User Take-up Research Articles

Cost analysis of rural roll-out using a long-reach passive optical network: trading off the upfront cost under uncertainty of the user take-up rate

High deployment cost with respect to expected revenue is the main barrier to fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) roll-out in rural areas. This problem, as shown in this paper, is exacerbated by the uncertainty associated with the end-user take-up rate. The randomness associated with subscribers’ service take-up yields considerable fluctuation and escalation in the total cost of deployment. This adverse and varying environment makes it difficult to produce firm business cases and can increase the reluctance of potential investors and incumbent operators to deploy FTTH access networks. In this paper, we develop a holistic framework for examining real-world FTTH deployment scenarios, taking as a case study one of the most rural counties in Ireland. Further, we carry out an in-depth techno-economic analysis identifying the methods more applicable in the rural scenario. We analyze the cost effectiveness of FTTH deployment, also proposing solutions that provide different levels of upfront investment risk, relating it to uncertainty in customers’ take-up rates. For example, we show how a lower take-up rate can be made profitable by adopting a strategy that favors lower upfront costs at the expense of higher connectivity costs.

Revealing Invisible Photonic Inscriptions: Images from Strain.

Photonic structural materials have received intensive interest and have been strongly developed over the past few years for image displays, sensing, and anticounterfeit materials. Their “smartness” arises from their color responsivity to changes of environment, strain, or external fields. Here, we introduce a novel invisible photonic system that reveals encrypted images or characters by simply stretching, or immersing in solvents. This type of intriguing photonic material is composed of regularly arranged core–shell particles that are selectively cross-linked by UV irradiation, giving different strain response compared to un-cross-linked regions. The images reversibly appear and disappear when cycling the strain and releasing it. The unique advantages of this soft polymer opal system compared with other types of photonic gels are that it can be produced in roll to roll quantities, can be vigorously deformed to achieve strong color changes, and has no solvent evaporation issues because it is a photonic rubber system. We demonstrate potential applications together with a fabrication procedure which is straightforward and scalable, vital for user take-up. Our work deepens understanding of this rubbery photonic system based on core–shell nanospheres.

Disseminating real-time bus arrival information via QRcode tagged bus stops: a case study of user take-up and reaction in Southampton, UK

Real-time passenger information systems for bus users are now common place with bus stops in major UK cities equipped with arrival countdown displays and several apps now providing similar information direct to the Smartphone. Real-time displays at stops are expensive to install and given the current rate of Smartphone take-up, there could be benefits from using Quick Response (QR) codes linking to adapted, mobile friendly, webpages displaying arrival times of buses. This paper reports on a QR code implementation trial on 44 bus stops in six distinct areas of Southampton, UK.Each bus stop was fitted with a poster containing a unique QR code, linking to a website giving live bus arrival information taken from the Southampton traffic control centre. Two types of poster were developed (simplistic with minimal text, and a more comprehensive one) to understand what level of instruction was necessary for QR code use. The number of hits at each stop were monitored via the website and surveys of users through an on-line questionnaire (accessed via the QR code) and face-to-face interviews.The results suggested that there was very little variation in the use of QR codes at stops by day of the week or between peak and inter-peak times but there were variations by geographical area. QR code use improved wait time acceptability and feelings of safety and well-being with the vast majority of users finding the system easy to use.

Making a meal of arts evaluation: can social audit offer a more balanced approach?

Statistical performance measures are increasingly being used to evaluate the output of arts organizations. These inevitably measure such economic indicators as user take-up and earned income/subsidy gearing. The consequent diminishing attention paid to the artistic work has meant considerable frustration for managers of arts organizations who feel that the true breadth of their work is not being taken into consideration. Thus the inevitable question arises of whether there may be more appropriate ways of evaluating arts organizations which will not only take into account those elements that are important to artists but will also satisfy funders. The approach taken by the Social Audit (SA) movement offers a possible methodology which is explored in this paper. SA seeks to encompass not only financial accounts but takes a broader perspective by also examining social and economic impacts for a variety of stakeholders. The paper refers to pilot work undertaken for the Arts Council of England and concludes that SA may represent improvement but it might not resolve the tensions between the expectations of the artists and their public.