40 years on: An account of innovation in the regulation of UK telecommunications,in 3½ chapters

The past nearly 40 years have seen major developments in telecommunications networks and services, and in how they are regulated. This paper describes innovations in UK telecommunications regulation which have taken place over the period, broken down into stages, beginning with the regulation of the former monopolist by an independent regulator under a price cap, continuing the regulation first of mobile and then, under European Directives, of copper-based broadband, and ending with the diffusion of fibre networks. It is argued that a variety of changes have reduced the scope of innovation over the period, including domestic institutional reform, the limits placed on later decisions by earlier ones (path dependency), and the constraining impact of European Union law and regulation. The paper concludes with some consideration of the effects on future innovation of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU.     

Can mobile phones improve gender equality and nutrition? Panel data evidence from farm households in Uganda

Since 2000, mobile phone technologies have been widely adopted in many developing countries. Existing research shows that use of mobile phones has improved smallholder farmers’ market access and income. Beyond income, mobile phones can possibly affect other dimensions of social welfare, such as gender equality and nutrition. Such broader social welfare effects have hardly been analyzed up till now. Here, we address this research gap, using panel data from smallholder farm households in Uganda. Regression results show that mobile phone use is positively associated with household income, women empowerment, food security, and dietary quality. These results also hold after controlling for possible confounding factors. In addition to the household-level analysis, we also look at who within the household actually uses mobile phones. Gender-disaggregation suggests that female mobile phone use has stronger positive associations with social welfare than if males alone use mobile phones. We cautiously conclude that equal access to mobile phones cannot only foster economic development, but can also contribute to gender equality, food security, and broader social development. Further research is required to corroborate the findings and analyze the underlying causal mechanisms.     

Predicting mobile hotel reservation adoption: Insight from a perceived value standpoint

With the attempt of further supporting the overwhelming demand for reservation, a few hospitality corporations have launched mobile hotel reservation (MHR) services. For the acceptance of MHR by individuals is indispensable to the successful implementation of MHR, it is critical for practitioners and academics to understand the factors influencing the adoption of MHR. This study examines the adoption of MHR from the value perspective by proposing and examining a new research model that can capture both gain and loss elements influencing individual value perceptions on behavioral intention to adopt MHR. Data from 235 usable questionnaires, collected in Taiwan, were tested against the research model using the structural equation modeling approach. The results indicated that perceived value was a predictor in explaining the customer's adoption of MHR. From the benefits point of view, perceptions of information quality and system quality were the two critical components significantly influencing perceived value of MHR. On the sacrifice side, the effects of technological effort and perceived fee on perceived value were significant. This study will be helpful to researchers in developing and testing MHR related theories, as well as to hospitality firms in understanding individual value perceptions of utilizing MHR and implementing successful MHR system to attract more customers. Theoretical and managerial implications of our results are discussed.     

小仰角下移动卫星通信性能的改善及仿真

移动卫星通信系统为功率受限系统,相对地面移动通信而言,其链路余量较小,而且由于多径及遮蔽效应,当系统工作在小仰角时,其信号衰落可达到30dB,这对系统的设计提出了严峻的挑战。本文研究了信道编码和交织技术在移动卫星通信系统中的应用。通过仿真,得到了应用该技术对不同仰角特别是小仰角条件下系统性能的改善程度。同时,在研究信道相关的基础上,给出了交织相关参数的设计准则。     

Measuring ease of use of mobile applications in e-commerce retailing from the perspective of consumer online shopping behaviour patterns

Scientifically judging and comparing different mobile e-commerce retailing applications (apps) are essential to increase online shopping efficiency and enhance design for system improvement. In this research, the use of mobile apps in e-commerce retailing is viewed as an information operation process, and distance of information-state transition (DIT) theory is introduced to measure the “convenience” of mobile apps to obtain service information. Thus, a novel DIT-based evaluation method for the ease of use of mobile apps in e-commerce retailing from the perspective of consumer online shopping behaviour patterns is proposed. Three representative Chinese enterprises, namely, Tianmao Mall, Jingdong Mall and Suning Easy-to-buy, are chosen as study objects. Moreover, the corresponding ease-of-use indicators of three mobile apps under typical online shopping behaviour patterns are evaluated quantitatively. Results show that this research has important implications not only for online consumers but also for designers of online shopping systems.     

The impact of customised mobile marketing on passenger shopping behaviour in the airport terminal

With growing popularity of mobile devices, digital marketing strategies are increasingly important for modern airports. This paper studied context-aware mobile marketing strategies in the airport retail environment. An on-site mobile marketing experiment was conducted at a partner airport to explore how preference and/or location-based mobile coupons could affect passengers’ retail behaviour. Results show that retail shopping became more efficient (less browsing time) with mobile marketing influence, but not necessarily more effective (not higher spending amount). Randomly pushed mobile marketing information is effective in keeping passengers in shops for longer but context-aware mobile marketing is more effective in increasing spending amount.     

1xEV-DO系统数据流量研究

本文首先分析了 1xEV -DO前向业务信道的链路特性和今后将面临的新业务特性 ,然后着重对 1xEV -DO的无线资源分配和平均业务流量作了研究。     

车辆自动识别系统移动站及其在城市交通监管中的应用

车辆自动识别系统 (AVI)移动站具有机动、快速和自动识别车辆的特点 ,适合于在城市监管中广泛应用。它采用射频识别 (RFID)技术 ,通过车卡 (TAG)采集车辆数据信息 ,对车辆进行自动识别和处理 ,识别率超过 99%;采用视频识别 (VFID)技术 ,通过摄像机采集车辆图像信息 ,在光照较强的情况下 ,识别率可以达到 80 %以上。     

IP-RAN中一种新的移动性管理框架

RAN的全IP化是UMTS实现全IP架构过程的一部分。在RAN中,最重要的功能之一就是移动性管理。原有的基于ATM的移动性管理技术在全IP的RAN架构中并不适用。在分析全IP的RAN架构中对移动性管理的新的要求基础上,提出了结合MPLS技术和移动IP技术来解决移动性管理的新的开放的应用架构,并且描述了在这种应用架构下移动IP的协议过程;简要分析了这种应用架构带来的好处,提出还需要改进的地方和实现的技术难点。     

移动通信无线覆盖均匀性分析

本文分析了移动通信系统中电波传播对覆盖均匀性的影响。通过典型路径传播损耗和移动通信系统同频干扰的分析，给出了衡量覆盖均匀性的性能指标。计算机模拟表明了覆盖均匀性与覆盖模式的关系。