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One of the challenges in Dynamic Software Product Line (DSPL) is how to support the coordination of multiple instances of a service feature. In particular, there is a need for a decentralized decision-making capability that will be able to seamlessly integrate new instances of a service feature without an omniscient central controller. Because of the need for decentralization, we are investigating principles from self-organization in biological organisms. As an initial proof of concept, we have applied three bio-inspired techniques to a simple smart home scenario: quorum sensing based service activation, a firefly algorithm for synchronization, and a gossiping (epidemic) protocol for information dissemination. In this paper, we first explain why we selected those techniques using a set of motivating scenarios of a smart home and then describe our experiences in adopting them.

To reduce the location cost of cross-border e-commerce logistics sites, this article proposes a multi-logistics site location method based on return uncertainty. Firstly, a site selection model is established with the objective function of minimising site construction costs, transportation costs, return costs, and operating costs, and the constraint conditions of return recovery costs and delayed pick-up time; Then, using the Monte Carlo method to simulate the number of returned items, and using an improved chicken swarm algorithm based on simulated annealing, the cross-border e-commerce multi-logistics site location model is solved to complete the location selection. Experimental results show that this method can effectively reduce the related costs of cross-border e-commerce multi-logistics site selection. After applying this method, the total cost of multi-logistics site selection is 19.4 million yuan, while the total cost of the five comparative methods exceeds 20 million yuan.

A number of studies have applied social network analysis (SNA) to show that the patterns of social interaction between software developers explain important organisational outcomes. However, these insights are based on a single network relation (i.e., uniplex social ties) between software developers and do not consider the multiple network relations (i.e., multiplex social ties) that truly exist among project members. This study reassesses the understanding of software developer networks and what it means for performance in software development settings. A systematic review of SNA studies between 1990 and 2020 across six digital libraries within the IS and management science domain was conducted. The central contributions of this paper are an in-depth overview of SNA studies to date and the establishment of a research agenda to advance our knowledge of the concept of multiplexity on how a multiplex perspective can contribute to a software developer's coordination of tasks and performance advantages.

New web technologies have enabled online education to take on a massive scale, prompting many universities to create massively open online courses (MOOCs) that take advantage of these technologies in a seemingly effortless manner. Designing a MOOC, however, is anything but trivial. It involves developing content, learning activities, and assessments to accommodate both the massiveness and openness of the course. To design an effective MOOC, instructors need to integrate both pedagogical and information systems theory. In this paper, we present a case study of a MOOC grant and a series of decisions made in its development. These decisions, when paired with the theoretical framework, suggest five principles – meaningful, engaging, measurable, accessible, and scalable – may be applicable to future MOOC development projects.

Aim/Purpose: This study was aimed at enhancing students’ learning of software engineering methods. A collaboration between the Computer Science, Business Management, and Product Design programs was formed to work on actual projects with real clients. This interdisciplinary form of collaboration simulates the realities of a diverse Software Engineering team. Background: A collaborative approach implemented through projects has been the established pedagogy for introducing the Software Engineering course to undergraduate Computer Science students. The collaboration, however, is limited to collaboration among Computer Science students and their clients. This case study explored an enhancement to the collaborative approach to project development by integrating other related disciplines into the project development framework; hence, the Interdisciplinary Approach. Methodology: This study adopted the case method approach. An interdisciplinary service innovation activity was proposed to invite other disciplines in the learning process of the computer science students. The agile methodology Scrum was used as the software development approach during project development. Survey data were collected from the students to establish (a) their perception of the interdisciplinary approach to project development; (b) the factors that influenced success or failure of their team to deliver the project; and (c) the perceived skills or knowledge that they acquired from the interdisciplinary approach. Analysis of data followed a mixed method approach. Contribution: The study improved the current pedagogy for Software Engineering education by integrating other related disciplines into the software project development framework. Findings: Data collected showed that the students generally accepted the interdisciplinary approach to project development. Factors such as project relevance, teamwork, time and schedule, and administration support, among others, affect team performance towards project completion. In the case of the Computer Science students, results show that students have learned skills during the experience that, as literature reveal, can only be acquired or mastered in their future profession as software engineers. Recommendations for Practitioners: The active collaboration of the industry with the University and the involvement of the other related courses in teaching software engineering methods are critical to the development of the students, not only in learning the methodology but also as a working professional. Recommendation for Researchers: It is interesting to know and eventually understand the interactions between interdisciplinary team members in the conduct of Software Engineering practices while working on their projects. More specifically, what creative tensions arise and how do the interdisciplinary teams handle the discourse? Impact on Society: This study bridges the gap between how Software Engineering is taught in the university and how Software Engineering teams work in real life. Future Research: Future research is targeted at refining and elaborating the elements of the interdisciplinary framework presented in this paper towards an integrated course module for Software Engineering education.

Aim/Purpose: This paper presents a data mining approach for analyzing responses to advanced declarative programming questions. The goal of this research is to find a model that can explain the results obtained by students when they perform exams with Constructed Response questions and with equivalent Multiple-Choice Questions. Background: The assessment of acquired knowledge is a fundamental role in the teaching-learning process. It helps to identify the factors that can contribute to the teacher in the developing of pedagogical methods and evaluation tools and it also contributes to the self-regulation process of learning. However, better format of questions to assess declarative programming knowledge is still a subject of ongoing debate. While some research advocates the use of constructed responses, others emphasize the potential of multiple-choice questions. Methodology: A sensitivity analysis was applied to extract useful knowledge from the relevance of the characteristics (i.e., the input variables) used for the data mining process to compute the score. Contribution: Such knowledge helps the teachers to decide which format they must consider with respect to the objectives and expected students results. Findings: The results shown a set of factors that influence the discrepancy between answers in both formats. Recommendations for Practitioners: Teachers can make an informed decision about whether to choose multiple-choice questions or constructed-response taking into account the results of this study. Recommendation for Researchers: In this study a block of exams with CR questions is verified to complement the area of learning, returning greater performance in the evaluation of students and improving the teaching-learning process. Impact on Society: The results of this research confirm the findings of several other researchers that the use of ICT and the application of MCQ is an added value in the evaluation process. In most cases the student is more likely to succeed with MCQ, however if the teacher prefers to evaluate with CR other research approaches are needed. Future Research: Future research must include other question formats.

Aim/Purpose: The aim of this study is to understand student’s opinions and perceptions about e-assessment when the assessment process was changed from the traditional computer assisted method to a multiple-choice Moodle based method. Background: In order to implement continuous assessment to a large number of students, several shifts are necessary, which implies as many different tests as the number of shifts required. Consequently, it is difficult to ensure homogeneity through the different tests and a huge amount of grading time is needed. These problems related to the traditional assessment based on computer assisted tests, lead to a re-design of the assessment resulting in the use of multiple-choice Moodle tests. Methodology: A longitudinal, concurrent, mixed method study was implemented over a five-year period. A survey was developed and carried out by 815 undergraduate students who experienced the electronic multiple-choice questions (eMCQ) assessment in the courses of the IS department. Qualitative analyses included open-ended survey responses and interviews with repeating students in the first year. Contribution: This study provides a reflection tool on how to incorporate frequent moments of assessment in courses with a high number of students without overloading teachers with a huge workload. The research analysed the efficiency of assessing non-theoretical topics using eMCQ, while ensuring the homogeneity of assessment tests, which needs to be complemented with other assessment methods in order to assure that students develop and acquire the expected skills and competencies. Findings: The students involved in the study appreciate the online multiple-choice quiz assessment method and perceive it as fair but have a contradictory opinion regarding the preference of the assessment method, throughout the years. These changes in perception may be related to the improvement of the question bank and categorisation of questions according to difficulty level, which lead to the nullification of the ‘luck factor’. Other major findings are that although the online multiple-choice quizzes are used with success in the assessment of theoretical topics, the same is not in evidence regarding practical topics. Therefore, this assessment needs to be complemented with other methods in order to achieve the expected learning outcomes. Recommendations for Practitioners: In order to be able to evaluate the same expected learning outcomes in practical topics, particularly in technology and information systems subjects, the evaluator should complement the online multiple-choice quiz assessment with other approaches, such as a PBL method, homework assignments, and/or other tasks performed during the semester. Recommendation for Researchers: This study explores e-assessment with online multiple-choice quizzes in higher education. It provides a survey that can be applied in other institutions that are also using online multiple-choice quizzes to assess non-theorical topics. In order to better understand the students’ opinions on the development of skills and competencies with online multiple-choice quizzes and on the other hand with classical computer assisted assessment, it would be necessary to add questions concerning these aspects. It would then be interesting to compare the findings of this study with the results from other institutions. Impact on Society: The increasing number of students in higher education has led to a raised use of e-assessment activities, since it can provide a fast and efficient manner to assess a high number of students. Therefore, this research provides meaningful insight of the stakeholders’ perceptions of online multiple-choice quizzes about practical topics. Future Research: An interesting study, in the future, would be to obtain the opinions of a particular set of students on two tests, one of the tests using online multiple-choice quizzes and the other through a classical computer assisted assessment method. A natural extension of the present study is a comparative analysis regarding the grades obtained by students who performed one or another type of assessment (online multiple-choice quizzes vs. classical computer assisted assessment).

Currently, Android is a booming technology that has occupied the major parts of the market share. However, as Android is an open-source operating system there are possibilities of attacks on the users, there are various types of attacks but one of the most common attacks found was malware. Malware with machine learning (ML) techniques has proven as an impressive result and a useful method for malware detection. Here in this paper, we have focused on the analysis of malware attacks by collecting the dataset for the various types of malware and we trained the model with multiple ML and deep learning (DL) algorithms. We have gathered all the previous knowledge related to malware with its limitations. The machine learning algorithms were having various accuracy levels and the maximum accuracy observed is 99.68%. It also shows which type of algorithm is preferred depending on the dataset. The knowledge from this paper may also guide and act as a reference for future research related to malware detection. We intend to make use of Static Android Activity to analyse malware to mitigate security risks.

The use of electronic means of a public official in carrying out their duties may lead to an instance wherein the person discloses confidential information, which can significantly impact their obligations. After verifying this act as part of electronic misconduct, disciplinary action is enforced upon the concerned party to rectify and ensure proper functioning in delivering public services without any disturbance or infringement. The study presents several significant findings regarding the absence of comparative regulations concerning electronic violations and their judicial evidence. It provides recommendations such as modifying legislative frameworks to enhance public utility disciplinary systems and incorporating rules for electric violations. The fundamental focus revolves around assessing, verifying, and punishing digital misconduct by management or regulatory bodies. Additionally, this research employs descriptive-analytical methods comparing the Jordanian Law with its Egyptian counterpart in exploring these issues.

Copying and duplicating papers for educational purposes is a violation form of copyright in Indonesia. The principle of fair use in education is a form of structured violation. Copying and duplicating the papers of the authors for educational purposes has provided commercial (business) benefits for libraries and universities. The research method is conducted using the observation method in libraries and universities that duplicate papers. The method also uses the normative juridical method that connects duplication of the papers in libraries and universities with the fair use principle. The results explain the authors' loss from copying and duplicating of papers in libraries and universities. Therefore, copying and duplicating the papers can only be done by implementing the responsibility system. Copying and duplicating the papers of the authors' in libraries and universities can be allowed if they fulfil the elements of copyright protection in the new concept.

Aim/Purpose: This brief paper will provide preliminary insight into an institutions effort to help students understand the application of the scientific method as it applies to the business discipline through the creation of a dedicated, required course added to the curriculum of a mid-Atlantic minority-serving institution. In or-der to determine whether the under-consideration course satisfies designated student learning outcomes, an assessment regime was initiated that included examination of rubric data as well as the administration of a student perception survey. This paper summarizes the results of the early examination of the efficacy of the course under consideration. Background: A small, minority-serving, university located in the United States conducted an assessment and determined that students entering a department of business following completion of their general education science requirements had difficulties transferring their understanding of the scientific method to the business discipline. Accordingly, the department decided to create a unique course offered to sophomore standing students titled Principles of Scientific Methods in Business. The course was created by a group of faculty with input from a twenty person department. Methodology: Rubrics used to assess a course term project were collected and analyzed in Microsoft Excel to measure student satisfaction of learning goals and a student satisfaction survey was developed and administered to students enrolled in the course under consideration to measure perceived course value. Contribution: While the scientific method applies across the business and information disciplines, students often struggle to envision this application. This paper explores the implications of a course specifically purposed to engender the development and usage of logical and scientific reasoning skills in the business discipline by students in the lower level of an bachelors degree program. The information conveyed in this paper hopefully makes a contribution in an area where there is still an insufficient body of research and where additional exploration is needed. Findings: For two semesters rubrics were collected and analyzed representing the inclusion of 53 students. The target mean for the rubric was a 2.8 and the overall achieved mean was a 2.97, indicating that student performance met minimal expectations. Nevertheless, student deficiencies in three crucial areas were identified. According to the survey findings, as a result of the class students had a better understanding of the scientific method as it applies to the business discipline, are now better able to critically assess a problem, feel they can formulate a procedure to solve a problem, can test a problem-solving process, have a better understanding of how to formulate potential business solutions, understand how potential solutions are evaluated, and understand how business decisions are evaluated. Conclusion: Following careful consideration and discussion of the preliminary findings, the course under consideration was significantly enhanced. The changes were implemented in the fall of 2020 and initial data collected in the spring of 2021 is indicating measured improvement in student success as exhibited by higher rubric scores. Recommendations for Practitioners: These initial findings are promising and while considering student success, especially as we increasingly face a greater and greater portion of under-prepared students entering higher education, initiatives to build the higher order thinking skills of students via transdisciplinary courses may play an important role in the future of higher education. Recommendations for Researchers: Additional studies of transdisciplinary efforts to improve student outcomes need to be explored through collection and evaluation of rubrics used to assess student learning as well as by measuring student perception of the efficacy of these efforts. Impact on Society: Society needs more graduates who leave universities ready to solve problems critically, strategically, and with scientific reasoning. Future Research: This study was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it is resuming in late 2021 and it is the hope that a robust and detailed paper, with more expansive findings will eventually be generated.

Aim/Purpose This paper focuses on systematizing and rethinking the conformity of modern transdisciplinarity with its prime cause and initial ideas. Background The difficulties of implementing transdisciplinarity into science and education are connected with the fact that its generally accepted definition, identification characteristics, and methodological features are still missing. In order to eliminate these disadvantages of transdisciplinarity, its prime cause and initial ideas had to be detected. It is also important to analyze the correspondence of the existing opinions about transdisciplinarity with the content of these cause and ideas. Methodology The qualitative analysis of the literature reviews on the subject of transdisciplinary was used in order to determine the correspondence of the opinions about the transdisciplinarity with the meaning of its prime cause and initial ideas. These opinions had to be generalized as well. Through this method, it was possible to detect and classify opinions into 11 groups including 39 stereotypes of transdisciplinarity. For substantiation of transdisciplinary approaches that are consistent with the approaches of contemporary science, C.F. Gauss random variables normal distribution was used. The “Gauss curve” helped to show the place of transdisciplinary and systems transdisciplinary approaches in the structure of academic and systems approaches. The “Gauss curve” also demonstrated the step-by-step “broadening of the scientific worldview horizon due to sequential intensification of synthesis, integration, unification, and generalization of the disciplinary knowledge.” Contribution After reconsideration of the results on qualitative analysis of the literature reviews, the generalized definition of transdisciplinarity could be formulated, including the definition for transdisciplinary and systems transdisciplinary approaches. It was proven that transdisciplinarity is a natural stage for the development of contemporary science and education, and the transdisciplinary approaches were able to suggest the methods and tools to solve the complex and poorly structured problems of science and the society. Findings Many existing stereotypes of transdisciplinarity do not meet its prime cause and initial ideas. Such stereotypes do not have deep philosophic and theoretical substantiation. They also do not suggest the transdisciplinary methods and tools. Thus, the authors of such stereotypes often claim them to be transdisciplinary or suggest perceiving them as transdisciplinarity. This circumstance is the reason why many disciplinary scientists, practitioners, and initiators of higher education view transdisciplinarity as a marginal direction of contemporary science. Based on the generalized definition of transdisciplinarity, as well as its prime cause and initial ideas, it was shown that transdisciplinarity is presented in contemporary science in the form of two different approaches, i.e., the transdisciplinary approach and systems transdisciplinary approach. The objective of the transdisciplinary approach is to ensure science development at the stage of synthesis and integration of disciplinary knowledge, while the objective of the systems transdisciplinary approach is to ensure that the problems of modern society are solved through unification and generalization of the disciplinary knowledge. Recommendation for Researchers The researchers should consider that within the limits of the transdisciplinary approach, the disciplinary specialists are managed. Within the limits of the systems transdisciplinary approach, the disciplinary knowledge is managed. Thus, the transdisciplinary approach is efficient for organization and research with participation of the scientists of the complementary disciplines. An example of such research can be a team of researchers of medical disciplines and complementary disciplines from chemistry, physics, and engineering. The systems transdisciplinary approach is efficient for organization and performance of research with participation of the scientists of non-complementary disciplines such as economics, physics, meteorology, chemistry, ecology, geology, and sociology. Future Research In terms of the main initial idea, transdisciplinarity is formed as a global approach. The global approach should have a traditional institutional form: it should be a science discipline (meta-discipline) and have carriers with the transdisciplinary worldview. Training for such carriers can be organized by the universities within the limits of the systems transdisciplinarity departments and Centers of Systems Transdisciplinary Retraining for Disciplinary Specialists. Thus, it is reasonable to initiate discussion for the idea to reform the disciplinary structure of the universities considering creation of such departments and centers.

Aim/Purpose. The goal of this publication is to explore methods for advancing student success in technology related disciplines via improved program classification and selection within higher education. Background. Increased demand for information technology (IT) professionals has been cited as a challenge in many fields including cybersecurity and software development. Many highlight the challenge as not just a numbers gap but a skills gap when comparing industry needs to the curricula in traditional disciplines within higher education. Closing the gap by increasing the number of skilled graduates remains a critical challenge we must address. Methodology. This publication leverages a systematic literature review to identify factors that classify existing higher education programs within the discipline of information technology. Contribution. Research in this area can act as a catalyst to increase relevance of IT related programs as well as graduation rates in technology and engineering. Findings. Authors analyzed forty-four primary studies and found that 56.8% of the publications referenced programs that meet the IT framework definition although they were not classified as IT programs. The findings and further analysis highlight direct challenges between program classification and the potential impact on student success. Recommendations for Practitioners. Research in this area is relevant for academic administrators, private sector executives and others working to increase the technology pipeline. Recommendations for Researchers. Researchers may benefit by exploring thematic analysis as a means of generating relevant classifications and taxonomies that highlight opportunities for improvement in a broad set of subject areas. Impact on Society. Research in this area can serve as a catalyst to increase graduation rates in programs related to technology and engineering. Future Research. This area would benefit from further research by comparing program success rates within varied disciplines. Future research may also produce a classification process.

Aim/Purpose. This paper aims to answer the research question, “What are the development phases of the academic discipline of information technology in the United States?” This is important to understand the reason for the growing talent gap in the information technology (IT) industry by reviewing the evolution of information technology across time, how the discipline was formed, evolved, and gained independence from other information and computing disciplines. Background. The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the shortage of IT professionals in the workplace. The root reason for this talent shortage requires understanding from both industry and academic perspectives in order to implement effective initiatives to prepare, recruit, and retain diverse IT professionals at an early stage. Methodology. This paper used a systematic literature review methodology and retrieved 143 primary studies from the ACM and IEEE Xplore digital libraries to review the development phases of the IT discipline as a contributing factor in understanding why, when, and how the population of professionals in IT and other relevant computing disciplines has changed and continues to fluctuate. Thematic analysis was applied to the abstracts of the primary studies, which spanned the period of 1982 to 2021. Contribution. This paper contributes to the understanding of the discipline of IT in the US and contributes foundations to researchers and educators who are working on strategies to fill the talent gap. Findings. Based on the thematic analysis in this paper, the academic discipline of IT has evolved over four phases across a timeline from 1982 to 2021. These phases were: Phase 1 (1982-1991) – Advent of Information Technology; Phase 2 (1992-2001) – Industry IT & DevOps; Phase 3 (2002-2011) – Information Technology and Management in Evolving Industry, Academia, and Research Areas; and Phase 4 (2011-2021) – Information Technology Research & Education. Recommendations for Practitioners. IT occupies an independent disciplinary space from computer science, computer engineering, and information systems. The paper suggests that practitioners seeking to fill the talent gap in IT invest in enabling its academic programs. Recommendations for Researchers. The depth of the IT disciplinary space and its continued evolution over time is ready for exploration. Continued research in this area may yield a better understanding of its role in society, the skills needed to succeed, and how to build programs to empower students with these skills. Impact on Society. Examining the discipline of IT and understanding its independence and interrelated connection with other computing disciplines will help address the shortfalls in academia across the nation by identifying the distinction between each discipline and creating comprehensive programs, degrees, and curricula suitable for various students and professionals across all educational levels. Future Research. Future research will integrate papers’ introductions and conclusions in addition to abstracts, increase the number of databases and reviewers, as well as incorporate papers that focus on other information and computing disciplines such as computer science and information systems to explore the possibility that IT as a discipline was initially practiced in an existing information or computing discipline before it gained independence.

Aim/Purpose: This study investigates the research profile of the papers published in Interdisciplinary Journal of Information, Knowledge, and Management (IJIKM) to provide silhouette information of the journal for the editorial team, researchers, and the audience of the journal. Background: Information and knowledge management is an interdisciplinary subject. IJIKM defines intersections of multiple disciplinary research communities for the interdisciplinary subject. Methodology: A quantitative study of categorical content analysis was used for a thematic analysis of IJIKM. One hundred fifty nine (159) papers published since the inauguration of the journal in 2006 were coded and analyzed. Contribution: The study provides synopsized information about the interdisciplinary research profile of IJIKM, and adds value to the literature of information and knowledge management. Findings: The analysis reveals that IJIKM disseminates research papers with a wide range of research themes. Among the research themes, Organizational issues of knowledge/information management, Knowledge management systems/tools, Information/knowledge sharing, Technology for knowledge/information management, Information/knowledge application represent the five main research streams of IJIKM. The total number of papers on organizational issues of knowledge/information management increased from 16% to 28% during the past 6 years. Statistical method was the most common research methodology, and summarization was the most common research design applied in the papers of IJIKM. The paper also presents other patterns of participant countries, keywords frequencies, and reference citations. Recommendations for Practitioners: Innovation is the key to information and knowledge management. Practitioners of information and knowledge management can share best practices with external sectors. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers can identify opportunities of cross-disciplinary research projects that involve experts in business, education, government, healthcare, technology, and psychology to advance knowledge in information and knowledge management. Impact on Society: Information and knowledge management is still a developing field, and readers of this paper can gain more understanding of the dissemination of the literature of information and knowledge management involved in all relevant disciplines. Future Research: A longitudinal study could follow up in the future to provide updated and comparative information of the research profile of the journal.

Aim/Purpose: Acquisitions play a pivotal role in the growth strategy of a firm. Extensive resources and time are dedicated by a firm toward the identification of prospective acquisition candidates. The Indian manufacturing sector is currently experiencing significant growth, organically and inorganically, through acquisitions. The principal aim of this study is to explore models that can predict acquisitions and compare their performance in the Indian manufacturing sector. Background: Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) have been integral to a firm’s growth strategy. Over the years, academic research has investigated multiple models for predicting acquisitions. In the context of the Indian manufacturing industry, the research is limited to prediction models. This research paper explores three models, namely Logistic Regression, Decision Tree, and Multilayer Perceptron, to predict acquisitions. Methodology: The methodology includes defining the accounting variables to be used in the model which have been selected based on strong theoretical foundations. The Indian manufacturing industry was selected as the focus, specifically, data for firms listed in the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) between 2010 and 2022 from the Prowess database. There were multiple techniques, such as data transformation and data scrubbing, that were used to mitigate bias and enhance the data reliability. The dataset was split into 70% training and 30% test data. The performance of the three models was compared using standard metrics. Contribution: The research contributes to the existing body of knowledge in multiple dimensions. First, a prediction model customized to the Indian manufacturing sector has been developed. Second, there are accounting variables identified specific to the Indian manufacturing sector. Third, the paper contributes to prediction modeling in the Indian manufacturing sector where there is limited research. Findings: The study found significant supporting evidence for four of the proposed hypotheses indicating that accounting variables can be used to predict acquisitions. It has been ascertained that statistically significant variables influence acquisition likelihood: Quick Ratio, Equity Turnover, Pretax Margin, and Total Sales. These variables are intrinsically linked with the theories of liquidity, growth-resource mismatch, profitability, and firm size. Furthermore, comparing performance metrics reveals that the Decision Tree model exhibits the highest accuracy rate of 62.3%, specificity rate of 66.4%, and the lowest false positive ratio of 33.6%. In contrast, the Multilayer Perceptron model exhibits the highest precision rate of 61.4% and recall rate of 64.3%. Recommendations for Practitioners: The study findings can help practitioners build custom prediction models for their firms. The model can be developed as a live reference model, which is continually updated based on a firm’s results. In addition, there is an opportunity for industry practitioners to establish a benchmark score that provides a reference for acquisitions. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers can expand the scope of research by including additional classification modeling techniques. The data quality can be enhanced by cross-validation with other databases. Textual commentary about the target firms, including management and analyst quotes, provides additional insight that can enhance the predictive power of the models. Impact on Society: The research provides insights into leveraging emerging technologies to predict acquisitions. The theoretical basis and modeling attributes provide a foundation that can be further expanded to suit specific industries and firms. Future Research: There are opportunities to expand the scope of research in various dimensions by comparing acquisition prediction models across industries and cross-border and domestic acquisitions. Additionally, it is plausible to explore further research by incorporating non-financial data, such as management commentary, to augment the acquisition prediction model.

Aim/Purpose: This paper aims to empirically quantify the financial distress caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on companies listed on Amman Stock Exchange (ASE). The paper also aims to identify the most important predictors of financial distress pre- and mid-pandemic. Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a huge toll, not only on human lives but also on many businesses. This provided the impetus to assess the impact of the pandemic on the financial status of Jordanian companies. Methodology: The initial sample comprised 165 companies, which was cleansed and reduced to 84 companies as per data availability. Financial data pertaining to the 84 companies were collected over a two-year period, 2019 and 2020, to empirically quantify the impact of the pandemic on companies in the dataset. Two approaches were employed. The first approach involved using Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) based on Altman’s (1968) model to obtain the Z-score of each company over the investigation period. The second approach involved developing models using Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) with 15 standard financial ratios to find out the most important variables in predicting financial distress and create an accurate Financial Distress Prediction (FDP) model. Contribution: This research contributes by providing a better understanding of how financial distress predictors perform during dynamic and risky times. The research confirmed that in spite of the negative impact of COVID-19 on the financial health of companies, the main predictors of financial distress remained relatively steadfast. This indicates that standard financial distress predictors can be regarded as being impervious to extraneous financial and/or health calamities. Findings: Results using MDA indicated that more than 63% of companies in the dataset have a lower Z-score in 2020 when compared to 2019. There was also an 8% increase in distressed companies in 2020, and around 6% of companies came to be no longer healthy. As for the models built using ANNs, results show that the most important variable in predicting financial distress is the Return on Capital. The predictive accuracy for the 2019 and 2020 models measured using the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) graph was 87.5% and 97.6%, respectively. Recommendations for Practitioners: Decision makers and top management are encouraged to focus on the identified highly liquid ratios to make thoughtful decisions and initiate preemptive actions to avoid organizational failure. Recommendation for Researchers: This research can be considered a stepping stone to investigating the impact of COVID-19 on the financial status of companies. Researchers are recommended to replicate the methods used in this research across various business sectors to understand the financial dynamics of companies during uncertain times. Impact on Society: Stakeholders in Jordanian-listed companies should concentrate on the list of most important predictors of financial distress as presented in this study. Future Research: Future research may focus on expanding the scope of this study by including other geographical locations to check for the generalisability of the results. Future research may also include post-COVID-19 data to check for changes in results.

Objective: Evaluate the effectiveness of distance learning courses for the purpose of interdisciplinary continuing education in Speech Pathology and Dentistry. Methods: The online course was made available on the Moodle platform. A total of 30 undergraduates participated in the study (15 from the Dentistry course and 15 from the Speech Pathology course). Their knowledge was evaluated before and after the course, in addition to the user satisfaction by means of specific questionnaires. The course was evaluated by 6 specialists on the following aspects: presentation and quality of the content, audio-visual quality, adequacy to the target public, and information made available. To compare the obtained results in the pre- and post-course questionnaires, the test Wilcoxon was carried out, with a 5% significance level. Results: the teaching/learning process, including the theoretical/practical application for the interdisciplinary training, proved to be effective as there was a statistically significant difference between the pre- and post- course evaluations (p<0.001), the users’ satisfaction degree was favorable and the specialists evaluated the material as adequate regarding the target public, the audio-visual information quality and the strategies of content availability. Conclusion: The suggested distance-learning course proved to be effective for the purpose of Speech Pathology and Dentistry interdisciplinary education.

Teaching object-oriented programming to students in an in-classroom environment demands well-thought didactic and pedagogical strategies in order to guarantee a good level of apprenticeship. To teach it on a completely distance learning environment (e-learning) imposes possibly other strategies, besides those that the e-learning model of Open University of Portugal dictates. This article analyses the behavior of the students of the 1st cycle in Computer Science while interacting with the object-oriented programming (OOP) discipline available to them on the Moodle platform. Through the evaluation of the level of interaction achieved in a group of relevant selected actions by the students, it is possible to identify their relevancy to the success of the programming learning process. Data was extracted from Moodle, numerically analyzed, and, with the use of some charts, behavior patterns of students were identified. This paper points out potential new approaches to be considered in e-learning in order to enhance programming learning results, besides confirming a high level of drop-out and a low level of interaction, thus finding no clear correlation between students’ success and the number of online actions (especially in forums), which reveals a possible failure of the main pillar on which the e-learning model relies.

This study examined a professional development program designed to support Civics teachers in their efforts to promote empathy among Israeli Jewish students towards Israeli Arabs. The design rationale for the program is that teachers should experience empathic processes themselves before supporting their students in such an endeavor and that meaningful empathic processes can occur online if activities are properly designed. All phases of the program were designed to support teachers to participate as part of an online community of practice. Sixty Jewish teachers participated in two iterations of the design study. Refinements were made in the second iteration to provide teachers with explicit definitions of empathy and specific instructions for reflection. Findings indicate that these changes were reflected in higher degrees of empathic responses among teachers. Teachers also indicated that being a part of an online learning community contributed to the learning process they experienced during the program. We interpret this as a first step in enabling teachers to assist their students to develop a more empathetic approach toward the minority group and conclude with a discussion of recommended design principles for promoting such an approach.

This paper identifies areas in the design science research (DSR) subfield of the information systems (IS) discipline where a more detailed consideration of practitioner audiences of socio-technical design artifacts could improve current IS DSR research practice and proposes an initial conceptualization of these audiences. The consequences of not considering artifact audiences are identified through a critical appraisal of the current informing science lenses in the IS DSR literature. There are specific shortcomings in four areas: 1) treating practice stakeholders as a too homogeneous group, 2) not explicitly distinguishing between social and technical parts of socio-technical artifacts, 3) neglecting implications of the artifact abstraction level, and 4) a lack of explicit consideration of a dynamic or evolutionary fitness perspective of socio-technical artifacts. The findings not only pave the way for future research to further improve the conceptualization of artifact audiences, in order to improve the informing power – and thus, impact on practice and research relevance – of IS DSR projects; they can also help to bridge the theory-practice gap in other disciplines (e.g. computer science, engineering, or policy-oriented sociology) that seek to produce social and/or technical artifacts of practical relevance.