<p>The unexpected and unprecedented global pandemic of COVID-19 has brought dramatic changes to the whole world. As a result of social distancing instituted to slow the pandemic, teleworking has become the new norm in many organizations. The prevalence of teleworking has brought not only benefits to organizations, but also security risks. Although teleworking has existed for decades and many security related issues have been studied by previous research, the researcher didn’t find any studies that have assessed organization employee’s security awareness and concerns in teleworking. Considering the vital importance of human security awareness in protecting information security, it is necessary to learn the security awareness situation in teleworking. Furthermore, employees with low security awareness should be trained to improve the awareness level. Therefore, this research intends to examine the current teleworking security awareness and concerns in organizations by conducting a survey of workers. Through the survey answers, the researcher found that the security awareness varies in groups of teleworkers who are at different ages, from different industries and different-sized organizations. Meanwhile, the researcher also found that COVID-19 pandemic does not have much impact on people’s security concern in teleworking scenarios. <br></p>

The going concern warning and its consequences for auditors and companies have been studied from many different angles. However, the results are conflicting. A going concern warning is issued by an auditor when there is substantial doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Studies have shown that most companies survive despite a going concern warning. There are also signs of short-term consequences for the companies. How the consequences unfold in the long run for companies that have received a going concern warning is not well studied. The purpose of this study is to investigate how companies are affected in the long run by the consequences that can arise due to a going concern warning. For this study, a quantitative method has been used. Legitimacy theory, Interest theory and Institutional theory, have the common factor that they all explain how organizations survive in the long run. The theories, together with scientific articles and other relevant literature, have been used to develop the hypotheses. Companies with a going concern warning have been compared with companies that have not received a going concern warning. Empirical data have been collected for 2010-2015 and by using multiple linear regressions the hypotheses of the study have been tested. The result of the study showed that a going concern warning did not adversely affect the company on a long-term basis. On the contrary, the study indicates that companies with a going concern warning improve compared to equivalent companies which did not receive a going concern warning.

Purpose - This study explores how Covid-19 may affect audit quality and provide early insights if the pandemic has already affected audit quality in Sweden. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses qualitative data obtained through semi-structured interviews with eight Swedish authorized auditors within Big Four to explore possible impacts on three key aspects for audit quality. These include Going-concern assessments, Auditor-client relationship, and Auditor-independence. Findings - Even though the Covid-19 pandemic is not over, it has had fewer effects on audit quality than experts and researchers predicted. Even though the pandemic has changed the communication and the relationship between the auditor and client, the findings state no significant effect on audit quality within the auditor-client relationship. The same goes for auditor-independence. However, the findings of this study indicate that making accurate going-concern assessments has and will be more complex and thus threaten audit quality. Practical contribution – We anticipate that auditors need to provide a greater focus on GC assessments as stakeholders require greater disclosure. Further, auditors and clients should gain on the increased use of digital communication by using it as a complement to physical meetings in the future. Originality/Value - This study is, to the best of our knowledge, one of the first studies that explore the potential impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on audit quality with empirical evidence. Since this study is conducted in the middle of the pandemic (Spring 2021), the results can be seen as indications for future researchers that beyond the pandemic seek to explain how the Covid-19 pandemic affected audit quality as it is crucial for the audit community to follow the consequences of the pandemic.

Rough set prediction capability was compared with actual auditor signaling rates for a large sample of United States companies from 1991 to 1997 time period. Prior bankruptcy prediction research was carefully reviewed to identify 11 possible predictive factors which had both significant theoretical support and were present in multiple studies. Rough sets theory was used to develop two different bankruptcy prediction models, each containing four variables from the 11 possible predictive variables. In contrast with prior rough sets theory research which suggested that rough sets theory offered significant bankruptcy predictive improvements for auditors, the rough sets models did not provide any significant comparative advantage with regard to prediction accuracy over the actual auditors' methodologies.

Auditors must assess their clients' ability to function as a going concern for at least the year following the financial statement date. The audit profession has been severely criticized for failure to 'blow the whistle' in numerous highly visible bankruptcies that occurred shortly after unmodified audit opinions were issued. Financial distress indicators examined in this study are one mechanism for making such assessments. This study measures and compares the predictive accuracy of an easily implemented two-variable bankruptcy model originally developed using recursive partitioning on an equally proportioned data set of 202 firms. In this study, we test the predictive accuracy of this model, as well as previously developed logit and neural network models, using a realistically proportioned set of 14,212 firms' financial data covering the period 1981-1990. The previously developed recursive partitioning model had an overall accuracy for all firms ranging from 95 to 97% which outperformed both the logit model at 93 to 94% and the neural network model at 86 to 91%. The recursive partitioning model predicted the bankrupt firms with 33-58% accuracy. A sensitivity analysis of recursive partitioning cutting points indicated that a newly specified model could achieve an all firm and a bankrupt firm predictive accuracy of approximately 85%. Auditors will be interested in the Type I and Type II error tradeoffs revealed in a detailed sensitivity table for this easily implemented model.

When families use a listening and spoken language communication modality to communicate with their child, access to a rich linguistic environment through an intact auditory system is essential. In children with hearing loss, optimal auditory access is achieved through the consistent use of appropriately fitted hearing devices or other assistive hearing technology, allowing these children access to an ample language environment. Parents or caregivers of children with hearing loss or hearing concerns play a large role in facilitating their child’s use of hearing device, as well as supporting their child’s speech and language development, a potentially overwhelming experience for these families. The aim of this study was to continue a similar, previously completed project within the Audiology and Speech Language Pathology program at ETSU. The purpose of both studies was to improve parent self-efficacy, i.e., their confidence in their ability to optimize their child’s amplification use and linguistic exposure, increase family knowledge on language outcomes, and increase consistent use of amplification/treatment options by providing an educational workshop to families with children identified with hearing loss and/or hearing concerns. The current study was adapted based on caregiver feedback from the previous study. The hypothesis of this study was to see an enhancement of self-efficacy skills in parent participants. An educational workshop encompassing 1. the impact of hearing loss and/or hearing concerns on language development; 2. the importance of language exposure; 3. use and care of amplification/treatment options, and 4. empowerment to establish consistent device use in families that utilize amplification or other technology was delivered through a virtual meeting with participants. The participants’ self-efficacy skills regarding their child’s device use and language development were assessed and measured through a pre- and post-survey, the Scale of Parent Involvement and Self-Efficacy-Revised (SPISE-R). The SPISE-R surveys caregivers about their child’s device use as well as their perceptions of their own beliefs, knowledge, confidence, and actions pertaining to supporting their child’s auditory access and spoken language development. The assessment and workshop incorporated in this study were modeled after Ambrose et al. (J Early Hear Detect Interv, 2020) who developed the SPISE-R as a promising tool for use in early intervention to better understand and further support parent’s strengths and needs concerning their young child’s auditory access and spoken language development. Participants were recruited via email from an Early Intervention Specialist. A total of three pre-surveys were completed. Four parents attended the virtual workshop but none of them completed a post-survey. Therefore, data analysis was based on a comparison between the pre-surveys completed in the previous study (n=3) and in the current project. The results revealed that the participants from the current study rated themselves as having lower self-efficacy in supporting their child’s device use and language development than the participants of the previous project. Based on these results, future studies should consider: 1. recruiting from a larger pool of parents 2. hosting the workshops in-person instead of virtually 3. offering workshops multiple times to better accommodate parent schedules, and 4. shortening the survey.

Discrimination and marginalisation are still problems, both on a societal level as well as within the field of technological development. Discourses such as HCI and design often fail to deal with the dynamics of race, even when using participatory approach, co-design. This design study aims to tackle and explore the possibilities of co-design using dialogue on the matter of concern, structural racism. The study aims to answer the questions; what could be the role of co-design when facilitating a discussion about structural racism? And how can we use digital mediums to co-design and create dialogue? The theoretical framework of this study, stems from ‘design thing’, where extended knowledge is produced collectively based on subjects’ experiences and Latour’s view on ‘matters of concern’, which is understanding the political situation from a holistic standpoint. The methodology derives from Sanders and Stappers framework called ‘say-do-make’ including an online survey and three digital creative sessions with participants. The results of the study propose guidelines on how to create dialogue about structural racism through a co-design setting. As a result of the proposed guidelines, this study suggests that interdisciplinarity is fundamental in order to integrate the matter of concern into the co-design discourse.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(工学) / 甲第17960号 / 工博第3808号 / 新制||工||1583(附属図書館) / 30790 / 京都大学大学院工学研究科都市社会工学専攻 / (主査)教授 藤井 聡, 准教授 SCHMOECKERJan-Dirk, 准教授 神田 佑亮 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Philosophy (Engineering) / Kyoto University / DFAM

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