Cost Model for Global Software Development

Recent business trends have been characterized by global competition. Furthermore, the severe shortages and increasing costs of Information Technology professionals are forcing software development companies to explore global system development strategies. A conceptual framework representing factors affecting global software development decision and selection of development center locations is developed. Drawing from the literature in economics, global manufacturing and global R & D, this paper presents an economic cost model to support global software development decision and help select appropriate locations. The model considers economic, political, managerial, and technical environment in home and host country

Managing Equipment for Emergency Obstetric Care in Rural Hospitals

In resource poor countries substantial sums of money, from governments and international donors, are used to purchase equipment for health facilities. WHO estimates that 50-80% of such equipment remains non-functional. This article is based on the experiences from various projects in developing countries in Asia and Africa. The key issues in the purchase, distribution, installation, management and maintenance of equipment for emergency obstetric care (EmOC) services are identified and discussed. Some positive examples are described to show how common equipment management problems are solved.

Reciprocal Effect of Team Commitment and Media Richness in eCollaboration: A Conceptual Model

One of the major areas of E-Business applications is the sourcing of expert human resources globally with the help of virtual teams operating in various parts of the world. Major corporations are increasingly using e-Collaboration technologies to make the functioning of these teams economical and effective. The tasks performed by these teams can vary from software design and development to providing back office services like call center support, technical support, transcription services etc. Additionally, after 9/11 corporations have embarked on major initiatives to implement e-Collaboration technologies at the global level to help reduce travel. Extensive work has been done to study the decision-making performance of face-to-face and virtual teams. However, previous studies have found conflicting results regarding the impact of media richness on decision-making performances of teams. This paper posits the significant role of media type on the communication richness when team members have low commitment to the collaborative team projects. A conceptual model that depicts the influence of media type on satisfaction, team conflict, social influence, and supportiveness that influences the team commitment has been developed. The influence of team commitment on communication richness is also examined. A controlled lab experiment is designed to test the research model

FORMULATION DEVELOPMENT AND EVALUATION OF GASTRO-RETENTIVE DOSAGE FORM OF ATAZANAVIR SULPHATE

Objective: To improve dissolution properties of atazanavir sulphate by preparing gastro-retentive granules by solid dispersion method and development of RP-HPLC method for estimation of this drug.Methods: Estimation of atazanavir sulphate was done using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) on inertsil column (5 µm, 250x4, 6 mm) with a mobile phase consists of methanol: water (91:9 v/v), at 0.5 ml/min flow rate and 249 nm UV detection. The method was validated as per ICH guidelines. Selection of the carrier for gastro-retentive formulation was based on phase solubility study of the drug. Solid dispersions of gastro-retentive granules of different composition of drug and carrier, were prepared by the kneading, heating and solvent evaporation. A 32factorial design was applied to optimize the gastro-retentive formulation. The amounts of polyethylene glycol 6000 (PEG 6000) (X1) and hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose (HPMC) (X2) were selected as independent variables and in vitro-release at 5, 9 h and total floating time was selected as dependent variables. Results: HPLC method was found to be linear in a concentration range of 10-60 μg/ml of the drug (r2= 0.999). The low value of % RSD in precision study indicates reproducibility of the method. The low value of LOD and LOQ suggests the sensitivity of the method. The solubility enhancement study of drug with various carriers followed descending order of solubility [Gelucire 44/14>PEG 6000>polyvinyl pyrrilidone (PVP)]. Highest % cumulative release was observed for the heating method at drug polymer (PEG 6000) ratio 1:5. Hence, this ratio has been selected for preparation of solid dispersion. From comparison of dissolution profile of formulated batches, formulation F4 [containing PEG6000 (1.6 g) and HPMC (200 mg)] showed promising dissolution parameters with desired floating properties.Conclusion: Results obtained by validation studies suggested that the developed HPLC method is simple, accurate, precise and can be used for routine analysis of atazanavir sulphate formulation. Results of evaluation of prepared batches indicate that batch F4 is a promising formulation for gastro-retentive dosage form of drug.Â

Empirical Investigation into Impact of Electronic Commerce Systems Richness on User Behavior: The Case of a Complex Product

There is no doubt that growth of electronic commerce (EC) on the Internet/Web is only going to accelerate even more. However, given that commerce in these environments are virtual in nature and that most consumers feel uncomfortable with this virtuality a more compelling issue is how can the EC environments be made more acceptable to consumers to approximate their real-world physical store purchases behavior. Drawing upon previous literature, this study uses the theme of “fit” between EC environment and the product type, develops four different prototype systems depicting different EC environments, and using laboratory-based experiments examines the influence of “fit” on four user outcomes. Significant support to the “fit” theory is obtained