1,721,009 research outputs found
On the diffuseness and the impact on maintainability of code smells: A large scale empirical investigation
Full text linkCode smells are symptoms of poor design and implementation choices that may hinder code comprehensibility and maintainability. Despite the effort devoted by the research community in studying code smells, the extent to which code smells in software systems affect software maintainability remains still unclear. In this paper we present a large scale empirical investigation on the diffuseness of code smells and their impact on code change- and fault-proneness. The study was conducted across a total of 395 releases of 30 open source projects and considering 17,350 manually validated instances of 13 different code smell kinds. The results show that smells characterized by long and/or complex code (e.g., Complex Class) are highly diffused, and that smelly classes have a higher change- and fault-proneness than smell-free classes.Software Engineerin
Human-Agent versus Human Pull Requests: A Testing-Focused Characterization and Comparison
Full text linkAI-based coding agents are increasingly integrated into software development workflows, collaborating with developers to create pull requests (PRs). Despite their growing adoption, the role of human-agent collaboration in software testing remains poorly understood. This paper presents an empirical study of 6,582 human-agent PRs (HAPRs) and 3,122 human PRs (HPRs) from the AIDev dataset. We compare HAPRs and HPRs along three dimensions: (i) testing frequency and extent, (ii) types of testing-related changes (code-and-test co-evolution vs. test-focused), and (iii) testing quality, measured by test smells. Our findings reveal that, although the likelihood of including tests is comparable (42.9% for HAPRs vs. 40.0% for HPRs), HAPRs exhibit a larger extent of testing, nearly doubling the test-to-source line ratio found in HPRs. While test-focused task distributions are comparable, HAPRs are more likely to add new tests during co-evolution (OR = 1.79), whereas HPRs prioritize modifying existing tests. Finally, although some test smell categories differ statistically, negligible effect sizes suggest no meaningful differences in quality. These insights provide the first characterization of how human-agent collaboration shapes testing practices
Visual Authorization Policies in a Process Support System
No full textWe present an approach to integrate a visual authorization policy management system based on
RBAC and XACM in the ADAMS (ADvanced Artifact Management System) Process Support System.
ADAMS is a Web-based system that integrates project management features such as resource
allocation and process control and artifact management features, such as coordination of cooperative
workers and artifact versioning, as well as context-awareness. We propose a hierarchy of visual
languages aiming to support project managers and security administrators in modeling RBAC
based access policies in ADAMS. The visual sentences are translated into XACML and stored into a
Policy Repository. In this way the Policy Management System is able to process XACML requests
and compare them against the defined access policies
Seeing is Believing: Assessing and Enhancing Android Privacy Indicators Through Eye-Tracking Analysis
No full textToday, mobile device privacy is more crucial than ever, pushing Android to introduce Privacy Indicators (PIs) to enhance transparency and protect users. These visual alert systems signal when sensitive resources, like the camera or microphone, are in use. The effectiveness of these visual elements is clearly linked to their ability to capture the users’ gaze. In this paper, we leverage eye-tracking technology to explore PIs’ ability to catch the users’ attention. In a controlled experiment with 29 participants, we uncovered significant gaps in PI effectiveness, particularly during high-engagement tasks, showing that changes in the PI implementation may affect its visibility, still highlighting the need for more attention-grabbing privacy notifications. Building on these findings, a second experiment with 14 participants assessed the Disk PI—the best performer from the initial study—across passive (video watching) and active (app usage) usage contexts. Even concerning these two factors, the results show the limits of the proposed solution, suggesting the need for careful analysis of the UI elements that are most effective in capturing the user’s gaze to create a better solution. Heatmap analysis revealed that users consistently focus on centrally located, dynamic elements and text while ignoring static and peripheral areas. Inspired by these insights, we developed a new Popup PI, strategically positioned at the top center of the screen with dynamic animations and textual information. This Popup PI significantly increased user attention and retention, proving to be a more effective solution for privacy notifications. Our research underscores the urgent need for intuitive and user-friendly privacy indicators in the Android ecosystem. The compelling evidence points to the Popup PI as a superior alternative, greatly enhancing user awareness and privacy protection. These findings are a pivotal step towards evolving privacy mechanisms, fostering a safer and more transparent digital environment for all users, and advancing the methodology of utilizing eye tracking in user experience research
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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