Error Detection and Recovery in Software Development

Software rarely works as intended when it is first written. Software engineering research has long been concerned with assessing why software fails and who is to blame, or why a piece of software is flawed and how to prevent such faults in the future. Errors are examined in the context of bugs, elements of source code that produce undesirable, unexpected and unintended deviations in behaviour. Though error is a prevalent, mature topic within software engineering, error detection and recovery are less well understood. This research uses rich qualitative methods to study error detection and recovery in professional software development practice. It has considered conceptual representations of error in software engineering research and trade literature. Using ethnographic principles, it has gathered accounts given by professional developers in interviews and in video-recorded paired interaction. Developers performing a range of tasks were observed, and findings were compared to theories of human error formed in psychology and safety science. Three empirical studies investigated error from the perspective of developers, recon- structing the view they hold when errors arise, to build a catalogue of active encounters with error in conceptual design, at the desk and after the fact. Analyses were structured to consider development holistically over time, rather than in terms of discrete tasks. By placing emphasis on “local rationality”, analytical focus was redirected from outcomes toward factors that influence performance. The resultant observations are assembled in an account of error handling in software development as personal and situated (in time and the developer’s environment), with implications for the changing nature of expertise

Data Integrity and Document-centric XML

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Custody and Visitation: Considerations for Every Attorney Retained by a Survivor of Domestic Violence

Legal representation is a critical tool for survivors of domestic violence to live free from their battering partners. Representation in custody and visitation matters-- integral issues in the separation context--is particularly consequential for survivors. First, studies of custody litigation indicate that fathers who battered the mothers of their children are twice as likely to seek sole physical custody as are nonviolent fathers. Batterers are as likely as nonbattering fathers to prevail. Since the 1970s, fathers in general have been at a marked advantage in custody disputes. Second, custody and visitation claims involve a complex array of legal issues, laws, practices, and procedures including jurisdiction, standing, discovery, evidence presumptions, and the interplay of federal and state law. Third, separation increases the survivor\u27s risk of violence by the batterer. This context requires us to consider innovative legal strategies and assess personal assumptions to afford survivors of domestic violence the relief that they seek and the justice that they deserve

Bumps in the Code: Error Handling during Software Development

Problems come up during software development all the time. When developers hit these bumps, situations can be surprising and new, and they must figure out what — if anything — has gone wrong. Error handling often resolves small, immediate concerns, however, findings from three ethnographically-informed studies suggest that the way developers experience errors has implications for professional growth and development. Through these experiences, developers refine ideas, strengthen collective practice, and learn

Cross - Language Information Retrieval Using Two Methods: LSI via SDD and LSI via SVD

This chapter presents a method for the recovery of bilingual information based on semidiscrete matrix decomposition (SDD); that is, the problem of retrieving information in two languages, Spanish and English, is studied when the queries are made only in Spanish. In it, four case studies that exhibit the performance of the use of the latent semantic index (LSI) via SDD method for cross-language information retrieval (CLIR) are displayed. Concurrently, these results are compared with those obtained by applying LSI via singular value decomposition (SVD). All experiments were performed from a bilingual database, built from the gospels of the Bible, which combines documents in Spanish and English. For this, a fusion strategy was used that increases the size of the database by 10%. It was found that in terms of errors, the methods are comparable, since equal results were obtained in 58.3% of the queries made. In addition, the methods presented a success rate of at least 65% in the task of retrieving relevant information in the two languages considered

Talking about Security with Professional Developers

This paper describes materials developed to engage professional developers in discussions about security. First, the work is framed in the context of ethnographic studies of software development, highlighting how the method is used to explore and investigate research aims for the Motivating Jenny research project. A description is given of a series of practitioner engagements, that were used to develop a reflection and discussion tool using security stories taken from media and internet sources. An explanation is given for how the tool has been used to collect data within field sites, offering a way to clarify and member check findings, and to provide a different view on practice and process. The report concludes with observations and notes about future aims for supporting and encouraging professionals to engage with security in practice

Deletion of the Gene for the Type I Interferon Inhibitor I329L from the Attenuated African Swine Fever Virus OURT88/3 Strain Reduces Protection Induced in Pigs

Live attenuated vaccines are considered to be the fastest route to the development of a safe and efficacious African swine fever (ASF) vaccine. Infection with the naturally attenuated OURT88/3 strain induces protection against challenge with virulent isolates from the same or closely related genotypes. However, adverse clinical signs following immunisation have been observed. Here, we attempted to increase the OURT88/3 safety profile by deleting I329L, a gene previously shown to inhibit the host innate immune response. The resulting virus, OURT88/3ΔI329L, was tested in vitro to evaluate the replication and expression of type I interferon (IFN) and in vivo by immunisation and lethal challenge experiments in pigs. No differences were observed regarding replication; however, increased amounts of both IFN-β and IFN-α were observed in macrophages infected with the deletion mutant virus. Unexpectedly, the deletion of I329L markedly reduced protection against challenge with the virulent OURT88/1 isolate. This was associated with a decrease in both antibody levels against VP72 and the number of IFN-γ-producing cells in the blood of non-protected animals. Furthermore, a significant increase in IL-10 levels in serum was observed in pigs immunised with OURT88/3ΔI329L following challenge. Interestingly, the deletion of the I329L gene failed to attenuate the virulent Georgia/2007 isolate.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Microscopic and Genetic Characterization of Bacterial Symbionts With Bioluminescent Potential in Pyrosoma atlanticum

The pelagic tunicate pyrosome, Pyrosoma atlanticum, is known for its brilliant bioluminescence, but the mechanism causing this bioluminescence has not been fully characterized. This study identifies the bacterial bioluminescent symbionts of P. atlanticum collected in the northern Gulf of Mexico using several methods such as light and electron microscopy, as well as molecular genetics. The bacteria are localized within the pyrosome light organs. Greater than 50% of the bacterial taxa present in the tunicate samples were the bioluminescent symbiotic bacteria Vibrionaceae as determined by utilizing current molecular genetics methodologies. A total of 396K MiSeq16S rRNA reads provided total pyrosome microbiome profiles to determine bacterial symbiont taxonomy. After comparing with the Silva rRNA database, a Photobacterium sp. r33-like bacterium (which we refer to as “Photobacterium Pa-1”) matched at 99% sequence identity as the most abundant bacteria within Pyrosoma atlanticum samples. Specifically designed 16S rRNA V4 probes for fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) verified the Photobacterium Pa-1 location as internally concentrated along the periphery of each dual pyrosome luminous organ. While searching for bacterial lux genes in two tunicate samples, we also serendipitously generated a draft tunicate mitochondrial genome that can be used for Pyrosoma atlanticum identification. Scanning (SEM) and transmission (TEM) electron microscopy confirmed the presence of intracellular rod-like bacteria in the light organs. This intracellular localization of bacteria may represent bacteriocyte formation reminiscent of other invertebrates

Informed consent and participant recruitment in studies of software practice

All empirical software engineering studies require informed consent from participants. In this paper we explore issues we have faced around the need for informed consent for qualitative studies in organisational settings, and the effect they have on participant recruitment and engagement. These issues are: the “chicken and egg” of study design and data collection; the nature of data being collected; the difference between requirements gathering and research data collection; benefits and coercion; and participant reluctance and uncertainty