Relevance of intercultural communication for human resources management

We live in a globalizing society. The development of communication and transportation technology has shrunk the world in which the global interdependence for people and cultures becomes a norm of life. Therefore, intercultural communication competence becomes a critical ability for adjusting people to the demands of the 21 st century. The aim of this article is to emphasize the necessity to develop intercultural/global communication competence, in order to function effectively and successfully in our everyday and particularly in our professional lives. The paper is divided into three parts. The first one offers a brief overview of the concepts of HC/LC cultures. The second part highlights the relevance of the HC/LC dimension for the Human Resource management. The fourth part presents instances from literature on the German and Romanian cultural models in an attempt to classify them as HC/LC cultures respectively. Finally the article provides instances from a research I conducted to identify cultural differences between Germans and Romanians, illustrated by excerpts on HC/LC communication from job interviews held with German and Romanian Human Resource Managers.intercultural communication, high context/low context cultures, globalization, human resource management, job interview.

The surface activity of phenothiazine derivatives at the air-solution interface

The surface activity of triflupromazine, chlorpromazine, promazine, promethazine, and chlorpromazine sulfoxide has been determined at the air-solution interface by the drop-volume method to measure surface tension. Differences in the abilities of the various phenothiazines employed to affect surface pressure development seem correlated with their relative nonpolarities. Anionic buffer ingredients appear to have an affect on surface activity at pH 5.0. Increasing concentrations of phthalate, citrate, and succinate buffers tend to increase surface activity, while increasing the concentration of the acetate buffer has the opposite effect. Raising the pH greatly increases surface activity of chlorpromazine and its sulfoxide, but the low solubility of the un-ionized form of chlorpromazine prevents it from exhibiting surface activity unless a significant amount of protonated form is also present. The un-ionized form of chlorpromazine sulfoxide is more soluble than chlorpromazine, and it exhibits marked surface activity at high pH.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/33453/1/0000856.pd

Some micellar properties of long-chain acylcarnitines

The acid dissociation constants of long-chain esters of carnitine ([beta]-hydroxy-[gamma]-trimethylammonium-butyrate) above the critical micelle concentration were determined potentiometrically at several concentrations of added KCl. As the degree of protonation [beta] increases the apparent pK values decrease owing to the increased positive charge on the micelle. The difference in pK between the neutral (zwitterionic) micelle and the value at any given [beta] was used to determine the surface potential of the micelle [Psi] at that degree of protonation. At each degree of protonation the measured surface potential was related to the surface charge density [sigma] with the aid of the calculations of Loeb, Wiersema, and Overbeek for a spherical impenetrable particle. The surface potentials and surface charge densities of lauryl-, myristyl-, and palmitylcarnitine are nearly identical at a given degree of protonation and ionic strength, and, as expected, increasing the ionic strength produces a decrease in the surface potential. From the partial molal volume of each surfactant in the micelle and the calculated surface charge density it was possible to calculate the aggregation number n of the micelle. Good agreement was found between the calculated values of n and values obtained from light-scattering experiments at several ionic strengths and degrees of protonation.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/32652/1/0000016.pd

Dextran and its potential use as tablet excipient

Dextrans are a class of carbohydrate polymers extensively applied in pharmaceutical applications, particularly as drug conjugate macromolecular carriers or drug delivery systems. These polysaccharides improve the stability of the therapeutics enabling also the control of their release, via either the parenteral and or oral routes. In the latter case, due to their gel forming ability they may have potential as hydrophilic matrix tablets for sustained drug release. In this paper, we investigated the behaviour of different molecular weight (1, 40, 500 and 2300 kDa) dextrans as tabletting excipients. Powder particle size and hygroscopic studies have been reported, together with tabletability, tablet stability and tablet swelling. Moreover we use tramadol as model compound to evaluate the ability of dextrans to control drug dissolution. The results suggest that dextrans with lower molecular weights may be a promising excipient to be used as filler for immediate release tablets, due to their good tabletability and fast dissolution rate, while dextrans with higher molecular weights could be an efficient disintegrant due to their swelling ability

Powder Compaction: Compression Properties of Cellulose Ethers

Effective development of matrix tablets requires a comprehensive understanding of different raw material attributes and their impact on process parameters. Cellulose ethers (CE) are the most commonly used pharmaceutical excipients in the fabrication of hydrophilic matrices. The innate good compression and binding properties of CE enable matrices to be prepared using economical direct compression (DC) techniques. However, DC is sensitive to raw material attributes, thus, impacting the compaction process. This article critically reviews prior knowledge on the mechanism of powder compaction and the compression properties of cellulose ethers, giving timely insight into new developments in this field

Development of micro-fibrous solid dispersions of poorly water-soluble drugs in sucrose using temperature-controlled centrifugal spinning

Solid dispersion technology represents a successful approach to addressing the bioavailability issues caused by the low aqueous solubility of many Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS) Class II drugs. In this study, the use of high-yield manufacture of fiber-based dispersion is explored as an alternative approach to monolith production methods. A temperature-controlled solvent-free centrifugal spinning process was used to produce sucrose-based microfibers containing the poorly water-soluble drugs olanzapine and piroxicam (both BCS Class II); these were successfully incorporated into the microfibers and the basic characteristics of fiber diameter, glassy behavior, drug loading capacity and drug-sucrose interaction assessment were measured. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that bead-free drug-loaded microfibers with homogenous morphology and diameter in the range of a few micrometers were prepared using our process. Differential scanning calorimetric and X-ray diffraction analyses showed that both drug and carrier were present in the amorphous state in the microfibers, although in the case of piroxicam-loaded microfibers, the presence of small amounts of crystalline drug was observed under polarized light microscopy and in Fourier transform infrared spectra. Drug dissolution performance was evaluated under both sink and non-sink conditions and was found to be significantly enhanced compared to the corresponding crystalline physical mixtures and pure drugs, with evidence of supersaturation behavior noted under non-sink conditions. This study has demonstrated that microfiber-based dispersions may be manufactured by the centrifugal spinning process and may possess characteristics that are favorable for the enhanced dissolution and oral absorption of drugs. © 2016 The Authors