National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences

About: National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences is a education organization based out in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Computer science & The Internet. The organization has 1506 authors who have published 2438 publications receiving 26786 citations.

A Feature Subset Selection Method based on Symmetric Uncertainty and Ant Colony Optimization

Abstract: Feature subset selection is one of the key problems in the area of pattern recognition and machine learning. Feature subset selection refers to the problem of selecting only those features that are useful in predicting a target concept i.e. class. Data acquired through different sources are not particularly screened for any specific task e.g. classification, clustering, anomaly detection, etc. When the data are fed to a learning algorithm, its results deteriorate. The proposed method is a pure filter based feature subset selection technique which incurs less computational cost and highly efficient in terms of classification accuracy. Moreover, along with high accuracy the proposed method requires less number of features in most of the cases. In the proposed method the issue of feature ranking and threshold value selection is addressed. The proposed method adaptively selects number of features as per the worth of an individual feature in the dataset. An extensive experimentation is performed, comprised of a number of benchmark datasets over three well known classification algorithms. Empirical results endorse efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method.

Integrating Risk Management in Scrum Framework

Abstract: Agile methods emphasize on time intensive development over lengthy documentation and traditional project management activities, unlike traditional methods. With the advent of teams managing large scale projects in distributed environment, the need of certain project management activities becomes invincible for agile methods. Agile principles follow quick delivery and frequent customer feedback. which makes requirements change unavoidable. Changing requirements in agile based distributed environments gives rise to risks. However, agile methods lack a formal approach to risks management. Therefore, in this paper we integrate risk management process in Scrum framework, which is one of the widely used agile method. The integration of risk management with Scrum framework is validated through a controlled experiment performed on undergraduate students. The results of the experiment showed critical risks being identified in later sprints and gross risk value for project increasing if risks not mitigated. This showed that an iterative risk management process integrated in Scrum framework may lead to successful projects with lesser failures.

Internet Use, eHealth Literacy, and Dietary Supplement Use Among Young Adults in Pakistan: Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract: Background: Increased access to the internet has facilitated widespread availability of health information. Thus, electronic health (eHealth) literacy—the ability to seek, find, understand, and appraise health information from electronic resources and apply that knowledge in making a health-related decision—is a crucial skill. Despite the increasing use of the internet as a source of health information in developing countries, only a few studies have examined the eHealth literacy of young adults, who frequently use the internet to access health information in these developing countries. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the patterns of internet use and eHealth literacy levels among university students pursuing a non–health-related degree in Pakistan. We also examined the association of the eHealth literacy levels of these young adults with their physical activity levels and dietary supplement intake. Methods: Students from 2 leading engineering universities in Pakistan were invited to participate in a cross-sectional anonymous web-based survey in order to collect data on their internet use, eHealth literacy, and dietary supplement intake. Of the 900 eligible university students who were invited to participate, 505 (56.1%) students who completed the questionnaire were included in the analysis. The findings were converted to median values and frequency analyses were performed. The associations between the variables were determined using the chi-square test; P≤.05 was considered significant. Results: In this study, the median eHealth literacy scale (eHEALS) score was 29, which did not vary across gender. The most common type of health-related information that was searched by the participants was that related to maintaining a healthy lifestyle (305/505, 60.4%). Participants with high eHEALS scores were those who used the internet frequently for finding people with similar health issues (P<.001). The use of specific social media platforms was not associated with the perceived eHealth literacy levels. Neither the frequency of physical activity nor the dietary supplement use was associated with the eHealth literacy of the participants. Conclusions: University students in non–health-related disciplines in Pakistan expressed high confidence in their skills to find health-related information on the internet, as indicated by the aggregate eHEALS scores. However, the findings of our study show that the perceived eHealth literacy was not associated with health behaviors such as physical activity and dietary supplement intake. Further research is necessary to investigate the extent to which eHealth literacy can be considered as a panacea for solving public health challenges in developing countries.