The Social Responsibility of Retailers through the Eyes of Students of a Commerce Faculty – a Qualitative Approach

Retailers’ social responsibility is treated in the literature in association with such topics as trade justice, ethics, or fairness. The concept can be defined according to various dimensions, involving characteristics such as quality products, price fairness, honesty, and ethical interactions with consumers. This paper aims to evaluate students' attitude towards retailers’ social responsibility in implementing the strategic and tactical decisions about product, price, distribution and promotion. It is based on a qualitative research exploring the opinions of the students in business administration about this issue, both as consumers and prospective decision makers in the retail sector. The research was conducted in two focus groups, where the students played the roles of “consumers”, respectively “managers”. It was found out that there were differences in the responses of the two groups. The members of the “consumers” group were emotionally involved and they preferred a demand driven approach that focuses on finding solutions to their needs, while the members of the “managers” group have adopted a more detached attitude and they were concerned with the identification of gain as a consequence of social responsibility actions

Enhanced Internalization of Nanoparticles Following Ionizing Radiation Leads to Mitotic Catastrophe in MG-63 Human Osteosarcoma Cells

This study aims to investigate whether ionizing radiation combined with doxorubicin-conjugated iron oxide nanoparticles (NP-DOX) improves the internalization and cytotoxic effects of the nano-carrier-mediated drug delivery in MG-63 human osteosarcoma cells. NP-DOX was designed and synthesized using the co-precipitation method. Highly stable and crystalline nanoparticles conjugated with DOX were internalized in MG-63 cells through macropinocytosis and located in the perinuclear area. Higher nanoparticles internalization in MG-63 cells previously exposed to 1 Gy X-rays was correlated with an early accumulation of cells in G2/M, starting at 12 h after treatment. After 48 h, the application of the combined treatment led to higher cytotoxic effects compared to the individual treatment, with a reduction in the metabolic capacity and unrepaired DNA breaks, whilst a low percent of arrested cells, contributing to the commitment of mitotic catastrophe. NP-DOX showed hemocompatibility and no systemic cytotoxicity, nor histopathological alteration of the main organs

Research and Science Today No. 1(17)/2019

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