Cardiovascular risk factors and visiting nurse intervention - evaluation of a Croatian survey and intervention model: the CroHort study [Kardiovaskularni rizični čimbenici i intervencija patronažnih sestara - evaluacija istraživanja u Hrvatskoj i intervencijski model: CroHort studija]

The aim of this study is to identify factors that influence the success of the implementation of the primary and secondary prevention programs in Croatia by the visiting/community services. Two main sources of information were used: reports about regular visiting nurse services in Croatia and research about visiting nurse participation in the Croatian Adult Health Cohort Study (CroHort) 2008. Out of the total number 9,070 respondents who participated in CAHS 2003 survey, during CroHort 2008 program 3,229 (35.6%) participants were re-interviewed. The qualitative analysis was done with a sample of 34 visiting nurses, which participated in the CroHort 2008. Results show that there are three key problems which limit preventive programs: inability of the health care system to recognize the importance of the primary prevention; visiting nurses' lack capacity to implement prevention and populations' lack of motivation and education

Predictors of Adults’ Mental Health During Initial Stage of Covid-19 Pandemic in Croatia

Besides causing serious threats to people’s physical health and lives, pandemics can lead to psychological distress. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and mental health among adults in Croatia and its association with sociodemographic factors, perceptions of pandemic, locus of control, coping with stress and perceived social support. A cross-sectional, observational study was conducted using a snowball sampling technique. The online survey collected information on sociodemographics, chronic health conditions, self-isolation measure, perception of COVID-19, mental health status, locus of control, coping with stress and perception of social support. Mental health status was assessed by the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). A total of 1482 participants (252 males and 1230 females) completed the study. The mean age of the participants was 33.3 ± 12.2 years, 43 % of the participants had elevated levels of anxiety and 18 % suffered from severe and extremely severe anxiety, 33 % had elevated levels of depression and 12 % suffered from severe and extremely severe depression, and 55 % had elevated levels of stress with 13 % suffering from severe and extremely severe stress. The strongest predictors of mental health symptoms were coping with stress, locus of control, and perceived social support. These results highlight the necessity of implementing psychological interventions during the pandemic to improve the mental health of the adults and vulnerable groups in particular that should include identified factors associated with better mental health status such as coping with stress focused on problem, social diversion and social support

In Search of Micromodels: Black-box Evaluation of Spatio-temporal Models in Normal and Extreme Conditions

Spatio-temporal modelling is an emerging research area due to the increasing availability of sensor data collected across space and time. The models are build either with a modeldriven or data-driven approach. The former often results in complex monolith models that are not suitable for lightweight Edge deployment. The latter requires a vast amount of data and may not provide an overall good performance. Consequently, the data-driven approach is being used to substitute only parts of model-driven outputs, by creating micromodels that tackle specific scenarios. The main contribution of this paper is a definition and demonstration of the process for finding such scenarios for which a spatio-temporal model could be improved or replaced by a micromodel and deployed on Edge. The process is demonstrated on an example of a Numerical Weather Prediction model (NWP), namely its outputs of temperature and precipitation. NWP is evaluated using black-box testing considering the specificity of spatial and temporal components, in both normal and extreme conditions. The novelty of this process is its ability to highlight weaknesses of the existing expert models and suggest scenarios in which the models can be improved and deployed on the Edge

Getting some Insight into the Home Care Nursing Service in Croatia

Croatia, as the other Western societies are facing with the increasing share of the population over 65 years and consequently with more care-dependant people. Community living and care, including home care, is stimulating not just because of efficiency of care but also because of the people`s preferences that home is a place of emotional and physical associations, memories and comfort. The aim of the study was to see if there is lack or surplus of Home care nursing services within the health care system. Data from the Croatian Health Insurance Fond Data base were analysed. The results of this research indicated that the number of inhabitants per one home nurse and physiotherapist contracted by the Croatian Health Insurance Fond was below the defined Standard. The average number of inhabitants per one home care nurse contracted by the CHIF for 2013 was 3373.9 compared to 3500 defined by the Standard. There was found also the huge regional differences in their distributions. The average number of contracted home physiotherapists for the same year was 9805.2 in comparison to the Standard, which was setup at the level of 15000 inhabitants per one physiotherapist

Una porta oberta no fa gaire : els intercanvis literaris entre el croat i el català

Els intercanvis culturals entre Croàcia i els Països Catalans es limiten a visites d'escriptors, fins gairebé als anys setanta del segle passat. A partir d'aquell moment, la tasca individual d'alguns traductors, primer, i la implicació de les institucions després, han fet que aquest diàleg siga una mica més fluid. Durant la primera dècada d'aquest nou segle les traduccions de literatura catalana al croat han augmentat significativament i s'ha començat a traduir més literatura croata al català, i sense llengües intermediàries. No obstant això, només s'han posat les bases d'un diàleg que pot ser molt més fluid.The cultural exchanges between Croatia and the Catalan Countries are limited, almost up to the decade of the nineteen seventies, to visits by some authors. From then on the individual task of some translators and, later, the taking part of the institutions have turned it into a more fluent dialogue. During the first decade of our present century, the translations of Catalan Literature into Croatian have increased substantially, and it has begun to increase the translation of Croatian Literature into Catalan, straight from one into the other, without going through a third language. Nevertheless, the foundations have been only laid for a dialogue that can be much more fluent

Bank specific determinants of EU banks profitability after 2007 financial crisis

The basic purpose of the paper is to research determinants on profitability indicators of the banks in the European Union. Analysed bank profitability indicators considered as a standard are: the return on total bank assets (ROA) and return on total bank equity (ROE). The research model of bank profitability determinants is developed by analysing the systemically important, quoted banks in the European Union, in the 2007–2019 period, by using an adequate panel data analysis technique. The empirical evidence is in line with the initial assumptions: the efficiency of the banking firm, measured by the cost to income ratio and the non-performing loans ratio, has a significant influence on bank profitability, both on ROA and ROE. In the post-crisis period, banking firms ask for efficient cost management in achieving performance objectives. Additional important empirical results of research are the absence of impact of assets size and regulatory capital ratio on profitability indicators. The most important contribution of the paper is related to the sample definition, variable selection and explanatory power of the presented model in explaining global banking tendencies

ETIS Indicators in Sustainable Tourist Destination-Example of the Island of Pag

In this paper, the authors study the issues of sustainability and sustainable tourism development. Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important goal and principle of every segment of social and economic development. This is especially true for tourism and tourist destinations and is extremely important when it comes to fragile natural and socioeconomic entities such as islands. This paper addresses the issues of measuring and monitoring the development of sustainability by taking the island of Pag as an example. As a metric, the authors have selected the European Tourism Indicators System (ETIS), a European Commission model designed in 2014 as a sustainability monitoring tool that is recommended for use in European tourist destinations. The authors also set a goal to compare theETIS sustainability indicators and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The paper also emphasised the so-calledsupplementary ETIS indicators, which allow flexibility in managing the destination, i.e.adjusting the sustainability metric to the specificities of the destination. The primary research, based on respondents’ attitudes, formed a model of supplementary indicators for island tourist destinations that istypical for the island of Pag, which could be applied to other islands developing tourism

A short historical overview on the use of lead

This historical introduction to the use of lead in art and technology was originally written to give context to lead conservation studies by the authors. The intention is to bring many rel- evant studies on lead together starting a discussion, which stresses that it was once impossi- ble to imagine a life without lead, and its alloys and compounds. Despite its environmental and health problems, lead remains ubiquitous even in modern technology for example in roofing, as an important component in low melting point or low friction alloys, in batteries and munitions

ETIS Indicators in Sustainable Tourist Destination-Example of the Island of Pag

In this paper, the authors study the issues of sustainability and sustainable tourism development. Sustainability is becoming an increasingly important goal and principle of every segment of social and economic development. This is especially true for tourism and tourist destinations and is extremely important when it comes to fragile natural and socioeconomic entities such as islands. This paper addresses the issues of measuring and monitoring the development of sustainability by taking the island of Pag as an example. As a metric, the authors have selected the European Tourism Indicators System (ETIS), a European Commission model designed in 2014 as a sustainability monitoring tool that is recommended for use in European tourist destinations. The authors also set a goal to compare theETIS sustainability indicators and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). The paper also emphasised the so-calledsupplementary ETIS indicators, which allow flexibility in managing the destination, i.e.adjusting the sustainability metric to the specificities of the destination. The primary research, based on respondents’ attitudes, formed a model of supplementary indicators for island tourist destinations that istypical for the island of Pag, which could be applied to other islands developing tourism

Migration and Enterpreneurial Experience of Female Returnees on the Croatian Adriatic Coast and Islands

Return movements of women migrants to their home countries are in the focus of this work. Discussion is based on the life stories of the three migrants/returnees from the northeastern Adriatic coast and islands who have emigrated to Italy and Germany. Through the analysis of interviews the process of return to the homeland is examined as well as motivation and the reasons that prompted it, the context in which the return was carried out, the readjustment to the new/old surroundings and the role of the returnee at an individual and social level in the country of origin. Aside from the realisation of repatriation to the homeland, the returnees invested their capital acquired in the country of immigration into their hometowns: Zadar and Istrian coast and the island of Cres. Migration experience has enabled them to accumulate the capital necessary for their successful return, reintegration, and realization of entrepreneurial ideas. Their entrepreneurial initiatives have a positive impact on the economic development of the place and country of origin