Education reforms such as A Nation at Risk and Goals 2000 have come and gone. However, we can be confident that the goal of student improvement shall not pass if the core mission is student learning. The true mission of learning has prompted educators to ponder the following questions: How do we need each student to behave? How do we know when each student has behaved properly? How do we respond when students misbehave? Standards of behavior such as attendance, discipline, homework, and academic learning are the answering points for the first question with connections to school policy and curriculum. The question of 'how do we know?' is answered by assessment with relevant data support. Decisions to adjust student behaviors or to modify a school program are based on thorough data analysis and interpretation. What is the evidence that a student is not learning? A teacher is not effective? A school program is not serving the needs of students? The evidence can be addressed by information from a student record book; a teacher performance summary; a program survey or other data based reports. This book uses a unique blend of quantitative and qualitative strategies to tackle challenges in both student and school improvement and should be of interest to all educators.

This volume presents the proceedings of the 9th Asian-Pacific Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering (APCMBE 2014). The proceedings address a broad spectrum of topics from Bioengineering and Biomedicine, like Biomaterials, Artificial Organs, Tissue Engineering, Nanobiotechnology and Nanomedicine, Biomedical Imaging, Bio MEMS, Biosignal Processing, Digital Medicine, BME Education. It helps medical and biological engineering professionals to interact and exchange their ideas and experiences.

This book describes the seven different classification of viruses, including their effects on common human diseases (i.e., common cold, chicken pox) as well as the more serious diseases (AIDS, avian influenza and SARS). The nature of the human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1), the first human retrovirus and the etiologic agent of neoplastic disease, adult T-cell leukaemia (ATL) is explored, as well as its effect on several inflammatory diseases. Since 1997, great concern aroused that the Asian highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 virus might turn into a pandemic strain. Thus, the enigmatic nature of the HPAI H5N1 influenza virus is also discussed. An attempt is made to identify and to characterise, qualitatively, various concrete factors that may readily become or propel critical masses. Furthermore, giant viruses, which are ancient double-stranded DNA viruses that infect a wide range of host organisms are addressed. This book also highlights current information regarding the replication, transcription, and roles of proteins of coronaviruses, viruses which are known to infect a wide range of mammalian and bird species.