Level In Serbia Research Articles

Organizational health literacy responsiveness in community pharmacies in Serbia

Abstract Background The Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Belgrade conducted a pilot study at community pharmacies in Serbia in 2023 in the framework of the M-POHL organizational health literacy (OHL) project. Community pharmacies in Serbia are considered relevant settings where people’s health can be promoted within the organization. Methods The validated and culturally adopted Serbian version of the International Self-Assessment Tool for Organizational Health Literacy in Primary Health Care Services (OHL-PHC) was used. We recruited employees from 3 pharmacy chains with pharmacists from different units. A preparatory workshop was organized to explain the procedure and the concept of OHL. First, the self-assessment was performed in a small group of 5 persons individually, and then the results were discussed in a joint assessment. The self-assessment was based on the degree of fulfillment of 4 categories offered for each indicator: not fulfilled (0-25%), predominantly not fulfilled (26-50%), predominantly fulfilled (51-75%), and completely fulfilled (76-100%). The same scale was applied for the indicators, sub-standards and standards and the final score was the mean of the individual scores (min. 0, max. 4). Results The overall score of the OHL on the sample level was 1.93±0.86, with the highest score for providing of easy access to primary care service and facilitating navigation (2.3±0.5). The least fulfilled standards were related to promotion of digital health literacy and promoting health literacy with the same score values of 1.7±1.0. Out of 69 indicators 1 had been self-assessed as not fulfilled and 15 reached low consensus (SD ≤ 1), and needed to be discussed further. Conclusions Improvements in OHL in the piloted institutions are necessary for successful healthcare and health promotion and could be tailed in further usage of the OHL-PHC on a broader scope. More pilot studies are needed in other healthcare settings at primary level in Serbia.

The influence of anthropometric characteristics on swimming speed in adolescent swimmers

Swimming speed depends on anthropometric characteristics, biomechanics factors, physical fitness, physiological components, and genetics. Therefore, this study aimed to identify which anthropometric characteristics influence swimming speed in adolescent competitive swimmers. Thirty-eight male swimmers (aged 16.94 ± 0.8 years; body height: 178.3 ± 5.4 cm; body weight 67.7 ± 9.6 kg) and thirty-five female swimmers (aged 17.12 ± 0.7 years; body height: 175.1 ± 6.6 cm; body weight 59.9 ± 7.1 kg) participated in the study. All swimmers have competed at the national level in Serbia for at least three years and have at least five years of training experience. Fifteen variables were measured: arm length, hand length, leg length, foot length, seat height, wrist diameter, ankle joint diameter, elbow diameter, chest circumference, triceps skinfold, forearm skinfold, abdominal skinfold, subscapular skinfold, thigh skinfold, calf skinfold. The measurements were taken by the Martin anthropometer, Omron digital scale BF511, and John Bull caliper. Swimming speed was measured during 50-m and 100-m front crawl swimming. Multiple regression analysis revealed that arm length, wrist diameter, and chest circumference, all together, accounted for 77% of 100-m front crawl swimming speed in male swimmers, while abdominal skinfold accounted for 90% of 100-m front crawl swimming speed in female swimmers. Results showed that anthropometric characteristics could not account for adolescent swimmers' 50-m front crawl swimming speed. However, anthropometric characteristics can influence the result in swimming (100-m front crawl swimming speed) in adolescents and thus should be considered a diagnostic tool in selecting young swimmers.

Ensemble model for predicting chronic non-communicable diseases using Latin square extraction and fuzzy-artificial neural networks from 2013 to 2019

BackgroundThe presented study tracks the increase or decrease in the prevalence of seventeen different chronic non-communicable diseases in Serbia. This analysis considers factors such as region, age, and gender and is based on data from two national cross-sectional studies conducted in 2013 and 2019. The research aims to accurately identify the regions with the highest percentage of affected individuals, as well as their respective age and gender groups. The ultimate goal is to facilitate organized, free preventive screenings for these population categories within a very short time-frame in the future. Materials and methodsThe study analyzed two cross-sectional studies conducted between 2013 and 2019, using data obtained from the Institute of Public Health of Serbia. Both studies involved a total of 27801 participants. The study compared the performance of Decision Tree and Support Vector Regressor models with artificial neural network (ANN) models that employed two encoding functions. The new methodology for the ANN-L36 model was based on artificial neural networks constructed using a Latin square (L36) design, incorporating Taguchi's robust design optimization. ResultsThe results of the analysis from three different models have shown that cardiovascular diseases are the most prevalent illnesses among the population in Serbia, with hypertension as the leading condition in all regions, particularly among individuals aged 64 to 75 years, and more prevalent among females. In 2019, there was a decrease in the percentage of the leading disease, hypertension, compared to 2013, with a decrease from 34.0% to 32.2%. The ANN-L36 model with Fuzzy encoding function demonstrated the highest precision, achieving the smallest relative error of 0.1%. ConclusionTo date, no studies have been conducted at the national level in Serbia to comprehensively track and identify chronic diseases in the manner proposed by this study. The model presented in this research will be implemented in practice and is set to significantly contribute to the future healthcare framework in Serbia, shaping and advancing the approach towards addressing these conditions. Furthermore, experimental evidence has shown that Taguchi's optimization approach yields the best results for identifying various chronic non-communicable diseases.

EVALUATION OF UNDERSTANDING AND ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CONCEPT AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The paper focuses on the development of the concept of education for sustainable development in the regions where the research is conducted; with the presentation of respondents' opinions for all three observed areas. The author's contribution to this work is reflected in pointing out the basic factors and essential problems that arise when reforming the educational system in order to apply the concept of education for sustainable development. The paper offers solutions to these problems, providing established guidelines on how to reform the education system. In this case, it is about the perception of students of three regional centers - Niš and Kosovska Mitrovica in Serbia, and East Sarajevo - Pala in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results of our research show that a very small number of students are familiar with the emergence of the idea of OR, which confirms the fact that awareness and especially knowledge of citizens about OR, both at the level of the EU and especially at the level of Serbia, is far from desirable and necessary. The results of the research can be useful for decision makers who participate in the creation of the educational system; and they would be particularly significant for the reform of the education system in Serbia, where education for sustainable development is still viewed as a theoretical rather than a practical issue.

Representation of Roma Content in Curricula and Textbooks at the Initial Education Level in Serbia

The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees all children the right to an education, and this paper focuses on Roma children and that right. The extent of Serbia’s strategy documents was reviewed, particularly in light of their responsibility for guaranteeing equity, accessibility, and equal educational opportunities for all children. The study’s objective is to assess how content related to the Roma is portrayed in current curricula (N = 16) and textbooks (N = 93) for the 2022–2023 academic year. It was discovered that despite the objectives in each of the analyzed courses (Serbian language, The World around Us, Nature and Society, Music Education, and Civic Education) clearly promote equality, diversity, and mutual appreciation, democratic values, inclusion, and anti-discrimination, none of them explicitly mention the words Roma or the Roma people. Only a few times do the Roma people explicitly appear in textbooks on nature, society, and music, and then only as a numerical representation of the national minority; no mention is made of the positive traits of the Roma people, who have their own identity, tradition, and culture as well as well-known members. The results highlight the need for textbooks to include specific content about the Roma people as fundamental teaching tools. This content should also be included in the curriculum because it would help students of Roma origin feel less excluded and more empowered to participate in school on an equal footing.

IMPACT OF AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION ON GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT IN THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

The goal of this research is to quantify the influence of each segment of agricultural production individually on the formation of the total gross domestic product in Serbia. For the purposes of the research, the gross domestic product at the level of Serbia, expressed at current prices, was used as the dependent variable. On the other hand, the values of agricultural production (plant production, vegetable production and horticultural products, livestock production, production of livestock products, and agricultural services) expressed also in current prices were observed as independent variables. The research used regression analysis. The most important result of this research is that plant production is recommended as the dominant direction of Serbian agriculture, given that its influence is most pronounced when it comes to the formation of the value of agricultural production, and therefore the total gross domestic product of Serbia.

Lokalna demokratija i oblici direktnog učešća građana u vlasti - primer Srbija

The subject of this paper is the institutions of direct democracy at the local level in Serbia, with the aim of analyzing valid solutions (de lege lata) and improving the legal framework (de lege ferenda). The author starts from the thesis that local democracy is an ambiguous and imprecise term. In a broader sense, it represents the right of citizens to participate in government at the local level. In a narrower sense, this term is used as a synonym for local self-government (decentralization) and direct participation of citizens in government. On the other hand, tradition, socio-economic assumptions, legal (normative) framework and political environment are factors that influence local democracy. Apart from the election of local government representatives (representative local democracy), the basic institutional channels of local democracy are forms of direct citizen participation of citizens in decision-making, such as referendum and people's initiative. The application of institutions of direct democracy can be one of the indicators of the level of development of local self-government and local democracy. In the Republic of Serbia, institutional mechanisms for direct citizen participation in local self-government have been created, such as referendums, citizens' initiatives, and assembly of citizens (zbor). In addition, citizens have the right to petition and publicly criticize the authorities, the right to be heard on the authorities' intentions and the right to be informed about and monitor the work of the authorities. The local referendum is enshrined in the Constitution and other institutions are regulated by legal provisions. The quality of these regulations improved after the adoption of the new Law on Referendums and People's Initiative (2021). However, in local self-government units, the scope of these institutions of direct democracy is very limited low. The practice of direct local democracy is very poor, although there is a long tradition of struggle for local self-government in the 19th century. Such a situation is a consequence of the party state that multiplies the centralized way of decision-making, which is manifested in limited participation of citizens in political processes, increasing distrust in political institutions and ineffective control of the authorities in local self-government units. The crisis of democracy also manifests itself in the fact that citizens are less and less interested in public policy. Based on empirical data, comparative experiences and legal standards, the author believes that the solution lies in reviving the application of direct democracy at the local level.

Regionalni ekonomski gubici nastali usled isključenosti Romkinja na tržištu rada u Srbiji

In this paper, we calculate the economic costs of labour market exclusion of Roma women at the NUTS 2 level in Serbia in terms of output and fiscal benefits. The approach relies on the analysis of a scenario in which there are no differences in the level of wages or in labour force participation and employment rates between Roma and non-Roma labour market participants. We use Labour Force Survey (LFS) data from 2019 as a basis for the comparison of the Roma and non-Roma in terms of expected gross earnings for working-age individuals provided they are employed. The results show that the total economic loss (output + fiscal) due to the exclusion of Roma women from the labour market in Serbia amounts to about 197.7 million euros on an annual basis. Of that, 70.5% (139.3 million euros) come from output/productivity losses, and 29.5% (58.4 million euros) from fiscal losses. The largest contribution to total economic losses comes from the South and Eastern Serbia region (37.25%), followed by the Vojvodina region (28.25%), the Belgrade region (24.03%) and the Šumadija and Western Serbia region (10.46%).

Depopulated and Abandoned Areas in Serbia in the 21st Century—From a Local to a National Problem

Depopulated or abandoned spaces are a consequence of the emptying of settlements and the complete disappearance of the human factor in the use of space. The aim of this paper is to determine the size and structure of this space—clusters that can be considered abandoned at the regional level. In the focus of this paper is the space at the district level in Serbia, within which significant changes in land use occurred in the period 1990–2018. Time series of formal databases and data obtained by GIS tools were analysed in order to observe the changes in the structure of surfaces and to define the trend of merging or increasing the empty space during the last two decades. This paper analyses planning documents and strategies in order to determine with which problems the state identifies abandoned areas and what planning solutions are possible. A new method for calculating the homogenization of abandoned space is presented. The results indicate the homogenization of the abandoned space in the border regions in the south of Serbia, as well as major changes in land use, such as reforestation and reclamation of agricultural land.

"Essence of Teaching Business Communication Skills to IT Students in ELT in Serbia"

This paper deals with the needs of IT students in ELT in the context of business communication skills. The results presented in this paper are a part of much greater research. The mix-method research was conducted at eight IT departments in five cities in Serbia during the academic year 2011/2012. The quantitative sample included 775 IT students at II and III year of their studies and 77 professors and assistants teaching domain content courses while the subsample for the structured interview included 16 students, 10 professors and 10 assistants. One of the aims of this research was to establish a detailed framework of English language courses suitable for IT students in Serbia. Among the courses that emerged, as the ones that meet the needs of IT students in ELT at tertiary level in Serbia, was the course of Business Communication. In this paper, the authors present the aims of the Business English Communication Course and elaborate on the specific activities and genres that emerged essential for this type of course. The findings may be useful for all ESP teachers teaching at Technical faculties, especially the ones teaching IT students

The role of agriculture in the economic structure of Serbia and budget support for rural development of Kladovo municipality

The purpose of writing the paper is the situation in agriculture in Serbia and the municipality of Kladovo, as well as the importance it achieves in the economic structure. At the level of Serbia, the importance of agriculture, forestry and fisheries (AFF) is analyzed through their contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) creation from 2016 to 2020, while for the municipality level the importance is determined by the amount of funds allocated in the local self-government unit (LSU) for the needs of agriculture from 2018 to 2020. The obtained results indicate a high share of AFF in GDP creation (6.3% during 2020) and a low share of budget funds in the total budget of the municipality for support of rural development (2.34% in 2020). The aim of this paper is to analyze the possibilities for further development of agriculture in the Republic and the Municipality. The paper uses methods of critical analysis of relevant literature, as well as descriptions for interpreting the results obtained by empirical research.

Methodology for Residential Building Stock Refurbishment Planning—Development of Local Building Typologies

This paper presents the methodology for the implementation of building typology principles as a tool for the strategic planning of residential building stock energy retrofits on a municipal level in Serbia. Research was conducted under the IEE EPISCOPE (Intelligent Energy Europe EPISCOPE/TABULA project) project with the aim of developing an adequate tool for creating building stock energy retrofit management strategies on a local level. An approach that envisions the diversity and uneven spatial distribution of building stock in smaller scale municipalities and includes statistically relevant sampling of all relevant building types was developed and tested in the pilot project that focused on the city of Vršac. Two options for local typology development were formulated: a top-down approach, which relies on the data from the national typology or other available databases by reducing them to the local level, and a bottom-up approach, which represents a new data gathering and processing method. Both approaches were tested in the pilot project and the results are compared in this paper. From the conclusions of these analyses, a common methodology for the development of local building typologies has been defined. It can be used in the strategic planning of building stock, whether for the purpose of developing local energy action plans (LEAPs) or other purposes internationally.

Country in transition (Serbia) case: Circular economy starts from waste management

This paper presents research on the circular economy performance in Serbia. The introduction of a circular economy in the field of waste management is only the first step; the concept of circular economy goes beyond waste management in scope and content. In this paper, the authors emphasize this complexity, starting from the set of available definitions, encompassing the global level, the EU level, as well as the level of Serbia, as a representative country with an economy in transition. An analysis is provided of the concept of circular economy with the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Certain issues and challenges of science and research in the COVID-19 pandemic

The crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic is probably one of the biggest crises that has affected civilization in the last hundred years. This refers to the number of infected and dead, but also to the economic, psychological, political, moral and other spheres. Science and scientific research during the pandemic was mainly focused on finding ways to prevent and treat the C-19 virus. Within medical science, epidemiology was treated separately during the pandemic, as a branch of medicine, while other sciences were neglected or put in the background, which limited the potentials of medical science in the C-19 pandemic. Analyzes show that a small number of scientific papers and research have focused on non-medical sciences and the place and role of non-medical professions in the fight against C-19, which is illogical, given that a pandemic is not just a medical phenomenon but a multidisciplinary problem that should be answered, with synchronized use of information, economic, organizational management, ethical and other sciences. It is shown that the impact of the pandemic on science and scientific research has not been investigated globally, nor at the level of Serbia, ie whether and to what extent the pandemic has affected the dynamics, aggravating or facilitating conditions for science and scientific research. This paper also discusses the problems of science and scientific cooperation during the Covid-19 pandemic and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on science, scientific research and cooperation, and cooperation between scientific researchers at the international level. The aim of this paper is to point out some difficulties and obstacles in scientific work and cooperation and to suggest possible solutions.

Krijumčarenje i nedozvoljena trgovina kao oblici privrednog kriminaliteta

Economic crime is a very complex criminological and legal category. The modern economic crime is characterized by a variety of manifestations. It tends to become increasingly better organized which, among other things, makes its detection, the collection of the evidence material and the criminal prosecution of the culprits much more difficult. In view of the importance as well as the comlexity of the economic crime subject-matter, this paper discusses smuggling and illegal trade. The research included a criminological analysis of the economic crime, a normative analysis of the criminal acts mentioned above, as well as an analysis of the presence of the adult persons being reported, charged with and convicted of the previously mentioned criminal acts in the total values for the group of criminal acts against economy and at the level of Serbia, for the year of 2019.

UPOTREBA REČNIKÂ U UČENjU ENGLESKOG JEZIKA STRUKE NA TERCIJARNOM NIVOU IZ PERSPEKTIVE STUDENATA

The aim of this paper is to present one part of a research study that explored the use of gen- eral-purpose and technical dictionaries in learning English for specific purposes at the tertiary level in Serbia. The research was carried out in 2018 on a sample encompassing 705 students from all the faculties of the University of Novi Sad. It was realized by means of a question- naire composed of 50 questions with a four-point Likert scale and 10 questions with answers on a two-point scale. Also, a semi-structured interview was conducted with 11 students. The quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 20, and the interview data were analyzed utilizing content analysis. Our quantitative findings reveal that students mostly use digital dictionaries, followed by printed and monolingual ones, and finally dictionaries of technical terms. The same quantitative data indicate that students use dictionaries primarily to find out the mean- ing of a word or its spelling, while they do not understand the abbreviations for grammati- cal information and cannot evaluate the quality of a dictionary. The majority of them do not possess a technical dictionary. The qualitative data confirm that the respondents mostly use digital sources and tools (e.g., Google Translate) since such searches are consistently faster and offer single, ready-made answers. The findings suggest that a systematic training in dictionary use at all educational levels is necessary.

The Application of the Downsizing Method Based on Employee Attendance Data in Oversized Public Utility Companies Founded by the Republic of Serbia Local Self-Government Units

The aim of this paper has two directions. The first one is our attempt to define new method and procedure for estimating surplus of employees in the public sector, as one of the tools for public sector control. The second direction is the analysis of the public sector at the local level in Serbia, where overstaffing in public utility companies, founded and owned by Local Self-Government Units in Serbia, was analyzed using specific methods. The conclusions have been made on the basis of the restructuring projects carried out in over 20 public utility companies, which included over 20,000 employees.

Employment and state incentives in transition economies: Are subsidies for FDI ineffective? The case of Serbia

This study analyses the effects of government subsidies for foreign direct investment (FDI) on employment at the municipal level in Serbia. It finds that the positive correlation of subsidies with employment is limited to the creation of subsidized jobs. In other words, subsidies are ineffective in creating additional jobs, beyond the jobs created by subsidized multinational enterprises (MNEs). There is no crowding-in and there is some evidence of crowding-out in the least developed municipalities. The municipalities that received subsidized investments did not experience higher employment in comparison with the period of no subsidies and in comparison with municipalities that never received subsidized investments. Some positive effects emerge, with a two-year lag, in the municipalities which, conditional on the level of development, lowered wages. The key policy implication is that subsidy-driven FDI policy, based on financial subsidies per job created, does not lead to a sustained employment growth pattern. Policymakers might need to target high value-adding activities of MNEs that induce the creation of domestic value added.

Convergence clubs in different regions of Serbia

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the existence of club convergence on the NUTS (Nomenclaturedes Unités Territoriales Statistiques) 3 level in Serbia. While a common approach in investigating convergence is based on dividing units of observation a priori into individual groups based on some of their particular characteristics, we use a method developed by Phillips and Sul that allows identification of clusters of convergence on the basis of an algorithm that is data-driven and thereby avoids a priori classification of the data into subgroups. We use data on real gross valued added (GVA) per capita for the NUTS3 level in Serbia for the period 2001–2017. Our results show that there are two convergence clubs in Serbia, while the Belgrade district shows no signs of convergence with any of the other clubs.

Data-Driven Learning The Serbian Case

Data-Driven Learning (DDL) is almost non-existent at the university level in Serbia when it comes to using DDL in foreign language teaching. Having analysed the curricula at a number of universities, we concluded that DDL is dealt with on a very small scale. That is why we decided to explore what the situation is like among teachers in primary, secondary and private language schools in Serbia, alongside a small number of those who work at university level. A small, exploratory study was designed to answer these questions: if and how much the teachers in Serbia knew about DDL and whether they used it in their teaching. In order to study this phenomenon, we conducted short interviews with one hundred teachers (N=100) from all over Serbia. Unfortunately, a vast number of them has never heard of this approach.