About one tenth of the world’s population cannot read and write sufficiently. Cognitive abilities, such as selective attention and crystallized as well as fluid intelligence, have been defined as crucial factors for the acquisition of written language skills. However, it is unclear whether these abilities are necessary also for the alphabetization of adults. Before and after a one-year alphabet...

Few IS studies have examined the phenomenon of cyberloafing, i.e., nonwork-related Internet use by employees during work time. This in-progress research proposes to take an individual trait approach and investigates the impact of general traits, like the “Big Five,” as well as domain-specific ones, such as computer playfulness. It is hypothesized that while the Big Five will be significant pred...

Michael A. Reynolds, an FPRI Senior Fellow, is an Associate Professor in Princeton‟s Department of Near Eastern Studies where he teaches courses on modern Middle Eastern and Eurasian history, comparative empire, military and ethnic conflict, and secularism. He is author of Shattering Empires: The Clash and Collapse of the Ottoman and Russian Empires, 1908-1918 (Cambridge University Press, 2011)...

For every country national security problems and priorities are of vital and primary importance. New, independent states are particularly sensitive to security problems, as they lack the experience that comes from independent statehood. They have not had the opportunity to develop a defined culture for strategic planning or foreign policy engineering. Furthermore, newly independent states only ...

We describe a laboratory-confirmed case of hantavirus infection in the Republic of Georgia. Limited information is available about hantavirus infections in the Caucasus, although the infection has been reported throughout Europe and Russia. Increasing awareness and active disease surveillance contribute to our improved understanding of the geographic range of this pathogen.

Six new species of the genus Platypalpus are described from the Caucasus: P. abagoensis sp. nov. (Russia: Republic of Adygea), P. arzanovi sp. nov. (Russia: Krasnodarskiy Territory, Rostov Prov.), P. gazaryani sp. nov. (Russia: Republic of Adygea), P. kamyshanovensis sp. nov. (Russia: Krasnodarskiy Territory), P. odintsovi sp. nov. (Russia: Krasnodarskiy Territory), P. neberdzaensis sp. nov. (R...

By matching of repeat optical satellite images it is now possible to investigate glacier dynamics within large regions of the world and also between regions to improve knowledge about glacier dynamics in space and time. In this study we investigate whether the negative glacier mass balance seen over large parts of the world has caused the glaciers to change their speeds. The studied regions are...

Ossetians are a unique group in the Caucasus, in that they are the only ethnic group found on both the north and south slopes of the Caucasus, and moreover they speak an Indo-European language in contrast to their Caucasian-speaking neighbours. We analyzed mtDNA HV1 sequences, Y chromosome binary genetic markers, and Y chromosome short tandem repeat (Y-STR) variability in three North Ossetian g...