Grin and bear it: An examination of volunteers’ fit with their organization, burnout and spirituality

Volunteers are an essential asset to the success of nonprofits, government, business and philanthropic organizations. About 64.5 million people, or 26.5% of the U.S. population, volunteered at least once between September 2011 and September 2012, donating a median of 50 hours (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2013). Despite these encouraging statistics, volunteer turnover presents a significant problem for nonprofits. Though considerable evidence has been amassed on antecedents and mechanisms predicting employees’ intentions to quit, surprisingly few studies have examined volunteer intentions to quit. Based on both Conservation of Resources theory (Hobfoll, 1989, 2001, 2011) and person–organization (PO) fit theory (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005), this study begins to address this void by examining the extent to which poor PO fit between volunteer goals, personality and values with their organization influenced their intentions to quit through the mechanism of burnout. Further, we investigated whether the proposed mediated relationship depended upon volunteer daily spirituality, or the tendency to daily experience the transcendent dimensions of life. Using a sample of volunteers from a variety of nonprofit organizations (N = 355), poor volunteer fit positively predicted volunteer intentions to quit through their burnout. Further, the fullmediationmodel wasmoderated by individuals’ level of spirituality, with burned out volunteers reporting higher spirituality, indicating lower quitting intentions compared to those lower in spirituality. Implications for theory and practice are discussed

The First Post-Kepler Brightness Dips of KIC 8462852

We present a photometric detection of the first brightness dips of the unique variable star KIC 8462852 since the end of the Kepler space mission in 2013 May. Our regular photometric surveillance started in October 2015, and a sequence of dipping began in 2017 May continuing on through the end of 2017, when the star was no longer visible from Earth. We distinguish four main 1-2.5% dips, named "Elsie," "Celeste," "Skara Brae," and "Angkor", which persist on timescales from several days to weeks. Our main results so far are: (i) there are no apparent changes of the stellar spectrum or polarization during the dips; (ii) the multiband photometry of the dips shows differential reddening favoring non-grey extinction. Therefore, our data are inconsistent with dip models that invoke optically thick material, but rather they are in-line with predictions for an occulter consisting primarily of ordinary dust, where much of the material must be optically thin with a size scale <<1um, and may also be consistent with models invoking variations intrinsic to the stellar photosphere. Notably, our data do not place constraints on the color of the longer-term "secular" dimming, which may be caused by independent processes, or probe different regimes of a single process

Exogenous fatty acids protect enterococcus faecalis from daptomycin-induced membrane stress independently of the response regulator liar

Enterococcus faecalis is a commensal bacterium of the gastrointestinal tract that can cause nosocomial infections in immunocompromised humans. The hallmarks of this organism are its ability to survive in a variety of stressful habitats and, in particular, its ability to withstand membrane damage. One strategy used by E. faecalis to protect itself from membrane-damaging agents, including the antibiotic daptomycin, involves incorporation of exogenous fatty acids from bile or serum into the cell membrane. Additionally, the response regulator LiaR (a member of the LiaFSR [lipid II-interacting antibiotic response regulator and sensor] system associated with cell envelope stress responses) is required for the basal level of resistance E. faecalis has to daptomycin-induced membrane damage. This study aimed to determine if membrane fatty acid changes could provide protection against membrane stressors in a LiaR-deficient strain of E. faecalis. We noted that despite the loss of LiaR, the organism readily incorporated exogenous fatty acids into its membrane, and indeed growth in the presence of exogenous fatty acids increased the survival of LiaR-deficient cells when challenged with a variety of membrane stressors, including daptomycin. Combined, our results suggest that E. faecalis can utilize both LiaR-dependent and -independent mechanisms to protect itself from membrane damage. IMPORTANCE Enterococcus faecalis is responsible for a significant number of nosocomial infections. Worse, many of the antibiotics used to treat E. faecalis infection are no longer effective, as this organism has developed resistance to them. The drug daptomycin has been successfully used to treat some of these resistant strains; however, daptomycin-resistant isolates have been identified in hospitals. Many daptomycin-resistant isolates are found to harbor mutations in the genetic locus liaFSR, which is involved in membrane stress responses. Another mechanism shown to increase tolerance to daptomycin involves the incorporation of exogenous fatty acids from host fluids like serum or bile. This improved tolerance was found to be independent of liaFSR and suggests that there are additional ways to impact sensitivity to daptomycin. Thus, further studies are needed to understand how host fatty acid sources can influence antibiotic susceptibility