Sometimes, the heart knows before the mind. The moment Greek restaurateur Alejandro "AJ" Melonakos sees Samara Grossman in the market, he knows she's the one for him. The American is sweet, and her voluptuous form rivals the marble goddesses made eternal in his country. Luckily for AJ, the amber-hued beauty is warm to the touch and soft to hold. But Samara is only in Greece for five days, and there is no guarantee they will see each other again. Can AJ convince Samara the feelings they share will withstand the distance, or will he lose his serendipitous find? This is a rerelease from the original 2008 version. It has gone through a new edit and features new cover art, but nothing significant has changed from the previous version of the story. Thank you so much for your support and happy reading!
"Many of the findings in the book . . . are classics of ecology. . . . A rare and delightful insight into timely science."—Jane Lubchenco, Nature "Estes's refreshing narrative deftly weaves rigorous science with personal reflection to create an absorbing and introspective read that is equal parts memoir, ecological textbook, and motivational guidebook for young ecologists."—Science To newly minted biologist James Estes, the sea otters he was studying in the leafy kelp forests off the coast of Alaska appeared to have an unbalanced relationship with their greater environment. Gorging themselves on the sea urchins that grazed among the kelp, these small charismatic mammals seemed to give little back in return. But as Estes dug deeper, he unearthed a far more complex relationship between the otter and its underwater environment, discovering that otters play a critical role in driving positive ecosystem dynamics. While teasing out the connective threads, he began to question our assumptions about ecological relationships. These questions would ultimately inspire a lifelong quest to better understand the surprising complexity of our natural world and the unexpected ways we discover it. Serendipity tells the story of James Estes’s life as a naturalist and the concepts that have driven his interest in researching the ecological role of top-level predators. Using the relationships between sea otters, kelp, and sea urchins as a touchstone, Estes retraces his investigations of numerous other species, ecosystems, and ecological processes in an attempt to discover why ecologists can learn so many details about the systems in which they work and yet understand so little about the broader processes that influence these systems. Part memoir, part natural history, and deeply inquisitive, Serendipity will entertain and inform readers as it raises thoughtful questions about our relationship with the natural world.
Chance, luck, and good fortune are the usual go-to descriptors of serendipity, a phenomenon aptly often coupled with famous anecdotes of accidental discoveries in engineering and science in modern history such as penicillin, Teflon, and Post-it notes. Serendipity, however, is evident in many fields of research, in organizations, in everyday life—and there is more to it than luck implies. While the phenomenon is strongly associated with in person interactions with people, places, and things, most attention of late has focused on its preservation and facilitation within digital information environments. Serendipity's association with unexpected, positive user experiences and outcomes has spurred an interest in understanding both how current digital information environments support serendipity and how novel approaches may be developed to facilitate it. Research has sought to understand serendipity, how it is manifested in people's personality traits and behaviors, how it may be facilitated in digital information environments such as mobile applications, and its impacts on an individual, an organizational, and a wider level. Because serendipity is expressed and understood in different ways in different contexts, multiple methods have been used to study the phenomenon and evaluate digital information environments that may support it. This volume brings together different disciplinary perspectives and examines the motivations for studying serendipity, the various ways in which serendipity has been approached in the research, methodological approaches to build theory, and how it may be facilitated. Finally, a roadmap for serendipity research is drawn by integrating key points from this volume to produce a framework for the examination of serendipity in digital information environments.
This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Finite Difference Methods, FDM 2014, held in Lozenetz, Bulgaria, in June 2014. The 36 revised full papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 62 submissions. These papers together with 12 invited papers cover topics such as finite difference and combined finite difference methods as well as finite element methods and their various applications in physics, chemistry, biology and finance.
They met on a battlefield and saved each other’s lives. It’s not the way enemies-to-lovers usually works. Adares comes from a civilization of democracy and indoor plumbing. Rus belongs to a tribe of tattooed, semi-nomadic horse-breeders. They meet in the aftermath of battle, when Rus saves Adares’s life, and Adares returns the favour. As they shelter in an abandoned temple, a friendship neither of them could have imagined grows into a mutual attraction. But Rus, whose people abhor love between men, is bound by an oath of celibacy, and Adares has a secret of his own that he cannot share. With their people poised for a long and bitter conflict, it seems too much to hope that these two men could turn their fleeting happiness into something lasting. Unless, of course, the relationship between them changes the course of their people’s history altogether. Something Human is a standalone m/m romance set in an imaginary ancient world, about two people bridging a cultural divide with the help of great sex, pedantic discussions about the gods, and bad jokes about standing stones.
Corporate culture and culture change have become the pressing issues of our time. The fast pace of change is attacking companies of all sizes. Leaders are facing the challenges of adapting their organizations to generational changes, the uncertainties of new technologies, shifting client behaviors, and the realization that supply is often stronger than demand. And now, there is the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic recession, and civil unrest. People are struggling to create their “new normal.” People just hate to change. They are willfully blind to what is happening all around them. They know that the future is, indeed, coming soon, if not today, and change they must. Andi Simon is a corporate anthropologist who has empowered thousands of business leaders to see their companies with fresh eyes, identify their next big ideas, and—most importantly—turn innovative solutions into executable change. In her groundbreaking book, On the Brink: A Fresh Lens to Take Your Business to New Heights, Andi presents her unique methods for harnessing innovation and revitalizing business growth. Taking readers on a journey through seven case studies, Andi shares how she helped these businesses discover new and profitable growth opportunities by exploring the untapped resources that were right in front of them. Businesses, not-for-profits, and entrepreneurs are paying close attention. They frequently talk about the need to innovate and change as if these are the sweeping secret sauce to solve all their business problems. However, they often don't know where to start or how to expand beyond creative brainstorming to strategically identify and act upon new business opportunities. In this book, Andi will take the reader through the theory, methods, and tools of corporate anthropology to see how this new perspective can help a stalled company see possibilities with fresh eyes to re-ignite their growth. From a medical center facing multiple years in the red to a rural university battling decreasing enrollment to an equipment manufacturer whose award-winning product just wasn't selling—the stories of these seven companies struggling to innovate and grow provide invigorating testimony to the power of corporate anthropology. Whether searching for a way to revitalize a business or to expand a successful company into new and profitable directions, the strategies outlined in On the Brink will give readers the fresh approach they need to achieve meaningful business breakthroughs.
This two-volume work on the development of instruction is planned as a companion to an earlier book - Designing Instructional Systems. The present work continues the micro-design stages of lesson and instructional materials development. Taken together, these two volumes give extensive coverage of practical techniques for the development of instruction. This title draws a distinction between instructional design and instructional development, although some authors seem to use the two terms synonymously. The structure of the content will enable the two volumes to be used conveniently as both initial reading or later reference material.
This is an open access book. With the continuous upgrading of network information technology, especially the combination of Internet - cloud computing - blockchain - Internet of things and other information technologies with social and economic activities, through the improvement of artificial intelligence, Internet and big data with high quality and fast processing efficiency, the economic form is transformed from industrial economy to information economy. This will greatly reduce social transaction costs, improve the efficiency of resource optimization, increase the added value of products, enterprises and industries, and promote the rapid development of social productivity. 2023 2nd International Conference on Artificial Intelligence, the Internet and the Digital Economy (ICAID 2023) will continue to focus on the latest research on "Artificial intelligence, the Internet and the Digital Economy", and expand the research on "technology and application of the integrated development of Digital Economy and Artificial Intelligence" as the theme. The aim is to gather experts, scholars, researchers and related practitioners from around the world to share research results, discuss hot issues, and provide participants with cutting-edge technology information so that they can keep abreast of industry developments, the latest technologies and broaden their research horizons. The conference was held in Beijing, China on April 21-23, 2023. All experts and scholars are welcome to attend.
Combining the latest thinking in the field with practical, step-by-step guidance, the Third Edition of John W. Creswell and Vicki L. Plano Clark’s Designing and Conducting Mixed Methods Research now covers seven mixed methods designs with accompanying journal articles illustrating each design. The authors walk readers through the entire research process, and present updated examples from published mixed methods studies drawn from multiple disciplines. In addition, this new edition includes information about the dynamic and evolving nature of the field of mixed methods research, four additional methodological approaches, and coverage of new directions in mixed methods.
A study of creativity in the context of education, an issue of great importance for teachers and students alike. It considers just how creativity "works" and how it can be encouraged. The book has an international and an historical sweep, and features many examples.
