Sales Force Automation Acceptance: An Exploratory Study Of The Role Of Job Experience

User perceptions of new technologies may ultimately affect their acceptance of that technology. Recent research has identified a clear connection between user perceptions of Sales Force Automation and their acceptance of Sales Force Automation technologies.  Anecdotal evidence suggests that relative to less experienced salespeople, more experienced salespeople tend to have more negative perceptions of sales force automation.  This paper examines the relationship between job experience and perceptions of a sales force automation system.  The results are based on a survey of 1,657 salespeople about their perceptions of several aspects of a sales force automation system in a large sales organization.  This study finds significant differences by sales experience in areas such as perceived productivity/efficiency gain, perception of sales force automation as a micromanagement tool, and user satisfaction with system functionality.  Based on these results several important managerial implications for the adoption of a sales force automation system are suggested

Sale Force Automation Systems: The Correspondence Between The Perception Of Productivity Gains And The Perception Of Management Control Among Salespeople

Sales force automation (SFA) technologies have many apparent benefits, but the adoption of SFA systems often fails because the sales force holds poor perceptions of these technologies. Understanding how these perceptions affect adoption of SFA systems is important because negative perceptions held by the sales force can often adversely influence the successful adoption and implementation of such systems. This paper examines how the sales force’s  perceptions of productivity gains resulting from the adoption of an SFA system can be affected by their corresponding  perception of the SFA system as a tool employed by upper-level management to more closely manage the activities of the sales force. The results are based on a national survey of 1,657 salespeople. The findings indicate a negative relationship between salespeople’s perceptions of the potential gains associated with the adoption of an SFA system and their corresponding perception of the use of the system by upper-level management to more closely manage the activities of the sales force

Clostridioides difficile para-Cresol Production Is Induced by the Precursor para-Hydroxyphenylacetate.

Clostridioides difficile is an etiological agent for antibiotic-associated diarrheal disease. C. difficile produces a phenolic compound, para-cresol, which selectively targets gammaproteobacteria in the gut, facilitating dysbiosis. C. difficile decarboxylates para-hydroxyphenylacetate (p-HPA) to produce p-cresol by the action of the HpdBCA decarboxylase encoded by the hpdBCA operon. Here, we investigate regulation of the hpdBCA operon and directly compare three independent reporter systems; SNAP-tag, glucuronidase gusA, and alkaline phosphatase phoZ reporters to detect basal and inducible expression. We show that expression of hpdBCA is upregulated in response to elevated p-HPA. In silico analysis identified three putative promoters upstream of hpdBCA operon-P1, P2, and P?54; only the P1 promoter was responsible for both basal and p-HPA-inducible expression of hpdBCA We demonstrated that turnover of tyrosine, a precursor for p-HPA, is insufficient to induce expression of the hpdBCA operon above basal levels because it is inefficiently converted to p-HPA in minimal media. We show that induction of the hpdBCA operon in response to p-HPA occurs in a dose-dependent manner. We also identified an inverted palindromic repeat (AAAAAG-N13-CTTTTT) upstream of the hpdBCA start codon (ATG) that is essential for inducing transcription of the hpdBCA operon in response to p-HPA, which drives the production of p-cresol. This provides insights into the regulatory control of p-cresol production, which affords a competitive advantage for C. difficile over other intestinal bacteria, promoting dysbiosis.IMPORTANCE Clostridioides difficile infection results from antibiotic-associated dysbiosis. para-Cresol, a phenolic compound produced by C. difficile, selectively targets gammaproteobacteria in the gut, facilitating dysbiosis. Here, we demonstrate that expression of the hpdBCA operon, encoding the HpdBCA decarboxylase which converts p-HPA to p-cresol, is upregulated in response to elevated exogenous p-HPA, with induction occurring between >0.1 and ?0.25?mg/ml. We determined a single promoter and an inverted palindromic repeat responsible for basal and p-HPA-inducible hpdBCA expression. We identified turnover of tyrosine, a p-HPA precursor, does not induce hpdBCA expression above basal level, indicating that exogenous p-HPA was required for p-cresol production. Identifying regulatory controls of p-cresol production will provide novel therapeutic targets to prevent p-cresol production, reducing C. difficile's competitive advantage

Improved Efficiency of Brewer’s Spent Grain Arabinoxylans by Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction

Arabinoxylan (AX) rich extracts from brewer’s spent grain (BSG) were produced by the application of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and conventional alkaline extraction (AKE). UAE and AKE were optimised for the production of the highest yield of ethanol insoluble material using response surface methodology (RSM). The efficiency of UAE was established by the significant reduction of time (7h to 25 min) and energy when compared to AKE, to recover similar amount of AX (60%) from BSG, leading to the production of starch-free AX-rich extracts

Surface science of soft scorpionates

The chemisorption of the soft scorpionate Li[PhTmMe] onto silver and gold surfaces is reported. Surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy in combination with the Raman analysis of suitable structural models, namely, [Cu(κ3-S,S,S-PhTmMe)(PCy3)], [Ag(κ3-S,S,S-PhTmMe)(PCy3)], [Ag(κ2-S,S-PhTmMe)(PEt3)], and [Au(κ1-S-PhTmMe)(PCy3)], are employed to identify the manner in which this potentially tridentate ligand binds to these surfaces. On colloidal silver surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) spectra are consistent with PhTmMe binding in a didentate fashion to the surface, holding the aryl group in close proximity to the surface. In contrast, on gold colloid, we observe that the species prefers a monodentate coordination in which the aryl group is not in close proximity to the surface

Effects of enzymatic removal of plant cell wall acylation (acetylation, p-coumaroylation, and feruloylation) on accessibility of cellulose and xylan in natural (non-pretreated) sugar cane fractions

Background: Sugar cane internodes can be divided diagonally into four fractions, of which the two innermost ones are the least recalcitrant pith and the moderately accessible pith-rind interface. These fractions differ in enzymatic hydrolyzability due to structural differences. In general, cellulose hydrolysis in plants is hindered by its physical interaction with hemicellulose and lignin. Lignin is believed to be linked covalently to hemicellulose through hydroxycinnamic acids, forming a compact matrix around the polysaccharides. Acetyl xylan esterase and three feruloyl esterases were evaluated for their potential to fragment the lignocellulosic network in sugar cane and to indirectly increase the accessibility of cellulose. Results: The hydrolyzability of the pith and pith-rind interface fractions of a low-lignin-containing sugar cane clone (H58) was compared to that of a reference cultivar (RC). Acetyl xylan esterase enhanced the rate and overall yield of cellulose and xylan hydrolysis in all four substrates. Of the three feruloyl esterases tested, only TsFaeC was capable of releasing p-coumaric acid, while AnFaeA and NcFaeD released ferulic acid from both the pith and interface fractions. Ferulic acid release was higher from the less recalcitrant clone (H58)/fraction (pith), whereas more p-coumaric acid was released from the clone (RC)/fraction (interface) with a higher lignin content. In addition, a compositional analysis of the four fractions revealed that p-coumaroyl content correlated with lignin, while feruloyl content correlated with arabinose content, suggesting different esterification patterns of these two hydroxycinnamic acids. Despite the extensive release of phenolic acids, feruloyl esterases only moderately promoted enzyme access to cellulose or xylan. Conclusions: Acetyl xylan esterase TrAXE was more efficient in enhancing the overall saccharification of sugar cane, compared to the feruloyl esterases AnFaeA, TsFaeC, and NcFaeD. The hydroxycinnamic acid composition of sugar cane fractions and the hydrolysis data together suggest that feruloyl groups are more likely to decorate xylan, while p-coumaroyl groups are rather linked to lignin. The three different feruloyl esterases had distinct product profiles on non-pretreated sugar cane substrate, indicating that sugar cane pith could function as a possible natural substrate for feruloyl esterase activity measurements. Hydrolysis data suggest that TsFaeC was able to release p-coumaroyl groups esterifying lignin.Peer reviewe

Inhibition of Gastric Lipase as a Mechanism for Body Weight and Plasma Lipids Reduction in Zucker Rats Fed a Rosemary Extract Rich in Carnosic Acid

BACKGROUND: Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) extracts (REs) exhibit hepatoprotective, anti-obesity and anti-inflammatory properties and are widely used in the food industry. REs are rich in carnosic acid (CA) and carnosol which may be responsible for some of the biological activities of REs. The aim of this study was to investigate whether inhibition of lipase activity in the gut may be a mechanism by which a RE enriched in CA (40%) modulates body weight and lipids levels in a rat model of metabolic disorders and obesity. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: RE was administered for 64 days to lean (fa/+) and obese (fa/fa) female Zucker rats and body weight, food intake, feces weight and blood biochemical parameters were monitored throughout the study. Lipase activity (hydrolysis of p-nitrophenylbutyrate) was measured in the gastrointestinal tract at the end of the study and the contents of CA, carnosol and methyl carnosate were also determined. Sub-chronic administration of RE moderately reduced body weight gain in both lean and obese animals but did not affect food intake. Serum triglycerides, cholesterol and insulin levels were also markedly decreased in the lean animals supplemented with RE. Importantly, lipase activity was significantly inhibited in the stomach of the RE-supplemented animals where the highest content of intact CA and carnosol was detected. CONCLUSIONS: Our results confirm that long-term administration of RE enriched in CA moderates weight gain and improves the plasma lipids profile, primarily in the lean animals. Our data also suggest that these effects may be caused, at least in part, by a significant inhibition of gastric lipase and subsequent reduction in fat absorption