Capital Of Slovenia Research Articles

Investigating the vertical and spatial extent of radon-based classification of the atmospheric mixing state and impacts on seasonal urban air quality

A recently-developed radon-based method for combined classification of both diurnal and synoptic timescale changes in the atmospheric mixing state is applied to 1-year of observations in Ljubljana (capital of Slovenia). Five diurnal-timescale mixing classes (#1 to #5) were defined for each season along with an additional mixing class (#6) in non-summer months, representative of synoptic-timescale changes of the atmospheric mixing state associated with “persistent temperature inversion” (PTI) events. Seasonal composite radiosonde profiles and mean sea level pressure charts within each mixing class are used to demonstrate the link between prevailing synoptic conditions and the local mixing state, which drives changes in urban air quality. Diurnal cycles of selected pollutants (BC, NO2, CO, PM10, SO2 and O3) exhibited substantial seasonality as a result of changing mixing conditions, source types and strengths. For the more well-mixed conditions (classes #2 to #3), surface wind speeds were 3 times higher than during class #6 (PTI) conditions, resulting in a 3-fold reduction of primary pollutant accumulation. Daily-mean PM10 concentrations only exceeded EU and WHO guideline values in winter and autumn for two of the radon-defined mixing classes: (i) class #5 (strongly stable near-surface conditions associated with passing synoptic anti-cyclone systems), and (ii) class #6 (PTI conditions driven by regional subsidence in the presence of the “Siberian High”). Both mixing states were associated with low mean wind speeds (∼0–0.7 m s−1) and strong thermal stratification, as indicated both by pseudo-vertical temperature gradients (∆T/∆z) and radiosonde profiles. Diurnal ∆T/∆z values indicated limited opportunity for convective mixing of pollutants from the basin atmosphere under these conditions. The demonstrated consistency in atmospheric mixing conditions (vertically and spatially) across the diurnal cycle within each of the defined mixing classes suggests the radon-based classification scheme used in conjunction with 3-D urban sensor networks could be well suited to evaluate mitigation schemes for urban pollution and urban climate.

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GYMNASTICS CURRICULUM IN THE FIRST THREE-YEAR CYCLE OF THE PRIMARY SCHOOL IN SLOVENIA

Throughout the world, gymnastics is an essential part of physical education (PE) curricula, especially in the first years of schooling. In this period, PE is taught by the general teachers (GTs) with low levels of experience about how to teach gymnastics. Our study aimed to find out how GTs complied with the prescribed gymnastics curriculum contents. The sample included 90 GTs from 21 primary schools from Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. A self-administered questionnaire was designed to examine the opinions of GTs about some factors of importance and implementation of gymnastics contents on a five-level Likert scale. A one-way ANOVA, Tukey post hoc test, and Mann-Whitney U test were used in the data processing. GTs allocated more time to those contents of the PE curriculum that rank higher regarding the importance of child development and are easier to teach. They spent only 16.93 lessons on gymnastics per academic year, ranked gymnastics at fourth place (out of 7) regarding its importance for children's development, and gymnastics seemed to be the most challenging content to teach. Within gymnastic content, the least implemented elements were those mentioned as the most difficult to learn for children (acrobatics, hang and support, and vaults). GTs believed that teaching methods (4.29) were less important for successful gymnastics performance than children’s motor efficiency (4.73) and self-activity (4.57). The outcomes of this study may aid in the future updating of GT education study programmes and designing a creative system of continuous professional development.

Adaptation of Water Supply to Changing Climate and Land-Use Activities, Case of Ljubljana Water Supply, Slovenia

A risk management methodology is presented for the adaptation of water supply to changing climate and land-use activities, considering socio-economic aspects. Several management options were selected for the case of the public water supply of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The major management actions for improving drinking water safety are (1) land-use limitations within the drinking water protection areas and (2) drinking water treatment. Trends in groundwater level are decreasing, above all in the area of well fields; therefore, artificial recharge and setting up a new independent well field were also considered. The management actions were evaluated according to several criteria, such as water supply risk reduction for the various users (drinking, agricultural, and industrial) and realization of the actions (cost, flexibility, and leg time). For management options, the ranking “Fuzzy Decimaker” tool was applied, which is based on a Multiple Criterion Decision Making (MCDM) technique. Ranking of management actions has shown that all management actions are good as they are clustering in the corner close to the ideal value. For a particular well field, farming limitations in the drinking water protection areas are the best and water treatment is the worst management action, which is due to high costs, low flexibility, and longer lag time.

Conditions for the Sustainable Development of Underground Transport in the Ljubljana Basin

In Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, surface road traffic prevails and there is a strong need to free urban areas and use underground space for public transport. As a result of excessive use of combustion engines, the concentration of particulate matter and CO2 emissions in Ljubljana is high and is of public concern. For this purpose, several studies have been made in which sustainable development of underground transport has been considered as an alternative for rail, inter-rail and city traffic. The city of Ljubljana lies on quite a diverse geological substratum, consisting of alluvial and lacustrine deposits. A complex hydrogeological situation comprising a high water table and perched water supply zones located within the urban environment presents a particular challenge for underground construction. For this reason, a research study concerning the sustainable development of underground traffic in the Ljubljana Basin was carried out. The results of the study presented in the paper highlight the possible technological conditions for the development of underground transport with a particular emphasis on sustainability and environmental impact.

Estimating the Performance of Random Forest versus Multiple Regression for Predicting Prices of the Apartments

The goal of this study is to analyse the predictive performance of the random forest machine learning technique in comparison to commonly used hedonic models based on multiple regression for the prediction of apartment prices. A data set that includes 7407 records of apartment transactions referring to real estate sales from 2008–2013 in the city of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, was used in order to test and compare the predictive performances of both models. Apparent challenges faced during modelling included (1) the non-linear nature of the prediction assignment task; (2) input data being based on transactions occurring over a period of great price changes in Ljubljana whereby a 28% decline was noted in six consecutive testing years; and (3) the complex urban form of the case study area. Available explanatory variables, organised as a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) ready dataset, including the structural and age characteristics of the apartments as well as environmental and neighbourhood information were considered in the modelling procedure. All performance measures (R2 values, sales ratios, mean average percentage error (MAPE), coefficient of dispersion (COD)) revealed significantly better results for predictions obtained by the random forest method, which confirms the prospective of this machine learning technique on apartment price prediction.

Lunch with Family

Lunch with Family is a short film (30’) on postmemory that was shortlisted in the Inspiration category at the AHRC Research in Film Awards held at BAFTA in London in 2016. Judges thought the film to be visually and thematically engaging and called it strong. The film reveals the tension between Slav-silenced history in Trieste and its impact on personal life and identity in a city-symbol on the former Iron Curtain, in Italy. The film intertwines the author's own story with the history of forced Italianisation of half a million Slavs, their persecution, their organisation in anti-Fascist groups, and the final attempt to delete this ethnic group, which, in Trieste in 1918, was more substantial than in Ljubljana – the capital of Slovenia. As part of the wider discourse of postmemory, the films aligns with the work of other scholars: Anne Karpf's The War After: Living with the Holocaust (1997) and Marianne Hirsch's Family Frames: Photography, Narrative and Postmemory (2004), but also Eva Hoffman's After Such Knowledge. However, Lunch with Family goes further. It uncovers the long history of resistance and the fight for the existence of a community that does not see its history acknowledged in Italy. Based on interdisciplinary research, archival material and interviews, the film establishes the use of research-by-practice on film as an adequate epistemological methodology to uncover long-buried events and to explore the loop of existential questions the situation provoked and continues to stir in Trieste's Slav inhabitants. A paper published in Screenworks (Vol.8, No.1) in January 2018 explored the context, methods and outcomes of the research enquiry, and Turina presented conference papers and screenings at events in Sheffield, York and Cambridge during 2016-17.

Radial growth response of horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum L.) trees to climate in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum L.) is a common urban tree species in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. This area is forecast to experience a general reduction in precipitation and an increase in temperature, which increases water demand in plants. Because A. hippocastanum is known for its drought vulnerability, the question of the future suitability of this urban tree species in Ljubljana has arisen. To investigate how climate has influenced A. hippocastanum radial growth and how trees responded to extreme climatic events, standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI) was used as a proxy for water demand. Climatic signal and its stability through time were calculated using Pearson’s correlation coefficient. Additionally, to investigate whether the trees had a common response to extreme climatic events, pointer years were calculated using Cropper values. We sampled 19 trees that were growing in Tivoli Park in Ljubljana. After successful cross-dating of 15 trees, the ring count showed that the trees had up to 201 tree-rings and had 130 on average. Climate-tree growth analysis showed that in July, 3-month SPEI had the strongest influence on radial growth, but its influence on radial growth decreased over time, possibly due to the die-off process of trees. The narrowest tree-rings were a result of unusually dry periods at the time of cambium activity and/or new cell growth. With the forecast of longer, more frequent summer drought periods in Ljubljana, soil moisture stress will increase, and as a result, a decrease in radial tree growth of A. hippocastanum trees from Tivoli Park is expected.

Latent preferences of residents regarding an urban forest recreation setting in Ljubljana, Slovenia

The goal of this study is to assess residents' preferences for a set of attributes describing the recreation setting in an urban forest (outstanding trees, forest openings, waymarks and information boards, and paved walking trails) and to explore the heterogeneity of those preferences. It was captured by a four-class latent class model used to segment a sample of residents of Ljubljana (the capital of Slovenia), who responded to a choice experiment-based poll. The survey focused on the Rožnik urban forest, for which preferences (also willingness-to-pay) for hypothetical changes in the attributes were assessed. Respondents in class 1 were invariant to changes in the recreation setting. Those in class 2 and 4 stated positive preferences for having more outstanding trees. Class 3 and 4 were in favour of increasing the area of forest openings and enhancing the maintenance of waymarks and information boards. Those in class 4 expressed positive preferences for more walking trails, whereas class 3 valued this negatively. Class membership was affected by respondent age, number of adults in the household, frequency of forest visits, income, and purpose of the visit.

The secular trend in the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the population of primary school children from Ljubljana (Slovenia)

Abstract Background: The prevalence of overweight and obesity among children has increased dramatically in recent decades. The survey examined overweight and obesity in the population of boys and girls from Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, aged seven through fourteen from 1991 to 2011. Methods: An annually repeated cross-sectional study of data from the national SLOFIT monitoring system was used. The body mass index cut-off points of the International Obesity Task Force were used to identify the prevalence of overweight and obesity. Multinomial logistic regression was used for modelling the probability of overweight and obesity as a function of time (year of measurement), sex and age of subjects. Results: In 1991-2011 period, the odds for overweight and obesity among primary school children (n = 376,719) increased every year by 1.7% (95% CI: 1.6-1.9) and 3.7% (3.4-4%) respectively. Boys have 1.17 (95% CI: 1.15-1.20) times higher odds of becoming overweight and 1.39 (95% CI: 1.35-1.44) times higher odds of becoming obese than girls. In comparison to the reference group (age of 14), the highest odds for overweight were found at the ages of nine and ten (1.39; 95% CI: 1.34-1.44), while for the obesity the highest odds were at the age of eight (2.01; 95% CI: 1.86-2.16). Conclusion: From 1991 to 2011, overweight and obesity clearly became more prevalent in children from Ljubljana. This trend has been more obvious among boys than girls. In comparison to 14-year-old boys and girls, the highest odds for excessive weight were found below the age of 10.

Carbonate Chemistry and Isotope Characteristics of Groundwater of Ljubljansko Polje and Ljubljansko Barje Aquifers in Slovenia

Ljubljansko polje and Ljubljansko Barje aquifers are the main groundwater resources for the needs of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. Carbonate chemistry and isotope analysis of the groundwater were performed to acquire new hydrogeological data, which should serve as a base for improvement of hydrogeological conceptual models of both aquifers. A total of 138 groundwater samples were collected at 69 sampling locations from both aquifers. Major carbonate ions and the stable isotope of oxygen were used to identify differences in the recharging areas of aquifers. Four groups of groundwater were identified: (1) Ljubljansko polje aquifer, with higher Ca2+values, as limestone predominates in its recharge area, (2) northern part of Ljubljansko Barje aquifer, with prevailing dolomite in its recharge area, (3) central part of Ljubljansko Barje aquifer, which lies below surface cover of impermeable clay and is poor in carbonate, and (4) Brest and Iški vršaj aquifer in the southern part of Ljubljansko Barje with higher Mg2+ in groundwater and dolomite prevailing in its recharge area. The radioactive isotope tritium was also used to estimate the age of groundwater. Sampled groundwater is recent with tritium activity between 4 and 8 TU and residence time of up to 10 years.

“We Are Drowning in Red Beet, Patching Up the Holes in the Iron Curtain”: The Punk Subculture in Ljubljana in the Late 1970s and Early 1980s

AbstractThis article discusses the phenomenon of punk in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, from its beginnings in the early 1970s to its heyday in early 1980s and its subsequent differentiation and dissolution in a wider alternative scene. The subject is thereby being treated primarily as a genre of protest music and as a youth subculture. A special focus is given to the harsh reactions on part of the communist regime, in particular the 1981 “Nazi punk affair,” and the strong political significance punk thus came to possess—albeit to a large extent unintentionally. Excerpts of lyrics from Ljubljana punk rock bands are also presented, pointing to the attitudes of the punk youth towards their social environment and political situation and revealing how they came to be seen as a threat to the socialist order. In the conclusion, the sociopolitical legacy of punk and certain controversies surrounding it are shortly touched upon.

An Analysis of Electoral Abstention in Ljubljana, the Capital of Slovenia

In a democratic political system, electoral participation is regarded as a fundamental medium of political self-realisation and as the most straightforward expression of the public opinion of citizens. Voter participation in elections is one of the most characteristic indicators of authority legitimacy. The higher voter participation, the higher legitimacy of a political system will be. However, in the last few decades, we have been witnessing a distinct trend toward the decline in voter turnout in the world and in our country. The purpose of our paper is to examine the trend of electoral behaviour in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and to confirm the assumption that electoral abstention has begun to increase also in the City Municipality of Ljubljana. On the basis of an empirical research, we want to operationalise some aspects of the theoretical origins of the reasons for abstention from elections to identify the indicators that could clarify the decline in voter turnout.
 
 KEY WORDS: • local elections • electoral abstention • voter turnout trend • Ljubljana • capital of Slovenia • city municipality

Determination of urban groundwater pollution in alluvial aquifer using linked process models considering urban water cycle

Summary This paper presents the results of the 5th FP project AISUWRS (Assessing and Improving the Sustainability of Urban Water Resources and Systems) which aimed to assess the impact of the urban water infrastructure to underlying or nearby aquifers with the urban water balance modelling approach – a chain of different models that handle with contaminant fluxes and the movement of contaminants from the urban infrastructure into the underlying aquifer. An existing urban water management model UVQ was linked to a model for sewer infiltration and exfiltration (NEIMO), as well as unsaturated zone models (SLeakI/POSI, UL_FLOW) with existing numerical groundwater models. The linked process models offer the prospect of better quantification of urban water balance and contaminant loads, including improved estimates of total recharge and its components in urban areas. Once the model framework has been set up for a selected city, it can easily be updated in the future and it can be used for other purposes like planning of local remediation measures in the vicinity of individual contaminant spillages. This paper describes the application and results of the urban water model chain for the city of Ljubljana, which is the capital of Slovenia. The results from this study suggest that residential land-uses in urban areas with thick unsaturated zone may have significantly smaller impact on the groundwater than agriculture or industry. This can be seen as a speculative understanding of the groundwater pollutions problems. In this respect, use of sustainable urban development systems like on-site infiltration of roof runoff and improved sewer control and standards could result in better groundwater quality.

Maintaining a cold chain from purchase to the home and at home: Consumer opinions

The importance of maintaining a cold chain for foods that require cold-storage should guide the habits of the modern consumer in this era of globalisation. Lack of time is the reason why consumers in everyday life often buy chilled and frozen food that either has a short preparation time or does not even require any further heat treatment. This article investigates the maintenance and understanding of the cold chain among consumers in the framework of food safety. Data were collected with a questionnaire completed by 116 consumers during a specific time of the day in stores in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, and in surrounding districts. The results confirmed that the term “cold chain” is not well known among consumers. It was also shown that Slovenian and European consumers place the responsibility of maintaining a cold chain onto other parts of the food chain. One of the reasons for poor knowledge of the cold chain could be due to the unsatisfactory efforts of governmental and non-governmental organizations, which are responsible for educating and informing consumers. The role of the consumer in maintaining a cold chain is more important than is currently thought, and is greater than the importance attached to other parts of the food chain. The authors believe that only the consumer can change the less than ideal situation revealed in this study. It is also important that we inform consumers of the unknown risks associated with improper food handling.

Who are the Explainers? A case study at the House of Experiments

Hiša Eksperimentov (The House of Experiments) is a very small science centre. We are situated in the centre of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The gross area of the centre is only 500 square meters and we meet around 25,000 visitors per year. We were opened for the public in the year 2000. In the Hiša Eksperimentov there are four full-time employees and around 10 persons working and paid by fees. There are specific institutions present in Slovenia so called Student services. They help students in finding paid job on daily basis. The state still encourages students to work by lowering the taxes for their job. There are around 25 students working as explainers in Hiša. Here are some facts about Slovenia. The population is around 2 million in the area of 20,256 square kilometers. There are 18 students per 1000 inhabitants. One can play a game with numbers – taking into account the area of Hiša and the population and area of Slovenia one can calculate that there is one person expected in an area of the size of 20 science centers. And there are even much fewer students present in the same area. But the number of visitors and students working in the center proves the density is larger. Therefore science centers do concentrate the population!

Ernst Moro (1874–1951)—A great pediatric career started at the rise of university-based pediatric research but was curtailed in the shadows of Nazi laws

Ernst Moro was born on December 8, 1874, in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, then part of the Austro-Hungarian empire and attended university in Graz, Austria. Pediatrics, initially regarded as a part of internal medicine, was in its early days as an independent field at universities in German-speaking Europe. The first Chair of Pediatrics had been established in Vienna, Austria in 1884. Ten years later Germany was granted its first Chair in Berlin. Escherich, who held the first Chair of Pediatrics at Graz, was seen as one of the most respected pediatricians in Europe. Therefore, he was invited in 1904 to represent pediatrics together with the American Abraham Jacobi at the International World Congress on Science at the Saint Louis World Exposition in the United States. The high mortality of nearly 25% in infancy was seen as one of the main problems. Escherich's scientific work had established him as the leading bacteriologist. Moro's pediatric career started in Escherich's laboratory with experimental research on the physiology of digestion in infants. In 1900 he presented the first bacteriological characterisation of Lactobacillus acidophilus. In 1906 he received his venia legendi for his work on the bacterial flora in physiological and pathological conditions of the infantile intestine. In 1908 Moro won international reputation for his simple percutaneous skin test for tuberculosis, which was widely used in many countries as the "Moro test" at least until the 1960s. He described a carrot soup and other dietary prescriptions as helpful for diarrhoeal disease. In 1911 he became Head of the Children's Hospital at Heidelberg. In 1918 he described some features peculiar to the first 3 months; according to him this trimenon should be regarded as an own entity like the newborn period. The most famous part of the paper was the description of a milestone in the infant's neurological development, the Umklammerungsreflex (embracing reflex). In 1919 Moro was promoted from associate professor to the first 'Ordinarius', thus founding the first Chair of Pediatrics at Heidelberg and marking the beginning of a scientifically most fruitful period of international collaboration. However, as his wife was of Jewish origin, Moro slowly withdrew from hospital service starting in 1933. After early retirement in 1936, he worked as a pediatrician at home until 1948.

Cold chain maintaining in food trade

The concept of food safety has lately acquired a new approach due to globalization and free trade in food. Introducing a HACCP system in the production and trade in food has become a necessity. The term “food trade” indicates all the postproduction procedures, from storage, transport and distribution to retail, including export and import. The aim of our 2002 survey was to analyse the situation of cold chain maintaining in food trade in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia. The research was based upon two hypotheses: in the first one we supposed that a cold chain is interrupted in retail and in the second one we supposed that the handling of food in retail varies. Seventeen stores were divided in three groups, according to sales area of the store: large ones, medium ones and small ones. Temperature conditions in cooling appliances for storage of 1688 perishable food products were measured. Products were inspected by two criteria, by the “best before” date and by the storage temperature. The results confirmed both of the hypotheses. The storage conditions were properly labelled on the packages of the products inspected. In most of the cases the temperatures measured differed from the required ones, even for up to 10 °C. The biggest differences were detected between temperatures indicated on cooling appliances and temperatures measured by our calibrated thermometers. Conditions during food storage and in retail stores were not documented and there was no system to control the cold chain. Our findings have shown that retailers are not familiar with the importance of maintaining a cold chain. The result of that can be a shorter durability of highly perishable foodstuffs and their safety for consumers is questionable.

7th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant

The 7th International Conference on Mercury as a Global Pollutant (ICMGP) was held from 28th of June to 2nd of July 2004 in Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia, where the Idrija mercury mine is located. The mercury mine is no longer in operation and the mine shafts are being closed in order to avoid any further releases of mercury to the environment. A professional organization of the Conference was provided by the Jo~ef Stefan Institute, with Dr. Milena Horvat as Chairperson. Besides the aim of the conference of exchanging scientific developments, reporting of scientific breakthroughs, and promoting a sound scientific understanding of the distribution, pathways and effects of mercury on our society and the environment, the scientific programme of the 7th ICMGP comprised 4 parallel sessions, poster sessions and round table discussions centred around the following four components of the worldwide mercury problematics:

First results of the urban climate analysis of Ljubljana

Currently an urban climate analysis is performed in the basin of Ljubljana (capital of Slovenia), and the results will be used for the revision of the zoning plan. The observations reflect a high frequency of inversion layers, whereby in the surroundings of the city the frequency is higher than in the city centre. In addition low wind speeds are also quite frequent, especially in wintertime, which results in bad dispersion conditions for pollutants in that region. A further objective of that study is the description of a particular local wind system, with a flow directed towards the city centre during the night. The corresponding backward flow at higher levels above the city (approx. 130 m) was observed by means of a SODAR device. In the city planning malt suggestions were made concerning areas for living and small business, taking into account the findings of the climatological analysis. Here, the first important results are discussed. The analysis will be finished by 2001. and it is planned to publish the final results.

Which Man Runs, Which Man Sits Still at Home?

Jeanne C. Finley and Marina Grzinic (in collaboration with Aina Smid) have spent the last 11 years in dialogue about the art produced in and around the Balkans. Grzinic, a resident of Slovenia, and Finley, a resident of the United States, have organized exhibitions that have travelled between the former Yugoslavia and the United States and have created individual work in both regions of the world. Originally working with video, both artists now also experiment with interactive and Internet media. Finley was an artist-in-residence at Xerox Parc with her collaborator, John Muse, and Grzinic was active as an artist, curator and writer in the former Yugoslavia. As the war erupted between the republics of Yugoslavia, much of the dialogue between these artists was centered around the body--both the metaphorical and the literal dislocation--bilocation--if a people who began moving between their pasts and futures in unexpected ways. The simultaneous mapping and connecting of the virtual world through the Internet served as a way of following the dislocated and as a canvas on which to invent new ways to explore and represent the issues surrounding the changing geography. Central to the dialogue between Finley and Grzinic is curator Dunja Blazevic, who has facilitated the work of artists in the former Yugoslavia for 25 years. She has continued her work after being forced from Belgrade into exile in Paris and then relocating in 1996 to Sarajevo, Bosnia. The following text traces reflections and mediations between Blazevic, Finley and Grzinic about individual video works, writings and collaborations over the past 11 years. It is centered around the production of works that reflects the issues and questions produced by the upheaval in the Balkans, yet extends beyond its borders both physically and conceptually. MARINA GRZINIC: A possible departure from this rhetorical question of who stays and who is forced to run is that all three corners of this unstable triangle of artists (Blazevic, Finley and Grzinic/Smid) are also producers, writers, nomads and squatters of different intersecting territories--TV broadcast companies, Internet sites and situations. But we can also spend some comfortable time at home, since we have one. So in this scenario, Who runs, who sits still at home? The war raging in the territories of former Yugoslavia, from Croatia to Kosovo, has forced millions to move and created thousands of refugees, immigrants and displaced persons. A period of 11 years now marks the instability of the Balkan region and demands a fundamental portion of the mental and geographical resources of the residents of ex-Yugoslavia. The theme of nomads and residents is present in a number of video works that were produced in the territory of the former Yugoslavia state. In 1989 Ljubljana, capital of Slovenia, and at that time one of the ex- Yugoslav republics (from 1991 an independent country on the map of New Europe), presented the last edition of the International Yugoslav Video Biennial Festival. As the artistic director of the International Video Biennial, I invited Finley as one of the artists to show a retrospective program. The fictional/non-fictional narratives presented in Finley's videos investigate the tension between individual identity and cultural and social institutions that shape that identity such as family, religion and media. Finley's videos are characterized by a narrative curve created by the storyteller's first-person voice that simultaneously opposes and is shaped by the cultural institutions. In an examination of how traditional concepts of authority, sex, political freedom and tradition have influenced the structure of individuality in American society, Finley also examines how these concepts themselves have changed. This molding of individuality by a different set of parameters than the Balkans was the point of rupture and eclipse of the relations, bodies, concepts and territories of people living in ex-Yugoslavia. …