A Hybrid Downlink Scheduling Approach for Multi-Traffic Classes in LTE Wireless Systems

PurposeThe aims of this study are twofold: to examine mobile food delivery service (MFDS) from the perspectives of functional and technical quality, and to empirically evaluate the influences of functional and technical quality on customer loyalty toward MFDS.Design/methodology/approachA conceptual framework of customer loyalty toward MFDSs was developed based on Gronroos’s service quality model. By using the PLS-SEM approach, the proposed model was empirically tested with a sample of 494 MFDS users through a survey via online social groups of food delivery service review.FindingsThe study validated the multi-dimensionality of MFDS functional quality including six dimensions (e.g. ease of use, app design, responsiveness, privacy and security, information quality, and personalization) and MFDS technical quality including two dimensions (e.g. safety and quality of delivered food, and quality of delivery service). The results indicated a significant direct link between functional quality and loyalty toward MFDS, while the effect of technical quality on loyalty was not found. Both functional quality and technical quality of MFDS demonstrated positive associations with customer perceived value of MFDS, which had a positive linkage with customer loyalty toward MFDS.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of the study advances Gronroos’ (1990) service quality perspective to m-commerce contexts, therefore and also offers MFDS providers effective strategies to launch a successful food delivery service.Originality/valueThe current study provides a first theoretical perspective on mobile service quality based on Gronroos’s model, which has not yet been examined. This study broadens the understanding of the loyalty toward a mobile-based service, particularly MFDS from the influences of two perspectives of service quality, namely, functional and technical quality.

The recent wireless communication networks rely on the new technology named Long Term Evolution (LTE) to offer high data rate real-time (RT) traffic with better Quality of Service (QoS) for the increasing demand of customer requirement. LTE provide low latency for real-time services with high throughput, with the help of two-level packet retransmission. Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) retransmission at the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer of LTE networks achieves error-free data transmission. The performance of the LTE networks mainly depends on how effectively this HARQ adopted in the latest communication standard, Universal Mobile Telecommunication System (UMTS). The major challenge in LTE is to balance QoS and fairness among the users. Hence, it is very essential to design a down link scheduling scheme to get the expected service quality to the customers and to utilize the system resources efficiently. This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of LTE MAC layer and six types of QoS/Channel-aware downlink scheduling algorithms designed for this purpose. The contributions of this paper are to identify the gap of knowledge in the downlink scheduling procedure and to point out the future research direction. Based on the comparative study of algorithms taken for the review, this paper is concluded that the EXP Rule scheduler is most suited for LTE networks due to its characteristics of less Packet Loss Ratio (PLR), less Packet Delay (PD), high throughput, fairness and spectral efficiency.

Οι συνθήκες που επικρατούν στην υγεία και η ποιότητα της παροχής των υπηρεσιών απασχολούν ολοένα και περισσότερο τους ανθρώπους που εργάζονται και ασχολούνται με τα θέματα διοίκησης και πολιτικών υγείας καθώς είναι ένα πλεονέκτημα το οποίο μπορεί να κάνει έναν οργανισμό υγείας να ξεχωρίσει. Από τη βιβλιογραφική ανασκόπηση που πραγματοποιήθηκε παρατηρήθηκε ενδιαφέρον για περαιτέρω έρευνα όσον αφορά την αξιολόγηση των παρεχόμενων υπηρεσιών από τους ασθενείς. Μέσα από τα αποτελέσματα τέτοιων μελετών ένας οργανισμός υγείας θα μπορέσει να εξελίξει και να αναβαθμίσει τις υπηρεσίες υγείας του κερδίζοντας την εμπιστοσύνη και την ικανοποίηση των ασθενών. Ο σκοπός της παρούσας μελέτης είναι η ανάλυση και η διερεύνηση του επιπέδου ικανοποίησης των ασθενών ως προς την ποιότητα των παρεχόμενων υπηρεσιών υγείας του Π.Γ.Ν. Αττικόν. Η μελέτη είναι περιγραφική και έγινε χρήση ερωτηματολογίου για τη συλλογή των δεδομένων. Το ερωτηματολόγιο που χρησιμοποιήθηκε απεικονίζει πέντε διαστάσεις ποιότητας και συγκεκριμένα την αξιοπιστία, τη διασφάλιση, την υλικοτεχνική υποδομή (απτότητα), την ενσυναίσθηση, και την ανταπόκριση. Η μελέτη πραγματοποιήθηκε στα εξωτερικά ιατρεία του Π.Γ.Ν. Αττικόν με δείγμα 120 άτομα. Σημαντικό γεγονός είναι ότι η μελέτη πραγματοποιήθηκε κατά τη διάρκεια της πανδημίας Covid - 19 και αυτό είχε σαν συνέπεια την περιορισμένη πρόσβαση. Επίσης επηρεάστηκε η επισκεψιμότητα των ασθενών ως προς το νοσοκομείο λόγω φόβου διασποράς του ιού, καθώς ενδέχεται και να επηρεάστηκαν οι προσδοκίες αλλά και οι αντιλήψεις των ασθενών. Συνολικά παρατηρήθηκε ότι οι προσδοκίες του δείγματος ήταν υψηλότερες από τις αντιλήψεις, δηλαδή ήταν υψηλότερες από την υπηρεσία που δέχτηκαν. Ακόμα από τη μελέτη που πραγματοποιήθηκε διακρίνεται ότι η αξιοπιστία και η ασφάλεια ταξινομούνται από τους ασθενείς έως οι πιο σημαντικές διαστάσεις όσον αφορά την αξιολόγηση της ποιότητας των παρεχόμενων υπηρεσιών. Τα αποτελέσματα της μελέτης παρουσιάζουν συνολικά μία σχετικά καλή εντύπωση παρόλα αυτά υπάρχουν τομείς όπου το δείγμα μας έδειξε ότι δεν είναι ικανοποιημένο και οι υπηρεσίες θα μπορούσαν να αναβαθμιστούν. Αυτά τα αποτελέσματα είναι το κλειδί για τους υπεύθυνους της διοίκησης ποιότητας του Π.Γ.Ν. Αττικόν με σκοπό την εξέλιξη της ποιότητας των υπηρεσιών του νοσοκομείου. Φυσικά η μελέτη της ικανοποίησης των ασθενών πρέπει να είναι συνεχής καθώς η ποιότητα που παρέχει ένας οργανισμός πρέπει να συνεχίζεται σε βάθος χρόνου και συνεχώς να αυξάνεται.

Long Term Evolution (LTE) was developed by 3GPP to cope with the increasing demand for better Quality of service (QoS) and the emergence of bandwidth-consuming multimedia applications. Today's data transmission networks face extreme challenges in providing high data rate and low latency. Scheduling paradigms such as Round Robin, Best Channel Quality Condition and Proportional Fair are commonly adopted in current LTE downlink scheduling algorithms, but they are far from optimal for satisfying latency requirements. In this paper, we first survey the state of the art downlink scheduling algorithms in LTE and identify their main challenges. We then formulate the LTE downlink scheduling problem as an optimization problem in order to meet the flow deadlines, then incorporate the formulation within the surveyed scheduling algorithms, to produce better performance. We consider strict deadlines for different types of packets with the goal of maximizing resource distribution. Additionally, in our formulation the buffer state for each user is taken into consideration in order to minimize the packet loss. We evaluate the proposed formulation using LTE-Sim and study its positive impact on the existing LTE downlink scheduling algorithms; the performance in terms of QoS, packet loss and fairness is improved throughout all evaluations.

This study therefore, examined the Quality Service Delivery of Health Information Managers by Patients Attendance in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospitals Zaria, Kaduna, Nigeria.The study employed survey research design.The population comprised 43,155 Patients Attendance in Ahmadu Bello University Teaching Hospitals Zaria, Kaduna, Nigeria.Proportionate stratified sampling was used for selecting the patients for the study.This technique was based on the proportion of sample representation in the population of the study.This technique was used to divide the patients sample by inpatients and Out patients to enable the researcher administer the questionnaires without biased to the patients in the study area.The sample size was 169in and out Patients Attendance.Data were collected with structured and validated questionnaires.Findings showed that showed that the extent of quality service delivery in Ahmadu Bello University teaching hospital, was high (x =3.30), on a scale of 4. Further details from the analysis depict that all the indicators of quality service delivery show high values: assurance (x =3.32), empathy (x =3.31), tangibles (x =3.30), responsiveness (x =3.29) and reliability (x =3.26).The study concluded that for health information managers to deliver quality service in their job the barriers militating against quality service delivery in ABU teaching hospitals Zaria must be addressed to improve quality service delivery.The study recommended that quality service delivery in ABU teaching hospital Zaria was high.Management of the teaching hospitals should make continual efforts to sustain key indicators of quality service delivery such as security of patients' files, protection of request forms, easy retrieval of patients' records and availability of physical infrastructures.

It has been crucial to solve the service delivery problem since civil society emerged. Even though several barriers to top-quality public service exist, there is little research based on evidence about how digital technologies help address these barriers in Ghana’s public sector. Public service quality remains a problem for people in Ghana who use government ministries, departments, and agencies on a daily basis. As a result, the study assessed the impact of digital technologies on service delivery and quality in Ghana’s public sector. The study used a causal research design with a quantitative approach. The study sample size was 384 respondents who mostly patronized the public institutions considered for the study. SPSS (version 26) was used to analyze all the data with descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis and ANOVA to investigate the relationships among measured variables. A mediation analysis, was conducted to assess whether service expectation mediates the relationship between digital technology adoption and service delivery and quality. Findings revealed a significant positive relationship between digital technology adoption and service quality and delivery (β = 0.315, p < 0.001). Service expectation also had a moderate significant positive influence on service quality and delivery (β = 0.508, p < 0.001), and significantly mediated the relationship between technology adoption and service quality (indirect effect: β = 0.237, p < 0.001). These findings underscore the importance of service expectation as a key mechanism through which digital technology improves public service outcomes. Customers who patronize most public sector institutions should be provided with sustainable, high-quality digital experiences through the maintenance of digital infrastructure, including dependable Internet connectivity and accessible digital platforms, and should be given top priority by the management.

Despite the central role of Agricultural Marketing Cooperative Societies (AMCOS) in improving farmers’ welfare, many cooperatives in Tanzania continue to experience poor service quality, partly due to weaknesses in cooperative governance. Addressing this governance gap requires a clearer understanding of how board-level attributes shape organisational outcomes. The present study examined the extent to which board members’ demographic and professional characteristics influence service quality delivery among AMCOS in Kaliua District, Tanzania. A cross-sectional survey design was employed, involving eight purposively selected AMCOS. Data were collected from 279 respondents, comprising 239 AMCOS members and 40 board members, using structured questionnaires. Service quality was measured using the SERVQUAL model, while the effects of board members’ characteristics were analysed using multiple linear regression. Empirical results reveal that board meeting attendance (β = 1.823, p &lt; 0.050) and board members’ training (β = 0.720, p &lt; 0.050) exerted positive and statistically significant effects on service quality delivery. Conversely, the age of the board chairperson (β = −0.954, p &lt; 0.050) and the average age of board members (β = −0.094, p &lt; 0.100) demonstrated negative and significant associations with service quality. These findings underscore the critical role of board activeness and capacity development in enhancing cooperative service outcomes; while suggesting potential generational or adaptability effects associated with age composition. By extending Upper Echelons Theory to the underexplored context of agricultural marketing cooperatives in a developing economy, this study advances the argument that observable board-level attributes not only predict financial performance, as commonly emphasised in prior research, but also decisively shape service quality outcomes in member-based organisations. Generally, the evidence highlights that strengthening cooperative governance through appropriate board composition, active participation, and continuous capacity building is essential for improving service quality in AMCOS. Based on these findings, AMCOS should institutionalise regular governance training programmes, while the Registrar of Cooperatives should strengthen oversight of electoral and qualification processes to ensure competent and capable board leadership.

In this paper, performance of two Interference Aware (IA) receivers is assessed in the context of MultiUser-Multiple Input Multiple Output (MU-MIMO) Coordinated MultiPoint (CoMP) in the downlink (DL) of Long Term Evolution (LTE) cellular system. The use of IA receivers is motivated by the poor spatial resolution of the LTE codebook, considered here. Analytical formulation of receivers and Log likelihood Ratios (LLRs) in the context of the study is derived. The performance are measured thanks to link level simulations. It is first shown that interference must be rejected at the receiver. Studied receivers are then shown to be able to reject all the interference due to MU-MIMO. Finally it is demonstrated that these algorithms are robust to a non optimal location of UEs with respect to precoders used.

Aim/Purpose This study investigates customer sentiment toward telecom Quality of Service Delivery (QoSD) in Ghana by integrating dual sentiment, that is, an expressed emotional sentiment from customer narratives and experienced service sentiment derived from SERVQUAL ratingsinto a unified service quality evaluation framework. Background Although SERVQUAL-based research consistently links service quality dimensions to customer satisfaction, far less is known about how emotional expressions interact with cognitive service evaluations in developing markets. This gap limits understanding of how users interpret service failures and form satisfaction judgments in resource-constrained telecom environments. Methodology A nationwide survey of 536 mobile users was analyzed using a hybrid analytical approach: (1) natural language processing (NLP) sentiment scoring of open-ended responses, and (2) construction of a Service Sentiment Index (SSI) based on standardized SERVQUAL dimension scores. Mediation analysis using Hayes’ PROCESS tested whether experienced sentiment serves as a psychological pathway linking reliability to overall satisfaction. Contribution The study introduces and empirically validates a dual-sentiment framework for telecom QoSD assessment, demonstrating significant divergence between customers’ expressed emotional sentiment and their experienced service sentiment. It extends the SERVQUAL model by incorporating affective evaluation processes and provides empirical evidence that sentiment partially mediates the reliability–satisfaction relationship. Findings Expressed sentiment was predominantly negative (56.5%), whereas SSI reflected more moderate evaluations. Reliability, assurance, and empathy emerged as key predictors of both sentiment and satisfaction. Mediation results confirmed that experienced sentiment explains a substantial portion of the total effect of reliability on satisfaction, supporting a dual cognitive–affective interpretation of QoSD. Recommendations for Practitioners Telecom providers should prioritize network reliability, transparent communication, and empathetic customer engagement to address emotional dissatisfaction. The presence of strong negative expressed sentimenteven among customers reporting moderate satisfactionsignals potential reputational and churn risks requiring proactive management. Recommendations for Researchers Researchers should integrate text analytics with psychometric models in service quality studies and further examine sentiment as a mediator across diverse service industries and cultural settings. Impact on Society Understanding sentiment divergence enhances the design of customer-centric QoS interventions, strengthens regulatory oversight, and supports the development of more responsive telecom service policies in emerging markets. Future Research Longitudinal studies should explore sentiment trajectories over time, while cross-market comparative research should validate the generalizability of the dual-sentiment framework across other developing and developed economies.

Background: Home delivery in poor resource countries remains a major challenge. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and factors influencing home deliveries among postnatal mothers at Orum Health IV in Otuke district. Methods: This study utilised a cross-sectional descriptive study design using a quantitative approach on a total of 145 respondents. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data. Data entry and analysis were done using SPSS version 23.0. Univariate analysis was done using descriptive statistics to describe independent variables, which were presented as frequencies and percentages. Bivariate analysis was done using Chi-Square (χ2) or Fischer’s exact to find the association between the dependent and independent variables. Results: The respondents had a mean age of 26.17 years, with half aged 25-30. Most were married (71.7%), nearly a third had secondary education (35.9%), over a third were Catholic (39.3%), and half were farmers (50.3%). Most respondents (71%) were satisfied with the quality of delivery services, though many reported inadequacies in equipment (52.4%) and staffing (62.1%). The majority of respondents attended at least one ANC visit, with 60% attending fewer than four times. Most had given birth before, and 72.3% had no history of home deliveries, and only 7.8% were satisfied with traditional birth attendant (TBA) services. The prevalence of home delivery was found to be 17.9. Conclusions: The findings suggest that while the majority of respondents were satisfied with the quality of delivery services and the care provided by female health workers, significant issues remain regarding the availability of equipment, adequate staffing, and privacy during delivery, which need to be addressed to improve overall patient satisfaction. Recommendation: Enhance community education programs focused on the importance of facility-based deliveries and engage local leaders, TBAs, and healthcare workers to disseminate accurate information about the risks associated with home deliveries.

In the new democratic South Africa, access into higher education institutions for a diverse range of students is a national imperative. As a result, educational institutions have implemented new policies, regulations and practices, which allow for alternate access into institutions. This study, was based at the Durban University of Technology (DUT) and investigated the perceptions and experiences of mature age students with regard to the quality of support services offered. Mature age students are a growing population who experience unique desires and challenges in higher education institutions. While studies around higher education institutions currently focus on traditional students and their experiences, it is important to gain a deeper understanding of the experiences and needs of mature learners in order to develop the literature in this important area. Having qualified as a dental assistant and now working in the Dental Sciences department, I find myself attending to a variety of requests from the mature age dental assistants. This motivated me to investigate the quality of support services offered to mature age part-time dental assistants. The main objectives of this study are to determine which support services are currently being offered, how students feel about the quality of service delivery and what the university is doing to address any gaps found within the service delivery units. The researcher will undertake an in-depth qualitative study, using a descriptive case study approach. The aim of this study is to interpret the perceptions of mature age dental assisting part-time students with regard to the quality of support offered to them at the Durban University of Technology. The researcher will undertake an in-depth, qualitative case study involving 30 mature-age dental assisting part-time students in order to obtain their perceptions of the quality of support services offered to them. This study provides a ‘snapshot’ of the current provision of service quality at the Durban University of Technology. It also offers suggestions that could be implemented to improve service quality, given the limited resources available to management. Due to the dynamic nature of service quality, it is essential to conduct further research to build on this study in order to ensure that the university remains competitive in the increasingly turbulent environment of higher education. This study will assist in developing a comprehensive recommendation to the programme of Dental Assisting, so as to retain and support mature age students who enter university via recognition of prior learning (RPL).

KEYWORDS Accountability. Customer Satisfaction. Customer Delight. Continuous Improvement. Customer Service Delivery. Quality Assurance ABSTRACT The study sought to establish the extent to which self evaluation, using students who are the direct clients of the education system, promoted the quality of service delivery in Zimbabwe Open University's Matabeleland South Region. The mixed methods design was used to collect data from students in two phases. The first phase collected quantitative data using questionnaires from 77 students who were writing the November/December 2011 examinations. The second phase collected qualitative data using interviews with five students from each faculty. In the main, the study revealed that self evaluation helped the region improve the quality of service delivery. The study also revealed that the Matabeleland South region needed to improve the quality of the tutorials offered to the students, increase the tutorial time allocation, improve the turnaround time for the marked assignments, encourage the use of power point presentation by tutors, provide internet facilities for research and make use of e-mail services when communicating with students. Students were unhappy with lack of periodicals, local newspapers, magazines and journals at the library. The quality of the province's administrative services was acceptable while the conduct and management of examinations was singled out as professional and beyond reproach. The study recommended periodic self evaluation as a means of enhancing continuous improvement of the quality of service delivery in Zimbabwe Open University's Matabeleland South Region in particular and the entire institution in general.

Problem statement: The demand for multimedia applications in WiMAX networks is growing at a rapid pace. A method for guaranteeing Quality of Service (QoS) for different classes of traffic is therefore gaining importance. Hence desi gning and analyzing multimedia traffic and QoS parameters has become central to this problem. In t his study, we propose a cross layer frame work in which a coordination between the Medium Access Control layer (MAC) and the Physical layer (PHY) is established for guaranteeing the QoS requirement in a multiclass traffic WiMAX environment. Two traffic classes' real time Polling Service (rtPS) a nd non real time Polling Service (nrtPS) are considered for analyzing the performance. Approach: The objective of study is to guarantee QoS for multiple service class traffic in a multiple connec tion environment in WiMAX network. A cross layer design approach is used for this purpose. A priorit y scheduler at the MAC layer schedules the traffic based on channel state information. The Adaptive modulation and coding scheme is used at the physical layer that adapts to the scheduled traffic to stabilize the QoS requirements of different tra ffic classes. Results: The Priority value is estimated using the Friis eq uation that calculates the received power and determines the SNR. The average throughput, average bytes received and the packet loss are plotted against time. This indicated that these QoS parameters are stable over a period of time. Conclusion: A cross layer frame work was developed based on a scheduler for QoS stability that uses CSI at the MAC layer and an AMC at the PHY layer in WiMax Networks. The scheduler enjoyed flexibility and scalability, whose performance was evaluated against existing systems through simulati on.

This paper addresses the performance of spatial division multiplexing (SDM) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) techniques together with frequency domain packet scheduling (FDPS) based on UTRAN long term evolution (LTE) downlink. Two SDM concepts currently considered in 3GPP are the single-user (SU-) and the multi-user (MU-) MIMO. For MU-MIMO, multiple users can be scheduled on different streams on the same time-frequency resource, while SU-MIMO restricts one time-frequency resource to a single user. Both concepts are analyzed against the 1times2 maximal ratio combining (MRC) case, using the proportional fair (PF) criterion extended to frequency and spatial domains. The realistic finite buffer best effort traffic model is used in the study. Results show that in the macrocell scenario, the combination of FDPS and SDM (SDM-FDPS) without preceding achieves only marginal gain in cell throughput, due to limited SINR dynamic range. The gain is increased to around 20% when precoding is applied. In the micro-cell scenario, the gain of SDM-FDPS over the reference scheme is increased up to 35% with precoding.

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) represent a new generation of control systems where distributed local control systems are connected not only physically, but also computationally by means of communication networks. CPSs target introducing intelligence beside traditional monitoring and control functionalities in a way that optimize the performance of the overall system. However, the realization of many CPS applications requires reliable communication systems that provide quality of service (QoS) control. In this domain, Long Term Evolution (LTE) standard offers a comprehensive QoS frame work. Nevertheless, commercial implementations of the standard provide only best effort type of service. In this paper, we demonstrated the benefits of using LTE networks with QoS support for CPSs by comparing the performance of a CPS application over LTE network with and without QoS support. The results clearly indicate the benefit to enable the QoS features in commercial implementations of LTE in order to realize reliable CPS applications.