High-level Services Research Articles

Forecasting of Paracetamol Demand in UMMC Pharmacy

Pharmaceutical inventory management is a critical operation in healthcare centres. This is due to the fact that most pharmaceutical products are perishable. Managing the inventory of perishable items can be a complicated process as the healthcare industry needs to maintain a high level of services. In order to manage the inventory of pharmaceutical products, it is important to forecast the demand, which will enable the distribution to be planned and scheduled effectively. In this research, we focus on one fast moving medicine which is paracetamol that commonly used to treat fever and pain across all ages group of patients. Data is obtained from University Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC) for the year 2017-2020. Before applying the forecasting techniques, the data pattern needs to be identified. Among the five forecasting techniques are Additive Decomposition Method, Multiplicative Decomposition Method, Simple Exponential Smoothing and Adaptive Response Rate Exponential Smoothing. The performance of these techniques was evaluated based on four error measurements; (i) Mean Absolute Deviation, (ii) Mean Squares Error, (iii) Mean Percentage Error and Mean Absolute Percentage Error. Multiplicative Decomposition method displays the lowest values of error measurements which indicates the greatest accuracy and implies the suitability for this research. The data predicts that the demand for paracetamol will likely continue to move downwards over the next five years.

Transforming the future of digital banking with APIs and DataSecOps

Digital banking involves high levels of process automation and web-based services and may include application programming interfaces (APIs) enabling crossinstitutional service composition to deliver banking products and provide transactions. It enables users to have access to their financial data via their digital devices. APIs represent as great a threat and an opportunity to banks today as the advent of the digital era once did, opening the market to greater competition around customer loyalty and engagement. Banks should not consider these APIs as simply technical interfaces that expose data to third parties but rather as radical enablers of new and attractive customer experiences. APIs are already commonplace across many industry sectors, where they are, in fact, viewed as customer products. Banks will have to follow suit in order to remain competitive. In brief, APIs are the nucleus of digital transformation. Around 84.5 per cent of those working on digital transformation initiatives state that APIs are playing a significant role in those initiatives.1 Given the risk of API-first architecture, these numbers are expected to continue to grow. There are risks, however, that companies face as a result of the increased reliance on APIs as the main driver of digital banking. Seventy one per cent of software engineers surveyed considered ‘security’ the most important factor to consider before integration with an API, which was tied for the top concern.2 While software engineers are aware of this risk, there is a need to address it not only at a technology level, but at a risk and business level as well. In order to address these risks, the concept of Data Security Operations, or ‘DataSecOps’, has arisen. DataSecOps is a discipline that empowers software engineers, data scientists, governance risk and control, cybersecurity & operations teams to work together in a single application for safer and easier access, analysis, delivery and governance of data.3 DataSecOps principles will become a critical component in addressing the security issues related to digital banking.

The Impact of Cultural Organization to the Public Service of Selected Community Organization in Nagcarlan, Laguna, Philippines

This study focused on finding out whether the cultural organization has a significant relationship to the public service of selected sangguniang barangay in Nagcaralan, Laguna, Philippines. Out of 52 barangays, three barangays were selected ? Sabang, Yukos, and Talangan. The survey questions were distributed to the barangay officials as well as to the people in their area ? twenty in each barangay, sixty in all. It was discovered that Brgy. Sabang has a moderate level of commitment, satisfaction, and personal and professional growth. It is the same with Brgy. Yukos which has a moderate level of public service in all indicators. Brgy. Talangan has a high level of public service. In terms of organizational culture, it was found that the perception of the people in Brgy. Sabang on the cultural organization of their sangguniang barangay is collectivism, the officials are far from ruling as well as the people, fatalism is practiced, and the way of leadership is feminine. In Yukos, it is collectivism, far from ruling, aggressivism, and feminism. On the other hand, in Talangan, it is collectivism, far from ruling, fatalism, and masculine. Using the t-test for independent variables, it was found that the most significant relevant public service was the masculine/feminine leadership culture, and this was confirmed by p-values (0.02, 0.02, 0.03, and 0.00) that were lower than the alpha of 0.05. In addition, distance from the leader also affects the personal growth of the officials of the sangguniang barangay (p-value 0.04). Eventually, the writers suggested that officials of sangguniang barangay, as well as local government officials, hold seminars, workshops, or symposiums regarding masculine and feminine culture in an organization, and other related topics. The authors also made a suggestion for young people and future researchers.

Optimizing Inventory Replenishment for Seasonal Demand with Discrete Delivery Times

This study investigates replenishment planning in the case of discrete delivery time, where demand is seasonal. The study is motivated by a case study of a soft drinks company in Germany, where data concerning demand are obtained for a whole year. The investigation focused on one type of apple juice that experiences a peak in demand during the summer. The lot-sizing problem reduces the ordering and the total inventory holding costs using a mixed-integer programming (MIP) model. Both the lot size and cycle time are variable over the planning horizon. To obtain results faster, a dynamic programming (DP) model was developed, and run using R software. The model was run every week to update the plan according to the current inventory size. The DP model was run on a personal computer 35 times to represent dynamic planning. The CPU time was only a few seconds. Results showed that initial planning is difficult to follow, especially after week 30, and the service level was only 92%. Dynamic planning reached a higher service level of 100%. This study is the first to investigate discrete delivery times, opening the door for further investigations in the future in other industries.

A study of visitor impact management practices and visitor satisfaction at Eravikulam National Park, India

Protected areas (PAs) achieve recognition and enhanced protection when a sufficient number of tourists visit and appreciate them and influence policy to assure their survival. Despite the growing importance, little attention has been paid to visitor satisfaction in PAs. Visitor experience and satisfaction may be influenced by many attributes of PAs. The present study is an attempt to examine the effect of visitor impact management (VIM) practices on visitor experience and satisfaction concerning eco and wildlife tourism at Eravikulam National Park (ENP). VIM is a component of PA management and is required to ensure a high level of visitor experience, education, facilities, and services. For this purpose, researchers have measured the socio-economic profile of visitors and various attributes viz. tourism activities (TA), environmental impacts (ENI), socio-cultural impacts (SCI), visitor impact management (VIM), visitor education (VE), and overall satisfaction of visitors (OSA).The results of the study show that VIM is significantly and positively correlated with VE, OSA of visitors. (VIM, TA, ENI, SCI, VE) explained partial variation in the criterion variable viz., OSA.

Service-oriented distributionally robust lane reservation

Most existing lane reservation studies usually consider a static transportation network with assuming constant link travel times. However, in reality the link travel times are highly uncertain due to various factors such as weather, accidents, road maintenance, intersections, etc. Moreover, the precise link travel time probability distribution is usually difficult to be obtained. This paper studies a new stochastic bus lane reservation problem with partial link travel time information, i.e., only the mean and covariance matrix are known. The objective is to maximize the bus service level measured by the probability of the event that all lines are jointly scheduled on time. For the problem, we formulate a service-oriented distributionally robust optimization model. Its complexity is shown to be NP-hard. To solve the problem, a sample average approximation (SAA)-based method is first adapted. Since the SAA-based approach is computational expensive, a new approximated mixed integer second-order cone programming (MI-SOCP)-based approach is developed. Computational results on a real-life case show that the proposed MI-SOCP-based approach can efficiently obtain satisfactory solutions of high quality. Besides, our results indicate that the proposed model and algorithm can provide better solutions with higher service level, as compared with general stochastic models with known distributions and without considering service levels.

A platform for integrating heterogeneous data and developing smart city applications

Developing smart city applications typically faces challenges such as meeting several complex requirements, integrating heterogeneous data sources, and considering geographical information representing the real-world urban space. Smart city platforms have a key role in realizing these applications as they provide high-level services that can be (re)used by developers. Despite the existence of many platforms to support the development of smart city applications, most of them do not associate the offered services with geographical information, do not support performing semantic queries on the available data, and have limitations that may burden development tasks. This paper presents Smart Geo Layers (SGeoL), a platform for developing smart city applications. Besides integrating urban data with geographical information, SGeoL relies on an underlying middleware infrastructure and leverages it by including high-level abstractions for (i) context data management, (ii) integration of heterogeneous data, (iii) semantic support, (iv) data analysis and visualization, and (v) data security and privacy support. This paper also reports experiences on the real use of SGeoL and empirical results on the evaluation of its performance and scalability.

Nature‐based Solutions to tackle climate change and restore biodiversity

Nature‐based Solutions to tackle climate change and restore biodiversity

Future scenarios for the European railway sector: A methodology based on past trends and a stated preference survey

The strengthening of the railway mode is one of the main policies that can help to achieve more sustainable future mobility. A methodology is presented to estimate future transport demand scenarios over the medium (2030) and long term (2050) considering three trip lengths: urban, regional, and long distance for two trip purposes: work and leisure. The objective of the scenarios is to answer the question: would railways benefit from a 10% drop in car usage? Qualitative techniques have been applied, based on in-depth interviews and focus groups, as well as a stated preference survey where the people sampled answered to different scenarios which included the presence of a new train, with a high level of service, and other possible new modes of transport such as autonomous cars and buses. The results obtained using Best-Worst discrete choice models show that the rail mode could capture a significant part of the demand from the car over all three journey lengths, but especially for long distance, if the new rail mode were introduced.

Evidence-informed health care infrastructures: test of SustHealthv2 tool on hospital pilot cases

Abstract Background Healthcare facilities are important node of health systems and several scholars from Public Health and health service field highlighted that high quality and sustainable built environment is fundamental in providing high quality health care services. Nevertheless, most hospital buildings are obsolete, not adequate to contemporary organizational models; additionally, none of the existing quality improvement tools systematically evaluate the built environment. Therefore, the study develops an evidence-informed weighted multicriteria tool and tested it on two pilot case study. Methods Starting from previous literature reviews and scenario analysis, different indicators for hospital quality assessment have been grouped in 17 criteria and 3 macro areas, validated through semi-structured interviews and weighted with Multicriteria Simon Roy Figueras (MCDA-SRF) and Deck Card Method (DCM). The weighted tool SustHealthv2 has been tested on two medium sized hospital pilot case studies (H1 and H2) in northern Italy. Results The tool is composed by three macro areas: Social, Environmental and Organizational qualities respectively accounting for 22%, 29% and 49%. The application and test of the tool highlighted transversal criticalities such as Sustainable Accessibility (H1=0.04/0.16; H2=0.11/0.16), Sensitization and Education (H1=0.06/0.18; H2=0.10/0.18). The most recent case study (H1) was able to achieve higher scores in energy (0.15/0.0.19), waste management (0.07/0.07), as well as future proofing characteristics (0.20/0.23) compared to the older one. Overall H1 scored higher in all the macro areas reaching a total fulfillment of 72/100, while H2 scored 52/100. Conclusions The application of SustHealth v2 on operating health care facilities can support hospital management in defining strategic area of improvements and investments for hospital building renovation providing higher level of services to patients, users and staff. Key messages Built environment for healthcare needs systematic evaluation frameworks to improve and contribute to health service quality. SustHealth v2 is an evidence-informed multicriteria framework for hospital built environment sustainability and quality assessment from social, environmental and organizational perspective.

ViePEP-C: A Container-Based Elastic Process Platform

Business Process Management Systems (BPMS) need to be able to take into account the fluctuating demand for computational resources during the execution of business process activities. Today, BPMS rely on the leasing and releasing of virtual machines (VMs) on cloud resources, which leads to a rather coarse-grained allocation of computational resources. This may result in an increase in the execution cost, flexibility restrictions, and a negative impact on the Quality of Service. In order to overcome these drawbacks, we introduce the Vienna Platform for Elastic Processes on Containers (ViePEP-C). ViePEP-C is an elastic BPMS that uses containers instead of VMs for the execution of business process activities on cloud resources, leading to a more fine-grained execution environment. To achieve this, ViePEP-C offers cloud controller, monitoring and business process execution functionalities and provides a platform for different resource and task scheduling algorithms. To evaluate the benefits of ViePEP-C, we further present a resource and task scheduling algorithm and show that, by using containers as execution environment, the execution cost can be decreased by over 20 percent (compared to a state-of-the-art VM-based scheduling algorithm) while considering a high service level.

Hotspots of Agricultural Ecosystem Services and Farmland Biodiversity Overlap with Areas at Risk of Land Abandonment in Japan

Agriculture provides a wide range of ecosystem services and has the potential to contribute to biodiversity conservation. In Japan, many of the resources associated with agroecosystems are threatened by farmland abandonment. Identifying where and to what extent agricultural ecosystem services and farmland biodiversity are affected by farmland abandonment is essential for developing effective strategies to counter the potential loss of these services and the biological communities that support them. Our study aimed to examine how a set of indicators for ecosystem services and biodiversity linked to agroecosystems (proportions of land dedicated to rice production and other agricultural production, proportion of agricultural land on slopes potentially providing landscape aesthetics, proportion of villages promoting rural tourism, and densities of forest edges and irrigation ponds in agricultural land) are distributed at the municipal level across the Japanese Archipelago, and to analyze their spatial patterns in relation to the distribution of farmland abandonment. It was hypothesized that hotspots of agricultural ecosystem services and farmland biodiversity occur in areas at risk of farmland abandonment owing to shared drivers. The cluster analysis identified four distinct ecosystem service bundle types, two of them representing areas specializing in agricultural production, while the other two provided high levels of cultural services and habitats for diverse biological communities. The latter two bundles were located in hilly and mountainous areas and accounted for 58% of rice production, 27% of other agricultural production, 77% of landscape aesthetics, 77% of rural tourism, 64% of forest edges, and 87% of irrigation ponds in Japan. In support of the hypothesis, farmland abandonment was pronounced in these areas, with 64% of recently abandoned fields located where 44% of agricultural land was found. This spatial overlap suggests that substantial losses of ecosystem services and biodiversity may occur if current patterns of farmland abandonment continue. In order to prevent large-scale losses of agricultural ecosystem services and farmland biodiversity, measures to counteract the ongoing abandonment trends should prioritize hilly and mountainous areas, and future studies should further evaluate the multiple functions of agricultural areas to improve policies that aim to ensure sustainable development of rural areas in Japan.

Airline service: low-cost-carriers (LCCs) failure and passenger emotional experience

Sevicio de aerolineas: problemas con provedores de bajo costo y experiencias emocionales de pasajerosResumenPropósitoEste estudio analizó los comentarios sobre la experiencia de vuelo de los pasajeros de las aerolíneas de bajo costo (LCCs, por sus siglas en inglés) de Asia.Diseño/metodología/métodoSe utilizó un enfoque de netnografía para revisar y analizar el contenido de los comentarios negativos de 230 pasajeros de LCCs en el sitio web de TripAdvisor.ResultadosLas fallas en el servicio de las LCCs generaron 17 emociones negativas diferentes; entre ellas, conmoción, decepción y sorpresa fueron las emociones más frecuentes que sintieron los pasajeros.Implicaciones prácticasMantener un alto nivel de servicio al cliente y garantizar un acceso fácil a la información reduce las emociones negativas de los pasajeros de las LCCs y cumple con sus expectativas de servicio y satisfacción. Este estudio proporciona pautas para los gerentes de las LCCs que desean implementar una técnica de netnografía como estrategia de investigación de mercados.Originalidad/valorEntender mejor este concepto ayudará a la industria de las LCCs a construir un modelo comercial más sólido que el de sus competidores, mantener sus ventajas competitivas en el mercado global y desarrollar estrategias de mercadotecnia efectivas para atraer a más pasajeros.Aerolíneas de bajo costo (LCC), emociones negativas, falla en el servicio, destino turístico

Heritage Management: Analytical Study of Tourism Impacts on the Archaeological Site of Umm Qais—Jordan

The archaeological site of Umm Qais is a popular tourist destination for both local and foreign tourists who come to appreciate the site’s archaeological history, scenic landscape, and panoramic perspective. The site was the focus of tourism planning, which included the construction of amenities and infrastructure, the creation of tourist circuits, and archaeological management. This development was linked to a rise in visitor numbers as well as the provision of a high level of service, such as parking, tickets, kiosks, restaurants, and cafés, to welcome visitors. The purpose of this study was to examine the impacts of on-site tourist services and infrastructures, as well as those of visitors, and their geographical and temporal scope on the site. The study used a qualitative approach based on case study fieldwork as a research method to achieve this goal. Personal observation, interviews with site-related stakeholders, and a checklist were used to collect data during the fieldwork. Both tourism infrastructure and visitors were proven to have a detrimental influence on tourist attractions. The site’s aesthetic pollution and structural deterioration were caused by tourism services and infrastructure. Graffiti, vandalism, and trash left by visitors exerted strong negative impacts. Furthermore, spatial and temporal negative impacts were determined by the patterns of seasonal movement of visitors and the location of infrastructure. Thus, most of the impacts were concentrated in a small portion of the site, among the western theater, the panoramic view, and the traditional Ottoman village. This research sheds light on these challenges and makes recommendations in the areas of heritage management, tourism, and visitor impact management that may be of interest to on-the-ground decision makers as well as academics.

A Framework for Optimizing Green Infrastructure Networks Based on Landscape Connectivity and Ecosystem Services

Optimizing the layout of green infrastructure (GI) is an effective way to alleviate the fragmentation of urban landscapes, coordinate the relationship between urban development and urban ecosystem services, and ensure the sustainable development of cities. This study provides a new technical framework for optimizing GI networks based on a case study of Kaifeng, an exemplar of many ancient cities along the Yellow River in China. To do this, we used a morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) methodology and combined it with Procedure for mAthematical aNalysis of lanDscape evOlution and equilibRium scenarios Assessment (PANDORA) model to determine the hubs of the GI network. Then we employed a least-cost path approach to simulate potential corridors linking the hubs. We further identify the key ‘pinch points’ of the GI network that need priority protection based on circuit theory. Altogether, this framework takes patches that have a high level of ecosystem services and are more important in maintaining overall connectivity as hubs, thereby improving the accuracy of hub identification. Moreover, it establishes a direct connection between GI construction and ecosystem services, and improves biodiversity conservation by optimizing the network structure of GI. The results of the case study show that this framework is suitable for GI planning and construction, and can provide effective technical support for the formulation of urban sustainable development strategies.

Comprehensive Evaluation of the Importance of Ecological Land in Arid Hilly Cities in Northwest China: A Case Study of the Core Urban Area of Lanzhou

Cities in hilly arid areas of northwest China have generally experienced a low level of economic development; they also have unique natural characteristics such as climate, soil, terrain, environment, and surface cover. High quality ecological lands are those that provide humans and the environment with relatively high levels of ecological services including soil, water, and air purification, adsorbing pollutants, or providing water or nutrients needed by plants. In this study, ecological lands were classified as woodland, grassland, water area, and bare land. The present study constructed an ecological land model designed to evaluate the importance of such land from the perspective of ecological service function and ecological demand intensity. Results revealed that: (1) This model can help researchers to better analyze the structure and spatial characteristics of ecological land in cities and also meet the needs of ecological protection and urban management in highly urbanized areas. (2) In terms of ecological service function and ecological demand intensity, the most important ecological land is mostly distributed in densely populated and urbanized areas, and the spread of urbanization is conducive to the improvement of land ecological value for the arid hilly area of northwest China. (3) Among all types of ecological land, the water area had the highest ecological value in the study area, while the grassland had the most potential for improvement, as careful planning and use can allow grassland to function as an ecological barrier while providing good, aesthetically pleasing space for leisure activities for the general public. (4) Qilihe and Xigu districts have more generally important graded areas of forest, grassland, and bare land, although the current ecological value of these lands is limited, though they have great potential for ecological improvement.

Health literacy and healthcare service utilisation in the 12-months prior to entry into residential alcohol and other drug treatment

IntroductionHealth literacy refers to an individual’s capacity to gather, process and understand health information, make appropriate health decisions, and engage adequately with healthcare services. Inadequate health literacy has been linked to an increase in acute healthcare utilisation. Research suggests that people living with substance use disorders also access acute healthcare services at high rates. The study investigates whether overall health literacy is related to this population’s use of general healthcare services. MethodsA total of 568 participants were recruited from residential substance use treatment services located in NSW, Australia, as part of a randomised controlled trial; the Continuing Care Project. All participants completed a face-to face baseline questionnaire, which included the Health Literacy Questionnaire; a measure of multidimensional health literacy. Latent profile analysis was used to examine health literacy profiles, with multinominal regression analysis examining if healthcare service utilisation was related to these profiles. ResultsThree profiles of health literacy were identified and termed lowest (n = 86, 15.1%), moderate (n = 338, 59.5%) and highest health literacy (n = 144, 25.4%). The sample accessed both primary and acute healthcare services at high rates. When controlling for demographic variables, there were no significant differences identified between health literacy profiles and service use. Discussion/ConclusionsThis study was the first to use a multidimensional health literacy tool to examine health literacy and general healthcare service utilisation for people attending residential substance use disorder treatment. This population access high levels of healthcare services, however the role that health literacy may play in helping reduce acute healthcare use requires further investigation.

SOCIAL INVESTMENTS AS AN INDICATOR OF ASSESSMENT OF AGRICULTURAL BUSINESS ENTITIES’ SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

The article examines social investment as an indicator of social responsibility of agribusiness entities. It was found that social investments have a much longer payback period and low profitability compared to investments in other projects, but they expect and expect to also receive a social effect, which is a priority over other expected effects in the process of investing socio-economic activities of agrarian business. It is noted that this socio-economic effect is expressed in gaining consumer loyalty to agricultural products, forming a positive image in terms of high product quality, high level of service, environmentally friendly technologies, environmental protection, strengthening confidence in brands and brands. It is established that due to the socially oriented activities of the agribusiness entity, a favorable social environment is created, which will eventually lead to a stable competitive position in domestic and global markets. By choosing socially responsible behavior, the agribusiness entity feels a significant advantage in the market compared to other producers: expanding marketing niches, promoting goods or services, winning new customers, and strengthening relationships with partners, attracting new investors and more. The importance of the socio-economic component of investment is emphasized, as the social measures generate additional income by increasing sales and increasing the competitiveness of agricultural businesses. Social investments in the agricultural sector are implemented in the form of social programs and projects. Today, agricultural businesses are implementing social programs, in most cases, to create favorable conditions for the development of labor, which reduces social risks, especially in depressed areas and local oppressed areas. Socially responsible agribusiness entities define social development programs as a tool to reduce the asymmetry between financial interests and social development requirements, balancing the balance between fulfilling the business's objective function of increasing market value and increasing competitiveness, and solving socio-economic problems. Keywords: social responsibility, social investments, agrarian business entities, socio-economic component of investments.

Mental health services and psychotropic medications provided to children at risk for placement instability in foster care

Children at risk for placement instability are subpopulation in out-of-home care with a critical need for enhanced mental health services, but little is known about the types and adequacy of the mental services they receive. This descriptive study sought to identify the types of mental health services and psychotropic medications provided to children with a risk for moves, foster parents’ perceptions of their adequacy, consistency of therapy services with evidence-based models, and racial and gender differences in service provision. Foster parents completed telephone surveys for a randomly selected sample of 144 children aged 8–14 in specialized or traditional family foster care with a history of placement moves or hospitalizations in a large state in the US. Over two-thirds of children were reported to have mental health diagnoses, with ADHD most frequent (52%). Most children with a diagnosis received psychotherapy (75%) and psychotropic medications (90%). The majority did not receive additional services. A quarter received therapy supporting use of behavioral interventions in foster homes, with 40% of foster parents reporting this was inadequate. Additionally, half reported inadequate initial training. No racial differences in services were reported. However, girls were more likely to receive therapy described as trauma-focused than boys (30.9% and 5.6%, respectively); more boys received treatment for anger (17%) and psychotropic medication (60%). Findings indicate that children at risk for multiple moves receive a high level of services, but questions are raised about the content and adequacy of these services. Evidence-based psychosocial interventions are needed to support positive outcomes and potentially reduce psychotropic medication use.

Driver Positioning and Incentive Budgeting with an Escrow Mechanism for Ride-Sharing Platforms

Drivers on the Lyft ride-share platform do not always know where the areas of supply shortage are in real time. This lack of information hurts both riders trying to find a ride and drivers trying to determine how to maximize their earnings opportunities. Lyft’s Personal Power Zone (PPZ) product helps the company to maintain high levels of service on the platform by influencing the spatial distribution of drivers in real time via monetary incentives that encourage them to reposition their vehicles. The underlying system that powers the product has two main components: (1) a novel “escrow mechanism” that tracks available incentive budgets tied to locations within a city in real time, and (2) an algorithm that solves the stochastic driver-positioning problem to maximize short-run revenue from riders’ fares. The optimization problem is a multiagent dynamic program that is too complicated to solve optimally for our large-scale application. Our approach is to decompose it into two subproblems. The first determines the set of drivers to incentivize and where to incentivize them to position themselves. The second determines how to fund each incentive using the escrow budget. By formulating it as two convex programs, we are able to use commercial solvers that find the optimal solution in a matter of seconds. Rolled out to all 320 cities in which Lyft operates in a little more than a year, the system now generates millions of bonuses that incentivize hundreds of thousands of active drivers to optimally position themselves in anticipation of ride requests every week. Together, the PPZ product and its underlying algorithms represent a paradigm shift in how Lyft drivers drive and generate earnings on the platform. Its direct business impact has been a 0.5% increase in incremental bookings, amounting to tens of millions of dollars per year. In addition, the product has brought about significant improvements to the driver and rider experience on the platform. These include statistically significant reductions in pick-up times and ride cancellations. Finally, internal surveys reveal that the vast majority of drivers prefer PPZs over the legacy system.