Southern Serbia Research Articles

Multihazard susceptibility assessment: A case study – Municipality of Štrpce (Southern Serbia)

Abstract The municipality of Štrpce (Southern Serbia) is an area located within Šar Mountain National Park, which is of great ecological importance. Due to the vicinity of settlements, it is necessary to analyze the terrain's susceptibility to natural hazards. The main goal of this research was to determine locations that are highly vulnerable at times of natural hazards (such as earthquakes, erosion, torrential flooding, snow avalanches, and forest fires). The first step in this research was to analyze seismic hazards for a 475 years return period (VII–VIII MCS for the observed area), which was possible by means of Geographic Information Systems. The second step was to determine the intensity of erosion and total sediment production using the Erosion Potential Model. The third step was related to the analysis of the potential of torrential floods using the Flash Flood Potential Index. The Avalanches Potential Index method was used as the fourth step. The fifth step included the analysis of a terrain susceptibility to the occurrence of forest fires. Following the five criteria analysis, weight coefficients were assigned to each of the analyzed parameters by using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), which provided results of the total susceptibility to natural hazards of the territory of Štrpce. Results indicated that over 45% of the municipality is highly or very highly susceptible to various natural hazards. This article represents a significant step toward a better understanding of natural hazards and it provides a unique knowledge basis for establishing the management and mitigation guidelines and measures, not only within the researched area but at regional and national levels as well.

Neanderthal settlement of the Central Balkans during MIS 5: Evidence from Pešturina Cave, Serbia

Recent research in the southern Central Balkans has resulted in the discovery of the first Middle Paleolithic sites in this region. Systematic excavations of Velika and Mala Balanica, and Pešturina (southern Serbia) revealed assemblages of Middle Paleolithic artifacts associated with hominin fossils and animal bones. This paper focuses on Pešturina Layer 4, radiometrically and biostratigraphically dated to Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, which yielded traces of temporary hunting camps. The remains of large ungulate prey are associated with predominantly Quina-type artifacts made of quartz. Artifacts from Pešturina Cave have no parallels at Mousterian sites in the Balkans but are rather similar to the Central European Charentian, which demonstrates that this cultural unit was widespread during MIS 5, not only in the southern Pannonian Basin but also in the Central Balkans. The position of the site – on the outskirts of the known spread of the Quina model of techno-economic behavior during MIS 5 – raises several questions related to population movements, residential mobility, and technological variability in the early Middle Paleolithic of Central and Southeast Europe.

MtDNA Analysis Indicates Human-Induced Temporal Changes of Serbian Honey Bees Diversity.

Simple SummaryThe western honey bee is one of the most economically and ecologically important species currently facing serious challenges in its whole area of distribution. The honey bee is a highly diverse species with about 30 subspecies that are adapted to regional climate factors, vegetation, pests and pathogens. The local populations of honey bees are rapidly changing and their diversity is constantly manipulated by beekeepers through the import of foreign queens, selection and migratory beekeeping. This manipulation may lead to such changes that honey bees lose their ability to thrive in the areas that were previously suitable for their wellbeing. To see how this human interference changed the genetic variability of native honey bee populations from Serbia, we sequenced part of the mitochondrial genome and compared them with published sequences. Our results suggest that human influence significantly changes the natural composition of honey bees in Serbia and that the presence of some previously reported subspecies could not be confirmed.Local populations of Apis mellifera are rapidly changing by modern beekeeping through the introduction of nonnative queens, selection and migratory beekeeping. To assess the genetic diversity of contemporary managed honey bees in Serbia, we sequenced mitochondrial tRNAleu-cox2 intergenic region of 241 worker bees from 46 apiaries at eight localities. Nine haplotypes were observed in our samples, with C2d being the most common and widespread. To evaluate genetic diversity patterns, we compared our data with 1696 sequences from the NCBI GenBank from neighbouring countries and Serbia. All 32 detected haplotypes belonged to the Southeast Europe lineage C, with two newly described haplotypes from our sample. The most frequent haplotype was C2d, followed by C2c and C1a. To distinguish A. m. carnica from A. m. macedonica, both previously reported in Serbia, PCR-RFLP analysis on the COI gene segment of mtDNA was used, and the result showed only the presence of A.m. carnica subspecies. An MDS plot constructed on pairwise FST values showed significant geographical stratification. Our samples are grouped together, but distant from the Serbian dataset from the GenBank. This, with the absence of A. m. macedonica subspecies from its historic range of distribution in southern Serbia, indicates that honey bee populations are changing rapidly due to the anthropogenic influence.

Influence of forest humidity on the distribution of forest fires in the territory of Serbia

In this study, we examined the dependence of the influence of forest humidity conditions on the variability of forest fires in Serbia. The changes in values of the Forest Aridity Index (FAI) and the De Martonne Drought Index (IDM) in the period 2009-2018 were analyzed, with an emphasis on 2012 and 2014. Data from ground meteorological measurements at 14 main meteorological stations on the territory of Serbia were used. The analysis of the FAI index determines a positive correlation on the activity of forest fires in the territory of Serbia. FAI values indicate marked increases for 2012 and 2017 when the largest number of forest fires was registered in Serbia. The lowest values of this index are for 2014, when we registered the smallest occurrence of forest fires in Serbia. Decrease in the value of the IDM index was observed during 2011, 2012 and 2017 correlated with a larger number of forest fires in the period. The greatest threat to forests from fire is in the administrative district of Kragujevac (region of Šumadija and Western Serbia) and Vranje (region of Southern and Eastern Serbia) and the lowest in the area of Sombor and Kikinda (region of Vojvodina). At nine of the fourteen meteorological stations, the De Martonne Drought Index (IDM) showed stronger connection with the occurrence of forest fires compared to the Forest Aridity Index (FAI).

Assessment of Outdoor Thermal Comfort in Serbia’s Urban Environments during Different Seasons

The urban microclimate is gradually changing due to climate change, extreme weather conditions, urbanization, and the heat island effect. In such an altered environment, outdoor thermal comfort can have a strong impact on public health and quality of life in urban areas. In this study, three main urban areas in Serbia were selected: Belgrade (Central Serbia), Novi Sad (Northern Serbia), and Niš (Southern Serbia). The focus was on the temporal assessment of OTC, using the UTCI over a period of 20 years (1999–2018) during different seasons. The main aim is the general estimation of the OTC of Belgrade, Novi Sad, and Niš, in order to gain better insight into the bioclimatic condition, current trends and anomalies that have occurred. The analysis was conducted based on an hourly (7 h, 14 h, and 21 h CET) and “day by day” meteorological data set. Findings show the presence of a growing trend in seasonal UTCI anomalies, especially during summer and spring. In addition, there is a notable increase in the number of days above the defined UTCI thresholds for each season. Average annual UTCIs values also show a positive, rising trend, ranging from 0.50 °C to 1.33 °C. The most significant deviations from the average UTCI values, both seasonal and annual, were recorded in 2000, 2007, 2012, 2015, 2017, and 2018.

Attitudes and Habits of Youth from the Nisava Region in Southern Serbia Regarding the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Cross-Sectional Study Between Medical and Non-Medical Students

Attitudes and Habits of Youth from the Nisava Region in Southern Serbia Regarding the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Cross-Sectional Study Between Medical and Non-Medical Students

Samoprocena osposobljenosti nastavnika za primenu obrazovno-računarskog softvera u vaspitno-obrazovnoj praksi

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Teaching represents the basic and most beneficial aspect of education. The quality of teaching is continually improved by the introduction of innovative teaching techniques and modern teaching methods. Contemporary pedagogical innovations pertaining to teaching are based on the application of information and communication technologies in education. Therefore, the educational computer software is one of the most systematic and most creative tools used in schools with the purpose of improving the concept of digital teaching practices. The educational computer software is an innovative teaching tool for an independent creation and presentation of teaching units by means of digital technologies whose purpose is the achievement of students' total and active commitment and motivation. The goal of this research was to examine the teachers' self-assessment regarding their ability to apply the educational computer software in their teaching practices. The methods used were the descriptive method and the scaling technique with the Likert-type scale (ORSON) containing 35 items. The research sample consisted of 500 teachers from Central and Southern Serbia. Four factors were extracted by the factor analysis, which explains 53.19% of the variance: digital competencies, the advantages of ORS, ORS as a teaching tool, and practical application. The research results show that teachers are qualified enough for the practical application of the educational computer software. Also, the analysis of their responses proves that they regard the educational computer software as a significant and innovative teaching tool. The research determined a statistically significant difference in the subjects' responses considering the independent research variables: gender, type of school, and teaching experience (p<0.05).

Zlatanović S. Etnička identifikacija na posleratnom području: Srpska zajednica jugoistočnog Kosova. Beograd: Etnografski institut SANU: Čigoja štampa, 2018. 364 s. (Posebna izdanja; knj. 89)

Sanja Zlatanović’s book Etnička identifikacija na posleratnom području: Srpska zajednica jugoistočnog Kosova (Ethnicity in a Post-War Region: The Serbian Community of Southeast Kosovo) provides a valuable picture of the Serbian community of Kosovsko Pomoravlje (South-East Kosovo around Gnilane) during the first years of international rule in the disputed area. The book is based on field research carried out between 2003 and 2006 both in the area and in Southern Serbia with persons displaced from the area. S. Zlatanović describes the subdivisions between “Kosovo old-dwellers” and “Colonists” (of 1920s and 30s); between Serbs and Serbian Gypsies in Kosovo; and between KosovoSerbs and the population of Central Serbia. She also demonstrates the complexity of the Kosovo Serb perception of their neighbours – Kosovo Croats and Kosovo Albanians. The author reviews both the efficiency and limits of the komšiluk (traditional practice of neighbourhood solidarity), cultural similarities with the Kosovo Albanians, and the role of the Raška-Prizren Diocese of the Serb Orthodox Church and its influence upon the community, e. g., by the overcoming of traditional practices of religious syncretism. This ethnological study will be of use both for ethnologists and social anthropologists of the Balkans, as well as for historians and political scientists. The Kosovo Serb identity, their internal subdivisions, and the cultural stereotypes described by S. Zlatanović will exist as a part of the broader Serbian social texture for the foreseeable future.

The assessment of human bioclimate of Vranje health resort (Serbia) based on Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) with the focus on extreme biothermal conditions

The study deals with an assessment and interpretation of the bioclimatic conditions in Vranje (southern Serbia). The study aims at temporal distributions of bioclimatic conditions focussing on extreme thermal stress based on the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). The meteorological data required for the calculation of UTCI concern hourly (7 and 14 CET) weather data collected for the period 2000-2017. The frequency of very strong heat stress (VSHS), very strong cold stress (VSCS) and extreme cold stress (ECS) for both morning and midday hours. Furthermore, the daily difference of the UTCI hourly values (diurnal UTCI change) are specified, giving the daily variance of heat and cold stress. The results revealed the frequency of days in which thermal stress prevails for the studied period. The obtained results show an increase in extreme heat biothermal conditions, while extreme cold biothermal conditions are in decline, especially in the last 10 years. However, the frequency (the number of days) of very strong heat stress (VSHS) increased since 2007. A spectacular increase in heat stress was observed in the month of September, particularly in 2015.

Bandits, bondsmen, and leviathans: Ethnic groups contesting local security after conflict in the Western Balkans

This study analyzes how processes of contesting ethnically-distinct locales after conflict affects stability and violence after institutional settlements. Local institutions that develop during conflict present an obstacle to states reestablishing a monopoly on force and these locales become sites of continued contestation. Where states attempt to crowd local institutions and elites out of post-conflict policing, they have incentives to use violence against the state and police to upset the status quo. Where local institutions are integrated into state institutions, local elites have the incentive to maintain order and prevent violence to avoid crowding out or inviting police operations by interveners. In this study, I combine rationalist modeling to generate expectations for local elites' behavior with three illustrative case studies from the Western Balkans: Kosovo, Macedonia, and southern Serbia.

The origin of the word mazija ‘steel’

The word mazija ?steel; forging ingot; a kind of ordeal which required plucking red-hot iron from a cauldron of boiling water? is common in the western part of the Shtokavian dialect continuum. Its area includes the Zeta-Raska, the Eastern Herzegovinian and the Younger Ikavian dialect, the first of the Old Shtokavian and the other two of the Neo-Shtokavian type. There are no attestations of this word earlier than the first half of the 18th century. So far, it has been mainly believed to share a common origin with the homonymous mazija ?oak gall? from Turkish maz? id. This stance is hardly acceptable in view of the fact that not only the meanings of the two words but also their geographical distributions strongly diverge, mazija in the oak gall sense being limited to the Kosovo-Resava and Timok-Prizren dialect areas of southern Serbia. The comparison with French maz?e ?refined iron?, is even more doubtful, because this term has been attested only since 1824 and with no known etymology, The true origin of m?zija < maz?ja (gvozdja) should be sought in the late Greek (5th century AD) ????(?)? ??? ??????? ?iron mass shaped by a blacksmith?; the plural form ????? ??????? occurs in a Greek charter issued in 1347 by the Serbian tsar Dusan to the Great Lavra on Mt Athos. Curiously enough, in two Serbian founding charters of the same epoch there is a parallel passage where among other yearly incomes granted to the monastery iron ingots are mentioned, designated here by the gen. pl. nad'('), with complements gvozd(i)ja ?of iron? and m?r?nyh' ?of a standard weight?. The term is Slavic nada or nado, derivative from

Efekti COVID-19 pandemije na prevremenu smrtnost u Srbiji 2020

Serbia is experiencing a massive number of deaths due to COVID-19. One way to express this mortality is by measuring the years of potential life lost to this disease. This paper looks at the cost of the pandemic in 2020 to premature deaths in Serbia. The final data on mortality in 2020 in Serbia provided by the Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia is used to measure this loss. Premature mortality is examined through geographical, age, and sex dimensions. In total, 64.620 years of potential life were lost directly by COVID-19, i.e., 1019.14 years of potential life per 100 000 people younger than 75. Men lost 2.5 as many potential years of life then women did. Moreover, the region of eastern and Southern Serbia fared much worse than any other region. There is no clear pattern regarding the rural/urban divide, as some of the hardest-hit municipalities were rural and urban. The analysis was expanded to include the estimate of the economic cost of premature mortality due to the COVID-19. In 2020 more than $0.34 billion was lost to premature deaths, and by the end of 2021, this number will likely be well over $1 billion when the pandemic ends. The direct cost of premature deaths on future birth rates will not be pronounced as very few women younger than 50 died to affect future birth rates significantly.

From a “Yugoslav Siberia”. The Difficulties of the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć 1919–1929

The author has tried to outline the problems that the Patriarchal Monastery of Peć faced in the period 1919–1929. The heuristic background of the paper is primarily based on the documents stored in the Yugoslav Archives. It is mainly about the correspondence between the church and the relevant state authorities, which testifies to the fact that the central authorities had little understanding about the importance of this monastery for the survival of the Serbian people in Southern Serbia. That is why, the results of its policy toward the monastery were only partially achieved, similarly to other cases of this insufficiently integrated Yugoslav (Serbian) territory.

Knowledge, beliefs and habits of public university students from Southern Serbia regarding usage of antibiotics

Misuse of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance have become a serious threat to global health. This study aimed to assess knowledge, beliefs and habits of university students regarding antibiotics and compare answers between students coming from rural and urban areas in a location where no similar studies have been conducted to date.
 Data was gathered using an online survey and tested for statistically significant difference using Chi-squared test. The study followed the Helsinki Declaration principles.
 A total of 360 students participated. A large number (84.4%) has correctly identified antibiotics as effective against bacteria and have distinguished well between antibiotics and other types of medicines. Only 12.5% believe therapy can be interrupted when the symptoms fade, but 31.4% believe antibiotics help with most diseases. As much as 59.7% have bought antibiotics without a prescription, and 45.8% have admitted to premature treatment interruption. Many take antibiotics on travels for emergencies (62.5%). There was no statistically significant difference related to the domicile of the students (p>0.05).
 In conclusion, students demonstrated relatively acceptable knowledge and beliefs on antibiotics, which are not reflected in practice. The domicile of students does not influence their knowledge nor habits. Campaigns are needed to promote awareness on antimicrobial resistance as students’ habits are not satisfactory.

Provenance of tin in the Late Bronze Age Balkans based on probabilistic and spatial analysis of Sn isotopes

We report the largest published dataset to date of Sn-isotopic compositions of Bronze Age artifacts (338) along with 150 cassiterite samples (75 new) from six potential tin ore sources from which the tin in these artifacts were thought to have likely originated. The artifacts are from a broad area, Central Europe through the Central Balkans, and the six tin sources are Cornwall, three sites in the Erzgebirge, and two sites in Serbia. A clustering analysis on mean site-level isotopic values of δ124Sn identifies regional variation that can be attributed to the use of different tin ore sources in different regions. Therefore, geographically meaningful regions were identified to group the Bronze Age artifact assemblages and a probabilistic, Bayesian analysis was performed to determine the proportional contribution of each tin source to each regional assemblage. Artifacts enriched in heavy isotopes (δ124Sn > 0.7‰) that cluster in west-central Serbia are likely associated with the ores from Mt. Cer in west Serbia. Mixed artifact assemblages (high and low δ124Sn) in this region are attributed to the use of cassiterite from the two Serbian sites (Mt. Cer and Mt. Bukulja). Moderate composition artifacts that occur north of the Middle Danube in Vojvodina, Transylvania, and Central Europe are likely associated primarily with ores from the West Pluton of the Erzgebirge. Compositionally light bronzes (δ124Sn < 0.2‰) in southern Serbia and the lower Danube river valley cannot be linked to a documented ore source. There is no indication of the use of ores from Cornwall or the East Pluton of the Erzgebirge in Central Europe and the Balkans during the Late Bronze Age.

Histopathological review of renal pelvic tumours of Balkan nephropathy cases from Southern Serbia

Background Urothelial tumour frequently associates with atrophied kidney pelvis in Balkan endemic nephropathy but histopathology illustration lacks both definition and immune profile for differential diagnosis from renal cell carcinoma. Methods Histology sections of anonymized archived renal tumours and associated kidney of eight local Balkan nephropathy patients were stained by haematoxylin and eosin, and immune profiles revealed by automated clinical immunohistochemistry, to refine carcinoma diagnosis and illustration. Results Two low-grade and four high-grade papillary carcinomas were diagnosed. Two cases of high-grade urothelial carcinomas with solid architecture, invasive features and aggressive biological behaviour are also described with illustrated immune profiles. Conclusion Refined pelvic tumour histopathology can now facilitate comparison across endemic areas within the Balkans and beyond. Notably, immune profiles of the present tumours correspond to those of contemporary urothelial cancers studied in Slovakia, where Balkan-like nephropathies have not been recognised. Some etiological considerations can be discussed.

Analyses of Hybrid Viability across a Hybrid Zone between Two Alnus Species Using Microsatellites and cpDNA Markers.

Diploid Alnus glutinosa s. str. and autotetraploid A. rohlenae form a narrow hybrid zone in a study area in southern Serbia, which results in triploid hybrid formation. The vast majority of previous studies have been focused on studies of maternal plants, but the offspring resulting from their crossing have not been much studied. Here, we use the variability of microsatellites and chloroplast DNA between these species and their putative hybrids to create an overall picture of the development of the hybrid zone and its predicted type. To elucidate the gene transfer within both species, the origins of individual ploidies and especially the role of triploid hybrids, a germination experiment was carried out linked with a flow cytometry study of the resulting seedlings. The tension zone model seems to offer the most adequate explanation of our observations, with selection against triploid hybrids and the spatial positioning of the hybrid zone. Despite selection against them, the triploid hybrids play an important role in the exchange of genes between the two species and therefore serve as a bridge for introgression. The presence of fertile triploids is essential for enriching the haplotype diversity between these species and for the development of new genetic lineages.

The Serbian Lake System: a stepping stone for freshwater molluscs in the middle Miocene

AbstractThe first in‐depth revision of a lacustrine freshwater mollusc fauna of the Serbian Lake System (SLS) is carried out. We describe and discuss well‐preserved faunas from two localities in central and southern Serbia (Mađere and Medoševac), along with the reinvestigation of type material of several species described in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Our revision yields 14 species of gastropods, with the families Hydrobiidae (six species) and Planorbidae (four species) being most abundant, along with one species each of Neritidae, Melanopsidae, Bithyniidae and Bulinidae, as well as two dreissenid bivalve species. Three of the hydrobiid gastropods are new to science, Prososthenia milosevici sp. nov., Prososthenia? naissensis sp. nov., and Prososthenia rundici sp. nov., and so is the bivalve Trigonipraxis madjerensis sp. nov. The present study results in 12 lectotype designations, 10 new generic combinations, and 10 new junior synonyms. About four‐fifths (81.3%) of the species are endemic to the SLS, which is slightly higher than the overall SLS endemism (71.4%). The composition at the genus and family level overlaps strongly with the slightly older faunas of the Dinaride Lake System in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as that of the late Miocene Lake Pannon. Its stratigraphically intermediate position and geographical proximity suggest that the SLS was a stepping stone for many of the mollusc lineages, some of which are found only in those systems.

Impact of climate change on water resource availability in a mountainous catchment: A case study of the Toplica River catchment, Serbia

The catchment of the Toplica River, situated in an underdeveloped region of southern Serbia, is studied to examine the potential impact of climate change on the hydrologic regime of mountainous catchments. The study projects precipitation (P), air temperature (T), potential evapotranspiration (PET), and discharge (Q) in the entire catchment, as well as groundwater level (GWL) variation in the lowland part of the catchment, according to scenarios RCP4.5 and RCP8.5. Projections of P and T are based on the results of a multimodel ensemble of seven regional climate models from the EURO-CORDEX project. Runoff is simulated by a calibrated HBV-light model. The correlation between GWL and river discharge was modeled by soft computing techniques of artificial neural networks (ANN). The projections pertain to the period from 2021 to 2100. The Mann-Kendall trend test is used to check for a trend and its statistical significance, and the Mann-Whitney test to examine the statistical significance of a change in the mean ensemble median of time-series for the near future (2021–2050) and distant future (2071–2100), relative to the reference period (1971–2000). No notable changes are expected on an annual scale in the study area. However, the results show that the current non-uniformity of the monthly water distribution is growing. In the winter months at the end of the century, in RCP8.5, P and T are expected to increase, as is Q. Groundwater responds to increased river discharges by reduced depths to groundwater (increased GWL). A higher Q increases the flood risk in the winter months. In the warm season, RCP8.5 predicts a decrease in Q and increase in the depth to groundwater in the distant future. Reduced quantities of water in the warm period might have an adverse effect on drinking water supply, agriculture, hydropower, fisheries, ecology, and tourism in the study area.

FUNCTIONAL TRANSFORMATION OF KOSANICA SETTLEMENTS AS AN INDICATOR OF TOURIST DEVELOPMENT

The aim of this research is the analysis of the functional transformation of Kosanica settlements as an indicator of tourism development. Kosanica is a historical and geographical area in the basin of the river of the same name in southern Serbia. There are 90 settlements in the area. Starting from the view that the functional characteristics of the network of settlements reflect the economic characteristics of the working population, the interrelations of the functional transformation of settlements are analysed in this paper on one hand, along with the tourist development on the other. The focus of the analysis is the geographical area of Kosanica and the changes in the functional structure of the settlements that are caused by the development of tourism or are of significance for the tourism development.