Explicit Import Revisited: A Critical Appraisal of Explicatures

The main goal of this paper is to argue that the way explicitly communicated content is approached in leading pragmatic theories is flawed, since it is posited that explicature generation involves pragmatic enrichment of the decoded logical form of the utterance to full propositionality. This kind of enhancement postulated to underlie explicature generation appears to be theoretically inadequate and not to correspond to the psychological reality of utterance interpretation. Drawing on earlier critique of extant pragmatic positions on explicatures, mainly by Borg (2016) and Jary (2016), I add further arguments against modelling explicitly communicated import in the way leading verbal communication frameworks do. It is emphasized that the cognitively plausible theory of communicated meaning is compromised at the cost of theory-internal concerns.

A Novel Security Methodology for Smart Grids: A Case Study of Microcomputer-Based Encryption for PMU Devices

Coordination of a power system with the phasor measurement devices (PMUs) in real time on the load and generation sides is carried out within the context of smart grid studies. Power systems equipped with information systems in a smart grid pace with external security threats. Developing a smart grid which can resist against cyber threats is considered indispensable for the uninterrupted operation. In this study, a two-way secure communication methodology underpinned by a chaos-based encryption algorithm for PMU devices is proposed. The proposed system uses the IEEE-14 busbar system on which the optimum PMU placement has been installed. The proposed hyperchaotic system-based encryption method is applied as a new security methodology among PMU devices. The success of results is evaluated by the completeness of data exchange, durations, the complexity of encryption-decryption processes, and strength of cryptography using a microcomputer-based implementation. The results show that the proposed microcomputer-based encryption algorithms can be directly embedded as encryption hardware units into PMU and PDC devices which have very fast signal processing capabilities taking into considerations the acceptable delay time for power system protection and measuring applications and quality metering applications which is 2 ms and 10 ms, respectively. While proposed algorithms can be used in TCP or UDP over IP-based IEEE C37.118, IEC 61850, and IEC 61850-90-5 communication frameworks, they can also be embedded into electronic cards, smartcards, or smart tokens which are utilized for authentication among smart grid components.

Communication Delay Modeling for Wide Area Measurement System in Smart Grid Internet of Things Networks

We present communication frameworks, models, and protocols of smart grid Internet of Things (IoT) networks based on the IEEE and IEC standards. The measurement, control, and monitoring of grid being achieved through phasor measurement unit (PMU) based wide area measurement (WAM) framework. The WAM framework applied the IEEE standard C37.118 phasor exchange protocol to collect grid data from various substation devices. The existing frameworks include the IEC 61850 protocol and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) based supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system. These protocols have been selected as per the smart grid configuration and communication design. However, the existing frameworks have severe synchronization errors due to the communication delays of IoT networks in the smart grid. Therefore, this article designs the timing mechanism and a delay model to reduce the timing delay and boost real-time measurement, monitoring, and control performance of the smart grid WAM applications. The result shows that the proposed model outperformed the existing WAM system.

“I am part of the group, the others listen to me”: theorising productive listening in mathematical group work

Although group work is considered beneficial for problem solving, the listening that is needed for jointly solving mathematical problems is under-researched. In this article, the usefulness of two communication frameworks for understanding students’ listening is examined, using data from an educational design research study in an upper secondary mathematics classroom in Sweden. From the analysis, it was apparent that these frameworks did not provide sufficient information about the complexity of listening in this context. Consequently, a new framework, “productive listening,” is described which focuses on observable features connected to students’ ability to show willingness to listen and to request listening from others. This framework included the purpose for listening, connected to problem-solving stages, and social aspects to do with respecting the speaker’s contribution as being valuable and feeling that one’s own contribution would be listened to. These two aspects are linked to socio-mathematical norms about expecting to listen to others’ mathematical thinking and to ask clarifying questions about this thinking. By using this framework on the data from the earlier study, it was possible to better understand the complexity of listening in group work about mathematical problem solving.

Strategic Communication and Prevention of Violent Extremism through Education: The Case of Kosovo

Strategic communication is an important asset when countering violent extremism at an institutional level, whereas its objective is to give emphasis to internal communication models that function within given organizations and institutions. Internet is one of the main communication frameworks used by violent extremist groups nowadays. Social media networks, such as YouTube for example, are among the most used communication forms used to recruit youngsters and other persons to join the conflict zones in the Middle East. State institutions in Kosovo have acted in preventing violent extremism by drafting national level strategies countering violent extremism. One of the main pillars that is foreseen as an important tool to prevent and react against this negative phenomenon is better education of children and youngsters. Therefore, national education institutions have an important responsibility to counter extremist narratives through internal and external communication as well as to address issues that can aggravate violent behavior and actions. Received: 12 December 2020 / Accepted: 2 February 2021 / Published: 5 March 2021

De tsunamis, olas, quijotes y KOvid-19. Una disección metafórica de la pandemia a través de las viñetas

Several studies have shown evidence for the significant role that metaphors play in public health communication. The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered not only the use of common communication frameworks such as war metaphors, but also the creative use of metaphors, which is particularly relevant in the case of cartoonists. This article presents a review of the different metaphors used in cartoons (both in Spanish and in English), with the aim of compiling different metaphorical uses and reflecting upon the evaluative function of metaphors and how they contribute to expressing different visions of reality. The examples collected here show not only how certain social and political actions are legitimised or discredited, but also how these uses often appeal to particular contextual knowledge.

Cognitive Dissonance and Disaster Risk Communication

Much of effective disaster risk communications practice is based on the equitable distribution of crisis messaging to the target population. Priority is given, for example, to getting an evacuation message to the most people possible using a language and medium appropriate to that audience. Cognitive dissonance (CD) studies, however, show that well-intentioned disaster management messaging not only can produce an undesirable public reaction, but can also solidify public sentiment to resist or deny that very message. This focused literature review of a modest-sized body of research on the effects of cognitive dissonance on disaster management risk communications will produce two results. First, the research will demonstrate that a basic understanding of CD could help disaster communicators craft more effective messaging and, second, it will introduce a preliminary cognitive dissonance index (CDI) that can be easily plugged into existing crisis communication models. This “upgrade” to existing risk communication frameworks represents an efficient method to close the theory to practice loop and begin to account for the power of CD in our national and international disaster communications.