On the impact of overlapping access points in detecting node encounters

Data traces, consisting of logs about the use of mobile and wireless networks, have been used to study the statistics of encounters between mobile nodes, in an attempt to predict the performance of opportunistic networks. Understanding the role and potential of mobile devices as relaying nodes in message dissemination and delivery depends on the knowledge about patterns and number of encounters among nodes. Data traces about the use of WiFi networks are widely available and can be used to extract large datasets of encounters between nodes. However, these logs only capture indirect encounters between nodes, and the resulting encounters datasets might not realistically represent the spatial and temporal behaviour of nodes. This paper addresses the impact of overlapping between the coverage areas of different Access Points of WiFi networks in extracting encounters datasets from the usage logs. Simulation and real-world experimental results show that indirect encounter traces extracted directly from these logs strongly underestimate the opportunities for direct node-to- node message exchange in opportunistic networks.

Repository power: how repositories can support Open Access mandates

Many funding agencies have Open Access mandates in place, but how often are scientific publications as outputs linked to funding details? The benefits of linking funding information to publications as part of the deposit workflow can assist in adhering to Open Access mandates. This paper examines how OpenAIRE – Open Access Infrastructure for Research in Europe – can ease monitoring Open Access and reporting processes for funders, and presents some results and opportunities. It also outlines how it relies on cleaned and curated repository content, a vital cog in the ever turning wheel of the global scholarly landscape, and the benefits it brings.

Gender, sex and sexuality in two open access communication journals published in Portugal: a critical overview of current discursive practices

The links between gender, sex and sexuality and their relevance are theoretically and politically problematic (Richardson, 2007). One of the difficulties in understanding their interconnections is that these terms are often used differently and ambiguously by different authors (and even by the same authors). This article reports the results of an analysis of the articles published in open access communication journals with known impact factor, edited in Portugal and published between 2005 and 2012. The diverse conceptualisations of those three basic concepts and of their (inter)relationships within communication research are identified. The complexity and the intricate (and often implicit) nature of both the meanings of these categories and their relationships underlie and justify our attention and further research. What the findings suggest about the current communication research into gender issues published in the two journals surveyed is that the ‘Gender differences discourse’ (Sunderland, 2004) is the most pervasive discourse (also) in academic practice. Additionally, they show that gender and sex are mainly taken for a fact, not a question that is worth being studied. The editors of these journals, as well as the scholars submitting manuscripts, need to be more aware of the traditional nature of the theoretical and methodological choices that they make regarding gender- and sex-related issues, as well as of the relative lack of attention to sexuality as a research subject.

Listening to the public: enacting power : citizen access, Standing and influence in public participation discourses

Public participation in environmental governance is typically associated with citizen access to power despite many closures and limitations having been identified in participatory processes. This article proposes an analytical framework to analyse discursive practices involved in public consultation processes. Critical Discourse Analysis is used to examine and appraise citizens’ access, standing and influence. We apply that framework to a ‘notice and comment’ process on a hydroelectric power plan in Portugal and show that it was discursively managed to justify the decision of constructing 10 large dams and to reject critical or alternative views. Citizens’ access, standing and influence were constrained through diverse discursive practices which (re)produced very unequal power relationsbetween policy proponents and participating individuals. More generally, the article illustrates the potential of Critical Discourse Analysis to assess voice(s) in policy processes. Focusing on argumentative, interactional and rhetorical levels, and how they are interwoven in public consultation discourses, the proposed framework is conceivably applicable in other studies.