Acting the part: Emotional intelligence and job satisfaction as predictors of emotional labor in travel agencies

Employees of retail travel agencies in sales roles have direct contact with tourists, which, in the case of poor customer service, can be extremely negative for businesses. Because of this, it is important to understand how employees manage their emotions in a way that can help them to remain satisfied with their work and avoid burnout. However, job satisfaction, emotional intelligence and emotional labor have not previously been studied in one model in the field of tourism and hospitality. Herein the mediating role of emotional intelligence in the relationship between job satisfaction and emotional labor in travel agencies is analysed, as well as job satisfaction as an antecedent of emotional labor in this sector. Data were collected from 160 employees of 45 travel agencies in the Serbian cities of Belgrade and Novi Sad. The results show that employee’s emotional intelligence mediates the positive relationship between job satisfaction and emotional labor. Increasing employees’ emotional intelligence through training and development and actively recruiting employees with high emotional intelligence will reduce emotional exhaustion and improve customer satisfaction for retail travel agencies

Thermal Decomposition of Ammonium Perchlorate Encapsulated with Copper(II)/Iron(III) Oxide Nanoparticles

Thermal decomposition of ammonium perchlorate (AP), as a high energy oxidizer in composite solid rocket propellants (CSRP), greatly affects the burning rate of the propellant. This paper summarizes the results of a study of the synergistic catalytic activity of nano-CuO/Fe2O3 nanoparticles on thermal decomposition of AP. AP micro-particles are efficiently encapsulated with 1 and 5 wt.% of nano-CuO and/or nano-Fe2O3 nanoparticles by the fast-crash solvent-antisolvent technique. The efficiency of the encapsulation method was confirmed using FT-IR spectroscopy. Morphological characterization, performed using SEM-EDS microscopy, showed that encapsulation provides recrystallization and deagglomeration of AP and uniform nano-catalyst distribution. The catalytic efficiency of nano-CuO/ nano-Fe2O3 nanoparticles on the thermal decomposition of AP was investigated using DSC, and an increase in released heat was observed from 1453 to 1628 J/g. The catalytic activities of performed nano-catalysts were proven by decreasing the HTD and merging with the low decomposition temperature peak. The highest catalytic effect was obtained after encapsulating with 5 wt.% of nano-CuO and nano-Fe2O3 combined in a 50/50 mass ratio due to multiple mechanisms of catalytic activity of nano-Fe2O3. The effect of AP encapsulation with nano-Fe2O3 on the burning rate of CSRP was investigated and the obtained results showed a favorable effect on the combustion rate law. © 2023 Łukasiewicz Research Network – Institute of Industrial Organic Chemistry, Polan

Plus- and Minus-End Directed Microtubule Motors Bind Simultaneously to Herpes Simplex Virus Capsids Using Different Inner Tegument Structures

Many viruses depend on host microtubule motors to reach their destined intracellular location. Viral particles of neurotropic alphaherpesviruses such as herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV1) show bidirectional transport towards the cell center as well as the periphery, indicating that they utilize microtubule motors of opposing directionality. To understand the mechanisms of specific motor recruitment, it is necessary to characterize the molecular composition of such motile viral structures. We have generated HSV1 capsids with different surface features without impairing their overall architecture, and show that in a mammalian cell-free system the microtubule motors dynein and kinesin-1 and the dynein cofactor dynactin could interact directly with capsids independent of other host factors. The capsid composition and surface was analyzed with respect to 23 structural proteins that are potentially exposed to the cytosol during virus assembly or cell entry. Many of these proteins belong to the tegument, the hallmark of all herpesviruses located between the capsid and the viral envelope. Using immunoblots, quantitative mass spectrometry and quantitative immunoelectron microscopy, we show that capsids exposing inner tegument proteins such as pUS3, pUL36, pUL37, ICP0, pUL14, pUL16, and pUL21 recruited dynein, dynactin, kinesin-1 and kinesin-2. In contrast, neither untegumented capsids exposing VP5, VP26, pUL17 and pUL25 nor capsids covered by outer tegument proteins such as vhs, pUL11, ICP4, ICP34.5, VP11/12, VP13/14, VP16, VP22 or pUS11 bound microtubule motors. Our data suggest that HSV1 uses different structural features of the inner tegument to recruit dynein or kinesin-1. Individual capsids simultaneously accommodated motors of opposing directionality as well as several copies of the same motor. Thus, these associated motors either engage in a tug-of-war or their activities are coordinately regulated to achieve net transport either to the nucleus during cell entry or to cytoplasmic membranes for envelopment during assembly

Oncogenic B-RAF(V600E) signaling induces the T-Box3 transcriptional repressor to repress E-cadherin and enhance melanoma cell invasion.

Approximately 50% of melanomas require oncogenic B-RAF(V600E) signaling for proliferation, survival, and metastasis, and the use of highly selective B-RAF inhibitors has yielded remarkable, although short-term, clinical responses. Reactivation of signaling downstream of B-RAF is frequently associated with acquired resistance to B-RAF inhibitors, and the identification of B-RAF targets may therefore provide new strategies for managing melanoma. In this report, we applied whole-genome expression analyses to reveal that oncogenic B-RAF(V600E) regulates genes associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition in normal cutaneous human melanocytes. Most prominent was the B-RAF-mediated transcriptional repression of E-cadherin, a keratinocyte-melanoma adhesion molecule whose loss is intimately associated with melanoma invasion and metastasis. Here we identify a link between oncogenic B-RAF, the transcriptional repressor Tbx3, and E-cadherin. We show that B-RAF(V600E) induces the expression of Tbx3, which potently represses E-cadherin expression in melanocytes and melanoma cells. Tbx3 expression is normally restricted to developmental embryonic tissues and promoting cell motility, but it is also aberrantly increased in various cancers and has been linked to tumor cell invasion and metastasis. We propose that this B-RAF/Tbx3/E-cadherin pathway has a critical role in promoting the metastasis of B-RAF-mutant melanomas

Oncogenic B-RAF V600E signaling induces the T-Box3 transcriptional repressor to repress E-cadherin and enhance melanoma cell invasion

Approximately 50% of melanomas require oncogenic B-RAF V600E signaling for proliferation, survival, and metastasis, and the use of highly selective B-RAF inhibitors has yielded remarkable, although short-term, clinical responses. Reactivation of signaling downstream of B-RAF is frequently associated with acquired resistance to B-RAF inhibitors, and the identification of B-RAF targets may therefore provide new strategies for managing melanoma. In this report, we applied whole-genome expression analyses to reveal that oncogenic B-RAF V600E regulates genes associated with epithelial-mesenchymal transition in normal cutaneous human melanocytes. Most prominent was the B-RAF-mediated transcriptional repression of E-cadherin, a keratinocyte-melanoma adhesion molecule whose loss is intimately associated with melanoma invasion and metastasis. Here we identify a link between oncogenic B-RAF, the transcriptional repressor Tbx3, and E-cadherin. We show that B-RAF V600E induces the expression of Tbx3, which potently represses E-cadherin expression in melanocytes and melanoma cells. Tbx3 expression is normally restricted to developmental embryonic tissues and promoting cell motility, but it is also aberrantly increased in various cancers and has been linked to tumor cell invasion and metastasis. We propose that this B-RAF/Tbx3/E-cadherin pathway has a critical role in promoting the metastasis of B-RAF-mutant melanomas. © 2013 The Society for Investigative Dermatology

Mutant B-RAF-Mcl-1 survival signaling depends on the STAT3 transcription factor

Approximately 50% of melanomas depend on mutant B-RAF for proliferation, metastasis and survival. The inhibition of oncogenic B-RAF with highly targeted compounds has produced remarkable albeit short-lived clinical responses in B-RAF mutant melanoma patients. Reactivation of signaling downstream of B-RAF is frequently associated with acquired resistance to B-RAF inhibitors, and the identification of B-RAF targets may provide new strategies for managing melanoma. Oncogenic B-RAF^V600E is known to promote the stabilizing phosphorylation of the anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1, implicated in melanoma survival and chemoresistance. We now show that B-RAF^V600E signaling also induces the transcription of Mcl-1 in melanocytes and melanoma. We demonstrate that activation of STAT3 serine-727 and tyrosine-705 phosphorylations is promoted by B-RAF^V600E activity and that the Mcl-1 promoter is dependent on a STAT consensus-site for B-RAF-mediated activation. Consequently, suppression of STAT3 activity disrupted B-RAF^V600E-mediated induction of Mcl-1 and reduced melanoma cell survival. We propose that STAT3 has a central role in the survival and contributes to chemoresistance of B-RAF^V600E melanoma

Entrepreneurial Intention of Students (Managers in Training): Personal and Family Characteristics

To increase the entrepreneurial intention, it is necessary to understand the main drivers that are driving students, as carriers of future economic development, towards starting a personal business venture. With regards to that, the main aim of this research was to analyze the entrepreneurial intention among students (managers in training) in the field of tourism and hospitality management. Particular attention was paid to the influence of their socio-demographic characteristics, as well as their parents on entrepreneurial intention. The research was conducted in survey form on a sample of 310 students in Serbia in 2020. The main findings indicated that entrepreneurial intention is higher among the male students, as well as among those students whose parents are entrepreneurs or whose fathers are retired. Besides theoretical contribution, the research results might contribute to scientific and research organizations and institutions in providing the guidelines for forming study programs that will raise the students’ entrepreneurial intention

Entrepreneurial Intention of Students (Managers in Training): Personal and Family Characteristics

To increase the entrepreneurial intention, it is necessary to understand the main drivers that are driving students, as carriers of future economic development, towards starting a personal business venture. With regards to that, the main aim of this research was to analyze the entrepreneurial intention among students (managers in training) in the field of tourism and hospitality management. Particular attention was paid to the influence of their socio-demographic characteristics, as well as their parents on entrepreneurial intention. The research was conducted in survey form on a sample of 310 students in Serbia in 2020. The main findings indicated that entrepreneurial intention is higher among the male students, as well as among those students whose parents are entrepreneurs or whose fathers are retired. Besides theoretical contribution, the research results might contribute to scientific and research organizations and institutions in providing the guidelines for forming study programs that will raise the students’ entrepreneurial intention