A goal model for crowdsourced software engineering

Crowdsourced Software Engineering (CSE) is the act of undertaking any external software engineering tasks by an undefined, potentially large group of online workers in an open call format. Using an open call, CSE recruits global online labor to work on various types of software engineering tasks, such as requirements extraction, design, coding and testing. The field is rising rapidly and touches various aspects of software engineering. CSE has grown significance in both academy and industry. Despite of the enormous usage and significance of CSE, there are many open challenges reported by various researchers. In order to overcome the challenges and realizing the full potential of CSE, it is highly important to understand the concrete advantages and goals of CSE. In this paper, we present a goal model for CSE, to understand the real environment of CSE, and to explore the aspects that can somehow overcome the aforementioned challenges. The model is designed using RiSD, a method for building Strategic Dependency (SD) models in the i* notation, applied in this work using iStar2.0. This work can be considered useful for CSE stakeholders (Requesters, Workers, Platform owners and CSE organizations).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

CSEFA Hub and Spoke Evaluation

This report details findings from the second year of a four-year evaluation of the 'Hub and Spoke' initiative, being undertaken by the University of Bedfordshire. Funded by the Child Sexual Exploitation Funders' Alliance (CSEFA), this initiative aims to improve services in relation to child sexual exploitation (CSE). It utilises the expertise, resources and infrastructure of an established voluntary sector CSE service (the 'Hub') by locating experienced CSE workers (known as 'Spoke workers') into new service delivery areas. The evaluation assesses the extent to which the Hub and Spoke model triggers cultural and systemic change in the way that services engaging with young people respond to CSE. Specifically it considers the impact of the Hub and Spoke model on: a) Safeguarding young people from sexual exploitation through service delivery b) Supporting and equipping specialist CSE workers to work effectively in host agencies c) Promoting stable CSE policy frameworks in new areas by raising awareness, developing procedures and improving how local policy makers respond to CSE

Two-Dimensional Source Coding by Means of Subblock Enumeration

A technique of lossless compression via substring enumeration (CSE) attains compression ratios as well as popular lossless compressors for one-dimensional (1D) sources. The CSE utilizes a probabilistic model built from the circular string of an input source for encoding the source.The CSE is applicable to two-dimensional (2D) sources such as images by dealing with a line of pixels of 2D source as a symbol of an extended alphabet. At the initial step of the CSE encoding process, we need to output the number of occurrences of all symbols of the extended alphabet, so that the time complexity increase exponentially when the size of source becomes large. To reduce the time complexity, we propose a new CSE which can encode a 2D source in block-by-block instead of line-by-line. The proposed CSE utilizes the flat torus of an input 2D source as a probabilistic model for encoding the source instead of the circular string of the source. Moreover, we analyze the limit of the average codeword length of the proposed CSE for general sources.Comment: 5 pages, Submitted to ISIT201

Research and Education in Computational Science and Engineering

Over the past two decades the field of computational science and engineering (CSE) has penetrated both basic and applied research in academia, industry, and laboratories to advance discovery, optimize systems, support decision-makers, and educate the scientific and engineering workforce. Informed by centuries of theory and experiment, CSE performs computational experiments to answer questions that neither theory nor experiment alone is equipped to answer. CSE provides scientists and engineers of all persuasions with algorithmic inventions and software systems that transcend disciplines and scales. Carried on a wave of digital technology, CSE brings the power of parallelism to bear on troves of data. Mathematics-based advanced computing has become a prevalent means of discovery and innovation in essentially all areas of science, engineering, technology, and society; and the CSE community is at the core of this transformation. However, a combination of disruptive developments---including the architectural complexity of extreme-scale computing, the data revolution that engulfs the planet, and the specialization required to follow the applications to new frontiers---is redefining the scope and reach of the CSE endeavor. This report describes the rapid expansion of CSE and the challenges to sustaining its bold advances. The report also presents strategies and directions for CSE research and education for the next decade.Comment: Major revision, to appear in SIAM Revie

The Groomers and the Question of Race

The last decade has witnessed a number of prominent police-led operations relating to child sexual exploitation (CSE) in England. Whilst much of the public discourse related to Operation Yewtree, Operation Fernbridge, and others has focused on the criminal nature of CSE, race has been absent from that discourse; conversely, the public debates relating to grooming cases by men of Pakistani heritage have been marked by the presence of race. By critically evaluating the above cases this article aims to put forward three related arguments. First, it aims to highlight and explain contrasting ways in which CSE is debated vis-á-vis the category of racialised politics. Second, it demonstrates how racialised discourse of CSE, initially considered to be a feature of far-right rhetoric, has taken centre ground. Finally, drawing upon analysis of various reports it aims to question the links between race and CSE to show how racialised discourse of CSE helps undermine its victims

Extended envelopes around Galactic Cepheids III. Y Oph and alpha Per from near-infrared interferometry with CHARA/FLUOR

Unbiased angular diameter measurements are required for accurate distances to Cepheids using the interferometric Baade Wesselink method (IBWM). The precision of this technique is currently limited by interferometric measurements at the 1.5% level. At this level, the center-to-limb darkening (CLD) and the presence of circumstellar envelopes (CSE) seem to be the two main sources of bias. The observations we performed aim at improving our knowledge of the interferometric visibility profile of Cepheids. In particular, we assess the systematic presence of CSE around Cepheids in order determine accurate distances with the IBWM free from CSE biased angular diameters. We observed a Cepheid (Y Oph) for which the pulsation is well resolved and a non-pulsating yellow supergiant (alpha Per) using long-baseline near-infrared interferometry. We interpreted these data using a simple CSE model we previously developed. We found that our observations of alpha Per do not provide evidence for a CSE. The measured CLD is explained by an hydrostatic photospheric model. Our observations of Y Oph, when compared to smaller baseline measurements, suggest that it is surrounded by a CSE with similar characteristics to CSE found previously around other Cepheids. We have determined the distance to Y Oph to be d=491+/-18 pc. Additional evidence points toward the conclusion that most Cepheids are surrounded by faint CSE, detected by near infrared interferometry: after observing four Cepheids, all show evidence for a CSE. Our CSE non-detection around a non-pulsating supergiant in the instability strip, alpha Per, provides confidence in the detection technique and suggests a pulsation driven mass-loss mechanism for the Cepheids.Comment: accepted for publication in Ap

A typology of community and stakeholder engagement based on documented examples in the field of novel vector control.

BackgroundDespite broad consensus on the importance of community and stakeholder engagement (CSE) for guiding the development, regulation, field testing, and deployment of emerging vector control technologies (such as genetically engineered insects), the types of activities pursued have varied widely, as have the outcomes. We looked to previous CSE efforts for clarity about appropriate methods and goals. Our analysis yielded a typology of CSE, and related vocabulary, that describes distinctions that funders, organizers, and scholars should make when proposing or evaluating CSE.MethodsWe compiled available formal documentation of CSE projects, starting with projects mentioned in interviews with 17 key informants. Major features of these examples, including the initiators, target groups, timing, goals, and methods were identified using qualitative coding. Based on these examples, subcategories were developed for a subset of features and applied to the identified cases of CSE in the documents. Co-occurrence of subcategorized features was examined for patterns.ResultsWe identified 14 documented examples CSE projects, which were comprised of 28 distinct CSE activities. We found no clear patterns with respect to timing. However, we found that grouping examples according to whether initiators or targets could enact the immediate desired outcome could help to clarify relationships between goals, methods, and targets.ConclusionBased on this analysis, we propose a typology that distinguishes three categories of CSE: engagement to inquire -where initiators are empowered to act on information collected through engagement with target groups; engagement to influence -where initiators engage to affect the actions of already-empowered target groups; and engagement to involve -where initiators engage to delegate authority to target groups. The proposed typology can serve as a guide for establishing the goals, identifying appropriate methods, and evaluating and reporting CSE projects by directing attention to important questions to be asked well before determining who to engage and how

The congruency sequence effect 3.0: a critical test of conflict adaptation

Over the last two decades, the congruency sequence effect (CSE) -the finding of a reduced congruency effect following incongruent trials in conflict tasks- has played a central role in advancing research on cognitive control. According to the influential conflict-monitoring account, the CSE reflects adjustments in selective attention that enhance task focus when needed, often termed conflict adaptation. However, this dominant interpretation of the CSE has been called into question by several alternative accounts that stress the role of episodic memory processes: feature binding and (stimulus-response) contingency learning. To evaluate the notion of conflict adaptation in accounting for the CSE, we construed versions of three widely used experimental paradigms (the colour-word Stroop, picture-word Stroop and flanker task) that effectively control for feature binding and contingency learning. Results revealed that a CSE can emerge in all three tasks. This strongly suggests a contribution of attentional control to the CSE and highlights the potential of these unprecedentedly clean paradigms for further examining cognitive control

The pursuit of self-esteem and its motivational implications

Although recent studies have found contingent self-esteem (CSE) to be negatively related to individuals' well-being, research concerning its implications for motivation and engagement is scarce. In two studies, we investigated the relation between CSE, motivation, and engagement in achievement-related situations. A first cross-sectional study among second year high school students (N = 641; 54.1% female) confirmed the hypothesized motivational ambiguity associated with academic CSE. Beyond the contribution of academic self-esteem, academic CSE was positively related to behavioral and emotional engagement, but also to emotional disaffection and test anxiety. These associations could partially be explained by motivational quality, as CSE was also positively related to both autonomous and controlled types of motivation. In a second experimental study among university students (N = 72; 70.8% female), who participated in a tangram puzzle task under varying feedback circumstances, global CSE related to more tension, while predicting less behavioral task perseverance. These effects were not moderated by the type of feedback provided (i.e., positive vs. negative). Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed