This article argues that Croatia’s growth over the past two decades is deeply related to the dynamics of international trade. Under the premise that what is bought and sold in global markets reflects the economy’s fundamentals, we show that the rate of growth compatible with equilibrium in the balance-of-payments, i.e. the dynamic Harrod trade multiplier, is a good predictor of the country’s actual long-run growth rate. For this purpose, we apply a state–space model and the Kalman smoother to obtain time-varying parameter estimates of the exports and imports functions. We use these estimates to investigate the determinants of international non-price competitiveness. Bayesian Model Averaging (BMA) and Weighted Average Least Squares (WALS) techniques are combined to tackle model selection uncertainty. It is shown that R&D investments and human capital accumulation are the most important explanatory variables. The success of the European Union’s (EU) integration process depends on the capacity of its new members to achieve a balanced-growth path. Being the last country to join the union, the experience of this single country is particularly relevant to understand possible development alternatives for the region. We conclude by highlighting the policy relevance of our findings to the evaluation of Croatia’s catching-up performance as part of the EU.

A prototype of a dual-readout calorimeter using brass capillary tubes surrounding scintillating and clear plastic optical fibres was tested using beams of particles with energies between 10 and 100 GeV produced by the CERN SPS. The scope of the test was to characterise the performance of the tube-based detector response to positrons in terms of response linearity, energy resolution, and lateral granularity. After calibrating the detector and processing the output signal to correct for the energy dependency on the particle impact point, the linearity of the measurement was found to be better than 1%. The response to positron was compared to that predicted by a Geant4-based simulation, finding good agreement both in terms of energy resolution and shower profile. These results confirm the validity of the tube-based mechanical option and SiPM readout as a promising one for future developments.

Abstract In this study we evaluate a national economic model using a system dynamics approach. We use a set of macroeconomic data for a transition economy to validate the model behaviour in the past, and then simulate the alternative paths of key macroeconomic variables. Instead of studying only a fraction of the economy, or using simple and abstract models, we build a large-scale national economic model. As the study is based on system dynamics information feedback, it provides additional insights about the macroeconomic effects of the economic policy, making it a valuable tool for economic policy analysis. Such insights are instrumental for understanding the total effects of economic policies and their full economic consequences. To demonstrate this, we have simulated one actual economic policy intervention and its alternative scenario.

(1) Background: To investigate the real-world effectiveness and safety profile of nusinersen in Croatian paediatric and adult spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) patients. (2) Methods: A retrospective and anonymous collection of relevant demographic and clinical data for all Croatian SMA patients treated with nusinersen and reimbursed by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (CHIF) between April 2018 and February 2022 was performed through searching the CHIF database and studying the associated reimbursement documentation. All patients who received at least one dose of nusinersen were included in the baseline clinical-demographic overview and safety analysis, whereas only subjects who had completed six doses were included in the effectiveness analysis. (3) Results: Fifty-two patients [61.5% male; median age 13.4 (0.1-51.1) yr.] received nusinersen treatment. In SMA type 1 and type 3 paediatric patients, statistically significant motor function improvement (CHOP INTEND 10.8 ± 10.3 vs. 20.0 ± 15.8, p = 0.003; HFMSE 49.6 ± 7.9 vs. 53.1 ± 7.7, p = 0.008; respectively) was achieved immediately after 4 loading doses of nusinersen and remained statistically significant onwards. Average improvements in HFMSE motor performance in SMA type 2 patients after four, five, and six doses of nusinersen were +6.0, +10.5, and +11.0 points, respectively. In SMA type 3 adult patients, no significant improvement in RHS motor performance or the 6-Minute Walk Test (MWT) was demonstrated. During the study period, 437 doses were administered without any new safety concerns appearing. (4) Conclusions: Our RWD findings indicate that nusinersen is an effective and safe treatment in a heterogeneous group of paediatric patients with all types of SMA; however, no significant benefit (but only RHS and 6MWT maintenance) was demonstrated in SMA type 3 patients who started nusinersen after >18 years of age.

U ovom članku istražujem poveznice između političke moći i jezika. U politici jezik ima posebnu ulogu - može postati instrument politike. Manipulacijom jezikom i diskursom moguće je manipulirati političkim stavovima građana i tako ostvariti političke ciljeve. Nacionalsocijalisti su to proveli u djelo u Njemačkoj prije i tijekom Drugog svjetskog rata. Na osnovu analize nacionalsocijalističke propagande u Njemačkoj prije i za vrijeme Drugog svjetskog rata u ovom se članku izvode zaključci u pogledu manipulacije jezikom u političke svrhe.

Most widespread churn prediction models assume customer independence, ignoring the well-documented propagation of churn influence in a customer network. Although this customer interdependence can be modelled by social network analysis and shallow node representation learning algorithms, these methods are too inefficient and impractical for use in large corporate systems. An efficient solution that incorporates both customer features and interconnections is a graph neural network; however, its potential for churn prediction is still understudied. This paper provides an overview of the existing approaches and outlines the properties of graph neural networks that make them a promising end-to-end solution.

A new experimental fission approach is presented in the context of the R3B (Reactions with Relativistic Radioactive Beams) collaboration, at the GSI/FAIR facility, in which knockout reactions in inverse kinematics are used to induce fission of 238U that will allow to characterise the excitation energy of the fission process and all the fission products. The CALIFA (CALorimeter for In-Flight detection of γ-rays and high energy charged pArticles) calorimeter, a key part of the R3B set-up, is used to reconstruct the momenta of the two protons from the (p, 2p) reactions. Preliminary results show that kinematic variables and first estimates for nucleon-removal cross sections are well reconstructed and in good agreement with other experimental measurements.