Rethinking Open Universities

Rethinking Microblogging: Open, Distributed, Semantic

In order to break down the walls that lock-in social data and social networks, new paradigms and architectures must be envisioned. There needs to be a focus on the one hand on distributed architectures — so that users remain owners of their data — and on the other hand on means to semantically-enhance their content — so that it becomes more meaningful and interoperable. In this paper, we detail...

Rethinking Guard Cell Metabolism1[OPEN]

Stomata control gaseous fluxes between the internal leaf air spaces and the external atmosphere and, therefore, play a pivotal role in regulating CO2 uptake for photosynthesis as well as water loss through transpiration. Guard cells, which flank the stomata, undergo adjustments in volume, resulting in changes in pore aperture. Stomatal opening is mediated by the complex regulation of ion transp...

Ranking Universities Using Linked Open Data

Ranking of universities represents a complex endeavor which involves gathering, weighting, and analyzing diverse data. Emerging semantic technologies enable the Web of Data, a giant graph of interconnected information resources, also known as Linked Data. A recent community effort, Linking Open Data project, offers the possibility of accessing a large number of semantically described and linked...

Is a Gold Open Access World Viable for Research Universities?

Open access is at the heart of a seismic shift in scholarly publishing. In particular, gold open access (OA) has expanded at an accelerated pace, increasing in market share every year. In the gold OA model, financial viability shifts from the demand to the supply side, with article processing charges (APCs) a common scenario. Ideally, this model would be sustainable for academic research instit...

Postgraduate research supervision in the emerging ‘open’ universities