Enhanced Approach for Bug Severity Prediction: Experimentation and Scope for Improvements

Software development is an iterative process, where developers create, test, and refine their code until it is ready for release. Along the way, bugs and issues are inevitable. A bug can be any error identified in requirement specification, design or implementation of any project. These bugs need to be categorized and assigned to developers to be resolved. the number of bugs generated in any large scale project are vast in number. These bugs can have significant or no impact on the project depending on the type of bug. The aim of this study is to develop a deep learning-based bug severity prediction model that can accurately predict the severity levels of software bugs. This study aims to address the limitations of the current manual bug severity assessment process and provide an automated solution using various classifiers e.g. Naïve Bayes, Logistic regression, KNN and Support vector machine along with Mutual information as feature selection method, that can assist software development teams in giving severity code to bugs effectively. It seeks to improve the overall software development process by reducing the time and effort required for bug resolution and enhancing the quality and reliability of software

Easier Said than Done: Methodological Challenges in Exploring Prevalence of Mental Health Illness among Rural Jail Inmates in the United States

A high prevalence of mental health illness among the incarcerated and has made jails one of the largest providers of mental health services, a purpose for which they are not equipped. Further research shows that failure to effectively treat mental health problems is a leading cause of post-release recidivism. Despite the evidence, there is no systematic investigation on the prevalence of mental health illness and its correlates in the context of rural jails. Our study looks at the methodological challenges of conducting this type of research in a rural jail environment. Inmates comprise a vulnerable population. Hence, the federally mandated regulations that are required to complete a study are greater, meaning Institutional Review Board approval is much more complex. In addition, there is a lack of familiarity with the process of collaborations on the part of researchers and jail staff. We outline how we addressed the challenges created by this dynamic. We found the proactive communication and ongoing dialogue amongst all parties to be a key element to addressing a variety of obstacles that arose in the process of taking our research from the drawing board into the field

Poverty Transitions, Health, and Socio-Economic Disparities in India

SDGs offer an inclusive and just vision for 2030, in which the interrelationships between (near) elimination of poverty, health reforms and elimination of socio-economic disparities play an important role. The present study focuses on the associations between poverty transitions over a period, and health indicators such as NCDs, disabilities, socio-economic disparities, state affluence and inequality in income distribution. These health indicators reflect their growing importance in recent years. We have used a Multinomial Probit specification which is an improvement on the methodologies used in earlier research. The analysis is based on panel data from the India Human Development Survey 2015. What our analysis emphasises is that changes in the prevalence of poverty/headcount ratio over time do not throw light on how poverty has evolved: whether there were escapes from poverty, whether there were descents into poverty, whether segments persisted in poverty, and whether (the relatively) affluent remained largely unaffected. A significant contribution of this study is to explore the relationships between such poverty transitions and NCDs and disabilities, socio-economic disparities and other covariates. The analysis confirms these linkages. Drawing upon this analysis and other relevant research, policy challenges in achieving the SDG vision of an inclusive and fair economy are delineated

Persistence of Non-Communicable Diseases, Affluence and Inequality in India

This study builds on the extant literature by highlighting the persistence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), their cross-associations, and how these diseases are linked to different forms of inequality-socio-economic, gaps in affluence measured by asset quartile, and in the overall economic environment, based on a nation-wide panel survey, India Human Development Survey 2015. A multinomial probit specification is used to analyse NCD outcomes. Those at the bottom of the caste hierarchy and least wealthy exhibit lowest vulnerability to NCDs despite their deprivation and limited access to healthcare facilities while those at the higher end of the caste hierarchy and the wealthiest are most vulnerable. However, overall economic inequality, using Piketty’s (2013) measure, is insidious as it corrodes social cohesion and support, and the capability to live a healthy and productive life. New light is thrown on whether social networks are associated with better NCD outcomes. So policy interventions have to be not just medical but much broader in scope

Trust in Hospitals-Evidence from India

Various explanations have been offered for outbursts of violence against doctors and other staff in India, drawing attention to growing supply-demand imbalance in healthcare, quality deterioration, overburdened doctors, weak security for medical staff, high expectations of patients who come in advanced stages of chronic and other illnesses, overcrowding of public hospitals with limited sanitary facilities. But underlying all these explanations is lack of trust in doctors and hospitals-especially public. Our focus here is on trust and its covariates over the period 2005-2012. The motivation stems from the fact that the existing evidence is patchy and scattered. Our aim, therefore, is to build on the empirical evidence through a systematic state-of-art analysis of trust in public and private hospitals and doctors. Combining our analysis with other evidence, we identify specific challenges to build patient-hospital trust and how these could be overcome

Aging, Disability and Disease in India

Obtaining detailed evidence on disabilities and their covariates is important as India’s elderly population (60 years or more) is growing three times faster than the population as a whole. This study is the first of its kind to provide an analysis of disability and its covariates among the elderly in 2012, based on the India Human Development Survey 2015, a nationally representative panel survey. Our analysis throws light on factors associated with (reported) disabilities in 2012.Given better reporting of disabilities in 2012, we examine the role of their covariates in 2005. Variations in both disabilities by count and type are analysed. Based on probit and ordered probit specifications, we find that vulnerability of the elderly people to (reported) disabilities in 2012 is associated with important covariates in 2005: a largely rural population, low assets, non-communicable diseases (NCDs), disabilities, lack of school education, widowhood, aging, and lack of participation in social networks. Similar associations are found for variations in disabilities by type in 2012, using the covariates in 2005..Thus disabilities are not just a medical or social problem but an outcome of their interplay. While the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act 2016 is laudable in its intent and procedural detail, it is largely silent on disabilities among the elderly. A major overhaul of the health system is proposed to address better the disabilities of India’s aging population

Employment, Aging and Disease in India

The literature on the associations between NCDs and disabilities, and loss of employment in India is patchy and sparse. Although insightful, these studies are long on economic losses through high out of pocket expenditure (OOP) and cutbacks in non-medical expenditure, but they are short on employment losses. Besides, most are based on not-so-recent data. The present study seeks to fill these gaps using a nation-wide panel survey, the India Human Development Survey 2015, that covers the period between 2005-2012. A state-of-art econometric analysis confirms that substantial employment losses are associated with non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure (NCDs) and disabilities (or limitations in carrying out ADL) with appropriate controls. The economic burden of NCDs is already enormous and is set to grow rapidly. Scaling-up the prevention and control of NCDs is very low cost compared to this burden, and would provide substantial returns to health and productivity. Prevention of NCDs should be thus a major priority for India. Health and labour market policies have considerable potential for mitigating the detrimental labour market impacts of ill-health, and thus enable better lives and a more inclusive economy

FORMULATION AND EVALUATION OF ANTIFUNGAL CREAM OF CHLORPHENESIN

Objective: The main aim of our research was to develop an Antifungal cream formulation consisting of Chlorphenesin for the treatment of Fungal infections. Topical route is the most suitable route for skin infections. Methods: The development of topical drug delivery systems designed to have systemic effects appears to be beneficial for a number of drugs on account of several advantages over conventional dosage forms(or) routes of drug administration. An Antifungal cream formulation consisting of Chlorphenesin was prepared. Results: The formulation was subjected to in vitro diffusion studies. Microbiological studies were performed to find out the safety of materials used in the formulation. Conclusion: The developed cream consisting of Cholrphnesin was found to be safe and effective for the treatment of fungal infection

Changes in Subjective versus Objective Well-Being in India

Although there is abundant literature on subjective well-being (SWB), there is virtually none for India. Growing recognition of the validity and accuracy of measures of SWB of well-being underlies the rapid growth of literature on SWB in recent decades but it has mainly focused on developed countries. Ours is, to our knowledge, the first study of SWB at the all-India level, and one of the few on developing countries, with a rigorous validation of the results. Applying robust OLS and ordered probit models to the India Human Development Survey (IHDS) panel data in 2005 and 2012, we assess SWB changes in 2005-2012, based on a self-reported measure of changes in economic well-being, as a function of household and state covariates in 2005. This is in sharp contrast with earlier studies’ focus on the levels of SWB. Another point of departure of our study and an innovative extension is to compare the covariates of SWB changes with those of objective well-being (OWB) changes, proxied by the relative growth in real per capita household consumption between 2005 and 2012. Households with an older and educated head in a larger household, located in urban areas or affluent states in 2005 tend to experience further improvement in both SWB and OWB between 2005 and 2012. On the contrary, households with a female household head, with more male members in the labour market, with regular access to mass media, without members suffering from non-communicable diseases or disability are more likely to be better off subjectively without experiencing corresponding improvement in OWB. The policy challenges raise serious concerns

Asians in the United States Labor Market: 'Winners' or 'Losers' ?

This dissertation examines employment, earnings, and income of the six major foreign and native born Asian groups, namely, Asian Indians, Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, and the Vietnamese for the year 2000. The dissertation makes three contributions. First, it provides an updated analysis of employment and earning attainments of Asian individuals disaggregated by countries of origin, gender, and nativity status using the latest available and most suitable data. Second, it explores the use of a non-parametric technique, namely reweighting, to assess the Asian -white earning gaps. Third, it analyzes intergroup variations in household income, inclination to pool resources, and factors associated with the likelihood of forming nuclear living arrangements. Descriptive statistics document high average levels of employment, earnings, and human capital attainments for Asians relative to whites with notable subgroup differences. The multivariate and reweighting analyses show that foreign born Asians experience greater disadvantage relative to whites than the native born Asians. The gender comparisons indicate that being native relative to being foreign born is more beneficial for Asian women than men, with native born Asian women experiencing higher earnings than white women. Additionally, there is evidence of a 'glass ceiling' among Asian men. At the household level, the descriptive associations show the relative economic position of Asian households depends on the specific measure of household income employed. Asian households experience similar or higher levels of total household income and income per labor hour employed but lower levels of per capita income than white households. Also, a higher inclination to pool resources among the foreign compared to the native born Asian and white households is seen. Intergroup comparisons indicate foreign born Chinese, Korean, and Vietnamese households having a greater tendency to pool resources than the foreign born Indians and the Japanese. Multivariate analyses show a positive relationship between the householder's earnings, education, and length of stay and the likelihood of forming nuclear relative to nonnuclear households. The overall findings from this dissertation suggest that - at both the individual and household levels, the differences between the foreign and the native born Asians are more significant than the intergroup variations among Asians