Associative nature of event participation dynamics: a network theory approach

The affiliation with various social groups can be a critical factor when it comes to quality of life of each individual, making such groups an essential element of every society. The group dynamics, longevity and effectiveness strongly depend on group's ability to attract new members and keep them engaged in group activities. It was shown that high heterogeneity of scientist's engagement in conference activities of the specific scientific community depends on the balance between the numbers of previous attendances and non-attendances and is directly related to scientist's association with that community. Here we show that the same holds for leisure groups of the Meetup website and further quantify individual members' association with the group. We examine how structure of personal social networks is evolving with the event attendance. Our results show that member's increasing engagement in the group activities is primarily associated with the strengthening of already existing ties and increase in the bonding social capital. We also show that Meetup social networks mostly grow trough big events, while small events contribute to the groups cohesiveness.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figs + Supporting information 7 pages, 8 fig

La nave sulla scena teatrale

One of the first best sellers in Croatian literature has been "Korabljica" (“The Ship”) written by Andrjia Kačić Miošić in 1760. The book narrates the events that took place in the south of the Slavic territories from Jesus’ birth to contemporary times, but features no maritime narrative nor any adventurous tale. The reason for its name is due to the fact that the text contains “every kind of thing and event”, just as Noah’s Ark did. Literature uses the image of the vessel as a metaphor for riches because of the wide variety of objects it can store: Serbo-Croatian had many words to define vessels of any kind because the idea of the ship was fascinating and evocative. The representation on the stage of such an all-encompassing idea, however, was not that easy. The essay proposes the reading of three dramas written in what was once called Serbo-Croatian: "Cristobal Colon" by Miroslav Krleža, "Amerikanska jahta u splitskoj luci" by Milan Begović, and "My name is Mitar" by Vida Ognjenović. The three plays take all place (entirely or partially) on a ship and they are all characterised as a sociological study of the period in which they were written. This sociological element is here analysed

Il cibo in esilio

In Cankar’s prose the characters drink aplenty, but they do not ingest any food. According to Kermenauer this happens because Cankar gives shape to ideas, not to people. Differently from Cankar, Marko Marulic fills his poem "Judita" with descriptions of the food consumed both by the heroine herself and by Holofernes’s court. The references to the food are a way of helping the fellow Dalmatians to relate to the biblical tale and to understand it not only as a story referring to the struggle between Syrians and Hebrews, but also as a tale about themselves and their struggles against the Turks. The essay goes on exploring texts in which the cultural differences between religions or nations are shown in food culture as well. "Gorski Vjenac" by Petar Petrović Njegoš is taken into consideration. However, Serbian, Croatian and Bosnian literature rely now on texts by authors who are in exile. These writers have a double identity and belong to their original as well as the new literature of the European or American nation they live in. In exile, food always tastes differently. The recipe of a dish becomes then of primary importance in order to remember the original taste of the past. Some works by Aleksandar Hemon, Stevan Sremac, Ivo Andrić, Danilo Kiš and Dubravka Ugrešić are discussed

I morti che tornano

The theme of the macabre is analysed here as a product of the popular Serbian culture and religion, rather than as part of its imagery or literature. As a matter of fact, the motif of the danse macabre cannot be found in the Serbian art, due to iconoclasm and to the fact that no references to the brevity of life or equality after death were ever permitted, since they were deemed unsavoury. Nonetheless, the popular Serbian religion is based on animistic conceptions and the faith in an existence after death is at the centre of funerary rituals. Food must be prepared for the dead the day of the funeral and again after eight days, forty days, six months and twelve months: the passage from the realm of the living to that of the dead is believed to be gradual and to last one year. The essay recalls some stories by the Serbian author Borisav Stanković, in which the relationship between the living and the dead in the Serbian culture is thematised. The story “The Dead Man’s Wife” is referred to as an extreme example of the belief of the presence of the dead in life, and narrates how the relationship with the dead husband drives a woman mad

O /ne/slaganju „dvije vjere“

Iz razuđene slike odnosa hrišćana i muslimana koja se može iščitati iz srpske (ali i ostalih južnoslovenskih i balkanskih) književnosti, ovde je izdvojen spev Gorski vijenac (1847) srpskog i crnogorskog pisca Petra Petrovića Njegoša (1813–1851). U procesu oslobađanja pravoslavnog življa od Otomanske imperije krvav obračun Crnogoraca sa islamiziranim sunarodnicima prikazan je kao neminovan; ipak, Njegoš je našao prostora i za objektivnu, ne uvek isključivo negativnu sliku muslimana.From the large opus of Balkan literary works dealing with the problem of Muslim-Christian relationship, we have chosen the Mountain wrath (Gorski vijenac, 1847) by Petar Petrović Njegoš (1813–1851). The Montenegrine prince-poet sees the extermination war against his islamized compatriots as an inevitable part of the liberation process against the Ottoman empire. Yet, in this work, he also gives a more objective and not always negative image of Muslims

Chapter Lik “jake žene” u srpskoj prozi prve polovine XX veka

A series of female characters living in small provincial centres, aware of their beauty and spirit, are present in the Serbian prose of the first half of the 20th century to a degree that might be striking to the contemporary reader. This paper examine the social, historical, anthropological and psychological characteristics of the leading female characters created by Stevan Sremac (Zona Zamfirova, 1903), Svetozar Ćorović (Majčina sultanija, 1906), Borisav Stanković (Nečista krv, 1910), Ivo Andrić (Anikina vremena, 1931)

Città di carta

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Improving sustainable quality of eggs in the food chain

Lanac snabdevanja konzumnim jajima posmatran je sa aspekta održivog razvoja kroz tri podsistema (proizvodnju, maloprodaju i potrošnju), uzimajući u obzir bezbednost, percepcije kvaliteta i ekoloških uticaja iz ugla svih učesnika lanca kroz analizu relevantnih aktivnosti, uz procenu uticaja na životnu sredinu i identifikaciju mogućnosti za poboljšanja. Dimenzija kvaliteta pokazala je kako se percepcije o karakteristikama kvaliteta razlikuju kroz lanac snabdevanja konzumnim jajima i istakla značajne karakteristike za svakog od učesnika u lancu. Analiza percipiranih karakteristika kvaliteta počinje od proizvodnje na farmi, nastavlja se preko maloprodaje do krajnjih potrošača u domaćinstvu, vrednovanjem stanovišta kupac–dobavljač. Gledajući unazad, od potrošača do farme primenjena je metoda planiranja kvaliteta usmerena ka potrebama potrošača. Istraživanje je obuhvatilo 30 farmi, 50 maloprodajnih objekata, 1.000 kupaca i 300 domaćinstava. Dobijeni rezultati za interakciju između farme i maloprodaje ukazuju da je vrsta proizvodnje dominantna karakteristika kvaliteta za oba učesnika lanca, potom slede ishrana i vrsta hibrida koka nosilja sa stanovišta proizvođača na farmi, dok se maloprodaja fokusira na pakovanje i oštećenja jaja. Aspekti kvaliteta jaja iz perspektive maloprodaje i domaćinstva naglašavaju izgled ljuske i poreklo jaja, dok su rok trajanja i klasa jaja bile podjednako važne karakteristike za oba učesnika. Primena metode planiranja kvaliteta uz uvažavanje zahteva potrošača kroz ceo lanac snabdevanja naglasila je kvalitet u odnosu na cenu kao najvažniju karakteristiku. Učesnici sva tri podsistema različito su rangirali značaj karakteristika kvaliteta, dok je poređenje oba smera posmatranja (od farme do domaćinstva i od domaćinstva do farme) pokazalo sličnost. Primenjena metodologija može poslužiti kao uvod u dalja istraživanja i orijentaciju proizvodnje u odnosu na skup zahteva kvaliteta povezanih sa lancem snabdevanja jajima. Dimenzija bezbednosti ukazala je na izloženost odrasle populacije Srbije toksičnim elementima (As, Cd, Pb i Hg) kroz potrošnju jaja i proizvoda na bazi jaja, kao i na nivo utvrđenih zdravstvenih rizika. Ispitani su i ostaci veterinarskih lekova i izračunat je njihov doprinos prihvatljivom dnevnom unosu. Uzorci jaja prikupljani su u okviru nacionalnog programa praćenja rezidua od 2018. do 2020. Ispitivanje potrošnje sprovedeno je tokom 2020. godine i obuhvatilo je 1.000 ispitanika. Urađena je Monte Karlo simulacija kako bi se procenio unos toksičnih elemenata na osnovu jednodnevnih i sedmodnevnih opoziva potrošnje jaja. Dobijeni rezultati pokazali su da odrasla populacija u Srbiji nije izložena zdravstvenim rizicima koji su povezani sa proučavanim toksičnim elementima. Međutim, u 22% uzoraka jaja detektovano je prisustvo antikokcidijalnih lekova u koncentracijama iznad granica propisanih važećim pravilnikom. Glavni rizik od izloženosti ostacima kokcidiostatika povezan je sa maduramicinom. Dobijeni rezultati ukazuju na potrebu za promovisanjem dobre veterinarske prakse od strane svih učesnika u lancu snabdevanja konzumnim jajima. Procena uticaja na životnu sredinu lanca konzumnih jaja uključila je sve podsisteme, kroz identifikaciju i kvantifikaciju uticaja svakog pojedinačnog podsistema, kao i uticaj celog lanca snabdevanja. Pored navedenog, analizirano je kako se menja percepcija prema uticaju na životnu sredinu duž lanca, uz rangiranje najznačajnijih aktivnosti za svakog od učesnika koristeći tehniku kupac-dobavljač. Unazad gledano, korišćena je tehnika primene funkcije kvaliteta za životnu sredinu kako bi se utvrdio stepen korelacije između postavljenih ekoloških zahteva i identifikovanih ekoloških uticaja. Sve procene zasnovane su na direktno prikupljenim bazama podataka iz 30 farmi, 50 maloprodajnih radnji i 300 domaćinstava u Srbiji. Aktivnosti na farmi ispoljile su najveći ekološki uticaj kroz proizvodnju hrane za koke nosilje, upotrebu prirodnih resursa i najviše doprinose opetrećenju svakog pojedinačnog indikatora životne sredine. Ceo lanac konzumnih jaja emituje: 3,33 kg CO2eq/kg, 29,01 MJe/kg, 0,17 mg R11e/kg, 1,15 kg 1,4 DBe/kg, 17,76 g SO2e/kg i 27,79 g PO4e/kg. Rezultati pokazuju razliku u ekološkom uticaju svakog pojedinačnog podsistema i identifikuju prilike za njihovo ublažavanje kroz optimizaciju hrane za životinje, potrošnju energije, upravljanje otpadom u domaćisntvu...The egg supply chain was observed from the aspect of sustainable development through three subsystems (production, retail and consumption), taking into account perceptions of quality and environmental impacts from the perspectives of all chain participants through analysis of relevant activities, environmental impact assessment and opportunities for improvement. The quality dimension shows how perceptions differ throughout the table egg chain and highlights the main quality characteristics for each of the participants in this chain. Changes in perception are observed from the farm, through retail to the end consumer, by using the buyer-supplier interactions. Looking back, from the consumer to the farm, a method of quality planning aimed at the needs of consumers was applied. The survey included 30 farms, 50 retail outlets, 1,000 customers and 300 households. The comparison of farm and retail highlights the type of production as the dominant factor affecting egg quality for both participants, then the nutrition of laying hens and the type of laying hen hybrids from the farmer's point of view, while retail focuses on egg packaging and damage. Aspects of egg quality from a retail and household perspective emphasize the appearance of the shell and the origin of the eggs, while the shelf life and class of the eggs are equally important characteristics for both participants. The quality function applied throughout the egg chain emphasizes quality in relation to price as the most important characteristic. The results indicate differences in the transformation of quality characteristics through all three subsystems, while a comparison of both directions of observation shows similarity. The applied methodology can serve as an introduction to further research and orientation of production in relation to the set of quality requirements associated with the egg supply chain. The safety dimension shows the exposure of the adult population of Serbia to As, Cd, Pb and Hg through the consumption of eggs and egg-based products and the established level of health risks. Coccidiostat residues were also examined and their contribution to acceptable daily intake was calculated. Egg samples were collected within the national residue monitoring program from 2018 to 2020. The consumption survey was conducted during 2020, and included 1000 respondents. A Monte Carlo simulation was performed to estimate the intake of toxic elements based on one-day and seven- day egg consumption recalls. The obtained results showed that the adult population in Serbia is not exposed to health risks from the studied toxic elements when consuming eggs and egg-based products. However, in 22% of egg samples, the presence of anticoccidial drugs was detected in concentrations above the limits prescribed by the current regulations, which do not allow the detection of coccidiostatic drugs at any levels in eggs. Exposure to maduramycin is the main risk confirmed for exposure to coccidiostat residues. The obtained results indicate the need to promote good veterinary practice by all participants in the supply chain of table eggs. The environmental impact dimension of the egg chain includes all subsystems, through the identification and quantification of the impact of each individual subsystem, as well as the impact of the whole supply chain. In addition, the perception of the impact on the environment changes along the chains was analysed by ranking the most important activities for each of the participants using the customer-supplier technique. In retrospect, the technique of applying the environmental quality function was used to determine the degree of correlation between the set of environmental requirements and the identified environmental impacts. All estimates are based on directly collected databases from 30 farms, 50 retail stores and 300 households in Serbia. The activities on the farm have the greatest environmental impact through the production of food for laying hens, the use of natural resources and the greatest contribution to the pollution produced by each individual environmental indicator. The whole table egg chain emits 3.33 kg CO2eq/kg, 29.01 IU/kg, 0.17 mg R11e/kg, 1.15 kg 1.4 DBe /kg, 17.76 g SO2e/kg and 27.79 g PO4e/kg. The results show the difference in the environmental impact of each individual subsystem and identify opportunities to mitigate them through the optimization of animal feed, energy consumption and household waste management..