The Transformation of the Property Regime in Croatia and Slovenia

The transition from socialism in Eastern Europe during the last decade of 20th century could be rightly observed and analysed as a chapter of the great battle between ideologies such as liberalism, libertarianism, socialism and communism, or as a competition between the political programs of liberal democracy, social democracy, orthodox socialism and so on. Both politics and ideologies use such terms as a “free market” or “fair trade” routinely. In contrast to this approach a philosopher doesn’t take these ideas for granted; “freedom” in “free market” and “fairness” in “fair trade” are complex concepts that should be analysed, their meaning put in a context, understood and explained. The same is true of notions of property, private property as opposed to public property and of the definition of a competitive market. These concepts are the subject of my research; how the ideas of property and market were understood and implemented during the process of transformation of socialism in Croatia and Slovenia. The intention of this research is to be a positive analysis of the transition in Slovenia and Croatia. My criticism that the distinction between private and public property was not entirely adequate in the context of transition, doesn’t imply that the process of privatisation of socialist property should have been avoided. Rather I found that the distinction between private and public property was analytically less adequate than the distinction between individual and collective property and open access for the explanation of the transformation of the property regime inherited from socialism (self-management) in Croatia and Slovenia. This later distinction was based on the concept of the costliness of property, which was initiated by the work of Ronald Coase and developed by Yoram Barzel. The concept of the costliness of property enabled me to conclude that privatisation in Croatia shared some substantial characteristics with initial appropriation of nobody’s property and to understand why ownership arrangements with a dominant shareholder were favoured. Privatisation in Slovenia represented an evolution of a property regime while the dispersed shareholding that included employees and former employees was preferred. The finding that the exchange of goods and services is influenced by an implicit norm of behaviour (customary norms, or moral norm or even legal norms) and the insight that exchange would even fail to occur without an implicit assumption of norms on the part of all sides in an exchange, doesn’t amount to the imposition of a universal absolute norm of “fair trade” by the government. This would be an ideological interpretation of my arguments. The development of market institutions depends on numerous factors and influences, ideologies and political programs among them. My description of the transition in Slovenia and Croatia takes into account the influence of interest groups, political parties and also the ideologies which they used to legitimise their intentions. However, my focus is on two theoretical explanations, the neoclassical and the property rights explanation of a market economy that contributed to the formulation of the policies of privatisation in Croatia and Slovenia and participated in the creation of expectations about what would follow from future arrangements. Although I believe that my conclusions are clear and precise I feel obliged to emphasise that the criticism of neoclassical view is by no means a plea for governmental regulation as a solution for shortcomings of a particular market. Rather, I would like to point to the need to take institutions, traditions and cultural factors seriously and also that the adequate functioning of a market economy itself depends on institutions and cultural factors. Therefore I expect that my thesis, over and above its value as a detailed treatment of privatisation in Croatia and Slovenia, should be a contribution to the understanding of basic concepts of property and market and to the explanation of the development of market institutions

Thermal resistance testing of standard and protective filtering military garment on the burning napalm mixture

Fires are an accompanying manifestation in modern weaponry use and in various accidents in peacetime. The standard military uniform is a primary barrier in protection of a soldier's body from all external influences, including the thermal ones which can cause burns. The minimum thermal resistance to the effect of burning napalm mixture (BNM) in individual uniform garment materials was determined, and found to be higher for simultaneous use of more materials one over another (the so called sandwich materials), where the best thermal protection was exhibited by sandwich materials with an air interspace. The requirement for the thermal resistance of the material of the filtrating protective suit (FPS) to the effect of BNM (≥ 15 s) was fully met. The highest thermal resistance was demonstrated by the FPS whose inner layer was made of polyurethane foam with active carbon. The FPS thermal resistance to the effect of BNM was found to be proportional to water vapor permeability through this garment mean, and inversely proportional to air permeability.Požari su prateća manifestacija kod upotrebe naoružanja u savremenom ratu i u slučajevima nastanka različitih akcidenata u mirnodopskim uslovima. Standardna vojnička uniforma predstavlja primarnu prepreku u zaštiti tela vojnika od svih spoljnih uticaja, uključujući i termičke koji mogu da izazovu opekotine. Cilj ovog rada je da utvrdi koja vrsta standardne vojničke odeće i odela filtrirajućeg zaštitnog (OFZ) kao predstavnika zaštitne RHB odeće filtracionog tipa će u sebi najbolje da objedini prihvatljivi nivo efikasne termičke zaštite od goruće napalm smeše (GNS) uz istovremeno obezbeđenje zadovoljavajućih funkcionalnih karakteristika tj. adekvatnog fiziološkog odgovora organizma čoveka. Sve ove aktivnosti su sprovedene uz poštovanje relevantnih zahteva na polju standardizacije uslova ispitivanja. Utvrđena je najmanja termička otpornost na delovanje GNS kod pojedinačnih odevnih materijala uniforme, veća kod istovremenog korišćenja više materijala jednih preko drugih (tzv. sendvič materijala), a najbolju termičku zaštitu pružaju sendvič materijali sa vazdušnim međuprostorom (VP). Taktičko-tehnički zahtev za termičku otpornost materijala OFZ na dejstvo GNS (≥ 15s) kod sva tri ispitivana modela u potpunosti je ispunjen. Najveću termičku otpornost je pokazao OFZ-M2PUR koji je urađen na bazi poliuretanske pene i aktivnog uglja, zatim OFZ-M00 na bazi tkane tkanine i sferičnog ugljeničnog adsorbenta i konačno OFZ-M2 na bazi tkane tkanine i sferičnog ugljeničnog adsorbenta. Utvrđena je proporcionalna zavisnost između termičke otpornosti OFZ na dejstvo GNS i propustljivosti vodene pare kroz ovo odevno sredstvo, a obrnuta u odnosu na propustljivost vazduha