A Case Study of Factors Impacting Aspiring E-sports Athletes in South Korea

This study examines the structural relationships of factors like attitudes, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control (PBC), and career pursuit intentions among aspiring e-sports athletes using the theory of planned behavior, and exploring the moderating influence of athletic identity on these relationships. We assessed the measurement scale’s validity and reliability with confirmatory factor analysis, Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, and correlational analysis. Structural equation modeling evaluated the effects of three factors – attitudes, subjective norms, and PBC – on career pursuit intentions. Additionally, a hierarchical regression analysis was performed to confirm the moderating effect of athletic identity. The results revealed positive impacts of attitudes (0.300, p<0.001), subjective norms (0.414, p<0.001), and perceived behavioral control (0.274, p<0.001) on career pursuit intentions. However, athletic identity did not moderate the relationships among the research variables. We confirmed that subjective norms were the most influential factor in improving career pursuit intentions; and, although PBC has been considered as a moderating variable, our study found that PBC was a direct determinant of career pursuit intentions

Quasiparticle Interference on the Surface of Topological Crystalline Insulator Pb(1-x)Sn(x)Se

Topological crystalline insulators represent a novel topological phase of matter in which the surface states are protected by discrete point group-symmetries of the underlying lattice. Rock-salt lead-tin-selenide alloy is one possible realization of this phase which undergoes a topological phase transition upon changing the lead content. We used scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) to probe the surface states on (001) Pb$_{1-x}$Sn$_{x}$Se in the topologically non-trivial (x=0.23) and topologically trivial (x=0) phases. We observed quasiparticle interference with STM on the surface of the topological crystalline insulator and demonstrated that the measured interference can be understood from ARPES studies and a simple band structure model. Furthermore, our findings support the fact that Pb$_{0.77}$Sn$_{0.23}$Se and PbSe have different topological nature.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

A CRY-BIC negative-feedback circuitry regulating blue light sensitivity of Arabidopsis.

Cryptochromes are blue light receptors that regulate various light responses in plants. Arabidopsis cryptochrome 1 (CRY1) and cryptochrome 2 (CRY2) mediate blue light inhibition of hypocotyl elongation and long-day (LD) promotion of floral initiation. It has been reported recently that two negative regulators of Arabidopsis cryptochromes, Blue light Inhibitors of Cryptochromes 1 and 2 (BIC1 and BIC2), inhibit cryptochrome function by blocking blue light-dependent cryptochrome dimerization. However, it remained unclear how cryptochromes regulate the BIC gene activity. Here we show that cryptochromes mediate light activation of transcription of the BIC genes, by suppressing the activity of CONSTITUTIVE PHOTOMORPHOGENIC 1 (COP1), resulting in activation of the transcription activator ELONGATED HYPOCOTYL 5 (HY5) that is associated with chromatins of the BIC promoters. These results demonstrate a CRY-BIC negative-feedback circuitry that regulates the activity of each other. Surprisingly, phytochromes also mediate light activation of BIC transcription, suggesting a novel photoreceptor co-action mechanism to sustain blue light sensitivity of plants under the broad spectra of solar radiation in nature