Showing papers by "Craig Anslow published in 2021"
10 May 2021
TL;DR: This paper explored alert systems to notify VR users about non-immersed bystanders' in socially related, noncritical interaction contexts, and developed single and combined alert cues - leveraging proxemics, perception channels, and push/pull approaches and evaluated those via two user studies.
Abstract: Head-Mounted Virtual reality (VR) systems provide full-immersive experiences to users and completely isolate them from the outside world, placing them in unsafe situations. Existing research proposed different alert-based solutions to address this. Our work builds on these studies on notification systems for VR environments from a different perspective. We focus on: (i) exploring alert systems to notify VR users about non-immersed bystanders' in socially related, non-critical interaction contexts; (ii) understanding how best to provide awareness of non-immersed bystanders while maintaining presence and immersion within the Virtual Environment(VE). To this end, we developed single and combined alert cues - leveraging proxemics, perception channels, and push/pull approaches and evaluated those via two user studies. Our findings indicate a strong preference towards maintaining immersion and combining audio and visual cues, push and pull notification techniques that evolve dynamically based on proximity.
28 citations
IT University of Copenhagen1, Chalmers University of Technology2, Leibniz University of Hanover3, Reutlingen University4, FOM University of Applied Sciences for Economics and Management5, University of Tartu6, University of Innsbruck7, German Aerospace Center8, Auckland University of Technology9, Makerere University10, Portland State University11, University of Limerick12, Bilkent University13, University of Costa Rica14, National University of Tres de Febrero15, University of Otago16, Clausthal University of Technology17, University of Calgary18, Middle East Technical University19, Dublin City University20, Dundalk Institute of Technology21, University of Castilla–La Mancha22, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro23, Federal University of Amazonas24, Rafael Advanced Defense Systems25, Technische Universität München26, Atatürk University27, University of Bari28, National Research University – Higher School of Economics29, University of Southern Denmark30, Bergen University College31, Victoria University of Wellington32, École Polytechnique de Montréal33, University of Paderborn34, Vienna University of Technology35, University of Chile36, Center for Strategic and International Studies37
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an empirical study grounded in a large-scale international survey that aims to identify software development methods and practices that improve or tame agility in the software industry.
Abstract: Together with many success stories, promises such as the increase in production speed and the improvement in stakeholders' collaboration have contributed to making agile a transformation in the software industry in which many companies want to take part. However, driven either by a natural and expected evolution or by contextual factors that challenge the adoption of agile methods as prescribed by their creator(s), software processes in practice mutate into hybrids over time. Are these still agile In this article, we investigate the question: what makes a software development method agile We present an empirical study grounded in a large-scale international survey that aims to identify software development methods and practices that improve or tame agility. Based on 556 data points, we analyze the perceived degree of agility in the implementation of standard project disciplines and its relation to used development methods and practices. Our findings suggest that only a small number of participants operate their projects in a purely traditional or agile manner (under 15%). That said, most project disciplines and most practices show a clear trend towards increasing degrees of agility. Compared to the methods used to develop software, the selection of practices has a stronger effect on the degree of agility of a given discipline. Finally, there are no methods or practices that explicitly guarantee or prevent agility. We conclude that agility cannot be defined solely at the process level. Additional factors need to be taken into account when trying to implement or improve agility in a software company. Finally, we discuss the field of software process-related research in the light of our findings and present a roadmap for future research.
23 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an up-to-date review on the state-of-the-art techniques and tools used for code smells detection and visualization techniques validation experiments.
Abstract: Code smells tend to compromise software quality and also demand more effort by developers to maintain and evolve the application throughout its life-cycle. They have long been catalogued with corresponding mitigating solutions called refactoring operations. Researchers have argued that due to the subjectiveness of the code smells detection process, proposing an effective use of automatic support for this end is a non trivial task. This systematic literature review (SLR) has a twofold goal: the first is to identify the main code smells detection techniques and tools discussed in the literature, and the second is to analyze to which extent visual techniques have been applied to support the former. Over eighty primary studies indexed in major scientific repositories were identified by our search string in this SLR. Then, following existing best practices for secondary studies, we applied inclusion/exclusion criteria to select the most relevant works, extract their features and classify them. We found that the most commonly used approaches to code smells detection are search-based (30.1%), metric-based (24.1%), and symptom-based approaches (19.3%). Most of the studies (83.1%) use open-source software, with the Java language occupying the first position (77.1%). In terms of code smells, God Class (51.8%), Feature Envy (33.7%), and Long Method (26.5%) are the most covered ones. Machine learning (ML) techniques are used in 35% of the studies, with genetic programming, decision tree, support vector machines and association rules being the most used algorithms. Around 80% of the studies only detect code smells, without providing visualization techniques. In visualization-based approaches several methods are used, such as: city metaphors, 3D visualization techniques, interactive ambient visualization, polymetric views, or graph models. This paper presents an up-to-date review on the state-of-the-art techniques and tools used for code smells detection and visualization. We confirm that the detection of code smells is a non trivial task, and there is still a lot of work to be done in terms of: reducing the subjectivity associated with the definition and detection of code smells; increasing the diversity of detected code smells and of supported programming languages; constructing and sharing oracles and datasets to facilitate the replication of code smells detection and visualization techniques validation experiments.
6 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a socio-material approach was applied to explore how furniture is used in a flexible learning environment, and students demonstrated environmental competence, including awareness of the ways that the available furniture can be used for different types of curriculum activities and how environmental and social conditions can affect comfort, collaboration and concentration levels.
Abstract: Classroom furniture has evolved over time from fixed desks facing the front to maintain order and control to a range of flexible furniture types to encourage student-centred pedagogies. This article reports research that applied a socio-material approach to explore how furniture is used in a flexible learning environment. Data were gathered from observations, reflections, student focus group interviews and teacher interviews in one school in New Zealand. In this context it was found that students used furniture for different purposes. Individual student preferences and differences were evident including unconventional use of furniture. The use of furniture was influenced by the teachers, students, environment, furniture design and the curriculum, and mediated by pedagogy and a focus on developing autonomy and environmental competence. The students demonstrated environmental competence, including awareness of the ways that the available furniture can be used for different types of curriculum activities and how environmental and social conditions can affect comfort, collaboration and concentration levels. In classrooms where students move around the space, environmental competence should be deliberately embedded in the teaching programme implicitly and explicitly. In this context, the teachers controlled the environment and the students had restricted autonomy over their use of furniture. The notion of student-centredness in contemporary classroom environments requires further investigation.
6 citations
14 Jun 2021
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors evaluated how the four key metrics of DevOps can be measured automatically and developed a prototype for the automatic measurement of the Four Key Metrics, and evaluated if the measurement is valuable for practitioners in a company.
Abstract: The Four Key Metrics of DevOps have become very popular for measuring IT-performance and DevOps adoption. However, the measurement of the four metrics deployment frequency, lead time for change, time to restore service and change failure rate is often done manually and through surveys - with only few data points. In this work we evaluated how the Four Key Metrics can be measured automatically and developed a prototype for the automatic measurement of the Four Key Metrics. We then evaluated if the measurement is valuable for practitioners in a company. The analysis shows that the chosen measurement approach is both suitable and the results valuable for the team with respect to measuring and improving the software delivery performance.
3 citations
01 May 2021
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined perceived social support as a strengthening factor on work engagement in an agile work environment and found that the Scrum event Retrospective strengthened social support and positively related to work engagement.
Abstract: One of the core values of the Agile Manifesto is “individuals and interactions over processes and tools.” Scrum implements interaction through key events (Sprint, Sprint Planning, Daily Scrum, Sprint Review, and Retrospective). There is limited work done on how these events influence perceived social support and work engagement. This paper examines perceived social support as a strengthening factor on work engagement in an agile work environment. Drawing upon the Job Demands-Resource Model, the research question is how do Scrum events relate to social support and what effect do they have on work engagement? We conducted an online survey with 132 Scrum professionals and analysed the data using structural equation modelling. Results show that the Scrum event Retrospective strengthened social support. Moreover, social support is positively related to work engagement. The research contributes to the limited empirical understanding on perceived social support as well as work engagement in an agile work environment. It provides companies with an understanding of the importance of Retrospectives as a Scrum event.
1 citations
01 Jan 2021
TL;DR: Lin et al. as mentioned in this paper developed a Virtual Reality radiation (VR) therapy simulation prototype that provides an immersive training solution for radiation therapy students and educators, and evaluated it with 15 radiation therapy patients and educators.
Abstract: Cancer is the cause of over 16% of deaths globally. A common form of cancer treatment is radiation therapy; however, students learning radiation therapy have limited access to practical training opportunities due to the high demand upon equipment. Simulation of radiation therapy can provide an effective training solution without requiring expensive and in-demand equipment. We have developed LINACVR, a Virtual Reality radiation (VR) therapy simulation prototype that provides an immersive training solution. We evaluated LINACVR with 15 radiation therapy students and educators. The results indicated that LINACVR would be effective in radiation therapy training and was more effective than existing simulators. The implication of our design is that VR simulation could help to improve the education process of learning about domain-specific health areas such as radiation therapy.
1 citations
01 Jan 2021
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the state of practice using data from a study of software professionals in Switzerland, especially addressing the issue of overall satisfaction, revealing that the most striking correlation to satisfaction is the level of adoption of self-managing teams, whereas the strongest hindrances to satisfaction are a lack of ability to change the organizational culture and lack of management support.
Abstract: This chapter deals with the Manifesto’s principle of self-organizing teams. In recent work, the authors examine the state of practice using data from a study of software professionals in Switzerland, especially addressing the issue of overall satisfaction. The chapter reveals that the most striking correlation to satisfaction is the level of adoption of self-managing teams, whereas the strongest hindrances to satisfaction are a lack of ability to change the organizational culture and lack of management support. The analysis shows that technical and collaborative practices were related to self-organization and satisfaction, but were not able to explain satisfaction by themselves. Even with strong technical and collaborative practices, however, satisfaction is not assured, demonstrating that goals of creating timely and successful products and services matter.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a partial reproduction of work by Soltani et al. which presented EvoCrash, a tool for replicating software failures in Java by reproducing stack traces.
Abstract: This paper is a partial reproduction of work by Soltani et al. which presented EvoCrash, a tool for replicating software failures in Java by reproducing stack traces. EvoCrash uses a guided genetic algorithm to generate JUnit test cases capable of reproducing failures more reliably than existing coverage-based solutions. In this paper, we present the findings of our reproduction of the initial study exploring the effectiveness of EvoCrash and comparison to three existing solutions: STAR, JCHARMING, and MuCrash. We further explored the capabilities of EvoCrash on different programs to check for selection bias. We found that we can reproduce the crashes covered by EvoCrash in the original study while reproducing two additional crashes not reported as reproduced. We also find that EvoCrash was unsuccessful in reproducing several crashes from the JCHARMING paper, which were excluded from the original study. Both EvoCrash and JCHARMING could reproduce 73\% of the crashes from the JCHARMING paper. We found that there was potentially some selection bias in the dataset for EvoCrash. We also found that some crashes had been reported as non-reproducible even when EvoCrash could reproduce them. We suggest this may be due to EvoCrash becoming stuck in a local optimum.