National Basketball Association fandom in China : a comparative analysis of fan behaviors, fan motivation, and team identification

This study examines NBA fandom in China and the U.S. in terms of fan behavior, fan motivations, and team identification. Two hypotheses and three research questions are proposed to examine the relationship among sport fandom, team identification, and sport consumption on social, and how fan motivations differ across two nations. One Chinese sample and one American sample are collected to test the hypotheses and answer the research questions. Results from both studies revealed several differences. Demographic analyses showed gender difference in differentiating fandom and team identification in both of the two nations. Further intercultural research input is called for into this area.Advertisin

Problems and Suggestions on the Application of Garden Plants in Nanchang Bayi Park

Taking the garden plants and their landscape in Bayi Park in Nanchang as the research object, the methods of field investigation and data collection were applied to investigate and analyze the species and application of garden plants. From the aspect of landscape plants and other seasonal characteristics and analyzes the present situation of landscape plant resources in the park; in view of the current problems, put forward to further improve the landscape effect of the proposal, the research results can provide reference basis for City Park plant landscape optimization

Oxidative Stress, Mitochondrial Dysfunction, and Aging

Aging is an intricate phenomenon characterized by progressive decline in physiological functions and increase in mortality that is often accompanied by many pathological diseases. Although aging is almost universally conserved among all organisms, the underlying molecular mechanisms of aging remain largely elusive. Many theories of aging have been proposed, including the free-radical and mitochondrial theories of aging. Both theories speculate that cumulative damage to mitochondria and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is one of the causes of aging. Oxidative damage affects replication and transcription of mtDNA and results in a decline in mitochondrial function which in turn leads to enhanced ROS production and further damage to mtDNA. In this paper, we will present the current understanding of the interplay between ROS and mitochondria and will discuss their potential impact on aging and age-related diseases

The Performances Optimization of Finger Seal Based on Fuzzy Game Theory

AbstractLeakage and abrasion are two key performances of finger seals (FS). They not only contradict each other in FS design but also relate to many design parameters. Moreover, in the multi-objective optimization progress, the problems of optimizing results decision and preference requirement for optimization objectives are still challenge to researcher. So far, they are still important influence factors for advanced FS design. Therefore, the current work presents a new multi-objective optimization method by introducing game theory and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation theory. The optimizing results are compared to that of the general optimization method and finite element method (FEM). The study show that the FS, which is obtained by presented optimization method, has good performances. Compared respectively with the general optimization method and FEM, the computational results indicate that the presented method can effectively reflect the different response requirements of optimization objectives. Furthermore, the decision-making difficulty for multi-objective optimization of FS performances is significantly reduced

Regulation of Senescence in Cancer and Aging

Senescence is regarded as a physiological response of cells to stress, including telomere dysfunction, aberrant oncogenic activation, DNA damage, and oxidative stress. This stress response has an antagonistically pleiotropic effect to organisms: beneficial as a tumor suppressor, but detrimental by contributing to aging. The emergence of senescence as an effective tumor suppression mechanism is highlighted by recent demonstration that senescence prevents proliferation of cells at risk of neoplastic transformation. Consequently, induction of senescence is recognized as a potential treatment of cancer. Substantial evidence also suggests that senescence plays an important role in aging, particularly in aging of stem cells. In this paper, we will discuss the molecular regulation of senescence its role in cancer and aging. The potential utility of senescence in cancer therapeutics will also be discussed

Design, synthesis, and insecticidal activity evaluation of piperine derivatives

Structural optimization of natural products has become one of the most effective ways to develop novel pesticides. In this study, 30 novel pesticide derivatives containing a linear bisamide were synthesized. Then, their insecticidal activities against P. xylostella were evaluated. Results indicate that different bisamide substitutes show different larvicidal structure–activity relationships. At the same time, 2-trifluoroethyl is the most efficient substituent. The bioactivity results showed that most of the desired compounds exhibited better insecticidal activity against P. xylostella than piperine. Among them, compound D28 resulted in 90% mortality at 1 mg/ml concentration. This study provides a novel protocol for the discovery of new insecticides. The molecular docking results indicated that compound D28 could act on γ-aminobutyric acid receptors

Which factors affect the live birth outcome of the first single euploid frozen-thawed blastocyst transfer in couples with balanced chromosomal translocations?

ObjectiveThe objective of this study is to investigate the factors that influence the live birth rate (LBR) of the first single euploid frozen-thawed blastocyst transfer (FBT) cycles after preimplantation genetic testing for structural rearrangements (PGT-SR) in couples with balanced chromosomal translocations (BCT).DesignSingle center, retrospective and observational study.MethodsA total of 336 PGT-SR and the first single euploid FBT cycles between July 2016 and December 2022 were included in this study. The patients were divided into two groups according to the live birth outcomes. The parameters of the study population, controlled ovarian stimulation cycles, and FBT cycles were analyzed. Multivariable binary logistic regression was performed to find the factors that affected the LBR.ResultsThe percentage of blastocysts at developmental stage Day 5 compared to Day 6 (51.8% vs. 30.8%; P<0.001) and with morphology ≥BB compared to <BB (49.7% vs. 32.2%; P=0.001) was significantly different between the group that resulted in live births (n=193) and the group that did not (n=143). The results of the multivariable binary logistic regression analysis indicated that the developmental stage (adjusted OR: 2.068, 95%CI 1.291-3.313; P=0.003) and morphology (adjusted OR: 1.697, 95%CI 1.039-2.773; P=0.035) of the blastocyst were significantly correlated with live birth. Patients with blastocysts that reached the developmental stage at Day 5 and had a morphology of ≥BB had a higher likelihood of having a live birth.ConclusionThe developmental stage and morphology of blastocyst affect the live birth outcome of the first single euploid FBT in BCT carriers undergoing PGT-SR

Site Selection of Fig Orchard

It is necessary to pay attention to site selection in the construction of fig orchard. It is better to choose the fig orchard sites which have warm weather, long frost free period, fertile soil loose, traffic developed, and no pollution of the surrounding land. Only with the suitable site conditions can be achieved the high yield and high efficiency

Acoustic higher-order topological insulator on a Kagome lattice

High-order topological insulators (TIs) are a family of recently-predicted topological phases of matter obeying an extended topological bulk-boundary correspondence principle. For example, a two-dimensional (2D) second-order TI does not exhibit gapless one-dimensional (1D) topological edge states, like a standard 2D TI, but instead has topologically-protected zero-dimensional (0D) corner states. So far, higher-order TIs have been demonstrated only in classical mechanical and electromagnetic metamaterials exhibiting quantized quadrupole polarization. Here, we experimentally realize a second-order TI in an acoustic metamaterial. This is the first experimental realization of a new type of higher-order TI, based on a breathing Kagome lattice, that has zero quadrupole polarization but nontrivial bulk topology characterized by quantized Wannier centers (WCs). Unlike previous higher-order TI realizations, the corner states depend not only on the bulk topology but also on the corner shape; we show experimentally that they exist at acute-angled corners of the Kagome lattice, but not at obtuse-angled corners. This shape dependence allows corner states to act as topologically-protected but reconfigurable local resonances.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure