Metrics for Quality Assurance of Web based Applications

Web-Commerce applications are now an indispensable aspect of businesses around the world. More businesses are now migrating from outdated applications to a new type of combined ebusiness designs. With such large volumes of applications that need to be put online, there is now a dire need for measurable and quantifiable metrics that can help in gauging the quality of these websites. The development considerations for both domains may be deemed similar in their final purpose, that is to provide a service to its end-users, however, web-applications today face a myriad of constraints, with most businesses opting to go online, the crucial questions are; Is the Web info metrics are any different, or is it just an application of classical metrics (desktop metrics) to a new medium (web metrics). In our research, we propose to investigate these issues, and present the distinguishable metrics for the Quality Assurance(QA) processes involved in Web-Applications, as opposed to traditional desktop software application

Metrics for Quality Assurance of Web based Applications

Web-Commerce applications are now an indispensable aspect of businesses around the world. More businesses are now migrating from outdated applications to a new type of combined ebusiness designs. With such large volumes of applications that need to be put online, there is now a dire need for measurable and quantifiable metrics that can help in gauging the quality of these websites. The development considerations for both domains may be deemed similar in their final purpose, that is to provide a service to its end-users, however, web-applications today face a myriad of constraints, with most businesses opting to go online, the crucial questions are; Is the Web info metrics are any different, or is it just an application of classical metrics (desktop metrics) to a new medium (web metrics). In our research, we propose to investigate these issues, and present the distinguishable metrics for the Quality Assurance(QA) processes involved in Web-Applications, as opposed to traditional desktop software application

Integration and Analysis of Resource Inventory Data for Risk Assessments of Environmental Contamination in Mixed Use Landscapes in Pakistan

This paper examines the various metals that are associated with land contamination for instances arsenic, cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, and mercury that are well known as the ingredient of contamination of the ecology in the region where there is a high rate of anthropogenic burden. The study investigates land contamination in Pakistan's context. The researches have used the quantitative method to analyze the most recent literature available on the land contamination of Pakistan following funnel approach. The three main steps followed to analyze are first, assessment of the site initially, secondly, assessment of the exposure of the contaminated site that also contains a survey of few places and the amount of contamination found and lastly, remediation of the site. The finding revealed that the contamination in Pakistan is both men made as well due to the terrain they belong to that contains various anthropogenic elements, which are harmful to live beings. Additionally, it is evident that the different elements, which can cause soil contamination, are higher in many places in Pakistan than the standard or tolerable rate mentioned by WHO and other survey board. Lastly, the paper confirms that the pollution can be reduced only if there is a reduction in the man made cause of the land contamination such as oil spill and other industrial emissions that constitute most of Pakistan’s land contamination

Integration and Analysis of Resource Inventory Data for Risk Assessments of Environmental Contamination in Mixed Use Landscapes in Pakistan

This paper examines the various metals that are associated with land contamination for instances arsenic, cadmium, lead, chromium, nickel, and mercury that are well known as the ingredient of contamination of the ecology in the region where there is a high rate of anthropogenic burden. The study investigates land contamination in Pakistan's context. The researches have used the quantitative method to analyze the most recent literature available on the land contamination of Pakistan following funnel approach. The three main steps followed to analyze are first, assessment of the site initially, secondly, assessment of the exposure of the contaminated site that also contains a survey of few places and the amount of contamination found and lastly, remediation of the site. The finding revealed that the contamination in Pakistan is both men made as well due to the terrain they belong to that contains various anthropogenic elements, which are harmful to live beings. Additionally, it is evident that the different elements, which can cause soil contamination, are higher in many places in Pakistan than the standard or tolerable rate mentioned by WHO and other survey board. Lastly, the paper confirms that the pollution can be reduced only if there is a reduction in the man made cause of the land contamination such as oil spill and other industrial emissions that constitute most of Pakistan’s land contamination

Determinants of Anxiety in Amputees Owed to Traumatic & Non-Traumatic Causes in Quetta

Objective: To find out the causes and factors of anxiety among amputees suffering from traumatic and non-traumatic causes. Methodology: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Quetta from the month of May 2018 to July 2018. This study included those clients with amputations as a result of Traumatic & non-traumatic causes and the data was collected from them. This study involved a total of 54 participants. All amputees who visited the three Physical Rehabilitation Centre were included during data collection process. A structured adopted questionnaire using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) according to the inclusion & exclusion criteria & then tabularized and analyzed by applying Chi square test. Results: This study involved a total of 54 participants of whom 7(13%) were females and 47(87%) males. Among amputees 36(66.7 %), amputations were due to Traumatic injuries and 18(33.3%) were due to non-traumatic amputations. In traumatic, the majority was due to RTA with 25(46.3 %) and in non-traumatic causes diabetes stood first with 13(24.1%) amputation. Traumatic are more anxious than non-traumatic. There is a significant relationship between marital status and anxiety level (p-value 0.047). Statistically significant relationships between amputation and anxiety level were noticed, p value=0.049. Conclusion: Amputation has a significant association with anxiety level. Traumatic experiences make people feel more anxious than non-traumatic ones. Socio-demographics has association with levels of anxiety. It is recommended to do regular or annual screening of these patients following amputation

DIVERSITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES AND ORGANIZATIONAL PERFORMANCE IN PAKISTAN

Diversity management practices are becoming the norm of the day and a challenge for HR managers. Keeping this organizational reality in mind, the main purpose of the research is to explain the relationships between diversity management practices and organizational performance. Hypotheses has been developed and the diversity management practices, and the organizational performance have been measured using the Employees’ perception of diversity management practices (EPDMP) scale and on a sample size of 514 employees from public and private sector organizations across Pakistan. The results confirm the relationship between diversity management practices and organizational performance.  It has been concluded that higher workforce diversity does not automatically produce an inclusive climate, specific working environment is required to support workforce diversity where diverse employees are valued and appreciated. Lastly, some practical implications for HR managers and policy makers have also been discussed

Susceptibility of Continual Learning Against Adversarial Attacks

Recent continual learning approaches have primarily focused on mitigating catastrophic forgetting. Nevertheless, two critical areas have remained relatively unexplored: 1) evaluating the robustness of proposed methods and 2) ensuring the security of learned tasks. This paper investigates the susceptibility of continually learned tasks, including current and previously acquired tasks, to adversarial attacks. Specifically, we have observed that any class belonging to any task can be easily targeted and misclassified as the desired target class of any other task. Such susceptibility or vulnerability of learned tasks to adversarial attacks raises profound concerns regarding data integrity and privacy. To assess the robustness of continual learning approaches, we consider continual learning approaches in all three scenarios, i.e., task-incremental learning, domain-incremental learning, and class-incremental learning. In this regard, we explore the robustness of three regularization-based methods, three replay-based approaches, and one hybrid technique that combines replay and exemplar approaches. We empirically demonstrated that in any setting of continual learning, any class, whether belonging to the current or previously learned tasks, is susceptible to misclassification. Our observations identify potential limitations of continual learning approaches against adversarial attacks and highlight that current continual learning algorithms could not be suitable for deployment in real-world settings.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figure

Diversity Management and Organizational Performance in Pakistan

Purpose The main purpose of research is to examine the relationships between diversity management and organizational performance along with the fostering role of leadership dimensions. Methodology Diversity management practices have been measured using the EPDMP scale on a sample of 514 employees from organizations across Pakistan and data were collected from employees of universities. The PLS-SEM was used as the main technique for data analysis. Findings Results show that higher workforce diversity does not automatically produce inclusive climate-specific diversity inclusive leadership dimensions are required to support diversity environment where employees feel valued and appreciated. Further, the results confirm that the diversity-inclusive leadership dimensions moderate the relationship between diversity management and organizational performance. Conclusions The study concluded that diversity management has a positive and significant direct impact on organizational performance. Therefore, policymakers need to devise human resource statutes, rules, regulations, policies, and practices that promote a heterogeneous workforce in organizations and offer equal opportunities to all employees unrestricted by individual employee identities such as gender, race, ethnicity, education, religion, function, and abilities. Practical implications The findings are very helpful for HR managers for effective diversity management to enhance their organizational performance. Originality/value: The study explains the association of diversity management practices and organizational performance and moderating role of diversity leadership dimensions

Hierarchical porous poly( l -lactic acid)/SiO 2 nanoparticles fibrous membranes for oil/water separation

From Springer Nature via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2020-05-19, registration 2020-08-17, accepted 2020-08-17, pub-electronic 2020-09-02, online 2020-09-02, pub-print 2020-12Publication status: PublishedFunder: University of ManchesterAbstract: A two-step strategy has been developed to introduce silica nanoparticles into highly porous poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) nanofibers. Silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) were firstly synthesized and then modified to be hydrophobic. After PLLA/SiNPs composite fibrous membranes were electrospun and collected, they were re-crystallized by acetone at room temperature for a few minutes. With the re-arrangement of PLLA chains, the nano-/micro-electrospun fibres were transformed from non-porous ones to be porous ones with high surface area. Consequently, SiNPs that were completely covered by PLLA before acetone treatment showed up at the fibre surface. Higher PLLA crystallization also enhanced the Young’s modulus and tensile strength (420 and 8.47 MPa) of the composite membrane. However, incorporation of SiNPs into porous PLLA membranes reduced their modulus and tensile strength (280.66 and 5.92 MPa), but an increase in strain to fracture (80.82%) was observed. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), focused ion beam SEM, transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were applied to confirm the presence of SiNP in PLLA fibres. The presence of SiNPs inside and outside fibres enhances the hydrophobicity of PLLA/SiNPs nano-fibrous membrane as the water contact angle is greater than 150°. The oil absorption of these porous composite membranes was also tested using four different oils, which can reach the highest absorption capacity when the weight ratio of PLLA and SiNPs is 1:1. The flux of prepared membranes was investigated, and results indicated that SiNPs-loaded membrane effectively enhanced the flux (5200 Lm−2 h−1)