A review of cloud migration techniques and models for legacy applications: key considerations and potential concerns

Legacy systems refer to the applications designed for a particular client that have been in use for a long period of time and developed using obsolete technologies. They are often business-critical systems therefore any changes here inevitably will affect the other parts of the system. Although these systems are considered to be outdated, they are too costly and risky for an organization to replace it. Cloud computing provides a new platform for organization that promises flexible scalability, business agility, high availability and reduction in costs. Considering these benefits, migration of legacy systems to cloud is a lucrative option for many organizations. However the architecture of these legacy applications require a tested, fool-proof and risk free approach for migration. Limited migration models or frameworks have been proposed which caters issues of legacy systems migration to cloud platform. Many of these cloud adoption techniques and models emphasize on the generic phases and procedures on migrating the applications and data to cloud. However some of these models are more flexible, and provide better approaches compared to others. This research explores the issues associated with the legacy applications with regards to their migration on cloud and reviews the existing techniques and models that have been proposed in this context

Blockchain based framework for educational certificates verification

Document verification is a complex domain that involves various challenging and tedious processes to authenticate. Moreover various types of documents for instance banking documents, government documents, transaction documents, educational certificates etc. might involve customized verification and authentication practices. The content for each type vary significantly, hence requires to be dealt in a distinct manner. For students, educational certificates are the most important documents issued by their universities. However, as the issuing process is not that transparent and verifiable, fake certificates can be easily created. A skil fully generated fake certificate is always hard to detect and can be treated as the original. With the increase of forged documents, credibility of both the document holder and the issuing authority is jeopardized. Blockchain technology has recently emerged as a potential mean for authenticating the document verification process and a significant tool to combat document fraud and misuse. This research aimed to enhance the document verification process using blockchain technology. In this research, authors have identified the security themes required for document verification in the blockchain. This research also identifies the gaps and loopholes in the current blockchain based educational certificate verification solutions. At the end, a blockchain based framework for verifying educational certificates focusing on themes including authentication, authorization, confidentiality, privacy and ownership is proposed using the Hyperledger Fabric Framework

A cloud based framework for e-government implementation in developing countries

Cloud Computing technology is achieving a significant cost saving, business agility, and high scalability. However, it is a relatively new technology and its successful implementation in the governmental organizations needs careful consideration due to data sensitivity. Successful adoption of cloud-based solutions is the key for realizing the expected benefits of cloud computing technologies in the public agencies. The aim of this research is to develop a strategic framework to adopt cloud-based solutions in the public sector to improve e-government processes in developing countries. The purpose of the developed framework is to reduce the time and cost of the processes that contain interaction among governmental agencies and citizens through adopting cloud-based solutions. The framework was formulated based on the collected data analysis and the conclusions from experts' interviews. This study provides detailed guidelines to a successful launch and implementation of cloud-based solutions for e-government initiatives in the public sector

Scalability enhancement for cloud-based applications using software oriented methods

Scalability refers to the ability of a system to handle resource utilization in a constant and smooth fashion when high or low volume of data is applied. It is among the key attractions for migration to a cloud based infrastructure. Most of the previous studies in this area are based on the enhancement of cloud scalability in terms of hardware resources and network infrastructure However in this case the cost of additional hardware resources and expansion of network infrastructural components to improve the cloud scalability is a major hurdle. Improving scalability of software on cloud platform by improving the software design is very less explored area. This paper focuses on two major concepts that involve measuring of software scalability using different methods and secondly exploring the software design based approaches to improve scalability. At the end, researchers have also explored the use of software design patterns to enhance scalability and flexibility in software applications on available cloud platforms especially Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

Evaluating design pattern based solutions with their equivalent simpler solutions to promote maintainability in software

This research mainly concentrates on investigating different design solutions which can be applied during the early design phase of software development, where these design solutions would likely reduce the latter maintenance costs. It requires measuring the maintenance level of a design solution during the design phase so as to minimize the cost, resources, and effort required. The solutions used in this research are design pattern based solutions and their alternative simpler solutions (i.e., solutions without using design patterns) so as to quantify which of them is more suitable towards improving the latter maintainability. A positivist research approach is used to conduct a quantitative experiment on the State and Proxy design patterns. This approach requires software engineers to measure the maintenance level of available solutions beforehand by using specific metrics made for this very purpose. As a result, the quantified values would assist us to select the most suitable design inclined towards reducing the maintenance costs and contribute in improving the overall software quality. The results showed that the design pattern based solutions have positive maintainability effects. The measurements and evaluation processes were formulated into a guideline, and an experimental-based evaluation was used for its testing

Zinc nutrition application augments morpho-physiological attributes, productivity and grain zinc bioavailability of Paddy Rice

Zinc (Zn) deficiency is the most important micronutrient disorders affecting plants and human health. Present study evaluated the potential of various Zn application methods in improving the performance of selected rice genotypes and Zn bioavailability in grains. Pre-selected Zn application methods through pot experiments were validated in the field. Harvested grains were fed to albino rats for Zn bioavailability. Results revealed that soil + foliar application of Zn was effective in improving the seedling growth of rice genotypes by modulating the agronomic, water related and biochemical attributes. The rats gained more body weight fed with rice genotype Accession-164 (high Zn accumulator) compared with the minimum for Super Basmati (low Zn accumulator) feed. In crux, soil application of Zn at 15 kg ha-1 followed by foliar application of 0.25% ZnSO4.7H2O solution at tillering and heading stages produced the highest grain yield (26.25%, 29.11%) with maximum bioavailable Zn (21.02%, 22.50%) during both years, respectively, in the grains for combating malnutrition in the tested rats

The impact of flyweight and proxy design patterns on software efficiency: an empirical evaluation

In this era of technology, delivering quality software has become a crucial requirement for the developers. Quality software is able to help an organization to success and gain a competitive edge in the market. There are numerous quality attributes introduced by various quality models. Various researches and studies prove that the quality of the object-oriented software can be improved by using design patterns. The main purpose of this research is to identify the relationships between the design patterns and software efficiency quality attribute. This research is focused on the impact of Flyweight and Proxy Design Patterns on the efficiency of software. An example scenario is used to empirically evaluate the effectiveness of applied design refinements on efficiency of a system. The techniques to measure software efficiency and the results obtained for each solution are elaborated in detail. At the end of this research, comparative analysis is provided to show the relative impact of each selected design pattern on software efficiency

Saudi-KAU Coupled Global Climate Model: Description and Performance

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The global, regional, and national burden of cirrhosis by cause in 195 countries and territories, 1990-2017 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Cirrhosis and other chronic liver diseases (collectively referred to as cirrhosis in this paper) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally, although the burden and underlying causes differ across locations and demographic groups. We report on results from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017 on the burden of cirrhosis and its trends since 1990, by cause, sex, and age, for 195 countries and territories. Methods We used data from vital registrations, vital registration samples, and verbal autopsies to estimate mortality. We modelled prevalence of total, compensated, and decompensated cirrhosis on the basis of hospital and claims data. Disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) were calculated as the sum of years of life lost due to premature death and years lived with disability. Estimates are presented as numbers and age-standardised or age-specific rates per 100 000 population, with 95% uncertainty intervals (UIs). All estimates are presented for five causes of cirrhosis: hepatitis B, hepatitis C, alcohol-related liver disease, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), and other causes. We compared mortality, prevalence, and DALY estimates with those expected according to the Socio-demographic Index (SDI) as a proxy for the development status of regions and countries. Findings In 2017, cirrhosis caused more than 1.32 million (95% UI 1.27-1.45) deaths (440000 [416 000-518 000; 33.3%] in females and 883 000 [838 000-967 000; 66.7%] in males) globally, compared with less than 899 000 (829 000-948 000) deaths in 1990. Deaths due to cirrhosis constituted 2.4% (2.3-2.6) of total deaths globally in 2017 compared with 1.9% (1.8-2.0) in 1990. Despite an increase in the number of deaths, the age-standardised death rate decreased from 21.0 (19.2-22.3) per 100 000 population in 1990 to 16.5 (15.8-18-1) per 100 000 population in 2017. Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest age-standardised death rate among GBD super-regions for all years of the study period (32.2 [25.8-38.6] deaths per 100 000 population in 2017), and the high-income super-region had the lowest (10.1 [9.8-10-5] deaths per 100 000 population in 2017). The age-standardised death rate decreased or remained constant from 1990 to 2017 in all GBD regions except eastern Europe and central Asia, where the age-standardised death rate increased, primarily due to increases in alcohol-related liver disease prevalence. At the national level, the age-standardised death rate of cirrhosis was lowest in Singapore in 2017 (3.7 [3.3-4.0] per 100 000 in 2017) and highest in Egypt in all years since 1990 (103.3 [64.4-133.4] per 100 000 in 2017). There were 10.6 million (10.3-10.9) prevalent cases of decompensated cirrhosis and 112 million (107-119) prevalent cases of compensated cirrhosis globally in 2017. There was a significant increase in age-standardised prevalence rate of decompensated cirrhosis between 1990 and 2017. Cirrhosis caused by NASH had a steady age-standardised death rate throughout the study period, whereas the other four causes showed declines in age-standardised death rate. The age-standardised prevalence of compensated and decompensated cirrhosis due to NASH increased more than for any other cause of cirrhosis (by 33.2% for compensated cirrhosis and 54.8% for decompensated cirrhosis) over the study period. From 1990 to 2017, the number of prevalent cases snore than doubled for compensated cirrhosis due to NASH and more than tripled for decompensated cirrhosis due to NASH. In 2017, age-standardised death and DALY rates were lower among countries and territories with higher SDI. Interpretation Cirrhosis imposes a substantial health burden on many countries and this burden has increased at the global level since 1990, partly due to population growth and ageing. Although the age-standardised death and DALY rates of cirrhosis decreased from 1990 to 2017, numbers of deaths and DALYs and the proportion of all global deaths due to cirrhosis increased. Despite the availability of effective interventions for the prevention and treatment of hepatitis B and C, they were still the main causes of cirrhosis burden worldwide, particularly in low-income countries. The impact of hepatitis B and C is expected to be attenuated and overtaken by that of NASH in the near future. Cost-effective interventions are required to continue the prevention and treatment of viral hepatitis, and to achieve early diagnosis and prevention of cirrhosis due to alcohol-related liver disease and NASH. Copyright (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe