scholarly journals A Key 6G Challenge and Opportunity - Connecting the Base of the Pyramid: A Survey on Rural Connectivity

Author(s):  
Elias Yaacoub ◽  
Mohamed-Slim Alouini

Providing connectivity to around half of the world population living in rural or underprivileged areas is a tremendous challenge, but also a unique opportunity. Access to the internet would provide the population living in these areas a possibility to progress on the educational, health, environment, and business levels. In this paper, a survey of technologies for providing connectivity to rural areas, and that can help address this challenge, is provided. Although access/fronthaul and backhaul techniques are discussed in the paper, it is noted that the major limitation for providing connectivity to rural and underprivileged areas is the cost of backhaul deployment. In addition, energy requirements and cost efficiency of the studied technologies are analyzed. In fact, the challenges faced for deploying an electricity network, as a prerequisite for deploying communication networks, are huge in these areas and they are granted an important share of the discussions in this paper. Furthermore, typical application scenarios in rural areas are discussed, and several country-specific use cases are surveyed. The main initiatives by key international players aiming to provide rural connectivity are also described. Moreover, directions for future evolution of rural connectivity are outlined in the paper. Although there is no single solution that can solve all rural connectivity problems, building gradually on the current achievements in order to reach ubiquitous connectivity, while taking into account the particularities of each region and tailoring the solution accordingly, seems to be the most suitable path to follow.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elias Yaacoub ◽  
Mohamed-Slim Alouini

Providing connectivity to around half of the world population living in rural or underprivileged areas is a tremendous challenge, but also a unique opportunity. Access to the internet would provide the population living in these areas a possibility to progress on the educational, health, environment, and business levels. In this paper, a survey of technologies for providing connectivity to rural areas, and that can help address this challenge, is provided. Although access/fronthaul and backhaul techniques are discussed in the paper, it is noted that the major limitation for providing connectivity to rural and underprivileged areas is the cost of backhaul deployment. In addition, energy requirements and cost efficiency of the studied technologies are analyzed. In fact, the challenges faced for deploying an electricity network, as a prerequisite for deploying communication networks, are huge in these areas and they are granted an important share of the discussions in this paper. Furthermore, typical application scenarios in rural areas are discussed, and several country-specific use cases are surveyed. The main initiatives by key international players aiming to provide rural connectivity are also described. Moreover, directions for future evolution of rural connectivity are outlined in the paper. Although there is no single solution that can solve all rural connectivity problems, building gradually on the current achievements in order to reach ubiquitous connectivity, while taking into account the particularities of each region and tailoring the solution accordingly, seems to be the most suitable path to follow.


Author(s):  
Elias Yaacoub ◽  
Mohamed-Slim Alouini

Providing connectivity to around half of the World population living in rural or underprivileged areas is a tremendous challenge, but also a unique opportunity. In this paper, a survey of technologies for providing connectivity to rural areas, and that can help address this challenge, is provided. Fronthaul and backhaul techniques are discussed. In addition, energy and cost efficiency of the studied technologies are analyzed. Typical application scenarios in rural areas are discussed, and several country-specific use cases are surveyed. Directions for future evolution of rural connectivity are outlined.


Author(s):  
Elias Yaacoub ◽  
Mohamed-Slim Alouini

Providing connectivity to around half of the World population living in rural or underprivileged areas is a tremendous challenge, but also a unique opportunity. In this paper, a survey of technologies for providing connectivity to rural areas, and that can help address this challenge, is provided. Fronthaul and backhaul techniques are discussed. In addition, energy and cost efficiency of the studied technologies are analyzed. Typical application scenarios in rural areas are discussed, and several country-specific use cases are surveyed. Directions for future evolution of rural connectivity are outlined.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
DAIJU AIBA ◽  
OKUDA HIDENOBU

The Cambodian banking sector has rapidly expanded in recent decades, although there are concerns about the performance of Cambodian banks and the country’s banking sector. A paucity of empirical evidence to clarify the real issues in the banking sector also makes it difficult to formulate effective policy measures to address any potential problems. This study provides empirical evidence by estimating the cost function and efficiencies of 34 commercial banks over the period from 2012 to 2015. We find that the average cost efficiency scores range from 0.60 when measuring bank outputs as loan and deposit amounts, and 0.77 when measuring bank outputs as interest and non-interest income, suggesting that if they are operated more efficiently, they could cut costs by 40% in fund mobilization and 23% in profit making while keeping the same output level. We also find that the Cambodian banks have experienced an improvement in efficiency scores over the period for both aspects of banking activities. Furthermore, we find that expanding a branch network into rural areas is inefficient for bank management, and holding excessive liquidity is associated with higher efficiency, but diversification in bank business operations is negatively associated with cost efficiency of Cambodian commercial banks.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (6) ◽  
pp. 1775-1791
Author(s):  
Nazila Aghayi ◽  
Samira Salehpour

The concept of cost efficiency has become tremendously popular in data envelopment analysis (DEA) as it serves to assess a decision-making unit (DMU) in terms of producing minimum-cost outputs. A large variety of precise and imprecise models have been put forward to measure cost efficiency for the DMUs which have a role in constructing the production possibility set; yet, there’s not an extensive literature on the cost efficiency (CE) measurement for sample DMUs (SDMUs). In an effort to remedy the shortcomings of current models, herein is introduced a generalized cost efficiency model that is capable of operating in a fuzzy environment-involving different types of fuzzy numbers-while preserving the Farrell’s decomposition of cost efficiency. Moreover, to the best of our knowledge, the present paper is the first to measure cost efficiency by using vectors. Ultimately, a useful example is provided to confirm the applicability of the proposed methods.


Author(s):  
NA Moiseeva ◽  
IL Kholstinina ◽  
MF Knyazeva ◽  
TV Mazhaeva ◽  
OL Malykh ◽  
...  

Introduction: Implementation of the Federal Public Health Promotion Project should raise awareness and develop skills of healthy nutrition in children, thus contributing to disease prevention. Our objective was to evaluate the results of pilot nutrition monitoring in school-aged children of the Sverdlovsk Region as part of the Federal Public Health Promotion Project and the National Demography Project. Results: We established that school meals were generally satisfactory: the rations complied with physiological needs of children in terms of their nutritional value, basic nutrients, energy, and distribution of calories by main meals. We noted differences in the cost and nutritional value of meals and the variety of dishes and foodstuffs used between urban and rural areas. As a rule, pupils have one or two school meals a day. Outside of school, their consumption of dairy products and fruit is limited. Conclusions: Our findings may promote the elaboration of municipal programs aimed, inter alia, at changing the amount of sugar and salt used in the manufacture of public catering products, the cost of dishes with a high content of sugar, saturated fats, and salt, and subsidies on healthy nutrition.


2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-107
Author(s):  
Dheny Biantara

Summarized Indonesian airline executive views on the reason for the cost problem in mayor airline andon the potential areas and measures of cost reduction in airline operation. Present an introductionsurvey where 3 executives from 3 Indonesian airlines were respondent. In the executive opinion the costproblem in mayor Indonesian airline is primarily due to fuel and oil pricing and money currency. Of thevarious function in airline maintenance was seen as least cost efficiency, whereas flight operation wasseen as an area with most potential for cost reduction. Indonesian airline had made route and fleetchanges after the beginning of 2011 to reduce cost, concludes from the analisys result havingprivatization would be an important step towards more efficient airline operation. Flexibility fromIndonesian airline regulatory would be very much welcome and the value chain concept to improveIndonesian airline having competitive adventage and cost leadership differentiation.


1994 ◽  
Vol 29 (12) ◽  
pp. 117-127
Author(s):  
Jan Erik Lind ◽  
Ernst Olof Swedling

The sewage treatment plant of Uppsala was originally built in 1946 and has since then been extended and upgraded several times up to 1972 when the last major upgrading was completed. In 1987 it was decided to renew the treatment plant for at least another 20-30 years of operation and to upgrade the biological process to include nitrogen reduction. A 7 year plan covering some 18 items with a total investment cost of approximately 120 MSEK was set in action during 1987. The aim was to raise the cost efficiency by introducing modern techniques, new machinery, a better working environment and a better understanding of the processes used. The need to keep the plant in operation during reconstruction work has caused difficulties, delays and unforseen costs but a close cooperation between all parties concerned (operators, contractors, engineers and the regional environment administration) has solved most of the problems. Experiences so far include an improved effluent quality, a better cost efficiency, a healthier and more engaged operating staff. A research team has been engaged to develop and introduce a nitrogen reduction scheme in the activated sludge process. This has been a challenging and fruitful experience.


2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-271
Author(s):  
Andre Lamy ◽  
Eva Lonn ◽  
Wesley Tong ◽  
Balakumar Swaminathan ◽  
Hyejung Jung ◽  
...  

Abstract Aims The Heart Outcomes Prevention Evaluation-3 (HOPE-3) found that rosuvastatin alone or with candesartan and hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) (in a subgroup with hypertension) significantly lowered cardiovascular events compared with placebo in 12 705 individuals from 21 countries at intermediate risk and without cardiovascular disease. We assessed the costs implications of implementation in primary prevention in countries at different economic levels. Methods and results Hospitalizations, procedures, study and non-study medications were documented. We applied country-specific costs to the healthcare resources consumed for each patient. We calculated the average cost per patient in US dollars for the duration of the study (5.6 years). Sensitivity analyses were also performed with cheapest equivalent substitutes. The combination of rosuvastatin with candesartan/HCT reduced total costs and was a cost-saving strategy in United States, Canada, Europe, and Australia. In contrast, the treatments were more expensive in developing countries even when cheapest equivalent substitutes were used. After adjustment for gross domestic product (GDP), the costs of cheapest equivalent substitutes in proportion to the health care costs were higher in developing countries in comparison to developed countries. Conclusion Rosuvastatin and candesartan/HCT in primary prevention is a cost-saving approach in developed countries, but not in developing countries as both drugs and their cheapest equivalent substitutes are relatively more expensive despite adjustment by GDP. Reductions in costs of these drugs in developing countries are essential to make statins and blood pressure lowering drugs affordable and ensure their use. Clinical trial registration HOPE-3 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00468923.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5466
Author(s):  
Guangwei Huang

Urban sustainability refers to building and maintaining cities that can continue to function without running out of resources. However, growing cities require more land and urban sprawl has transformed surrounding rural areas into urbanized settlements. Furthermore, the prosperity of large cities depends on the supply of both natural and human resources from rural areas, either nearby or remote. On the other hand, the use of resources of rural areas by cities may cause negative externalities to rural areas, affecting their sustainability. Therefore, a critical, but very much neglected issue, is how unban sustainability should be pursued without affecting rural sustainability. In this study, cases in Japan and China were analyzed from resources and population migration perspectives to provide evidence for the possibility that urban sustainability might have been pursued at the cost of rural unsustainability. It was intended to develop a better understanding of urban sustainability through the lens of externalities. Based on the analysis, a new framework for urban sustainability study was proposed, which consists of three new pillars. Namely, externality, vulnerability, and population instability.


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