Feasibility of SOA in a Legacy Environment

Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is currently viewed as the “silver bullet” solution for all of the integration issues that a business faces in this very competitive world. SOA technologies vendors would also like everyone to believe the “silver bullet” myth. While there is definitely some truth to the notion of SOA being able to solve many integration issues, SOA does not apply to all integration issues and it should not be considered as the only technology solution. The core argument is whether SOA is a technology or a methodology. Most experts will argue that it is a methodology with definite software architecture pattern, but many case studies have shown that it is a complete mindset change, a new ideology as to how software should be created to solve business problems. This ideology of SOA has been around for decades in many forms and it is coming to fruition as the internet is creating the concept of a global information village. The global information village is giving people the opportunity to enhance communication and find solutions to all sorts of problems eliminating the need to recreate solutions. The idea of reusability is catching up very fast and that’s where SOA is claiming most of it benefits like speed to market and reduced total cost of ownership (TCO) for software development. SOA is definitely not for everyone, especially for environments that are accustomed to legacy technologies and associated software development practices. There is a limited scope for SOA in legacy environments and not all problems can be solved with SOA. For instance if a company already has a monolithic system that is performance oriented and is meeting the needs of the business, then future enhancements will never dictate the need for SOA as the initial investment into SOA is very high. From a performance perspective, a monolithic system will always be faster since network latency due to dispersed and segregated multiple computing engines integration is the nature of SOA. A good application of SOA in the legacy environment would be e-commerce where monolithic system capabilities can be abstracted out and made web enabled. In this approach one does not have to rewrite its monolithic system but only use SOA to define a new interface to interact with the monolithic system

Economic Evaluation of Placer Gold Along River Indus From Ghazi to Kund, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan: Implications for Commercial Scale Pilot Plant

A detailed study was conducted on Indus river in order to evaluate the economic potential. Samples werecollected for geochemical studies from both stream sediments (SS) and heavy mineral concentrates (HMC) along Indusriver from Ghazi, Hund, Beka, Alladher and Kund in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. All the samples were analyzed forgold (Au), silver (Ag) and base metals in order to get information about geochemical associations. Panning and sluicemethods were applied for the collection of these samples and extraction of visible gold. Results show that HMC havehigh Au contents, having maximum value of 44.15 g/t and 39.15 g/t in Kund and Beka areas respectively with anaverage value of 15.18 g/ton and 11.37 g/ton while the SS have average amount of Au as 0.8 g/t. In both these mediahigher concentration of gold was found in HMC. On the basis of results from both sampling media, the placer golddeposits in Kund, Alladher and Beka are considered highly economical for the commercial exploration of placer gold.Overall, the HMC derived from silt, sand, gravels and cobbles along Indus river indicated potential for placer gold thatcan be utilized for extraction of gold at commercial scale

A cost effective preparative thin layer chromatography cleanup method for high performance liquid chromatography analysis of aflatoxins B1, B2 and G2

Aflatoxins are the by-products of fungal metabolism and common contaminants in feed. To keep their level below permissible limits, various assays have been developed. Currently, High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with fluorescence detection of toxins is most widely used method but the cleanup methods requiring specific gadgets have increased the cost of the assay. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) is effective and economical but it only gives semi quantitative determination for aflatoxin.This study explores the preparative potential of TLC as cleanup method for HPLC analysis of toxin. Standard aflatoxins solutions containing 10 ng of B1, 2.5 ng of B2 and 2.5 ng of G2 were spotted on silica plates and then extracted using chloroform and acetone (4:1). The extracted toxins were resolved and quantified on HPLC using fluorescent detection. The results showed 81, 79 and 60% mean recovery of aflatoxin B1, B2 and G2, respectively. This method was proved equivocally comparable to other methods of aflatoxins cleanup and thus can be used as an alternative cost effective cleanup method

IMPACT OF MACROECONOMIC VARIABLES ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE OF AUTOMOBILE ASSEMBLING SECTOR OF PAKISTAN STOCK EXCHANGE

The study examines the macroeconomic variables impact on financial performance, using the financial statement of listed companies in Automobile sector of Pakistan stock exchange. The study covered the period from 2007 to 2016. Before applying the GMM model the preliminary test was done. Firm performance is measured with three ratios i.e., return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and gross profit margin ratio (GPM). The results revealed that the selected macroeconomics variables have the negative relationship with return on equity, return on assets and gross profit margin and the inflation has positive relation with return on equity and negative relation with return on assets (ROA) and gross profit margin (GPM)

LI-HE’S MODIFIED HOMOTOPY PERTURBATION METHOD FOR DOUBLY-CLAMPED ELECTRICALLY ACTUATED MICROBEAMS-BASED MICROELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEM

This paper highlights Li-He’s approach in which the enhanced perturbation method is linked with the parameter expansion technology in order to obtain frequency amplitude formulation of electrically actuated microbeams-based microelectromechanical system (MEMS). The governing equation is a second-order nonlinear ordinary differential equation. The obtained results are compared with the solution achieved numerically by the Runge-Kutta (RK) method that shows the effectiveness of this variation in the homotopy perturbation method (HPM)

Ultrasound-guided Intralesional Bleomycin Injection (IBI) for Treatment of Cutaneous Hemangiomas and Vascular Malformations

Purpose: To report the therapeutic outcome of ultrasound-guided intralesional injection of bleomycin in the treatment of cutaneous hemangiomas and vascular malformations. Material & Methods: The medical records of patients with cutaneous hemangiomas and vascular malformations treated with the intralesional injection of bleomycin under ultrasound guidance between August 2009 and June 2013 at the Indus Hospital, Karachi were reviewed retrospectively using a computerized medical record information management system. Data were extracted using a pre-coded performa that included patient demographics, type and location of lesion, number of treatments, presenting/pre- and post-treatment clinical symptoms (pain, swelling, heaviness, size, discoloration), ultrasound appearance and vascularity, and post-treatment side effects. The dose range of bleomycin was 0.5-1.0 mg/kg, but not exceeding 15 mg in a single session. A maximum of four treatments were given in any given patient except for one, who presented with recurrence after a year of complete resolution. Therapeutic outcome was determined using review of ultrasound images and recorded clinical assessment. Treatment response was categorized as: (i) complete resolution [more than 90% reduction]; (ii) substantial reduction [more than 50% reduction]; (iii) mild reduction [25% reduction]; or, (iv) no improvement [ \u3c 10% reduction]. Results: A total of 30 patients (16 female, 14 male), ranging in age from 8 months to 48 years (mean age 10.2 years), were treated from 2009 to 2013. There were 23 hemangiomas. Seven were vascular malformations, of which five were lymphatic malformations and two were venous malformations. Twenty-eight lesions were located in the head and neck region, and two were peripheral.. In 24 of the 30 patients (76%), treatment had been completed. In six patients (21%) treatment was ongoing at the time of this report. Seventeen of the 23 hemangiomas (74%) were completely resolved clinically and on ultrasound, five (22%) showed substantial improvement and one (4%) showed mild improvement. In five of the seven vascular malformations (71%) lymphatic malformations resolved completely, and two (29%) venous malformations showed substantial improvement. Of the 13 patients presenting with discoloration, there was complete resolution in one (7.7%), marked reduction in 11 (84.6%) and mild reduction in one (7.7%). Of seven patients presenting with pain, there was complete resolution in two (28.6%), marked reduction in two (28.6%), mild reduction in two (28.6%), and no improvement in one (14.3%). There were no pulmonary complications. Conclusion: Ultrasound-guided intralesional injection of bleomycin is an option to consider for the treatment of certain types of cutaneous hemangiomas and vascular malformations. Prospective studies should be undertaken to understand the various factors contributing to therapeutic success

The Aboodh transformation-based homotopy perturbation method: new hope for fractional calculus

Fractional differential equations can model various complex problems in physics and engineering, but there is no universal method to solve fractional models precisely. This paper offers a new hope for this purpose by coupling the homotopy perturbation method with Aboodh transform. The new hybrid technique leads to a simple approach to finding an approximate solution, which converges fast to the exact one with less computing effort. An example of the fractional casting-mold system is given to elucidate the hope for fractional calculus, and this paper serves as a model for other fractional differential equations

Gastroprotective potential and mechanisms of action of Hedera nepalensis

Hedera nepalensis (H. nepalensis) , belonging to the family Araliaceae, is a medicinal plant traditionally used to treat stomach problems. The current study investigated the gastroprotective potential and the mechanism of action of H. nepalensis in diclofenac-and ethanol-induced ulcer models. Anti-oxidant and lipid peroxidation inhibitory prospects of H. nepalensis were checked out by free radical scavenging assay and UV spectrophotometer respectively. Effect of H. nepalensis on the pH, gastric total acidity of gastric juice and protective effects of H. nepalensis against ulcer models have been examined. Histopathological studies have been carried out. The aqueous methanol extract of H. nepalensis (100 µg/mL) showed anti-oxidant (83.55%) and lipid peroxidation inhibitory (70.88%) potential at 1000 µg/mL; the extract had no buffer potential. The extract (400 mg/kg) significantly (81.12% and 63.46%) showed gastroprotective effect in diclofenac and ethanol-induced rat ulcer models respectively. Histopathological studies confirmed the biochemical findings. FTIR analysis showed the presence of carboxylic acid, alkanes, conjugated alkanes, aldehydes and alkyl-aryl ethers. Gallic acid, M-coumaric acid and quercetin were found by HPLC analysis. H. nepalensis exhibited significant protection against diclofenac and ethanol induced gastric damage by anti-oxidant and lipid peroxidation suppression effects suggesting potential broad utility in treatment of diseases characterized with gastric damage