arXiv subjects

Mark Levine

Publications and source records attributed to Mark Levine.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

FormIDEAble: Safe and Socially-aware Autonomous Systems

Autonomous agents operating in socio-critical settings must coordinate with humans under uncertainty while respecting explicit safety constraints. Existing approaches either account for social dynamics without formal guarantees or provide formal assurance while abstracting away human behaviour. We introduce FormIDEAble, a formally grounded approach for synthesising socially-aware cooperation strategies with safety guarantees. The cooperation between humans and the autonomous agent is modelled as a Priced Timed Markov Decision Process, and decision-making is formulated as a cost-bounded reachability problem. We illustrate the approach using an emergency evacuation scenario. Initial experimental evidence demonstrates the effectiveness of the approach and highlights the trade-offs between optimisation and safety guarantees. FormIDEAble provides a principled foundation for formally assured, socially-aware decision-making in socio-critical systems.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2026

Does social identity matter in software engineering? Assessing the case of research software engineers

Social identity is a concept from psychology that refers to the part of an individual's identity that derives from their group membership(s). In this paper, we explore social identity in members of the professional community of Research Software Engineers (RSEs). Using a mixed-methods approach, our study combined computational linguistic analysis and inferential statistics to examine over 28,000 social media posts, 1,700 blogs, and survey responses from 381 professional RSEs. The findings highlight the emergence of a collective RSE identity and demonstrate its role in shaping professional wellbeing. This study contributes an interdisciplinary perspective by integrating social psychology and software engineering to show how a professional identity evolves and why it matters.

cs.SE↗

arXiv2022

On Specifying for Trustworthiness

As autonomous systems (AS) increasingly become part of our daily lives, ensuring their trustworthiness is crucial. In order to demonstrate the trustworthiness of an AS, we first need to specify what is required for an AS to be considered trustworthy. This roadmap paper identifies key challenges for specifying for trustworthiness in AS, as identified during the "Specifying for Trustworthiness" workshop held as part of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) programme. We look across a range of AS domains with consideration of the resilience, trust, functionality, verifiability, security, and governance and regulation of AS and identify some of the key specification challenges in these domains. We then highlight the intellectual challenges that are involved with specifying for trustworthiness in AS that cut across domains and are exacerbated by the inherent uncertainty involved with the environments in which AS need to operate.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2020

Altruism and anxiety: Engagement with online community support initiatives (OCSIs) during Covid-19 lockdown in the UK and Ireland

Given concerns about mental health during periods of Covid-19 lockdown, it important to understand how engagement with online Covid-19 related material can affect mood. In the UK and Ireland, online community support initiatives (OCSIs) have emerged to help people manage their lives. Yet, little is known about how people engaged with these or whether they influenced subsequent mood. We conducted surveys to explore how people in the UK and Ireland engaged with OCSIs, and found that 70% did so to offer support (e.g. to provide company). Those who did so reported feeling significantly calmer afterwards, those who engaged for general concerns (e.g. in response to anti-social behaviour) reported feeling significantly more anxious afterwards, but there was no difference in reported mood for those who engaged for other reasons (e.g. to share experiences or views). Thus, engaging with an OCSI for altruistic purposes might help to make people feel calmer.

cs.CY↗

arXiv2020

Building trust in digital policing: A scoping review of community policing apps

Perceptions of police trustworthiness are linked to citizens' willingness to cooperate with police. Trust can be fostered by introducing accountability mechanisms, or by increasing a shared police/citizen identity, both which can be achieved digitally. Digital mechanisms can also be designed to safeguard, engage, reassure, inform, and empower diverse communities. We systematically scoped 240 existing online citizen-police and relevant third-party communication apps, to examine whether they sought to meet community needs and policing visions. We found that 82% required registration or login details, 55% of those with a reporting mechanism allowed for anonymous reporting, and 10% provided an understandable privacy policy. Police apps were more likely to seek to reassure, safeguard and inform users, while third-party apps were more likely to seek to empower users. As poorly designed apps risk amplifying mistrust and undermining policing efforts, we suggest 12 design considerations to help ensure the development of high quality/fit for purpose Police/Citizen apps.

cs.CY↗