The adoption of Software Engineering practices in a Scrum environment

The competition in the software market demands that the time required for any software product to reach the market be reduced if the product is to survive competition from other developers. The pursuit of this goal has led to the adoption of agile software development methodologies. While other agile methodologies provide guidelines as to the software engineering (SE) practices to be used during the development lifecycle, Scrum does not. The purpose of this study is twofold: first, to identify the usage and level of importance of software engineering practices in the Scrum development environment; and second, to investigate how Scrum teams adopt an appropriate set of SE techniques and whether a hybrid Scrum/Extreme Programming (XP) methodology is an appropriate approach to take. This research was conducted by examining sample data from five organizations using the Scrum methodology. The sample included a range of industries including communications and embedded systems, financial asset management, software development houses and consulting firms in South Africa. The study employed a mixed method approach. A key finding was that, regardless of the fact that Scrum does not explicitly recommend engineering practices, there was extensive use of these practices by all of the participating organizations. The study also found that the lack of software engineering practices in Scrum does not constitute a barrier to a successful adoption of Scrum, provided the 'inspect and adapt' principle inherent in Scrum is properly followed. The study discusses the findings, explains the implications and suggests future research.Peer reviewe

The appraisal of Facebook online community: An exposition of mobile commerce in social media reviews

Peer reviewe

Integrating ChatGPT in a Computer Science Course: Students Perceptions and Suggestions

The integration of artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT in the education system has gained attention in recent years. This experience report explores students' perceptions and suggestions for integrating ChatGPT in a computer science course. Following a ChatGPT activity which includes code completion and analysis, seven students participated in in-depth interviews. Findings from the transcribed interviews suggest that ChatGPT has the potential to enhance learning experience including programming. They highlighted the tool's ability to respond immediately to queries and supporting personalised learning. However, they raise concerns that heavy reliance on ChatGPT may adversely affect students' critical thinking and problem-solving skills. These findings show the importance of carefully balancing using ChatGPT in computer science courses. The findings of this research have significant implications for educators, curriculum designers and policymakers as they explore integrating AI tools into educational contexts.Comment: 13 page

Conducting Sound, Equity-Enabling Computing Education Research

Problem. To investigate and identify promising practices in equitable K-12 and tertiary computer science (CS) education, the capacity for education researchers to conduct this research must be rapidly built globally. Simultaneously, concerns have arisen over the last few years about the quality of research that is being conducted and the lack of research that supports teaching all students computing. Research Question. Our research question for our study was: In what ways can existing research standards and practices inform methodologically sound, equity-enabling computing education research? Methodology. We conducted a concept analysis using existing research and various standards (e.g. European Educational Research Association, Australian Education Research Organisation, American Psychological Association). We then synthesised key features in the context of equity-focused K-12 computing education research. Findings. We present a set of guidelines for general research design that takes into account best practices across the standards that are infused with equity-enabling research practices. Implications. Our guidelines will directly impact future equitable computing education research by providing guidance on conducting high-quality research such that the findings can be aggregated and impact future policy with evidence-based results. Because we have crafted these guidelines to be broadly applicable across a variety of settings, we believe that they will be useful to researchers operating in a variety of contexts

Application of information and communication technology for internationalization of Nigerian small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises

Information and communication technology (ICT) has fundamentally transformed business transactions. While its uses have become ubiquitous in the advanced economies, emerging and developing economies are still struggling with the mode and manner of the deployment of ICT for business. Thus, this study seeks to investigate how small‐ and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) utilize ICT in Nigeria for business internationalization. To achieve the goal of the study, a mixed‐method was employed. A questionnaire was administered to 265 people consisting of SMEs staff, managers, and owners. Similarly, interviews were conducted with seven SME decision makers. Findings revealed that Nigerian SMEs used ICT tools, such as websites and social media platforms, for internationalization. The findings also revealed that the challenges of ICT did not affect its application by these SMEs, which contrasts with many previous studies. Furthermore, this study identified privacy concerns, internet problems, cyber insecurity, trust, and system anxiety as new challenges facing the application of ICT tools by SMEs. Similarly, the findings showed that lack of ICT competence and strategic focus of ICT applications are internal problems facing Nigerian SMEs. These findings provide insight for practitioners and academia on the internationalization of Nigeria SMEs and the application of ICT to promote business growth.</p

Assessment of Mobile Money Enablers in Nigeria

This chapter describes how mobile money is an emerging and innovative financial service delivery mechanism. With huge success, recorded mostly in the developing economies, it is scholarly unclear the antecedents of its adoption. Using a survey of 151 respondents comprising both the banked and underbanked in the South-Western part of Nigeria, the authors used the PLS-SEM to test the research hypothesis. The results reveal the enablers of mobile money, which are social influence, performance expectancy, security and effort expectancy, and inhibitors such as system anxiety and cost. Privacy, trust, image and convenience were not found significant in this study. Social influence, performance expectancy and effort expectancy variables adapted from the UTAUT model have considerable influence on mobile money in Nigeria. Study implications and future directions are offered.peerReviewe

Energy pattern and conservations of condiment produced from soybean (Glycine max)

Energy being one of the largest operating expenses in most organizations especially manufacturing and processing industries leading to considerable scope for energy conservation and hence cost. Information on energy utilization and conservation pattern were obtained based on time taken, number of person involved and sources of energy using standard energy equations. A total of 445.40 ± 17.32MJkg-1 where thermal energy (420MJ ≈ 94%) and manual energy (25.40MJ ≈ 6%) were the only forms of energy used during production process. Conservation approach I resulted in mean energy of 72.08 ± 1.73MJkg-1 where electrical energy, manual energy and thermal energy accounted for 1.75MJ (3%) 7.34MJ (10%) and 62.99MJ (87%) respectively.  Conservation approach II reduced the energy further to 57.24 ± 1.73MJkg-1  as the operation was thermal energy dependent, followed by manual and electrical energy with energy values of 48.13, 7.33 and 1.78MJ equivalent to 84.10%, 12.80% and  3.10% accordingly. Conclusively, traditional method of processing utilized highest energy (445.40MJ) followed by conservation approach I (72.08MJ) and conservation approach II (57.24MJ) was least in energy demand. Conservation approach II permits energy conservation to be 87% as compared with traditional method