T raditionally, access to services offered over the World Wide Web has relied on the interaction between a browser and a Web server using the HTTP protocol. More recently, programmatic access to services over the Web, called Web services, has been the subject of intense activity and standardization efforts.1-2 In this new model, Web service providers use the Web Services Description Language (W...

This paper presents a flexible service framework for tour-and-charging schedulers based on web services, aiming at providing an energy-efficient tour schedule services to electric vehicles. For a rent-a-car system which is a promising business model capable of dealing with high cost of electric vehicles, this service decides the visiting order for renters who want to visit multiple tour spots a...

The rapid growth of farmland rental markets in China raises questions about the association of farmland rental and agricultural productivity. Although this issue has been extensively studied, the majority of studies have focused on yields and technical efficiency, with input use and cost efficiency receiving little attention. This study aimed to determine the statistical association of wheat an...

Digitization of content is changing how consumers and firms use purchase and rental markets. Low transaction costs make accessing content easier for consumers. Digital technology enables firms to create non-durable “rental” versions of their content and restrict content to the purchasing consumer, effectively shutting down resale markets. To empirically analyze the interaction of purchase and r...

When a vehicle manufacturer designs a contract with a rental vehicle company it is important for the OEM to properly understand the rental company’s economic preference. While it is usually not directly observable, the economic preference of the counter party can often be revealed indirectly through some observable market behavior. In such cases, econometric inference needs to be used. In this ...

In recent social experiments, rental motorbikes and rental bicycles have been arranged at nodes, and environments where users can ride these bikes have been improved. When people borrow bikes, they return them to nearby nodes. Some experiments have been conducted using the models of Hamachari of Yokohama, the Niigata Rental Cycle, and Bicing. However, from these experiments, the effectiveness o...

We describe an equilibrium model of peer-to-peer product sharing, or collaborative consumption, where individuals with varying usage levels make decisions about whether or not to own. Owners are able to generate income from renting their products to non-owners while non-owners are able to access these products through renting on as needed basis. We characterize equilibrium outcomes, including o...

dations of existing reservation systems to GDS Global Distribution Systems (see Figure 1). While today access to a reservation system to book a holiday package is usually only possible via a travel agent or an airline, in future this will be possible via each linked-up service provider (e.g. a car rental company or a hotel). Through trans-network connections mutual 'direct access' to other syst...

In this paper we discuss protocols that allow a user to subscribe to an electronic service, and then anonymously access the service. That is, the provider does not know who accesses the service at any time, and moreover he cannot link two accesses to the same person. On the other hand, the supplier obtains proof that the user is authorized to access the service. We formally define the problem, ...

Call centers are modern service networks in which agents provide services to customers via telephones. They have become a primary contact point between service providers and their customers. Inbound call centers take calls that are initiated by customers. Examples include phone operations that support reservation and sales for hotels, airlines, and car rental companies, as well as service cente...