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At a time when modes of consumption are rapidly evolving, consumer attitudes and expectations are changing. Today, customers want more and more products and services that can be customised to their needs. Furthermore, they are more willing to pay for usage of a product rather than ownership. On the other hand, companies are adding more and more services to the products they are bringing to market in order to create added value and differentiate themselves from their competitors. To adapt to these new market trends, companies now have to offer their customers a more sophisticated catalog of solutions, in both product and services, including all conceivable combinations of the two. The aim of this article is to propose a generic knowledge-based model, dedicated to commercial offer configuration which is able to cope with the whole variety of solutions a company can deliver. To our knowledge, although some works on product configuration, service and product-service system configuration exist, none of them is generic enough to support product, service and product-service configuration at the same time when defining commercial offers. In this article, after giving a state-of-the-art assessment of product and service configurations, the need for a generic model able to cover the whole range and diversity of commercial offers is established, a knowledge-based model is defined and its relevance is demonstrated on seven use-cases coming from secondary and tertiary sector companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OMFS training in Europe has incrementally improved over the last 50 years. However, not all European nations have a formal written curriculum/syllabus, quality indicators, exit examinations, or guidelines for training programmes or trainers. In 2021 the OMFS Section of the Union of European Medical Specialists (UEMS) created an OMFS European Training Requirement (OMFS ETR) to help address these gaps and raise training standards in Europe. This paper includes key lessons from OMFS training programmes across Europe. It also summarises the new OMFS ETR as a comprehensive curriculum and syllabus. The ETR is a resource for nations with dual degree or single medical degree versions of the specialty. More importantly, it can act as a template for the handful of European Economic Area (EEA) nations that do not currently have a recognised OMFS specialty in Directive 2005/36 EU or the European Free Trade Association Treaty. By outlining the breadth and depth of the specialty, the ETR will be useful for competent regulatory authorities as well as OMFS trainees and trainers, patients, and politicians. The OMFS ETR includes key competencies and capabilities alongside training structures and documentation. A free unrestricted Access© database can be downloaded from www.omfsuesm.eu so OMFS experience can be recorded in a similar way across international borders. The OMFS ETR will be a living document. As it is unlikely that OMFS will remain frozen in time, this training document will also evolve. Its true value will become clear as it is used by current and future OMFS surgeons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oral and maxillofacial surgical (OMFS) practice and training in Europe is supported by the OMFS Section of the Union of European Medical Specialists (UEMS). Across Europe the number of OMFS specialists per 100,000 varies from 3.0 (Switzerland) to 0.28 (Ireland). The two types of OMFS within the European Union (EU) under Directive 2005/36 and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) treaties are dual degree dental, oral and maxillofacial surgery (DOMFS) and single medical degree maxillofacial surgery (MFS). Automatic recognition of OMFS specialist qualifications is possible only between nations which have the same (or both) types of medical OMFS. Otherwise, individual specialists must apply for a Certificate of Eligibility for Specialist Registration (CESR). DOMFS: 20 European nations have dual degree OMFS. Of these, 12 EU nations are DOMFS in Annex V, 3 are DOMFS in the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Treaty, and one has mandated dual degree OMFS but is a dental specialty. The United Kingdom has dual degree OMFS. Two MFS nations have had mandated dual degree training for more than 10 years and one has both DOMFS and MFS training, with DOMFS recommended. Although no nation with dual degree DOMFS has transitioned back to single degree MFS, there are pressures to do so within Finland and Norway. MFS: 11 EU nations have single medical degree MFS (and 4 DOMFS nations also have MFS as a legacy specialty). Four nations in the EU/EFTA do not yet have a medical specialty of OMFS: Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, and Estonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex cooperative relationships between manufacturing equipment and services make such manufacturing networks have necessary research significance in network science. Under the prevailing background of mass customizing, the continuous coordination between manufacturing services (MSs) in the cloud platform is pulling the complex cooperative relationship between equipment and even enterprises, which constitutes a complex manufacturing network (CMN) from a macro perspective. In this paper, a credit-driven service configuration method is proposed, which is tactfully modeled on the reputation system of Uber. Under such circumstances, MSs could be evaluated combining theirexecution states and historical manufacturing behaviors and chosen as the most appropriate service under the current processing condition to tackle the manufacturing tasks according to customers' requests accurately. Results in the proof-of-concept simulation show that credit is well integrated with the manufacturing process, and could be utilized to drive the CMN with a four-tier networked architecture on the whole, in which it is taken as the benchmark for the service-and-task smart matching in cases where customer requirements and manufacturing process stability are paramount. Credit also effectively assists MSs in exception self-organization and restrains the diffusion of the influence range of the deterioration of service credit when faced with service failures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Vascular services is changing rapidly, having emerged as a new specialty with its own training and specialised techniques. This has resulted in the need for reconfiguration of services to provide adequate specialist provision and accessible and equitable services. Objectives: To identify the effects of service configuration on practice, resource use and outcomes. To model potential changes in configuration. To identify and/or develop electronic data collection tools for collecting patient-reported outcome measures and other clinical information. To evaluate patient preferences for aspects of services other than health-related quality of life. Design: This was a multiple methods study comprising multiple systematic literature reviews; the development of a new outcome measure for users of vascular services (the electronic Personal Assessment Questionnaire – Vascular) based on the reviews, qualitative studies and psychometric evaluation; a trade-off exercise to measure process utilities; Hospital Episode Statistics analysis; and the development of individual disease models and a metamodel of service configuration. Setting: Specialist vascular inpatient services in England. Data sources: Modelling and Hospital Episode Statistics analysis for all vascular inpatients in England from 2006 to 2018. Qualitative studies and electronic Personal Assessment Questionnaire – Vascular evaluation with vascular patients from the Sheffield area. The trade-off studies were based on a societal sample from across England. Interventions: The data analysis, preference studies and modelling explored the effect of different potential arrangements for service provision on the resource use, workload and outcomes for all interventions in the three main areas of inpatient vascular treatment: peripheral arterial disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm and carotid artery disease. The electronic Personal Assessment Questionnaire – Vascular was evaluated as a potential tool for clinical data collection and outcome monitoring. Main outcome measures: Systematic reviews assessed quality and psychometric properties of published outcome measures for vascular disease and the relationship between volume and outcome in vascular services. The electronic Personal Assessment Questionnaire – Vascular development considered face and construct validity, test–retest reliability and responsiveness. Models were validated using case studies from previous reconfigurations and comparisons with Hospital Episode Statistics data. Preference studies resulted in estimates of process utilities for aneurysm treatment and for travelling distances to access services. Results: Systematic reviews provided evidence of an association between increasing volume of activity and improved outcomes for peripheral arterial disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm and carotid artery disease. Reviews of existing patient-reported outcome measures did not identify suitable condition-specific tools for incorporation in the electronic Personal Assessment Questionnaire – Vascular. Reviews of qualitative evidence, primary qualitative studies and a Delphi exercise identified the issues to be incorporated into the electronic Personal Assessment Questionnaire – Vascular, resulting in a questionnaire with one generic and three disease-specific domains. After initial item reduction, the final version has 55 items in eight scales and has acceptable psychometric properties. The preference studies showed strong preference for endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm treatment (willingness to trade up to 0.135 quality-adjusted life-years) and for local services (up to 0.631 quality-adjusted life-years). A simulation model with a web-based interface was developed, incorporating disease-specific models for abdominal aortic aneurysm, peripheral arterial disease and carotid artery disease. This predicts the effects of specified reconfigurations on workload, resource use, outcomes and cost-effectiveness. Initial exploration suggested that further reconfiguration of services in England to accomplish high-volume centres would result in improved outcomes, within the bounds of cost-effectiveness usually considered acceptable in the NHS. Limitations: The major source of evidence to populate the models was Hospital Episode Statistics data, which have limitations owing to the complexity of the data, deficiencies in the coding systems and variations in coding practice. The studies were not able to address all of the potential barriers to change where vascular services are not compliant with current NHS recommendations. Conclusions: There is evidence of potential for improvement in the clinical effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of vascular services through further centralisation of sites where major vascular procedures are undertaken. Preferences for local services are strong, and this may be addressed through more integrated services, with a range of services being provided more locally. The use of a web-based tool for the collection of clinical data and patient-reported outcome measures is feasible and can provide outcome data for clinical use and service evaluation. Future work: Further evaluation of the economic models in real-world situations where local vascular service reconfiguration is under consideration and of the barriers to change where vascular services do not meet NHS recommendations for service configuration is needed. Further work on the electronic Personal Assessment Questionnaire – Vascular is required to assess its acceptability and usefulness in clinical practice and to develop appropriate report formats for clinical use and service evaluation. Further studies to assess the implications of including non-health-related preferences for care processes, and location of services, in calculations of cost-effectiveness are required. Study registration: This study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42016042570, CRD42016042573, CRD42016042574, CRD42016042576, CRD42016042575, CRD42014014850, CRD42015023877 and CRD42015024820. Funding: This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme Grants for Applied Research programme and will be published in full in Programme Grants for Applied Research; Vol. 9, No. 5. See the NIHR Journals Library website for further project information.

Subject of Research. The paper analyzes design and development issues of web portals for cloud services of data centres. We consider a web portal for administrators and users and a portal for service configuration. The portals are applied for access to cloud services according to differentiation of user access rights. Method. The design of referred portals was presented based on international practice of cloud service providers. Implementation of the portal for administrators based on Openstack Horizon and our own solution of the portal for service configuration were proposed. Main Results. The functionality of the portals has been tested effectively with Openstack virtualization platform on the prototype of a geographically distributed data centre deployed by SMARTS telecom provider (the city of Samara). Practical Relevance. The proposed approach can be used for similar portal development in the other cloud service projects.

Today's manufacturing companies are trying to redefine their strategic position with customers, using integrated solutions such as combined product/service offerings, to reap the benefits of product lifecycle service delivery. The purpose of this study is to introduce the service-oriented phenomenon, and provide a method for measuring, and operationalizing the scope of industrial service business. The statistical population of the research is 140 managers of Alpha Company and its subsidiaries, middle managers, and experts related to the field of services. For analyzing the data, factor analysis (exploratory and confirmatory) and structural equation modeling have been used. Out of the 32 first items for the product-related services scope, 17 items are defined in terms of four components of technical services and product optimization, R & D services, customer related business services, and product information sharing services with customers. Comparing the results of this measure with the current position of Alpha services, the use of the new model will improve the evaluation indicators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any hospital doctor will inform you that length of stay is a far better indicator of patient acuity than diagnosis. So why do hospital doctors continue to be harassed over supposed changes in hospital mortality generated by models which largely rely on diagnosis? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Assistance on Demand (AoD) platform is a novel open-source infrastructure which enables the set-up and web publication of assistance services. This paper focuses on the potential of the AoD functionality to enable the configuration and creation of a Network of Assistance Services (NAS) by nonexpert users (e.g. consumers, family members). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key requirement for a service industry organization to reach competitive advantages through product diversification is the existence of a well defined method for building service bundles. Based on the idea that the quality of a service or its value is given by the difference between expectations and perceptions, we draw the main components of a frame that aims to support the client and the provider agent in an active collaboration meant to co-create service bundles. Following e3-value model, we structure the supporting knowledge around the relation between needs and satisfying services. We deal with different perspectives about quality through an ontological extension of Value Based Argumentation. The dialog between the client and the provider takes the form of a persuasion whose dynamic object is the current best configuration. Our approach for building service packages is a demand driven approach, allowing progressive disclosure of private knowledge.

Quality of service (QoS)-adaptive service configuration is crucial for seamless access to video services in cloud-assisted video surveillance systems. To maintain seamless access to video on a user's preferred device, suitable video transcoding services are needed. It is a challenging task to choose and configure these services for various devices to ensure QoS-adaptive user experiences. To configure these services for the desired user devices, a suitable configuration algorithm is needed. Therefore, this paper describes a QoS-adaptive service configuration approach to choose the optimal configuration for the preferred user devices in varied contexts so that the user can access the services ubiquitously. We implemented a cloud-assisted video surveillance prototype to show how the proposed method can handle ubiquitous access to target video for possible QoS-adaptive and video processing requirements in terms of bandwidth, delay, and frame rates. The results show that the proposed configuration method outperforms the other comparable approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Conventional surgical aid to emerging countries often does little to build capacity or infrastructure. An evolving model in the South Pacific has been designed to promote local expertise by training local surgeons to a high standard and helping establish sustainable pediatric surgical services in those regions. This review identifies the key elements required to improve and expand local specialist pediatric surgical capacity in Vanuatu. It highlights some of the challenges that face external agencies in helping to create sufficient local infrastructure to achieve these goals and describes how the impediments can be overcome. Methodology We conducted a review of the program that provides a sustainable pediatric surgical service to the small and poor Pacific nation of Vanuatu through the involvement and support of the Pacific Island Project administered by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. Results A needs assessment must be done from the recipient's perspective and can be achieved by collaboration between an external agency and existing local surgeons. The key to a sustainable service is identifying and training high quality young indigenous doctors early and providing mentorship and support, including after their return. A sustainable and viable service requires an adequately resourced position for the new surgeons(s) within a framework of a long term strategic plan for the specialty and adequate infrastructure in place on their return. Development of rapport with government and influencing strategic health priorities is a prerequisite of a new national specialty service. Conclusions (1) Establishing long term viable pediatric surgical capability can only be achieved through the local health system with local leadership and ownership. (2) Internal capability includes governance, alignment with ministry of health priorities and policies, and effective clinical leadership. (3) Selection of person(s) to be trained is best done early, and he/she must be supported throughout training and afterwards. (4) Long term dependence on a single person makes the service vulnerable. (5) Ultimately, a service configuration that ensures children have timely access to quality specialist advice and which reflects the needs of the population is the main determinant of clinical outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates the use of enterprise models for service configuration with a focus on knowledge related to organizational roles. Starting from an industrial case, it presents an approach to extract a role's information demand from an enterprise model and to use this as initial configuration for agent-based services. In addition to the meta-model included in the enterprise modeling language, the use of a common ontology is proposed which captures both, the perspective of information demand and services. The architecture of the agentbased services is following the idea to characterize all actors by their roles and to represent them by sets of services. This approach facilitates self-organization in the service level. The main contributions of the paper are (1) to show that a role's information demand is relevant for service configuration, (2) to present a way of extracting information demand from enterprise models, and (3) to extend an approach for SOA-based enterprise representation with information demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]