Formalizing goals and objectives within any organization is influenced by many socio-historical factors. To identify the trend in which educational goals and objectives within the Iranian educational system have evolved in terms of the approach, pattern, performance, and attending to individual differences, a historical analysis was undertaken. Findings are indicative of four eras: first, the c...

The evolution of the Arctic polar vortex during observed major midwinter stratospheric sudden warmings (SSWs) is investigated for the period 1957–2002, using 40-yr European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) Re-Analysis (ERA-40) Ertel’s potential vorticity (PV) and temperature fields. Timelag composites of vertically weighted PV, calculated relative to the SSW onset time, are der...

During recent years, great interest has grown within the operational weather community on the adaptable component of observational networks. Decisions regarding where to deploy new observations of special value under threatening weather, or regarding permanent changes in observational strategies need support from sensitivity studies that determine areas where the addition of observations would ...

It has often been suggested that the period of the Quasi-Biennial Oscillation (QBO) has a tendency to synchronize with the Semi-Annual Oscillation (SAO). Using 45 years of ERA-40 data of the equatorial stratosphere up to the stratopause, we demonstrate that this synchronization is not just a tendency but indeed holds quite well in the upper stratosphere. A QBO period starts when a SAO westerly ...

Computer-synthesized speech is emerging as a mainstream human-computer interface in post-PC devices. However, there is limited research on its effect on the user experience. We contribute to this emerging stream by focusing on online review persuasiveness. The current presentation standard is the text review accompanied by images and numeric ratings. We review the limited theory on the effect o...

The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) provides global analyses of atmospheric humidity from the ground to the lower mesosphere. Unlike in the troposphere, in the stratosphere no humidity observations are assimilated. Humidity analyses here are essentially the results of a free-running model constrained by the ECMWF’s analysed wind fields. So far only the broad-scale fea...

political legitimacy is one of the fundamental notions in contemporary political theorizing. to explain this notion, a set of views, influenced by weber, put emphasis on the role of political beliefs of the citizens. yet, recent academic enterprises refer to the political agents, focusing on their actions. this article studies iranians’ socio-economic conditions in 1990’s, and reveals the setti...