Deploying a middleware architecture for next generation mobile systems

Although 2G systems quite adequately cater for voice communications, today demand is for high-speed access to data centric applications and multimedia. Future networks have been designed to provide higher rates for data transmission, but this will be complemented by higher speed access to services via hotspots using secondary wireless interfaces such as Bluetooth or WLAN. With a wide range of applications that may be developed, a growing number of short range wireless interfaces that may be deployed, and with mobile terminals of different capabilities, a means to integrate all these variables in order to facilitate provision of services is desirable. This paper describes an architecture involving the use of middleware that makes software development independent of the specific wireless platfor

Charles Ferguson and the "Broadband Problem"

Charles Ferguson has published a book that advocates a major increase in government intervention in the U.S. market for high-speed, "broadband" Internet services. His proposals are based on a faulty understanding of the effects of current telecommunications regulation and unsubstantiated claims that current participants in the broadband marketplace are exercising monopoly power. His policy recommendations would not only fail to accelerate the pace of broadband diffusion in the United States, but they would surely provide a disincentive for carriers to invest in the network upgrades required to extend broadband and to provide even higher-speed Internet access for U.S. consumers.Technology and Industry, Regulatory Reform

Study on Energy Consumption and Coverage of Hierarchical Cooperation of Small Cell Base Stations in Heterogeneous Networks

The demand for communication services in the era of intelligent terminals is unprecedented and huge. To meet such development, modern wireless communications must provide higher quality services with higher energy efficiency in terms of system capacity and quality of service (QoS), which could be achieved by the high-speed data rate, the wider coverage and the higher band utilization. In this paper, we propose a way to offload users from a macro base station(MBS) with a hierarchical distribution of small cell base stations(SBS). The connection probability is the key indicator of the implementation of the unload operation. Furthermore, we measure the service performance of the system by finding the conditional probability-coverage probability with the certain SNR threshold as the condition, that is, the probability of obtaining the minimum communication quality when the different base stations are connected to the user. Then, user-centered total energy consumption of the system is respectively obtained when the macro base station(MBS) and the small cell base stations(SBS) serve each of the users. The simulation results show that the hierarchical SBS cooperation in heterogeneous networks can provide a higher system total coverage probability for the system with a lower overall system energy consumption than MBS.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, accepted by ICACT201

Scheduled service versus personal transportation: the role of distance

This paper analyzes both theoretically and empirically the relationship between distance and frequency of scheduled transportation services. We study the interaction between a monopoly firm providing high-speed scheduled service and personal trans- portation (i.e., car). Most interestingly, the carrier chooses to increase frequency of service on longer routes when competing with personal transportation because provid- ing a higher frequency (at extra cost) it can also charge higher fares that can boost its profits. However, when driving is not a relevant option, frequency of service de- creases for longer flights consistently with prior studies. An empirical application of our analysis to the European airline industry con?rms the predictions of our theoretical model.Short-haul routes, long-haul routes, flight frequency, distance

Network based scoring models to improve credit risk management in peer to peer lending platforms

Financial intermediation has changed extensively over the course of the last two decades. One of the most significant change has been the emergence of FinTech. In the context of credit services, fintech peer to peer lenders have introduced many opportunities, among which improved speed, better customer experience, and reduced costs. However, peer-to-peer lending platforms lead to higher risks, among which higher credit risk: not owned by the lenders, and systemic risks: due to the high interconnectedness among borrowers generated by the platform. This calls for new and more accurate credit risk models to protect consumers and preserve financial stability. In this paper we propose to enhance credit risk accuracy of peer-to-peer platforms by leveraging topological information embedded into similarity networks, derived from borrowers' financial information. Topological coefficients describing borrowers' importance and community structures are employed as additional explanatory variables, leading to an improved predictive performance of credit scoring models

A Geographical Contribution on Interurban Passenger Rail Transportation in the United States

Why does the rail infrastructure of the United States lag behind those of many other developed countries? Where is U.S. high-speed rail? This research approaches this in a dilemma by exploring Amtrak’s traditional rail services and high-speed rail projects in the nation to understand the workings of public rail transportation policies, what they contain, and how they are developed and pursued by the different stakeholders. This research utilizes case studies and a multiscale approach to analyze the territorialization of intercity rail transportation policies. The analysis demonstrates the emergence of a bottom-up approach to projects, notably apparent in the California HSR project and in the modernization of the Cascades corridor. Furthermore, this research concluded that, first, the development of uniform arguments and recommendations to encourage new rail policies emphasizes structuring effects and economic role of high-speed rail, congestion reduction, modal shift. Second, a tangible though uneven pro-rail position exists among public actors at all levels. Stakeholders prioritize improving and modernizing existing corridors for the launch of higher-speed services, and then on hybrid networks that combine different types of infrastructures. Although there are no publicly backed projects for new lines exclusively dedicated to high-speed rail, most of the high-speed corridors are in fact “higher-speed” corridors, some of which are intended to become high-speed at some time in the future