Service provider

About: Service provider is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 55107 publications have been published within this topic receiving 894381 citations. The topic is also known as: external service provider & internal service provider.

Market-Equilibrium, Competitive, and Cooperative Pricing for Spectrum Sharing in Cognitive Radio Networks: Analysis and Comparison

Abstract: In a cognitive radio network, frequency spectrum can be shared between primary (or licensed) users and secondary (or unlicensed) users, where the secondary users pay the primary users (or primary service provider) for radio resource usage. This is referred to as spectrum trading. In spectrum trading, pricing is a key issue of interest to primary service providers (i.e., spectrum sellers) as well as to secondary service providers (i.e., spectrum buyers). In a cognitive radio network, pricing model for spectrum sharing depends on the objective of spectrum trading, and therefore, the behaviors of spectrum sellers and spectrum buyers. In this paper, we investigate three different pricing models, namely, market-equilibrium, competitive, and cooperative pricing models for spectrum trading in a cognitive radio environment. In these pricing models, the primary service providers have different behaviors (i.e., competitive and cooperative behaviors) to achieve different objectives of spectrum trading. Specifically, in marketequilibrium pricing model, the objective of spectrum trading is to satisfy spectrum demand from the secondary users, and there is neither competition nor cooperation among primary service providers. In the competitive pricing, the objective is to maximize the individual profit, and there is competition among primary service providers. In cooperative pricing, the objective of spectrum trading is to maximize the total profit, and cooperation exists among primary service providers. We propose distributed algorithms to achieve the pricing solutions of these different pricing models and analyze stability of these distributed algorithms. We perform extensive performance analysis of these pricing algorithms considering different aspects such as profit of the primary service providers, stability region, and impact of number of primary service providers, which reveals interesting insights into the spectrum trading problem.

Characteristics of electronic markets

Abstract: Are there economic incentives for electronic commerce (e-commerce), or is it just hype? This paper evaluates the cost-based differences between traditional markets (such as retail stores) and electronic markets (e-markets) both from the buyer's (demand side) perspective and the seller's (supply side) perspective. The implications that a shift toward greater electronic market utilization have for transaction intermediaries, interactive service providers (ISPs), and government are discussed. We find that there are significant cost-based differences between traditional and electronic markets for both buyers and sellers, and that electronic markets affect industry structures as well as future sources of organizational revenue.

Connecting with new information landscapes: information literacy practices of refugees

Abstract: Purpose – The purpose of the research reported in this article is to understand how refugees learn to engage with a complex, multimodal information landscape and how their information literacy practice may be constructed to enable them to connect and be included in their new information landscape. Design/methodology/approach – The study is framed through practice and socio‐cultural theories. A qualitative research design is employed including semi‐structured face‐to‐face interviews and focus groups which are thematically analysed through an information practice lens. Findings – Refugees encounter complex and challenging information landscapes that present barriers to their full participation in their new communities. Social inclusion becomes possible where information is provided via sharing through trusted mediators who assist with navigating the information landscape and information mapping, and through visual and social sources. Research limitations/implications – The study is local and situated and therefore not empirically generalizable. It does however provide rich, deep description and explanation that is instructive beyond the specific research site and contributes to theory building. Practical implications – The study highlights the role, and importance, of social and visual information sources and the key role of service providers as mediators and navigators. Governments, funders and service providers can use these findings to inform their service provision. Originality/value – This is an original research paper in which the results provide practical advice for those working with refugees and which also extends theories of information literacy practice as an information practice.

Environmental sustainability in the service industry of transportation and logistics service providers: Systematic literature review and research directions

Abstract: This paper provides a systematic review on the subject of environmental sustainability in the service industry of logistics service providers (LSPs) to analyse the advances of the literature on the topic and pick out appropriate research questions to investigate. The literature review has been performed using two academic databases and spans the years 1960–2014. The paper shows that despite the increasing number of papers on the subject, several areas of research are still being neglected. In particular, the paper highlights six main literature gaps concerning the classification of green initiatives, the impact of green initiatives on LSP performance, the evaluation of sustainability performance, the factors influencing the adoption of environmental sustainability initiatives, the customer perspective in the sustainable supply chain, and the information and communication technologies supporting green initiatives. Starting from these six gaps, eight research questions have been identified. These research questions represent possible emerging areas of investigation on the topic.

Content provider for pull based intelligent caching system

Abstract: A network system includes a content provider connected to local service providers via an interactive distribution network, such as the Internet. The local service providers facilitate delivery of the content from the content provider to multiple subscribers. The local service providers schedule delivery of frequently requested content from the content provider prior to a peak time when the subscribers are likely to request the content. The content is downloaded from the content provider during the off-peak hours and cached at the local service providers for serving to the subscribers during the ensuing peak time. In this manner, the frequently requested content is already present at the local service providers and ready to be served to the subscribers before they actually request it. When the content is finally requested, the data is streamed continuously in real-time for just-in-time rendering at the subscriber computer. Another aspect of this invention involves supplementing content delivery over the Internet with delivery of content over a secondary network, such as a broadcast satellite network. The supplemental broadcast link offers additional bandwidth at a fraction of the cost that would be incurred if the local service provider installed additional Internet connections, such as T1 or T3 connections.