Relation between organizational commitment and professional commitment: an exploratory study conducted with teachers

The existence of several kinds of commitments in the workplace is well known. However, there are few studies that relate these different commitments or those established by deterministic models. This study explored the relationship between organizational and professional commitment in public higher education professors according to the multidimensional perspective of Meyer and Allen (1991), based on a convenience sample of 219 teachers. The proposed models were estimated through structural equation modeling methodology. Model 1 specified a relationship of direct influence of Professional Commitment on Organizational Commitment and Model 2 established the opposite relationship of direct influence of organizational commitment on professional commitment. Both models presented a good fit to the data without statistically significant differences between them. Nevertheless, the explanatory power of Model 1 was superior to Model 2, due to the fact that it includes a larger number of determinant relationships that are statistically significant. Theoretical and practical implications were discussed and new directions for future research were identified.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Canted Spin Texture and Quantum Spin Hall Effect in WTe2

We report an unconventional quantum spin Hall phase in the monolayer T$_\text{d}$-WTe$_2$, which exhibits hitherto unknown features in other topological materials. The low-symmetry of the structure induces a canted spin texture in the $yz$ plane, which dictates the spin polarization of topologically protected boundary states. Additionally, the spin Hall conductivity gets quantized ($2e^2/h$) with a spin quantization axis parallel to the canting direction. These findings are based on large-scale quantum simulations of the spin Hall conductivity tensor and nonlocal resistances in multi-probe geometries using a realistic tight-binding model elaborated from first-principle methods. The observation of this canted quantum spin Hall effect, related to the formation of topological edge states with nontrivial spin polarization, demands for specific experimental design and suggests interesting alternatives for manipulating spin information in topological materials.Comment: For comments please contact [email protected]

Using seabirds to map the distribution of elusive pelagic cephalopod species

The distribution of oceanic cephalopod species is not fully understood but seabirds, which feed on cephalopods and cover vast oceanic areas, might work as samplers and mappers of the occurrence of this elusive group. We tracked 17 wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans at Bird Island, South Georgia (54° S, 38° W) over the austral winter (breeding period) with GPS-loggers, activity recorders and stomach temperature probes. At logger retrieval, diet composition was accessed via stomach flushings of the tagged individuals. Wandering albatrosses captured circumpolar and rarer oceanic squid in all water masses of the Southern Ocean (i.e. Antarctic, sub-Antarctic and subtropical waters), complementing much of the knowledge about the cephalopod distribution in the Atlantic sector of the Southern Ocean. Some cephalopod species showed a distribution range wider than expected, with oceanic fronts not functioning as ecological barriers as previously thought. This suggests they might be capable of overcoming these frontal regimes and even take advantage of their dynamics as migration pathway

Constructing tailored isoprenoid products by structure-guided modification of geranylgeranyl reductase

The archaeal enzyme geranylgeranyl reductase (GGR) catalyzes hydrogenation of carbon-carbon double bonds to produce the saturated alkyl chains of the organism\u27s unusual isoprenoid-derived cell membrane. Enzymatic reduction of isoprenoid double bonds is of considerable interest both to natural products researchers and to synthetic biologists interested in the microbial production of isoprenoid drug or biofuel molecules. Here we present crystal structures of GGR from Sulfolobus acidocaldarius, including the structure of GGR bound to geranylgeranyl pyrophosphate (GGPP). The structures are presented alongside activity data that depict the sequential reduction of GGPP to H(6)GGPP via the intermediates H(2)GGPP and H(4)GGPP. We then modified the enzyme to generate sequence variants that display increased rates of H(6)GGPP production or are able to halt the extent of reduction at H(2)GGPP and H(4)GGPP. Crystal structures of these variants not only reveal the structural bases for their altered activities; they also shed light onto the catalytic mechanism employed

The devil is in the detail: small-scale sexual segregation despite large-scale spatial overlap in the wandering albatross

Sexual segregation in foraging habitat occurs in many marine predators and is usually attributed to competitive exclusion, different parental roles of each sex or niche specialisation associated with sexual size dimorphism. However, relatively few studies have attempted to understand the patterns and underlying drivers of local-scale sexual segregation in marine predators. We studied habitat use, diet and feeding ecology of female and male wandering albatrosses Diomedea exulans, fitted with GPS and stomach-temperature loggers during the chick-rearing period (austral winter) at South Georgia in 2009. During this period, when oceanographic conditions were anomalous and prey availability was low in waters near the breeding colony, the tracked wandering albatrosses showed high consistency in their foraging areas at a large spatial scale, and both males and females targeted sub-Antarctic and subtropical waters. Despite consistency in large-scale habitat use, males and females showed different foraging behaviours in response to oceanographic conditions at a smaller scale. Males appeared to be more opportunistic, scavenging for offal or non-target fish discarded by fishing vessels in less productive, oceanic waters. They exhibited sinuous movements, feeding mostly on large prey and consuming similar amounts of food during the outbound and return parts of the foraging trip. In contrast, females targeted natural productivity hotspots, and fed on a wide variety of fish and cephalopods. They commuted directly to these areas; most prey were ingested on the outbound part of the trip, and they often started their return after ingesting large prey at the farthest point from the colony. Together, these results indicate that sexual segregation in core foraging areas of wandering albatrosses is driven by sex-specific habitat selection due to the low availability of prey in local Antarctic waters. This segregation results in different feeding behaviour at local scales which may be explained by differing breeding roles and degree of parental investment by each sex, with females investing more than males in reproduction. Further investigations are necessary to confirm the existence of this pattern through time under contrasting environmental conditions and to identify the drivers responsible for local-scale sexual segregation in wandering albatrosses

Charge-to-Spin Interconversion in Low-Symmetry Topological Materials

The spin polarization induced by the spin Hall effect (SHE) in thin films typically points out of the plane. This is rooted not in a fundamental constraint but on the specific symmetries of traditionally studied systems. We theoretically show that the reduced symmetry of strong spin-orbit coupling materials such as ${\rm MoTe}_2$ or ${\rm WTe}_2$ enables new forms of intrinsic SHE that produce large and robust in-plane spin polarizations. Through quantum transport calculations on realistic device geometries with disorder, we show that the charge-to-spin interconversion efficiency can reach $\theta_{xy} \approx 80$\% and is gate tunable. The numerically extracted spin diffusion lengths ($\lambda_s$) are long and yield large values of the figure of merit $\lambda_s\theta_{xy}\sim 8\text{--}10$ nm, largely superior to conventional SHE materials. These findings vividly emphasize how crystal symmetry governs the intrinsic SHE, and how it can be exploited to broaden the range and efficiency of spintronic functionalities.Comment: Any comments are appreciated. 6 pages + 4 figures. Supplemental material available upon reques

Structural and biochemical basis for regiospecificity of the flavonoid glycosyltransferase UGT95A1

Glycosylation is a predominant strategy plants use to fine-tune the properties of small molecule metabolites to affect their bioactivity, transport, and storage. It is also important in biotechnology and medicine as many glycosides are utilized in human health. Small molecule glycosylation is largely carried out by family 1 glycosyltransferases. Here, we report a structural and biochemical investigation of UGT95A1, a family 1 GT enzyme from Pilosella officinarum that exhibits a strong, unusual regiospecificity for the 3'-O position of flavonoid acceptor substrate luteolin. We obtained an apo crystal structure to help drive the analyses of a series of binding site mutants, revealing that while most residues are tolerant to mutations, key residues M145 and D464 are important for overall glycosylation activity. Interestingly, E347 is crucial for maintaining the strong preference for 3'-O glycosylation, while R462 can be mutated to increase regioselectivity. The structural determinants of regioselectivity were further confirmed in homologous enzymes. Our study also suggests that the enzyme contains large, highly dynamic, disordered regions. We showed that while most disordered regions of the protein have little to no implication in catalysis, the disordered regions conserved among investigated homologs are important to both the overall efficiency and regiospecificity of the enzyme. This report represents a comprehensive in-depth analysis of a family 1 GT enzyme with a unique substrate regiospecificity and may provide a basis for enzyme functional prediction and engineering

Feathers as a tool to assess mercury contamination in gentoo penguins: Variations at the individual level

Feathers have been widely used to assess mercury contamination in birds as they reflect metal concentrations accumulated between successive moult periods: they are also easy to sample and have minimum impact on the study birds. Moult is considered the major pathway for mercury excretion in seabirds. Penguins are widely believed to undergo a complete, annual moult during which they do not feed. As penguins lose all their feathers, they are expected to have a low individual-variability in feather mercury concentration as all feathers are formed simultaneously from the same somatic reserves. This assumption is central to penguin studies that use feathers to examine the annual or among-individual variation in mercury concentrations in penguins. To test this assumption, we measured the mercury concentrations in 3–5 body feathers of 52 gentoo penguins (Pygoscelis papua) breeding at Bird Island, South Georgia (54°S 38°W). Twenty-five percent of the penguins studied showed substantial within-individual variation in the amount of mercury in their feathers (Coefficient of Variation: 34.7–96.7%). This variation may be caused by differences in moult patterns among individuals within the population leading to different interpretations in the overall population. Further investigation is now needed to fully understand individual variation in penguins’ moult