Can feature requests reveal the refactoring types?

Software refactoring is the process of improving the design of a software system while preserving its external behavior. In recent years, refactoring research has been growing as a response to the degradation of software quality. Recent studies performed an in-depth investigation in (1) how refactoring practices are taking place during the software evolution, (2) how to recommend refactoring to improve the design of software, and (3) what type of refactoring operations can be implemented. However, there is a lack of support when it comes to developers’ typical programming tasks, including feature updates and bug fixes. The goal of this thesis is to investigate whether it is possible to support the developer through recommending appropriate refactoring types to be performed when the developer is assigned a given issue to handle. Our proposed solution will take as input the text of the issue along with the source code and tries to protect the appropriate refactoring type that would help in adapting efficiently the existing source code to the given feature request. To do so, we rely on the use of supervised learning. We start with collecting various issues that were handled using refactoring. This data will be used to train a model that will be able to predict the appropriate refactoring, given as input an Open issue description. We design a classification model that inputs a feature request and suggests a method-level refactoring. The classification model was trained with a total of 4008 feature request examples of four refactoring types. Our initial results show that this solution suffers from several challenges including the class imbalance: not all refactoring types are equally used to handle issues. Another challenge we detected is related to the description of the issue itself which typically does not explicitly mention any potential refactoring. Therefore, there will be a need for a large set of issues to be able to appropriately learn any patterns among them that would discriminate towards a given refactoring type

Empirical Research on the Effects of Firm-Bank Relationship on Firm’s Performance in Pakistan

In this competitive world of business, every commercial organization is in search of better performance with the help reduction in costs and establishing good market relationships. Bank relationships is one of such policies in order to achieve better performance. This paper has discussed a new aspect of these relationships and its impact on client firm’s performance. The research has collected a data of non-financial firms listed in Pakistan Stock Exchange for a period of 2006-2015 and investigated the impact of Islamic Bank relationships in comparison to the Conventional bank relationships with respect to contribution in client firm performance. The results show that performance of client firm is associated with Islamic banking relationship, positively and significantly. ROA, ROE, ROS and Tobin’s Q are used as the proxies for firm performance and a ratio is calculated between numbers of bank relationship of Islamic bank to conventional bank. In the light of our findings, we suggest that the firms in Pakistan may get more benefits by establishing bank relationships with Islamic banks. Keywords: Firm-bank relationship, Islamic bank, bank relationship, firm performance

Bank-firm Relationships vs Financial Expenses of the Client Firm: Evidence from Developing Markets (Pakistan)

Aiming to perform better always, the management and strategy makers of the firm feel pressure of decision making. An aspect of this strategy is to maintain the continuous and low cost of finance for the firm to excel in the industry. Banking relationships, being the main or sometimes the only source of financing, is very important for the firm. This research aims to answer the question about the number of banking relationships and their effect on firm’s financial expenditures. Our research is unique as our data set is from developing markets and most of the previous researches are focused on developed markets like U.S, Japan, and Italy etc. the data for 180 listed firms is paneled for our research from Karachi Stock Exchange. We attempt to regress the financial expenses of clients firms against our main variables (NBR, MBR) using OLS regression analysis with robust errors. Some other most commonly used variables are also used to control the effect. Our results shows significant and positive effect on financial expenses with respect to increase in number of bank relationships. This means a negative impact on the firm’s performance indirectly. Thus, the firms have to reconsider the number of banking relationship it should establish. Keywords: Multi-bank relationship (MBR), Financial Expense, Firm Performance

Simpson's Paradox and Lagging Progress in Completion Trends of Underrepresented Students in Computer Science

It is imperative for the Computer Science (CS) community to ensure active participation and success of students from diverse backgrounds. This work compares CS to other areas of study with respect to success of students from three underrepresented groups: Women, Black and Hispanic or Latino. Using a data-driven approach, we show that trends of success over the years for underrepresented groups in CS are lagging behind other disciplines. Completion of CS programs by Black students in particular shows an alarming regression in the years 2011 through 2019. This national level decline is most concentrated in the Southeast of the United States and seems to be driven mostly by a small number of institutes that produce a large number of graduates. We strongly believe that more data-driven studies in this area are necessary to make progress towards a more equitable and inclusive CS community. Without an understanding of underlying dynamics, policy makers and practitioners will be unable to make informed decisions about how and where to allocate resources to address the problem

Effect of different artificial diets on biological parameters of female Chrysoperla carnea under laboratory conditions

Chrysoperla carnea (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) is considered as a cosmopolitan polyphagous generalist predator. Chrysoperla carnea can be used in biological control programs. The biological parameters of Chrysoperla carnea were studied to check the effect different diets under laboratory conditions. The results indicate that preoviposition, oviposition and post oviposition periods were 8.2±1.25, 30.6±1.72 and 9.4±1.02 days, respectively. The highest mortalities were occurred reared at Water+ Sugar+ Yeast+ Evion diets while no mortality was observed at H2O + Sugar +Yeast + Honey.  The female longevity was 51.2 ± 2.18 days. The fecundity of female was 301.31 eggs per female with 10.36 eggs per day per single female on artificial diet, H2O + Sugar +Yeast + Honey. The study revealed that H2O + Sugar +Yeast + Honey was showed highest survival and fecundity while Water+ Sugar+ Yeast+ Evion least one

Influence of artificial aging and ZrO2 nanoparticle-reinforced repair resin on the denture repair strength

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of aging process on the tensile strength (TS) of repaired acrylic denture base using ZrO2 nanoparticles (nano-ZrO2)-reinforced autopolymerized resin. Material and Methods: A total of 240 heat-polymerized acrylic resin specimens (n=10) were prepared and sectioned creating 2 mm-repair-gap. Autopolymerized acrylic resin, pure and modified with 2.5, 5, and 7.5wt% nano-ZrO2were used for specimens repair. TS of repaired specimens were measured using the universal testing machine af-ter water immersion at 37oC for 2, 7 and 30 days. At each time interval, half the immersed specimens underwent thermo-cycling aging process (5000 cycles at 5/55°C) before TS testing. One-way ANOVA and Tukey-Kramer multiple-comparison tests were used for data analysis at ?=0.05. Results: Aging process for all groups showed significant differences in TS between unreinforced and nano-ZrO2reinforced groups (p<0.05). Within immersed nano-ZrO2-reinforced specimens, 5% group immersed for 30-days showed the highest significant TS value (p<0.05). With regards to thermocycling, 5% group showed the highest TS values after 2-days and 30-days groups while after 7-days, significant differences were found between 2.5% group and 5% and 7.5% groups (p?0.05). SEM images analysis displayed the ductile fracture type for nano-ZrO2reinforced groups.Conclusions: In summary, 5.0%-nano-ZrO2 addition to repair resin showed an improvement in tensile strength of repaired acrylic resin with different aging processes

Categories and Institutional Change: Contesting the Uncontested Space Through National Rankings

The current study aims to examine how and why actors contest the business education field through rankings. Inspired by the field structuration process and field level change, we argue that categorization systems, in this case, rankings, construct boundaries of the business education field and redefine authority and elites for the field. Ten highly ranked Pakistani business schools were selected through a purposive sampling method. For the thematic analysis adopted in the current study, we collected empirical evidence mainly through interviews with the directors of accreditation and ranking bodies, deans, and marketing directors of business schools. The interview data was also supplemented by secondary data such as internal student surveys, business school’s annual reports, and other relevant sources of data. The current study showed institutional work in the business education field. Through categorization systems, actors use their authority to challenge the existing social order and define the uncontested space of the business education field in developing countries. Actors then populate the uncontested space with new members thus legitimizing new rules and standards for the field and promoting new elites for the field thus creating new social order

Prevalence and correlates of diastolic dysfunction in patients with hypertension: a cross-sectional study from in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Introduction:&nbsp;diastolic dysfunction refers to impaired ventricular relaxation or filling regardless of ejection fraction and symptoms. It accounts for 8% and 25% in the hospitalized and general population, respectively. The present study was conducted to determine the prevalence and correlates of diastolic dysfunction in hypertensive patients living in Saudi Arabia. Methods:&nbsp;a multicentric, cross-sectional study was conducted from February 2019 to February 2020 at King Khalid Hospital and Prince Sultan Center for Health Services, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University hospital in Al Kharj, and Al Kharj Military Industries Corporation hospital, KSA. All patients with hypertension who underwent an echocardiography were included in the study. Logistic regression analysis was performed to determine factors associated with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction (LVDD). Results:&nbsp;the study included a total of 104 participants, where 51.9% were females andthe mean age of the patients was 48.01±12.81 years.Most patients had an abnormal echocardiography finding (64.4%, n = 67). The most common abnormalities were left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy (44.2%, n = 46), and diastolic dysfunction, (35.6%, n = 37). The study revealed that age (aOR: 6.1, 95% CI 1.17-31.3; p = 0.032) and dyslipidemia (aOR: 3.45, 95% CI 1.16-10.24; p = 0.026) have significant association with LVDD in the patients with hypertension. Conclusion:&nbsp;in conclusion, diastolic dysfunction is prevalent among older hypertensive patients and those with dyslipidaemia. Age and dyslipidaemia were non-modifiable and modifiable factors associated with LVDD in hypertensive patients, respectively