VioLinn: Proximity-aware Edge Placementwith Dynamic and Elastic Resource Provisioning

When does increased service quality competition lead to customer defection? And, which customers are most likely to defect? Our empirical analysis of 82,235 customers exploits the varying competitive dynamics in 644 geographically isolated markets in which a nationwide retail bank conducted business over a five-year period. We find that customers defect at a higher rate from the incumbent following increased service quality (price) competition only when the incumbent offers high (low) quality service relative to existing competitors in a local market. We provide evidence that these results are due to a sorting effect, whereby firms trade off service quality and price, and, in turn, the incumbent attracts service (price) sensitive customers in markets where it has supplied relatively high (low) levels of service quality in the past. Furthermore, we show that it is the high quality incumbent’s most profitable customers who are the most attracted by superior quality alternatives. Our results appear to have long-run implications whereby sustaining a high level of service quality is associated with the incumbent attracting and retaining more profitable customers over time.

Leveraging grant-free radio access for enabling low-power wide-area (LPWA) Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity has attracted lots of attention in recent years. Regarding lack of research on LPWA IoT networks, this work is devoted to reliability modeling, battery-lifetime analysis, and operation-control of such networks. We derive the interplay amongst density of the access points, communication bandwidth, volume of traffic from heterogeneous sources, and quality of service (QoS) in communications. The presented analytical framework comprises modeling of interference from heterogeneous sources with correlated deployment locations and time-frequency asynchronous radio-resource usage patterns. The derived expressions represent the operation regions and rates in which, energy and cost resources of devices and the access network, respectively, could be traded to achieve a given level of QoS in communications. For example, our expressions indicate the expected increase in QoS by increasing number of transmitted replicas, transmit power, density of the access points, and communication bandwidth. Our results further shed light on scalability of such networks and figure out the bounds up to which, scaling resources can compensate the increase in traffic volume and QoS demand. Finally, we present an energy-optimized operation control policy for IoT devices. The simulation results confirm tightness of the derived analytical expressions, and indicate usefulness of them in planning and operation control of IoT networks.

The rapid emergence of the service industry, the awakening of consumer consciousness, and fierce market competition all mean that customer satisfaction has become the primary indicator that is used to assess corporate operations. In this context, many service businesses have noticed that increasing service quality, and thus raising customer satisfaction, can create competitive advantages. This study applies the decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach to examine the issue of service quality in fast food restaurants. The casual relation charts produced in this work shows that there are a number of correlations among the seven focal criteria. Among these, 'fresh meal' has few significant effects on the other six criteria. Moreover, none of the other criteria, except for 'employee attitude', have any significant influences on each other. Therefore, managers should invest more resources in improving 'employee attitude', as this can enhance the service quality in fast food restaurants.

PurposeSince banks do not sell tangible products, they rely heavily on customer interactions and retention, which requires service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Banks must innovate and develop new services and expand customer engagement efforts beyond stores, kiosks, direct mail and websites to include social media, mobile applications and location-based services in order to meet their customers’ growing demands. A multi-channel strategy that integrates the offline and online presences of banks can increase quality, customer satisfaction and loyalty. This paper aimed to use a service quality scale to: (1) examine the association between service quality and customer satisfaction; (2) examine the association between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty; (3) examine the indirect association between service quality and customer loyalty through customer satisfaction; and (4) examine the mediation effect of multi-channel integration quality in the relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty.Design/methodology/approachThe data was obtained from banks in Saudi Arabia. The analysis was based on an online survey of 265 Saudi bank customers. The multi-channel integration quality model and Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) were used to test the proposed hypothesis and conduct the analysis.FindingsThe results found that there was a statistically significant link between service quality and customer satisfaction in the Saudi banking industry. Service quality did not directly affect customer loyalty. When multi-channel integration quality was moderate to high, service quality affected customer loyalty through customer satisfaction. For service quality and customer loyalty in the Saudi banking sector to be achieved, customers must be satisfied, but also the bank’s brand must manage the quality of integration channels provided to them with care, and thus branding plays a key role in achieving customer loyalty in the Saudi banking sector.Originality/valueThe academic community has provided little evidence to support how the relationships between constructs such as service quality, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and multi-channel integration quality apply to the Saudi banking sector. A conceptual framework was proposed to show how these constructs affect the Saudi banking sector. An empirical study was conducted to see how the framework held up in banking settings. The conceptual framework serves to advance the fields of business and management and banking and their respected literature, as well as advance the understanding of multi-channel integration in boosting customer satisfaction and loyalty through high service quality in the Saudi banking sector.

High level QoS-driven model for Grid applications in a simulated environment

BackgroundThe antenatal, intrapartum, and postnatal periods are considered high-risk periods for the health of mothers and their newborns. Although the current utilization rate of some maternal and child care services in Jordan is encouraging, detailed information about the quality of these services is limited. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the quality of maternal-fetal and newborn antenatal care (ANC), delivery, and postnatal care (PNC) services in Jordan.MethodsWe conducted 12 focus group discussions (FGDs) with pregnant and postpartum women who attended maternal-child care services in three major hospitals in Jordan. All FGDs were recorded and transcribed verbatim. An inductive thematic analysis approach was used to identify themes and subthemes.ResultsThe content analysis of the FGDs revealed a consensus among the discussants regarding the importance of ANC and PNC services for the health of mothers and their newborns. However, the participating women viewed ANC to be much more important than PNC. With regards to the choice between public and private antenatal care services, some of the discussants were disposed towards the private sector. Reasons for this included longer consultation time, a higher quality of services, better interpersonal and communication skills of healthcare providers, better treatment, more advanced equipment and devices, availability of female obstetricians, and more flexible appointment times. These women only perceived public hospital services to be necessary in cases of pregnancy-related complications and labor, as the costs of private sector services in such cases are too high. The findings also revealed that mothers usually only seek PNC services to check up on their newborn’s health and not their own.ConclusionVisiting private ANC clinics throughout pregnancy while giving birth in public facilities leads to the discontinuity and fragmentation in maternal-fetal and child healthcare services. To address this fragmentation, healthcare systems are proposed to establish interprofessional teamwork that requires different healthcare providers with complementary skills and practices in both public and private settings to work co-operatively and collectively. Investment in new technologies and interventions which enhance coordination and collaboration between public and private healthcare settings is necessary for the provision of non-traditional maternal healthcare.

To operate as a stand-alone power system during grid power outages or peak price periods, local energy systems are equipped with storage devices and different distributed generations (DGs) such as diesel generators and renewable energy sources (RES). Power management of these hybrid systems will be challenging due to the intermittent and uncontrollable nature of many types of RES, load variations in time, availability of different energy source options with different cost function characteristics to balance the electric supply and demand, and other parameters. To operate the hybrid energy systems efficiently, a comprehensive power management method is proposed in this paper which includes two control layers. Proof of concept for the proposed power management policy was demonstrated on an experimental energy system composed of lead-acid batteries, diesel generator simulator, PV system, 3kW peak load and a utility connection.

The design of sail systems is a fascinating topic that naval architects have been facing since many centuries and nowadays is revived because of the increasing size of modern pleasure and racing yachts. It is hence surprising that empiricism largely drives mast and rigging design even at the present time. Actually, while structural dynamics is explicitly considered in current scantling design of hull structures, this is not usually the case for mast and rigging. However, numerical simulations can now be successfully applied to assess effects of load variations in time. Considering the governing limit states and the typical behaviour of a pre-tensioned slender structure, the dynamic buckling of the bottom panel of a typical large mast is evaluated in this paper, showing significant differences from the widely applied quasi-static approach. The obtained results provide a new perspective for the scantling assessment of sail systems, overcoming the current empirical and prescriptive approach proposed by rules of classification societies and international standards.

The rapid growth of Indonesia's retail industry has made shopping easier. Customer behavior driven by impulsive needs and wants is driving this expansion. The emergence of shopping apps further supports transactions, driving customer activity and propelling the expansion of the retail industry. This study to examine and assess the relation among service quality, information quality, system quality, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty. The participants of this study were individuals who live in Cirebon City and Regency and used Alfagift. This research method uses purposive sampling with 200 respondents through distributing online questionnaires distributed to Alfagift users. Data analysis was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) and partial least squares (PLS) methods through the SmartPLS version 4.0 application. This study reveals that service quality is devoid of a positive and significant effect on Alfagift user loyalty. Conversely, however, Information Quality and System Quality are demonstrated to possess a positive and significant influence on Alfagift User Satisfaction. This study also discovered that Alfagift user fulfillment has a positive and significant effect on customer loyalty. Furthermore, customer satisfaction acts as a mediator that positively and significantly affects the relation among service quality and customer loyalty. In different terms, increasing service quality doesn’t automatically raise customer loyalty in the absence of higher satisfaction, which ultimately contributes to increasing customer loyalty to the Alfagift application.

The main key to winning in competition for companies is to provide value and satisfaction to consumers through the delivery of quality products and services. This can be achieved by providing products and services that are more satisfying than those of competitors, resulting in satisfied consumers, consistent service quality, and consumer loyalty. This research aims to analyze sales optimization strategies by increasing service quality and customer loyalty of coffee shops in Surabaya, using a causal research design with quantitative methods. Data was collected through questionnaires distributed to people in Surabaya who had visited and bought from coffee shops. The data analysis technique used was Structural Equation Modeling analysis with Partial Least Square. Results showed that store location and store image had a significant positive effect on service quality, and store location, store image, and service quality had a significant positive effect on customer loyalty. The recommended strategies include improving store location by making signs that are easy to reach, and improving store image through endorsements and other promotions to attract customer attention.

Customer satisfaction is the most important thing in the catering business. Customer satisfaction affect the profit earned by entrepreneur food. Things that can affect customer satisfaction among them is the quality of product and quality of services provided by the food producers.One way to determine customer satisfaction is to compare the expectation and the reality perceived by the customer.Research method used in this research is descriptive verification method. The number of samples in this research were 100 consumers, data collection is done by spreading the questionnaire and documentary study. Model analysis of the data used is multiple linear regression using SPSS 22 for windows. The results showed that the Product Quality and Service Quality has significant impact on customer satisfaction. Results of calculations using multiple linear regression analysis obtain the equation Y=3,291+0,059X₁+0,152X₂ it means an increase by 1 unit Product Quality, the Consumer Satisfaction Sushi Den Bandung will increase by 0.059 and any increase Quality of Service by 1 unit, the Consumer Satisfaction Sushi Den Bandung will also rise by 0.152. Food producers should further improve the quality of product quality and service quality by determining and implementing the Standard Operational Procedure properly in order to provide a positive impact for food company.

Recent advances in information and communication technology resulted in increased use of multimedia applications. Multimedia transmission over Mobile Adhoc Networks (MANETs) with high Quality of Service (QoS) is a challenging task due to mobility of the nodes. The problems associated with multimedia transmission are loss of packets or frames and delay in receiving the packets at destination. To maintain the QoS, all the multimedia applications need that packets should be delivered in sequence and order, and delay should be within the tolerable limits. Existing works mainly uses packet loss information at source station to determine whether the transmission window size should be increased or decreased In existing approaches, the source station takes decision about increasing or decreasing window size based on reception of Acknowledgement/ non-reception of Acknowledgement. The magnitude of increment/decrement in window size is predefined but not as per actual scenario in the network. This leads to poor utilization of resources. Since multimedia applications are loss-tolerant, it is important to compute the packet loss accurately as the QoS requirements for multimedia services accepts the loss of packets up to some threshold. In this paper, we model the active stations as a Poisson random process and computed the packet loss, idle period and busy period at the front end of route. This packet loss estimation is useful for precise specification of buffer size resulting in improved QoS. Our experimental results demonstrate the usefulness in designing optimal control in order to improve QoS for multimedia applications in MANETs.

Next generation wireless networks will provide seamless high bandwidth connectivity with high quality of service (QoS) support to mobile users, where a mobile will be able to connect to several wireless access networks simultaneously. In this environment, heterogeneity of networks and heterogeneity of applications are presented as challenging problems, where an efficient architecture is needed to integrate different technologies. In addition, deciding the serving network is essential to avoid resource wastage and provide QoS for users. In this paper, we propose new integration architecture based on a virtual operator that rents or invests resources from a physical operator, and sells services to customers. The virtual operator will monitor the network’s conditions and QoS parameters, and then provide the user requesting access with useful information to decide the serving network. In this context, we modify four well-known decision mechanisms (load balance, minimum distance, minimum price and minimum delay) by adding the QoS as a hard constraint. We also propose a new decision mechanism, where we consider new decision criteria that improves the overall system performance. Simulation results show that the new proposed mechanism outperforms the modified mechanisms, where the blocking probability is clearly reduced and a good level of QoS is provided to real-time applications or high-priority users.

Improving the performance of insurance industry can have a huge impact on other manufacturing and service sectors. The objective of this study is to evaluate the performance of insurance companies using balanced scorecard (BSC) and multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), with case studies on three companies based in northern Iran. The outline of our approach is as follows: First, via theoretical studies, the primary criteria in four BSC performance dimensions were identified and provided to experts. Then, nine criteria were chosen to measure the performance based on BSC and best worst method (BWM) was used to weigh them. Results showed, 'increasing service quality' is the most important criterion, followed by, 'improving quality of services for attracting new customers in addition to existing customers', 'flexibility in the service system' and 'investing in customer education'. Consequently, a decision matrix was developed to measure the performance. Companies were ranked using TOPSIS method.

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to show the requirement of industry-specific national service quality indices for measuring quality in both traditional and electronic services in various industries in a country. In this study, the literature about service and e-service quality measurements was reviewed, and a three-dimensional framework was developed. It was found out that the dimensions of each service quality measurement were all different from each other due to the different characteristics of the industries that each study has been conducted in. The study showed that there is a need for an industry-specific national service quality index and suggested that national customer satisfaction indices which have existed in the literature can be a model for industry-specific national service quality indices. An industry-specific national service quality index enables national companies to understand their unique industrial characteristics that needed to be improved continuously in order to increase service quality and gain competitive advantage. The index which was proposed to develop in the future was suggested for the first time in this study.
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\nKeywords: Service quality; E-service quality; Service quality dimensions; National customer satisfaction indices; Turkish Customer Satisfaction Index (TCSI).