Network Services Research Articles

Serving Innovation: Exploring Patent Agency Service Networks in China

ABSTRACTPatent agency services are crucial for the codification of technical knowledge and inventions. Drawing on an inter‐firm network analysis of the patent agency service relationships between patent agencies and their innovation clients during the last two decades in China, this paper seeks to explore the structure of urban patent agency service networks and how it is shaped by China's unique institutional and market forces. The study found that although the patent agency service network generally follows the basic structure of China's innovative and economic landscapes, it is still deeply shaped by China's unique intellectual property institutions, administrative hierarchy factors, market forces driven by patent agency service demand, and multidimensional proximities in a complex manner. Analyzing how these factors function should be related to the characteristics of patent agencies and the actors of networks. The study will help us understand how city patent service networks might be shaped by institutional and spatial factors, and provide new evidence on how cities are interlinked within patent agency service networks.

대학생의 디지털 리터러시 변화에 대한 종단연구: 잠재성장모형을 적용하여

The purpose of this study was to examine the change patten of college students’ digital literacy by using the data of ‘Korean Media Panel Data for the 12th(2021), 13the(2021), 14th(2023) year conducted by Korea Information Society Development Institute(KISDI). Four sub-competencies of information utilization, information acquisition, media utilization, and personal information recognition were selected as digital literacy competencies. The latent growth model was utilized to analyze longitudinal change with influence of independent variables. The major findings of this research were as followings. First, college student’s digital literacy showed linearly increased. Second, it was confirmed that the major(engineering sciences), SNS(social network service) and OTT(over-the-top media service) consumption behavior had a positive effect on the initial level and change in digital literacy, while gender had no significant differences in digital literacy. Third, the predictors(major, SNS and OTT consumption) had significant effects on information utilization, information acquisition. Based on the results of study, we suggest that it is necessary to care of non-science and Engineering Students. Also, it is necessary to provide opportunities and programs for individual student to use digital platforms and online contents.

A multi-queue-based ECN marking strategy for multi-class QoS guarantee in programmable networks

Currently, network applications are experiencing explosive growth, and various types of network applications are showing a trend of varied demands for quality of network service. However, the existing Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) marking methods have not taken into account the diversified Quality of Service (QoS) requirements of network applications. This article introduces a multi-queue ECN marking strategy targeting multiple QoS guarantees. The strategy utilizes virtual queues and dynamic weighted round-robin scheduling to achieve traffic partitioning in a programmable data plane. It constructs a multi-queue, multi-class QoS queuing model based on the QoS requirements of different traffic and network conditions. The model is solved by real-time to obtain the ECN marking thresholds and round-robin weights for different queues, in order to achieve dynamic QoS requirements of different network applications. We implemented this strategy in Mininet and BMv2, and compared it with DCQCN, P4QCN, and TCN. The experimental results indicate that this policy demonstrates good performance in terms of queue length, RTT, and throughput, while also ensuring fairness between traffics. Results of the experiment indicate that the proposed approach is superior to DCQCN and P4QCN in the field of performance fluctuation and rapid feedback, and it exhibits notable advantages over TCN, and also ensures the fairness of traffic.

How the Struggle for Public Health in the Jim Crow South Reflected and Reinforced Systemic Racial Health Inequality

Abstract The twenty-first century COVID-19 epidemic revealed a U.S. public health system that countenanced health inequities and a U.S. public that resisted disease containment policies. This crisis, however, was only the most recent chapter in a longer struggle in the United States to institutionalize public health. We focus on two early twentieth-century public health campaigns in the American South, the unhealthiest U.S. region at the time. Black southerners—denied basic health, political, economic, and social rights under a rising Jim Crow regime—self-organized health services networks, including through the Tuskegee Woman’s Club, the Negro Organization Society of Virginia, and the Moveable School (1890s–1915). Around the same time, a philanthropic project, the Rockefeller Sanitary Commission (RSC, 1909–1914), seeded state-level public health agencies in eleven southern states, thereby installing public health in a top-down manner. We use archival data sources to explore key similarities and differences in the public health concerns and coalition-building approaches of each campaign and southern resistance to their efforts. We find Black-led campaigns often blurred the color line to form coalitions that provided services to the underserved while tackling environmental health risks at the community level. In contrast, RSC affiliates in southern states, as directed by RSC administrators, provided health services as short-term public dispensaries. Services reached Black and White communities willing to participate but in a manner that did not overtly challenge Jim Crow-era practices. Southern resistance to public health expansion persisted under each approach. The legacies of these struggles remain; the political-economic and ideological forces that limited public health expansion while marginalizing Black community health efforts reverberate in public health inequities today.

Streaming and Elastic Traffic Service in 5G-Sliced Wireless Networks and Mutual Utilization of Guaranteed Resource Units

Researchers of 5G-sliced Wireless Networks are faced with the task of achieving, at the same time, (i) mandatory isolation among network slices and (ii) the effective utilization of resource at Fifth Generation Base Station (gNB). This article proposes the second version of the Preemption-based service Prioritization (PP2) scheme that merges the capabilities of the classical Resource Reservation (RR) and Service Prioritization (SP) schemes and realizes the coexistence of non-TCP streaming and TCP elastic traffic at gNB. Analytical methods are given for Dynamic Resource Sharing (DRS) and Dynamic Resource Reallocation (DRR) with data rate reduction and service preemption. As main results, under some baseline scenario, the PP2 scheme, in comparison with RR, does increase the admission probability up to 99.999% at the system while ensuring 100% in system capacity utilization.

Optical Networking Gym: an open-source toolkit for resource assignment problems in optical networks

The dynamic provisioning of optical network services requires algorithms to find a suitable solution given the specific service requirements and the current network state. These algorithms are usually evaluated using a software simulator developed ad hoc, which may require different levels of detail depending on the problem addressed and how realistic the evaluation needs to be. Moreover, to demonstrate they are a significant contribution to the field, these new algorithms must be benchmarked against the best-performing previously proposed solutions. Due to the large set of parameters and their wide range of possible values, benchmarking algorithms from the literature is not straightforward and can quickly become challenging and time-consuming. This work introduces the Optical Networking Gym, an open-source toolkit that simplifies implementing optical resource assignment simulations and benchmarking new solutions against previously published algorithms. The toolkit provides environments modeling relevant optical networking scenarios, common algorithms for solving problems related to these scenarios, and a set of scripts to prepare and execute simulations for various use cases. Currently, four environments are available, with the possibility of increasing this number through contributions from the co-authors and the community. This paper describes the architecture, interface, environments, and scripts included with the toolkit. We adopt the quality of transmission (QoT)-aware dynamic resource allocation of optical services as the network scenario under examination. Three use cases highlight the toolkit’s modularity, flexibility, and performance. The toolkit allows researchers to streamline the process of developing simulation scenarios and algorithms, enhancing their ability to benchmark their algorithms.

Why Are Foodies Active on Social Network Services? An Exploratory Study on Foodies’ Influence on Social Media

As social media continues to gain traction in the food industry, this study explored how cooking and dining-out behaviors and social media use differ depending on the foodie tendencies of consumers, particularly Korean Millennial and Gen Z consumers. Additionally, this study considered the effect of foodie tendencies on active social media usage. Based on the Foodie Index, two groups were identified: high and low. The high group scored higher than the low group on foodie knowledge and spending, food interest, and time commitment. Comparison of the food, cooking, and dining-out behaviors of both groups revealed a significantly greater frequency of cooking and a higher proportion of using their own ingredients, even when dining alone, in the high group. Analysis of social media use characteristics also demonstrated significantly higher scores for the high group than the low group in terms of the degree of use, average daily usage time, checking frequency, and use of social media recommendations when cooking and purchasing food. Furthermore, foodie inclination significantly influenced active usage behavior, as users shared informative content and frequently posted articles and photos. This study found that foodies play a leading role in producing food-related information by actively using and sharing social media. Considering this ripple effect, consumers’ foodie tendencies can be used as an important measure in food marketing-related research.

Epidemiological characterization of rare diseases in Brazil: A retrospective study of the Brazilian Rare Diseases Network

BackgroundThe Brazilian Policy for Comprehensive Care for People with Rare Diseases was implemented in 2014; however, national epidemiological data on rare diseases (RDs) are scarce and mainly focused on specific disorders. To address this gap, University Hospitals, Reference Services for Neonatal Screening, and Reference Services for Rare Diseases, all of which are public health institutions, established the Brazilian Rare Diseases Network (RARAS) in 2020. The objective of this study was to perform a comprehensive nationwide epidemiological investigation of individuals with RDs in Brazil. This retrospective survey collected data from patients receiving care in 34 healthcare facilities affiliated with RARAS in 2018 and 2019.ResultsThe survey included 12,530 participants with a median age of 15.0 years, with women representing 50.5% of the cohort. Classification according to skin color demonstrated that 5044 (47.4%) participants were admixed. Most had a confirmed diagnosis (63.2%), with a predominance of phenylketonuria (PKU), cystic fibrosis (CF), and acromegaly. Common clinical manifestations included global developmental delay and seizures. The average duration of the diagnostic odyssey was 5.4 years (± 7.9 years). Among the confirmed diagnoses, 52.2% were etiological (biochemical: 42.5%; molecular: 30.9%), while 47.8% were clinical. Prenatal diagnoses accounted for 1.2%. Familial recurrence and consanguinity rates were 21.6% and 6.4%, respectively. Mainstay treatments included drug therapy (55.0%) and rehabilitation (15.6%). The Public Health System funded most diagnoses (84.2%) and treatments (86.7%). Hospitalizations were reported in 44.5% of cases, and the mortality rate was 1.5%, primarily due to motor neuron disease and CF.ConclusionThis study marks a pioneering national-level data collection effort for rare diseases in Brazil, offering novel insights to advance the understanding, management, and resource allocation for RDs. It unveils an average diagnostic odyssey of 5.4 years and a higher prevalence of PKU and CF, possibly associated with the specialized services network, which included newborn screening services.

10.M. Scientific session: JA ImpleMENTAL Abstract Workshop

Abstract JA ImpleMENTAL is major initiative across Europe and was initiated on the request of Member States, on October 2021 under the European Union 3rd Health Programme. The workshop is organized by JA ImpleMENTAL in partnership with EUPHA Mental Health Section, a member of the JA ImpleMENTAL Stakeholder Forum. It will include four presentations that will contribute to an interesting discussion about the future of community mental health services that are user-centered, recovery-oriented and human rights based as well as about the synergies with national strategies and the EU Initiatives. Vasileia Konte the JA ImpleMENTAL Coordinator will provide an overview of the Mental Health System Reforms based on the Belgian Best Practice model, which is implemented in 11 countries. It will elaborate on key activities and prioritized key areas of mental health system transformation as well as enablers, barriers and key lessons learned from the implementation process. Danijela Štimac Grbić from Croatia will present the Croatian experience in the implementation of a mobile rehabilitation team for providing psychosocial interventions in the community in which peer workers are employed for the first time. Based on the successful work of the mobile team, Croatia has included 30 new mobile teams in its network of public health services that will operate throughout Croatia. Teresa Nicolas Lopez from Murcia Spain will present the project “Inclusive Life Projects” which offers comprehensive community care to adults with severe mental illness within projects of autonomous living and provides a concrete and real response to their needs, with the ultimate objective of avoiding the risk of institutionalization. Anna Paradesioti from Cyprus will focus on how to achieve a smooth transition from inpatient to community mental health services promoting collaboration among those services and professionals, by adopting an intersectoral approach. Jutta Lindert will provide valuable comments by bringing helpful insights and views of the Stakeholder Forum. Key messages • Transformation towards community based care increase availability and efficiency of services. • User’s centered human rights based recovery approach care with engaging stakeholders including people with lived experience.

Guidance on health promoting and climate-friendly hospitals and health services

Abstract The negative impacts of climate change on health and the healthcare system are becoming increasingly evident. The healthcare sector, which accounts for nearly seven percent of Austria’s CO2 emissions, contributes to the exacerbation of climate change on one hand, but is also affected by its consequences on the other. To meet these challenges, it is necessary for healthcare facilities to both adopt climate-protective measures and adapt to the changed conditions. A project launched in 2023, supported by the Austrian Health Promotion Agenda and in cooperation with the Austrian Network of Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services, has shown that there is a need for support in implementing climate protection measures in healthcare facilities. In response, the WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Promotion in Hospitals and Healthcare, located at the Competence Centre for Health Promotion and Healthcare at the Austrian National Public Health Institute, will work on the development of standards based on international models to support healthcare facilities in the introduction of climate-friendly practices until 2026. The methodology of the project includes the analysis of existing quality criteria and instruments, as well as a modified Delphi process with two rounds of online questionnaires directed at an international panel of experts. After each round, exchange meetings with a smaller group from the panel take place to achieve consensus. Based on the research findings and the Delphi consultations, a draft of standards and an implementation manual will be created. These drafts will be piloted in various healthcare facilities in Austria and other countries to assess their practicability and effectiveness. Following the pilot tests, the standards and the manual will be revised to integrate the practical insights gained. At the time of the conference, the initial results of the Delphi process will be presented, providing insights for the further development of the standards. Key messages • Integrating climate-friendly practices into all aspects of healthcare can reduce its environmental impact, improve health outcomes, and contribute to the broader sustainable development goals. • Climate-friendly approaches yield significant health, economic, and social co-benefits.

Optimizing data transmission in 6G software defined networks using deep reinforcement learning for next generation of virtual environments

Data transmission of Virtual Reality (VR) plays an important role in delivering a powerful VR experience. This increasing demand on both high bandwidth and low latency. 6G emerging technologies like Software Defined Network (SDN) and resource slicing are acting as promising technologies for addressing the transmission requirements of VR users. Efficient resource management becomes dominant to ensure a satisfactory user experience. The integration of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) allows for dynamic network resource balancing, minimizing communication latency and maximizing data transmission rates wirelessly. Employing slicing techniques further aids in managing distributed resources across the network for different services as enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC). The proposed VR-based SDN system model for 6G cellular networks facilitates centralized administration of resources, enhancing communication between VR users. This innovative solution seeks to contribute to the effective and streamlined resource management essential for VR video transmission in 6G cellular networks. The utilization of Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) approaches, is presented as an alternative solution, showcasing significant performance and feature distinctions through comparative results. Our results show that implementing strategies based on DRL leads to a considerable improvement in the resource management process as well as in the achievable data rate and a reduction in the necessary latency in dynamic and large scale networks.

EHealth Communication Intervention to Promote Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Among Middle-School Girls: Development and Usability Study.

As the age of initiating sexual intercourse has gradually decreased among South Korean adolescents, earlier vaccination of adolescents for human papillomavirus (HPV) is necessary before their exposure to HPV. Health communication includes "cues to action" that lead to preventive health behaviors, and recently, social networking services, which operate with fewer time and space constraints, have been used in various studies as a form of eHealth communication. This study aims to investigate the feasibility and usability of an eHealth communication intervention for HPV vaccination in middle-school girls aimed at the girls and their mothers. The eHealth communication intervention for HPV vaccination was developed using a 6-step intervention mapping process: needs assessments, setting program outcomes, selection of a theory-based method and practical strategies, development of the intervention, implementation plan, and testing the validity of the intervention. A review of 10 studies identified effective health communication messages, delivery methods, and theories for HPV vaccination among adolescents. Barriers including low knowledge, perceived threat, and the inconvenience of taking 2 doses of the vaccine were identified through focus groups, suggesting a need for youth-friendly and easy-to-understand information for adolescents delivered via mobile phones. The expected outcomes and the performance objectives are specifically tailored to reflect the vaccination intention. Behavior change techniques were applied using trusted sources and a health belief model. Health messages delivered through a KakaoTalk chatbot improved awareness and self-efficacy. Quality control was ensured with the use of a log system. The experts' chatbot usability average score was 80.13 (SD 8.15) and the average score of girls was 84.06 (SD 7.61). Future studies need to verify the effectiveness of health communication strategies in promoting HPV vaccination and the effectiveness of scientific intervention using a chatbot as a delivery method for the intervention.

The Local Declines in Child SSI Applications and Awards During COVID

Child applications and awards for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) fell sharply at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cumulative applications from April to September 2020 were about 30% lower than applications over the same period in 2019 with substantial variation in rates of decline across local areas. In this article, we explore the factors correlated with the change in applications and awards across localities at the beginning of the pandemic. Our findings point to three particularly important factors influencing the magnitude of the change in applications and awards: (a) the restriction of in-person services in all Social Security Administration field offices in March 2020, (b) the pandemic’s disruptions to social and service networks through which people may learn about SSI, and (c) new economic stabilization policies, such as economic impact payments and supplemental unemployment insurance payments. These results highlight the substantial local variation in SSI participation. This variation is especially important in considering general issues around access to SSI, particularly for policies that aim to improve SSI access through outreach. Our findings underscore the importance of local networks in creating program awareness at local levels, and that they might be fruitful avenues for further outreach efforts.

Buildings as Batteries

Aggregators are increasingly using portfolios of various end-user resources such as local renewable generation, batteries, EVs, and demand-side management to participate in the electricity markets as virtual power plants. Whilst the smart control of energy within buildings is well established for cost optimization, the prospect of an aggregator collaborating with the energy managers of buildings to trade electricity in the wholesale markets is under researched. This paper uses a state-of-the-art architectural simulator to model the thermal inertia of a typical high-rise building in London and represent the thermodynamics of its hourly occupancy and weather responses. The building is simulated as a virtual battery by manipulating the HVAC settings. Price arbitrage on the electricity wholesale market and contracting with the local distribution network for flexible reserve services are both feasible and profitable. It is concluded that aggregators can apparently use buildings as additional assets within their trading portfolios. JEL Classification: L85 and L94.

The interchange stations siting model of urban rail transit network

The "node anchor weaving method" is commonly used in urban rail transit network planning, which emphasizes identifying the important nodes of the network first, and then using the key nodes as the "anchor nodes" to construct the network. Interchange stations are the most crucial network nodes in terms of both service function and network function. As a result, when planning the network, it is critical to identify the interchanges ahead of time. A key node identification model is initially established in this article, and then a network interchange stations location model is built on top of it. Based on the urban road network, the key node identification model takes into account the location of the road network nodes, the number of neighboring nodes, the influence of the neighboring nodes, and the path information between the nodes, and the key nodes in the network are effectively identified through the improvement of the gravitational model and the neighboring core model, and the model's validity is verified through the SIR contagion model. The online network interchange stations siting model considers the matching degree of residents' traffic demand, the interchange stations coverage to the city, the intensity of land use, and the interchange stations' duplicate coverage to the urban space as evaluation indices for the interchange stations; the objective of solving the interchange stations is the comprehensive optimality of the indexes; in order to avoid the problem of perturbation in the optimization and solution algorithm, this paper presents an improved genetic-simulated annealing optimization algorithm that introduces the concept of community, and avoids the problem of perturbation in the optimization and solution algorithms. The effectiveness of the model is verified by using examples of the Mitte-Center and Friedrichshain networks.

Vaccine Hesitancy and COVID-19 Risk Behaviors Associated with Social Media Use in Japan

ABSTRACT We examined the associations between the use of different types of media and COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, as well as risk behaviors of COVID-19 infection, in Japan in late 2021. Cross-sectional surveys were conducted using rapid online surveys of residents in Iwate Prefecture from February 5 to 7, 2021, and from October 1 to 3, 2021. Each individual’s risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 infection was calculated using a quantitative assessment tool (the microCOVID). Intention to get vaccinated for COVID-19 was assessed by self-report. Usage of five types of media for obtaining COVID-related information was assessed: (1) newspapers, (2) television or radio, (3) internet or news apps, (4) social network services (SNS) (excluding LINE, a popular messaging app), and (5) other. Reliance on SNS did not show significant associations with either intention to get vaccinated or engaging in risky behavior for acquiring COVID-19. Although users of the internet or news apps were marginally significantly less likely to engage in high-risk behavior, significant associations between vaccine hesitancy and the usage of the internet or news apps were found in the middle age and elderly groups (OR [95% confidence interval (CI)] in middle age: 1.55 [1.07–2.23]; in elderly; 9.24 [3.28–26.02]). The differential associations between different types of media use and COVID-19 prevention behaviors may assist in preparing for future pandemic outbreaks. One implication for public health risk communication is audience segmentation, such as emphasizing vaccine safety and effectiveness for older audiences.

Explainable AI-based innovative hybrid ensemble model for intrusion detection

AbstractCybersecurity threats have become more worldly, demanding advanced detection mechanisms with the exponential growth in digital data and network services. Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) are crucial in identifying illegitimate access or anomalous behaviour within computer network systems, consequently opposing sensitive information. Traditional IDS approaches often struggle with high false positive rates and the ability to adapt embryonic attack patterns. This work asserts a novel Hybrid Adaptive Ensemble for Intrusion Detection (HAEnID), an innovative and powerful method to enhance intrusion detection, different from the conventional techniques. HAEnID is composed of a string of multi-layered ensemble, which consists of a Stacking Ensemble (SEM), a Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA), and a Conditional Ensemble method (CEM). HAEnID combines the best of these three ensemble techniques for ultimate success in detection with a considerable cut in false alarms. A key feature of HAEnID is an adaptive mechanism that allows ensemble components to change over time as network traffic patterns vary and new threats appear. This way, HAEnID would provide adequate protection as attack vectors change. Furthermore, the model would become more interpretable and explainable using Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) and Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations (LIME). The proposed Ensemble model for intrusion detection on CIC-IDS 2017 achieves excellent accuracy (97-98%), demonstrating effectiveness and consistency across various configurations. Feature selection further enhances performance, with BMA-M (20) reaching 98.79% accuracy. These results highlight the potential of the ensemble model for accurate and reliable intrusion detection and, hence, is a state-of-the-art choice for accuracy and explainability.

Demand rerouting mechanisms with revenue management for intermodal barge transportation networks

Inland waterway transportation plays a crucial role in Europe's transportation network and economy. It is an efficient and sustainable mode of transportation, with lower emissions and energy consumption than other modes of transportation, such as road and air. However, the services provided by inland waterway transport can be significantly impacted by adverse weather conditions such as heavy rain, strong winds, and flooding. These disruptions can cause delays, cancellations, or even damage to vessels or infrastructure. To improve the system reliability, we propose a set of revenue management based (demand itinerary) rerouting mechanisms for intermodal barge transportation optimisation. Revenue Management policies including several customer categories and fare differentiation are applied. Sequential accept/reject decisions are made based on a probabilistic mixed integer programming model maximising the expected revenue of a carrier. A booking framework is defined over a rolling horizon and capacity allocation/reallocation decisions are made for a set of demands including the current and relevant past and potential future transportation requests. Several (demand) rerouting mechanisms are defined and implemented on different service network configurations. The service network status is regularly updated, in particular with respect to barge capacity variations due to changing water levels. An extensive set of experiments is performed and numerical results are analysed. The study results emphasise the added value but also the need for data availability and information sharing between the different stakeholders of Inland Waterway Transportation systems.

Research on the Current Status of Pension Models for Individuals with Mental Disorders in China

Objective: By analyzing the existing literature, this paper aims to explore the current situation of the pension model for patients with mental disorders in China and put forward corresponding suggestions for improvement. How: This study analyzes the current situation of the pension model for patients with mental disorders in China by referring to the views of experts and scholars, relevant cases and statistical data through the literature and review of CNKI. Focusing on the existing elderly care service system, policy support and social cognition, this paper reveals the main characteristics and existing problems of the current Chinese elderly care model for people with mental disabilities. By comparing the advanced pension models at home and abroad, this paper puts forward some suggestions on strengthening policy support and improving service system. Results: The research shows that China's existing pension models mainly include family care, institutional pension and community service. The main problems facing: insufficient service supply, shortage of professional talents, social cognition and discrimination. Home care is still the main way, more than 70% of people with mental disorders rely on home care, but face great pressure and challenges; The construction of institutional elderly care and community service systems is gradually developing, but there are still insufficient resources, low service quality, and uneven distribution between urban and rural areas. Policy suggestions: Strengthen the construction and improvement of community support system; Improve professional training to ensure service quality; Use scientific and technological means to assist the elderly and ease the shortage of human resources. It is suggested that we should strengthen the construction of community support system and improve the level of professional service in the future. Conclusion: In China, the mode of nursing care for patients with mental disorders is in the transition period, and family nursing is still the mainstream, but it also faces great challenges. Institutional care and community services have developed, but they are not yet sufficient to replace the role of the family. The future development direction should be multi-dimensional, forming a diversified and three-dimensional elderly care service network.

Universal Service Regulation and Network Effects in Services of General Economic Interest in the European Union

The process of the liberalisation of services of general economic interest (SGEI) in the EU adopted the universal service (US) regulatory model. The objectives of the process were to strengthen free competition and improve social welfare. SGEIs have the characteristic of networked services and, as such, generate network externalities, as considered by the theory of market failures. This paper analyses the potential of the US in its role as a remedy for network externalities. In the SGEI context, the large number of participants reinforces network externalities, while limiting coordination mechanisms between users. Based on the relevant literature, a theoretical debate arises around the contribution of universal service obligations (USOs) to social welfare. A microeconomic analysis shows that USOs modify consumers’ utility functions by shifting from inefficient market equilibria to efficient equilibria, thereby improving social welfare.