Direct foreign investments and the lack of positive effects on the economy

In recent years, Croatia was interesting to investors in attracting foreign direct investment. One of the objectives of this research was to deal with their negative effects. Most of invested capital was invested in brownfield investments, i.e. in taking over the ownership share of companies through privatization. Consequently, revenues were spent to settle financial debts and not on the growth and development of competitiveness. According to economic theory, foreign direct investments have a positive impact on the economic growth of the recipient country. This paper attempts to answer the question: "Is the economic theory confirmed in the Croatian case?" The aim is to analyse the impact of foreign direct investments on the economic growth of Croatia in the period from 1999 to 2014. The paper analyses the impact that direct foreign investments had on the unemployment rate, GDP per capita and export using the model of linear regression

Native Grasslands of Yugoslavia as a Potential for Biologically High Quality Food Production - To Be Preserved and Used for the Benefit of All

Natural grasslands are the base of the livestock production in the hilly-mountainous regions of Yugoslavia. Poor economic power of the owners of these areas brought about a complete dying out of agricultural production in these regions in the last few years. In the same time, the lack of financial resources made it impossible for the farmers to use the fertilisers, protective and other chemical agents which result in a high degree of environmental preservation. Due to current economic policy at this time the population has moved out and there is no industrialisation. The revival of agriculture on the hilly-mountainous regions is one of the imperatives of total economic development today. The recent problem of undeveloped and neglected hilly-mountainous regions turned out to be a lucky circumstance in the sense of environmental preservation as it provides new possibilities in keeping up with world trends. The objective of this study was to present the possibilities of natural grassland resources exploitation, and perspectives of biologically high value food production in the hill-mountain regions of Yugoslavia

ANALYSIS OF BREAKING CHARACTERISTICS OF COTTON FABRICS OF THE MOST FREQUENT WEAVES

The behavior of three raw cotton fabrics of different basic weaves and approximate yarn settings and yarn counts, when subjected to tensile deformation, is described in this article. The values of the breaking force in the fabric in the linen weave have the highest mean numerical value, while the cotton fabric in the atlas weave has the lowest values. The fabric in the twill weave has the highest values for elongation at break, while the lowest values are present in the fabric in the atlas weave. The fabric in linen weave is the most resistant to external deformations, while the fabric in twill and atlas weaves are the weakest. The standard deviation and coefficient of variation for fabrics in all weaves have values that move within a range that confirms the validity of the results. In some cases, larger variations of these statistical data mean that these results can be taken with a certain amount of caution. It seems that there are a lot of latent stresses in the fabric, which are relaxed during the action of the tearing force, causing greater variations in the measurement results. Deformation curves after nonlinear fitting of the breaking force-elongation at break dependence are described by polynomial equations of the fourth and fifth degree, with the fact that about 99% of the variability of the dependent variable can be explained by means of the analyzed independent variables. Polynomial models are practically usable because they can predict with high reliability the deformation behavior of fabrics with similar weaves in the direction of the warp. There are statistically significant correlations between numerous values for breaking force from the experiment and the polynomial model

HIGH-ACCURACY QUASISTATIC NUMERICAL MODEL FOR BODIES OF REVOLUTION TAILORED FOR RF MEASUREMENTS OF DIELECTRIC PARAMETERS

We have developed rotationally symmetrical coaxial chambers for measurements of dielectric parameters of disk-shaped samples, in the frequency range from 1 MHz to several hundred MHz. The reflection coefficient of the chamber is measured and the dielectric parameters are hence extracted utilizing a high-accuracy quasistatic numerical model of the chamber and the sample. We present this model, which is based on the method-of-moments solution of a set of integral equations for composite metallic and dielectric bodies. The equations are tailored to bodies of revolution. The model is efficient and accurate so that the major contribution of the measurement uncertainty comes from the measurement hardware

Adsorbent from Textile Waste for Removal of Textile Reactive Dye from Water – Equilibrium Adsorption and Kinetics

The removal of textile reactive dye from an aqueous solution on a new adsorbent prepared from waste cotton knitted fabric was investigated in this study. Waste cotton textile, used for the production of adsorbents, is a by-product of the cutting of stacked parts of cotton knitwear planned for the production of women’s T-shirts. The degree of efficiency of a paper pattern determines the amount of collected waste. The qualitative and quantitative characterization of the new adsorbent showed carbon and oxygen to be dominant in the chemical composition. A longer contact time means a greater amount of dye on the adsorbent, i.e. the dye concentration in the solution decreases with the duration of the adsorption process. The percentage of removed dye decreases with an increase in the initial dye concentration in the solution. However, the actual amount of adsorbed dye increases as the initial dye concentration increases. The results for equilibrium adsorption show that the Langmuir isotherm can be used for the interpretation of reactive dye adsorption on a new adsorbent. The pseudo-first order model can be fully used to describe the kinetics of dye adsorption on an adsorbent, with respect to valid results for statistical indicators. Based on the results, it can be concluded that the new adsorbent obtained from waste textiles has the potential to remove textile reactive dye from aqueous solutions

INFLUENCE OF SURFACE ROUGHNESS ON MATERIAL TRANSFER OCCURRING IN ALUMINIUM DRY SLIDING APPLICATION

Aluminium and its alloys are highly represented in industrial application. Despite of good mechanical and conductive properties, both thermal and electric, in tribological manner material transfer that may occur during the dry sliding conditions has great influence on friction and wear of the contact elements. This study represents an attempt one in a row to define the parameters that leads to the material transfer occurring, and in this paper influence of surface roughness was investigated. Tribological test were performed in dry sliding conditions using CSM nanotribometer with ball-on-plate contact configuration and linear reciprocating motion with 0,5mm amplitude and sliding speeds of 1, 5 and 10 mm/s under constant load of 200mN. Obtained results indicated presents of material transfer for all three investigated surfaces prepared using sand paper with different grit sizes 240 and 1000 and polished sample. Appearance of transferred layer, on the steel counter body, and penetration depth value plots refers to cyclic nature of material transfer. Material transfer during the dry sliding contact result in increase of coefficient of friction and wear of tested aluminium samples.Author's versio

Assessment of cardiorespiratory function in adolescent athletes affected by COVID-19: a comparative analysis

Background and Study Aim. Given the global spread of COVID-19 and its profound effects on public health, understanding its impact on the physical health and performance of young athletes is crucial for developing guidelines to support their recovery and well-being. The goal of this research was to assess the impact of the COVID-19 infection and possible consequences on the functional abilities of schoolchild athletes, and determine whether there are differences compared to their peers who did not suffer the infection. Material and Methods. This study involved 100 teenagers (median age 15.7±1.167), who engage in two different sports (basketball and soccer), divided into two groups. The first group comprised young athletes (n=53, age 15.79±1.854) who had contracted COVID-19 and underwent 14 days of home isolation. The second group consisted of healthy child athletes (n=47, age 15.60±1.313). Participants underwent a comprehensive pre-participation sports medical examination, which included a cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET) on a treadmill. CPET assessed various physiological parameters: maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max); heart rates at the first and second ventilatory thresholds (HR at VT1 and HR at VT2); respiratory exchange ratio (RER); maximal pulmonary ventilation (VEmax); ventilatory efficiency (VE/VCO2); oxygen pulse (O2/HR); maximum heart rate (HRmax); three-minute heart rate recovery; and potential electrocardiographic changes. Results. The results indicate that COVID-19 infection has led to statistically significant impairments in the cardiorespiratory functions of child athletes. Notably, there were significant reductions in maximum oxygen consumption (VO2max), maximal pulmonary ventilation (VEmax), oxygen pulse (O2/HR), as well as heart rates at the first ventilatory threshold (HR at VT1), maximum heart rate (HRmax), and heart rate recovery following maximal effort, all demonstrating p-values less than 0.05. Conclusions. The assessed parameters demonstrated that the functions were statistically significantly impaired in child athletes who had recovered from COVID-19 compared to their healthy peers of the same age. However, the infection appeared to have a minimal impact on heart rate variability at ventilatory thresholds. These findings offer valuable insights for coaches and sports medicine physicians in adjusting training programs and supporting the rehabilitation process for young adolescent athletes resuming their training after recovering from COVID-19

Defining a Software Solution Requirements for Document Management in Public Enterprises: A Methodology of Organizations Reframing into Quality - Smart Public Enterprises

Enterprise sustainability belongs to the fourth industrial revolution era that requires a new approach based on intelligent technologies and the new role of leadership and sustainability structure with respecting new trends in emerging smart technologies and a new focus on Society 5.0. Smart parking has a significant role to foster determinants of sustainability in public parking enterprises and achieve adequate mobility in smart cities. Thus, smart parking is the subject of the research presented in the paper. The paper defines vital processes, including leadership processes and technologies needed for smart parking, managed by innovative public parking enterprises. Having this in mind, trends, key facts, results of the present state of an innovative technology enterprise, and methodologies for designing and establishing smart public parking enterprises are analyzed. The paper aims to identify the present sustainability state of parking enterprises by developing a model that includes the independent variables such as leadership level of intelligent technologies usage included in quality of the business processes, and risk related to the business processes. A dependent variable is the sustainability of smart public parking enterprises. All variables have their indicators which could be assessed by appropriate techniques such as questionnaire techniques, and statistical and artificial neural network approaches. In this way transition from existing public enterprises into sustainable smart public parking enterprises is envisioned.http://ijqr.net/journal/v19-n3/Manuscript%20IJQR%2019-03-01.pdfPublishe

TENSILE TESTING OF MATERIALS AT ELEVATED TEMPERATURES ON A SMALL LABORATORY DEVICE

Machine parts and constructions are often exposed to elevated or high temperatures in their working environment. The mechanical characteristics of metals obtained by tensile testing then change, so it is very important to know their properties under such conditions. Reliable and accurate values of the mechanical characteristics of metals can be obtained by tensile testing on a small laboratory device. By developing a simple and cost-effective module for testing metals at elevated and high temperatures, experimental tests of DC01 steel were performed at temperatures up to 600 °C, and the results were verified with the results available in the literature. The obtained values of the mechanical characteristics of the materials tested on a small laboratory tensile testing device are in accordance with the results obtained on a conventional tensile testing device.Publishe

INFLUENCE OF COUNTER BODY MATERIAL ON MATERIAL TRANSFER DURING BALL ON PLATE DRY SLIDING

Aluminium is widely used in various sliding applications. Most of them are in lubricant sliding conditions, but in some cases dry sliding conditions can be projected or can occur due to insufficient lubricant or breaking the lubricant layer. In aluminium dry sliding conditions intensive material transfer occurs. Transferred material are aluminium particles that are firmly bonded to the counter body surface. Due to material transfer friction and wear properties are significantly changed, both are increased several times. Related to that aim of this study is to examine influence of counter body material on material transfer. Moment of material transfer occurring is one of the mysteries, for the same contact pair and same contact conditions it can occur at the begging of sliding contact, but also it can happen much later. Five different counter body material were used for presented tests: Inox 440C, Ruby, Saphire, SiN, and Al2O3.Publishe