Agile development in cloud computing for eliciting non-functional requirements

Agile is a popular and growing software development methodology. In the agile methodology, requirements are refined based on collaborations with customers and team members. However, the agile process faces a lack of visibility across the development and delivery processes, has complex and disjointed development processes and lacks communication agility between disconnected owners, development teams, and users. Furthermore, Non-Functional Requirements (NFR) are ignored due to the nature of agile development that lacks knowledge of the user and developer about NFR. In addition, extraction of the NFR is difficult and this difficulty is increased because the agile methodology promotes change in requirement at any stage of the development. Cloud computing services have helped solve some of the issues in the agile process. However, to address the issues in agile development, this research developed a framework for Agile Development in Cloud Computing (ADCC) that uses the facilitation of cloud computing to solve the above-mentioned issues. An Automated NFR eXtraction (ANFRX) method was developed to extract NFR from the software requirement documents and interview notes wrote during requirement gathering. The ANFRX method exploited the semantic knowledge of words in the requirement to classify and extract the NFR. Furthermore, an NFR Elicitation (NFRElicit) approach was developed to help users and development teams in elicitation of NFR in cloud computing. NFRElicit approach used components such as an organization’s projects history, ANFRX method, software quality standards, and templates. The ADCC framework was evaluated by conducting a case study and industrial survey. The results of the case study showed that the use of ADCC framework facilitated the agile development process. In addition, the industrial survey results revealed that the ADCC framework had a positive significant impact on communication, development infrastructure provision, scalability, transparency and requirement engineering activities in agile development. The ANFRX method was evaluated by applying it on PROMISE-NFR dataset. ANFRX method improved 40% and 26% in terms of f-measure from the Cleland and Slankas studies, respectively. The NFRElicit approach was applied to eProcurement dataset and evaluated in terms of more “Successful”, less “Partial Success” and “Failure” to identify NFR in requirement sentences. The NFRElicit approach improved 11.36% and 2.27% in terms of increase in “Successful” NFR, decrease of 5.68% and 1.14% in terms of “Partial success” and decrease of 5.68% and 1.13% in terms of “Failure” from the Non-functional requirement, Elicitation, Reasoning and Validation (NERV) and Capturing, Eliciting and Predicting (CEP) methodologies, respectively. The findings have shown the process was able to elicit and extract NFR for agile development in cloud computing

Harassment: A challenge at workplace

Health care professionals are deeply involved in caring for the human life and during this process, they come in a close contact with the care recipients. This, at times, positions the health care professionals in a vulnerable situation including workplace harassment which is an offensive verbal or physical act and comprises of an unwanted behavior or advancement or demand for sexual and other favors. This conduct creates an intimidating, unfriendly, and offensive work environment (Sigal, 2006). Consequently, it impacts on care providers\u27 performance, quality care and their retention in the system. Hence, it is important that the health care personnel should be provided with a safe and secured environment and their respect, dignity and honor should be maintained. Additionally, in-case of any mishaps, the perpetrator should be dealt accordingly

In vitro efficacy of selected medicinal plants from Cholistan desert, Pakistan, against gastrointestinal helminths of sheep and goats

Gastrointestinal helminths are a major constraint to small ruminants in extensive husbandry systems of tropical regions. Yet, unavailability, high prices, side effects, and development of parasite resistance often limit the use of synthetic anthelmintics. Traditional medicinal plants might be an effective low-cost alternative. Therefore the in vitro anthelmintic activity of leaf extracts of the ligneous plants Capparis decidua, Salsola foetida, Suaeda fruticosa, Haloxylon salicornicum, and Haloxylon recurvum from Cholistan, Pakistan, was investigated against adult worms of Haemonchus contortus, Trichuris ovis, and Paramphistomum cervi. Various concentrations (from 7.8 to 500 mg dry matter ml^(−1)) of three extracts (aqueous, methanol, and aqueous-methanol) of each plant were tested at different time intervals for their anthelmintic activity via adult motility assay.Plant species (p=0.01), extract type (p=0.001), parasite species (p=0.001), extract concentration (p=0.001), time of exposure (p=0.001) and their interactions (p=0.001) affected the number of immobile or dead helminths. The 50% lethal concentration (LC_(50)) values indicated that the methanol and aqueous-methanol extracts of C. decidua, H. recurvum, and H. salicornicum as well as the methanol extract of S. fruticosa have the potential to be developed into plant-based remedies against the studied helminths. Further studies are needed to investigate the in vivo anthelmintic activity of these extracts, in order to develop effective, cheap and locally available anthelmintics for pastoralists in Cholistan and neighbouring desert regions

The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Economic Growth: A case study of Pakistan

This study empirically analyzes the impact of trade liberalization on the economic growth of Pakistan over the period 1972 to 2014 .Gross fixed capital formation, Trade liberalization, Labor force participation, inflation, interest rate are important explanatory variables. While economic growth which is measured by (GDP) is dependent variable used for the model specification. The study used Johensen co-integration approach developed by Johensen and Jeselius (1990).The results show that trade liberalization and gross fixed capital have positive and significant impact on economic growth. Inflation and interest rate have negative impact on economic growth. And labor force has positive impact on economic growth. Positive correlation between trade liberalization and economic growth has been explored in this study. Keywords: Trade liberalization (LIBE), Economic growth (GDP), Co-Integration, Labour force participation (LFP), Interest rate (INT), Inflation (INF)

Acute Traumatic Subdural Hematoma: Series of Thirty Cases

Objectives: Acute Traumatic Subdural Hematoma (ASDH) is one of the most dangerous and challenging neurosurgical problems faced by neurosurgeons. Road traffic accidents (RTAs) and falls are the most common causes of ASDH. This study focused to evaluate the incidence, mode, and severity of the injury, treatment options, and determine outcomes in patients with ASDH. Material & Methods:  Thirty patients with ASDH were studied over a period of three years. Detailed history, general and neurological examination including GCS were noted, CT scans were done and patients managed according to said protocol. Results:  Twenty-three (76.66%) were male and Seven (23.33%) were female. The common mode of injury were road traffic accidents (66.66%) and falls (26.66%). Out of 30 patients, 53.33% had GCS 3-5. Overall, the mortality rate was 60%. 23.33% of patients survived with severe disability and 10% of patients showed moderate disability and good recovery. The mortality rate was higher in patients above 50 years of age. Conclusion:  Acute traumatic subdural hematoma is still very fatal and has a high mortality. Early CT scanning emergency, surgery and good postoperative ICU care can play a role in improving the outcome in patients with ASDH

The relationship between talent management practices and retention of generation ‘Y’ employees: mediating role of competency development

In a competitive marketplace, retention of talented and younger employees is a challenge for organizations. Thus, it becomes important for organizations to execute employees’ development strategies to retain Generation Y employees. The goal of this research is to analyze the effect of talent management (TM) practices i.e. mentoring, strategic leadership, social media, and knowledge sharing on the intention to stay of generation Y employees and strengthening this relationship by investigating the mediating role of competency development. A total of 372 employees of generation Y participated in the study. The data were analyzed through the PLS-SEM model using smartPLS-3 software. Findings reveal that TM practices: mentoring, strategic leadership, social media positively affect the intention to stay of generation Y employees, while knowledge sharing has no significant effect on the intention to stay. Competency Development mediates the relationship between strategic leadership, social media, knowledge sharing and intention to stay. However, competency development does not significantly mediate the relationship between mentoring and intention to stay

Impact of Globalization on Major Macroeconomic Variables: Empirical Evidence from Pakistan

Globalization is a multi-dimensional phenomena with profound impact on different aspects of the modern world, including economic, social, political, cultural, environmental, and geographical. This study is an attempt to analyze how various components of globalization, i.e., trade openness, financial liberalization and labor mobility impacts the economic dynamics of a developing country affecting the performance of macroeconomic variables including the budget deficit, inflation and economic growth. In this study, we use the terms trade openness and liberalization along with financial openness, financial liberalization and financial development interchangeably. The purpose is to capture the overall impact irrespective of nature as nature may lead to contradictory results. Furthermore, the labour flows give due attention as human capital is an inevitable avenue for the effective and sustainable growth of any country. It is noticed that various global factors effect budget deficits, inflation and economic growth with varying intensities depending upon the size and dynamics of the economy. The empirical analysis involves the time series data of Pakistan from 1973 to 2014. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) methodology is used to obtain the results and policy related suggestions. &nbsp

Walls and Sexuality as Trans-cultural Symbols: A Study of Rudyard Kipling’s Short Story ‘On the City Wall’

This article aims to discuss Rudyard Kipling’s short story ‘On the City Wall’ (1888) from the trans-cultural perspective by analyzing the tropes of wall and sexuality. Kipling’s attachment to Indian culture and love for it is reflected in his fiction when he gives a detailed description of exotic locations and ethnographic peculiarities. The image wall is quite significant to express different expressions as connector, shelter, veil, and boundary while sexuality is mentioned to unite the different mindsets together at one spot. This article, further, traces that by using the tropes of connector, shelter, veil, and boundary, Kipling depicts the inevitability of the confrontation between the colonizer and the colonized and a sense of unity among the natives. The analysis of the discussion results in Kipling’s admission of the failure of racial, cultural, social, and religious hindrance among the different inhabitants of the city-[walled] of an unnamed city [Lahore] before the partition of the subcontinent for being united.

A review on cloud based knowledge management in higher education institutions

Knowledge Management (KM) is widely discussed by researcher and attracts many enterprisers to extract, dispense and use information in a systematic way under Knowledge Management System (KMS). New technology adoption within the knowledge management system is one of the core issue, identified by researcher and underlined as future research agenda. Cloud computing becomes the most adoptable choice for enterprisers to reduce infrastructure and maintenance cost by shifting business on the cloud. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are more enthusiastic about knowledge management due to its primary goal of knowledge creation and sharing. Cloud based knowledge management attract higher education institutions by changing the educational method and objectives due to innovative trends in technology. This exploratory research based on literature review for cloud-based knowledge management, targeting higher education institutions. This study highlights the benefits and challenges associated with cloud-based knowledge management system and its impact on knowledge