Enhancing the organizational citizenship behavior for the environment: the roles of green training and organizational culture

The environmental concern has become an emerging topic in organization's human resource management strategy, especially in improving employee's environmental behavior at work Thus, the organizational citizenship behavior toward the environment (OCBE) has been currently attracting scholars in management. However, published studies contain research gaps in investigation of the relationships between both green training and organizational culture and OCBE, especially in the hotel industry. Following the social exchange and Ability-Motivation Opportunity theories, this study aims to examine the effects of two green practices on OCBE and the moderating role of green organizational culture to the effect of green training on OCBE. A quantitative approach with survey strategy is employed and conducted in 4-5 star hotels to test these relationships. The PLS-SEM and K-means Cluster Analysis techniques are applied to analyze data. The findings reveal that green training and organizational culture positively influence OCBE. Also, the effect of green training on OCBE is moderated by green organizational culture. Finally, our study provides limitations of research and further studies, and the implications for management practices concerned with improving employee's voluntary eco-behavior in the hotel industry.Internal Grant Agency of FaME TBU [IGA/FaME/2018/009

Heat-Induced Structural Changes Affect OVA-Antigen Processing and Reduce Allergic Response in Mouse Model of Food Allergy

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: The egg protein ovalbumin (OVA) belongs to six most frequent food allergens. We investigated how thermal processing influences its ability to induce allergic symptoms and immune responses in mouse model of food allergy. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Effect of increased temperature (70°C and 95°C) on OVA secondary structure was characterized by circular dichroism and by the kinetics of pepsin digestion with subsequent HPLC. BALB/c mice were sensitized intraperitoneally and challenged with repeated gavages of OVA or OVA heated to 70°C (h-OVA). Levels of allergen-specific serum antibodies were determined by ELISA (IgA and IgGs) or by β-hexosaminidase release test (IgE). Specific activities of digestive enzymes were determined in brush border membrane vesicles of jejunal enterocytes. Cytokine production and changes in regulatory T cells in mesenteric lymph nodes and spleen were assessed by ELISA and FACS. Heating of OVA to 70°C caused mild irreversible changes in secondary structure compared to boiling to 95°C (b-OVA), but both OVA treatments led to markedly different digestion kinetics and Tregs induction ability in vitro, compared to native OVA. Heating of OVA significantly decreased clinical symptoms (allergic diarrhea) and immune allergic response on the level of IgE, IL-4, IL-5, IL-13. Furthermore, h-OVA induced lower activities of serum mast cell protease-1 and enterocyte brush border membrane alkaline phosphatase as compared to native OVA. On the other hand h-OVA stimulated higher IgG2a in sera and IFN-γ secretion by splenocytes. CONCLUSIONS: Minor irreversible changes in OVA secondary structure caused by thermal processing changes both its digestion and antigenic epitopes formation, which leads to activation of different T cell subpopulations, induces shift towards Th1 response and ultimately reduces its allergenicity

Design of experiment for measurement of Langevin function

The presented study focuses on a confrontation of the theory of regression models and theory of experiment with the real situation of determining properties of magnetic (nano)materials. Their magnetic properties can be deduced by measuring their magnetization, being the fundamental magnetic quantity of an arbitrary (nano)material. The results of the magnetization measurements determine the unknown parameters of a known nonlinear function that characterizes the (nano)material under investigation. Knowledge of the values of the unknown parameters enables to decide whether the (nano)material is suitable or not for a particular application. Thus, in this work, we present a possible approach how to estimate the unknown parameters of the nonlinear function by the regression models, taking into account a relevant linearization criterion. Then, we suggest an appropriate design for the measurement to get better estimators of the parameters

AQUA_2020_1080: Sperm management of European catfish (Silurus glanis L.) for effective reproduction and genetic conservation

The European catfish (Silurus glanis; also called wels or sheatfish) is one of the largest commercially important freshwater fish species. The objective of this study was to examine the storage time of its semen in an immobilization solution (IS) to enhance conservation and aquaculture programs. Changes in spermatozoan motility was examined in semen stored on ice in 20 mL tubes in IS for 0, 1, 7, 14 and 28 days post-stripping (DPS). Stored sperm samples were pooled and used for fertility testing at 1 and 7 DPS. The IS maintained sperm motility at > 90% during days 1-7 of semen storage, and curvilinear velocity (VCL) and straight-line velocity (VSL) were up to the levels of 163 and 90 mu m s(-1), respectively. Spermatozoa stored for 14 days had 60% motility and VCL and VSL values were similar to those of 7 DPS. Sperm motility was only 1% at 28 DPS with VCL and VSL of 79 and 24 mu m s(-1), respectively. The fertilization and total hatching rates of eggs activated with sperm stored for 7 days were reduced, but the slight decrease was compensated by the increase in supply of spermatozoa which resulted in overall 80% level of fertility and hatching. The number of larval malformations was not correlated with storage time of sperm. Based on the results of this study, sperm from the European catfish can be collected and stored in IS for as long as 1 week, retaining quality sufficient for fertilization to yield normal fry