Foreign exchange transaction exposure of enterprises in Serbia

Enterprises involved in international business face transaction exposure to foreign exchange risk. This type of exposure occurs when an enterprise trades, borrows, or lyends in foreign currency. Transaction exposure has a direct effect on an enterprise's financial position and profitability. It is one of the three forms of exposure to exchange rate fluctuations, the other two being translation exposure and operating exposure. The aim of this paper is to assess the transaction exposure of enterprises in Serbia operating internationally. In addition to identifying and measuring transaction exposure, this paper explores the practical importance that enterprises in Serbia attach to management of this type of foreign exchange risk. We do not find significant differences between domestic and foreign enterprises in their choice of the type of foreign exchange risk exposure to manage. Although transaction exposure is the most managed type of foreign exchange risk, research has shown that, compared to foreign businesses, Serbian enterprises do not use sufficient protective measures to minimize the negative impact of this type of exposure on their cash flows and profitability. We expected that there would be a statistically significant dependence between the volume of enterprises' foreign currency transactions and the level of applied transactionexposure management practices. However, the results of our research, based on a sample of enterprises in Serbia operating internationally, show that transaction exposure management practices can be influenced by factors other than the level of an enterprise's foreign currency transactions, such as the enterprise's country of origin

Unveiling the Interaction of Vanadium Compounds with Human Serum Albumin by Using 1H STD NMR and Computational Docking Studies

The binding of the VV oxidation products of two vanadium( IV) compounds, [VO(dmpp)2] and [VO(maltolato)2], which have shown promising anti-diabetic properties, to human serum albumin (HSA) in aqueous aerobic solution has been studied by 1H saturation transfer difference (STD) NMR spectroscopy and computational docking studies. Group epitope mapping and docking simulations indicate a preference of HSA binding to the 1:1 [VO2(dmpp)(OH)(H2O)]– and 1:2 [VO2(maltol)2]– vanadium(V) species. By using known HSA binders, competition NMR experiments revealed that both complexes preferentially bind to drug site I. Docking simulations carried out with HADDOCK together with restraints derived from the STD results led to three-dimensional models that are in agreement with the NMR spectroscopic data, providing useful information on molecular interaction modes. These results indicate that the combination of STD NMR and data-driven docking is a good tool for elucidating the interactions in protein–vanadium compounds and thus for clarifying the mechanism of drug delivery as vanadium compounds have shown potential therapeutic properties.Financial support by the Portuguese Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) within the Programa Nacional de Reequipamento Científico Varian (contract number REDE/1517/ RMN/2005) as part of the Portuguese-NMR network (Rede Nacional de RMN) is acknowledged. D. M. D. thanks the The European NMR Large Scale Facility Utrecht for the contact with SONNMRLSF (project number BIO-NMR-00041). A. M. J. J. B. and J. R. acknowledge funding from the Dutch Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO) (VICI grant number 700.56.442) and Utrecht University (Focus and Massa grant)

”Teijän pitäis opettaa toi kaikille, et miten te niinku toimitte toss” – Ratkaisukeskeinen ristiriitatilanteiden selvittely toimintatapana Hakunilan koulussa

Tämän opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena on arvioida Hakunilan koulussa oppilaiden välisten ristiriitatilanteiden selvittämiseen käytettyä toimintatapaa. Lähestyimme aihetta sosionomin näkökulmasta ja valitsimme ratkaisukeskeisen näkökulman aiheen käsittelyyn. Lähtökohtanamme oli tuoda nuorten mielipiteet ja ajatukset esille. Viitekehys muodostuu kolmesta teemasta. Ensimmäinen teema on nuoren kasvu ja kehitys. Toisen teeman aiheena on koulu nuoren kasvuympäristönä. Viimeiseksi teemaksi valitsimme varsinaisen ristiriitojen ratkaisemisen koulussa. Toteutimme opinnäytetyön tutkivan osuuden kuulemalla nuorten kokemuksia ja mielipiteitä käyttämästämme menetelmästä. Haastattelimme oppilaita, jotka ovat osallistuneet käyttämäämme menetelmään oppilaiden välisten ristiriitatilanteiden selvittelyssä. Haastattelutulosten mukaan käyttämämme toimintatapa soveltuu yläkoulu ikäisille nuorille hieman muokattuna. Ratkaisukeskeinen toimintatapa oli nuorten mielestä hyvä ja toimiva vaihtoehto ristiriitatilanteiden selvittelyssä. Mielestämme ristiriitatilanteiden selvittelyyn tarkoitettu toimintatapa kuuluisi olla käytössä jokaisessa koulussa. Ristiriitatilanteet ovat yleisiä nuoren elämässä. Parhaimmillaan ristiriitatilanteet voivat olla oppimisen ja kehityksen edistäjiä, jos haasteelliset tilanteet osataan ratkaista rakentavasti. Toivomme tämän opinnäytetyön avulla saavamme muitakin kouluja pohtimaan omia toimintatapojaan nuorten näkökulmasta. Heitä vartenhan koulut ovat olemassa."You should teach this everybody, like what you have been doing here” – Solution-oriented conflict management at Hakunila middle school The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate pupils’ interpersonal conflict management mode used at Hakunila middle school. The subject was approached from the viewpoint of Bachelor of Social Services and also from a solution-oriented perspective. The idea was to promote youngsters’ own opinions and thoughts. The theoretical framework of the thesis consisted of three themes. The first theme included growth and development of young people. The second theme focused on school as an environment for youngsters' development. The last theme was chosen to serve the actual research objective of the thesis, namely resolving the conflicts at school. The research part of the thesis was conducted by interviewing pupils about their experiences of the method we used in settling conflicts they had taken part in. The results from the interviews showed that conflict management mode used was suitable for middle school pupils when slightly modified. Youngsters thought that solution-oriented way of handling problems is a good and pratical mode when handling conflict situations. We think that every school should have a procedure for handling conflicts. Conflict situations are common in every youngster’s life. At best, conflicts can be very productive situations for learning and development, if challenging situations are handled constructively. Hopefully, this thesis inspires other schools to think about methods used from youngsters’ point of view. Schools are, after all, for youngsters

A multinuclear NMR investigation of the metal ion and anion binding sites of transferrins

Bibliography: p. 205-221

[1H, 13H] NMR determination of the order of lobe loading of human transferrin with iron: Comparison with other metal ions

Human serum transferrin (hTF) is a single-chain bilobal glycoprotein (80 kDa) which transports Fe3+ and a variety of other metal ions in blood. Only diferric transferrin, not the apo-protein, binds strongly to transferrin receptors and is taken up by cells via receptor-mediated endocytosis. We show here that 2D [1H, 13C] NMR studies of recombinant ε[13C]Met-hTF allow the order of lobe loading with various metal ions, including Fe3+, to be determined. In particular, the resonance for Met-464, a residue in the hydrophobic patch of helix 5, is very sensitive to iran binding in the C-lobe. The selectivity of lobe loading with Fe3+ is compared to loading with Fe2+ (which binds as Fe3+), Al3+, Ga3+ and Bi3+. Similar changes in shifts of the Met residues are observed for these metal ions, suggesting that they induce similar conformational changes in the protein.link_to_subscribed_fulltex