Software Reliability Models

The problem considered here is the building of Non-homogeneous Poisson Process (NHPP) model. Currently existing popular NHPP process models like Goel-Okumoto (G-O) and Yamada et al models suffer from the drawback that the probability density function of the inter-failure times is an improper density function. This is because the event no failure in (0, oo] is allowed in these models. In real life situations we cannot draw sample(s) from such a population and also none of the moments of inter-failure times exist. Therefore, these models are unsuitable for modelling real software error data. On the other hand if the density function of the inter-failure times is made proper by multiplying with a constant, then we cannot assume finite number of expected faults in the system which is the basic assumption in building the software reliability models. Taking these factors into consideration, we have introduced an extra parameter, say c, in both the G -0 and Yamada et al models in order to get a new model. We find that a specific value of this new parameter gives rise to a proper density for inter-failure times. The G -0 and Yamada et al models are special cases of these models corresponding to c = 0. This raises the question - “Can we do better than existing G -0 and Yamada et al models when 0 \u3c c \u3c 1 ?”. The answer is ‘yes’. With this objective, the behavior of the software failure counting process { N ( t ) , t \u3e 0} has been studied. Several measures, such as the number of failures by some prespecified time, the number of errors remaining in the system at a future time, distribution of remaining number of faults in the system and reliability during a mission have been proposed in this research. Maximum likelihood estimation method was used to estimate the parameters. Sufficient conditions for the existence of roots of the ML equations were derived. Some of the important statistical aspects of G -0 and Yamada et al models, like conditions for the existence and uniqueness of the ML equations, were not worked out so far in the literature. We have derived these conditions and proved uniqueness of the roots for these models. Finally four different sets of actual failure time data were analyzed. i

Consumer Ethical Decision Making: Linking Moral Intensity, Self-Consciousness and Neutralization Techniques

The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of moral intensity on self-conscious emotions and neutralization techniques in the context of ethical decision making among consumers. A sample of 388 shopping mall retail consumers was recruited through self-administered survey technique. Descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, correlation was carried out in SPSS whereas the measurement model and structural relationships were estimated using AMOS. Results indicate that moral intensity positively influences consumer’s self-consciousness, neutralization techniques and behavioural intention. Self-consciousness negatively influence consumer’s defence mechanism i.e. neutralization techniques. Neither self-consciousness nor neutralization techniques is found to have an impact on consumers’ behavioural intention. Only self-consciousness is found to complementary mediate the relationship of moral intensity and neutralization. The limitations associated with field survey and cross-sectional research design are inevitable. The study offers some relevant practical implications for government, marketing professionals and academia. The study is among the pioneer studies that theoretically links and empirically examines Issue Contingent Model, theory of neutralization and self-consciousness. The study develops and tested an Urdu language version of the questionnaire for retail consumers

Solitary langerhans cell histiocytosis of skull: Case report with one-year follow-up

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a rare disorder characterised by increased production of Langerhans-type histiocytes. It is more common in the pediatric age group with a predilection for osseous involvement, though any organ may be involved. A 10-year male child was brought to the neurosurgical clinic with a slow growing painful tender mass on the head. Initial attempt to biopsy the lesion failed due to excessive bleeding. It was later imaged and removed with a frontal craniotomy. Histopathological evaluation along with immunohistochemistry revealed the true nature of the lesion. Follow-up revealed complete excision of the lesion and no recurrence at one-year after surgery

Role of post- transcriptional regulators in the establishment and maintenance of cell identity

Regulation of gene expression, which is essential for the unfolding of all processes taking place in multicellular organisms, is very complex. Gene expression is controlled at the level of transcription, RNA processing and localization, translation and protein modification and decay. Among the various post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression, microRNA (miRNA)s contribute to the maintenance of gene expression patterns among various cell types in an organism. miRNAs are small, evolutionarily conserved non-protein coding RNAs, whose biogenesis involves multiple steps in the nucleus and cytoplasm of the cell. So far 35,828 miRNAs have been reported from 233 species and in humans they are present as one of the abundant gene families comprising over 2500 miRNAs. Mature miRNAs are loaded into Argonaute (AGO) proteins to form RNA induced silencing complexes (RISC), which find their targets via nucleotide complementarity between sites mostly present in 3’ untranslated region (3’UTR)s of mRNAs and miRNAs. The outcome is destabilization or translational repression of the miRNA targets. Although the components of miRNA biogenesis are relatively well characterized, the mechanisms through which miRNAs execute their functional activities remain less understood. In the first chapter of this thesis, we have addressed two important aspects of miRNA mediated gene regulation. Differential expression analysis based on high-throughput data sets generated upon modulating the expression of a given miRNA in a given model has helped to identify miRNA targets. Many computational target prediction models have been proposed. They are typically trained on high-throughput data sets, and are based on few parameters such as seed complementarity of targets, evolutionary conservation etc. Validation of predicted miRNA targets remains non-trivial and we believe that one reason could be lack of methods that consider the miRNA activity at multiple levels. An aspect that has been largely ignored so far is the time scale on which miRNAs regulate their targets. In one study we have addressed the kinetics aspects of miRNA regulation, and proposed a model that takes these aspects into account. The parameters of this model were inferred from a variety of low and highthroughput experimental data sets and we found that the model well describes the time dependent changes in the level of mRNA, proteins and ribosome density levels upon miRNA transfection and induction. We also found that miRNAs may not generally act as fast regulators of gene expression due to two bottlenecks, one is the miRNA loading into Argonaute proteins and the other is the rate of protein decay. These influence the time-scale and magnitude of miRNA mediated gene regulation. Several recent studies have indicated that the miRNA binding sites present in the coding region (CDS) of an mRNA are functional, but their implications remain unclear. Use of highthroughput approaches such as cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) to isolate AGO bound target sites indicate that there are as many sites located in CDS as in 3’UTRs. The second study presented in this thesis concerns itself with the function of coding regionlocated miRNA binding sites. Using published high-throughput data sets of Argonaute CLIP and ribosome protected fragment profiles upon miRNA transfections, we have shown that miRNA binding sites that are located in CDS and 3’UTRs have co-evolved and have similar sequence and structure properties. We also found that the miRNA binding sites located in CDS are capable of inhibiting translation, while those located in 3’UTR are more efficient in triggering mRNA degradation. This particular observation was validated experimentally using an inducible miRNA expression cell line, and with a luciferase reporter system containing CDS located binding sites of the cognate miRNA. Our study therefore suggests that miRNAs may co-target CDS and 3’UTR to fine-tune the time scale and magnitude of the posttranscriptional regulatory effect imposed by them. Recent studies reported that miRNAs from miR302/367 cluster enhance the somatic cell reprogramming induced with embryonic stem cell (ESC) specific transcription factors: OCT4, SOX2, KLF4 and c-MYC. Few other reports also claimed that miR-302/367 cluster alone is enough to reprogram somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)s. However, the mechanisms underlying the miRNA mediated reprogramming are not clear. We tried to establish the miR-302/367 mediated reprogramming of fibroblasts in the primary mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF)s, but, similar to other labs, we were unable to reproduce the initial result. However, we have succeeded in enhancing the reprogramming efficiency in the secondary transgenic mouse embryonic fibroblasts (TNG)-MEFs that contained a pluripotency marker “Nanog” tagged with a green fluorescent protein, along with miR- 302/367. Apart from miRNAs, other post-transcriptional regulators we have focused in this thesis are tissue specific splicing factors. Recent evidence indicated that knockdown of muscle blind like (MBNL) proteins enhance the reprogramming efficiency. Our own analysis of already published mRNA-seq data sets of iPSCs and their parental cells also showed that the tissue specific splicing factors are differentially expressed between iPSCs and their parental cells. Especially ESRP1, ESRP2 and MSI1 showed striking changes in their expression levels during the course of reprogramming. Based on this analysis we hypothesized that these factors may enhance the reprogramming efficiency. To investigate this hypothesis we again used secondary TNG-MEFs as a model and we have transduced them with both lentiviruses and retroviruses as carriers to deliver our candidate splicing factors. Our experiment indeed revealed an increase in the reprogramming efficiency of 1.4 fold to 2 fold, with ESRP2 showing highest enhancement. As a follow up of these experiments, we aim to decipher the cascade of events through which miR-302/367 and splicing factors enhance the efficiency of reprogramming induced by the ESC set of transcription factors. Since the major changes involved in reprogramming occur during the early and late phases, we plan to perform an early and late time series of mRNA profiling upon the induction of reprogramming with miR-302/367 and splicing factors in secondary TNG-MEFs. In conclusion this thesis presents two main contributions to the field of miRNA-based regulation of gene expression. The first is a mathematical model that describes the kinetics of miRNA dependent gene regulation and the second shows that the miRNA binding sites located in CDS sites are functional and are more effective in inhibiting translation than the sites present in 3’UTR. Besides these two studies, I have obtained evidence that tissue specific splicing factors, in particular ESRP1, ESRP2 and MSI1 are able to enhance reprogramming efficiency up to 2 fold. Experiments are under way to uncover the mechanisms involved in the enhancement of reprogramming efficiency by tissue specific factors. Since relatively little is known about the function of alternative splice forms in iPSC generation, these preliminary studies could set the ground for future research in iPSC and also towards clinical research. Being able to obtain iPSCs with more efficient and safer methods will enable studies of various diseases at the clinical level. On the other side, as miRNAs are currently being considered for various therapeutic approaches, a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms by which miRNAs regulate gene expression would help in the better design of therapeutic compounds. The work presented in this thesis may thus be beneficial for both the miRNA and the iPSC fields

Social Media Use During COVID-19: Real and Fake News?

The outbreak of COVID-19 led the world into disarray as people were forced to isolate themselves. Being known to be social animals, humans developed a coping mechanism: Increased use of social media as a means to bridge the physical distance. This review article aims to assess the impact, both positive and negative, of increased social media usage on lives. The Pandemic made it clear that whilst social media is an important outlet for information, it is also the culprit since most of the websites spread false/fabricated information to increase their viewership. As a result, it amplified anxiety and depression in people’s lives. Tools to monitor social media information are a necessity to outweigh its drawbacks. This includes filtering misinformation, providing mental health support, and encouraging people to refrain from spreading dubious content that lacks strong evidence

Relationship Between Clinical Learning and Classroom Learning with the Perspective of Confidence Level on Patient Safety Among Baccalaureate Nursing Students

Patient safety is a global issue in these days. Nurses play important role in patient safety through monitoring the patient in front line of health care team. The international nursing group and global health were growing the essential ability to improve patient safety. To make nurses more confident in patient safety, early training with protection of affected person as a prominent feature of the nursing curriculum is necessary. The objective of study to check the Relationship between Clinical Learning and Classroom Learning with the perspective of Confidence level on Patient Safety among Nursing Students. . Descriptive cross sectional study conducted in the Lahore school of nursing, the University of Lahore. The study data collected using a questionnaire, Health professional Education in Patient Safety Survey (HPESS), which consisted on 7 subscales.   The target population 170 and the study was conducted on Baccaular of Science in Nursing (Hones) and Baccaular of Science in Nursing (Post RN) students.  The results of this study have given the picture of the association of classroom learning with that of the implementation of the clinical practice. By incorporating the higher level of objectives about patient safety in objection in learning in nursing curriculum, students will be able to gain more knowledge about the importance of patient safety issue, which will increase the confidence level in classroom and clinical learning on patient safety among nursing students. Keywords: Patient Safety, Nursing Curriculum, Confidence Level. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/62-04 Publication date:May 31st 201

Assess the Nurses Knowledge and Standard Practice Regarding the Prevention of Infection in Neutropenic Patients

Neutropenia-associated infections can prolong hospitalization, increase re-admission, mortality and morbidity rates. Aim of research is to determine nurses' knowledge and infection control care practices in neutropenic patients. This descriptive study was conducted between January 2020 and April 2020, at tertiary hospital Lahore, Pakistan. Sample consisted of 150 staff nurses. Data were collected by a form included socio-demographic characteristics, neutropenia knowledge questions, and infection control care practices. Each nurse was observed by researcher for infection control care practices. For observation hand hygiene adherence was found low both in medication preparation, administration and vital signs assessment. Sterility disrupted in almost all preparation of parenteral medications. Even nurses' knowledge related with neutropenia and care of neutropenic patient was found above average their infection control care practices were found insufficient.Infected patients are a source of infection transmission to other patients, health care workers and visitors, in health care facilities. Healthcare-related infections have a significant influence on the morbidity and mortality rates in the hospital environment, resulting in an increase in the time spent in hospitalization, and are thus recognized as a serious world public health problem Neutropenia is one of the most common risk factors of serious infections in immune suppressed patients and can be the result of a variety of consequences, including from certain types of drugs, environmental toxins, vitamin deficiencies, metabolic abnormalities, as well as cancer or infections. In spite of the way that neutropenia bring about contaminations, numerous preventive treatment and care conventions are demonstrated to decrease the disease rates, and improve personal satisfaction. The counteraction and control of diseases are critical for a well-functioning health system. World Health Organization in 2011 defined infection control as infection prevention and control measures that aims to confirm the defense of those who might be susceptible to obtaining an infection both in the general community and in hospitals while obtaining care due to health problems. Keywords: Nurses, Knowledge, practice, prevention, neutropenic patients. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/77-05 Publication date:July 31st 202

Measurement of Knowledge and Performance of Pediatric ICU Nurses about Endotracheal Suctioning

Introduction: Safe and aseptic endotracheal suctioning has been a major health challenge in ICU setting, Endotracheal suction is a procedure to insert a suction catheter into the endotracheal tube to remove the secretion. Where endotracheal tube suctioning is essential for a patient with mechanical ventilation to keep their airway clean and infection free, it has also been associated with some adverse effect like hypoxia and ventilator associated pneumonia.in this regard ICU nurses knowledge and competences should be according to set criteria of ETT suctioning procedure. Methods: Target population of this study was ICU nurses of one of the children hospital, Lahore. Sample size was 98.Results: The findings of this research was beyond our expectation as nurses practices was good and their knowledge was fair. Conclusions: This study gives an overview of the ICU nurses knowledge and performance related to ETT suctioning and demonstrates that intensive care nurses' performance regarding endotracheal suctioning is good enough despite fair knowledge. With concerning to these finding there is a need for educational courses, especially theoretical education and motivational session to follow the standard protocol for ETT suction. Keywords: Pediatric, ICU, Knowledge, Performance DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/73-09 Publication date: April 30th 202