Serbian System Research Articles

Between Core and Peripheral Politics: Opposing the EU in the Western Balkans

This article seeks to determine whether parties’ governmental/opposition and core/peripheral positions in the Serbian and Croatian party systems are related to their responses to European integration. In general, parties’ positions in the party system were not crucial driving forces behind their stances towards the EU. However, the experience of opposition significantly contributed to ideological transformation and the adoption of a Euro-enthusiastic agenda by strategically motivated, formerly Eurosceptic parties. Also, different types of party systems in Serbia and Croatia created different opportunities for parties to express Eurosceptic sentiments, with a fragmented and polarised system in Serbia being more conducive to the sharp contestation of EU issues.

Potential causes of medication errors: perceptions of Serbian nurses.

The aim of this study was to identify the most common contributing factors to medication errors in everyday practice of Serbian nurses. Nurses have the key role in medication, and it is very important that they understand why errors occur. This research study was a cross-sectional study in five healthcare institutions. The sample was 965 nurses. A specially designed questionnaire was used as the research instrument. The most dominant contributing factor of medication errors was insufficient number of nurses. Interestingly other dominant factors given in literature were not recognized in this research study. The study results confirm that the recommendations we find in literature cannot be simply copied and implemented into the existing system, but can be used as a starting point for further research. The obtained data were compared with the studies of the countries with different healthcare systems and different educational structures of nurses. The results of the study imply that healthcare institutions have to take the initiative and the responsibility for teaching safe medication use during formal education, as well as in clearly planned programmes of continuous education for nurses. To reduce errors to the least possible level, it is important that nurses clearly define what an error is and recognize the causes and the importance of reporting and analysing them. Systemic practices are required in the health system in Serbia and the culture of patients' safety accepted as the common goal and imperative of everyday practice.

Measures for increasing consumption of natural gas

ABSTRACTThis paper provides an overview and analysis of the structure of the energy system and consumers of natural gas on the territory of the Serbia with special attention to one category of consumers – households. It gives an overview of data on the energy system of Serbia – the natural gas sector, concepts, and directions of the development with projections until 2030. In addition to the projection of consumption of natural gas, it also gives the legal framework in force in the field of energy sector in Serbia. It presents data on natural gas consumption in Serbia in the period from 2010 to 2015, with projections of future consumption until year 2030.

THE ATTITUDE OF TEACHERS TOWARDS PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN SERBIA

Analyzing the significance and the role of school and teachers in the encouragement of prosocial behaviour of the learners in secondary schools, the following problem appeared: the connection between the teachers’ encouragement of prosocial behaviour and the academic achievement in the secondary schools in Serbia through the following segments: procedures and activities used by teachers, and the interrelatedness of prosocial behaviour and academic achievement. A review of theoretical findings and a study conducted on the sample of 695 respondents are presented. The method of theoretical analysis and synthesis, the causal non-experimental method and the descriptive method are applied. The applied techniques include content analysis, scaling and evaluation. The results showed that teachers’ activities partly promoted prosocial behaviour. The results of the research pointed to certain pedagogical implications: the reform of the educational system in Serbia; a change of educational objectives and tasks; establishing a continuity between all levels of the educational system and raising cooperation with parents; educational professional services to teachers in the area of raising their interest in acquiring and applying strategies and skills directed at educating prosocially oriented personalities and improving the quality of their work. Key words: school indicators, interrelatedness of predictors, encouragement of prosocial behaviour, academic achievement, comparative analysis.

Gap analysis of the health system in Serbia compared to the developed health systems in Europe

Subjects of this analysis are the health system in Serbia and parameters of development of the health system in Serbia compared to the best practices in Europe. Special focus is placed on a gap analysis between the health system in Serbia and health systems in the Netherlands and Germany. This gap analysis shall be employed as the basis for defining a number of recommendations for improving the efficiency of public spending. The Netherlands, the first on the list with a total of 927 out of 1,000 points in the Euro Health Consumer Index, tops three subdisciplines, and really has no weak points. On the other hand, Germany holds the 7th place with 849 out of 1,000 points in the Euro Health Consumer Index. The aforementioned countries are prime examples for comparison, given that health systems in the Netherlands and Germany, as well as the health system in Serbia, apply the Bismarck model.

Keel bone damage in laying hens reared in different production systems in Serbia

The European Union in 2012 banned conventional battery cages for the welfare reasons. However, transition to new housing systems uncovered some new problems, such as keel bone damage (KBD), which also could endanger welfare of laying hens. Although KBD is a research topic which attracts a growing attention in the EU, in Serbia it is still rather unknown phenomenon, even among the scientific and professional community. This research is the first attempt to determine the prevalence of KBD in laying hens in housing systems currently existing in Serbia. The results of conducted monitoring show presence of KBD on all observed farms, except the organic one. The occurrence of KBD was at an acceptable level (from the standpoint of hen welfare) in the free-range system, enriched cages without equipment and conventional battery cages (4%, 3% and 1%, respectively), while in the fully equipped enriched cages it was high (39%). One could assume that this high prevalence of KBD in this system is a consequence of a long roosting on a metal perches.

The land reform ot the 1830s in Serbia: the impact of the shattering of the Ottoman property system

The paper concerns the process of weakening of the Ottoman property system in Serbia after the Serbian uprisings, particularly in the period of 1815–1830, its subsequent abolition by the Hatt-i humayun of 1830 and the introduction of a modern system of private property in the 1830s, culminating with the Restoration of lands Act in 1839. This reform, although beyond any doubt useful both for the economy and for the legal system of Serbia, was also accompanied by frequent abuse of the rights of peasants by rich (large) landowners, including the ruler of Serbia, Prince (Knjaz) Milos himself. Such a course of action caused great displeasure in the general population, resulting in numerous peasant revolts (the most important being Đak’s revolt of 1824 and Mileta’s revolt of 1835), which, in turn, impacted the reform process again. The paper shows the legal consequences of the new concept of property rights, their impact upon the dominantly rural society of Serbia and the intricate interrelationship of the revolts and the reform process. Refs 62.

Borba protiv transnacionalnog kriminala - suzbijanje pranja novca, poreska evazija i regulisanje Bitkoina u Srbiji

The research presented in this paper refers to the examination of legal and related regulations in the struggle against money laundering, tax evasion and Bitcoin in Serbia, within the framework of the national strategy for combating transnational organized crime. Logically, the national regulations of these three new phenomena are not in compliance with issues that are simultaneously related and act in synergy, which makes the struggle against transnational organized crime, and also terrorism, increasingly difficult and uncertain, if there is not a timely response. The analysis of feedback mechanisms and negative effects of the synergy of these three phenomena in the sphere of transnational crime (money laundering, tax evasion, the expansion of the almost unknown Bitcoin) preliminarily indicates that it is necessary to introduce new regulations in this sphere within the process of reforming the legal system in Serbia and transformation to stable legal institutions based on the concept of human freedom and the rule of law. The research in this paper emphasizes the potential strategic, and also operational directions for creating and continuously developing the effective prevention of transnational organized crime in Serbia, precisely in the spheres and possibilities for the growth of transnational crime created by the expansion of Bitcoin as the real modus vivendi and modus operandi instrument for money laundering and tax evasion of great scope and risk for national, regional and global security. The paper presents significant arguments in support of the need to create integral legal regulations of the struggle directed to combating money laundering, tax evasion and Bitcoin.

Condition assessment and maintenance perspectives of bridge structures in the city of Nis

Bridges are civil engineering structures which very often dominate the environment or landscape where they are situated by their size, appearance in space and even by symbolism. On the other hand, preventive maintenance of these structures, as an optimum solution, is paid insufficient deal of attention, especially in our country. A permanent increase of damage on the bridges is observed, followed by an enormous decrease of bearing capacity and safety, which means that it is critical to develop and introduce an adequate system of bridge management with an aim of maintenance and preservation of existing bridge structures. Bridge management system in Serbia was introduced in 1986, as an original, and extremely contemporary system for the time. However, its practical application exhibited certain illogical issues in the obtained lists of priority activities. The author of this paper, in his doctoral dissertation, offered a new proposition based on the optimized criterion of priority evaluation. This removed certain illogical points of the current bridge management system, and achieved a considerable increase of efficiency when making priority lists. The paper presents the proposed methodology based on the results of bridge monitoring over a period of several decades which was used to provide bridge condition assessment and its maintenance perspectives in the city of Nis.

Istraživanje percepcije kvaliteta usluga u zdravstvenom sektoru u Srbiji

This study examines the quality of services in the health care sector in Serbia. The results of research survey that relate to the perceptions of surveyed about the quality of services in the health care sector. The survey was conducted in the period January March 2015. The survey was conducted on a sample of employees in the health sector and the pharmaceutical companies in Serbia. Statistical methods used here are descriptive statistics and one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), which is used for analyzing whether there is a statistically significant correlation between the dependent variables (questions in the field of perception) and the independent variables (age). These results may be important to the providers of those services and contribute to increasing the efficiency and form the basis of a systematic and comprehensive reform of the health system in Serbia.

The Child Health Care System of Serbia

The health care system in Serbia is based on a network of public health institutions funded by the National Health Insurance and from the state budget. Access to public health institutions is free. Preventive and curative services are provided at the local level in primary health care centers. Over the past 5-7years, the number of pediatricians in primary health care centers decreased because of reduced number of applicants for pediatric training, which endangers the maintenance of the traditional model of pediatric care. Secondary medical care is offered in pediatricdepartments of local and regional general hospitals or outpatient clinics, and in specialized hospitals for children or adults. Tertiary medical care is provided by inpatient or outpatient subspecialty services in 5 major university children's clinics. The health reforms undertaken in the recent 10years have aimed at strengthening preventive health care and reducing the overall costs for pediatric care. Current initiatives of the Ministry of Healthand nationalpediatric associations are aimed at reestablishing and strengthening the capacity of the primarypediatrichealth care model by increasing the number of physicians and developing new processes of care.

The development of a new integral control model based on the analysis of three complex systems in Serbia

The aim of this paper is to analyse the results of research carried out in the railway, mining, and electric power systems in Serbia and form a new integral control model. The three methodological procedures are applied. First, analytical-synthetic methodological approach breaks down complex technical system into three parts: bio-cybernetic system, "operator"; technical system, "technology"; and additional system, "working environment." Second, network planning method is used to analyse time, according to the critical path method. Third, fuzzy analytic hierarchy process determines the key research factors. General results of research are new integral control model, and new research areas and activities. The most prominent factors are: in "bio-cybernetic system"--operator's arm reach, body postures and movement sequences, operator's work, occurrence of stress, and occurrence of fatigue; in "technical system"--location and dimension of control desk, display panel, video display terminal, symbols on video display terminal, colours in control centres, and suitability of the keyboards; and in "supporting system"--illumination in control centres and relative humidity. Based on the analysis of factors and synthesis of results, the following recommendation are proposed: new control desk design; new display panel design; new design of the main and local lighting; new illumination and contrast characteristics, and environmental impact assessment. For research on a variety of complex technical systems, new integral control model can be applied, with corresponding extensions.

НАСТАВА И УЏБЕНИЦИ ИСТОРИЈЕ У ОСНОВНИМ ШКОЛАМА У СРБИЈИ (1880–1913)

На основу објављених извора, релевантне литературе и периодике у раду је анализиран развитак наставе историје и уџбеника у основним школама у Србији од 1880. до 1913. Држава је започела са интензивним законским уређивањем школског система 1880. године, када је уведено и обавезно похађање основне школе. Ово је период у коме Србија тражи начине да изврши реформе и модернизује школски систем, пре свега основне школе. Настава историје има важну улогу у изграђивању националног идентитета. Наставни планови и програми се непрекидно преиспитују и дорађују. Предмет анализе су и репрезентативни уџбеници историје за основне школе у којима се виде промене у тумачењима историјских садржаја у овом периду.

Assessing the success of e-government systems: An employee perspective

By using information system (IS) success-based approaches from the perspective of government employees, this paper investigates the success of e-government systems. Structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques were applied to data collected by a questionnaire from 154 employees of e-government systems in Serbia. In this study, we empirically evaluated the model for measuring the success of e-government systems consisting of constructs from the updated DeLone and McLean IS success model coupled with the demographic conditions. Seven out of ten hypothesized relationships between the seven success variables are significantly supported. The findings of this study can be used to assess the success of e-government systems from the standpoint of the government employees.

Significant resources of sustainable agriculture and organic food production system in Serbia

This paper presents the conditions and possibilities significant resources of sustainable agriculture and the organic food production system in Serbia. The concept of organic agriculture was considered in the function of the organic food production. The principal characteristics of adjustment of cropping practices and procedures of establishing and realisation of the organic food production are pointed out. Furthermore, biological control in the realisation of the organic agricultural production is indicated. Fundamental procedures of biological control in organic agriculture are related to providing quality of soil, water resources and feed. Moreover, the alternative forms of crop protection products are indicated. Specificities of alternative programmes are studied with the aim to produce organic food. The necessity to adjust the education of producers and experts to perform the organic food production is also indicated.

Development of the tax system in Serbia until the Second World War

Fuller consideration of the tax system of one country requires information's about regulation of certain forms of public revenues through history. For the sources of the income can be said that they were always the same, but in equally represented. Observing the Serbian tax system through history we may find differences and similarities, advantages and disadvantages, significance and representation of individual tax forms. The paper gives an overview of development of Serbian tax system from the Middle Ages to the Second World War. .

Connecting solar power plants to distribution network - experience from Serbia

In recent years the development of technology caused a significant reduction in price of solar panels, resulting in an increase in investment of the construction of solar power plants in the world. The terms and conditions of the solar power plant must provide eligible connection and smooth operating in parallel with the distribution system which include the following: allowed power of the plant, allowed flickers, allowed harmonics currents, short-circuit power, voltage fluctuations due to the simultaneous connection and disconnection of the plant, the voltage variation at steady state and the allowed current of the line conductor. The objective of the study was to present the conditions for connecting solar power plants to the distribution system in Serbia, as well as to show their verification on real examples. Finally, the practices and proposals to increase the share of solar power in the overall balance of power in Serbia are presented.

Concrete poles of transmission lines on the end of service life

Transmission system in Serbia, due to its age, inevitably enters the period of active investment project of reconstruction, adaptation and rehabilitation of the transmission lines. Today we are faced with the fact that the transmission lines are constructed more than 60 years ago, and are still in service. The paper discusses the problems in the implementation of projects of rehabilitation of reinforced concrete transmission line route. The results of experimental research, load test of reinforced concrete poles are show. It explains the problems in the management of investment projects of rehabilitation in these lines. On the bases of analyzed opportunities and best practices all possible alternative sceneries are given for reinforced concrete poles of transmission lines in the network. Multidisciplinary comparison is made for these alternatives and presented the advantages and disadvantages of each variant. The analysis pointed to solution - application of steel lattice towers instead of reinforced concrete. Project management of rehabilitation and reconstruction of the transmission line in the coming period will be a great deal with which will meet the engineers. However, an even greater engineering challenge will be deciding on the proper manner and dynamics of realization of projects for each line.

The effectiveness of the health system in Serbia in 2014 and 2015 and mental health care indicators

The World Health Organization emphasized the importance of mental health by including it in their definition of health as 'a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.' Mental health has direct influence to the quality of life of citizens as well as to productivity of economy. Therefore, both government and enterprises are interested for further improvement in this field. The European Health Consumer Index (EHCI) was founded as a project in 2006, and it has been working ever since on comparison and ranking of the health systems of the European countries. Its main aim is the setting of standards for well-functioning and organization of health care from the perspective of patients (consumers) - users of the health system. Assessment of the health system is based on pre-determined forty eight indicators, divided into six groups. The aim of this study was to assess the state of Serbian mental health care in 2014 and 2015 from the perspective of European health consumer index and propose recommendations for its improvement and functioning in accordance with the norms of European standards. The Republic of Serbia, according to the European Health Consumer Index, was ranked 33rd. in 2014 among European countries, with 473 points, while in 2015 was ranked 30 with 554 points. Mental health care indicators shows improvement in 2015 comparing with 2014. year.

Individual education plan as an agent of inclusiveness of the educational system in Serbia: Different perspectives, achievements and new dilemmas

This paper consolidates data gathered through four recently conducted research studies on inclusive education in Serbia, all of them based on multiple-perspective design and mixed method approach. The main purpose is to explore achievements and unresolved contradictions in the implementation of individual education plan as a critical tool in the schooling of students who need additional support. The results suggest that the introduction of individual education plans has produced multiple contradictions between ?old habits? of schools and teachers and new tasks required by inclusive educational policy. Different attempts to resolve these contradictions are evident in the school practice, changing the use of individual education plans, the understanding of inclusive education of all involved actors and at the same time transforming the everyday education practice. Findings are discussed in the light of activity theory.