Fra Mauro's world map was created in the middle of the 15th century and at that time it represented a great progress in relation to Ptolemy's geographical and cosmographic representations, which until then had been the starting point for every geographical discourse. This map is one of those epochal works from the era of Humanism and the Renaissance, which illuminated the world with new light and thus moved scientific thought forwards. Fra Mauro's map represented the affirmation of geography and cartography, which at that time had not yet been constituted as sciences, and directed at new geographical discoveries and research. The aim of this paper is to analyse the geographical representations of the Balkan Peninsula on Fra Mauro's map. This paper provides the toponym list of the Balkan Peninsula and some surrounding areas and countries, systematised in its original form and identified in its current meaning. Special attention is given to the identification of the map as a text document, as well as to the explanation of the context, symbolism and contemporary meaning of certain geographical names.

This study is focused on air temperature in Czech Republic in relation to selected climatological indices for extreme hot and extreme cold days for the period 1961- 2017. The number of summer days (SU) and number of tropical days (SU30) have been chosen as the indicators of extreme hot days. For the indicators of extreme cold days, the number of frost days (FD) and number of icing days (ID) have been analyzed. The analyses are based on the daily data for air temperature measured at eight meteorological stations situated at the regions with different geographical and climate conditions. The data are freely available from the website of the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute. The results of the study show negative trend of extreme cold events and positive trend of extreme hot temperatures. With a few exceptions, the trend is statistically significant at p=0.05. The trend values for the indicators of cold days are higher than those for the indicators of warm days. The results show a faster change in air temperature for the cold part of the year

The Moracke Planine Mountains, situated in the central part of Montenegro, were the center of intensive Pleistocene glaciation. Specific type of moraines - hummocky ones, which have not been recorded in the southeastern Dinarides up to now, were recently identified and investigated in western part of the Moracke Planine Mts. Moraine material accumulated on limestone basement, where several tens of irregularly distributed hummocks and similar number of bowl-shaped dolines have been carved already. The hummocky moraines formed in the glaciokarst landscape where the well-developed karst morphology has been shaped before glaciation. Pre-glacial karst morphology determined the direction of glacier movement as well as its main morphological characteristics (thickness and width). During the most intensive glaciation phase (?IS 12) the Lukavicko-lukovski Glacier, spread out from the central part of mountain towards west, reaching a length of 16.5 km. Due to uneven glacier thickness, the deglaciation process led to its breaking and separation of the lower and shorter part from the rest of the icy mass. Stagnant state of the icy mass led to specific accumulation of moraine material in a form of numerous hummocks, whose melting produced a bowl-shaped dolinas in-between. The paleogeographic significance of hummocky moraines lies in the possibilities of more detailed studies of the Pleistocene glaciers specifics that arise from their evolution in glacio-karst conditions.

The paper explores spatial dynamics of the level and the intensity of the concentration of population/settlements situated in the Pomoravlje area, during the post- Second World War period, including overall conditions of the territory and evolutional aspect of its developmental tendencies. By evaluating Census data from 1948-2011, the main focus had been set on population dynamics of the settlements of the Pomoravlje area, and its dependence with regards to geographic, hypsometric and locational aspects of the territory. Considering the population dynamics of settlements in this area, the core concentrations and directions of their movement over the 63-year period were separated. The aim is to determine the degree of territorial homogeneity/heterogeneity of population distribution, using Hoover index of concentration and index of population concentration, both examining the relation between population and the area in question, and Kant index of concentration which next to those, also includes vertical differentiation. Therefore, nucleuses of population concentration as the focal points of settlements? expansion had been formed, as well as the population regression of small, underdeveloped settlements.

European continent is very diverse in physical, demographic, economic and social aspects. During the past times different processes shaped European continent producing different economic environment across the whole continent. Economic regionalisation is complex in particular due to economic space dynamism. This made regional disparities within existing geographical regions so big that changeability of economic regions boundaries could not be overlooked. The paper provides a completely new aspect of the economic regionalization, using Data Envelopment Analysis method (DEA). Some relevant economic (financial and macroeconomic stability), demographic and social indicators have been chosen to calculate composite index (Regional Development Index - RDI), considering each of these categories through calculated sub-indexes. The given methodology is developed for the purpose of revealing regional disparities within existing European economic regions and provides an excellent tool for evaluating efficiency of possible regional and economic policies.

The aim of the present research is to show the advantages of information technology in investigating the snow cover. The snow data is usually taken from the measurement in meteorological stations which are often sparsely and insufficient. The problem in the analysis of the snow cover is how to present point data spatially and what is the most appropriate model. The area of the present research is the western part of Rhodopes mountain (Southern Bulgaria). The relief is variable from low to high mountainous and the climate is influenced by the high altitude and Mediterranean air advections. The spatial analysis of the distribution of snow depth is done in ArcGIS by application of Spatial Statistics Tools and Geostatistical Analyst. We considered altitude, aspect and slope as explanatory variables that could be used for determination of the territorial distribution of the snow depth. These factors are determined on the base of digital elevation model and the relationship between variables is evaluated by application of regression analysis, ordinary less squares (OLS) analysis and geographically weighted regression (GWR). The high values of R2 (above 0.7) show the representativeness of the model. A map of spatial distribution of snow depth is created by Map algebra in GIS environment, applying the regression equation of the relation snow depth - altitude. Inverse distance weighted and ordinary kriging interpolation are also carried out. The research shows that spatial presentation of point snow data and its interpretation should be done taking into account the relief and the exposition of the territory.

In this paper will be analyzed the environmental statusof the two recently protected forest areas in Belgrade -Kosutnjak forest and Zvezdarska forest. Due to their specific position inside the urban structure, these park forests are exposed to the high level of pollution and degradation originating from anthropogenic sources. This paper will include all present forms of threats to the stability of these ecosystems, both in their immediate surroundings, as well as within their borders. For clear presentation of the devastating anthropogenic impact,on the protected forest ecosystems remote sensing - NDVI analysis of the appropriate satelite imagesegments will be preformed in order to detect the differences of the state of vegetation covers registrated in 1986 and 2010. According tothe need for efficient management system for the affected natural areas in the urban structure, in the end will be presented concrete protection measures, whose continous aplication can bring to the progradation of their state.

The aim of this paper is to show the advantages and disadvantages of the Serbian Danube Region as a tourist destination. Tasks to be completed in order to achieve the set aim include: determining the position of the Serbian Danube Region from the perspective of transportation geography, identifying its natural and anthropogenic tourism assets, its tourism infrastructure, as well as the types of tourism that can develop there based on the above. The methods used in this paper comprise: the cartographic method; a statistical method used for determining monthly and annual mean values of the Danube water level, water temperature and climatic elements for the period 1991-2010, the number of tourists and overnights in the Danube Region in 2012, as well as the number of accommodation facilities and their comparison for the years 2010 and 2012; the analytic and synthetic method; the fieldwork method combined with the photographic method, etc. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that the potentials of the Serbian Danube Region for tourism development have not been sufficiently valorised or realised except in Belgrade and Novi Sad. Therefore, taking action and measures in connection with sustainable development of tourism would favour economic development outside major cities, advance the spatial distribution of population and improve the overall social situation.

The studies show that the changes in intensity and frequency of the extreme weather events have been registered in many regions of the world. This paper gives an analysis of the change of 12 air temperature parameters, out of which 9 are climate indices. The indices suggested by WMO-CCL/CLIVAR have been used in order to investigate the changes in temperature extremes. The research related to the topic has been carried out by using the data from 23 meteorological stations for the 1951 - 2010 period and calculations have been done on the seasonal level. The results show that the maximum and minimum air temperatures, which have ?warmer values?, are becoming more frequent on the territory of Montenegro which corresponds to the general idea of global warming.

This paper presents an analysis of the quality of groundwater that are exploited in the territory of the Mesic village in the factory "Moja voda" on the slopes of the Vrsac Mountains. Spring waters formed in the Tertiary and Quaternary sediments are situated near the high-grade metamorphic complex border of Vrsac Mountains that represents the northernmost prolongation of Serbo-macedonian massif to the West and low-grade metamorphic complex of the Ranovac-Vlasina-Osogovo terrane to the East. Groundwater is assigned on the basis of chemical analyses to the group of hydrocarbonate-calcium-magnesium non-carbonated low-mineral water, whose physical properties and chemical composition is the consequence of geological conditions of the environment through which circulates. The dominant anions and cations (HCO3 -, Ca2 + and Mg2 +) accumulate in groundwater of Mesic as a product of weathering of silicate minerals present in igneous and metamorphic complex of Vrsac Mountains. The specificity of these waters is an adequate amount of selenium in its composition related to the Tertiary and Quaternary clay deposits which have the pyrite and organic matter, as well as silica, whose presence in the water is a consequence of weathering (hydrolysis) of silicate minerals, particularly feldspar. Water from the exploration wells is classified as ?B reserve? according to the applicable criteria.