Competition of Service Marketplaces: Designing Growth in Service Networks

The cloud computing paradigm gives rise to Web service marketplaces where complex services areprovided by several modular vendors. Recently more and more intermediaries are pushing onto themarket, thereby driving competition. Offering innovative business models which are capable ofattracting service providers and consumers is a reasonable strategy to beat competitors and to takeadvantage of network effects. We develop a mechanism that introduces a novel way of distributingrevenues among service providers – the power ratio. Its underlying presumption is not only tocompensate service providers who actually contribute to a complex service offered at a time, but alsoto pay out partners who are on standby – i.e. vendors that support the network’s variety and stability,but actually do not contribute to the complex service delivered. We show that a payment function thatis based upon the power ratio is a promising approach to draw in service providers as it outperformsa payment function that rewards vendors merely based on their actual allocation in terms of expectedpayoffs for different types of service vendors

Coordinating service composition

The fundamental paradigm shift from traditional value chains to agile service value networks implies new economic and organizational challenges. As coordination mechanisms, auctions have proven to perform quite well in situations where intangible and heterogeneous goods are traded. Nevertheless traditional approaches in the area of multiattribute combinatorial auctions are not quite suitable to enable the trade of composite services. A flawless service execution and therefore the requester\u27s valuation highly depends on the accurate sequence of the functional parts of the composition, meaning that in contrary to service bundles, composite services only generate value through a valid order of their components. We present an abstract model as a formalization of a service value network. The model comprehends a graph-based mechanism design to allocate multiattribute service offers within the network, to impose penalties for non-performance and to determine prices for complex services. The mechanism and the bidding language support various types of QoS attributes and their (semantic) aggregation. We analytically show that this variant is incentive compatible with respect to all dimensions of the service offer (quality and price)

INCENTIVES IN SERVICE VALUE NETWORKS – ON TRUTHFULNESS, SUSTAINABILITY, AND INTEROPERABILITY

The concurrence of technical and behavioral trends – such as lightweight approaches for service composition and a rising demand for customized services – fosters the emergence of a novel organizational paradigm: Service Value Networks (SVN). Distributed and highly-specialized service providers contribute to an overall value proposition. SVNs provide means for the ad-hoc composition of services that satisfies individual customers\u27 needs. However, the distributed nature of these environments and the opportunistic behavior of participants require a purposeful design of incentives. Our contribution is threefold: We (i) provide an auction mechanism – the Complex Service Auction – to coordination value creation in SVNs which is incentive compatible in dominant strategies (truthful). To restore budget balance – the prerequisite for a mechanism\u27s sustainability – and to implement incentives that increase a network\u27s degree of interoperability, we (ii) present the Interoperability Transfer Function (ITF). Applying an agent-based simulation method, we (iii) numerically show that this payment scheme limits strategic behavior of service providers and strengthens interoperability endeavors compared to a benchmark transfer function

Service Contract Automation

Today’s transition from a product- to a service-oriented economy implies fundamental technical, organizational and economic challenges. The trend of compensating missing core competencies by requesting business services from external providers to be integrated in internal end-to-end processes has recently gained tremendous momentum. Nevertheless, service level agreements between the parties involved are still specified for each service entity that is part of composite business services which results in a managerial overhead generated from multiple contractual relations. The contribution of this paper is threefold: (i) We analyze the fundamental requirements in the context of describing services, quality and agreements as well as their aggregation in a generic manner. Based on the results, we (ii) provide a holistic framework that enables the automation of service contracts for composite business services. Facilitating semantic technologies we provide means for describing service quality from a technical and business-oriented perspective, adequate metrics as well as quality aggregation operations in the context of composite business services. Furthermore, we (iii) evaluate our framework based on an industrial application scenario

How to Coordinate Value Generation in Service Networks – A Mechanism Design Approach

The fundamental paradigm shift from traditional value chains to agile service value networks implies new economic and organizational challenges. As coordination mechanisms, auctions have proven to perform quite well in situations where intangible and heterogeneous goods are traded. Nevertheless, traditional approaches in the area of multidimensional combinatorial auctions are not quite suitable to enable the trade of composite services. A flawless service execution and therefore the requester’s valuation highly depends on the accurate sequence of the functional parts of the composition, meaning that in contrary to service bundles, composite services only generate value through a valid order of their components. The authors present an abstract model as a formalization of service value networks. The model comprehends a graph-based mechanism implementation to allocate multidimensional service offers within the network, to impose penalties for non-performance and to determine prices for complex services. The mechanism and the bidding language support various types of QoS attributes and their (semantic) aggregation. It is analytically shown that this variant is incentive compatible with respect to all dimensions of the service offer (quality and price). Based on these results, the authors numerically analyze strategic behavior of participating service providers regarding possible collusion strategies

Predicting sinusoidal obstruction syndrome after allogeneic stem cell transplantation with the EASIX biomarker panel

No biomarker panel is established for prediction of sinusoidal obstruction syndrome/veno-occlusive disease (SOS/VOD), a major complication of allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT). We compared the potential of the Endothelial Activation and Stress Index (EASIX), based on lactate dehydrogenase, creatinine, and thrombocytes, with that of the SOS/VOD CIBMTR clinical risk score to predict SOS/VOD in two independent cohorts. In a third cohort, we studied the impact of endothelium-active prophylaxis with pravastatin and ursodeoxycholic acid (UDA) on SOS/VOD risk. The cumulative incidence of SOS/VOD within 28 days after alloSCT in the training cohort (Berlin, 2013-2015, n=446) and in the validation cohort (Heidelberg, 2002-2009, n=380) was 9.6% and 8.4%, respectively. In both cohorts, EASIX assessed at the day of alloSCT (EASIX-d0) was significantly associated with SOS/VOD incidence (p<0.0001), overall survival (OS) and non-relapse mortality (NRM). In contrast, the CIBMTR score showed no statistically significant association with SOS/VOD incidence, and did not predict OS and NRM. In patients receiving pravastatin/UDA, the cumulative incidence of SOS/VOD was significantly lower at 1.7% (p<0.0001, Heidelberg, 2010-2015, n=359) than in the two cohorts not receiving pravastatin/UDA. The protective effect was most pronounced in patients with high EASIX-d0. The cumulative SOS/VOD incidence in the highest EASIX-d0 quartiles were 18.1% and 16.8% in both cohorts without endothelial prophylaxis as compared to 2.2% in patients with pravastatin/UDA prophylaxis (p<0.0001). EASIX-d0 is the first validated biomarker for defining a subpopulation of alloSCT recipients at high risk for SOS/VOD. Statin/UDA endothelial prophylaxis could constitute a prophylactic measure for patients at increased SOS/VOD risk

The worldwide marine radiocarbon reservoir effect: definitions, mechanisms, and prospects

When a carbon reservoir has a lower radiocarbon content than the atmosphere, this is referred to as a reservoir effect. This is expressed as an offset between the radiocarbon ages of samples from the two reservoirs at a single point in time. The marine reservoir effect (MRE) has been a major concern in the radiocarbon community, as it introduces an additional source of error that is often difficult to accurately quantify. For this reason, researchers are often reluctant to date marine material where they have another option. The influence of this phenomenon makes the study of the MRE important for a broad range of applications. The advent of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) has reduced sample size requirements and increased measurement precision, in turn increasing the number of studies seeking to measure marine samples. These studies rely on overcoming the influence of the MRE on marine radiocarbon dates through the worldwide quantification of the local parameter ΔR, that is, the local variation from the global average MRE. Furthermore, the strong dependence on ocean dynamics makes the MRE a useful indicator for changes in oceanic circulation, carbon exchange between reservoirs, and the fate of atmospheric CO2, all of which impact Earth's climate. This article explores data from the Marine Reservoir Database and reviews the place of natural radiocarbon in oceanic records, focusing on key questions (e.g., changes in ocean dynamics) that have been answered by MRE studies and on their application to different subjects

Validation of the transplant conditioning intensity (TCI) index for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation

The intensity of the conditioning regimen given before allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) can vary substantially. To confirm the ability of the recently developed transplant conditioning intensity (TCI) score to stratify the preparative regimens of allo-HCT, we used an independent and contemporary patient cohort of 4060 transplant recipients with acute myeloid leukemia meeting inclusion criteria from the discovery study (allo-HCT in first complete remission, matched donor), but who were allografted in a more recent period (2018–2021) and were one decade older (55–75 years, median 63.4 years), we assigned them to a TCI category (low n = 1934, 48%; intermediate n = 1948, 48%, high n = 178, 4%) according to the calculated TCI score ([1–2], [2.5–3.5], [4–6], respectively), and examined the validity of the TCI category in predicting early non-relapse mortality (NRM), 2-year NRM and relapse (REL). In the unadjusted comparison, the TCI index provided a significant risk stratification for d100 and d180 NRM, NRM and REL risk. In the multivariate analysis adjusted for significant variables, there was an independent association of TCI with early NRM, NRM and REL. In summary, we confirm in contemporary treated patients that TCI reflects the conditioning regimen related morbidity and anti-leukemic efficacy satisfactorily and across other established prognostic factors.</p

An overview of tissue engineering approaches for management of spinal cord injuries

Severe spinal cord injury (SCI) leads to devastating neurological deficits and disabilities, which necessitates spending a great deal of health budget for psychological and healthcare problems of these patients and their relatives. This justifies the cost of research into the new modalities for treatment of spinal cord injuries, even in developing countries. Apart from surgical management and nerve grafting, several other approaches have been adopted for management of this condition including pharmacologic and gene therapy, cell therapy, and use of different cell-free or cell-seeded bioscaffolds. In current paper, the recent developments for therapeutic delivery of stem and non-stem cells to the site of injury, and application of cell-free and cell-seeded natural and synthetic scaffolds have been reviewed

Ruxolitinib for Glucocorticoid-Refractory Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease

BACKGROUND: Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) remains a major limitation of allogeneic stem-cell transplantation; not all patients have a response to standard glucocorticoid treatment. In a phase 2 trial, ruxolitinib, a selective Janus kinase (JAK1 and JAK2) inhibitor, showed potential efficacy in patients with glucocorticoid-refractory acute GVHD. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase 3 trial comparing the efficacy and safety of oral ruxolitinib (10 mg twice daily) with the investigator's choice of therapy from a list of nine commonly used options (control) in patients 12 years of age or older who had glucocorticoid-refractory acute GVHD after allogeneic stem-cell transplantation. The primary end point was overall response (complete response or partial response) at day 28. The key secondary end point was durable overall response at day 56. RESULTS: A total of 309 patients underwent randomization; 154 patients were assigned to the ruxolitinib group and 155 to the control group. Overall response at day 28 was higher in the ruxolitinib group than in the control group (62% [96 patients] vs. 39% [61]; odds ratio, 2.64; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.65 to 4.22; P<0.001). Durable overall response at day 56 was higher in the ruxolitinib group than in the control group (40% [61 patients] vs. 22% [34]; odds ratio, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.43 to 3.94; P<0.001). The estimated cumulative incidence of loss of response at 6 months was 10% in the ruxolitinib group and 39% in the control group. The median failure-free survival was considerably longer with ruxolitinib than with control (5.0 months vs. 1.0 month; hazard ratio for relapse or progression of hematologic disease, non-relapse-related death, or addition of new systemic therapy for acute GVHD, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.35 to 0.60). The median overall survival was 11.1 months in the ruxolitinib group and 6.5 months in the control group (hazard ratio for death, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.60 to 1.15). The most common adverse events up to day 28 were thrombocytopenia (in 50 of 152 patients [33%] in the ruxolitinib group and 27 of 150 [18%] in the control group), anemia (in 46 [30%] and 42 [28%], respectively), and cytomegalovirus infection (in 39 [26%] and 31 [21%]). CONCLUSIONS: Ruxolitinib therapy led to significant improvements in efficacy outcomes, with a higher incidence of thrombocytopenia, the most frequent toxic effect, than that observed with control therapy