Cost Estimation Approach for Scrum Agile Software Process Model

The software development in the industry is moving towards agile due to the advantages provided by the agile development process. Main advantages of agile software development process are: delivering high quality software in shorter intervals and embracing change. Testing is a vital activity in software development process model, for delivering a high quality software product. Often testing accounts for more project effort and time than any other software development activities. The software testing cost estimation is one of the most important managerial activities related to resource allocation, project planning and to control overall cost of the software development. Several models have been proposed by various authors to address the issue of effort and cost estimation. Most of the models are directly or indirectly depend on the source code of the software product. But, majority of the testing in software organizations is done in black-box environment, where the source code of the software is not available to the testing teams. In this paper, an alternative approach to software testing cost estimation for scrum agile software process model, by considering various testing activities involved in black-box testing environment is presented. The proposed approach is applied on four real world case studies and found that this approach provides more accurate estimation of the testing effort and cost, and helps the software managers in controlling the overrun of the project schedules and project costs

Automatic modulation classification for cognitive radios using cumulants based on fractional lower order statistics

Automatic modulation classification (AMC) finds various applications in cognitive radios. This paper presents a method for the automatic classification using cumulants derived using fractional lower order statistics. The performance of the classifier is presented in the form of probability of correct classification under noisy and fading conditions. Unlike many of the conventional methods, the proposed method does not require a priori knowledge of signal parameters. The proposed method is also more robust to different noises. Simulation results show that the proposed method can achieve better classification accuracy when compared to conventional cumulant based AMC method, in various impulsive noise conditions. 1

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHARMACY & LIFE SCIENCES Phytochemical and pharmacological profile Of Ixora coccinea Linn

Abstract Traditional system of medicinal consists of large number of plants with various medicinal and pharmacological importances and hence represents a priceless tank of new bioactive molecules. Medicinal herbs are moving from fringe to mainstream use with a greater number of people seeking remedies and health approaches free from side effects caused by synthetic chemicals. India officially recognizes over 3000 plants for their medicinal value. It is generally estimated that over 6000 plants in India are in use in traditional, folk and herbal medicine. This article aims to provide a comprehensive review on the phytochemical and pharmacological aspects of Ixora coccinea

A Method For Early Detection Of Cardiac Arrhythmias

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), the beginning of specific cardiovascular illnesses is the leading cause of death worldwide. Cardiac arrhythmias, in particular, can develop into cardiovascular diseases like heart disease, so it's essential to figure out how to make an early diagnosis to stop the arrhythmia from developing into a condition that, in more advanced stages, wouldn't respond well to treatments. It was possible to extract typical heart electrophysiology patterns like the QRS complex, the P.R. segment, the Q.R. segment, the R.S. segment, and the S.T. segment by characterizing the signals picked up by external ambulatory monitors and using the T.W. (Wavelet Transform) for this type of signal analysis. Digital filters were used in the filtering process, and the signal was then described, facilitating easier differentiation through a support vector machine-based classification method established by comparing the outcomes from the various methodologies. The research showed that it is possible to create an automatic tool for detecting cardiac issues as a decision support tool for sending patients for examination by a specialist doctor using the proposed model

Mapping local patterns of childhood overweight and wasting in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2017

A double burden of malnutrition occurs when individuals, household members or communities experience both undernutrition and overweight. Here, we show geospatial estimates of overweight and wasting prevalence among children under 5 years of age in 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) from 2000 to 2017 and aggregate these to policy-relevant administrative units. Wasting decreased overall across LMICs between 2000 and 2017, from 8.4% (62.3 (55.1–70.8) million) to 6.4% (58.3 (47.6–70.7) million), but is predicted to remain above the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target of <5% in over half of LMICs by 2025. Prevalence of overweight increased from 5.2% (30 (22.8–38.5) million) in 2000 to 6.0% (55.5 (44.8–67.9) million) children aged under 5 years in 2017. Areas most affected by double burden of malnutrition were located in Indonesia, Thailand, southeastern China, Botswana, Cameroon and central Nigeria. Our estimates provide a new perspective to researchers, policy makers and public health agencies in their efforts to address this global childhood syndemic

Optimisation of recombinant protein production in <em>Pichia pastoris</em>:single-chain antibody fragment model protein

Abstract Potential lethal diarrhoea caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strains is one of the most common diseases in young pigs. It can be cured by single-chain antibody fragments (scFv), which can be produced in recombinant microorganisms. Pichia pastoris, a methylotrophic yeast, is generally considered an interesting production system candidate, as it can secrete properly folded proteins. These proteins accumulate in high concentrations during fermentation, reducing the cost for product recovery. Strong inducible AOX1 promoter, widely used in P. pastoris for fast, inexpensive production, is typically induced by methanol. The high oxygen demand of methanol metabolism makes oxygen supply a major parameter in cultivations requiring special process design strategies. In standard fed-batch cultivation, dissolved oxygen concentration inside a bioreactor is kept at a certain level by pumping air and pure oxygen into the reactor. There are safety concerns over the handling of oxygen, especially at a large scale. Therefore, there is a need to develop a production process under oxygen-limited conditions. This dissertation studies the development of a cost-efficient production process of scFv in P. pastoris. Both methanol and oxygen parameters influence the production process and the objective was to find a robust production process. Fed-batch cultivations were performed in a 10 L scale bioreactor. The effects of lower oxygen level, methanol concentration, glycerol feeding duration and specific substrate-uptake rates on product formation were studied. A P. pastoris GS115 his4 strain under an AOX1 promoter system expressing scFv was used in this study. The fed-batch fermentations were carried out in a bioreactor with basal salt media. In this doctoral dissertation, a process was developed for a single-chain antibody fragment (scFv) production in P. pastoris. The product levels of 3.5 g L-1 scFv in culture supernatant were achieved and a production process was designed without additional need of pure oxygen, thus relieving safety requirements and lowering the amount of methanol. The process developed during this research may potentially be utilised by both academia and industry having interests in expressing proteins in P. pastoris. The methanol-uptake control strategy is beneficial for those products that suffer from degradation or modification during limited feeding of methanol.Tiivistelmä Enterotoksigeenisten E.coli kantojen aiheuttama ripuli on porsaiden tavallisimpia tauteja, joka voi johtaa jopa kuolemaan. Tautia voidaan hoitaa yhdistelmä-DNA-tekniikalla tuotetuilla vasta-ainefragmenteilla (scFv). Metylotrofista Pichia pastoris hiivaa pidetään kiinnostavana vasta-ainefragmenttien tuottoisäntänä, koska se pystyy erittämään oikealla tavalla laskostuneita proteiineja. Näitä proteiineja kertyy fermentointiprosessissa solujen ulkopuolelle korkeina pitoisuuksina, mikä vähentää tuotteiden talteenottokustannuksia. Vahva metanolilla indusoituva AOX1-promoottori on laajassa käytössä P. pastoris tuottosysteemissä tuoton nopeuden ja alhaisten kustannusten ansiosta. Metanolin aineenvaihdunta vaatii paljon happea, joten riittävän tehokas hapen liuottaminen on tärkeimpiä fermentointiparametreja ja vaatii erityisiä prosessin toteutusstrategioita. Perinteisessä fed-batch-fermentoinnissa liuenneen hapen pitoisuus bioreaktorissa pidetään halutulla tasolla lisäämällä ilmaa ja puhdasta happea reaktoriin. Koska hapen käsittelyyn liittyy turvallisuusriskejä erityisesti teollisuusmittakaavassa, happirajoitteisissa olosuhteissa toimiva tuotantoprosessi olisi hyödyllinen. Tässä väitöstutkimuksessa kehitettiin kustannustehokasta prosessia scFv-:n tuottoon P. pastoris hiivalla. Metanoliin ja happeen liittyvät parametrit ovat olennaisia prosessiin vaikuttavia tekijöitä. Tavoite oli kehittää yksinkertainen ja käytännöllinen prosessi. Työssä tutkittiin alhaisen happitason, metanolin pitoisuuden, glyserolisyötön keston ja substraattien spesifisten kulutusnopeuksien vaikutuksia tuotteen muodostumiseen 10 litran bioreaktorissa. Isäntäkantana oli P. pastoris GS115 his4, jossa scFv-ekspressiota säädeltiin AOX1 promoottorilla. Fed-batch fermentointien kasvatusalustana käytettiin Basal Salt Medium alustaa (BSM). Väitöstyössä kehitettiin tavoitteiden mukainen vasta-ainefragmenttien tuottoprosessi P.pastoris hiivalle. Menetelmällä saavutettiin tuotepitoisuus 3,5 g L-1 kasvatusliemen supernatantissa ilman puhtaan hapen lisäystarvetta, ja siten metanolin kulutus väheni ja prosessiturvallisuus parani verrattuna perinteisiin prosesseihin. Kehitetty prosessi soveltuu käytettäväksi sekä akateemisessa tutkimuksessa että teollisuudessa tuotettaessa erilaisia proteiineja P. pastoris hiivalla. Metanolin kulutuksen säätöstrategia on erityisen hyödyllinen tuotteille, joilla ongelmana on proteolyysi tai muokkautuminen metanolirajoitteisessa fermentoinnissa