Before posting my answer, I would share a pleasure reading @Vasile answer. I feel the same about!

@Miranda et all, as You know, I posted many comments on Research Gate, active threads also about RG, its potential and role to our scientific community. What should I say? Fact that I am present almost every day at RG speaks itself. Right!?

I am happy to see that you have raised a valid question.Role of Research Gate is commendable in enhancing quality of life.We must see that our work is meaningful or purposeful.Meaningful work involves doing work we enjoy most.Discover a way to make contribution to Research gate through our work and dedication.

RG is a great platform for a new member like me to get used to scientific discussions and how to communicate with senior fellows. It is really motivating.

Thanks Prof Lala Sukla. I agree that Quality of life as a researcher and great joy in our work, knowing that it benefits our immediate community and our global community is indeed motivation for a researcher to press on. Yes, Interaction on RG contributes to this quality of life.

Thanks Vijay. I think many of us value the friendship of the senior researchers on RG. They are so helpful. Have you found out that the RG friends are caring people?

I think RG is a great platform to get view on your finding from every corner of the world. Researchers from diverse fields and various parts of the world are here to solve your problem. help you out.

I believe that RG indeed does a great job in terms of forming internet-based community of researchers who have some questions and answers. As Darasingh said, RG provides us an opportunity to hear opinions of people all around the world and an ability to grasp their wisdom! From my point of view, this is the most important aspect of a community - ability to learn from members and to contribute to their learning! To me, RG is a sort of a giant library of human thoughts, ideas, opinions, and I am very grateful to designers of this site for their gift to our society!

Miranda, RG is bringing researchers of similar tests and variety of ideas on the same platform. It discusses positive and negative points of research uploaded. Our young research friends will gain much more than what we had to struggle for during our initial phase.

Be Positive and welcome criticism about research to ensure good quality work ...

Friends, Pavel said it beautifully :)

'RG is a sort of a giant library of human thoughts, ideas, opinions, and I am very grateful to designers of this site for their gift to our society'.

Thanks Nita. Yes, researchers must be open to criticism about research :)

We know that we are prone to error at times. This must humble us and put us in the condition of being able to learn, for a whole life-time.....

For research related problems faced by young researchers, ResearchGate is a very nice platform. If a young ResearchGate member posts any question that he or she is unable to solve, the senior members come forward to offer solutions. Accordingly, ResearchGate has been serving the young researchers in a commendable manner.

As for general discussions, I have observed that not too many are coming forward to take part. It is very nearly the same group of persons who participate in the general discussions.

Articles uploaded are available to the members easily. If an article is not uploaded, then it can be asked for sending a message to the author. These are some very effective facilities provided by ResearchGate.

As far as up-voting and down-voting are concerned, they actually have no effect on personal researches. A question may be posted, and may be down-voted too. But that does not have any practical effect!

In my opinion this proble may be divided into two:

1. Position of RG as social network of scientists - is RG the most popular, or maybe Facebook, Goldenline, or something else is more popular (to build scientific position and disseminate achievements)? Do we know it for sure? If not - other solutions may be more effective and achieve the same results quicker, better, etc. Currently RG does not contain many popular/prominent researchers in my specialty - let us know if in your disciplines is better, mainly because communication skills of many of them are not regarded as important. Many RG users have very limited account with selected publications only and without any details concerning their experience, education, contact, etc. There may be lack of possibility to asses them reasonably.

2. No doubts RG helps building healthier community of scientists and gives chances all of them (including possiblity of endorsement as appreciation of other scientists achievements). This way RG fulfills some scientific tasks of the internet community. But it is still incomplete: groups/societies concerning particular issues, (interdisciplinary) research, common publications, (crow)funding, internet courses (or even studies), work possibilities, still developing slowly. Important milestone within RG development will be as follow: if lack of RG account and siginificant achievements in it will really decrease chances of cooperation (as is sometimes in the case of job interview, when candidate has not got Facebook or Goldenline account).

If academia.edu or similar solutions may be supporting or competitive solution for RG?

@Hemanta, do you see that the up-vote and down-vote is an analogy to how a reviewer may think a paper is good, and another reviewer entirely disagree? At one time, I was reading posts on a thread, then suddenly I noticed some one had come along and put a down-vote on several posts. At one other time, I read Ljubomir's post, rebuking such an action. How nice, to have our seniors rebuking such action!

I also wonder why RG puts in this feature. Could it be the analogy above?

Dear Miranda

The ResearchGate is a global institution that has on its staff researchers from all over the world. Access to this group follows certain rules and prerequisites. These features make it very special. The community of RG is distinguished by excellence of researchers at various stages of their lives. The operating system through questions and answers is a steady progress in our scientific lives, because of constant learning. This is a great forum where we receive criticism, compliments and suggestions. It is a continuing education program that helps us to improve always.

In my opinion Research gate is a wonderful platform to get view on your finding fromall over of the world. Researchers from different fields and various parts of the world are here to solve your sciebtific problem and help you finding the suitable answer.

In my view RG is not really a social platform and is in contrast to Facebook which is an example of sharing views on social and political issues. RG provides interaction among academicians whose credentials you can find. The discussion, questions, answers and exchange of research documents and papers etc is like a world University class room. Yes, some times you provide quick answers to questions which get improved subsequently. It is a great learning platform for young as well as experienced. I think it is a wonderful platform and all academicians should get enrolled on this and try to interact. Thanks to its creator- indeed that is another question I ask through this platform who initiated RG.

RG is acting as an enabler, just as many other sites. However, the added value is produced by the members themselves. The beauty about the issue is that a multitude of researchers are pouring in. Different cultures, different minds, different devil advocates, different agents seeking change, and the list goes on and on. The outcome is a vivid evolution of seeds of ideas directed for the betterment of the issue under discussion and possibly for the society at large. Points of view (with or against) produce an outcome that is highly creative, controversial sometimes, but it leads somewhere.

The melting pot ongoing in RG in realty accelerates the rate of knowledge improvement in a rate much faster than preparing a paper and expose its contents in a conference at some point in time (this is an ongoing exercise anyway), but the benefits are superior even if only one person somewhere says "Oh, yes!" or "Emm No!"

The up-vote or down-vote issue does not add value if not accompanied by an idea why a person agrees or not, at least if that person is interested to add value and not just acting spontaneously!

Thanks, Nelson, Vasile, Hatem, Jindal, Hussin, for your thoughts on the features of RG and reasons why it's unique.

@Vasile, I upvote the things that I appreciate, interesting things that I may not agree. But I don't normally upvote if the language is so poor that I can't understand. I also think we should use correct language on our posts, just as we would in all academic writing. But I don't down vote.

@Hussin, I like the description of a melting pot where ideas evolve and lead somewhere. Very often when I provide an answer, I provide a situation from my culture that the reader can see it in a right context. If I can't improve a question, I keep quiet :)

I would like to reinforce what I have expressed in another answer:

"the RG is an extraordinary space for researchers from around the world share their knowledge, experience, and the good and less good moments. It is indeed a space for sharing emotions, and helps manage emotions, not just the exchange of knowledge and scientific debate." And in this sense contributes to building a healthy community of researchers.

But not only that! In many countries research is less developed, and this space promotes sharing and growth of all, which is critical for these researchers. Participate in RG is motivating, sharing publications and research means to expanding the scope of our investigation. To some extent gives cheer and promotes self-esteem. But above all, know that there is always someone to give attention to our production, we can criticize, which may support, but it always helps us grow ...

@V. Jindal, its really no problem, if a quick answer is improved a little bit later. That´s the typical behaviour and course of an open discussion.

PS: I´ve the same impression of RG, like you pointed it out.

Before posting my answer, I would share a pleasure reading @Vasile answer. I feel the same about!

@Miranda et all, as You know, I posted many comments on Research Gate, active threads also about RG, its potential and role to our scientific community. What should I say? Fact that I am present almost every day at RG speaks itself. Right!?

Dear All,

I am sure that RG has had its potential opportunity and good intention to enable us (scientists) to build a healthy community.

One can discuss about it until the end of times but if somebody knows the wide scale of possibilities offered by RG, he/she must consider that everything depend on us.

If we, scientist do not create a community which serves our interests and that of the whole humanity and helps to save our poor Mother, the Earth, we are not merited to be scientists but are an unorganized, egoistic, helpless horde who flatters himself and pass the time with unfruitful, vain discussions.

A wonderful intellectual forum to build bridges and friendships and share very informed scholarly discussions from around the globe.

Amen to that Andras. The by-product of our ongoing discussions is fruitful since many of us are with colleagues from same or different institutions, and ideas of discussions are continued in our own actual academic circles in the university or carried out on a person-to-person communication via email.

Allow researchers connect internationally, discuss their ideas, share their publications.

Sure, you can do this with conferences too, but, you have to wait for 3 months, and spend all that money on plane tickets, or car travel etc ...

With RG, communication is free :) You familiarize yourself with a researcher a lot more than you could with email communication . At the end, the last thing we need is another email in our inbox :) Most of the times, you don't even know if it is spam :)

RG is a great connection tool among scholars ...

Dear Madam,

Dr.Miranda Yeoh

Firstly, I appreciate your Question. RG plat-form is a great measuring tool among the scholars/ scientists, there is no age restriction with minimal condition that he/ she should be researcher / guide / teaching academian ( this is because he/she should be mind for registration at RG ). RG plat-form makes every one(i.e. member) active w.r.t. publications, skils , discussions etc. But , on the other hand if members are idle , it is not the fault of RG.

Thanks for sharing your question with me . This my short answer , Madam.

with kind regards

Dr.Govindappa Navalagi

Dear friends, this multiple communications with just 1 post allows us to share our research and knowledge. Yes, RG is as good as we all can be as a team. On our own, we would not come near that amount of good. Let's be patient and wait for Tolga's idea to develop.

Ahed et al. why don't you all start a shared project? But you must choose one that isn't too technical. You are in the right place. But my time zone is GMT +800, eight hours ahead. Will this be a problem? Also my lab isn't well equipped. What I can do is quanti analysis and write scientific papers easily :)

Of course, I agree with the opinion raised by many participants in this discussion that ResearchGATE is the only one of its kind in providing the contact with each other researchers from different disciplines, with different scientific status, from various parts of the world, and - perhaps most importantly - all ages. In this respect, it is a unique place and the scope of such contacts is not able to match this portal none - even the largest and most prestigious global conference.

However, I think that the most important factor in elevating the importance of the portal to a level above the importance of any other ways of communicating of scientists (including direct meetings) is the possibility of a stress-free contact with other scientists, which is often not possible in direct meetings, and in many cases work to the extent stressful, especially, for example, when the young researchers during the conference resign from direct contact with older colleagues, fearing the existing barriers to scientific status, age, or often a serious problem of language barriers.

ResearchGATE in terms of overcoming such barriers opens the possibilities which are difficult to overestimate.

Dear All,

I like very much Shakespeare or the person who wrote his/her(?) plays. One of them would be sometimes a good example for us: Much ado about nothing.

RG provide us the best opportunities. The question is: How do we use it? Passing the time easily, finding friends and chatting are OK. Many of us chat, others complain permanently but what have we achieved? Have we achieved something which may be important? One is able to improve his/her English. In some cases there are purely scientific discussions, too. However, I have observed that if the discussion or the subject demand concentration or some work most of us ignore the essential part and answer with a polite commonplace. And what is really strange, this kind of behaviour is accepted and acknowledged by the actual chorus. Certainly, this is a traditionally human attitude...

Miranda,thx for the timely question. Personally, I am very interested in the kind of exercise we are engaged in here, as RG is certainly not the usual, open social network (such as Facebook, as noted before), neither is it a disciplinary nor an open - but disciplined - scientific forum or meeting. RG is different from other internet professional fora - like LinkedIn - in that it is more restricted to science; it is different from other science fora, I thnk, like Academia.edu, in that it stimulates discussions (even by accounting voting in RG score), both technical and non technical. RG is open to scientists, and we should assume a few of our fellows are not professional scientists, although they seem science litterate, in general - that means RG is not really exposed to the judging parameters of knowing social actors. In summary, RG seems to be something of a novelty on the Web, that puzzles and amazes me.

I tend to see voting in the threads as a secondary RG resource. Still, I wonder how it may influence what will actually emerge from the interactive exercise. I've never used the Down button, as it carries with it a sanction, not a professional criticism: I'm not used to such new means of relating to my peers, and wouldn't know how to use it. I frequently use the Up vote for good posts, and self-indulgently believe I use it with due benevolence, even when I don't agree with a posting; in any case, the Up button seems to be a very practical way of stating "Dear Fellow, with all due respect, I disagree with some of your arguments" if you want to post a counter-argument.

In relation to publications, I tend to be selective when I access them, since surfing internet references may be a never ending, addictive, and extremely tiresome activity, at least for me. However, I am frequently tempted to upvote a publication when I feel it may be of interest to my connections, no matter whether I would be inclined to criticize the work or not; if I have the time, I upvote.

Finally, let me add that I wish RG could provide us with more sophisticated browsing and data mining tools to get more stuff out of it, and find more "expert" connections on some specific topics. Beyond networking among scientists, I'd also like to see more features to expose RG constituency to the knowing social actor (i.e. to society), but I have no idea how to accomplish this. Perhaps something TED-like, but highly open, interactive and questions-oriented, events? (I would also welcome an App to make fewer errors when writing on my mobile, as I seldom use a real keyboard to post anything here :)). Anyway, this drifted away from the initial question.

No doubt ResearchGate is commendable platform where one learns to engage scientific discussion with due etiquette expected of scientists/scholars. You have opportunity to learn from the persons sharing same interest and you may collaborate in research project offering it or accepting the offer or proposing a collaborative study. However, some nuisance unwanted people are still there. These people do not engage in serious discussion and have negative value. I hope gradually they will be weeded out. As a whole research community on the ResearchGate is healthy community of researchers, however, by virtue of different cultures some confusion is natural whether one is sarcastic or humorous, whether arrogant or a curt response is a polite response.

@ Ahed , Miranda, I too have said this before, projects is a feature on RG, not understood well. I think, it should be explored further! Regarding RG, it is absolutely a fantastic platform to share and learn many things necessary for our development. It helps us connect with scientists world over, communicate with them, express ourselves fearlessly, without any inhibition, get feedback, up votes , get motivated and .......... RG is one of the best scientific platforms !!

Dear Miranda,

RG is a good platform for researchers and the upvote and downvote options are also good. It gives the researchers to build a repute in this community of the researchers and the most important thing is it is one best and constructive uses of Social Networks on Internet. I personally feel discouraged when the score on RG goes down if you are inactive for some time. This feature of RG is discouraging rest is fine.

Dear Safita,

Vasile accurately pointed out the features associated with voting up/down. In this light, I sometimes feel that RG reputation does not always reflect true value of people postings... That is why I always read through all posts in topics of my interest. In terms of discouraging aspect you raised, I agree, but it seems to be nothing like a good way of stimulating people spend more time in this social network - after all, RG is a social network. If we can accept these features and treat them respectfully, then the rest of RG is just awesome! :)

@Andrzej, Anam, Andras, Diogenes, Md Firoz, Ahed, Jaya, Sahita and Pavel: thanks for the points that you have brought up. Friends, I think RG is about the best; and I spend some time on RG each day. But I only get into FB to know what's happening with my old students (previous batches).

@Andrzej: Thanks for ' ResearchGATE is the only one of its kind in providing the contact with each other researchers from different disciplines, with different scientific status, from various parts of the world, and - perhaps most importantly - all ages.' I like the way you conclude that RG REMOVES BARRIERS.

@Andras, Thanks. You say, 'Many of us chat, others complain permanently but what have we achieved?'

I think some people have started collaborating on research through RG. It's just that they can't tell the whole RG community about it. When things seem to be quiet, there may be lots of useful things / hard work being done. It's up to the individuals and the friendships and trust that have resulted from RG interaction.

@Diogenes, you posted a GREAT one. I agree, But how can we ask RG to make this improvement?

@Pavel, I think that RG expects us to behave responsibly and professionally. I'm sure most would agree about this :)

Dear Miranda...RG is a great platform to discuss lot of issues and get a global opinion on it. Before RG I used to discuss issues and ideas in science with my labmates but now its like the global community of researchers in RG has become my labmates. The upvotes and downvotes helps to keep the "rubbish stuff" away from RG and keeps you interested in a discussion. RG has given me lot of friends world wide with whom I could discuss my problems and their solutions have helped my research a lot.

Again a good question Miranda...Thank you.

Researchgate can be a main player in collaborate. Thanks to the member here, they refined my topics, guided me alot. Other that up-voting and down-voting, it has great utility in research. The researchers all over the world are guiding each other irrespective of religion, creed and nation.

For me, the ResGate is the only one social network of any interest.

Let me remind,however, that the ReGate is not only for discussions on general topics like those Miranda is so good in proposing. It is also a good place to ask for help or advise in one's special field and so to learn opinions of one's peers.

Besides, it is a place to make one's work better known - espeically those published long ago or in low IF journals and thus forgotten or not noticed at all but now , thanks to one's ResGate profile, brought into light. At last, the same is true reciprocally.

Coming back to discussions of general interest, I think that they often are really interesting but, as a rule, the whole spectrum of possible opinions is presented by first 10-20 answers and afterwards it is but reiteration of everything already said more than once. So I'd propose either to put a deadline for accepting new answers or to make the initiator of any such discussion serve its moderator and so decide when he/she summarizes the opinions and closes it.

As to voting.... I agree that long answers are less likely to get upvotes - simply because less people have time to read them. I never downvote even answers that I reckon erroneous or irrelevant. I think that somebody's idea about correlation between upvoting and beauty or gender of a responding party is a good joke but can be statistically tested.

I like Researchgate, but I think that one has to treat his and others RG scores with a good share of humor. The worst thing I can imagine that RG scores will be formally used for estimation of the researcher's expertize in the field.

What I like most in the RG is that it collected some 'critical mass' of the researchers, so that I can ask question and get qualified answer. This is very useful especially when you start working in a field of science which is somewhat different from your previous expertize. Through the RG you can get good advice from the experts working in this new field for a long time, and which you could not meet previously because you were working in different field. The advices of those experts will complement knowledge that you get from reading. Of course if you want to make your question interesting not only for you but also for experts in the field, the question should be prepared, i.e., based on thorough literature review and research work of the asking person. Not just: "I don't know this then I will ask not to waste time for reading".

One more excellent thing is dissemination of your results. Of course one can place a paper on his own web site, but then one gets only a few downloads. Because RG accumulated a lot of scientists and because the System offers 'follow ups' and other typical possibilities of the social networks papers placed at RG becomes highly visible.

Dear Miranda

I am really glad having this possibility of sharing views andopinions with research workers of many fields. My only problem is time limitation. I usually do not have time to read all topics which might be of interest for me and to make notes wherever I find it appropriate. Sometimes even a week passes before I can read the "news". RG is a ggod tool and possibility which can be used benevolently and malevolently. If is used only for increasing our imagined or real reputation - it is of little use. If it is used to eastablish valuable contacts and meanwhile helping others, it is very advantageous. One cannot be an expert in evrywhere and even matures scientissts may need help form others. It is also very interesting to see discussions in fields which are not our own specialty but we are interested in it. For me e.g. cultural anthropology is such a field.

Miranda, thx for mediating so well. Let me respond to your question from a hands-on perspective ( perhaps you've used this already): I think one of the ways RG offers to make suggestions is through a tiny tab (on the right of the screen ?) that appears when we log on its main (home) page; as many of us connect directly through email notifications, or use cell phones, this tab can be unnoticed, but it's there and, if I recall it correctly, we can browse through already existing topics, which include issues of interaction, access, and many others.

Forgive me for not testing it before responding. I can't access it now from my mobile, but I've used it already. Let's try through it... ( I will test it when I'll get to my PC tomorrow).

@Naveen, Amir and Boris: yes, with RG, it seems more obvious that we have indeed become citizens of the globe, and they are 'friends within our lab'.

@Boris, right now I need a standard questionnaire to measure motivation in learning Science, and you have encouraged me to ask from RG members :)

@Ivan, Gyorgy and Diogenes: thanks for your views and comments.

@Gyorgy, we all appreciate the constraints of time, and respect the times for work and deadlines and rest :)

@Diogenes: I will look for that ELUSIVE tab. Very often I use my mobile and don't see many things. With the mobile, I'm always trying to be extremely careful with my typing, and still can make mistakes in sending.

@Boris and friends: I got the questionnaire that I needed within about 3 hours, after I asked for it. Really the RG family is where the Info, the Knowledge and the Care is evident. Thanks to all of you.

@Miranda, incredibly fast response to the question. This is, among other things, what makes our Research Gate community unique , solidarity and mutual assistance! Such activities bring us to a healthy community of researchers, agree?

@Ljubomir, yes, you are right.

Sent from mobile.

I agree with you all. RG is a truly positive social network. I am new to it, but I believe it can be useful for all of us: researchers and scholars.

@Javier, thanks. Most of us know that RG is about the best. I spend some time on RG each day, but I only get into FB once a week.

Tonight, my mobile seems cooperative and the data can move. It's not often this good.

Sent from mobile.

Ask a question, the whole world is there to answer it. Share a curiosity, the whole community is there to satisfy it.

Salute RG

Yes, Vijay and friends, it's the whole academic world of skillful people. Now RG gives us an advantage of developing skills in many other areas. We come into RG with only 1 set of knowledge and skills, but we will leave with many more.

What do you think, all of you? Is this going to be our experience?

@Miranda, with this kind of experience I don't feel we are ever going to leave it.

Yes Patrick and Darasingh et al., , through helping one another on RG, we will grow. I wish you ALL good health and prosperity for the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Horse.

Dear friends, May it be that on RG, we will ride ahead :)

There are many good issues:

1)Possibility of self publishing your work

2)Possibility of getting an answer for a difficult (for you) question from other experts

3)Cultural interconnection between different countries

4)Transparency, open society: it is not so easy to build a lobby as in any other regular journal

5)Motivation: you have to be active, otherwise your RG score decreases.

I like the fact that research gate allows all scientific researches to be accessible for everyone.

You can also very easily reach scientists and have direct contact with them.

I think the endorsements is not really of any value here, because everyone can be rated from his publications...

The reason why I consider this healthy scientific community is its main feature - sharing ... a space for sharing knowledge, research, publications, projects, discussion and reflection. The Score is also motivating but perhaps is less important because many variables can influence.

Dear Miranda,

As Tolga suggested, RG is a kind of accelerator for communications between researchers involved in the same field of research. I find also interesting the mixing of people coming from various horizons or disciplines. It enables to see a question from different angles, sometimes very suprising, and it usually opens our mind.

By the way, I agree with Vasile, and I admit that, for popular questions just like yours, I don't read all the answers, as I read randomly from the end. Probably because of my connection, it often bugs when I try to see the full discussion.

@Demetris, you have summarized the advantages of RG so well. Thanks.

@Alaa, I agree that it's the publications, not the endorsements, that are more important. But when I expressed that I would not put too much importance on the endorsements, someone got offended. Never mind.

@Sebastien, it's the same for me. After work I only have the mobile. I can't read too many posts then.

@Patrick, thanks.

Miranda,

I really feel comfortable with RG .

This is the site I use to recommend my junior classmate to make full use of RG , beside my university DIGITAL FORUM .

Regards

@Yew Chin et al., Happy Chinese New Year to everyone :)

Dear friends, I will still have my mobile with me to read all your posts.

I wonder where all those active RG'rs ~ including me ~ left their questions and dropped their answers before RG was born !? I tell you, RG changed my life as a researcher in a positive way!

Dear Paul et al., I think we probably consulted books, and asked around our labs, asked around at tea-time etc.....thanks for all your contributions.

Miranda, I wish you to continue being a healthy and creative scientist in 2014!

Happy New Year to our Far East friends!

Thanks Demetris and friends, actually we are all near, thanks to ICT and safe air travel. Let's continue to innovate and be healthy!

Continuing my previous question "... where did all those active RG'rs leave their questions and dropped their answers before RG was born !?"

Does RG replace books or papers? Don't think so. Is RG a substitue for a discussion with a colleague-friend far away? Don't think so. Does RG make a chat with colleagues obsolete? Again, don't think so.

Could it be that RG (and possibly many free-riders in the near future, watch out!) embodies a quite new quality in our communication behavior as scientists, researchers, educators? In the same spirit, that cell phones have unexpectedly changed the communication habits of millions of people on this planet (many adore it, some deplore it)? Was there an unfulfilled demand waiting for the right supply (take-away telecom, TaT), or did the technology marketeers did their job well and instilled with us a demand that wasn't their before?

These questions may not bother you, as long as RG does it duty. But I'm a curious person, always asking "WHY?" instead of "WHY NOT?"

Sorry to bother you again ;-)

RG is a valuable product of IT, my admiration by which is in my comment on a Ljubomir Jacic discussion thread. Of course, I share all the good words about RG in the comments above.

I also wish to everyone good health and prosperity for the Chinese Lunar New Year of the Horse.

Dear Galina, Paulus and friends, thanks for your contributions on this thread.

@Galina, thank you for the lovely card :)

@Friends, thanks all of you. I hope you enjoy this thread. I have holidays till Sunday for the Chinese New Year break, but I still have the mobile to read your interesting posts. Before I joined RG (and before RG was born), I spent some holiday time driving with friends and practicing driving, because it's not one of my natural talents.

@Paulus, that's what I was doing before RG was born.

@Miranda, wish You the best for Chinese New Year! Keep on doing RG activities, You do it fine!

@Galina, thanks for the nice words!

"Being ignored is the biggest confidence killer"Saif.Besides,there is a method, which is characteristic of some trolls- "if you can't convince- you can confuse, or you can interrupt roughly and even vulgarly".There are a lot of intellectuals with different statuses, but thirst for knowledge is not important quality (for some countries) to achieve the status.But how can we measure intelligence and erudition?To me, a truly scientist has a powerful intellect and inner reference. The more intellect, the more moral inner reference.

@Ljubomir, Anam, Patrick, Irina, thanks for your posts. I am back from the normal round of Chinese new year visitation. Eight hours of visitation, I must not be too long in an environment of eating, snacking. Hooray, I'm back at RG.

@Irina, I love your last sentence.

Sent from mobile.

Dear Miranda,

I'd like to congratulate you with New Year of Blue Horse! May your dreams be true! May your nearest and dearest be healthy!

Thanks Ljubomir, Irina, Patrick, Anam for your care and your friendship. It's necessary to be with our own folks and friends, but it's necessary also to be back on RG, with our Rg folks and our research. We must be careful to be balanced people, always juggling time to do our best :)

Dear Miranda,

I wish you all the best. Happy New Year, Good Health and inner balance. You always ask innovative questions which make us think. :>)

Dear Jean, being on RG with all our intelligent and innovative friends have added much to my knowledge. Thanks for good wishes, I reciprocate. Have you visited my country before? Do you have Chinese friends? Cheers :)

@Anam, Vasile, friends, I am a Malaysian. My folks emigrated from China to settle here, in the 1700s. My country, Malaysia, has 3 major ethnic groups:Malay, Chinese and Indian. If you count the smaller ones, there are about 10 groups :) This year, 2014, is visit Msia year.

@Vasile and friends, I think your 200 Euro may be enough for airfares, but please check it out. Maybe it's enough for 2 persons? I'm not a frequent traveler.

@Patrick, 2015 will see AEC in 'action'. Would you like to comment on what it is likely to do for our countries?

@Vasile and friends, I have 3 cousins in UK. They come home in summer holidays, every 2 years. Just buy the cheapest tickets, sometimes Aeroflot, some times another flight and come home. They really miss the Food. But I'm one of the cooks in church.

Our time zone is GMT+800. So when I usually finish work at 5pm, it's your 9am, in UK , Germany and places of that zone.

@Miranda and @Patrick, I am so sorry that I did not knowing You when I was in Singapore in 1997! You were young at that time, right! It was a time when I was there for importing PC computer components! Taiwan was my destination also for that purposes and very well known fair COMPUTEX! I like it more than CEBIT!

And I (an ex-Soviet citizen as our ex-socialist Romanian friend would classify me) is somewhere in between;: GMT+6. I happened to attend a Conference in Cluj-Napoca 6 years ago but, alas, I'll never see Malaysia (my old age and an assortment of ailments have prohibited using air flights. trains and buses - any transportation but taxi which would be too expensive indeed)).

@Vasile, last night, I watched on TV, the VW cars being tested, on a frozen lake in Sweden. It's so cold, isn't it?

@Ljubomir, in 1997, I did my masters in music education. Listened a lot to Bach, Handel, Vivaldi, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky etc etc. I had no scholarship, and studied the things I loved. I actually fainted 3 times in the lab when I did my first degree in Biology and biochemistry.

Friends and Boris, Malaysia is a place in the Sun, to retire, Boris. Less aches and pains in this warm weather, I can assure you. Because I took care of my old folks.

As long as we use a lot of moisturisers, you will probably look 20 years younger, and without joint pains :)

Thank you, Miranda, but in my 87+ I am not ready to retire. If it were for me to dispose of my life I'd end it like a Roman Emperor: standing upright. Nevertheless, I envy your lucky old folks.

Developing a collaborative synergy in this type of network is key to identify interests, see other points of view, criteria, approaches, methodologies and results. The success of this process could be measured in terms of established interactions, monitoring related researchers, helpful responses to the questions posed, etc.. The potential is huge network among users to socialize the above. The network is an environment that promotes the exchange and production of knowledge in the field and related research. Enables development and the possibility of finding a crossing experiences and thoughts, and controversial debates on complex issues in the field of research.

Anam, Boris and friends; thanks for your comments. Surely I agree that building a healthy community of researchers includes sharing our cultures :)

@Boris and friends, please think about this and let us know, ok? Who is younger? One person who dies at 10, or another person who lives till 100 years?

Or perhaps you may not like that question. So I shall ask a more sensible question. Who are the people who usually take care of old folks (including researchers) that are blessed with long life on earth, in your country?

@Gonzalo, thanks for your good ideas. They are profound. I have a thread (below), where I was seeking collaborators and found a collaborator in RG. Thanks to RG, hooray :)

https://www.researchgate.net/post/Does_someone_have_a_questionnaire_to_measure_students_motivation_for_learning_Science

Guten Morgen Prof. Boris! I envy to your passion and dedication for the Research. I am only a part-time scientist ( personal reasons). I used to sing in Catederal Norte-Dame de Paris( 2000-2005). Presently we are preparing a concert in June ( Messe solennelle de Louis Vierne and Requiem de Maurice Duruflé).Please let me know , if you happend to visit Paris. I will be delighted to meet you and invite you to our concert in Englise Blanc-Manteau in Marais( I am not a solist, but a simple chorist ).

mit sehr schönen Grüße, Martha서, Prosit Neujahr! ( Pferd Jahr by Lunar Calender ).

Miranda, I do agree with you. In Confucius teaching said that you have to respect your elders and remember your ancestors . In my country : The Elders first ( Not Ladies first). I have left my country very young and I could not return to Seoul .( I can not survive under an absolute military dictator Goverment). In addtion to this .there have been no Molecular Virology Facilities in Korean Universities (1982). I was obliged to stay in foreign countries to continue my research( with difficulties because of discriminations or jaloueses).That is why I am doing only part-time research.I am quite happy to do some Philosophy in College de France. Martha 서

@ Miranda, of course, there are some social services to care for old folks in my country but God save those who have nothing better.

@ Dear Martha, i understand your German but if you do not like English you rather use French as I understand (and like) it far better. As to re-visiting Paris, it is no more possible for me than to travel to the North Pole on a dogsled. Being, unfortunately neither a soloist nor a chorist or any musician at all, I love classic music but, shame on me, have never heard about the composers whose mass and requiem you will perform. If it will be recorded would not you send me the records?