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Who uses personas in requirements engineering:The practitioners’ perspective
Get PDFContext: Personas are commonly employed in software projects to better understand end-users needs. Despite their frequent usage, there is a limited understanding of their practical application and effectiveness. Objective: This paper aims to investigate the current practices, methods, and challenges associated with using personas in software development. Methods: A two-step investigation was conducted, comprising interviews with 26 software developers, UI/UX designers, business analysts, and product managers, along with a survey of 203 practitioners. Results: The findings reveal variations in the frequency and effectiveness of personas across different software projects and IT companies. Additionally, the study highlights the challenges practitioners face when using personas and the reasons for not using them. Notably, the research shows that some human aspects (e.g., the needs of users with disabilities), often assumed to be a key feature of personas, are frequently not considered for various reasons in requirements engineering. Conclusions: The study provides actionable insights for practitioners to overcome challenges in using personas during the requirements engineering stages. Furthermore, it identifies areas for future research to enhance the effectiveness of personas in software development.</p
Analysis of the real-time phases of adaptation through the lens of an emergent risk:sargassum adaptation policy analysis in the Caribbean
Get PDFSince 2011, countries across the tropical Atlantic have experienced severe influxes of the seaweed species Sargassum natans and Sargassum fluitans (henceforth, “sargassum”), with nearshore and onshore ecological, economic and social impacts locally and regionally. Not all affected countries have had the same response to this emergent environmental challenge. Here, we explore the first ten years of policies produced in response to sargassum influx risk across islands in the Wider Caribbean Region, considering the variation in form, content and aim of sargassum adaptation policies. This assessment of the variation in Caribbean adaptation policies allows lessons to be identified for rapid adaptation to emergent environmental challenges. We find that several countries have no national policy for sargassum adaptation, and many subnational island jurisdictions have no island-specific policies. Whilst there is increasing anecdotal evidence of private and local adaptations taking place to address sargassum influx events, there remains significant scope for government leadership and resource support in adapting to this emergent threat. The lesson is that private adaptations to emergent threats may be quicker to develop and execute than policy adaptation, but longer-term, larger-scale adaptations depend on evidence-based, widely supported government policies with clear avenues of funding
Bond defaults in China:using machine learning to make predictions
Get PDFThis paper proposes a superior default-prediction model using machine-learning techniques. Traditional risk-assessment tools have fallen short, especially for foreign investors who face significant transparency issues. Using detailed financial data on Chinese bond issuers, our model provides much broader coverage than international credit-rating agencies offer. We achieve better than 90% accuracy in predicting credit-bond defaults, significantly outperforming Altman's Z-scores. This study not only advances predictive analytics in financial risk management but also serves as an early warning device and reliable default-risk detector for investors aiming to navigate the complexities of the Chinese bond market
Short selling and product market competition
Get PDFWe empirically investigate how short selling affects firms’ product market performance via a managerial monitoring channel. Using both historical data and exogenous shocks to short selling, we find robust evidence that short interest negatively impacts market shares, especially in large firms. Our Reg SHO results are stronger in concentrated industries and industries where firms compete in strategic substitutes. Further tests show that these effects are driven by low ex-ante stock price informativeness. The evidence suggests that the interaction between market power and price opacity generates incentives for overproduction, which short selling attenuates. Our results support policies that facilitate price discovery in the presence of market power.</p
Religiosity and crime:evidence from a city-wide shock
Get PDFThis paper estimates the impacts of religiosity on criminal activity using a city-wide shock to religious sentiment from a 2015 Papal visit. Using daily data on all reported offenses between 2010 and 2015 in Philadelphia at the census tract level and a difference-in-differences approach, we demonstrate significant reductions in less serious crimes in the week of the visit and for several weeks following. Reductions are particularly pronounced for drug offenses and in historically Christian areas. Notably, similar crime effects are not found for President Obama's 2015 visit, suggesting changes in police deployment do not drive results.</p
Consulting the experts:young people's experiences of a school-based mental health literacy program
Get PDFObjective: The prevalence of mental health problems among youth is high, and help seeking behaviour is low. Mental health literacy (MHL) has been suggested as a factor to enhance mental health knowledge and increase help seeking and coping behaviours. Schools have been recognised as an ideal environment for MHL programs to be delivered to reach a wide range of youth. This study aimed to understand the perspectives and experiences of secondary school students after participating in a MHL program, and how findings aligned with the theoretical model the program is based on. Method: Thirty-eight participants aged 12–16 years provided feedback through an open-ended questionnaire. The questionnaire comprised seven items to gather participants’ experiences and perspectives on the MHL program, including usefulness, ideas for program improvement, impact, and coping strategies. This study was preregistered on the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, Registration Number: ACTRN12621000325808. Results: Reflexive thematic analysis generated three themes and three subthemes from the findings: 1) A safe environment, 2) Perceived positive impact, 2.1) Attitudes towards mental health, 2.2) Coping strategies, 2.3) Need for MHL, and 3) Suggestions for program improvement. Conclusions: These findings indicate that the school-based program meets the current MHL needs of young people, aligns with the MHL Child Focused theoretical model, and was viewed as beneficial to be incorporated into the education system in future.</p
Is accounting the English language of business? The role of language in IFRS adoption and information loss
Get PDFWe examine whether and how language barriers influence a country’s decision to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Our findings reveal that as the distance between a country’s official language and English (i.e., linguistic distance) increases, the likelihood and speed of a country adopting IFRS decrease. Our evidence is consistent with the notion that language barriers impose significant information costs on preparers and users of financial reporting, making IFRS costlier to adopt for countries with severe language barriers. In further analysis, we find that such information costs materialize when these countries eventually adopt IFRS. Specifically, firms in countries with the most severe language barriers experience a worsened post-adoption information environment, as evidenced by increased analyst forecast errors and widened bid-ask spreads. Overall our study suggests that language barriers impede achievement of international accounting harmonization by increasing the costs associated with adopting, understanding, and applying IFRS.</p
A Blockchain-Based Digital Identity Management System via Decentralized Anonymous Credentials
Get PDFIn recent years, there has been an increasing trend in data breaches and personal information leakage. Data breaches often occur, in part, because of unintentional human errors. It is, therefore, critical to improve technical solutions to protect personal data. A promising solution to such a global issue is called Decentralized Identity (DID). Different from traditional centralized personal data storage systems, where users have no control over their personal data, individuals in DID management systems have complete control over their personal information. Unfortunately, existing DID solutions fail to achieve full decentralization and meet various needs in real-world applications. For example, previous DID protocols focus on privacy protection without considering that users may need to claim the same credential multiple times in some cases. Due to such an observation, in this paper, we build a blockchain-based digital identity management (BDIdM) system from a Decentralized Anonymous Credential (DAC) scheme, achieving a level of linkability to reuse certain credentials without weakening the security in the DAC scheme.</p