Adoption and Pricing: The Underestimated Elements of a Realistic IPTV Business Case

The adoption of IPTV increases competition for telecom operators. Especially video on demand and the move to HDTV push the bandwidth requirements to the limits. It is very challenging for an operator to construct a successful and sustainable introduction of IPTV over the existing infrastructure. This article gives an overview of a typical business case followed by a detailed discussion of the adoption and evaluation of the outcome. The results of this article indicate the importance of a correct choice of adoption model and related parameters. It illustrates how different IPTV-specific effects on adoption (i.e., competition and analog switchoff) might have a considerable impact on the outcome. After adoption, the article shows how the outcome of the business case can be used within pricing decisions by setting sustainable and competitive boundaries on the tariff. Finally, as pricing will also have an important impact on adoption (e.g., a price reduction could lead to increased adoption), the possible impact of this feedback loop is indicated. In this sense the approach discussed in the article could easily be extended with a highly detailed cost model of the network architecture and technology, leading to a full business case for IPTV introduction by a telecom operator.     

Mobile Robot Command by Man–Machine Co-Operation – Application to Disabled and Elderly People Assistance

Disabled people assistance is developing thanks to progress of new technologies. A manipulator arm mounted on a mobile robot can assist a disabled person for a partial restoration of the manipulative function. A user pilots the robot via a control station, using enhanced reality techniques. To be affordable such a system must be cost-effective. That constraint limits perception means: ultrasonic ring, dead reckoning, and low-cost camera. The development of the project has followed two stages. The first one consists of giving maximum autonomy capacities to the robot for planning, navigation, and localisation. The second stage is the study of the Man–Machine Co-operation (MMC) for the command of the robot system. Indeed, the aim is to perform a mission (mobile robot displacement), using the robot capacities and man possibilities. Users build their own strategies to carry out a mission successively. The strategy can be seen as a succession of control modes, which can be manual, automatic, or shared. In the latter case, the control of the robot is shared between a human operator and machine. The main problem is then task allocation between both intelligent entities. Each one has planification, navigation, and localisation abilities. The paper presents our approach for planning and navigation and develops a more specific study about robot localisation.     

The MAOA rs979605 Genetic Polymorphism Is Differentially Associated with Clinical Improvement Following Antidepressant Treatment between Male and Female Depressed Patients

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Treatment with antidepressant drugs (ATD), which target monoamine neurotransmitters including serotonin (5HT), are only modestly effective. Monoamine oxidase (MAO) metabolizes 5HT to 5-hydroxy indoleacetic acid (5HIAA). Genetic variants in the X-chromosome-linked MAO-encoding genes, MAOA and MAOB, have been associated with clinical improvement following ATD treatment in depressed patients. Our aim was to analyze the association of MAOA and MAOB genetic variants with (1) clinical improvement and (2) the plasma 5HIAA/5HT ratio in 6-month ATD-treated depressed individuals. Clinical (n = 378) and metabolite (n = 148) data were obtained at baseline and up to 6 months after beginning ATD treatment (M6) in patients of METADAP. Mixed-effects models were used to assess the association of variants with the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) score, response and remission rates, and the plasma 5HIAA/5HT ratio. Variant × sex interactions and dominance terms were included to control for X-chromosome-linked factors. The MAOA rs979605 and MAOB rs1799836 polymorphisms were analyzed. The sex × rs979605 interaction was significantly associated with the HDRS score (p = 0.012). At M6, A allele-carrying males had a lower HDRS score (n = 24, 10.9 ± 1.61) compared to AA homozygous females (n = 14, 18.1 ± 1.87; p = 0.0067). The rs1799836 polymorphism was significantly associated with the plasma 5HIAA/5HT ratio (p = 0.018). Overall, CC/C females/males had a lower ratio (n = 44, 2.18 ± 0.28) compared to TT/T females/males (n = 60, 2.79 ± 0.27; p = 0.047). The MAOA rs979605 polymorphism, associated with the HDRS score in a sex-dependent manner, could be a useful biomarker for the response to ATD treatment.     

From IP over WDM to all-optical packet switching: economical view

In this paper, a technoeconomical study of several (optical) packet-switching node architectures is described. Therefore, different architectures proposed in IST-WASPNET and IST-LASAGNE projects as well as a standard optical circuit switching approach are considered, and their economical impact is estimated by means of cost comparisons between the different technologies. The switching architectures all use optical fiber as a transport medium, but each of them uses a different technology to process switching. Their cost is evaluated as a function of most characteristic parameters for each technology. In the all-optical approaches, the main cost is that related to the fiber assembly, whereas for electronic processing, the most expensive cost is related to the optical-electronic-optical (OEO) conversions. The results show that the integration of optical components is crucial to make all-optical packet-switching nodes feasible.     

Magnetic properties of dispersed nickel particles on spherocarb

Dispersed nickel particles on Spherocarb were prepared at 450°C and 540°C in various reaction atmospheres. Percent weight loss of carbon, particle size, and magnetic properties were determined and correlated. At 450°C, no gasification occurred and particle size was $\text{～50}\text{A}\text{?}$ and uniform. At 540°C, the presence of water vapor resulted in increased gasification over dry gases for the same period of time. This was accompanied by increase in both particle size and magnetic moment.     

Municipalities as a Driver for Wireless Broadband Access

Municipalities can form a driving force behind the deployment of new telecom infrastructure. While a telecom operator focuses on direct (financial) profits, a municipality is mainly interested in the social benefits for its inhabitants. In this paper, we evaluate a wireless municipality network from both a technical and an economic point of view. WiFi and WiMAX are considered as the most suited technologies for this purpose. A detailed techno-economic study has been performed including forecasting of the user adoption, dimensioning of the wireless network and modelling the related costs and revenues. The trade-off between installing a high number of relatively cheap WiFi access points, and a smaller number of more expensive WiMAX base stations for delivering full coverage is investigated in several scenarios.

Carotene Degradation and Isomerization during Thermal Processing: A Review on the Kinetic Aspects

Kinetic models are important tools for process design and optimization to balance desired and undesired reactions taking place in complex food systems during food processing and preservation. This review covers the state of the art on kinetic models available to describe heat-induced conversion of carotenoids, in particular lycopene and β-carotene. First, relevant properties of these carotenoids are discussed. Second, some general aspects of kinetic modeling are introduced, including both empirical single-response modeling and mechanism-based multi-response modeling. The merits of multi-response modeling to simultaneously describe carotene degradation and isomerization are demonstrated. The future challenge in this research field lies in the extension of the current multi-response models to better approach the real reaction pathway and in the integration of kinetic models with mass transfer models in case of reaction in multi-phase food systems.     

The state of solar energy resource assessment in Chile

The Chilean government has determined that a renewable energy quota of up to 10% of the electrical energy generated must be met by 2024. This plan has already sparked interest in wind, geothermal, hydro and biomass power plants in order to introduce renewable energy systems to the country. Solar energy is being considered only for demonstration, small-scale CSP plants and for domestic water heating applications. This apparent lack of interest in solar energy is partly due to the absence of a valid solar energy database, adequate for energy system simulation and planning activities. One of the available solar radiation databases is 20–40 years old, with measurements taken by pyranographs and Campbell–Stokes devices. A second database from the Chilean Meteorological Service is composed by pyranometer readings, sparsely distributed along the country and available from 1988, with a number of these stations operating intermittently. The Chilean government through its National Energy Commission (CNE) has contracted the formulation of a simulation model and also the deployment of network of measurement stations in northern Chile. Recent efforts by the authors have resulted in a preliminary assessment by satellite image processing. Here, we compare the existing databases of solar radiation in Chile. Monthly mean solar energy maps are created from ground measurements and satellite estimations and compared. It is found that significant deviation exists between sources, and that all ground-station measurements display unknown uncertainty levels, thus highlighting the need for a proper, country-wide long-term resource assessment initiative. However, the solar energy levels throughout the country can be considered as high, and it is thought that they are adequate for energy planning activities – although not yet for proper power plant design and dimensioning.     

Thermal analysis of polymer–water interactions and their relation to gas hydrate inhibition

Gas hydrates formed in oil production pipelines are crystalline solids where hydrocarbon gas molecules such as methane, propane, and their mixtures are trapped in a cagelike structure by hydrogen‐bonded water molecules to form undesirable plugs. Methanol and glycol are currently used to prevent these plugs via thermodynamic inhibition. Small amounts of water‐soluble polymers may provide an alternate approach for preventing gas hydrates. In this study, we expand the fundamental understanding of water–polymer systems with differential scanning calorimetry. Nonfreezable bound water was used to quantify polymer–water interactions and relate them to the chemical structure for a series of polymers, including acrylamides, cyclic lactams, and n‐vinyl amides. For good interactions, the water structure needs to be stabilized through hydrophobic interactions. An increased hydrophobicity of the pendant group also appears to favor polymer performance as a gas hydrate inhibitor. Good inhibitors, such as poly(diethyl acrylamide) and poly(N‐vinyl caprolactam), also show higher heat capacities, which indicate higher hydrophobicity, than poor performers such as polyzwitterions, in which hydrophilicity dominated. The phase behavior and thermodynamic properties of dilute polymer solutions were also evaluated through measurements of the heat of demixing and lower critical solution temperature. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 103: 2642–2653, 2007