Analyzing Cost Estimation Model to Optimize COCOMO II for Enterprise Level Software

The stimulus to carry out this research is to find out the best ERP cost estimation model while implementing ERP in the context of Pakistan. For this purpose study has utilized qualitative and quantitative approach. Initially the comparison of existing several cost estimation model has been done through literature review. On the basis of substantive literature review, one ERP cost estimation mode has been chosen i.e. COCOMO. In second phase, in order to validate this model in the context of Pakistan, the study has adapted a questionnaire from relevant study and survey has been done of the IT companies operating in Pakistan which are also involved in ERP implementation. Sample has been collected from 27 companies and data analysis is done in a statistical software (SPSS). On the basis of results obtained from the SPSS and with the support of literature findings has been extracted. Findings indicate that COCOMO II is the best model to estimate the ERP implementation cost in the context of Pakistan. Moreover it is recommended to validate his model in the other countries. Findings would be beneficial for the future studies and contributes in the knowledge of scientific community. Moreover, results of this study can be helpful for other companies in Pakistan who are involved in ERP implementation process and looking for best model to estimate cost of ERP implementation

Urban-rural inequities in knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding tuberculosis in two districts of Pakistan's Punjab province

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Objective</p> <p>The aim of this study was to explore inequities in knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding tuberculosis (TB) among the urban and rural populations.</p> <p>Design</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was conducted in two districts of Pakistan's Punjab province. The 1080 subjects aged 20 years and above, including 432 urban and 648 rural respondents, were randomly selected using multistage cluster sampling and interviewed after taking verbal informed consent. Logistic regression was used to calculate the crude odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) for the urban area. The differences in knowledge, attitudes, practices and information sources between the urban and rural respondents were highlighted using Pearson chi-square test and Fisher's exact test.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The study revealed poor knowledge regarding TB. The deficit was greater in the rural areas in all aspects. The knowledge regarding symptoms (OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.59-2.61), transmission (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.44-2.59), prevention (OR 2.24, 95% CI 1.70-2.96), duration of standard treatment (OR 1.88, 95% 1.41-2.49) and DOTS (OR 1.84, 95% CI 1.43-2.38) was significantly higher in the urban areas (all P < 0.001). Although a majority of the subjects (urban 83.8%, rural 81.2%) were aware of the correct treatment for TB, less than half (urban 48.1%, rural 49.2%) were aware of the availability of the diagnostic facility and treatment free of cost. The practice of seeking treatment at a health facility (P = 0.030; OR 2.01, 95% CI 1.06-3.82), as soon as they realized that they had TB symptoms (P < 0.001; OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.26-2.35), was significantly higher in the urban areas. People in the urban areas were more likely to feel ashamed and embarrassed being a TB patient (P < 0.001; OR 2.03, 95% CI 1.50-2.76); however, they seem to be supportive in case their family member suffered from TB (P = 0.005; OR 1.53, 95% CI 1.13-2.06). Nearly half of the respondents, irrespective of the area of residence, believed that the community rejects the TB patient (urban 49.8%, rural 46.4%). Television (urban 80.1%, rural 68.1%) and health workers (urban 30.6%, rural 41.4%) were the main sources for people to acquire the TB related information.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Respondents' knowledge regarding TB was deficient in all aspects, particularly in the rural areas. Intended health seeking behavior was better in the urban areas. Television and health workers were the main sources for TB related information in both the urban as well as the rural areas. Therefore, the area of residence should be considered in tailoring communication strategies and designing future interventions for TB prevention and control.</p

Are we doing enough? Evaluation of the Polio Eradication Initiative in a district of Pakistan's Punjab province: a LQAS study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The success of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was remarkable, but four countries - Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria - never interrupted polio transmission. Pakistan reportedly achieved all milestones except interrupting virus transmission. The aim of the study was to establish valid and reliable estimate for: routine oral polio vaccine (OPV) coverage, logistics management and the quality of monitoring systems in health facilities, NIDs OPV coverage, the quality of NIDs service delivery in static centers and mobile teams, and to ultimately provide scientific evidence for tailoring future interventions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study using lot quality assessment sampling was conducted in the District Nankana Sahib of Pakistan's Punjab province. Twenty primary health centers and their catchment areas were selected randomly as <it>'lots'</it>. The study involved the evaluation of 1080 children aged 12-23 months for routine OPV coverage, 20 health centers for logistics management and quality of monitoring systems, 420 households for NIDs OPV coverage, 20 static centers and 20 mobile teams for quality of NIDs service delivery. Study instruments were designed according to WHO guidelines.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Five out of twenty lots were rejected for unacceptably low routine immunization coverage. The validity of coverage was questionable to extent that all lots were rejected. Among the 54.1% who were able to present immunization cards, only 74.0% had valid immunization. Routine coverage was significantly associated with card availability and socioeconomic factors. The main reasons for routine immunization failure were absence of a vaccinator and unawareness of need for immunization. Health workers (96.9%) were a major source of information. All of the 20 lots were rejected for poor compliance in logistics management and quality of monitoring systems. Mean compliance score and compliance percentage for logistics management were 5.4 ± 2.0 (scale 0-9) and 59.4% while those for quality of monitoring systems were 3.3 ± 1.2 (scale 0-6) and 54.2%. The 15 out of 20 lots were rejected for unacceptably low NIDs coverage by finger-mark. All of the 20 lots were rejected for poor NIDs service delivery (mean compliance score = 11.7 ± 2.1 [scale 0-16]; compliance percentage = 72.8%).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Low coverage, both routine and during NIDs, and poor quality of logistics management, monitoring systems and NIDs service delivery were highlighted as major constraints in polio eradication and these should be considered in prioritizing future strategies.</p

From their own perspective - constraints in the Polio Eradication Initiative: perceptions of health workers and managers in a district of Pakistan's Punjab province

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The success of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative was remarkable, but four countries - Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Nigeria - never interrupted polio transmission. Pakistan reportedly achieved all milestones except interrupting virus transmission. This paper describes the perceptions of health workers and managers regarding constraints in the Polio Eradication Initiative (PEI) to ultimately provide evidence for designing future interventions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A qualitative cross-sectional study using focus group discussions and in-depth interviews was conducted in the Nankana Sahib District of Pakistan's Punjab province. Study subjects included staff at all levels in the PEI at district headquarters, in all 4 tehsils (sub-districts) and at 20 randomly selected primary health centers. In total, 4 FGD and 7 interview sessions were conducted and individual session summary notes were prepared and later synthesized, consolidated and subjected to conceptual analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The main constraints identified in the study were the poor condition of the cold chain in all aspects, poor skills and a lack of authority in resource allocation and human resource management, limited advocacy and communication resources, a lack of skills and training among staff at all levels in the PEI/EPI in almost all aspects of the program, a deficiency of public health professionals, poor health services structure, administrative issues (including ineffective means of performance evaluation, bureaucratic and political influences, problems in vaccination areas and field programs, no birth records at health facilities, and poor linkage between different preventive programs), unreliable reporting and poor monitoring and supervision systems, limited use of local data for interventions, and unclear roles and responsibilities after decentralization.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The study highlights various shortcomings and bottlenecks in the PEI, and the barriers identified should be considered in prioritizing future strategies.</p

Prevalence and socioeconomic correlates of overweight and obesity among Pakistani primary school children

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Childhood obesity is becoming an equally challenging, yet under-recognized, problem in developing countries including Pakistan. Children and adolescents are worst affected with an estimated 10% of the world's school-going children being overweight and one quarter of these being obese. The study aimed to assess prevalence and socioeconomic correlates of overweight and obesity, and trend in prevalence statistics, among Pakistani primary school children.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted with a representative multistage cluster sample of 1860 children aged 5-12 years in Lahore, Pakistan. Overweight (> + 1SD) and obesity (> + 2SD) were defined using the World Health Organization child growth reference 2007. Chi-square test was used as the test of trend. Linear regression was used to examine the predictive power of independent variables in relation to BMI. Logistic regression was used to quantify the independent predictors for overweight and adjusted odds ratios (aOR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were obtained. All regression analyses were controlled for age and gender and statistical significance was considered at P < 0.05.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seventeen percent (95% CI 15.4-18.8) children were overweight and 7.5% (95% CI 6.5-8.7) were obese. Higher prevalence of obesity was observed among boys than girls (P = 0.028), however, there was no gender disparity in overweight prevalence. Prevalence of overweight showed a significantly increasing trend with grade (P < 0.001). Children living in the urban area with high socioeconomic status (SES) were significantly at risk for being overweight and obese (both P < 0.001) as compared to children living in the urban area with lower SES and rural children. Being in higher grade (aOR 2.39, 95% CI 1.17-4.90) and living in the urban area with higher SES (aOR 18.10, 95% CI 10.24-32.00) independently predicted the risk of being overweight.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Alarmingly rapid rise in overweight and obesity among Pakistani primary school children was observed, especially among the affluent urban population. The findings support the urgent need for National preventive strategy for childhood obesity and targeted interventions tailored to local circumstances with meaningful involvement of communities.</p

Implementation of multiple thread pools based on distribution of service times

The demand of internet is increasing day by day and web server receives millions of hits per day. To manage these raising demands high performance web servers are required. Multi threading is the elementary approach used in web server to achieve high performance and handle number of requests from clients. The existing scheme which is distributed frequency based optimization strategy DFBOS cannot distribute thread pools on the basis of service times due to this starvation occurs. When starvation occurs it decreases response time and increases wait time. The research aims is to explore the implementation of multiple thread pools based on distribution of service times to avoid starvation and achieve concurrency in server site. For comparing both strategies we have used a simulator named as Thread Pool Tester TPT which is a JAVA based simulator and it has shown that proposed strategy is much better than the existing DFBOS. The analysis shows that proposed scheme is increases the response time and reduces the wait time