Towards new educational potentialities: Review and commentary of the Preliminary draft Act on higher education

The Higher Education Act is a long-awaited legal act. A number of uncompleted attempts to prepare it have been undertaken in the course of the last three years. So far without success. Having been and still being a matter of highest social priority, the renewed effort to create and subsequently to enact this act is welcome as a worthwhile and a highly productive endeavor. Welcome also are the main innovations offered by this act, particularly its conspicuous consistency with the Bologna Declaration and other internationally launched and accepted documents. The draft act follows the international documents tracing down the paths of the future development of the educational systems of the European countries and providing for their mutual compatibility. A number of other positive contributions of the draft act are singled out, such as introducing clear and rigorous criteria and procedures for accreditation and quality control, introducing a wide coverage of arts and sciences as a precondition for an institution of higher education to qualify as a university, flexibility in the regime of studying including the domestic and international mobility of the students and requirement for the schools of higher education to have large cores of permanently employed teaching staff. A much larger part of the paper is, however, devoted to critical commentaries. To begin with, the draft is produced without any participation of the private universities, which is seen as a form of discrimination. The organizational pattern of a university is laid out with insufficient clarity and the status of departments (faculties) is particularly short of precision and even contradictory. The draft seems to be laden with the old bias towards excessive and potentially disastrous centralization, drastically reducing the decision making capacity of the system. The treatment of the property of the departments (faculties) is found inconsistent and legally unfounded. Inconsistency is also revealed in a number of prerogatives of the university vis-a-vis its departments and vice versa

Investigation of the ionized gas flow adjacent to porous wall in the case when electroconductivity is a function of the longitudinal velocity gradient

This paper studies the laminar boundary layer on a body of an arbitrary shape when the ionized gas flow is planar and steady and the wall of the body within the fluid porous. The outer magnetic field is perpendicular to the fluid flow. The inner magnetic and outer electric fields are neglected. The ionized gas electroconductivity is assumed to be a function of the longitudinal velocity gradient. Using transformations, the governing boundary layer equations are brought to a general mathematical model. Based on the obtained numerical solutions in the tabular forms, the behaviour of important non-dimensional quantities and characteristics of the boundary layer is graphically presented. General conclusions about the influence of certain parameters on distribution of the physical quantities in the boundary layer are drawn

DOES SPECIALIZATION IN KARATE AFFECT REACTION TIME IN SPECIFIC KARATE KUMITE SITUATIONS?

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of karate specialization on the reaction time in specific karate kumite situations. In order to maximize the ecological validity of experimental set-up, we used our recently proposed and evaluated video-based method (Mudric et al., 2015). Within this method, the reaction time is calculated from the kinematic parameters recorded on both offensive action stimuli and defensive action responses. The results obtained from three groups of subjects (i.e., karate kumite, karate kata and beginners) indicate significant differences in reaction time between the beginners and both specialized karate groups. There were also prominent but not significant differences between the karate kumite and karate kata. These findings suggest that particular sport specialization could improve reaction time of an athlete in specific sport situations

Cost-effectiveness analysis of tocilizumab in combination with methotrexate for rheumatoid arthritis: A Markov model based on data from Serbia, country in socioeconomic transition

Background/Aim. Recent studies have shown that biological treatments for rheumatoid arthritis can change the course of rheumatoid arthritis and improve functional ability of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. In spite of this fact, use of biological therapy is still limited by high prices of these medicines, especially in countries in socioeconomic transition. The aim of our study was to compare costeffectiveness of a combination of tocilizumab and methotrexate with methotrexate alone for rheumatoid arthritis in Serbia, a country in socioeconomic transition. Methods. For the purpose of our study we designed a Markov model using data on therapy efficacy from the available literature, and data on the costs of health states calculated from records of actual patients treated in the Clinical Center Kragujevac, Serbia. The duration of one cycle in our model was set at one month, and the time horizon was 480 months (40 years). The study was done from the social perspective, and all the costs and outcomes were discounted for 3% per year. Results. Treating rheumatoid arthritis with diseasemodifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) alone was more cost-effective in comparison with a combination of biologic treatment with tocilizumab and DMARDs. The total costs for treating a patient with DMARDs for one year were on average 261,945.42 RSD, or 2,497.70 Euro and the total costs for treatment with tocilizimab plus DMARDs were on average 1,959,217.44 RSD, or 18,659.20 Euro. However, these results are susceptible to changes in costs and treatment effects of tocilizumab in patients with more severe forms of rheumatoid arthritis. Conclusion. Our results show that the use of tocilizumab for rheumatoid arthrits in economic environment of Serbia is not cost-effective. Use of tocilizumab for treating rheumatoid arthritis can become affordable, if costs of its use become lower. In order to start using expensive biologic medicines in patients in transitional countries, special strategy and pricing policy of international pharmaceutical companies are necessary, which would include calculation of prices of biologic medicines on the basis of local pharmacoeconomic studies

Primena novih sorbenasa u D-µ-SPE TEhnici pripreme uzoraka za GC – MS analizu PAU u vodi

The aim of this paper is application of novel sorbents in dispersive micro solid phase extraction (D-μ-SPE) as a technique for sample preparation of water, for the analysis of 16 PAHs by gass chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS). D-μ-SPE proved to be an effective technique consuming a small amount of the solvent for the analysis. D-μ-SPE is characterized by its rapidity (7 minutes per sample including all preparation of standard solutions and measuring of sorbents) and cheapness as well. Low values of the detection limit and limit of quantification, acceptable accuracy and precision values propose this method for routine water analysis for the determination of PAHs.Cilj istraživanja ovog rada je primena novih sorbenasa u disperzivnoj mikroekstrakciji čvrstom fazom (D-µ-SPE) kao tehnikom pripreme uzoraka vode za analizu 16 prioritetnih PAU gasnom hromatografijom sa masenom spektrometrijom (GC-MS). D-µ-SPE se pokazala kao efikasna i ekonomična tehnika pripreme uzoraka vode pri čemu se troši mala količina rastvarača za ekstrakciju i koristi jeftin pribor za pripremu uzoraka koja traje 7 minuta (uključujući pripreme standardnih rastvora i odmeravanje sorbenasa). Niske vrednosti granice detekcije i kvantifikacije, prihvatljive vrednosti tačnosti i preciznosti predloženu metodu analize 16 prioritetnih PAU kvalifikujuje za rutinsku analizu vode

Primena disperzivne mikroekstrakcije čvrstom fazom kao tehnike pripreme uzoraka za GC – MS analizu PAU u vodi

The aim of this paper is to determine the efficiency of D-µ-SPE with application of novel sorbents as a technique for sample preparation of water samples for the analysis of 16 priority PAHs by GC-MS. The sample preparation technique proved to be very fast, efficient and economical. The results of the proposed method demonstrate that this technique can be applied for routine analysis of PAHs in water. The advantages of this method are characterized by low values of limit of detection (from 0.147 ppb for benzo [a] anthracene to 0.784 ppb for naphthalene) and the limit of quantification (0.717 ppb for naphthalene to 9.459 ppb for benzo [k] fluorantene.Ciljevi istraživanja ovog rada su određivanje efikasnosti disperzivne mikroekstrakcije čvrstom fazom (D-µ-SPE) kao tehnike pripreme uzoraka vode za analizu 16 prioritetnih PAU gasnom hromatografijom sa masenom spektrometrijom, primenom novih sorbenasa. Tehnika pripreme uzoraka pokazala se kao veoma brza, efikasna i ekonomična. Rezultati predložene metode dokazuju da se ova tehnika može primeniti kao tehnika pripreme uzoraka za rutinsku analizu PAU u vodi. Prednosti ovakovog načina analize odlikuju se niskim vrednostima granice detekcije (od 0.147 ppb za benzo[a]antracen do 0.784 ppb za naftalen) i granice kvatifikacije (0.717 ppb za naftalen do 9.459 ppb za benzo[k]fluoranten)

Intezivna pojava žute rđe pšenice (Puccinia Striiformis Westend ) na području grada Bihaća

Wheat rust (Puccinia striiformis) is the most important plant disease which we encounter for many years. Development of yellow rust on wheat depends on the weather conditions, primarily on increased rainfall and lower temperatures. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the connection between climate changes with the emergence of specific diseases such as rust of wheat, which intensively occurs in areas with colder climate. This paper deals with the occurrence of rust on wheat for three consecutive years: 2014, 2015 and 2016 on the varieties of wheat that are commonly used in the Una Sana Canton, a types Bosanka and Novosadska S 40. The highest level of disease was observed in 2014 on the mentioned varieties. During 2015 there has not been occurrence of rust on wheat, whereas in 2016 on the wheat variet Bosanka occurrence of rust was observed again, less pronounced than it was in 2014.Rđa pšenice (Puccinia striiformis) je značajno oboljenje sa kojim se susrećemo duži niz godina. Razvoj žute rđe na pšenici ovisi o vremenskim uvetima, prvenstveno o povećanoj količini padavina i nižim temperaturama. Cilj ovog rada bio je dokazivanje povezanosti klimatskih promena sa pojavom specifičnih bolesti kao što je rđa pšenice koja se intenzivnije javlja u područjima sa hladnijim klimatom. U ovom radu praćena je pojava rđe na pšenici tokom tri uzastopne godine: 2014., 2015. i 2016. na sortama pšenice koje se najčešće koriste na području Unsko sanskog kantona, Bosanka i NS 40S. Najveći intenzitet bolesti primećen je tokom 2014. godine na pomenutim sortama. Tokom 2015. godine nije došlo do pojave rđe na pšenici dok je 2016. godine na sorti pšenice Bosanka ponovo primećena pojava rđe manjeg intenziteta nego što je to bilo 2014. godine

Zajednica Arctio-Artemisetum vulgaris (Tx. 1942) Oberd. et al. 1967.: najzastupljenija ruderalna zajednica na području Pančevačkog rita

A several-year investigation of distribution, phytocoenological differentiation, floristic composition and structure of the ruderal flora and vegetation, and relative anthropogenic influences was conducted in the area of Pančevački rit. The study focused on the ruderal community Arctio-Artemisetum vulgaris, the most widespread of 10 ruderal communities identified in a detailed phytocoenological analysis of the location of Pančevački rit.Na području Pančevačkog rita su obavljena višegodišnja floristička istraživanja rasprostranjenosti, fitocenološke diferenciranosti, strukturalne i antropogene uslovljenosti ruderalne vegetacije. U radu je analizirana zajednica Arctio-Artemisetum vulgaris, koja predstavlja najrasprostranjeniju zajednicu od 10 razvijenih i opisanih ruderalnih zajednica na prostoru Pančevačkog rita

Synthesis and swelling behavior of polyurethane networks based on hyperbranched polymer

A series of six polyurethane (PU) networks was synthesized from Boltorn (R) hydroxy-functional hyperbranched polyester (HBP) of the second pseudo generation as a cross-linking agent, alpha,omega-dihydroxy-(ethylene oxide-poly(dimethylsiloxane)-ethylene oxide) (EO-PDMS-EO) and 4,4-methylenediphenyl diisocyanate, by two-step polymerization in solution. Each sample of the prepared PUs had different EO-PDMS-EO content. The chemical structure of the synthesized networks was analyzed by FTIR spectroscopy. The influence of the EO-PDMS-EO content and type of the solvent on the swelling behavior of the PUs in 2-propanol and toluene was investigated. During the swelling measurements, a certain amount of sal fractions was extracted from the PUs by solvents. According to the H-1-NMR results, sal fractions were mainly composed of the soluble hyperbranched PU, formed during the polymerization by partial modification of the end hydroxyl groups of HBP with NCO-terminated prepolymer synthesized in the first step of the reaction. Chains of the so reacted prepolymer can then fold back and form cyclic products by reaction of the free -NCO group from the NCO-terminated prepolymer with free -OH group of HBP. As the EO-PDMS-EO content increases the amount of the sol fractions and swelling degree also increased, indicating that networks with lower EO-PDMS-EO content are more cross-linked and have higher solvent resistance