Issues Coupled With International Assignments

Last month we presented key findings relating to trends in the usage of new forms of international working and highlighted some of the managerial control issues facing international HR managers. This month, Jelena Petrovic from CReME, looks in more detail at the people and management issues associated with each type of international assignment. These new types of international assignments include short-term, international commuter and frequent flyer assignments. Short-term assignments are defined as an assignment with a specified duration, usually less than one year, where the family may accompany the employee. An international commuter is an employee who commutes from the home country to a place of work in another country, usually on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, while the family remains at home. A frequent flyer is an employee who undertakes frequent international business trips but does not relocate.Published in Croner’s “Managing Internationally Mobile Employees” Issue No5 and reproduced with their permission. www.croner.cch.co.u

The return of the Serbian other: Interpretative repertoires of nationalism and identity politics in online news discourses on Serbia\u27s integration in the European union

After more than a decade of political investment in integration, Serbia is still awaiting full membership into the European Union and thus is kept on the periphery of an imagined European community. In this difficult and uncertain process, Serbs have faced fractured national discourses that are inscribed with new forms of liminality encapsulated in an externally ascribed position of flawed Europeans. This dissertation explores the co-construction of national identities in the context of public debate about the country\u27s integration into the EU on Serbian online news websites. Informed by the theoretical and methodological framework of discursive psychology, this research identified interpretative repertoires activated and constructed in dialogic interaction through news reports and readers\u27 online commentaries on the visa liberalization process between 2009 and 2011. The analysis shows that although discontinuous and asynchronous in character, the employment of particular interpretative repertoires normalizes a limited number of positions of identification through which individuals avow their national belonging. Relying on taken-for-granted claims about current economic hardships, lack of alternatives, and memory of lived collective suffering and unjust expulsion from imagined European community, participants in online dialogues construct a normative category of Serbs as damaged Europeans that challenges state-centered identities ascribed by the news discourse. By appropriating EU\u27s cultural politics and symbolic geography, readers\u27 comments mark territorial migrations of an internal and undesirable Other as moral transgression to advance a preference for fixed, clearly defined, and policed boundaries. Simultaneously, they reinterpret asylum seeking as a normal reaction to abnormal circumstances such as living in a failing Serbian state. Articulated through this form of online communication, these constructs enter the public sphere to equip political elites and Serbian citizens with rational means for everyday nationalism, practical othering, and continued discrimination of already-marginalized groups couched in discourses on state citizenship

Role of Polarity and Polarized Secretion in Dendritic Cells Functions

A timely and spatially well-organized utilization of polarity determinants appears to be an absolute functional prerequisite of all cells, including leukocytes. Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies performed in the field of DCs biology have strongly stressed the idea that DCs ascertain a correct immune response by finely tuning signal transmission within IS and by temporally regulating contact duration with T cells. In this study we elucidate another important aspect of DCs biology as we demonstrate that TLR-stimulated DCs preferentially secrete cytokines (IL-12) within the IS. We provide further insights into the mechanism of IL-12 delivery at the synapse area as we show that it strictly relies on microtubule organizing center (MTOC) reorientation toward antigen-specific synapse. On the molecular level, we find that the phenomenon of MTOC polarization in DCs is regulated by Cdc42 (a Rho GTPase) and Wiskott-Aldrich protein (WASp). Interfering with MTOC polarization had drastic impact on IL-12-dependent events occurring very early following synapse formation: pSTAT4 phosphorilation and IFN-γ production. At later time points, the absence of MTOC reorientation reflected in the decreased survival of T cells and strong reduction in their IFN-γ-producing capacity. Polarity proteins belonging to three main families (Par, Crb and Scrib), have been shown essential in ensuring polarized state of various cells. We find that in immature DCs, disc large protein (Dlg) is preferentially clustered underneath the membrane area whereas it undergoes relocation and hyperphosporilation following TLR stimulation. During DCs-T cell contact, we observed that Dlg clusters at DC-T cell interface in antigen-specific manner. Dlg depletion in DCs markedly reduced early, synapse-specific IFN-γ mRNA production by T cells; that reflected in a decreased IFN-γ production by differentiated T cells at alter time-points. Collectively, our results revealed that polarized cytokine secretion and Dlg clustering at IS are features acquired by DCs through their maturation program and provide a proof of principle that T cells fate is highly controlled by DCs

Disorders of Sleep and Motor Control During the Impaired Cholinergic Innervation in Rat – Relevance to Parkinson’s Disease

The medical profession has been generally very slow to acknowledge the importance of sleep medicine and sleep research. Disorders of sleep are related to anxiety, many mental and neurodegenerative diseases, cardiovascular and respiratory disorders, and obesity

Experimental and Theoretical Study Of UV-Vis Spectra of Schiff Bases

The UV-Vis properties of ten Schiff bases were systematically investigated. The time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) approach in combination with the B3LYP functional was used for simulation of UV-Vis spectra of examined compounds. The shapes of the Kohn-Sham molecular orbitals involved in electronic transitions were misleading. To provide better understanding of distribution of electron density natural bond orbital (NBO) analysis was used. NLMO clusters were constructed and they represent a part of a molecule characterized with eminent electron density. The TDDFT and NBO theories are complementary, and the results from these two approaches are combined to interpret the UV-Vis spectra

An integrative approach to HRM–firm performance relationship : a missing link to corporate governance

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to ongoing debates regarding the human resource management (HRM)-firm performance relationship. In seeking to provide a more complete picture of the relationship, the paper discusses the existing literature and proposes an integrative framework that draws upon different literatures and multiple theoretical perspectives. Design/methodology/approach: Our review includes nearly 100 research studies published in this field. The review includes articles published in mainstream HRM journals and broader management journals with strong ties to HRM literature. Importantly, the paper also identifies a gap – a missing link - that concerns the importance of incorporating insights from corporate governance literature when considering strategic HR decision making. Findings: A significant contribution of this paper to theory is to propose an integrative framework that conceptualises the elusive relationship between HRM and firm performance, and which draws on different literatures and multiple theoretical perspectives in to offer more holistic insights into the relationship. The paper discusses the implications of the integrative perspective for theory and practice. Originality/value: This paper argues that one of the main stumbling blocks for developing a better understanding of the mechanisms through which HRM creates value in an organisation is the fragmentation of the HRM literature between “HR as practices” versus “HR as the department/profession”, as well as a tendency to neglect insights from the corporate governance literature

Catecholamine Release and Transport in the Adrenal Gland

Isolated chromaffin cells have been extensively studied as model neuronal cells. These studies have revealed a plethora of information regarding the last stage of stimulussecretion coupling or exocytosis. However, preparations of isolated chromaffin cells lack the ability to communicate and exhibit a number of phenotypic modifications that render them functionally different from their physiological counterparts. It is therefore highly desirable to probe the secretory process of exocytosis in a preparation that mimics in vivo conditions more accurately. Adrenal tissue slices are starting to become the preparation of choice for exocytotic studies. The morphological architecture of the adrenal gland and the timescale of exocytotic events necessitate a detection method that has both temporal and spatial resolution to accurately examine chemical messenger dynamics. Electroanalytical techniques, in particular fast-scan cyclic voltammetry and constant-potential amperometry, at carbon-fiber microelectrodes satisfy both of the detection requirements and also offer exquisite selectivity for electroactive chemical messengers. This dissertation focuses on explorations of catecholamine exocytosis in the intact adrenal gland. The small size of the carbon-fiber microsensor was exploited in detailed investigations of catecholamine dynamics within various adrenomedullary compartments. Constant-potential amperometry was utilized in the pursuit of the underlying causes of unexpected spontaneous catecholamine transients. Additionally, the balance between exocytotic release and clearance of catecholamines from the extracellular space was studied by employing fast-scan cyclic voltammetry. Finally, electrical stimulation parameters were varied to determine the conditions resulting in the most efficacious and least damaging electrical stimulation. The findings in this work offer the first real-time overview of the fate of catecholamines as they traverse various adrenomedullary compartments on their journey to the blood stream

Značaj granične inspekcije u kontroli trovanja histaminom iz konzervi od tuna

Republika Srbija nema sopstvenu proizvodnju morskih riba i poseduje svega nekoliko objekata za preradu morske ribe. Sva morska riba se uvozi, samim tim su i sve konzerve od komada i komadića tunja na našem tržištu uvezene. Uvoz konzervi od tunja, kao i svih drugih ribljih proizvoda prilikom ulaska u našu zemlju se mora podvrgnuti kontroli granične veterinarske inspekcije. Odmah nakon prispeća pošiljke na granični prelaz lice odgovorno za pošiljku, pored obrasca zajedničkog veterinarskog ulaznog dokumenta za proizvode, podnosi i zahtev za veterinarsko sanitarni pregled. Svaka pošiljka konzervi od tunja u uvozu u Republiku Srbiju mora biti podvrgnuta pregledu dokumentacije, identifikaciji pošiljke i fizičkom, hemijskom, mikrobiološkom i senzorskom pregledu. Sadržaj histamina u ribama i proizvodima od riba je pre svega kriterijum bezbednosti hrane obzirom da utiče na zdravlje ljudi, ali je u isto vreme i pokazatelj higijene procesa i svežine proizvoda. Cilj ove studije je da se obezbede informacije o prisustvu histamina u uvezenim konzervama od tunja i da se ukaže na značaj granične inspekcije u kontroli histaminske intoksikacije koja nastaje kao posledica konzumiranja konzervi od tunja sa povišenim sadržajem histamina. Tokom jednogodišnje studije (od januara do decembra 2014. godine) ispitano je 97 proizvodnih partija uvezenih konzervi od tunja. Svih 97 proizvodnih partija je uzorkovano tokom granične inspekcije i ispitano u laboratorijama Naučnog instituta za veterinarstvo „Novi Sad“. Ispitivanje sadržaja prisustva histamina u konzervama od tunja je urađeno ELISA metodom sa test kitom HIS-E02 (Immunolab GmbH, Germany). Rezultati studije pokazuju da je 3,09 % proizvodnih partija uvezenih konzervi od tunja imalo nezadovoljavajuće povećan nivo sadržaja histamina i da nisu bezbedne za ljudsku ishranu. Sve proizvodne partije kod kojih je dokazan povećan nivo histamina, odnosno koje su proglašene za nebezbedne za ljudsku ishranu su vraćene, a uvoz je zabranjen. Granična inspekcija, tj. ispitivanje pri graničnoj inspekcije predstavlja značajnu preventivnu meru u sprečavanju histaminske intoksikacije kao posledice konzumiranja konzervi od tunja sa povišenim sadržajem histamina