Blockchain Papers

X. Huang, N. Phan-Thien, R.I. Tanner

No abstract is available for this record.

R.J. Araujo, F.P. Fehlner

No abstract is available for this record.

Jesper V Møller, Birte Juul, Marc le Maire

No abstract is available for this record.

A. Schilling, G. Knittel, W. Strasser

No abstract is available for this record.

Chieko Mineo, Guy L. James, Eric J. Smart, Richard G.W. Anderson

No abstract is available for this record.

Yu-Kwong Kwok, I. Ahmad

No abstract is available for this record.

A. P. Jardine, Jayanth N. Kudva, Christopher A. Martin, Kari Appa

On high performance military aircraft, small changes in both wing twist and wing camber have the potential to provide substantial payoffs in terms of additional lift and enhanced maneuverability. To achieve the required wing shape, actuators made of smart materials are currently being studied under an ARPA/WL contract for a subscale model of a fighter aircraft. The use of the shape memory alloy TiNi for wing twist actuation was investigated using shape memory effect (SME) torque tube actuator configurations. The actuator configurations were sized to fit inside a 16% scale model of an aircraft wing and the torque's supplied to the wing were similarly calculated from full-scale requirements. The actuator systems were tested in a conventional laboratory setting. Design and calibration of the actuators for wing twist are discussed.

Jayanth N. Kudva, A. P. Jardine, Christopher Martin, Kari Appa

While the concept of an adaptive aircraft wing, i.e., a wing whose shape parameters such as camber, wing twist, and thickness can be varied to optimize the wing shape for various flight conditions, has been extensively studied, the complexity and weight penalty of the actuation mechanisms have precluded their practical implementation. Recent development of sensors and actuators using smart materials could potentially alleviate the shortcomings of prior designs, paving the way for a practical, `smart' adaptive wing which responds to changes in flight and environmental conditions by modifying its shape to provide optimal performance. This paper presents a summary of recent work done on adaptive wing designs under an on-going ARPA/WL contract entitled `Smart Structures and Materials Development--Smart Wing.' Specifically, the design, development and planned wind tunnel testing of a 16% model representative of a fighter aircraft wing and incorporating the following features, are discussed: (1) a composite wing torque box whose span-wise twist can be varied by activating built-in shape memory alloy (SMA) torque tubes to provide increased lift and enhanced maneuverability at multiple flight conditions, (2) trailing edge control surfaces deployed using composite SMA actuators to provide smooth, hingeless aerodynamic surfaces, and (3) a suite of fiber optic sensors integrated into the wing skin which provide real-time strain and pressure data to a feedback control system.

Michael Klein

A wave of privatization is sweeping the globe, affecting about 100 countries and adding up to an average of more than $60 billion a year in business in the past decade. The challenge is to ensure that privatization yields clear benefits. Empirical studies suggest that ownership change by itself will often yield results, especially when it reduces government interference. But the regulation required in areas of natural monopoly can become overly intrusive and undermine progress. Real competition is required to generate sizable and lasting welfare improvements. But in infrastructure sectors, the introduction of competition is complicated by the existence of complex transport and communications networks. Debate about whether and how to introduce competition in network industries is sometimes heated. Certain questions recur: Will continuing regulation be needed? Whether and at what terms will private finance be forthcoming? The author argues that policymakers need to understand how competitive forces can be brought to bear in network industries. He explains the following: 1) common principles that are often lost in"technical"debates about specific sectors; 2) various methods for introducing competition in network industries; 3) competition for the market, and bidding for franchises; 4) options for competition for existing networks; 5) options for expanding competitive systems by decentralizing investment in new network capacity; 6) the option of allowing competition among multiple networks; and 7) the implications of these options for the sectors and for financing industry expansion. In case of doubt, he contends, policymakers should not restrict the entry of competitive firms in such networks. If they do, entry restrictions should be subject to an automatic test after a set period, and reviewed for costs and benefits.

Ivan B. Damg aard, R.J.F. Cramer

Assume we are given a language $L$ with an honest verifier perfect zero-knowledge proof system. Assume also that the proof system is a $\leq 3$ move Arthur-Merlin game. The class of such languages includes all random self-reducible language, and also any language with a perfect zero-knowledge non-interactive proof. We show that such a language satisfies a certain closure property, namely that languages constructed from $L$ by applying certain monotone functions to statements on membership in $L$ have perfect zero-knowledge proof systems. The new set of languages we can build includes $L$ itself, but also for example languages consisting of $n$ words of which at least $t\leq n$ are in $L$. A similar closure property is shown to hold for the complement of $L$ and for statistical zero-knowledge. The property we need for the monotone functions used to build the new languages is that there are efficient secret sharing schemes for their associated access structures. This includes (but is not necessarily limited to) all monotone functions with polynomial size monotone formulas.

Mohamed Naimi, Michel Trehel, André Arnold

No abstract is available for this record.

Frank M. Gryna, Joel Jankowski

Examines six issues to decide whether total quality management (TQM) concepts can improve the effectiveness of company‐wide financial activities, i.e. the finance function. These issues address the basic role of a central finance department; TQM concepts in specific financial processes including capital budgeting and working capital management; competitive benchmarking; and personnel skills needed for the future. The finance function in most organizations has been pulled in many directions recently by downsizing, technology, ethical issues and, of course, TQM. The central finance office (CFO) needs to understand how TQM issues may not be a negative constraint on the finance process but actually assist in re‐engineering the finance process for the future. Defines the service role of the finance function and how it can be decentralized throughout the organization. Presents many issues in a question format which allows the finance manager to organize the implications of TQM in the total finance operation. Also investigates various financial processes such as capital budgeting and working‐capital management.

Ichiro Koshijima, Kazuo Niida, Tomio Umeda

No abstract is available for this record.

Tushar Deepak Chandra, Sam Toueg

We introduce the concept of unreliable failure detectors and study how they can be used to solve Consensus in asynchronous systems with crash failures. We characterise unreliable failure detectors in terms of two properties—completeness and accuracy. We show that Consensus can be solved even with unreliable failure detectors that make an infinite number of mistakes, and determine which ones can be used to solve Consensus despite any number of crashes, and which ones require a majority of correct processes. We prove that Consensus and Atomic Broadcast are reducible to each other in asynchronous systems with crash failures; thus, the above results also apply to Atomic Broadcast. A companion paper shows that one of the failure detectors introduced here is the weakest failure detector for solving Consensus [Chandra et al. 1992].

A. T. Kraabel

Reviewed by: Mission and Conversion: Proselytizing in the Religious History of the Roman Empire A. T. Kraabel Martin Goodman. Mission and Conversion: Proselytizing in the Religious History of the Roman Empire. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994. Pp. xiv 1 194. $39.95. Despite its sweeping title, this path-breaking volume is mainly about alleged Jewish missionary activity in the Roman world. (The author is successor to Geza Vermes as Reader in Jewish Studies at Oxford.) Thus chapter 5, “Mission in the Early Church,” is bracketed symmetrically by four chapters about Jews, specifically on their “attitudes to gentile paganism” and on “proselytes and proselytizing”: chapters 3–4 deal with the third century b.C.E. to the first century C.E., and 6–7 on the Talmudic period. The opening chapter is a clear statement about what is at stake. Goodman will not write an account of the phenomenon of conversion à la A. D. Nock, but raise a prior issue: was mission an inevitable component of religion, any religion, in the Greco-Roman world? Or does that idea rather “reflect an unconscious Christianization of the study of ancient religions”? (The second chapter will take up commonly cited examples of “mission” in the spread of pagan cults and philosophies in Roman times.) Goodman distinguishes four types of mission—informative, educational, apologetic, and proselytizing—but focuses on the last, the only one whose goal is conversion. He mentions a fifth briefly: forcible inclusion of a ruler’s subjects in a state religion seen as a unifying factor for that society. Under Goodman’s critical analysis the traditional picture of a “Jewish mission” evaporates. He separates the two pairs of chapters on Judaism at the latter part of the first century C.E.: the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Temple, the introduction of the fiscus Judaicus, and the beginning of the rabbinic movement. These years are his hinge for eight centuries of Jewish history. Earlier Jews had condemned any worship of pagan deities by Jews, but were tolerant of or disinterested in gentile paganism in the Diaspora. (Pagans in the land of Israel were a problem; the issue was ritual pollution.) Proselytizing had not been of interest either, contra Schürer, Juster, Jeremias, M. Stern, D. Georgi and a shelf-full of NT handbooks. Conversions to Judaism happened, in anticipation of marriage, sometimes at the point of a sword. But had there been missionary campaigns, had proselytizing been a priority, we would have heard much more about it both from Jews and from their detractors; the references would have been unmistakable. Goodman dismantles the proof-texts from Philo, Horace, and Cicero commonly used [End Page 114] to “prove” the contrary, and argues that Matt. 23.15 is not about making gentile proselytes but about Pharisees trying to persuade other Jews to follow Pharisaic halakha. And those Jews who wrote in Greek did so not in “outreach” to gentiles, but to reach their fellows and their offspring for whom Greek was their first language; the LXX itself is the parade example. In the Talmudic period large shifts occurred within Judaism, results of major historical change. To fuel its propaganda, the Flavian dynasty had transformed the destruction of Jerusalem from “the suppression of insurrection in a comparatively minor provincial backwater” into a mighty Roman victory. The fiscus Judaicus necessitated clearer distinctions between Jews and non-Jews. An important example for students of the early Christian mission to gentiles is the case of gentiles sympathetic to Judaism. Thus, pace Acts, there probably had been no “formal category of gentile Godfearers recognized as such by Jews in the 1st cent[ury].” But the famous Aphrodisias inscription suggests to Goodman a change in Jewish attitudes two centuries later. No review will do justice to the riches of this provocative monograph. This journal’s readers will want their own copies. While agreeing with the thesis and most of the argument, I would raise several points for consideration: 1. I would see even more diversity, especially in Diaspora Judaism, than Goodman does. We are just coming to realize the great variety present in pre-Constantinian Christianity. Judaism in the same time and space had a weaker network, no bishops preaching consensus...

Theodore H. Tulchinsky, Elena A. Varavikova

OBJECTIVES: This paper reviews Russia's health crisis, financing, and organization and public health reform needs. METHODS: The structure, policy, supply of services, and health status indicators of Russia's health system are examined. RESULTS: Longevity is declining; mortality rates from cardiovascular diseases and trauma are high and rising; maternal and infant mortality are high. Vaccine-preventable diseases have reappeared in epidemic form. Nutrition status is problematic. CONCLUSIONS: The crisis relates to Russia's economic transition, but it also goes deep into the former Soviet health system. The epidemiologic transition from a predominance of infectious to noninfectious diseases was addressed by increasing the quantity of services. The health system lacked mechanisms for epidemiologic or economic analysis and accountability to the public. Policy and funding favored hospitals over ambulatory care and individual routine checkups over community-oriented preventive approaches. Reform since 1991 has centered on national health insurance and decentralized management of services. A national health strategy to address fundamental public health problems is recommended.

Michael Bruno, Boris Pleskovic

No AccessAnnual World Bank Conference on Development Economics (Global)1 Feb 2013Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics 1995Authors/Editors: Michael Bruno, Boris PleskovicMichael Bruno, Boris Pleskovichttps://doi.org/10.1596/0-8213-3280-5SectionsAboutPDF (1.1 MB) ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack Citations ShareFacebookTwitterLinked In Abstract:The Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics provides a forum for debate and the exchange of ideas and information between World Bank staff and development researchers and practitioners from around the world. The 1995 conference addresses four themes: (1) where we stand on inequality, poverty, and growth; (2) demographic change and development; (3) aid and development; and (4) fiscal decentralization. The first theme centers around a book by Hollis Chenery, Redistribution With Growth, which discusses: (a) the constant elasticity of substitution production functions to economies of scale; (b) the complementarity and timing of investment decisions; (c) investment criteria and shadow pricing; (d) dynamic comparative advantages; and (e) issues of income distribution and growth. This book has made two important contributions to development economics: it has established the intellectual base for research and policy analysis at the Bank, and has changed the course of thinking on development, especially on how to help the poor. The second theme refers to government provision and regulation of economic support in old age, and new perspectives on women, work, and demographic change. The theme of aid and development focuses on incentives and guidelines for development, reasons behind multilateral lending, and whether or not growth in developing countries is beneficial to industrial countries. The fourth theme discusses efficiency, macroeconomics, conflicts, and dilemmas of fiscal federalism and decentralization, and presents a roundtable discussion on second-generation issues in transition economies. The Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics has evolved over the years to become the single largest gathering of the development economics community in the world. The findings, interpretations and conclusions of the 1995 conference are highlighted in this publication. Next book FiguresreferencesRecommendeddetailsCited byValue-Added Tax Revenue Transfers and Regional Social Development: Evidence from NigeriaSustainability, Vol.14, No.212 November 2022Fiscal decentralization and efficiency of public services delivery by local governments in GhanaAfrican Development Review, Vol.33, No.36 August 2021The Influences of Fiscal Decentralization on Economic Performance: Empirical Evidence from OECD CountriesPrague Economic Papers, Vol.27, No.5Does Foreign Aid Target the Poorest?International Organization, Vol.71, No.011 December 2016How to Measure Informal InstitutionsSSRN Electronic JournalMultilateral Aid and Domestic Economic InterestsInternational Organization, Vol.69, No.0118 November 2014Fiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth in Central and Eastern EuropeGrowth and Change, Vol.40, No.3How (Not) to Measure InstitutionsSSRN Electronic JournalFiscal Decentralization and Economic Growth in Central and Eastern EuropeSSRN Electronic JournalWill Monetary Policy Become More of a Science?Finance and Economics Discussion Series, Vol.2007, No.441 September 2007Kuznets's Inverted U-Curve Hypothesis: The Rise, Demise, and Continued Relevance of a Socioeconomic LawSociological Forum, Vol.20, No.2The Adoption, Implementation and Impact of IMF Programs: A Review of the EvidenceSSRN Electronic JournalLast bank standing: What do I gain if you fail?European Economic Review, Vol.46, No.9Effects of Bank Insolvency and Strategic Uncertainty on Corporate Restructuring in Transition EconomiesSSRN Electronic JournalInstitutions and Transition - Possible Policy Implications of the New Institutional EconomicsSSRN Electronic JournalPensions reform, privatisation and restructuring in the transition: Unfinished business or inappropriate agendas?Europe-Asia Studies, Vol.50, No.86 November 2007Fiscal decentralisation and IDC economic growth: An empirical investigationJournal of Development Studies, Vol.34, No.4Trade and Labor StandardsSSRN Electronic JournalThe Community Reinvestment Act and the Profitability of Mortgage-Oriented BanksSSRN Electronic Journal View Published: March 1996ISBN: 978-0-8213-3280-1 Copyright & Permissions Related RegionsLatin America & CaribbeanRelated CountriesArgentinaRelated TopicsFinance and Financial Sector DevelopmentMacroeconomics and Economic GrowthSocial Protections and Labor KeywordsINCOME DISTRIBUTIONPOVERTYDEMOGRAPHIC INDICATORSDECENTRALIZATIONFISCAL ADMINISTRATIONINVESTMENT EFFECTIVENESSPOLICY ANALYSISOLD AGE BENEFITSGOVERNMENT SPENDING POLICYMULTILATERAL AIDCOMPARATIVE ADVANTAGEDEVELOPMENT ECONOMICSDEVELOPMENT POLICIESDEVELOPMENT PROCESSESECONOMIC GROWTHECONOMIC RESEARCHINTERNATIONAL TRADETECHNICAL ASSISTANCETRANSITION ECONOMIES PDF DownloadLoading ...

B.V. Zhmud, J. Sonnefeld

No abstract is available for this record.

V. Quintard, G. Deboy, S. Dilhaire, D. Lewis · 6 authors

No abstract is available for this record.

Zhonghai Ding

A complete proof of the trace theorem of Sobolev spaces on Lipschitz domains has not appeared in the literature yet. The purpose of this paper is to give a complete proof of the trace theorem of Sobolev spaces on Lipschitz domains by taking advantage of the intrinsic norm on H s ( ∂ Ω ) H^{s}(\partial \Omega ) . It is proved that the trace operator is a linear bounded operator from H s ( Ω ) H^{s}(\Omega ) to H s − 1 2 ( ∂ Ω ) H^{s-\frac {1}{2}}(\partial \Omega ) for 1 2 > s > 3 2 \frac {1}{2}>s>\frac {3}{2} .

Walter J. Weber, Weilin Huang

No abstract is available for this record.

C.M. Rémillard, Benjamin G. Zifkin, Allan L. Sherwin, William Feindel

George A. Savoy was born in Cohoes, New York, in 1873. He left the U.S.A. in 1921 to manage the Canadian branch of a large manufacturer of ledgers and looseleaf registers. This company was asked to supply Professor Jasper's laboratory with rolls of plain unlined paper and it was George Savoy who later developed fanfolded and lined EEG paper, which was first used at the Montreal Neurological Institute. He also had personal contacts with Wilder Penfield concerning their mutual interest in the needs of patients with epilepsy. He was a successful industrialist involved with several charitable organizations funding programmes for people with epilepsy. He was opposed to the sectarianism then prevalent in Quebec, which was unfamiliar to him, and in reaction built his own institution, Dieppe House, a home for people with epilepsy, later renamed <<Foyer Savoy>>. It was to operate without regard to race, language or religion. In 1971, his son Harold and other generous donors decided to create a foundation to support research in epilepsy. The Foyer Savoy was sold in 1988 and the proceeds used to increase the endowment of the foundation. His grandson George M. Savoy is the current president. The fourth generation is also represented by Caroline Savoy, daughter of the president, who joined the board of directors in 1992. The foundation will distribute from $300,000 to $400,000 yearly to researchers from many different countries working in the field of epilepsy in universities and hospitals throughout Canada.

Nick Devas

The transition from communism to a market economy poses many important questions concerning the appropriate role for the state, and the institutional capacity for service delivery and development. Cambodia, after the turmoil of the Khmer Rouge and a decade of Vietnamese-guided communism, has opted for a market economy. This article considers some of the problems facing the Cambodian government following the UN-backed elections. It outlines the system of government at national and local level, focusing on Battambang province and district. It considers the current debate there about centralization and decentralization, and examines the problems of finance at national and local levels. The case study on water supplies in Battambang town contrasts the public provision through the provincial water enterprise with private sector and community/NGO provision. Whilst there is an urgent need to increase water supply capacity and improve quality, there are institutional constraints in relation to the various providers. The development of the capacity of the local government to manage service delivery will be crucial. © 1996 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Wendy L. Currie

No abstract is available for this record.