The usability of open source software: analysis and prospects

Open source communities have successfully developed many pieces of software although most computer users only use proprietary applications. The usability of open source software is often regarded as one reason for this limited distribution. In this paper we review the existing evidence of the usability of open source software and discuss how the characteristics of open-source development influence usability. We describe how existing human-computer interaction techniques can be used to leverage distributed networked communities, of developers and users, to address issues of usability

Usability and open source software.

Open source communities have successfully developed many pieces of software although most computer users only use proprietary applications. The usability of open source software is often regarded as one reason for this limited distribution. In this paper we review the existing evidence of the usability of open source software and discuss how the characteristics of open-source development influence usability. We describe how existing human-computer interaction techniques can be used to leverage distributed networked communities, of developers and users, to address issues of usability

Source File Set Search for Clone-and-Own Reuse Analysis

Clone-and-own approach is a natural way of source code reuse for software developers. To assess how known bugs and security vulnerabilities of a cloned component affect an application, developers and security analysts need to identify an original version of the component and understand how the cloned component is different from the original one. Although developers may record the original version information in a version control system and/or directory names, such information is often either unavailable or incomplete. In this research, we propose a code search method that takes as input a set of source files and extracts all the components including similar files from a software ecosystem (i.e., a collection of existing versions of software packages). Our method employs an efficient file similarity computation using b-bit minwise hashing technique. We use an aggregated file similarity for ranking components. To evaluate the effectiveness of this tool, we analyzed 75 cloned components in Firefox and Android source code. The tool took about two hours to report the original components from 10 million files in Debian GNU/Linux packages. Recall of the top-five components in the extracted lists is 0.907, while recall of a baseline using SHA-1 file hash is 0.773, according to the ground truth recorded in the source code repositories.Comment: 14th International Conference on Mining Software Repositorie

The Big Picture: Using Desktop Imagery for Detection of Insider Threats

The insider threat is one of the most difficult problems in information security. Prior research addresses its detection by using machine learning techniques to profile user behavior. User behavior is represented as low level system events, which do not provide sufficient contextual information about the user\u27s intentions, and lead to high error rates. Our system uses video of a user\u27s sessions as the representation of their behavior, and detects moments during which they perform sensitive tasks. Analysis of the video is accomplished using OCR, scene detection algorithms, and basic text classification. The system outputs the results to a web interface, and our results show that using desktop imagery is a viable alternative to using system calls for insider threat detection

Disrupted vs. sustained humor in colloquial conversations in peninsular Spanish

This paper shows the results of an analysis of humor in conversations in Peninsular Spanish, balanced between the short disruption of the progress of conversation and the sustained humor along a sequence. 67 conversations of a total duration of approximately 945 min were compiled, and from these conversations 148 humorous sequences were extracted. The data shows a trend (40%) towards the Least Disruption Principle (Eisterhold et al., 2006; Attardo et al. 2011, 2013), since irony and humor occur in a single turn and responses are limited to a later turn in 14% of instances. However, our corpus supports a wide-ranging trend towards sustained humor (Attardo, 2019) over more than three turns (46%). Additionally, the type of response (Kotthoff, 2003) is analyzed: to the said (11.36%), to the implied (19.32%), laughter (13.64%) and mixed responses (55.68%). Our analysis of humorous sequences indicates that there is a consistent framework in which as mixed responses increase, the humorous mode is fostered in colloquial conversations.This research was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the grant PID2019-104980GB-I00 “Interactional humor in Spanish. Oral, written and technological genres” (MICINN-AEI, UE); and by the grant FFI2017-90738-REDT “Thematic Research Network on Studies of Discourse Analysis” (MINECO-AEI, UE). For further information, visit the website http://dfelg.ua.es/griale/

Re-using features of English as a foreign language (EFL) materials for special needs students of the same age group

This paper identifies a lack of age-appropriate literacy software for dyslexic teenagers in Irish classrooms and investigates the features of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) software that could be helpful to dyslexic students. There are often two distinct special learner groups within the same classroom: special needs students with reading difficulties in their native language and EFL students. While there are clear differences between these two groups, there is some overlap in their linguistic difficulties, e.g. spelling. There is a lack of age-appropriate software aimed at dyslexic teenagers; most software used is aimed at dyslexic children. However, a lot of materials are available for teenage EFL students. The paper discusses a survey of teenage dyslexic students and teachers/tutors of dyslexic teenagers, which identified student needs and desired features/exercises for curriculum-focused Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) software for dyslexic students that the author is developing. Results show overlap of features and exercises present in existing EFL software

Wireless Communication Networks for Gas Turbine Engine Testing

A new trend in the field of Aeronautical Engine Health Monitoring is the implementation of wireless sensor networks (WSNs) for data acquisition and condition monitoring to partially replace heavy and complex wiring harnesses, which limit the versatility of the monitoring process as well as creating practical deployment issues. Using wireless technologies instead of fixed wiring will fuel opportunities for reduced cabling, faster sensor and network deployment, increased data acquisition flexibility and reduced cable maintenance costs. However, embedding wireless technology into an aero engine (even in the ground testing application considered here) presents some very significant challenges, e.g. a harsh environment with a complex RF transmission environment, high sensor density and high data-rate. In this paper we discuss the results of the Wireless Data Acquisition in Gas Turbine Engine Testing (WIDAGATE) project, which aimed to design and simulate such a network to estimate network performance and de-risk the wireless techniques before the deployment

Open Source Software: From Open Science to New Marketing Models

-Open source Software; Intellectual Property; Licensing; Business Model.