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Raw observations (carrier-phase and code observations) from the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) can now be accessed from Android mobile phones (Version 7.0 onwards). This paves the way for GNSS data to be utilized for low-cost precise positioning or in ionospheric or tropospheric applications. This paper presents results from data collection campaigns using the CAMALIOT mobile app. In the first campaign, 116.3 billion measurements from 11,828 mobile devices were collected from all continents. Although participation decreased during the second campaign, data are still being collected globally. In this contribution, we demonstrate the potential of volunteered geographic information (VGI) from mobile phones to fill data gaps in geodetic station networks that collect GNSS data, e.g. in Brazil, but also how the data can provide a denser set of observations than current networks in countries across Europe. We also show that mobile phones capable of dual-frequency reception, which is an emerging technology that can provide a richer source of GNSS data, are contributing in a substantial way. Finally, we present the results from a survey of participants to indicate that participation is diverse in terms of backgrounds and geography, where the dominant motivation for participation is to contribute to scientific research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the interplay of digital media and space in the creation of a low-skilled informational workforce in urban settings. Based on ethnographic research among cell phone SIM card street vendors in Belo Horizonte city in Brazil, I argue that these workers constitute a fraction of a precarious digital workforce fundamental for the reproduction of informational/communicational markets in the peripheries of digital capitalism. The emergence of these low-skilled informational workers does not rely solely on their technological abilities or the specific spatialities in which they perform simple informational labor. Instead, I argue that their emergence as digital workers arises from the intersection of space, labor and digital media. In particular, I show how the conformation of this precarious Brazilian cybertariat enables us to grasp the role that subordinated digitization plays in contemporary capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As soon as a technology is implemented in a culture, it is possible to observe social uses that were not intended by the inventors or producers of that technology. People create strategies to take advantage of the new resource. Using social interaction theories and an ethnographic approach in the natural setting of cell phone use in Brazil, we observed how people use the mobile phone technology for interpersonal communication. This paper addresses three subversive uses of mobile technology, namely, i) strategies of mobile phone coding; ii) SIM card management; and iii) criminal uses of mobile phones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents an overview of cell phone recycling programs currently available in the United States. At the same time, it also provides analyses of the current recycling situation and possible recycling alternatives for Brazil. Although there are several recycling options in the United States, collection rates are still only 10% of all potential devices because customers are not aware of these possibilities. The whole system is financially based on reselling refurbished cell phones and recycled materials to developing countries which represent an effective and strong market. Several recyclers offer funds to collection partners who are either charities or who work with charities while obtaining the materials that they need in order to run their operations. A mobile phone recycling system for Brazil considering the United States experience and the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) principle is suggested. A deposit/refund/advance-recycling fee is proposed which might be implemented as a voluntary industrial initiative managed by PRO Brazil, a producer responsibility organization. One widespread public–private agreement will integrate all mobile phone stakeholders, and environmental education actions and promotional events will promote citizen’s participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper reports results from the first NDS in Brazil. • A safety comparison between non- and organized carpooling situations is performed. • Results indicate safer behaviour during carpooling in terms of MPU while driving. • Results partially confirm safer behaviour during carpooling in terms of speeding. Carpooling consists of drivers and passengers sharing a journey and its costs. Nowadays, in the context of mobility as a service, organized carpooling encompasses a service and trust relationship between drivers and passengers, by matching common routes and splitting cost through mobile phone applications. Therefore, passengers expect a certain level of travel quality and safety. In this context, this research aims to verify the hypothesis that drivers in an organized carpooling situation (CP) show safer driving behavior in terms of speeding (SP) and mobile phone use while driving (MPU) in comparison with non-carpooling (NCP) drivers. The research is based on data from the Brazilian Naturalistic Driving Study (NDS-BR) conducted in the City of Curitiba, with 40.45 driving hours and a traveled distance of 895.87 km. Methodology included the selection of safety performance indicators on SP and MPU, use of nonparametric Wilcoxon signed rank test for safety performance indicator comparisons and Pearson Chi-Square to test the association between CP or NCP and low or high indicator values. Hypothesis test results point in the same direction and partially confirm the initial assumption that CP induces safer behavior in terms of speeding. The statistically sound results showed that CP drivers engaged in less speeding episodes and mobile phone use duration in comparison to NCP drivers, as well as lower speed while using a mobile phone. In addition, driver behavior in CP and NCP situations also differed in terms of the type of MPU, with the proportion of types of use that demand a higher level of visual and manual distraction being higher among NCP drivers. In summary, these results confirm the initial hypothesis of safer driving behavior during carpooling in terms of MPU while driving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]