Extreme programming and its positive affect on software engineering teams

This paper presents an early empirical study on Extreme Programming (XP) practices employing Positive Affect metric.The study was conducted on university students doing development projects to gain an insight understanding of the effect of using agile practices on software engineering (SE) teams.The finding indicates that XP practices do have positive affectivity on the SE teams. This is to be expected because of the existence of the practices such as simple design,pair programming, continuous testing, continuous integration and frequent review (release) that command feedback.This finding helps to provide early empirical evidences on the impact of XP methodology on the positive affectivity of the developers

Regressivity of the corporate taxpayers’ compliance costs

This study evaluates the regressivity of taxpayers’ compliance costs with the corporate income tax reporting requirements.Compliance costs as a percentage of sales turnovers, ranged from 0.057% of the smallest company to 0.001% of the largest company. Larger companies were generally found to have greater compliance costs than their smaller counterparts, but as a percentage of sales, these costs were greater for smaller corporations. This study adds to the growing body of international literature concerning the distribution of compliance costs burden.Findings from these research activities should lead to the progression of more effective and efficient tax policies and practices

Bankers’ stock options, risk-taking and the financial crisis

This study investigates the relationship between the use of stock options and bank risk in the context of the 2007-2008 financial crisis for banks that are authorised to accept deposits in the United Kingdom. These banks are affected by the European regulation on variable pay, but, to our knowledge, their usage of stock options has not been examined in previous studies. Paying bankers with stock options can generate two types of managerial incentives, namely, incentives to improve performance and incentives to take risk. Controlling for incentives to improve performance, we find that banks’ total risk and insolvency risk increase with the risk-taking incentives induced by stock options. We also find that this relationship is more pronounced surrounding the crisis period. The findings of this study can serve as institutionally relevant empirical support for the European regulation on variable pay

The role of corporate governance on the effect of state ownership on audit findings at state-owned enterprises

This study aims to analyze the extent to which the mediating role of corporate governance on the influence of state ownership on audit findings issued by Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia on State-Owned Enterprises in Indonesia. The study used a sample of 98 observations (firm-year) during the period of 2010-2014. The results indicate that directly in line with predictions, there is a positive influence of the degree of state ownership on audit findings, and it is found that the level of state ownership has an indirect and negative effect on the governance of state enterprises, resulting in a negative impact of corporate governance on the audit. The results of this study imply that in order to reduce the potential for audit findings, the steps that need to be taken by the government gradually are to reduce the state ownership portion of SOEs, especially by privatization through stock offerings on the capital market and encouraging the implementation good governance in SOEs.peer-reviewe

Developing the Rural Town of Panchor into a Future River-based Tourism Destination: Host Community Perception

This paper examines the significance of a rural area, Panchor village town, as a potential nature tourism site in the Muar district of Johor, Malaysia. The objectives of the study were (1) to evaluate local community support and (2) to assess local community involvement. Based on qualitative analysis of an interview and open-ended responses in the questionnaire, three interconnected themes were: (1) community attachment, (2) economic gains and (3) environmental attitude. The findings revealed that river-based tourism development could stimulate the socio-economic status and the sustainability of rural areas. This study also discussed implications and limitations of the research.    Keywords: Community Attachment; Economic Gains; Environmental Attitude; River-based Tourism eISSN: 2398-4287© 2020. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer-review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v5i14.223

The Impact of Agile Methodology on Software Team’s Work-Related Well-Being

Agile methodology is people-oriented.However, little evidence demonstrates the methodology effectiveness on humanistic aspects.Work-related well-being is measured to what extent the agile methodology can give impact on anxiety, contentment, depression, and enthusiasm level among software engineering (SE) teams.This paper aims to investigate empirically the effect of agile methodology on software development team’s work-related well-being.To achieve this goal, a comparison study was carried out in an academic setting. A quantitative approach using statistical analysis was used to investigate the effect. Results showed that agile does not significantly affect work-related well-being.Nonetheless, the team that is able to apply the agile practices as closely as possible experienced higher level of enthusiasm during software project.This study provides additional empirical data in software engineering research and practices specifically on human aspects.Further investigation needs to be carried out on the software projects with higher task complexity

Reflecting Leadership Effectiveness via Food-hygiene Practices

Good leadership may implicate and reflect positive actions and effective hygiene practices. This study aims to encourage and disseminate the importance of the use of technological tools in detecting risks in Food-hygiene Practices in six government-controlled training centers. The survey and scientific swab method elicited data on leadership effectiveness (LE) prevalent in these organizations, focusing mainly on their impact on human health and the environment. The regression analysis shows that LE significantly affects perception and actual Food-hygiene Practices. The large effect sizes of significance difference for both practices were also detected. Accordingly, recommendations and limitations are highlighted in this study.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Food safety; food-hygiene practice; leadership effectiveness; Malaysia

Regulatory Arbitrage in Relation to International Human Rights

The adoption of the United Nations (UN) Charter in 1945 marked the legalization of international human rights. Despite the legalized status of human rights, their violation by states is not uncommon. This article questions why a state might violate international human rights. Analyzing this issue from an economic perspective, this article advances regulatory arbitrage theory to rationalize a state’s violation of human rights. It discusses regulatory arbitrage-type behaviours among state actors that derogate from the obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. Defending state sovereignty, minimizing regulatory or compliance costs, and prioritizing economic achievement are identified as rational arbitrage actions that circumvent international human rights. We call for competent and credible governance mechanisms that can increase the cost of arbitrage to disincentivize state violation of international human rights

Culture Bites : A reality of food truck in Klang Valley. Malaysia

Cleanliness is an important element towards customer’s satisfaction. This study aims to investigate the relationship between cleanliness attributes (product quality, food premise & food handlers' cleanliness) towards customers hygiene satisfaction. An online survey being conducted among 116 customers in Klang Valley. The data were analysed using SPSS Software version 26. Food premise, food handlers' cleanliness and product quality associated to customers’ hygiene satisfaction. Of all, food product quality was the most significant predictor. The results obtained may contribute to the cleanliness practices among food truck food handlers and as a basis for cleanliness practice for Malaysia Food Truck Association.  Keywords: Food truck; Cleanliness Attributes; Hygiene satisfaction eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI

Educational approach of refactoring in facilitating reverse engineering

Refactoring improves software codes and design.This activity often neglected by software developers because they need time to decide tactically where and when to refactor codes.Although the concepts theoretically instilled in the developer’s mind, this activity is not easy to apply and visualize.This situation became more problematic when deals with inexperienced developers. Therefore, there is a need to develop an educational approach to comprehend refactoring activity.This activity was applied through reverse engineering tasks.The software engineering (SE) teams were required to apply reverse engineering activity in order to check the consistency between codes and design.The teams were encouraged to apply Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern architecture in order to facilitate the activities.Findings revealed that Extreme Programming (XP) teams managed to complete reverse engineering tasks earlier than Formal teams.This study found that the approach is important to increase understanding of refactoring activities in reverse engineering process.This approach will be furthered applied for others SE teams to gain more insight and perceptions towards improving SE course