The paper presents an approach for complementing an existing application service provisioning architecture with a simulation component that is calibrated using measurements from the production system. The overall aim of the approach is to support service providers in planning and refining tariffs, adjusting system capacity, and estimating costs and profit.

why depending on the rationality of the market will never work well for quality of care (box). Sensible policy for providing nursing home care requires a larger welfare state, a larger regulatory state, and encouragement of public, non-profit providers. Australia’s recent experience shows that to head in the opposite direction is medically, economically, and politically irrational. Competing in...

Non-profit organizations represent an important institutional avenue for delivering social services in contemporary Australia. Moreover, a voluminous theoretical literature exists on the voluntary sector in advanced countries. However, relatively little effort has thus far been expended on the empirical assessment of the main models of non-profit organizational behaviour. Using 2003 survey data...

This paper proposes a business model for providing services based on the Internet of Things through a platform that intermediates between human users and Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs). The platform seeks to maximize its profit through posting both the price charged to each user and the price paid to each WSN. A complete analysis of the profit maximization problem is performed in this paper. W...

The Software-Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm is typically applied to data center and enterprise networks. We argue that SDN is also promising for rural wireless networks, especially those in developing regions. Operating a rural network in the developing world means coping with unpredictability, low profit margins, and resource constraints; the increased flexibility and simplified management ...

I use data on the hospital networks offered by managed care health insurers to estimate the expected division of profits between insurers and providers. I include a simple profit-maximization framework and an additional effect: hospitals that can secure demand without contracting with all insurers (e.g., those most attractive to consumers and those that are capacity constrained) may demand high...

Hiring of Cloud resources establishes a business association between Provider and Consumer. In cloud, consumer wants to cut down costs and provider wants to earn more profit even on that cost. Here a symmetric arbitration plan by broker realizes the relationship between buyer and provider. In federated cloud computing environment resources are traded as a commodity and cloud users can migrate b...

Enterprises are substituting their own IT-Systems by services provided by external providers. This provisioning of services may be done in an industrialized way, separating the service provider from the consumer. However, using industrialized services diminishes the capability to differentiate from competitors. To counter this, collaborative service processes based on the co-creation of value b...

We discuss potential market mechanisms for the GRID. A complete dynamical model of a GRID market is defined with three types of agents. Providers, middlemen and users exchange universal GRID computing units (GCUs) at varying prices. Providers and middlemen have strategies aimed at maximizing profit while users are ’satisficing’ agents, and only change their behavior if the service they receive ...

This paper describes an evaluation of a non-profit human service organization's attempts to provide culturally sensitive services. Systems and constructivist theoretical perspectives are used to examine the problematic of providing effective and meaningful counseling and educational services to Spanish-speaking, Latino immigrant clients The two models of achieving cultural sensitivity—cultural ...