Dynamic Scheduling of Contextually Categorised Internet of Things Services in Fog Computing Environment

Fog computing emerged as a concept that responds to the requirements of upcoming solutions requiring optimizations primarily in the context of the following QoS parameters: latency, throughput, reliability, security, and network traffic reduction. The rapid development of local computing devices and container-based virtualization enabled the application of fog computing within the IoT environment. However, it is necessary to utilize algorithm-based service scheduling that considers the targeted QoS parameters to optimize the service performance and reach the potential of the fog computing concept. In this paper, we first describe our categorization of IoT services that affects the execution of our scheduling algorithm. Secondly, we propose our scheduling algorithm that considers the context of processing devices, user context, and service context to determine the optimal schedule for the execution of service components across the distributed fog-to-cloud environment. The conducted simulations confirmed the performance of the proposed algorithm and showcased its major contribution—dynamic scheduling, i.e., the responsiveness to the volatile QoS parameters due to changeable network conditions. Thus, we successfully demonstrated that our dynamic scheduling algorithm enhances the efficiency of service performance based on the targeted QoS criteria of the specific service scenario.

Railway Infrastructure Asset Management Modelling

Railway infrastructure comprises a large collection of diverse and complex systems and structures. Many of them are aging assets and require a significant budget to deliver the maintenance to ensure the required safety and service performance standards. With such a large amount of money spent each year to maintain and renew the network assets, small percentage savings can amount to substantial sums of money. There is therefore a huge incentive to better understand the degradation that assets experience and how these can be effectively managed through the implementation of efficient maintenance strategies. Track and bridges are the most expensive assets to keep in the required condition, and this chapter provides a method to analyse their degradation and build Petri net models to predict the future state of the asset, the number of each maintenance activity which are expected to be undertaken, and their costs experienced by following a particular strategy. Utilising these models enables the quality of the asset management decisions made to be improved and optimised.

The performance of tramway service from the users' viewpoint: A comparative analysis between two Moroccan cities

The Moroccan government has recently promoted sustainable public transport projects such as tramway services namely in the two largest cities of country, Casablanca and Rabat-Salé. Since its launch, the tramway service is in-creasingly present in citizens' daily lives in both cities. To maintain its attractiveness, operators and transport authori-ties should examine the performance of tramway service from user’s point of view. That is, an in-depth understanding of how passengers perceive service quality and what make them satisfied. The purpose of this study is to compare the performance of tramway service in the two cities based on the opinions of a sample size of 613 and 435 individuals in each city. The outcome of this peer comparison allows to determine the strengths and weaknesses of provided service and identify priorities for improvement in each city. Regarding the methodology, we adopted a two-step approach to achieve our research purpose. The first stage intends to compare users' perceptions regarding Service Quality Attrib-utes (SQAs) and overall satisfaction and to identify any significant differences between the two cities. To this end, we applied, in the first stage, a student t-test of two independent samples. The second stage employs an ordered probit regression model to identify the most important SQA; i.e., which most influence the overall satisfaction, and improve-ments priorities for the current service tramway. The results showed that, in average, passengers found service quality as good and are satisfied with tramway service in both cities. Tram vehicles’ is the best appreciated service attribute in both cities while Comfort in Rabat-Salé and Lines’ connectivity in Casablanca are the least appreciated. Moreover, the service performance of Rabat-Salé tramway exceeds that of Casablanca tramway in terms of service Availability, ser-vice Reliability, Fares level, Tram vehicle, Drivers’ competence, Lines’ connectivity, and overall satisfaction. On the other hand, we found that among top six important attributes, Reliability and Administrators should be prioritized for improvement in Casablanca; and staff, Lines, Comfort, and Administrators in Rabat-Salé. Results showed that im-provements in all these service aspects would increase significantly overall user’s satisfaction.

Evaluasi Desain Terminal Penumpang Bandar Udara Sentani Jayapura Provinsi Papua

Sentani Airport serves public using air transportation with increasing people mobility conditions because Jayapura is the National Activity Center, so it causes frequent accumulation of passengers in the terminal area especially during peak hours. To determine the effectiveness of the terminal in accommodating the flow of passenger movement, it is necessary to evaluate the terminal design of Sentani Airport. The method used is to calculate the number of PWS with passenger distribution patterns, calculate the standard area of terminal capacity using references from SNI 03-7046-2004 and SKEP 77/VI/2005, calculate the terminal LOS with IATA standards, measure the airport service standards based on PM 178 of 2015, processing passengers’ perceptions with IPA and QFD methods and forecasting with simple linier regression. From the analysis, Sentani Airport terminal gives passengers mobility with low service performance value, so it is rated as less optimal. In addition, the limited availability of several facilities causes the passengers feeling less comfortable. Thus, it is necessary to re-design the passenger terminal area and re-management the facilities according to Angkasa Pura standards.

Performance of Regional Staffing Agency Services in order to Increase the Rank of Civil Servants of Murung Raya Regency of Central Kalimantan

This research aims to describe and analyze the performance of services and what factors affect the service performance of the Regional Staffing Agency in the framework of the promotion of Civil Servants of the Regional Staffing Agency in the framework of the promotion of Civil Servants in Murung Raya Regency. The approach taken in this study is a qualitative approach with the instrument is an interview. Measured, as well as documents that support the author in using informant data in this study amounted to 15 people consisting of Employees at the Regional Staffing Agency of Murung Raya Regency. The results of the Regional Staffing Agency's service performance research in terms of promotions seen from productivity, service quality, responsiveness, responsibilities and accountability in Murung Raya Regency have been good. That is, from the receipt of files, file verification, management to BKN Regional Kalimantan to the issuance of the promotion decree is basically in accordance with the regulations, in accordance with the vision of BKD's mission and provides good satisfaction to the community of service users (PNS) of Murung Raya regency. The performance of promotion services in BKD Murung Raya which is an obstacle factor such as changing rules about the technical requirements of promotion, there are still some civil servants who are late to submit their files or files submitted incomplete and the distance between BKD and BKN Regional Banjarbaru so that the enactment is scheduled earlier or faster.

The role of initiative climate as a resource caravan passageway in developing proactive service performance

PurposeThe study aims to examine the role of initiative climate as a resource caravan passageway in engaging employees and developing a proactive frontline service workforce to identify the mechanisms whereby scarce resources efficiently yielding the desired outcomes can help organizations improve productivity and gain competitive advantage, thereby helping clarify the leadership–performance relationship in service organizations.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed a quantitative research design with a cross-sectional survey conducted among frontline hospitality employees in Malaysia. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to examine the hypothesized relationships.FindingsThe initiative climate is significant as a resource caravan passageway to transmit the positive impact of interpersonal leadership onto the engagement and proactive performance of frontline hospitality employees in whom initiative climate and employee engagement sequentially mediated the relationship between interpersonal leadership and proactive service performance.Research limitations/implicationsThe online data collection procedure conducted through LinkedIn and Facebook and cross-sectional, self-reported survey method are significant limitations of the current study.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study will aid in developing organizational interventions for an engaged and proactive frontline service workforce, as interpersonal leadership can positively impact the engagement and proactive behavior of frontline service employees via initiative climate. Therefore, hospitality managers should value interpersonal leadership and initiative climate as coexisting organizational resources.Originality/valueThe study shows the significance of initiative climate in the relationships between interpersonal leadership, employee engagement and the proactive performance of frontline service employees.

Can and should refugees and communities that host them expect better performing and resilient water supply services?

During the acute phase of an emergency the priority for humanitarian agencies is to rapidly establish water supply and other basic services (e.g. sanitation, hygiene, and solid waste) for people affected by disaster or crisis. However, the immediate response to an emergency is relatively short in duration, while the services, particularly water supply, often need to meet the needs of affected populations for many years. Often crises are protracted in nature and it is therefore important to understand how service performance evolves and whether service users are satisfied with the level of water supply. This is an important consideration because long-term sustainability may not represent an important part of initial thinking by humanitarian agencies. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees estimates the average time spent by a refugee in a camp is 10 years, while the average refugee camp remains for 26 years. Two questions arise: first, how will humanitarian agencies ensure emergency water supplies reach the desired performance levels; second, how will local institutions be able to manage, modify and finance the services that camp or settlement dwellers and host communities will depend upon. In this chapter the authors explore experiences from two country case studies and monitoring data extracted from ongoing humanitarian crises. The main conclusions are: service level enhancements are often slow to materialise and widespread efforts are required to raise performance levels.

Influence of Humidity State on Dynamic Resilient Modulus of Subgrade Soils: Considering Repeated Wetting-Drying Cycles

The service performance of subgrade depends on the dynamic resilient modulus (MR) of subgrade soils. Meanwhile, due to complicated conditions such as rainfall infiltration, high temperature evaporation, and groundwater level fluctuations, it can be safely said that the humidity state and repeated wetting-drying (WD) cycles affect the MR of subgrade soils. The object of this study is to conduct a series of dynamic triaxial tests after WD cycles to investigate the characteristics of the MR under various factors. The main results are as follows: (i) the MR decreased with the increase of deviator stress and rose with the growth of confining pressure; (ii) the humidification effect caused by the increase in moisture content attenuated the MR; (iii) the accumulation of WD cycles damaged the MR; however the decline rate was gradually retarded until it was stable with WD cycles 5 times; (iv) the satisfactory prediction model for the MR of subgrade soils considering WD cycles was proposed and verified. It is expected that the findings can provide valuable contributions for road engineering.