APPROACHES TO STAFF BEHAVIOUR FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

Operational management or operations management, as established in many speciality papers, is an area of activity that is particularly important for the successful implementation of business activities and not only. From the point of view of the connections that can be established between this concept and the one regarding the staff management, we note the direct influence that the degree of motivation in the work, the commitment and the connection to the specific values of a certain organizational culture have on the performance of the subsidiary activities of the operations management. Effective operations management implies not only the optimal use of the organization’s resources, but also the engagement of staff through a behaviour whose specific features emphasize responsibility, teamwork, transparency, and commitment to assigned tasks. This article highlights the need for the staff to be connected as well as possible to the organization’s values and objectives; the efficient management of operations within it is closely connected to the level of harmonization between the values and objectives, on the one hand, and the interests and motivation of the employees, on the other hand.

The challenges of globalization for smes in Moldova

Globalisation offers humankind a new vision both on international economic relations and on international affairs, which have gained momentum and turned over time. The international economic relations seen from the perspective of the global economy’s globalization have expanded and acquired new meanings, the evolution towards such a global economy involving intra-regional relationships and partnerships development that have arisen between multinational companies. On the ground of these transformations, SMEs face a number of challenges due to the evolution of economic, social and cultural conditions of globalization. This paper investigates, using a field survey type research, the ways in which globalization affects the activity of SMEs from the perspective of the managers in Moldova perspective

Alterations in Calcium Signaling Pathways in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in women and the fifth cause contributing to death due to the cancer condition. It is essential to deeply understand the complex cellular mechanisms leading to this disease. There are multiple connections between calcium homeostasis alterations and breast cancer in the literature, but no consensus links the mechanism to the disease prognosis. Among the cells contributing to the breast cancer are the breast telocytes, which connect through gap junctions to other cells, including cancer cells and myoepithelial cells. Multiple proteins (i.e., voltage-gated calcium channels, transient receptor potential channels, STIM and Orai proteins, ether à go-go potassium channels, calcium-activated potassium channels, calcium-activated chloride channels, muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, etc.) coupled with calcium signaling pathways undergo functional and/or expression changes associated with breast cancer development and progression, and might represent promising pharmacological targets. Unraveling the mechanisms of altered calcium homeostasis in various breast cells due to the cancer condition might contribute to personalized therapeutic approaches

Extracellular Vesicles in Cancer

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) represent a generic term for all the secreted vesicles, which include exosomes, microvesicles, and apoptotic bodies. EVs are key partners in the intercellular communication and play an essential role in multiple physiological and pathological conditions. EVs are shuttles for cargo molecules, such as RNA (mRNA, microRNA, and other noncoding RNAs), DNA, proteins (receptors, transcription factors, enzymes, and extracellular matrix proteins), and lipids. In pathological states, including cancer, EVs might represent either useful biomarkers or can be used for therapeutic purposes. Moreover, in cancer, it was demonstrated that EVs play an essential role in drug resistance. Here, we review the role played by EVs in the most common forms of cancer, with a special focus on ovarian and breast cancers

Telocytes: New Connecting Devices in the Stromal Space of Organs

Telocytes (TCs) represent a new type of interstitial cells, and were discovered by Prof. Popescu and his collaborators from Bucharest in 2005, and described as Interstitial Cajal-Like Cells (ICLCs). In 2010, Prof. Popescu and Prof. Faussone-Pellegrini from Florence, based on their expertise in morphology, agreed that in fact ICLCs were a brand-new entity and they renamed them telocytes. TCs are characterized by specific veil- or ribbon-like extensions called telopodes. Telopodes aid TCs in forming homo- or hetero-cellular contacts; thus, assembling three-dimensional networks that organizes the stromal and the parenchymal components of the organs. TCs can transfer information to neighbor cells ensuring a short-distance communication, and remotely by the release a wide variety of extracellular vesicles: exosomes, ectosomes, and multivesicular bodies. Here, we reviewed the evolution of the interest regarding TCs in different organs, in normal and pathological conditions. The main focus was on the role of TCs in gastrointestinal tract, urinary bladder, reproductive tract, and heart. This chapter sums up information about the possibilities that TCs are capable to behave as sensors/mediators in nervous activity, to represent mesenchymal stem cell precursors in adulthood, and to control and determine the differentiation/maturation of other cell types either during development or in postnatal life

THE OPINIONS AND PREFERENCES OF THE EUROPEAN BUYERS ON THE FURNITURE AND FURNITURE ACCESSORIES MARKET

In this article we aim to analyze the preferences and opinions of European furniture buyers in the context of Germany, Italy, Poland, France and Austria being among the top 10 world furniture manufacturers, accounting for over 19% of the world production and 60% of the European one. We have developed this research given that the furniture industry is an important sector in the economy, employing about one million people at the level of the European Union, in 130,000 companies in the field. The furniture segment is also well represented in the field of innovation also, accounting for 12% of the applications for design registration in the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO).  This also reflects on the production of furniture, currently 2/3 of the world’s leading peak production coming from Europe. The research is of a quantitative nature, the technique adopted is the interview, and the research tool is the questionnaire. The purpose of the research is to identify the way and the level at which European consumers’ value furniture accessories in the general context of furniture quality assessment in conjunction with the need for accessory information