The advent of the Internet has been instrumental in producing new Game Based Learning (GBL) tools where education and games converge. Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) are one such GBL tool. Interactive narrative games that use the Internet as a central communications platform, ARGs challenge players to collaboratively collate a fragmented story. When used for educational purposes, Serious ARGs pr...

The current theory of pecan [Carya illinoinensis (Wangenh.) C. Koch] alternate bearing is the ‘‘growth regulator–carbohydrate theory’’ in which flowering is first controlled by growth regulators produced by fruit and leaves, and then by the size of the carbohydrate pool near budbreak. Lack of nitrogen (N) reserves has also been proposed to be limiting after large crops, thus reducing return blo...

Alternate reality games (ARGs) are a promising new approach for increasing student engagement; however, automated methods for analyzing and optimizing game play are non-existent. We captured the player communication generated by a recent STEM-focused ARG that we piloted in a Los Angeles charter high school. We used shallow sentiment analysis to gauge the levels of various emotions experienced b...

Some olive cultivars possess high tendency to alternate bearing, which have a minus economic effect on olive industry. The experiment was performed in an olive orchard located in Shiraz region. Monthly monitoring of concentrations of unstructured carbohydrates (glucose, fructose, sucrose, mannitol and starch), protein, nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus in leaves, branches and roots of olive tr...