Experimenting with Realism in Software Engineering Team Projects: An Experience Report

Over Several years, we observed that our students were sceptical of Software Engineering practices, because we did not convey the experience and demands of production quality software development. Assessment focused on features delivered, rather than imposing responsibility for longer term `technical debt'. Academics acting as 'uncertain' customers were rejected as malevolent and implausible. Student teams composed of novices lacked the benefits of leadership provided by more experienced engineers. To address these shortcomings, real customers were introduced, exposing students to real requirements uncertainty. Flipped classroom teaching was adopted, giving teams one day each week to work on their project in a redesigned laboratory. Software process and quality were emphasised in the course assessment, imposing technical debt. Finally, we introduced a leadership course for senior students, who acted as mentors to the project team students. This paper reports on the experience of these changes, from the perspective of different stakeholders

Formalising responsibility modelling for automatic analysis

Modelling the structure of social-technical systems as a basis for informing software system design is a difficult compromise. Formal methods struggle to capture the scale and complexity of the heterogeneous organisations that use technical systems. Conversely, informal approaches lack the rigour needed to inform the software design and construction process or enable automated analysis. We revisit the concept of responsibility modelling, which models social technical systems as a collection of actors who discharge their responsibilities, whilst using and producing resources in the process. Responsibility modelling is formalised as a structured approach for socio-technical system requirements specification and modelling, with well-defined semantics and support for automated structure and validity analysis. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated by two case studies of software engineering methodologies

Accuracy: The fundamental requirement for voting systems

There have been several attempts to develop a comprehensive account of the requirements for voting systems, particularly for public elections. Typically, these approaches identify a number of "high level" principals which are then refined either into more detailed statements or more formal constructs. Unfortunately, these approaches do not acknowledge the complexity and diversity of the contexts in which voting takes place. This paper takes a different approach by arguing that the only requirement for a voting system is that it is accurate. More detailed requirements can then be derived from this high level requirement for the particular context in which the system is implemented and deployed. A general, formal high level model for voting systems and their context is proposed. Several related definitions of accuracy for voting systems are then developed, illustrating how the term "accuracy" is in interpreted in different contexts. Finally, a context based requirement for voting system privacy is investigated as an example of deriving a subsidiary requirement from the high level requirement for accuracy

Using smartphones as a proxy for forensic evidence contained in cloud storage services

Cloud storage services such as Dropbox, Box and SugarSync have been embraced by both individuals and organizations. This creates an environment that is potentially conducive to security breaches and malicious activities. The investigation of these cloud environments presents new challenges for the digital forensics community. It is anticipated that smartphone devices will retain data from these storage services. Hence, this research presents a preliminary investigation into the residual artifacts created on an iOS and Android device that has accessed a cloud storage service. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, it provides an initial assessment on the extent to which cloud storage data is stored on these client-side devices. This view acts as a proxy for data stored in the cloud. Secondly, it provides documentation on the artifacts that could be useful in a digital forensics investigation of cloud services

Presence of the “Threatened” \u3ci\u3eTrimerotropis Huroniana\u3c/i\u3e (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in Relation to the Occurrence of Native Dune Plant Species and the Exotic \u3ci\u3eCentaurea Biebersteinii\u3c/i\u3e

Trimerotropis huroniana Wlk. is a “Threatened” species in Michigan and Wisconsin with a distribution limited to open dune systems in the northern Great Lakes region of North America. Pitfall traps were utilized in the Grand Sable Dunes of Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, MI, along with an herbaceous plant survey, to identify the relationship of T. huroniana with native dune plant species, Ammophila breviligulata Fern. (American beachgrass, Poaceae), Artemisia campestris L. (field sagewort, Asteraceae), and the exotic invasive plant Centaurea biebersteinii DC. [=Centaurea maculosa, spotted knapweed, Lamarck] (Asteraceae). The absence of C. biebersteinii resulted in an increased likelihood of capturing T. huroniana. This was most likely due to the increased likelihood of encountering A. campestris in areas without C. biebersteinii. The occurrence of A. breviligulata was independent of C. biebersteinii presence. A significant positive linear relationship occurred between the percent cover of A. campestris and the traps that captured T. huroniana. There was no significant relationship between A. breviligulata percent cover and the traps that captured T. huroniana. The occurrence and distribution of T. huroniana is closely related to the presence and abundance of A. campestris. Habitat conservation and improvement for T. huroniana should include increases in A. campestris populations through the removal of C. biebersteinii

Interrupting the Response of \u3ci\u3eDendroctonus Simplex\u3c/i\u3e Leconte (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae) to Compounds That Elicit Aggregation of Adults

The eastern larch beetle, Dendroctonus simplex LeConte (Coleoptera: Curculionidae: Scolytinae), is a native bark beetle that has caused significant mortality to tamarack, Larix laricinia, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The effectiveness of potentially attractive chemicals for D. simplex was tested and the most attractive compound, seudenol, was used in subsequent studies to test interruptants against D. simplex. Verbenone, methylcyclohexenone (MCH), and 4-allylanisole were tested as potential interruptants in combination with seudenol. Catches of D. simplex in traps baited with seudenol and MCH were not significantly different from catches in unbaited control traps, indicating successful interruption of the response to seudenol by MCH. Verbenone released at commercially available doses significantly increased catches of D. simplex in traps baited with seudenol, however it did not catch significantly more D. simplex than the unbaited control traps when released alone. Traps baited with 4-allylanisole did not significantly reduce the number of D. simplex captured compared to traps baited solely with seudenol. The potential for MCH to be used to protect individual trees and in stand level management of D. simplex is discussed

Patterns of information security postures for socio-technical systems and systems-of-systems

This paper describes a proposal to develop patterns of security postures for computer based socio-technical systems and systems-of-systems. Such systems typically span many organisational boundaries, integrating multiple computer systems, infrastructures and organisational processes. The paper describes the motivation for the proposed work, and our approach to the development, specification, integration and validation of security patterns for socio-technical and system-of-system scale systems

A comparison of forensic evidence recovery techniques for a windows mobile smart phone

<p>Acquisition, decoding and presentation of information from mobile devices is complex and challenging. Device memory is usually integrated into the device, making isolation prior to recovery difficult. In addition, manufacturers have adopted a variety of file systems and formats complicating decoding and presentation.</p> <p>A variety of tools and methods have been developed (both commercially and in the open source community) to assist mobile forensics investigators. However, it is unclear to what extent these tools can present a complete view of the information held on a mobile device, or the extent the results produced by different tools are consistent.</p> <p>This paper investigates what information held on a Windows Mobile smart phone can be recovered using several different approaches to acquisition and decoding. The paper demonstrates that no one technique recovers all information of potential forensic interest from a Windows Mobile device; and that in some cases the information recovered is conflicting.</p&gt

Land Grant Application- Storer, Joseph (Falmouth)

Land grant application submitted to the Maine Land Office on behalf of Joseph Storer for service in the Revolutionary War, by their widow Joanna.https://digitalmaine.com/revolutionary_war_me_land_office/1864/thumbnail.jp