INTRODUCTION This study assesses whether demographic and rural-urban variations in dental care service utilization still exist in Taiwan after 15 years of the implementation of universal health insurance coverage, which largely reduces financial barriers to dental care. METHODS The data analysed in this cohort study were based on a random sample of one million beneficiaries retrieved from Tai...

Within the MMORPG World of Warcraft, attitudes towards warfare are expressed in conflicting ways. This is partly a result of the difficult relationship modern Western society has with warfare, and the various political agendas that surround this. Within World of Warcraft, this is expressed specifically in the minigames known as ‘Battlegrounds’, which allow players to fight against each other in...

This study investigated the effectiveness of massive multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG)-based (massive multiplayer online role-playing game) instruction in elementary English education. The effectiveness of the MMORPG program was compared with face-toface instruction and the independent variables (gender, prior knowledge, motivation for learning, self-directed learning skills, comput...

Ethanol (EtOH) has effects on numerous cellular molecular targets, and alterations in synaptic function are prominent among these effects. Acute exposure to EtOH activates or inhibits the function of proteins involved in synaptic transmission, while chronic exposure often produces opposing and/or compensatory/homeostatic effects on the expression, localization, and function of these proteins. I...

Though many neuronal cell fate decisions result in reproducible outcomes, stochastic choices often lead to spatial randomization of cell subtypes. This is often the case in sensory systems where expression of a specific sensory receptor gene is selected randomly from a set of possible outcomes. Here, we describe recent findings elucidating the mechanisms controlling color photoreceptor subtypes...

With the rapid growth of the gaming industry, keeping gamers loyal is the quintessential issue. Thus, our paper focuses on loyalty towards Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs). Our study incorporates the social identity theory, the theory of reason of action and gamer emotions into the equation of loyalty. An empirical study of 160 subjects was conducted to test our model. ...

In this study, we examine how online games, like the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) EverQuest, are represented and controlled through media rhetoric. We look at international attempts to regulate their use through policy, and unearth some of the ways in which media reports have constructed public opinion of online games. We then contrast those reports with an ethnograph...

Online games have exploded in popularity, but for many researchers access to players has been difficult. The study reported here is the first to collect a combination of survey and behavioral data with the cooperation of a major virtual world operator. In the current study, 7,000 players of the massively multiplayer online game (MMO) EverQuest 2 were surveyed about their offline characteristics...

This research in progress aims to contributing to the already existing knowledge on the phenomena of learning existing in the massively multi-players online role-playing games (MMORPG). The objective is to be able to identify social skills (personality) and professional skills (managerial skills) which the players can develop by playing in MMORPG. A better knowledge of the effects of this techn...