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In Open Source Software, resources of any project are open for reuse by introducing dependencies or copying the resource itself. In contrast to dependency-based reuse, the infrastructure to systematically support copy-based reuse appears to be entirely missing. Our aim is to enable future research and tool development to increase efficiency and reduce the risks of copy-based reuse. We seek a better understanding of such reuse by measuring its prevalence and identifying factors affecting the propensity to reuse. To identify reused artifacts and trace their origins, our method exploits World of Code infrastructure. We begin with a set of theory-derived factors related to the propensity to reuse, sample instances of different reuse types, and survey developers to better understand their intentions. Our results indicate that copy-based reuse is common, with many developers being aware of it when writing code. The propensity for a file to be reused varies greatly among languages and between source code and binary files, consistently decreasing over time. Files introduced by popular projects are more likely to be reused, but at least half of reused resources originate from “small” and “medium” projects. Developers had various reasons for reuse but were generally positive about using a package manager. 

Abstract While our understanding of the way single neurons process chromatic stimuli in the early visual pathway has advanced significantly in recent years, we do not yet know how these cells interact to form stable representations of hue. Drawing on physiological studies, we offer a dynamical model of how the primary visual cortex tunes for color, hinged on intracortical interactions and emergent network effects. After detailing the evolution of network activity through analytical and numerical approaches, we discuss the effects of the model’s cortical parameters on the selectivity of the tuning curves. In particular, we explore the role of the model’s thresholding nonlinearity in enhancing hue selectivity by expanding the region of stability, allowing for the precise encoding of chromatic stimuli in early vision. Finally, in the absence of a stimulus, the model is capable of explaining hallucinatory color perception via a Turing-like mechanism of biological pattern formation.