Public Utility Services Research Articles

Automatic Network Slicing for IoT in Smart City

Internet of things (IoT) in smart city consists of a diversity of public utility and vertical industry services with extremely different performance requirements. As a key technology of 5G networks, network slicing (NS) is featured to provide distinct virtual networks and differentiated QoS guarantees in a shared infrastructure. Therefore, it becomes necessary to employ intelligent NS management for IoT in smart city. This work proposes a machine learning (ML) driven automatic NS framework which can intelligently scale slice according to network state. The resource preservation and slicing implementation scheme is given to trade off robustness and resource efficiency. Finally, the present study provides preliminary results via simulation and experimentation to justify the effectiveness and efficiency of the presented design.

ANALYSIS OF THE PUBLIC TRANSPORT PROVISION IN SUCEAVA-BOTOȘANI URBAN AREA (ROMANIA)

Having a major economic and social role, public transport is an important component in the process of sustainable development of a city. The paper aimed to study the public transport at metropolitan and regional scale evidencing how two major urban centers of Romania, Suceava and Boto?ani, connect via public transport with the rural settlements in their metropolitan areas. The metropolitan supply of public transport was analysed starting with publicly available data on the routes in 2014 for both Botoșani County and Suceava County, located in the North-Eastern side of Romania. The routes’ spatial disposition and daily frequency is analysed for road and rail public transport. The resulted mappings showed that road public transport is well distributed in the metropolitan territory for both urban centres, but there is still almost 4% of the rural population that does not have direct access to this public utility service. The rail public transport covers only a small amount of the studied area and it has a secondary role in supplying public transport services for the population because of the lack of investments that the entire rail sector suffered in Romania. The share of private cars has increased significantly, but the population’s need for mobility is not completely covered and this paper offers some recommendations for the improvement of the public transportation supply in Suceava-Boto?ani Urban Area.

Implementation of the Tender by the Municipal Service Administration from the Aspect of Management in the Municipalities of the Republic of Serbia

al Affairs Administration established by local self-governments in the 2016-2019period calls for tenders more and more frequently. Beside public utility companies founded by local self-government units there is an increasing number of the so called “other enterprises” taking part in the bidding. The aim of the authors was to determine at what prices the Local Affairs Administration concluded agreements with the said enterprises that participated in the public bidding. The authors came to relevant findings as they had an insight in the agreements concluded between the Local Affairs Administration and the bidders in the 2017-2019 period. Accordingly, the authors` contribution is in finding that following calling for tenders and tender procedures agreements between the Local Affairs Administration and bidders are concluded at prices that are lower than in case of direct bargaining between the Local Affairs Administration and public utility companies. That is, conducting tender procedures is beneficial to the Local Affairs Administration as less money of taxpayers is spent on the same public utility service.

The Supervisory Jurisdiction of the Alberta Utilities Commission Over Municipally Owned Utilities

The primary approach in Alberta has been that the distribution of utility services delivered by investor-owned utilities are subject to full economic regulation by the Alberta Utilities Commission, whereas if public utility services are delivered by municipalities it has been recognized that the services should be principally regulated by the municipal council rather than the Commission. Affording the municipal council, or its equivalent, regulatory jurisdiction over municipally owned utilities involves a more politically responsive form of regulation. The role of the Commission in this context is limited. The Commission has exercised narrow jurisdiction to ensure that rates established for municipally owned utilities are internally and externally consistent, and to ensure that such rates are not unreasonably discriminatory.

Impact of Tax Revenue on Government Expenditure in Ethiopia; OLS Method

Factually, public expenditure has noted a nonstop uptrend over time in developing country. However, traditional thinking and philosophy did not favor the growth of public expenditure. Instead, it well thought-out market mechanism as a better guide in working of the economy and allocation of its resources. The empathy of the revenue-expenditure connection is vital to govern the correct course of action for fiscal discipline and fiscal policy. Basically the main objective of this study was to understand the impact of tax revenue on government expenditure in Ethiopia from the period of 1974/75 to 2019/20. In order to achieve the objective of this study a researcher used world development index and national bank of Ethiopia as a main data source. To found the impact of tax revenue on government expenditure the study employed Augmented Dickey Fuller, ordinary least square and pairwise granger causality test. For Ethiopia economy the result proved tax revenue and the previous expenditure has positive impact on government expenditure. The pairwise granger causality test also strength as there is causality which runs from tax revenue to government expenditure. The result of this study has been proved the first revenue-spent (tax-spent) hypothesis. The study recommends that the government should increase tax base and practice proper administration of tax system and generate inordinate revenue. In somehow, it is used as a means to cover excess expenditure and to reduce budget deficit. Moreover, in Ethiopia from time to time there is population growth, increasing urbanization, provision of social overheads, maintenance of order and law, welfare activities, projects and provision of public goods and utility service. So, the previous started activates needs more expenditure to sustain them currently. This may lead to budget deficit but the government should balance its expenditure and revenue, plus to this the government should accomplished activities which started previously without dalliance, this help the government to minimize the current expenditure in somehow, and can save the country from sustainable budget deficit. Reduce spent for cosmetic activates which have no more return. Keywords: Ethiopia, Impact, Tax, Expenditure, OLS DOI: 10.7176/JESD/10-13-06 Publication date: July 31 st 2020

Wireless Home Energy Management System with Smart Rule-Based Controller

Despite the increasing utilization of renewable energy resources, such as solar and wind energy, most residential buildings still rely on conventional energy supply by public utility services. Such utility services often use time-of-use energy pricing, which compels residential consumers to reduce their energy usage. This paper presents a wireless home energy management (HEM) system that enables the automatic control of home appliances to reduce energy consumption to assist such energy users. The system consists of multiple smart sockets that measure the energy that is consumed by the connected appliances and are capable of implementing on/off commands. The system includes other support components for supplying data to a central controller, which utilizes a rule-based HEM algorithm. The control rules were designed, such that the lifestyle of the user would be preserved while the energy consumption and daily energy cost were reduced. The experimental results showed that the central controller could effectively receive data and control multiple devices. The system was also found to afford significant reductions of 23.5 kWh and $2.898 in the total daily energy consumption and bill of the considered household setup, respectively. The proposed HEM system promises to be particularly useful for households with a high daily energy consumption.

Effects of solar panels on electrical networks

Today, the increasing use of solar energy contributes to the EU's energy policies. Increasing use of renewable energy sources reduces pollutant emissions, dependence on fossil fuels and improves air quality. Globally, installed photovoltaic capacity has reached 400 GW by the end of 2017, and is projected to reach 4,500 GW by 2050. In the context of this research, we would like to present a detailed presentation of the possibilities and effects of integrating solar systems into electricity networks. The integration of renewable energies into networks is of paramount importance to researchers because of current energy demand and the depletion of fossil fuel reserves and environmental impacts. In this study, we highlight the effects of solar network integration on both the solar system and the public utility service. We also report on the opportunities and impacts of integration in Hungary in connection with our research. Today, solar panels are the cornerstone of sustainable development.

The performance assessment of public sector in Albania

The political changes after 90s were accompanied by major economic changes, transforming from a centralized to a decentralized economy. During the past two decades, public sector in Albania has been through a dramatic change, mostly on structural aspect. The main objective of this paper is to evaluate the performance of the public sector through indicators based on citizens’ perceptions.Another aspect intended to be addressed through the questionnaire is the assessment of consumers’expectations of the public good, with issues related to the economy, legal and institutional framework, modernization of public administration, etc. The survey took place in Albania, wherein a number of questionnaires were delivered and fulfiled.In this context 16 variables were developed considering the sectors education, health, safety and security, law enforcement, transparency (information, accountability), property rights, investments and public utility services. The other purpose of this study is to analyze the differences in the perceptions of public sector performance that could come from different groups of interviewees, grouped by: gender (male or female), education (higher or secondary) and sector where the interviewee is employed (in the public or private sector). Evaluation of variables in this study are rated using Likerttype scale. Each variable is measured through items, which are estimated through Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) as the most used technique in social sciences studies, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method is implemented. Referring to the citizens’ expectations, this paper will contribute to enhance the performance of the activities of public organizations and government institutions. In addition, the results of this study, aim to help policy-making structures to improve the performance of public administration in providing public services to citizens.

Protection of the Rights of Public Utilities Market Participants (In the Context of Poverty Prevention)

The article analyzes the facility of protection of rights in the public utility market. The main task is to assess the effectiveness of the existing legal approach to solving this problem in the context of preventing poverty of all market participants - consumers, service providers and investors on the principle of «Leave no one aside», reflected in the UN Global Sustainable Development Goals for the period 2015-2030. The study covers three components of the facility for protecting public utilities market participants in the public utilities market: prevention of potential poverty, reduction of existing poverty and compensation to the injured party in a case of tort that exacerbates or threatens to exacerbate its poverty. The analysis is based on official statistical information on the activities of the public utilities sector. Operational information of public utility service providers regarding certain indicators of their activity in the work was not studied. This approach narrows the empirical basis of the study, but at the present stage in the context of different rates of implementation of changes in regions, sectors and at the level of individual entities, as well as lack of uniformity in the structure of indicators published by service providers, analysis allows to identify «bottlenecks» of legal regulation, which are systemic in nature and largely independent of the subjective factor. The analysis allowed to determine the positive impact of targeted subsidies on the effectiveness of the facility of the utilities market participants protection in the context of poverty alleviation, as well as factors that reduce this efficiency, in particular, targeted inconsistency of the legal model of the market, accounting for services and liability for breach of contract for their payment.

Complexity Analysis of Data Aggregation and Routing Algorithms for Automated Utility Management Using WSN

At present most of the houses in the country have the traditional electromechanical or digital utility usage meters, water meter, and gas meters. Presently most of the utility meter reading, billing system and utility management is not automated. The recent advances in the wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have made strong impact on the development of low cost remote monitoring systems. The WSN based remote automated utility management, remote meter reading and billing for future smart cities will enhance the quality and service by government. This increases the revenue of government. Due to unpleasant trend in the growth of congestion in urban areas, the smart utility meter data traffic aggregation and routing faces more challenges in the traditional automated service departments. In this work we propose an integrated architecture that include electricity, water and gas utility meters and discuss the methodology for Data Aggregation and Routing for Integrated Public Utility Services (IPUS-DAR) using WSN network. This work aims to integrate three types of utility meters and minimize redundant routing data in the network by applying data aggregation that improves traffic performance. We discuss the computational complexity of proposed Data Routing with Data Aggregation algorithm. The comparative analysis of proposed Data Routing with Data Aggregation methodology with previous methods is analyzed. We investigate performance metrics which include packet delivery ratio, end-to-end delay, jitter, throughput and energy consumption with respect to varying network size using QUALNET.

Assessing the potential of government regulation in the water supply and sanitation sector

Assessing the potential of government regulation in the water supply and sanitation sector

Challenges in public health facilities and services: evidence from a geographically isolated and disadvantaged area in the Philippines

# Background The study describes the conditions of public health sector in the Island Municipality of Jomalig, Quezon Province in Luzon, Philippines. Located at the far north-eastern side of the Quezon Province, Jomalig Island can be reached through a motor boat at around 4-5 hours (or more depending on the sea condition). Given the geographical disadvantage, challenges in economic and social services in the island are apparent. That includes deficiencies in basic public utility services such as water and electricity. The paper showcases a needs assessment on public health facilities and services in a far-flung municipality in the Philippines. This study examines the challenges in public health aspirations in a location considered to be a geographically isolated and disadvantaged area (GIDA). # Methods The study made use of key informant interviews (KIIs) among health professionals and village health workers in the island. Aside from the KIIs, the study included the World Health Organization's (WHO) tracer checklist on general readiness. The checklist was administered but in interview style. The participants were the public health staff in the island. The researcher was able to interview the health professionals (nurses and a midwife) manning the main public health facility in the island municipality while in the case of the other villages, health volunteers or the Barangay Health Worker (BHWs) were interviewed. # Results There are deficiencies in facilities, offered services and health staff. Deficiencies are seen too based on the domains under the WHO Tracer Checklist. Mortality and morbidity rates were not at alarming rate though reports of hypertension and diarrhea are common. The relatively complete health services are only available at the island's main health center yet unfortunately, some people who seek treatment and health care could not visit due to distance and the accompanying expenditures. Other factors affecting health status of the population include the reliance to faith healers (quack doctors or Albularyos) and the delay of parental reports of their health condition and the condition of their children, both of which result to the escalation of illness. Among others, challenges and aspirations of the island's public health sector include electric supply, better budgetary allocation for their facilities, and equipment and additional training for the barangay (village) health workers. # Conclusions Enduring the underfinanced and undermanned health facilities, the island's population also suffers the consequences on overall health owing to limited movements and communication due to the geographical characteristics of the municipality. Emergency boats per village, health education campaign that focuses on eliminating open defecation and reliance on quack doctors, stand-by generators for the health centers, and radio communication system are strongly recommended to mitigate the negative impacts of living within GIDA communities.

The Effective Role of Hospital Information System in Medicine and Healthcare

In the present day world of development it has become inevitable to supplement the growing population with adequate and proper health facilities and services. Though the hospitals are growing in size quality of service always remains a question mark for them due to the ever incrementing need for medical facilities. Integrating any service with technology always remains as the answer to these varying problems by these public utility services. Hospital information systems are one such variant of integrated technology that aids the hospitals in their everyday issues confronted with them. The multiple varieties of health-care facilities has demanded the creation of Health information technologies (HIT) to give solution for the troubles before they have identified; the increasing expenses and demand for the health- care facilities expecting a lot from the society. Via leveraging HIT with an integration of health center functions and approaches, health Hospital information services (HIS) are frequently followed among most fitness-care centers to fulfill administrative requisites. To fulfill the strategic aim of HIT, it targeted to improve the personal care facilities and cost reduction as a primary factor. The main aim of this paper is understand the basic concept of HIS and its implication on the hospital management. The study attempts to meet its objectives by preparing a questionnaire with regard to the hospital management and receive their opinion on the same for further analysis. Hospital information system (HIS) has the capacity in lowering healthcare expenditure and in enhancing fitness outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of HIS in healthcare in and its different regulatory and organizational settings. This paper targeted to examine the impact of clinic statistics structures in improving health care in hospital. Primary data figures became accumulated through distributing questionnaire to patients, doctors and the staff treating them. At the end of the study it was felt that the integration of technology with any public utility service would benefit the public at large and also give prompt output when needed. Since the technology is a comparatively new one it needs a bit of awareness among the general public to access it also knowledge is required on part of the doctors also to use it in a better and easy manner. One of the most significant elements in health center is to access the computer systems which emphasis the availability of computer and computer systems to facilitate direct and instantaneous information access at the point of care. The process of HIS has increased the time spent in hospital which results in the development of overall performance and responsiveness phases.

People and money: incomes, consumption and financial behavior of the population of the Russian regions in 2000–2017

Macroeconomic dynamics affects incomes of regions population and level of poverty: positive shifts in the distribution of regions in relation to these indicators slowed down in the 2010s and were replaced by a negative shift (more apparent in poverty rate) during the crisis of 20142017. Income dynamics had a stronger effect on consumption structure and less on population financial behavior. The share of food expenditures is declined in all regions until the 2014 crisis; the most developed regions have the lowest percentage. Structural shift in expenditures in favor of durable goods, including housing, is far from complete in most regions. The increase in the share of expenditures for services is largely due to the growth of tariffs for public utility services. Regional differences are small, with the exception of the Far North regions. The share of spending on human capital reproduction is low and varies slightly between regions. The population of rich regions prefers to spend money on recreation and entertainment, but these expenses are shrunken during the last crisis. Individuals' savings behavior is mostly developed in the largest federal cities. Overdue loans are higher in underdeveloped republics and in resource-producing regions, whose population seeks to maintain the level of consumption using loans. The main factor in change structure of consumption and financial behavior is the population incomes, but demographic, settlement and institutional factors must be considered to explain regional differences.

Problems associated with the notion of “public duties” and “public utility services” with regard to the principle of the autonomy of local self-governments in Poland – an analysis of selected issues

The aim of this paper is to highlight specific features related to the performance of public duties by local self-governments, focusing on their autonomy. Hence, it is essential that the conceptual boundaries of such notions as ‘public duties’ and duties associated with ‘public services’ are established at the outset. The current lack of clarity contributes to the complexity of the issue, and this is further complicated by a lack of clear legal regulations which would explicitly define the acceptable way in which public duties assigned to local self-governments are to be implemented. These issues suffice to explain the choice of the topic tackled in this study. Admittedly, it will not provide answers to all the problems associated with the public utility services which fall within the scope of the public duties discharged by particular local self-government units: gmina (municipality/commune), powiat (county), or województwo (voivodeship). However, it may form the basis for further research to be conducted in this field. Therefore, within the framework of this paper, issues related to local self-governments, their autonomy, and the concepts of ‘public duties’ and ‘duties in the field of public utility’ will be discussed. These issues are important, as they are inextricable from the decentralization of public authority, which consists in assigning numerous public duties to be fulfilled by local self-governments.

Price Regulation of Public Water Services and the Consequences of its Centralisation for Hungarian Municipalities

The article demonstrates the role price regulation plays in local networked public services mainly focusing on the sector of public water utility services, but also touching on public waste management services. It investigates how and on what grounds these originally local public services became national public services. The article points out that centralisation of regulation, and in particular of price regulation without a simultaneous, well-considered opening of market cannot be effective, neither does it support the objectives of the Water Framework Directive. The article argues that these characteristics could already in the near future lead to severe failures of service provision necessitating further transformation of the sector.

THANKYOU: from waste to resource

Learning outcomes The case helps to introduce some of the elements of strategic management process, which are vital for competitive advantage, particularly for the public utility services such as MSWM. It intends to achieve the following objectives: analyse the external environment for MSWM industry in India; analyse the internal organizational environment for a firm’s strategic competitiveness; introduce the concept of value and value chain understand the role of Stakeholder groups; understand the concept of public–private partnerships (PPP); and understand the role of technology in sustaining a competitive advantages. Case overview/synopsis This case focuses on entrepreneurial venture of Gaurav Sharma and his team who intend to transform the landscape of Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) industry in the country. THANKYOU (letsthankyou.com) is a Jaipur, India-based enterprise offering waste management solutions across different verticals. It was founded in 2016, following an opportunity in the waste management industry unleashed by the Government of India’s (GOI) new MSWM 2016 rules making it mandatory for the waste generators to manage (segregate, process, transport and disposal) their own waste. After initial examination of MSWM service scenario in the country, Gaurav and his two team members realize that a lack of integration among the multiple entities of waste management value chain is the root cause of the current poor state of affairs. So, they come up with an online marketplace, which offers a one-stop solution for the waste management of general households, residential settings and corporate. With initial projects implemented in the decentralized mode offering unit-level services such as door-to-door waste collection, on-demand waste pick-up and waste audits for corporate, the company has eventually got an opportunity of working on a centralized MSWM project for a leading hotel. Indeed, the company has the first mover advantage of entering the government controlled MSWM industry. However, to move forward, the THANKYOU team must address some fundamental issues in the industry: How to integrate the informal and formal sectors involved in waste management to achieve economies of scale? How to make land-filling the least preferred option of waste management? How to use technology to enhance the efficiency of MSWM value chain? Complexity academic level The case can add value to a course on strategic management at the post-graduate level. It highlights the role of external and internal environment analyses in the formulation of business strategy, ultimately leading to a firm’s strategic competitiveness. In a strategic management course, the case can be used to discuss introductory topics such as the analysis of internal and external environment; value creation by leveraging internal resources and capabilities; analysis of a firm’s dependence on its stakeholder groups; ascertainment of the profitability driver for a firm’s business model; and the concept of PPP. Supplementary materials Teaching Notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes. Subject code CSS 11: Strategy

НАУКОВІ ПІДХОДИ ДО ВИЗНАЧЕННЯ ТА КЛАСИФІКАЦІЇ ТУРИСТИЧНОЇ ІНФРАСТРУКТУРИ

The article analyses definition and origin of the term “infrastructure” in relation to the tourism industry. The content and classification of the “tourist infrastructure” concept are analyzed on the basis of domestic and foreign approaches. The authors tried to define main components of tourist infrastructure. Successful development of tourist industry is impossible without appropriate tourist infrastructure, ensuring material and technical provision for tourism and plays an important role in satisfying of tourists’ needs. Despite an enormous quantity of scientific researches connected with tourist infrastructure development, there is a lack of its single definition acceptable for all scientists. In Ukraine tourist infrastructure is usually defined as a combination of certain facilities ensuring tourist activity and providing hosting, servicing and transporting for tourists: hotels, tourist complexes, campings, motels, boarding houses, catering, transport businesses, cultural and sports facilities etc. However, a strict definition to characterize tourist infrastructure does not exist. That is why a large number of approaches to tourist infrastructure take place. In our article we examined the researches of the scientists, who have worked on this issue: T. O. Volkova, H. J. Dovhopola, I. V. Yerko, J. S. Korabelnikova, D. A. Korneva, S. P. Kuzyk, I. M. Minich, O. V. Mischenko, V. I. Novikova, M. J. Rutynskyj, O. V. Stetsjuk, L. M. Cherchyk, I. M. Shkola, etc. The most significant foreign contributions by V.Havoretski and A.Rain were considered as well. Materials from Tourism and Transport Forum, 2012, covering the structuring of tourist infrastructure into 4 types, were also important for our elaboration. Tourist infrastructure includes a large amount of services necessary to satisfy tourist’s demands and ensure comfortable stay at the destination, thus promoting its attractiveness. We distinguish between the main (accommodation and catering, communication, tour operators), additional (entertainment and recreation facilities, tourism information giving centers, specialized shopping facilities) and maintenance (checkpoints, petrol stations, banking institutions, insurance groups, health protection and public utility services) tourist infrastructure.

The Effectiveness of Municipal Waste Management in Polish Cities

Objectives: To seek for the optimum economic model for public utility services in the sector of municipal waste management; to present the results of studies regarding the efficiency of companies in the sector of management of municipal waste and the systems that such companies function within. Research Design & Methods: Multi-criterion rankings with the use of synthetic variable, the structure of which has been based on zeroed unitarisation (method of zeroed unitarisation – MZU). Owing to general financial data, technical and operational data, as well as output data, it was possible to determine rankings of effectiveness for companies in the system of municipal waste management and communes. What is more, a correlation diagram was created – the dependency between the aggregated effectiveness of companies and the aggregated effectiveness of waste management in communes. Findings: Communes which entrust municipal companies with management of an integrated system for municipal waste management or/and its individual chains feature more properties of operating, economic, and financial effectiveness within the scope of management of municipal waste. Implications / Recommendations: It is demonstrated that communes which entrust municipal companies with management of an integrated system for municipal waste management – or/and its individual chains – feature more properties of operating, economic, and financial effectiveness within the scope of the management of municipal waste. Contribution / Value Added: Further extended research into the organisation and management of the municipal waste management system. Article classification: The article presents an original and innovative analysis of the municipal waste management sector with the use of the developed research method of aggregation and unit efficiency ranking. The purpose is to continue the extended research on the organisation and management of the municipal waste management system.

PRIORITIES REGARDING THE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC UTILITY SERVICES IN THE WESTERN REGION OF ROMANIA

Public utility services are an important vector for the development of regional and local communities. Providing these services is equally important to citizens, central, regional and local authorities, and academics. The management of public utility services needs to be completed in the spirit of an efficient and performant process. This paper highlights the perception of the users of public utility services regarding the quality of various public services. Also, it identifies potential improvement measures that can be adopted by the authorities with competences in the field of utility services. In this respect, we apply a methodology based on the survey method, considering a sample of 220 respondents, between December 2014 and April 2015 at the level of the Western Region of Romania, namely the counties of Timis, Caras-Severin, Arad and Hunedoara. The main conclusion of the study reveals users’ dissatisfaction with the quality of public utility services provision, as well as the lack of communication between authorities and citizens.The results of the present paper can form a basis for well-grounded proposals for efficient measures which need to be implemented by local and regional authorities in order to improve the provision of public utility services.