The security of pairing-based cryptosystems depends on the difficulty of the discrete logarithm problem (DLP) over certain types of finite fields. One of the most efficient algorithms for computing a pairing is the ηT pairing over supersingular curves on finite fields whose characteristic is 3. Indeed many high-speed implementations of this pairing have been reported, and it is an attractive ca...

Policy makers (both public and private) are seeking ways to improve the value delivered within our health care system, that is, using fewer resources to provide the same benefit to patients, or using equivalent resources to provide more benefit. One strategy is to alter the predominant fee-for-service (FFS) economic incentives in the current system. To inform such policy changes, this paper ide...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a pleiotropic cytokine which increases bcl-2 levels and protects cells from steroid or doxorubicin-induced apoptosis. Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells bear functional IL-10 receptors. Thus serum IL-10 (sIL-10) might inhibit apoptosis in HRS cells, which could occur as a result of either chemotherapy or the crippled immunoglobulin genes. ...

While there is broad agreement that the way that health care providers are paid affects their performance, the empirical literature on the impacts of provider payment reforms is surprisingly thin. During the 1990s and early 2000s, many European and Central Asian (ECA) countries shifted from paying hospitals through historical budgets to fee-for-service (FFS) or patient-based payment (PBP) metho...

We summarize the key results of a recent global analysis of inclusive singlecharged-hadron production in high-energy colliding-beam experiments. In the framework of the parton model of quantum chromodynamics at next-to-leading order (NLO), fragmentation functions (FFs) for charged pions, charged kaons, and (anti) protons are extracted from experimental data of e+e− annihilation at the Z-boson r...

Despite the tremendous need for extension approaches that contribute to poverty reduction in rural sub-Saharan Africa, many extension models have been tried with only limited success. A popular model at the moment is the farmer field schools (FFS) approach, based on adult education principles such as experiential learning. Farmer field schools are intensive, season-long programs where farmers m...

The 4.4BSD file system includes a new algorithm for allocating disk blocks to files. The goal of this algorithm is to improve file clustering, increasing the amount of sequential I/O when reading or writing files, thereby improving file system performance. In this paper we study the effectiveness of this algorithm at reducing file system fragmentation. We have created a program that artificiall...

We give details on solving the discrete logarithm problem in the 202-bit prime order subgroup of F2809 using the Function Field Sieve algorithm (FFS). To our knowledge, this computation is the largest discrete logarithm computation so far in a binary field extension of prime degree. The Function Field Sieve is the traditional approach for solving these problems, and has been used in previous re...

We examined non-response bias in physical component summary scores (PCS) and mental component summary scores (MCS) in the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) Health Outcomes Survey (HOS) using two alternative methods, response propensity weighting and imputation for non-respondents. The two approaches gave nearly identical estimates of non-response bias. PCS scores were 0.74 points lower and MCS sco...