The Struggle of Kosovo Policymakers to Upgrade the Law on Religious Affairs

Apart from guarantees over freedom of religion, in the last two decades, authorities in Kosovo have made little progress in advancing its legal framework to accommodate the emerging needs of religious communities. The only law that regulates religious affairs in Kosovo is the 2006 Law on Freedom of Religion. The law is framed in very broad terms, and has received a lot of criticism for failing to properly regulate the status of religious communities. Representatives of these communities have consistently asked for changes to legislation that would grant them the status of legal entities. Without legal entity status, religious communities can only function at the most basic level. The government has tried to introduce a new law almost every year since 2011, but every attempt to change the law has failed so far. Why? Part of the answer is to be found in the legal complexities of Kosovo’s dealing with religion

The Geographic Determinants of Economic Growth and the Increasing Albania-Kosovo Trade Relations

For the last few years, the trade volume between Albania and Kosovo has increased considerably, clearly showing that, on top of many other factors, the geographic determinants of economic growth and development must never be underestimated. On the other hand, the ever-closer economic integration of Albania and Kosovo is only natural and should not be considered as a cause for political rifts in the Western Balkans. The paper will go through the various documents and agreements adopted by Tirana and Pristina to promote mutual trade relations, and it will refer to an abundance of data indicating the improving trade relations. Subsequently, the paper will shed light on the patterns of economic behavior that Albania and Kosovo show, a behavior which can be better comprehended under the framework of geographic determinants of economic growth and development, such as location, resources, food productivity, population and population growth, regionalization, culture, etc

The stance of Great Britain towards the government of Fan Noli

Since after the First World War in internal political scene of Albania prevailed instability and political struggle between parties; such situation reached its peak in June 1924 when a rebellion was followed by seizure of power by opposition. This event attracted attention of all powers, especially of Great Britain, who was concerned about her oil concessions in Albania. Therefore this work aims to elaborate the attitude of Great Britain towards to Government of Noli. At the same time this work pretends to give a reflection to international and national circumstances which lead to failure of Government Noli to be recognized internationally. A particular emphasize will be given to the influences of British consuls on High Majesty Government in relation to the issue of recognition of Noli’s Government. This work was mainly based on British archival sources

British and Yugoslav Response to Italian Invasion of Albania

By the end of 1930’ the western powers like France and Great Britain warned small European countries that they cannot provide them a protection from German and Italian aggression. Such a statement reinforced expansionist aims of Germany and Italy, particularly the last mentioned was concerned if Germany’s actions in Austria and Czechoslovakia may extend in Adriatic. In order to preserve its position in Balkans Italy approached to Yugoslavia with the aim to invade Albania. During all interwar period Yugoslavia and Italy struggled for political and economic influence in Albania, whereas Great Britain mostly acted as a mediatory power in its efforts to secure the peace. The conversion of Italy in a world military power was followed by change of attitudes of Yugoslavia and Great Britain towards Albania. Therefore this work pretends to analyse international political developments in Europe, especially diplomatic actions of Italy regarding the invasion into Albania and attitudes of Yugoslavia and Great Britain towards such aims, and later towards the Italian aggression against Albania.Keywords:  Albania, Italy, Ciano, Chamberlain, King Zog, etc

Regulering av energimetabolisme i enterococcus faecalis studert med transkriptom-, proteom- og metabolomanalyser

Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) are widely used as starter culture in food fermentation. Among LAB also pathogenic bacteria are found particular in enterococci and streptococci. Enterococcus faecalis is a gut commensal bacterium but certain isolates have been shown to be pathogenic while others are foodgrade bacteria in LAB fermented food commodities. E. faecalis ferments sugars through different pathways, resulting in homo- or mixed acid fermentation. In homolactic bacteria glucose is converted to lactate in an ATP producing reaction. In mixed acid fermentation, in addition to lactate production, glucose is also converted to acetate, acetoin, formate, ethanol and CO2. However, there is limited information regarding to regulation of the central energy metabolism of E. faecalis. The aim of this work was to extend our knowledge with respect to the central energy metabolism of E. faecalis by employing metabolite, transcriptome and proteome approaches. High performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography were used for metabolite measurements. DNA microarray technology and two dimensional gel electrophoresis combined with mass spectrometry analysis were used in transcription and protein expression analysis, respectively. Combining these approaches has not been performed in metabolic analysis in E. faecalis and this should give an in-depth understanding about regulation of the central energy metabolism in E. faecalis. This work showed that in absence of ldh (lactate dehydrogenase) gene, E. faecalis metabolizes glucose to ethanol, formate and acetoin. The change from homolactic to mixed acid fermentation affected expression of several genes and proteins mostly involved in energy metabolism. These genes play an important role in the regulatory network controlling energy metabolism in E. faecalis including acetoin production, and NAD+/NADH ratio. Additional studies were carried out in order to investigate the mixed acid fermentation of wild-type E. faecalis in chemostat during steady state and glucose limiting growth. Growth at three different growth rates demonstrated that the bacterium responded differently depending on the growth rate. At the highest dilution rate (D=0.4 h-1) most of the glucose was converted to lactate while at the lowest dilution rate (D=0.05 h-1) it changed towards mixed acids fermentation. Interestingly, increased growth rate induced the transcription of the ldh gene while the amount of Ldh protein was more or less unaffected. The differences in glucose energy metabolism at different growth and pHs between E. faecalis and two other LAB (Streptococcus pyogenes and Lactococcus lactis) and their LDH negative mutants were also investigated. Of note, deletion of the ldh genes hardly affected the growth rate in chemically defined medium under microaerophilic conditions. Furthermore, deletion of ldh affected the ability for utilization of various substrates as a carbon source. The final study explored the effect of ascorbate on growth in the absence of glucose and showed that E. faecalis can grow on ascorbate. In summary, the work presented in this thesis gave new insights in regulation and strengthens our knowledge regarding the metabolic pathways of glucose fermentation through the metabolite analysis, regulation of transcription and protein expression.Melkesyrebakterier brukes som startkulturer i en rekke ulike gjæringsreaksjoner i forbindelse med produksjon av mat. Enkelte melkesyrebakterier har også evnen til å forårsake sykdom, og dette gjelder spesielt for enterokokker og streptokokker. Enterococcus faecalis er en kommensal tarmbakterie. Likevel finner man innenfor denne arten både patogene isolater såvel som stammer benyttet i fermentering av matvarer. E. faecalis bryter ned sukker gjennom flere ulike veier, med enten melkesyre (homolaktisk gjæring) eller en blanding av syrer (blandet syregjæring) som endeprodukt. Homolaktiske bakterier bryter ned glukose til melkesyre i en reaksjonskjede som produserer ATP. Ved blandet syregjæring av glukose produseres det i tillegg til melkesyre også eddiksyre, acetoin, maursyre, etanol og CO2. Det er imidlertid lite informasjon om reguleringen av energimetabolismen i E. faecalis tilgjengenlig. Målet med arbeidet bak denne avhandlingen har derfor vært å tilegne oss kunnskap om den sentrale energimetabolismen i E. faecalis ved hjelp av ulike metoder for å studere metabolitter, transkriptomet og proteomet. Væskekromatografi og gasskromatografi ble brukt til metabolittmålinger, mens DNA mikromatriseteknologi og to-dimensjonal gelelektroforese kombinert med massespektroskopi ble brukt til henholdsvis transkripsjon- og proteinanalyser. Kombinasjonen av disse metodene har ikke tidligere blitt brukt i metabolske studier av E. faecalis, og vil derfor forhåpentligvis gi en dypere forståelse av overgangen mellom homolaktisk- og blandet syregjæring. Våre studier viser at i fravær av ldh genet, som koder for laktatdehydrogenase, blir glukose brutt med til etanol, maursyre og acetoin. Denne overgangen fra homolaktisk til blandet syregjøring påvirker uttrykket av en rekke gener og proteiner involvert i energimetabolismen. Genene innehar viktige roller i det regulatoriske nettverket som kontrollerer energimetabolismen i E. faecalis, og inkluderer gener involvert i produksjon av acetoin og balansen mellom NAD+/NADH. Videre studier ble også gjort for å undersøke blandet syregjæring i villtype E. faecalis i kjemostat ved likevektstilstand og glukosebegrenset vekst. Vekst ved tre forskjellige veksthastigheter viste av bakterien responderer forskjellig avhengig av veksthastighet. Ved den høyeste fortynningshastigheten (D=0.4 h-1) ble det meste av glukosen omdannet til melkesyre, mens en endring i retning av blandet syrefermentering ble observert ved den laveste fortynningshastigheten (D=0.05 h-1). Interessant nok så førte økt veksthastighet til økt transkripsjon av ldh-genet, men mengden Ldh-protein var tilnærmet uendret. Forskjellene i nedbrytning av glukose ved forskjellige veksthastigheter og ved forskjellig pH mellom E. faecalis og to andre melkesyrebakterier (Streptococcus pyogenes and Lactococcus lactis) ble også undersøkt. Det er her verdt å merke seg at inaktivering av ldh genene hadde liten innvirkning på veksthastigheten til de ulike bakteriene i kjemisk definert medium under mikroaerofile vekstforhold. Inaktiveringen av ldh påvirket også bakterienes evne til å utnytte andre substrater enn glukose som karbonkilde. I det siste arbeidet i avhandlingen ble det vist at E. faecalis i fravær av glukose er istand til å vokse på askorbinsyre. Sett under ett har arbeidet som er presentert i denne avhandlingen, gjennom analyser av metabolitter, transkripsjonregulering og proteinuttrykk, gitt økt innsikt i reguleringen av og styrket vår kjennskap til veiene for nedbrytning av glukose.Norges Forskningrå

The Geographic Determinants of Economic Growth and the Increasing Albania-Kosovo Trade Relations

For the last few years, the trade volume between Albania and Kosovo has increased considerably, clearly showing that, on top of many other factors, the geographic determinants of economic growth and development must never be underestimated. On the other hand, the ever-closer economic integration of Albania and Kosovo is only natural and should not be considered as a cause for political rifts in the Western Balkans. The paper will go through the various documents and agreements adopted by Tirana and Pristina to promote mutual trade relations, and it will refer to an abundance of data indicating the improving trade relations. Subsequently, the paper will shed light on the patterns of economic behavior that Albania and Kosovo show, a behavior which can be better comprehended under the framework of geographic determinants of economic growth and development, such as location, resources, food productivity, population and population growth, regionalization, culture, etc