MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNAs that can play crucial regulatory roles in eukaryotes by targeting mRNAs for silencing. To test whether miRNAs play roles in the regulation of wood development in tree species, we isolated small RNAs from the developing xylem of Populus trichocarpa stems and cloned 22 miRNAs. They are the founding members of 21 miRNA gene families for 48 miRNA sequenc...

Among many types of online games, Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs) provide players with the most realistic gaming experience inspired by the real, offline world. In particular, much stress is put upon socializing and collaboration with others as a condition for one’s success, just as in real life. An advantage of studying MMORPGs is that since all actions are recorded, ...

Following domestication, man selected the horse primarily for the purpose of transportation rather than consumption; this selective strategy created divergent traits for locomotion. At intermediate speeds, beyond the flat walk, the horse can perform a range of diagonal and lateral 2-beat or 4-beat gait patterns. The Tennessee Walking Horse (TWH) is the only U.S. breed able to perform an even-ti...

The popularity of Massively Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) has risen dramatically over the last decade. Some gamers spend many hours a day in these virtual environments interacting with other gamers, completing quests, and forming social groups. The present study set out to explore the experiences and feelings of online gamers. The study comprised 71 interviews with online gam...

In disasters, and more so in catastrophes, one of the most daunting problems to professional responders is gaining situational awareness. Unfortunately, truly actionable information (intelligence) is missing in the first days and even weeks of responding. Consequently, incomplete situational awareness brings on a distorted common operating picture leading to suboptimal direction of responses, s...

Stem cells and cellular plasticity are likely important components of tissue response to infection. There is emerging evidence that stem cells harbor receptors for common pathogen motifs and that they are receptive to local inflammatory signals in ways suggesting that they are critical responders that determine the balance between health and disease. In the field of papillomaviruses stem cells ...

Two-component sensors are widely used by bacteria to sense and respond to the environment. Pseudomonas aeruginosa has one of the largest sets of two-component sensors known in bacteria, which likely contributes to its unique ability to adapt to multiple environments, including the human host. Several of these two-component sensors, such as GacS and RetS, have been shown to play roles in virulen...

Massively Multiplayer Online Game (MMOG) is a unique categorization of electronic game which allows thousands of players to play simultaneously through the Internet in the same virtual environment. A number of researchers have started to introduce the use of MMOG as a new generation of educational platform, allowing players to interact and to learn together through collaborative game-play. Howe...

In this paper we attempt to unpack the meanings of “expert” and “novice” in games research. A literature review reveals unreliable definitions and inadequate operationalization of these concepts. Nonetheless, researchers default to recruiting experienced players for games research projects to the exclusion of novices. We take an interactionist approach to argue for reframing the expert/novice d...

Contemporary teams are self-assembling with increasing frequency, meaning the component members are choosing to join forces with some degree of agency rather than being assigned to work with one another. However, the majority of the teams literature up until this point has focused on randomly assigned or staffed teams. Thus, the purpose of the current study was to investigate how people do form...