A comparison of fluoroquinolones versus other antibiotics for treating enteric fever: meta-analysis

Objectives To review evidence supporting use of fluoroquinolones as first line agents over other antibiotics for treating typhoid and paratyphoid fever (enteric fever)

Acute respiratory infections in Pakistan: have we made any progress?

Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are the leading cause of death in young children in Pakistan, responsible for 20-30% of all child deaths under age 5 years. This paper summarizes the research and technical development efforts over the last 15 years which have contributed to improving the effectiveness of the case management strategy to reduce mortality from pneumonia in children in Pakistan. Community intervention is viable, effective and practical. Rising antimicrobial resistance among commonly used and low-cost oral agents is of significant concern. Appropriate monitoring and evaluation of the impact of the ARI control programme is lacking. Lack of funding for programmatic activities, lack of coordination with other child survival programs, inadequate training for community health workers and general practitioners in the private sector, lack of public awareness about seeking timely and appropriate care, and insufficient planning and support for ARI programmatic activities at provincial and district levels are major hindrances in decreasing the burden of ARI in the country. The recent introduction of the community-based Lady Health Worker (LHW) Programme and WHO and UNICEF-sponsored integrated management of childhood illness initiative present ideal opportunities for re-emphasizing early case detection and appropriate case management of ARI. Ultimately, focusing on preventive strategies such as improving nutrition, reducing indoor pollution, improving mass vaccination, as well as introduction of new vaccines effective against important respiratory pathogens will likely have the most impact on reducing severe ARI and deaths from severe disease

Hybrid gradient descent cuckoo search (HGDCS) algorithm for resource scheduling in IaaS cloud computing environment

Resource scheduling is a procedure for the distribution of resources over time to perform a required task and a decision making process in cloud computing. Optimal resource scheduling is a great challenge and considered to be an NP-hard problem due to the fluctuating demand of cloud users and dynamic nature of resources. In this paper, we formulate a new hybrid gradient descent cuckoo search (HGDCS) algorithm based on gradient descent (GD) approach and cuckoo search (CS) algorithm for optimizing and resolving the problems related to resource scheduling in Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) cloud computing. This work compares the makespan, throughput, load balancing and performance improvement rate of existing meta-heuristic algorithms with proposed HGDCS algorithm applicable for cloud computing. In comparison with existing meta-heuristic algorithms, proposed HGDCS algorithm performs well for almost in both cases (Case-I and Case-II) with all selected datasets and workload archives. HGDCS algorithm is comparatively and statistically more effective than ACO, ABC, GA, LCA, PSO, SA and original CS algorithms in term of problem solving ability in accordance with results obtained from simulation and statistical analysis

Multi-objective-oriented cuckoo search optimization-based resource scheduling algorithm for clouds

Scheduling problems in cloud computing environment are mostly influenced by multi-objective optimization but frequently deal with using single-objective algorithms. The algorithms need to resolve multi-objective problems which are significantly different from the procedure or techniques used for single-objective optimizations. For this purpose, meta-heuristic algorithms always show their strength to deal with multi-objective optimization problems. In this research article, we present an innovative Multi-objective Cuckoo Search Optimization (MOCSO) algorithm for dealing with the resource scheduling problem in cloud computing. The main objective of resource scheduling problem is to reduce the cloud user cost and enhance the performance by minimizing makespan time, which helps to increase the revenue or profit for cloud providers with maximum resource utilization. Therefore, the proposed MOCSO algorithm is a new method for solving multi-objective resource scheduling problems in IaaS cloud computing environment. Moreover, the effects of the proposed algorithm are analyzed and evaluated by comparison with state-of-the-art multi-objective resource scheduling algorithms using simulation framework. Results obtained from simulation show that the proposed MOSCO algorithm performs better than MOACO, MOGA, MOMM and MOPSO, and balance multiple objectives in terms of expected time to completion and expected cost to completion matrices for resource scheduling in IaaS cloud computing environment

IoT Adoption Model for E-Learning in Higher Education Institutes: A Case Study in Saudi Arabia

The realm of the Internet of Things (IoT), while continually transforming as a novel paradigm in the nexus of technology and education, still contends with numerous obstacles that hinder its incorporation into higher education institutions’ (HEIs) e-learning platforms. Despite substantial strides in IoT utilization from industrialized nations—the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and China serving as prime exemplars—the scope of its implementation in developing countries, notably Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, lags behind. A significant gap exists in research centered on the trajectory of IoT integration within e-learning systems of economically disadvantaged nations. Specifically, this study centers on Saudi Arabia to illuminate the main factors catalyzing or encumbering IoT uptake within its HEIs’ e-learning sector. As a preliminary step, this research has embarked on an exhaustive dissection of prior studies to unearth critical variables implicated in the IoT adoption process. Subsequently, we employed an inferential methodology, amassing data from 384 respondents in Saudi Arabian HEIs. Our examination divulges that usability, accessibility, technical support, and individual proficiencies considerably contribute to the rate of IoT incorporation. Furthermore, our data infer that financial obstacles, self-efficacy, interactive capability, online surveillance, automated attendance tracking, training programs, network and data safeguarding measures, and relevant tools significantly influence IoT adoption. Contrarily, factors such as accessibility, internet quality, infrastructure preparedness, usability, privacy concerns, and faculty support appeared to have a negligible impact on the adoption rates within HEIs. This research culminates in offering concrete recommendations to bolster IoT integration within Saudi Arabian HEIs, presenting valuable insights for government entities, policy architects, and HEIs to address the hurdles associated with IoT implementation in the higher education sector

Factors Influencing the Adoption of Industrial IoT for the Manufacturing and Production SMEs in Developing Countries

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are steadily moving in the direction of implementing digital and smart technologies, including the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for improving their products and services. The adoption of IIoT allows manufactures and producers to make quick decisions for improving productivity and quality in real-time. For this purpose, the era of digital industrial revolution from IR 1.0 to IR 5.0 is briefly explained. In this research study, the authors have reviewed and analysed the existing reviews, surveys and technical research studies on IIoT technologies for the manufacturing and production SMEs to highlight the concern raised. Forty-seven (47) influencing factors are identified and classified into four groups based on the TOEI framework. Based on the identified influencing factors, IIoT adoption model is proposed for the manufacturing and production SMEs to adopt the new IIoT technologies in their business environments. Furthermore, a comparative analysis of the influencing factors has been done for the adoption of IIoT to increase efficiency, productivity and competitiveness for the manufacturing and production SMEs in developing countries. The proposed IIoT adoption model will help future policymakers and stakeholders to develop policies and strategies for the successful adoption and implementation of IIoT in manufacturing and production SMEs in developing countries. Also, recommendations are suggested to encourage IIoT adoption in production and manufacturing environments so that manufacturers and producers can respond easily and quickly to highly changing demands, product trends, skills gaps and other unexpected challenges in the future.© 2024 The Authors. IET Collaborative Intelligent Manufacturing published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The Institution of Engineering and Technology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed