We propose an architecture called InterPay for managing nancial interactions with for-pay digital library services. The approach accommodates multiple payment mechanisms, interaction models, and charging policies. Key components of our model are payment agents and payment capabilities that encapsulate payment policy and the details of payment on behalf of the user. Collection agents and collect...

In the service composition life cycle, the target between service requester and service provider is quite different, which will cause the Web service SLA negotiation problem. The implementation of Web service relies on the interaction between the service provider and the service requester. In this article, the game model of Web Service negotiation process is proposed and solutions of the multi-...

sweden and spain experiment with different provider models to reform healthcare provision. both models have in common that they extend the role of the for-profit sector in healthcare. as the analysis of saltman and duran demonstrates, privatisation is an ambiguous and contested strategy that is used for quite different purposes. in our comment, we emphasize that their analysis leaves questions ...

background being in a position of vulnerability, distress and uncertainty reduces the ability of the parents to protect their children and makes them need support from others. the first step to aid clients more is to identify their supportive sources. this study aimed to determine parents' experiences of supportive sources during their children surgery. materials and methods this is a desc...

This work focuses on the B2B interaction between a service requester and a service provider in a healthcare environment. The requester is the primary caregiver responsible for managing the health of a population of patients. When a patient requires advanced care outside the requester’s expertise, the requester refers the patient to a provider and pays for the referral services. Treatment may su...

Complex cloud services rely on various IaaS, PaaS, and SaaS cloud offerings. Fast (re)deployment and testing cycles, and the rapidity of changes of various dependent infrastructures and services, imply a need for continuous adaptation. Although software-based elasticity control solutions can automate various decisions through intelligent decisionmaking processes, in many cases, such adaptation ...

We investigate a formal framework where agents use referrals from other agents to locate high-quality service providers. Agents have common knowledge about providers which are able to provide these services. The performance of providers is measured by the satisfaction obtained by agents from using their services. Provider performance varies with their current load. We assume that agents are tru...

OBJECTIVES The nature of patient-provider interactions and communication is widely documented to significantly impact on patient experiences, treatment adherence and health outcomes. Yet little is known about the broader contextual factors and dynamics that shape patient-provider interactions in high HIV prevalence and limited-resource settings. Drawing on qualitative research from five sub-Sah...