Webometry: Measuring the complexity of the world wide web

The explosive growth of the WWW may be viewed as the neurogenesis phase in the embryogenesis of a new planetary civilization. To empower this emergent phenomenon with self‐reflection, we propose strategies for the visualization of the complexity of the WWW, seen as a neural net. The pointwise fractal dimension of a massive matrix is the basis of our strategy.     

READING EDUCATION: REPORT FROM ITALY

Cross‐cultural examinations of teaching and schooling can help one gain a new, more open perspective on that which is the closest at hand. One's own experiences provide a personal framework through which all subsequent perceptions are filtered, so that what may seem “objective” is really a view colored by past events and performances.

This paper presents information gained from a year spent observing and talking with teachers and teacher trainers in Italy, a country in which the statement “There is no reading problem in Italy” is often heard and just as often qualified by exceptions. By looking at the processes and procedures which match and vary from the norm of the United States, one can begin to sort out those things that may be operational or philosophical “giyens” in reading education from those things which vary in a different cultural context.     

Technology and At-Risk Young Readers and their Classrooms

This study examined the ways in which 18 first-grade teachers and their students in 11 high-risk urban schools began to use literacy-focused technology. The goal of the study was to observe the technology in use by the students, to observe the classroom dynamics and teachers’ instructional choices centered around technology use, to look at student learning, and to investigate student and teacher perceptions and beliefs as they began to use technology for literacy. Analyses of classroom and pupil observational data and of student performance data indicated positive effects of the literacy technology on classroom instruction and student literacy achievement. Further, interviews of students and teachers confirmed that the literacy technology was perceived as engaging and effective by both groups of stakeholders. The study also generated implications for further research and practice in schools struggling to make change.     

Clinical Strategies for Integrating Medication Interventions Into Behavioral Treatment for Adolescent ADHD: The Medication Integration Protocol

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is prevalent among adolescents enrolled in behavioral health services but remains undertreated, and the first-line treatment option, stimulant medication, is underutilized. To address this gap, this article introduces the Medication Integration Protocol (MIP): ADHD Assessment and Medication Consult; ADHD Psychoeducation and Client Acceptance; ADHD Symptoms and Family Relations; ADHD Medication and Family Decision-Making; and Medication Management and Integration Planning. The article concludes by highlighting what behavior therapists should know about integrating medication interventions into primary care; managing medication priorities for adolescents with multiple diagnoses, including substance use problems; and the compatibility of MIP with everyday practice conditions.     

“Of Course All Relationships Are Unique”: How Co-creative Processes Generate Unique Mother–Infant and Patient–Therapist Relationships and Change Other Relationships

The question of the uniqueness of relationships is examined: How do relationships come to be unique? What are some of the features of their uniqueness? And how can relationships, be it the mother—infant relationship or the patient—therapist relationship, have unique rather than archetypical effects on other relationships? A model of relationship uniqueness is presented that argues that mother and infant, and patient and therapist, co-create dyadic states of consciousness—states of making implicit and explicit sense of the world—out of their normally messy exchanges of age-possible meanings. These co-creative processes lead to change in the infant's and child's state of knowing the world, and also change the way the patient makes sense of the world and ways of being with others. Additionally presented are (I) a critique of attachment theory's assumption that the mother—infant relationship is the prototype of later relationships; (2) a critique of models of therapeutic change that see adult analysis as working primarily in the same domain as the workings of the mother-infant relationship; (3) a brain model of co-creative relational processes, Relational Activation Patterns (RAPs); and (4) possible psychodynamic processes in infants.     

Dynamic balance between grain refinement and grain growth during high-pressure torsion of Cu powders

High-pressure torsion (HPT) was applied to unmilled coarse-grained (CG) Cu powders with low initial dislocation density and cryomilled nanocrystalline (nc) Cu powders with high initial dislocation density, with identical processing parameters. HPT of unmilled CG Cu powders resulted in exceptional grain refinement and increase in dislocation density, whereas significant grain growth and decrease in dislocation density occurred during HPT of cryomilled nc Cu powders. Equilibrium structures were achieved under both conditions, with very similar stable grain sizes and dislocation densities, suggesting dynamic balances between deformation-induced grain refinement and grain growth, and between deformation-induced dislocation accumulation and dislocation annihilation. The equilibrium structures are governed by these two dynamic balances.     

A new modulated structure in GaN nanoparticles

A new modulated structure with a superlattice having parameters a = 2.209nm, b = 3.826nm, c = 1.037nm and f = g = n = 90 has been found in GaN nanoparticles synthesized by a dc arc plasma method. The nanoparticles transformed further into particles with holes at their centres under electron-beam irradiation during high-resolution electron microscopy observations. At the same time, Ga atoms were extruded on to the surface of the nanoparticles and formed an amorphous layer. A series of simulations of high-resolution images and electron diffraction patterns revealed that the modulation could be attributed to aggregations of N vacancies founded during the electron bombardment. Molecular mechanics calculations show that the aggregation of N vacancies is far more energetically favourable than that of Ga vacancies. The stability of the GaN particles is discussed.     

Grain growth as a stochastic and curvature-driven process

Grain growth subjected to the interplay of stochastic and curvature-driven mechanisms in a single-phase system has been investigated. Numerical results have shown that when the grains are smaller than several tens of nanometres the dominating mechanism is stochastic diffusion control of boundaries. As the grains grow the influence of the deterministic curvature-driven mechanism increases and finally controls the process. In terms of finite-difference solutions to the Fokker–Planck continuity equation, the predicted grain size approaches a log-normal distribution, which agrees well with experimental observations.