This empirical study evaluated the moderating effects of unit customer orientation (CO) climate and climate strength on the relationship between service workers' level of CO and their performance of customer-oriented behaviors (COBs). In addition, the study examined whether aggregate COB performance influences unit profitability. Building on multisource, multilevel data, the study's results suggest that the influence of employee CO on employee COB performance is positive when the unit's CO climate is relatively high and that the constructs are unrelated when unit CO climate is relatively low. In addition, the data reveal that unit COB performance influences unit profitability by enhancing revenues without a concomitant increase in costs. The study's results underscore the theoretical importance of considering cross-level influencers of employee-level relationships and suggest that managers should focus on creating a climate that is supportive of COBs if their units are to profit from the recruitment, hiring, and retention of customer-oriented employees.

The integration of mathematical modeling and experimental testing is emerging as a powerful approach for improving our understanding of the regulation of metabolic pathways. In this study, we report on the development of a kinetic mathematical model that accurately simulates the developmental patterns of monoterpenoid essential oil accumulation in peppermint (Mentha ؋ piperita). This model was then used to evaluate the biochemical processes underlying experimentally determined changes in the monoterpene pathway under low ambient-light intensities, which led to an accumulation of the branchpoint intermediate (؉)-pulegone and the side product (؉)-menthofuran. Our simulations indicated that the environmentally regulated changes in monoterpene profiles could only be explained when, in addition to effects on biosynthetic enzyme activities, as yet unidentified inhibitory effects of (؉)-menthofuran on the branchpoint enzyme pulegone reductase (PR) were assumed. Subsequent in vitro analyses with recombinant protein confirmed that (؉)-menthofuran acts as a weak competitive inhibitor of PR (K i ‫؍‬ 300 M). To evaluate whether the intracellular concentration of (؉)-menthofuran was high enough for PR inhibition in vivo, we isolated essential oil-synthesizing secretory cells from peppermint leaves and subjected them to steam distillations. When peppermint plants were grown under low-light conditions, (؉)-menthofuran was selectively retained in secretory cells and accumulated to very high levels (up to 20 mM), whereas under regular growth conditions, (؉)-menthofuran levels remained very low (<400 M). These results illustrate the utility of iterative cycles of mathematical modeling and experimental testing to elucidate the mechanisms controlling flux through metabolic pathways.kinetic modeling ͉ monoterpene biosynthesis ͉ isoprenoid ͉ menthofuran ͉ pulegone reductase

We measured the concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons in 405 wetland sediment samples immediately before the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster led to their broad-scale oiling, and on nine trips afterwards. The average concentrations of alkanes and PAHs were 604 and 186 times the pre-spill baseline values, respectively. Oil was distributed with some attenuation up to 100m inland from the shoreline for alkanes, but increased for aromatics, and was not well-circumscribed by the rapid shoreline assessments (a.k.a. SCAT) of relative oiling. The concentrations of target alkanes and PAHs in June 2013 were about 1% and 5%, respectively, of the February 2011 concentrations, but remained at 3.7 and 33 times higher, respectively, than in May 2010. A recovery to baseline conditions suggests that the concentration of alkanes may be near baseline values by the end of 2015, but that it may take decades for the PAH concentrations to be that low.

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a haematological malignancy of mature antibody‐secreting plasma cells. Currently, MM is incurable, but advances in drug treatments have increased patient lifespan. One of the characteristics of MM is the excessive production of monoclonal immunoglobulin (also referred to as paraprotein). This high level of protein production induces endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, and proteasomal degradation of the paraprotein is required to avoid ER stress‐induced cell death. Consequently, proteasomal inhibitors such as bortezomib have been particularly effective therapies. Unfortunately development of resistance to bortezomib is common. In this review, we address how control of endoplasmic reticulum stress is important in the development of MM and how the unfolded protein response and its associated stress response pathways are involved in the development of bortezomib resistance.