Utilitarian placement of composite services

The emergence of distributed clouds opens up new research challenges for service deployment. Composite services consist of multiple components, potentially located in different geographical locations, which need to be interconnected and invoked in the correct order according to the overall service work-flow. The placement of composite services over distributed cloud node locations raises new challenges for efficient deployment and management. In this paper, we design exact models of the composite service placement problems using Mixed Integer Linear Program (MILP), and compare these to solutions based on genetic algorithms. We use a utility function, based initially on latency metrics, to evaluate the quality of service (QoS) of the deployed composite service. By maximizing the utility with respect to deployment cost, our approach can provide good QoS for users while satisfying budget constraints for service providers. Based on simulations using real data-center locations and traffic demand patterns, we show that our algorithms are scalable under a range of scenarios.This work has been supported in part by the FP7 FUSION (grant agreement 318205), in part by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.K. Ministry of Defence (agreement number W911NF-16-3-0001), in part by the H2020 5G-MEDIA (grant agreement 761699) and in part by the CHIST-ERA CONCERT (grant agreement I1402) projects.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Extending life for people with a terminal illness: a moral right and an expensive death? Exploring societal perspectives

BACKGROUND: Many publicly-funded health systems apply cost-benefit frameworks in response to the moral dilemma of how best to allocate scarce healthcare resources. However, implementation of recommendations based on costs and benefit calculations and subsequent challenges have led to ‘special cases’ with certain types of health benefits considered more valuable than others. Recent debate and research has focused on the relative value of life extensions for people with terminal illnesses. This research investigates societal perspectives in relation to this issue, in the UK. METHODS: Q methodology was used to elicit societal perspectives from a purposively selected sample of data-rich respondents. Participants ranked 49 statements of opinion (developed for this study), onto a grid, according to level of agreement. These ‘Q sorts’ were followed by brief interviews. Factor analysis was used to identify shared points of view (patterns of similarity between individuals’ Q sorts). RESULTS: Analysis produced a three factor solution. These rich, shared accounts can be broadly summarised as: i) ‘A population perspective – value for money, no special cases’, ii) ‘Life is precious – valuing life-extension and patient choice’, iii) ‘Valuing wider benefits and opportunity cost - the quality of life and death’. From the factor descriptions it is clear that the main philosophical positions that have long dominated debates on the just allocation of resources have a basis in public opinion. CONCLUSIONS: The existence of certain moral positions in the views of society does not ethically imply, and pragmatically cannot mean, that all are translated into policy. Our findings highlight normative tensions and the importance of critically engaging with these normative issues (in addition to the current focus on a procedural justice approach to health policy). Future research should focus on i) the extent to which these perspectives are supported in society, ii) how respondents' perspectives relate to specific resource allocation questions, and iii) the characteristics of respondents associated with each perspective

Development and validation of an instrument to measure user perceived service quality of mHealth

The role of service quality in fostering the growth of mHealth services has gained much attention in the academic and practitioner communities. However, empirical research in this area has been beset by inadequate conceptualization and the lack of a validated scale. This study addresses these limitations by theoretically conceptualizing and empirically validating a multidimensional service quality scale in the mHealth context. The findings show that mHealth service quality is a hierarchical, multidimensional, and reflective construct, which consists of three primary dimensions and eight subdimensions. The results also confirm that the mHealth service quality scale is more effective at predicting satisfaction and continuance in a nomological network

Examining the Influence of Store Environment in Hedonic and Utilitarian Shopping

[Abstract] Much of the literature on the attractiveness and pleasantness of retail stores has focused on the critical influence of store atmosphere or ambient attributes, which influence customer satisfaction and store choice. However, little is known about the environmental cues that influence customers’ satisfaction in different shopping contexts. In this context, the present research aims to answer the following questions: “Are the store atmospheric variables equally relevant in hedonic and utilitarian shopping?”; and further: “Does the influence of store environment on customer satisfaction vary depending on the type of shopping?”. For this purpose an empirical research is developed through PLS Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) based on data obtained from hedonic (n = 210) and utilitarian (n = 267) shopping contexts. Results indicate that customers perceive differently store atmospherics in utilitarian and in hedonic shopping. More precisely, findings report that customer satisfaction is driven by internal ambient and merchandise layout in hedonic shopping contexts; while the external ambient and the merchandise layout are major atmospheric cues in utilitarian shopping. Interestingly, store crowding does not influence customers’ satisfaction. This study provides a deeper understanding into the specific store attributes that influence customer satisfaction, which could be used by retailers to differentiate themselves from competitors

Triptych: multi-objective optimisation of service deployment costs, application delay and bandwidth usage

Advanced Internet services increasingly rely on many components to implement their functionality. These composite services have three important features: they are expensive to deploy, components need to be placed intelligently close to the users to improve quality of experience and they will potentially consume significant amounts of bandwidth. This paper presents Triptych, a multi-objective optimisation framework that tries to optimise according these three dimensions to help the three main stakeholders in the Internet ecosystem: users, application providers and network providers. Triptych implements evolutionary computation approaches for this complex problem, which simultaneously optimise service deployment costs, latency-based user utility and network congestion. These algorithms provide possible operating points, bringing important tools for network managements and resource allocation. A large set of simulations under different scenarios are provided to validate the algorithms.This work has been supported by the US Army Research Laboratory and the UK Ministry of Defence (agreement number W911NF-16-3-0001) and has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 761699 (5G-MEDIA).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An Integrated Model of Media Satisfaction and Engagement: Theory, Empirical Assessment and Managerial Implications

Media satisfaction theorists suggest that satisfaction with media vehicles is linked to audience loyalty, greater vehicle usage, and other media related behaviors. More recently, similar claims are made by media engagement theorists regarding levels of newspaper readership and receptivity to advertising messages. The dilemma for media managers charged with making decisions about how best to manage and strengthen customer relationships through the delivery of high quality business operations is which model to choose. To date no study has examined the relative effects of customer satisfaction and engagement resulting from business operations onto the future intentions of media audiences. This study presents a comprehensive model that blends both approaches for a newspaper vehicle. The results indicate that media satisfaction and engagement play complementary roles in predicting the future intentions of media audiences, and media managers need to consider both as they evaluate how their business operations impact customer relationships

Features of Identification Elements Deployed along Highways: Example of Ukraine and India

As a result of literature analysis the authors identified the main directions of the road improvement problem study and determined that further research needs the identification elements, which can improve the visual and functional nature of the road. Among the elements of road improvement is distinguished a separate broad group - identification elements, which includes natural objects, historical and cultural monuments and recreational areas. Are revealed the factors influence on the road environment visual perception and the main properties of the road space perception. The authors’ studies made it possible to formulate the main requirements for the road space and to propose the principles of calculating the distances between the points of stop along the highways

Intellectual Property Rights in Advertising

Before the twentieth century, U.S. courts refused to protect copyright in advertisements. Until the middle of the twentieth century, advertising slogans generally were not registered or protected under U.S. trademark law. Today, firms can acquire copyright protection in advertising and there is no categorical rule against trademark registration or protection of slogans. This Article questions whether this extension of copyright protection to advertising and trademark protection to slogans has a satisfactory utilitarian justification[...] If it is too difficult to completely eliminate copyright protection of advertising, Congress should at least consider reducing such protection to increase the free flow of advertising expression. This Article proposes two revisions to the U.S. Copyright Act to accomplish this goal. First, Congress could amend Section 102(b) to state that advertising is only entitled to thin copyright protection against virtually identical copying of the work. Although the doctrine of thin copyright is used for factual compilations and other works for reasons that do not apply to original and creative advertising works, this framework, which requires virtual identity between the original and accused works, should more effectively balance the interests of copyright holders and later advertisers and commentators. Second, Congress could clarify in Section 107 that the first factor of the statutory fair use defense weighs in favor of a finding of fair use if the defendant used the plaintiff\u27s copyrighted advertising expression in comparative advertising. If Congress revises Section 102 and 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act to enable more unauthorized uses of copyrighted advertising expression during the copyright term, this may reduce the harm to free expression caused by copyright protection of advertising and increase net social welfare[...] This Article attempts to provide a full evaluation of the utilitarian justification for copyright in advertising and trademark rights in slogans. Part II explains how the United States uses copyright and trademark law to protect exclusive rights in advertising and slogans. In Part III and IV, this Article explores whether copyright in advertising and trademark rights in slogans can be justified under traditional utilitarian theory. The answer is probably not, with the caveat that it may be too difficult and costly to distinguish between advertising and other copyrighted works in light of recent changes in the advertising industry. Since U.S. intellectual property laws are primarily based on utilitarian theory, legislators should consider reducing copyright protection of advertising and eliminating trademark protection of slogans

Reconsidering consumer need for touch: Latent class analysis and purchase experience in a 360-virtual store

Consumers differ regarding need for touch, and for some consumers haptic exploration plays a more important role in shopping. While online shopping lacks in haptic exploration, we focus on the possibilities of a 360-virtual store in compensating this deficiency. Using latent class analysis and a sample of 300 responses, we first identify four subgroups based on the need for touch scale, with two groups at the high and low ends of the need for touch continuum. Additionally, we identify a group that has a neutral need for touch and a group that is negative regarding autotelic need for touch, and positive regarding instrumental need for touch. To illustrate between-group differences, we examine how consumers with different levels of need for touch differ in the relationship between hedonic / utilitarian shopping experience and purchase intention stimulated by a 360-virtual store visit