and was pathologically as secretive about his health as he was over other details of his personal life and history. By coincidence, Redlich, who was Chair of Psychiatry (1950-1967) and Dean of the Medial School (1967-1972) at Yale University, had been a medical student and resident in Vienna when Eppinger was Chair of Medicine, before he emigrated to the United States in 1938. There are several associations between Eppinger and modern hepatology. First, of course, was his fascination with liver disease, in which he undertook many studies. Arguably his most importantâone could say "Landmark"âcontribution was in helping to dispel the myth that jaundice in hepatitis, so-called "catarrhal jaundice," is due to biliary obstruction caused by ascending duodenal inflammation, swelling of the ostium of the bile duct, and mucus biliary plugging, as Gabriel Andral and his many followers maintained.13, 14 Eppinger reasoned instead that toxins absorbed from the intestines injured the endothelium in the liver ("capillaritis"), causing intralobular edema and allowing serum to escape from the blood and deposit in the space of Disse.15 Eppinger's monograph on liver pathology and therapy, in which this hypothesis of "serous hepatitis" is also discussed,16 was, in its time, the handbook or bible for anyone interested in liver disease. The second link between Eppinger and modern hepatology was his mentorship of and complex relationship with the late Hans Popper (1903-1988), the undisputed father of hepatology in the latter part of the 20th Century.8-10, 17 Hans Popper worked in Eppinger's laboratory both in Vienna as a medical student and later in Freiburg in 1928.9, 10 When Eppinger returned to Vienna in 1933, he persuaded Popper to transfer from the Institute of Pathology to the First Medical Clinic as an Assistant Physician. Next, Eppinger appointed Popper and Hans Kaunitz (who, like Popper, was Jewish) to supervise a new ward that he opened. During all of his activities, Eppinger's brilliance and achievements were indelibly stained by defects of personality and character, which were well recognized by all who knew him and of him. Notwithstanding Popper's admiration for him as a scientist and his profound debt to him as a mentor and supporter, these flaws alone were grave enough to mar Eppinger as a role model for young scientists and physicians. As John Cornwell points out in the opening of his book on Hitler's scientists,18 quoting François Rabelais,19 "Science without conscience is the ruin of the soul" â Science sans conscience n'est que ruine de l'Ăąme â a warning that might have been written with Eppinger in mind. Eppinger had no scruples10; he stole case histories from other physicians and had to be supervised while watching operations in case he stole instruments as well. He was banned from the University library after being caught cutting pages out of books and bound journals. He stole gallbladders from Wenckebach's laboratory and later, using these specimens without due acknowledgment, he published the phenomenon of gallbladder edema in patients who died of beriberi. Eppinger's callous handling of his patients was no less dishonorable or overt. In his autobiography, the esteemed German theologian Helmut Thielicke described the cruel, dangerous, and demeaning treatment he received from Eppinger, whose advice he had sought for severe tetany following inadvertent parathyroid injury.20 Otto Fleming, who had been a medical student in the 1930s in Vienna and who later was a general practitioner in south Yorkshire, UK, recalled how he and all his fellow students were shocked by Eppinger's brutality when he reduced a patient to tears by explaining to those present in the lecture theater that this man with nephritis was in the "final act of the tragedy" of his disease.21 Apparently even those in NSDAP circles in Vienna complained about, among other criticisms, Eppinger's brutality to his patients and his reckless driving.22 Werner Creutzfeldt, Professor Emeritus and former Chair of Medicine at the University of Göttingen for 28 years, recalled Hans Popper inferring that Eppinger had a hole in his brain where other people have a conscience. Creutzfeldt also related to me that even almost a score of years after Eppinger's departure from Freiburg, senior nurses still in practice there vividly remembered Eppinger's heartless attitude towards his patients, a contrast to the warmth of their nostalgia for Siegfried Thannhauser, who succeeded him briefly. There is no doubt that Eppinger was an ardent Nazi, as Redlich described him,12 and played a key role in the dastardly Sea Water Experiments in the Dachau concentration camp.22-24 However, these signature activities in his curriculum vitae are either glossed over euphemistically or omitted completely from the many available, albeit brief, biographical accounts of Eppinger's life.7-10, 25, 26 Eppinger was dismissed from his position in the University of Vienna after the war, in June 1945, because he had been a member of the then-illegal Nazi Party in Austria before the Anschluss; i.e., the annexation of Austria by Germany.27 He had also been a clandestine member of the nationalistic Deutschen Klub, to which he had paid dues since November 1937.22 He stood idly by when 153 of the 197 medical faculty in Vienna were sacked within weeks of the Anschluss, mostly for being Jewish.28 Eppinger may not have been driven by extreme racist views per seâafter all, he had appointed several Jews like Popper and Kaunitz to high positions in his Clinic. Rather, Eppinger fervently believed that the goals of the Third Reich offered the best future for Germans everywhere. Whether this was the main philosophy of so many other physicians, who it must be remembered represented the highest enrollment (45%) in the NSDAP of any professional group,29 is far from clear. Also, by joining forces with the NSDAP he sought to further his own megalomania for research opportunities and material support. Whatever his motivation, Eppinger did abet the militantly prejudiced, recently appointed Dean, Eduard Pernkopf, in ruthlessly promoting the Nazi medical ethos in the Vienna school. Hans Eppinger even celebrated the first anniversary of the "cleansing" of the faculty by authoring an upbeat newspaper article in the Neues Wiener Tagblatt, in which he declared, "Now that all disease (my italics) has been eradicated, the Viennese School of Medicine can in future dedicate itself to its great task without inhibition."28 Pernkopf, incidentally, rose to become the Rector of the University in 1943; after spending 2 years imprisoned by the Allies after the war, he was free to complete his notorious "Atlas of Topographical and Applied Human Anatomy," for which the bodies of almost 1,400 people executed by the Gestapo, mostly for "political" reasons, served as artists' models.30 To Eppinger, who threw in his lot wholeheartedly with the philosophy, doctrines, policies, and hierarchy of the Third Reich, it was but a small step to invest his medical research expertise in the planning and conduct of human studies for the benefit of the German military effort. Although Eppinger's other activities have not yet been exhaustively researched, there has been no evidence presented thus far that he also participated medically in the sickening racial hygiene work that aimed to perfect techniques of mass extermination and sterilization, nor in studies that sought to document and preserve the anatomical characteristics of inferior racial groups, those people referred to as Untermenschen, or "subhumans," considered to have Lebensunwertes Leben, i.e., lives unworthy to be lived, and other individuals, such as the enfeebled, retarded, and those with neurological or physical defects. Neither did he seem to engage in futile sadistic experiments, such as excruciatingly painful attempts at muscle, bone, and even whole limb transplantation. In this context, it is chilling to point out that numerous German physicians had already played key practical roles in forcible sterilizations (some 300,000 to 400,000 victims) and in legalized killings, mostly by gassing and cremation, of individuals with mental or physical handicaps. Therein was the prototype for the extermination process of the Final Solution of the Jews, which physicians not an of the German physicians to the Nazi the and the or and were of using their medical such as the early of the so-called of and have been The of how to and and in the for of time the and military The to in and studies were to this end on both of the military To a at the German over the of the of with an so-called which some already was true with an Eppinger and from that a be to the of and with that of or complete for to to the best of health and even may be by the Eppinger also that his recently promoted in Vienna, conduct the which had to be at the Dachau concentration because the of volunteers at the medical were so late in the The experiments were in the of but the of including the of a liver without not to mention that the experimental subjects of would and other in attempts to some The of and including between the of the Medical of the and Reich of the and Reich of the it that Eppinger was no but was instead a key the offered on was the that there was no of during the of the the that the physicians were only following the of their or the of the the that the Allies and other had experiments the that the victims were to and the that there were no or for human experimentation that could The also that to as would the of medical and it that their among some of the and on the Although it is true that human experiments have been in almost even after the Nuremberg was have the and human of the Third Reich. act of not Also, or not the no with or or the this responsibility has been expressed in all over the Also, the was recognized in where for human experimentation also had been before During his to with his was and his that there had been any of the that had and Eppinger's to that on his was to years of the other physicians and in the were of were to by 5 to life 2 to for years, and to 10 were Eppinger was not but he was to appear before the However, on the of 25, one before the of the was he and it not for the extraordinary events that occurred almost 40 years later, the of Hans Eppinger may well have with him. However, in the late the and of the that he in Freiburg in and the of many and in liver research that and to a for and in liver studies. he to his Hans Popper, the father of hepatology of the for advice on a for the and Popper the name of Eppinger. Werner Creutzfeldt, for was at the in the of Eppinger's and from other than Hans Popper himself, and so he Popper the Popper was on of his for Eppinger as a liver scientist and his to After all, when Popper Vienna in under the of the Gestapo, among the he with him were his his his and a signed of that he later to that of his own the it must be that it was and that Popper knew of Eppinger's role in and did as he his for The must be however, that Popper's was At the very he should have his mentor more knowing well of his and the that he had on in Vienna in the medical even when its faculty had been by The Eppinger which Popper to a Nobel Prize of was awarded first to in but he nor recipients were likely to have had any as to Eppinger's name In the early Professor of Medicine at Yale University and of the for in Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine, of the and it with the Eppinger whose he had as a medical student and about he had later in the of The case was taken by the and Eppinger's name was from the but only after the on the of the New on November The New article caused great to who were the of the for the of in that very Armed with few facts at that time, were and between those who of the and those who were and that was The the years of Hans Popper's as he was of his earlier of but he no over the of the As he me while on a to he knew that when he to work for Eppinger in he had a with the years later, the for for the same to the name of Eppinger from a that had received its designation by the in on the anniversary of its latter and, we the between Hans Eppinger and modern us full to the at the of this namely, how to with the flaws of the when these are related to the conduct of the science itself and human and life are In this can be considered under the of which often to from studies that were or like the at who recently published that no from experiments should be by in the that experiments by such are likely to be as well as being there was evidence that even in Dachau the were this is not a since some and investigations, like the Nazi and for the link between and were even were on the same racial hygiene that to and have that the benefit of the research is of such that it more lives than were the and the could not or would not have been in any other without such human we should and the and at the same time the highest and to the time the are This the however, of on the and by our we their To between these is too a to As might be by such the to medicine would be for This was to the in the when the of the New England Journal of Medicine to the of Nazi studies that were to be in In the case of Eppinger, the decision is an of his earlier work is clearly it can be to have been and ethically yet at the same time and at one should him and for the he did and one should never his name to be as an for or as a role The more by however, and one that is both more and more to is so many physicians the and in so many have the their of and a commitment to Yet for all Wiesel still in us as a I in that medicine is still a he the highest ethical the still for And for us all, We to him. in of this the was of Professor that there was no evidence that Eppinger had any Jewish It was a that Eppinger's was of from the on both of Jewish of of the of The with and by and with and and with Werner Creutzfeldt and Elie Wiesel The also the for his and in the of this essay in Whereas the and of these the his a of and documents, the are his
The widespread adoption of fiscal decentralization laws during the past 25 years can be mostly tracked to economic efficiency gains and nationâbuilding objectives. Subnational governments (SNGs) in industrialized countries account for about twice the share of total government expenditures as in developing countries. Transition countries also assign more expenditure responsibilities to SNGs than do the developing countries. There has been little growth in the SNG expenditure or tax shares over the past three decades. We confirm the basic hypotheses that the SNG expenditure share is significantly higher in countries with higher incomes, larger populations, and a lower degree of corruption.
OBJECTIVE: To summarize the expectations held by World Health Organization programme personnel about how the introduction of the Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (IMCI) strategy would lead to improvements in child health and nutrition, to compare these expectations with what was learned from the Multi-Country Evaluation of IMCI Effectiveness, Cost and Impact (MCE-IMCI), and to discuss the implications of these findings for child survival policies and programmes. DESIGN: The MCE-IMCI study designs were based on an impact model developed in 1999-2000 to define how IMCI would be implemented at country level and below, and the outcomes and impact it would have on child health and survival. MCE-IMCI studies included: feasibility assessments documenting IMCI implementation in 12 countries (1999-2001); in-depth studies using compatible designs in Bangladesh, Brazil, Peru, Tanzania and Uganda; and cross-site analyses addressing the effectiveness of specific subsets of IMCI activities. RESULTS: The IMCI strategy was successfully introduced in the great majority of countries with moderate to high levels of child mortality in the period from 1996 to 2001. Seven years of country-based evaluation, however, indicates that some of the basic expectations underlying the development of IMCI were not met. Four of the five countries (the exception is Tanzania) had difficulties in expanding the strategy at national level while maintaining adequate intervention quality. Technical guidelines on delivering interventions at family and community levels were slow to appear, and in their absence countries stalled in their efforts to increase population coverage with essential interventions related to care-seeking, nutrition, and correct care of the sick child at home. The full weight of health system limitations on IMCI implementation was not appreciated at the outset, and only now is it clear that solutions to larger problems in political commitment, human resources, financing, integrated or at least coordinated programme management, and effective decentralization are essential underpinnings of successful efforts to reduce child mortality. CONCLUSIONS: This analysis highlights the need for a shift if child survival efforts are to be successful. Delivery systems that rely solely on government health facilities must be expanded to include the full range of potential channels in a setting and strong community-based approaches. The focus on process within child health programmes must change to include greater accountability for intervention coverage at population level. Global strategies that expect countries to make massive adaptations must be complemented by country-level implementation guidelines that begin with local epidemiology and rely on tools developed for specific epidemiological profiles.
Victor Manuel HernĂĄndez-GuzmĂĄn, Victor Manuel HernĂĄndez-GuzmĂĄn
In a recent work the author presented a hybrid control scheme for series resonant inverters owning a number of nice properties. In the present work several refinements and bounds on the allowable parameters are obtained yielding a more precise methodology to design the hybrid control scheme presented in the previos work. In particular we define the permissible range of loads and controller gains, we present a complete proof for asymptotic stability when the hybrid control strategy is used and we ensure that no catastrophic failure occurs when a zero resistance is used as load. Another important new feature in this note is that results do not require the exact knowledge of any of the plant parameters.
Abhilasha Bhargav-Spantzel, Anna Squicciarini, Elisa Bertino
We develop solutions for the security and privacy of user identity information in a federation. By federation we mean a group of organizations or service providers which have built trust among each other and enable sharing of user identity information amongst themselves. We first propose a flexible approach to establish a single sign-on (SSO) ID in the federation. Then we show how a user can leverage this SSO ID to establish certified and un-certified user identity attributes without the dependence on PKI for user authentication. This makes the process more usable and privacy preserving. Our major contribution in this paper is a novel solution for protection against identity theft of these identity attributes. We provide protocols based on cryptographic techniques, namely zero knowledge proofs and distributed hash tables. We show how we can preserve privacy of the user identity without jeopardizing security. We formally prove correctness and provide complexity results for our protocols. The complexity results show that our approach is efficient. In the paper we also show that the protocol is robust enough even in case semi-trusted "honest-yet curious" service providers thus preventing against insider threat. In our analysis we give the desired properties of the cryptographic tools used and identify open problems. We believe that the approach represents a precursor to new and innovative cryptographic techniques which can provide solutions for the security and privacy problems in federated identity management.
Electronic voting, as well as other privacy-preserving protocols, use special cryptographic primitives and techniques that are not widely used in other types of protocols, e.g. in authentication protocols. These include blind signatures, commitments, zero-knowledge proofs, mixes and homomorphic encryption. Furthermore, typical formalizations of the Dolev-Yao intruder's capabilities do not take into account these primitives and techniques, nor do they consider some types of attacks that e-voting as well as other types of protocols are designed to protect against, such as privacy attacks due to undesired linkability of protocol executions. This work aims to extend Typed MSR so that it is able to support the specification of privacy-preserving protocols, as well as the capabilities of a Dolev-Yao intruder designed to attack such protocols.
This paper introduces a novel approach for augmenting attribute-based access control systems in a way that allows them to offer fully anonymous access to resources while at the same time achieving strong accountability guarantees. We assume that users hold attribute certificates and we show how to exploit cryptographic zero-knowledge proofs to allow requesting users to prove that they hold suitable certificates for accessing a resource. In contrast to the commonly taken approach of sending all possibly relevant certificates to the access control system, our approach hence does not release any information to the access control system except for the presence of a set of certificates satisfying the access condition. This constitutes the minimal amount of information that has to be released for coming up with a correct access decision, and our approach is the first to achieve this. Additionally given a trusted third party for identity escrow, we furthermore show that a concise application of zero-knowledge proofs offers the access control system the capability to hold a requesting user accountable for her actions under specific, well-defined conditions. All the employed cryptographic techniques are highly efficient, and an architecture for exploiting our approach in practical scenarios is already in place.
This paper proves that several interactive proof systems are zero-knowledge against general quantum attacks. This includes the well-known GoldreichâMicaliâWigderson classical zero-knowledge protocols for graph isomorphism and graph 3-coloring (assuming the existence of quantum computationally concealing commitment schemes in the second case). Also included is a quantum interactive proof system for a complete problem for the complexity class of problems having honest verifier quantum statistical zero-knowledge proofs, which therefore establishes that honest verifier and general quantum statistical zero-knowledge are equal: $\mathrm{QSZK}= \mathrm{QSZK}_{\mathrm{HV}}$. Previously no nontrivial interactive proof systems were known to be zero-knowledge against quantum attacks, except in restricted settings such as the honest verifier and common reference string models. This paper therefore establishes for the first time that true zero-knowledge is indeed possible in the presence of quantum information and computation.
In this chapter we develop a theoretical endogenous growth model where the capital in public infrastructures has an influence on the productivity of private firms. We compare the optimum and equilibrium growth rates and welfare levels, and the effects on the inefficiency of the decentralized equilibrium of the way public expenditures are financed. Then we analyse the determinants of the optimum level of public investment and of the optimal taxation structure, and we concentrate in particular on the possibilities of reducing the inefficiency associated with the decentralized equilibrium in endogenous growth models. Finally we examine the effects of debt financing in that kind of model.
Patricia Clarke Annez, George E. Peterson, Lili Liu, Robert M. Buckley
Investment in urban infrastructure in developing countries is central to maintaining growth momentum and to ensuring the improvements in the quality of life that citizens expect as part of the development process. Sound fiscal management is not optional for sustainable long-term growth. Reconciling these two legitimate, but potentially competing objectives in a context of decentralization, has become a pressing-and challenging-policy issue for a wide range of the World Bank's clients. A conference held in India in 2005 examined how these issues are being resolved in Brazil, China, India, Poland, and South Africa. The conference sought to promote a dialog between investment financing perspectives that usually proceed in isolation from each other, while also generating a body of practical, transferable implementation experience. The presenters were primarily senior government officials and representatives of financial institutions, focusing on the experiences of practitioners in formulating and implementing policy. The cases featured included three of the world's largest decentralized nations; together the five countries featured in the conference account for nearly a third of the world's urban population. This note summarizes the insights gained from the conference and some of the issues it raises for further work in urban finance.
In line with the recent call for technology on Image Based Authentication (IBA) in JPEG committee [1], we present a novel graphical password design in this paper. It rests on the human cognitive ability of association-based memorization to make the authentication more user-friendly, comparing with traditional textual password. Based on the principle of zero-knowledge proof protocol, we further improve our primary design to overcome the shoulder-surfing attack issue without adding any extra complexity into the authentication procedure. System performance analysis and comparisons are presented to support our proposals.
User Authentication and Security Systems
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
This paper describes a new protocol for authentication in ad-hoc networks. The protocol has been designed to meet specialized requirements of ad-hoc networks, such as lack of direct communication between nodes or requirements for revocable anonymity. At the same time, a ad-hoc authentication protocol must be resistant to spoofing, eavesdropping and playback, and man-in-the-middle attacks. The article analyzes existing authentication methods based on the Public Key Infrastructure, and finds that they have several drawbacks in ad-hoc networks. Therefore, a new authentication protocol, basing on established cryptographic primitives (Merkle's puzzles and zero-knowledge proofs) is proposed. The protocol is studied for a model ad-hoc chat application that provides private conversations.
Organizational boundaries are a central phenomenon, yet despite their significance, research is dominated by transaction cost economics and related exchange-efficiency perspectives. While useful, it is time to engage in a broader view. Our purpose is to provide a deeper understanding of organizational boundaries. First, we develop four boundary conceptions (efficiency, power, competence, and identity) and their distinctive features including organizational and environmental assumptions, unique conception of boundaries, theoretical arguments, empirical validity, contributions, and limitations. Efficiency takes a legal-ownership view of atomistic boundary decisions. In contrast, the power conception emphasizes the sphere of influence of the organization, while competence focuses on the resource portfolio and its related configuration, and identity centers on the often unconscious mind-set by which organizational members understand âwho we are.â We also indicate relationships, both coevolutionary and synergistic, among the conceptions. Second, we juxtapose these conceptions with the current literature to create a springboard for a renewed research agenda. This agenda includes greater focus on nonefficiency perspectives, relationships (not competition) among boundary conceptions, studies that take the normative implication of theories more seriously, and problem-driven research on contemporary boundary issues such as contract employment and business ecosystems.
As Jack Black's character in the recent movie School of Rock instills in his young charges, â[I]n this life you can't win⊠because the world is run by the man⊠there used to be a way to stick it to the man, it was called rock'n roll⊠but guess what, oh no the man ruined that too with a little thing called MTV.â View MTV as the epitome of everything that is wrong with the music industry and you pretty much have the essence of the philosophical-musical dichotomy between how the industry and consumers each perceive the state of music. Jack Black's character, who poses as a substitute teacher at an elite preparatory elementary school, further admonishes his students: âIf you want to rock, you gotta break the rules, you gotta get mad at the man.â One battle in the war between the âdownloadersâ (consumers) and the industry (the âmanâ) came to a head in the long-awaited decision in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. The decision offers several important lessons for those with some stake or interest in the continued battle between copyright owners and copyright users - or abusers. This article, the first of two, discusses the background legal principles and surrounding case law involved in Grokster and proceeds to review the holding of the decision and the facts on which it was based. A later article will discuss a possible âsafe harborâ for fair use and the potential impact of the ruling on future Internet technologies and on various stakeholders. Most readers are aware of the concept of copyright infringement. In recent years one could hardly escape discussion of it, especially in light of the publicity that lawsuits against individual file-sharers generated in the national media. Philosophers among us might think such strong-arm techniques against un-named defendants are unethical or at least that responsibility for wrongdoing ought to be shared with those who facilitate infringement and not the end-user alone. Likewise, economists among the Bulletin's readership might wonder if the transaction cost of pursuing remedy from some 12-year-old downloader or a college student struggling to make ends meet is further proof of the market failure inherent in the copyright law. Actually, the copyright law reflects these same sorts of quandaries. The concept of secondary liability, in particular contributory infringement, reflects the judicial recognition that at times a third party should share in the responsibility for another's primary or direct infringement and that pursuit of these actors is a fair and efficient form of risk-shifting within the law. While the concept is well developed in the lower courts, and one could argue that a version is codified in the Copyright Act as amended (17 U.S.C.§ 512) in 1998 by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the concept remains a product of the common law. In addition, the Supreme Court has had little occasion to address the matter of secondary liability. New technologies have twice presented opportunities for the Court to consider the matter - first in 1984 and some 20 years later this past spring (oral arguments were heard in March) and summer. In 1984 it was the videocassette recorder (in Sony Corp. of America, Inc. v. Universal City Studios), and in 2005 it was P2P or peer-to-peer file sharing systems in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd. a degree of knowledge that makes a person legally responsible for the consequences of his or her act or omission; the fact of an act's having been done knowingly, especially as a ground for civil damages or criminal punishment - p. 1373. As a result, a claim of contributory infringement contains an element of knowledge; that is, the contributing or contributory infringer must know or have reason to know that the infringing behavior of another will be the result of its conduct. This requirement ensures that accidental or ignorant conduct is not mistaken for bad intent. Second, a contributory infringer must engage in conduct that contributes to the direct infringement of another person in some substantive way, by doing something or in some circumstances by refusing to do something (for example, not intervening to prevent continuing infringement). As with vicarious liability (another species of secondary liability), if there is no direct infringement there can be no contributory liability. Under the Sony standard, adopted from the patent law's staple article-of-commerce doctrine, the Supreme Court in 1984 created a safe harbor for entrepreneurs: simply because a product could be put to infringing use, the conduct of producing and distributing the product (or refusing to cease such operations) did not trigger liability as long as the technology could be capable of substantial non-infringing use. Moreover in a somewhat clairvoyant and telling footnote the Sony dissent observed that â[t]his case involves only the home recording for home use of television programs broadcast free over the airwaves. No issue is raised concerning cable or pay television, or the sharing or trading of tapesâ [Sony Corp. of America, Inc. v. Universal City Studios, 464 U.S. 417, 459, n.2 (1984) (J. Blackmun, dissenting) (emphasis added)]. Thus the fair use the Supreme Court bored out in 1984 for consumers came in the form of time-shifting, not in the guise of all consumer recording such as library-building, back-up copying or transferring formats from cassette to CD or from CD to MP3 - so-called space-shifting. In other words the protections of Sony's safe harbor for substantial non-infringing use do not apply in instances where the questionable activity involves the use (reproduction and distribution) of copyrighted content obtained from sources other than those offered for free through various mass media such as radio (but not feebased Internet services) or broadcast television (as opposed to cable or satellite). In other words it applies where the facts of Sony apply â to consumers using the recording technology to tape movies and other content that air on broadcast television networks such as NBC, CBS and PBS. Networks are not the source of most P2P content where much of the source content is recorded music (CD) or movies (VHS or DVD) first purchased by the consumer. Moreover, the copying done by the Sony consumer is one-to-one, not one-to-many. Most important, the use of the technology in Sony was limited to circumstances where consumers made a limited, time-shifted use of the copyrighted work, one of the most misunderstood aspects of the decision. Thus, obtaining CDs, VHS tapes or DVDs from your local public library - a free distribution authorized under section 109 of the copyright law - in order to build a library at home would not be within the Sony safe harbor, at least according to one appellate court (In Re Aimster Copyright Litigation, 334 F.3d 643, 647 (7th Cir. 2003)). The Sony Court discussed the nature of the alleged contributory technology: some uses to which the technology, the Beta machine, could be put were conceivably infringing, so-called âlibrary buildingâ for example, but others were fair, e.g., a consumer might buy or rent a video or watch a home movie of family outings. In other words, a substantial number of non-infringing uses were possible. Therefore the Beta machine, like the VHS recorder of today, is not a contributory technology (Sony Corp. of America, Inc. v. Universal City Studios, 464 U.S. 417, 442 (1984)). In 1984, the Court used this distinction to develop a test to help courts determine whether a certain technology contributes to the infringement of others to such an extent that its producers should be deemed to have engaged in contributory conduct and share in the legal responsibility for infringing uses others make of it, that is, be liable for contributory copyright infringement. The question for the Court in Grokster was whether P2P is such a technology as well. [e]ven when there are non-infringing uses of an Internet file-sharing service, moreover, if the infringing uses are substantial then to avoid liability as a contributory infringer the provider of the services must show that it would have been disproportionately costly for him to eliminate or at least reduce substantially the infringing uses. - In Re Aimster Copyright Litigation, 334 F.3d 643, 653 (7th Cir. 2003) (all emphasis added). How this factor is to be applied is not further elucidated by the court, nor is the attractiveness of this standard to courts outside the Seventh Circuit determinable. However, Justice Ginsburg in her concurring opinion cited this cost-benefit concept in a favorable comparison to the decision in A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., [Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokste, Ltd., __ U.S. __, 125 S.Ct. 2764, 2784, at n.1 (2005) (Ginsburg, J., concurring)] in which the Ninth Circuit offered an alternative articulation of the legal standard applicable in P2P litigation [A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc., 239 F.3d 1004 (9th Cir. 2001)]. We are mindful that the Seventh Circuit has read Sony's substantial non-infringing use standard differently⊠However, Aimster is premised specifically on a fundamental disagreement with Napster 1's reading of Sony-Betamax⊠Even if we were free to do so [entailing an overrule of Napster] we do not read Sony-Betamax's holding as narrowly as does the Seventh CircuitâŠImplicit in the Aimster analysis is that a finding of substantial non-infringing use, including potential use, would be fatal to a contributory infringement claim, regardless of the level of knowledge possessed by the defendant. - Metro-Goldwin Studios, Inc. v Grokster, Ltd., 380 F.3d 1154, 1162, at n. 9 (9th Cir. 2004), reversed and remanded, __ U.S. __, 125 S.Ct. 2764 (2005). In June of 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court in a unanimous decision authored by Justice Souter (with concurrences by Justices Ginsburg and Breyer) held âthat one who distributes a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third partiesâ [Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. v. Grokster, Ltd., â U.S. â, 125 S.Ct. 2764, 2770 (2005)]. The question before the Court was âunder what circumstances the distributor of a product capable of both lawful and unlawful use is liable for acts of copyright infringement by third parties using the product.â While it might appear at first glance that the opinion represents a retrenchment from Sony, it is clear from Justice Souter's opinion that the rule and safe harbor of Sony remains the law of the land. However, the Court did identify an additional mode of behavior that can subject an entrepreneur to liability as a contributory infringer. This addition is significant and offers some indication of how the Court might respond when future issues arise. In an interpretation of nuance, the decision may also signal the proper judicial attitude toward Internet piracy today. Liability under our jurisprudence may be predicated on actively encouraging (or inducing) infringement through specific acts (as the Court's opinion develops) or on distributing a product distributees use to infringe copyrights, if the product is not capable of âsubstantialâ or âcommercially significantâ non-infringing uses. - (Ginsburg, J., concurring) The intended impact will be to âdeter them [entrepreneurs] from distributing products that have no other real function than - or that are specifically intended for - copyright infringement, deterrence that the Court's holding today reinforces (by adding a weapon to the copyright holder's legal arsenal).â (Breyer, J., concurring) This is the first point of significance in the opinion. The Court is more than willing to fashion a remedy if it believes a wrong must be righted. Moreover, the Court may look to other regimes within the intellectual property system, even if it means creating a new form of liability, such as borrowing again from the patent law. Not only can one induce infringement with respect to conduct in relation to a particular consumer (the previous articulation of contributory conduct developed in the lower courts) but the mere âdistribution of a product can itself give rise to liability where evidence shows that the distributor intended and encouraged the product to be used to infringe. In such a case, the culpable act is not merely the encouragement of infringement but also the distribution of the tool intended for infringing use.â While Sony involved distribution of a product to be sure, the additional element of inducement was absent. As a result of the Court's opinion, the Ninth Circuit decision in the Grokster case was vacated and remanded for further proceedings. The immediate significance is that Grokster and StreamCast (the two defendants in the case), as well as other similarly situated defendants, may be subject to secondary liability for copyright infringement if those defendants âdistribute a device with the object of promoting its use to infringe copyright, as shown by clear expression or other affirmative steps taken to foster infringement, [if supported by the evidence, the defendant] is liable for the resulting acts of infringement by third parties.â Figuring the impact of this ruling requires a closer look at the opinion, examining what the Court said as well as what the Court left unsaid! But MGM's evidence gives reason to think that the vast majority of users' downloads are acts of infringement, and because well over 100 million copies of the software in question are known to have been downloaded, and billions of files are shared across the Fast Track and Gnutella networks each month, the probable scope of copyright infringement is staggering. The evidence weighed heavily against the defendants and the infringing nature of most downloading and uploading. In fact Grokster and StreamCast conceded this point in their brief. Moreover, internal documentary evidence (there's always a memo) suggested that both Grokster and StreamCast desired to fill the empty shoes Napster left behind, exploiting the extant market for users desiring a vehicle to continue their infringing quests for copyrighted recordings and other material. Advertisements and other external communications reflected the outward expression of this internal desire. The Court appeared less concerned with the fact that some amount of non-infringing material appeared on Grokster and StreamCast systems (or P2P systems in general for that matter) or that this material is put to non-infringing uses. Of greater concern was the fact that this non-infringing material accounts for very little of the actual use made of the available material. The Court was not persuaded by arguments that Grokster, StreamCast and similar P2P systems are widely put to legitimate uses; indeed, the court recognized, as have lower courts, the sheer scale of piracy facilitated through digital and Internet technologies. Here, there has been no finding of any fair use and little beyond anecdotal evidence of non-infringing uses. In finding the Grokster and StreamCast software products capable of substantial non-infringing uses, the District Court and the Court of Appeals appear to have relied largely on declarations submitted by the defendants. These declarations include assertions (some of them hearsay) that a number of copyright owners authorize distribution of their works on the Internet and that some public domain material is available through peer-to-peer networks including those accessed through Grokster's and StreamCast's software. - (Ginsburg, J., concurring) Nor does the Patent Act's exemption from liability for those who distribute a staple article of commerce, extend to those who induce patent infringement, § 271(b). But nothing in Sony requires courts to ignore evidence of intent if there is such evidence, and the case was never meant to foreclose rules of fault-based liability derived from the common law⊠Thus, where evidence goes beyond a product's characteristics or the knowledge that it may be put to infringing uses, and shows statements or actions directed to promoting infringement, Sony's staple-article rule will not preclude liability. This finding is the second significant point that can be made. The Supreme Court appears unmoved by the mere possibility of non-infringing uses and more influenced by the improbability of such uses. It might be going too far to conclude that the Court is as disdainful of Internet piracy as some recent lower courts have been [In Re Aimster Copyright Litigation, 334 F.3d 643, 645 (7th Cir. 2003); United States v. Elcom Ltd., 203 F.Supp. 2d 1111, 1132 (N.D. Cal. 2002)], but the interjection of such sarcasm does suggest that claims of non-infringing uses from subsequent defendants will be suspect. Legitimate uses will need to be well documented. The Court, like others in positions of policy formation, such as Congress, appear to recognize all too well the scope of the problem in spite of perhaps grasping only the proverbial elephant's trunk. If some readers here are in doubt regarding the extent of piracy on the Internet, do the math as did the Court: âover 100 million copies of the software known to have been downloadedâ times the âbillions of files shared across the Fastrack and Gnutella networks each monthâ equals a figure reflecting that âthe probable scope of copyright infringement is staggering.â Factor in the variety of other P2P systems capable of similar exchanges, such as intranets, and the amount of infringing traffic is more likely astronomical. Regardless of the actual numbers, the perception of members of the judiciary reflected in court opinion as well as expressed by members of Congress paints a view of decision-makers short on patience and long on punishment. For example, after holding hearings in 2003 on the P2P rampage and other copyright abuse among student Internet users [see <http://commdocs.house.gov/committees/judiciary/hju85286.000/hju85286_0.htm> and <http://hsgac.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Hearings.Detail&HearingID=120>], legislation was introduced that would offer plaintiffs the opportunity to sue those who aid or abet another's infringement [S. 2560, 108th Cong., 2nd Sess. (2004) (Inducing Infringement of Copyright Act of 2004)]. What do these attitudes and the new law spawned in Grokster represent for the future of innovation in Internet technologies? Perhaps we must wait to see how the lower courts interpret Grokster before the decision's full impact can be assessed, and, of course, Congress might decide to tinker again with the copyright law. Several additional comments from the decision, however, may point to the basis for such future articulation, and we will explore them in Part 2 of this article.