A Study on Factors Impacting Satisfaction and Continuance Intention of E-Learning Among Undergraduates in Chengdu, China

This study examines the key factors impacting e-learning satisfaction and continuance intention among undergraduates with a major in dance performance in three private universities in Chengdu, China. The conceptual framework demonstrates the interrelationships among confirmation, system quality, service quality, perceived usefulness, satisfaction, information quality, satisfaction, and continuance intention. The researcher used a quantitative survey strategy to distribute questionnaires to a sample of 500 undergraduate students selected from three target universities. Three sampling techniques were employed in this survey, utilizing judgmental, quota and convenience sampling to collect data. The collected data was analyzed using validated factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM), with model goodness-of-fit, correlation validity, and reliability tests conducted for each component. All exogenous variables were found to significantly impact the endogenous variable of interest, with perceived usefulness exhibiting the strongest on satisfaction. Additionally, satisfaction demonstrated a highly significant influence on continuance intention. In conclusion, system developers and educational institutions should actively collaborate to enhance the quality of learning resources. Besides instructing with self-made teaching materials, the online education system should leverage the advantages of the internet and network technology to develop          e-learning resources effectively

Government Ownership, Capital Allocation and Bank Risk

In this paper, we study the relationship between government ownership and bank risk. Two different variables are generated using the Chinese commercial banks\u27 data from the year 2000 to 2011. One variable is z-risk which indicates the risk of insolvency based on the banks\u27 operating performance, and the other one is Moody\u27s financial strength ratings which measures the operation risk of individual bank. Data support that government ownership increases commercial banks\u27 operation risk, either in terms of solvency margin or financial strength ratings. The results also indicate that larger banks have lower operation risk than smaller commercial banks. However, our empirical evidence shows that economic growth has negative impact on the operation risk of commercial banks even after controlling year-specific effect. It is surprising that foreign-owned banks have higher operation risk than local banks

Carolignans from the Aerial Parts of Euphorbia sikkimensis and Their Anti-HIV Activity

Seven new carolignans, including two pairs of enantiomers (±)-erythro-7′-methylcarolignan E (1a/1b) and (±)-threo-7′-methylcarolignan E (2a/2b), (+)-threo-carolignan E (3a), (+)-erythro-carolignan E (4a), and (−)-erythro-carolignan Z (5), together with four known lignans (3b, 4b, 6, and 7) and six polyphenols (8–13) were isolated from the aerial parts of Euphorbia sikkimensis. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis, and their absolute configurations were determined by electronic circular dichroism calculations. Seven of the isolates were examined for anti-HIV effects, and compounds 1a and 1b showed moderate anti-HIV activity with EC50 values of 6.3 and 5.3 μM

A multifactorial analysis of FAP to regulate gastrointestinal cancers progression

BackgroundFibroblast activation protein (FAP) is a cell-surface serine protease that has both dipeptidyl peptidase as well as endopeptidase activities and could cleave substrates at post-proline bond. Previous findings showed that FAP was hard to be detected in normal tissues but significantly up-regulated in remodeling sites like fibrosis, atherosclerosis, arthritis and embryonic tissues. Though increasing evidence has demonstrated the importance of FAP in cancer progression, no multifactorial analysis has been developed to investigate its function in gastrointestinal cancers until now.MethodsBy comprehensive use of datasets from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium (CPTAC), scTIME Portal and Human Protein Atlas (HPA), we evaluated the carcinogenesis potential of FAP in gastrointestinal cancers, analyzing the correlation between FAP and poor outcomes, immunology in liver, colon, pancreas as well as stomach cancers. Then liver cancer was selected as example to experimentally validate the pro-tumor and immune regulative role of FAP in gastrointestinal cancers.ResultsFAP was abundantly expressed in gastrointestinal cancers, such as LIHC, COAD, PAAD and STAD. Functional analysis indicated that the highly-expressed FAP in these cancers could affect extracellular matrix organization process and interacted with genes like COL1A1, COL1A2, COL3A1 and POSTN. In addition, it was also observed that FAP was positively correlated to M2 macrophages infiltration across these cancers. To verify these findings in vitro, we used LIHC as example and over-expressed FAP in human hepatic stellate LX2 cells, a main cell type that produce FAP in tumor tissues, and then investigate its role on LIHC cells as well as macrophages. Results showed that the medium from FAP-over-expressed LX2 cells could significantly promote the motility of MHCC97H and SK-Hep1 LIHC cells, increase the invasion of THP-1 macrophages and induce them into pro-tumor M2 phenotype.ConclusionIn summary, we employed bioinformatic tools and experiments to perform a comprehensive analysis about FAP. Up-regulation of FAP in gastrointestinal cancers was primarily expressed in fibroblasts and contributes to tumor cells motility, macrophages infiltration and M2 polarization, revealing the multifactorial role of FAP in gastrointestinal cancers progression

Association between CORIN promoter methylation and stroke: Results from two independent samples of Chinese adults

ObjectiveAs the physical activator of natriuretic peptides, corin has been associated with stroke, but the underlying mechanism is not very clear. Here, we examined whether the CORIN promoter’s methylation, an epigenetic DNA modification, was associated with the risk of stroke in two independent samples.MethodsA total of 1771 participants including 853 stroke cases and 918 healthy controls were included as a discovery sample and 2,498 community members with 10 years of follow-up were included as a replication sample. DNA methylation of the CORIN promoter was quantified by target bisulfite sequencing in both samples. We first examined the single CpG association, followed by a gene-based analysis of the joint association between multiple CpG methylation and stroke, adjusting for conventional risk factors.ResultsThe single CpG association analysis found that hypermethylation at all of the 9 CpG sites assayed was significantly associated with lower odds of prevalent stroke in the discovery sample (all p < 0.05), and three of them located at Chr4:47840038 (HR = 0.74, p = 0.015), Chr4:47839941 (HR = 0.80, p = 0.047), and Chr4:47839933 (HR = 0.82, p = 0.050) were also significantly associated with incident stroke in the replication sample. The gene-based association analysis found that DNA methylation of the 9 CpG sites at the CORIN promoter was jointly associated with stroke in both samples (all p < 0.05).ConclusionDNA methylation levels of the CORIN gene promoter were lower in stroke patients and predicted a higher risk of incident stroke in Chinese adults. The underlying causality warranted further investigation

Aroma Quality Evaluation of High-Quality and Quality-Deficient Black Tea by Electronic Nose Coupled with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

According to the results of sensory evaluation performed by experts, 14 black tea samples were divided into two groups based on their aroma quality: high-quality and quality-deficient black tea. Using fast gas chromatography-electronic-nose (GC-E-Nose) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) combined with multivariate statistical analysis, discriminant analysis of the two groups were carried out, and the key differential components between these groups were selected. The results showed that 117-dimensional dataset was obtained by the fusion of the GC-E-Nose (44-dimensional) and GC-MS (73-dimensional) data and used to establish a model for accurate classification of the two types of black tea employing orthogonal partial least squares-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). The model’s explanatory and predictive capacity (R2Y = 0.976, Q2 = 0.959) were better than those of the model established based on the GC-E-Nose or GC-MS data. Based on variable important in projection (VIP) scores > 1.6 and P < 0.05, eight key aroma components including dimethyl sulfide (B3 and B25), β-ionone (A59), (3E)-4,8-dimethylnon-1,3,7-triene (A20), dihydroactinidiolide (A64), linalool (A17), phenylethyl alcohol (A19), δ-octyl lactone (A41) and γ-nonalatone (A45) were selected, which played an important role in the classification. These results showed that GC-E-Nose combined with GC-MS allows rapid and accurate discrimination between quality-deficient and high-quality black tea, which can be used as a supplement to traditional sensory evaluation, providing technical support for quality control and improvement of black tea

CD8+ T Lymphocyte Coexpression Genes Correlate with Immune Microenvironment and Overall Survival in Breast Cancer

Purpose. To identify CD8+ T lymphocyte-related coexpressed genes that increase CD8+ T lymphocyte proportions in breast cancer and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms among relevant genes in the tumor microenvironment. Method. We obtained breast cancer expression matrix data and patient phenotype following information from TCGA–BRCA FPKM. Tumor purity, immune score, stromal score, and estimate score were calculated using the estimate package in R. The CD8+ T lymphocyte proportions in each breast carcinoma sample were estimated using the CIBERSORT algorithm. The samples with p<0.05 were considered to be significant and were taken into the weighted gene coexpression network analysis. Based on the CD8+ T lymphocyte proportion and tumor purity, we generated CD8+ T lymphocyte coexpression networks and selected the most CD8+ T lymphocyte-related module as our interested coexpression modules. We constructed a CD8+ T cell model based on the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator method (LASSO) regression model and robust model and evaluate the prediction ability in different subgroups. Results. A breast carcinoma CD8+ T lymphocyte proportion coexpression yellow module was determined. The coexpression genes in the yellow module were determined to increase the CD8+ T lymphocyte proportion levels in breast cancer patients. The yellow module was significantly enriched in the antigen presentation process, cellular response to interferon-gamma, and leukocyte proliferation. Subsequently, we generated CD8+ T cell-related genes lasso regression risk model and robust model, and eight genes were taken into the risk model. The risk score showed significant prognostic ability in various subgroups. Expression levels of proteins, encoded by CD74, were lower in the breast carcinoma samples than in normal tissue, suggesting expression differences at both the mRNA and the protein levels. Conclusion. These eight CD8+ T lymphocyte proportion coexpression genes increase CD8+ T lymphocyte in breast cancer by an antigen presentation process. The mechanism might suggest new pathways to improve outcomes in patients who do not benefit from immune therapy

Dynamic response of rigid-plastic simply-supported imperfect beam subjected to a uniform intense dynamic loading

This paper presents a theoretical analysis for the dynamic response of a rigid-perfectly plastic simply-supported beam with an imperfection in its midspan cross-section under uniform step, pulse or impulsive loading, while the supports are assumed to be free to move inwards. The complete solutions for the entire dynamic response process are obtained, and the dependence of the distribution of energy dissipated upon the imperfection parameter is discussed