Changes in Luoshui: How the Outside World Affects Luoshui Village and the Mosuo Culture

Is tourism really the biggest harm to Mosuo culture? Mosuo people are often the center of studies about how tourism affects the traditions and cultures of minority groups, but there is little focus on the other influences that change Mosuo culture. This study focuses on the lives of the Mosuo in Luoshui village, and how their everyday lives are influenced by the world outside of the village. Without knowing the causes of changes in the Mosuo village, there is little hope for fixing the situation and keeping dying traditions alive. Looking into their religion, education, and the holiday shazhu, as well as day-to-day interaction with tourists and current day zouhuns, this study investigates how the Mosuo overcome the daily struggles between their Mosuo identity and the tourist industry, and what is currently influencing their culture the most. The study takes place over a span of three and a half weeks, involving nine informal interviews of people, both Mosuo and non-Mosuo, living in Luoshui Village at the time of the study, with additional ethnographic and observational field notes about the lives and cultures of the people. Findings concluded that the Mosuo have become used to the tourist industry and are no longer facing new, harmful influences by the tourists, more so by the foreigners who have begun living in Luoshui. The Mosuo have learned how to interact with the tourists in a way that gives them an income, and they can educate the tourists on the Mosuo lifestyle. On the other hand, Mosuo are losing their contact with Mosuo culture due to leaving the village for education and opportunities for jobs they could not find in the village. The separation of the Mosuo people and the integration of them into predominately non-Mosuo areas, including children’s boarding school, dissolvethe existing Mosuo culture. Even when they doreturn, they bring pieces of the outside world with them, infiltrating the Mosuo village. While tourism allows Mosuo to show off their culture to those interested, leaving the village and going elsewhere suppresses the Mosuo culture

Political and security dimensions of social networks usage in modern information environment

Zbog snažnog razvoja informacijskih tehnologija informacijske operacije više nisu predmet isključivo vojne terminologije ratovanja, već se pod pojmom informacijskih operacija mogu opisati i djelovanja koja se manifestiraju i unutar civilnog informacijskog prostora. U tom kontekstu suvremeni informacijski prostor u sve većoj mjeri obilježavaju društvene mreže koje su formirale jednu nereguliranu virtualnu okolinu čime se pogoduje širenju ekstremnih stavova, namjernih protuobavijesti i stvaranju obmana. Društvene mreže koriste se za radikalizaciju, regrutaciju, popularizaciju i oblikovanje javne percepcije djelovanja terorističkih, anarhističkih, radikalnih i ekstremnih društvenih grupacija koje ih koriste za agitiranje, nametanje ideoloških koncepata ili za nametanje interesno određenih narativa. Njihovo korištenje u manipulativnom kontekstu sve je izraženija i u političkoj komunikaciji čime pridonose polarizaciji društva. Predstavljaju pogodan alat i za upravljanje percepcijom kako bi se utjecalo na emocije, motive, promišljanje i odluke interesno određene skupine. Uz pomoć softverskih robota mogu se koristiti i za vođenje operacija utjecaja, informacijskih, medijskih i psiholoških operacija, bez obzira da li ih poduzimaju državni ili nedržavni akteri, manjiske i nasilne grupacije ili da se radi o korporativnom, marketinškom, političkom ili znanstvenom djelovanju. Meta takvog djelovanja mogu biti izvještajni sustavi i politički čelnici u cilju da donesu krive zaključke, procjene i odluke (u pravilu su to odluke od interesa provoditelja navedenih operacija). Plasiranje protuobavijesti i širenje interesno određenih narativa, nisu novost, međutim suvremene tehnologije omogućavaju nove metode manipulacije čiji su razmjeri sve zamagljeniji i teže raspoznatljivi, poglavito u društvenom djelovanju. Teoretičari informacijskih znanosti stoga se suočavaju s problemom vrednovanja takvih informacija. U tu svrhu teorijski je opisano korištenje društvenih mreža u političkom i sigurnosnom kontkestu, koji su potencijalni nositelji takvog djelovanja te su problematizirani i analizirani najsuvremeniji mehanizmi i tehnološki alati, korištenje tzv. softverskih robota.Due to the substantial development of information technologies, information operations are no longer solely part of military warfare vocabulary; the term ‘information operations’ can now be used to describe actions manifested within the civilian information environment. In his context, the modern information environment is increasingly characterised by social networks, which have formed an unregulated virtual environment conducive to spreading extreme views and deliberate counter-information, as well as creating deceptions. Social networks are being used to radicalize, recruit, popularise and shape public perception of the actions of terrorist, anarchical, radical and extreme social groups, which use the networks to agitate, to impose ideological concepts and to impose interest-based narratives. The usage of social networks in the manipulative context is more and more expressed in the political communication, thus contributing to polarisation of society. It represents a useful tool for managing perception in order to influence emotions, motivation, thinking and decisions of an interest-based group. With the help of software robots, they can be used to conduct influence operations, as well as information, media and psychological operations, regardless of whether the operations are being undertaken by state on non-state actors, minority or violent groups, or if it is corporate, marketing, political or scientific action. Such action can target information broadcast systems or political leaders, leading them to make inaccurate conclusions, estimates and decisions (as a rule, the decisions of interest to those undertaking the operations). Releasing disinformation and spreading interest-based narratives are not new concepts. However, modern technologies enable new methods of manipulation, whose scope is growingly vague and harder to identify, especially in social activity. Information science theorists are therefore facing the challenge of evaluating such information. This article describes the usage of social networks in a political and security context, which are potential carriers of such activity. It also analyses the cutting-edge mechanisms and technological tools, the usage of the so-called software robots

Obilježja hotela za obitelj u Republici Hrvatskoj s osvrtom na hotel Diadora u Zadru

Završni rad analizira hotelijerstvo u Republici Hrvatskoj te posebne hotelske standarde s osvrtom na standarde hotela za obitelj engl.”Family”. U radu se također uspoređuju hoteli za obitelj u Hrvatskoj i Italiji s posebnim osvrtom na odabrane primjere navedene u radu. Odabrani primjer u Republici Hrvatskoj je hotel Diadora u Zadru. Rad ujedno donosi i neke prijedloge, odnosno perspektivu razvoja hotela za obitelj u Republici Hrvatskoj.This paper analysis hospitality in Croatia and specific hotel standards with reference on family hotel standards. The paper also provides comparison between family hotels in Croatia and Italy with reference on chosen examples within the paper. The chosen example in Croatia is family hotel Diadora in Zadar. The paper also brings prospects of development of family hotels in Croatia

Inflammation of Ectopic Pancreatic Tissue as Unusual Cause of Duodenal Perforation – A Case Report

Ectopic pancreatic tissue, also known as a pancreatic rest, is an uncommon congenital anomaly defined as extrapancreatic tissue located far from the pancreas and without any connection via vascular or anatomical means to it. Such tissue may occur throughout the GI tract but has a propensity to affect the stomach and the proximal small intestine. The majority of patients with pancreatic ectopia are asymptomatic, but when symptoms occur, they can be presented in a variety of ways. We report a patient with acute surgical abdomen due to a duodenal perforation caused by inflammation of ectopic pancreatic tissue in duodenum and stomach. Histology of the resected duodenum and stomach demonstrated heterotopic pancreatic tissue acute inflammation without atypia, suggesting »pancreatitis of the duodenum and stomach«. To date, there have been a few reports describing perforation of the stomach due to heterotopic pancreas. Therefore, the present case was considered to be a very rare case of this disorder. To conclude, heterotopic pancreas should always be considered in the differential diagnosis of acute abdomen

Marking a Century of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at School of Medicine in Zagreb: Honoring Professors Tomislav Pinter and Mihovil Proštenik as Fran Bubanović’s Successors

In 2018 the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Zagreb School of Medicine celebrated 100 years since it was established by professor Fran Bubanović. This essay is focused on his successors, outstanding teachers and scientists, professors Tomislav Pinter and Mihovil Proštenik, members of Yugoslavian (today Croatian) Academy of Sciences and Arts. Tomislav Pinter was a prominent physical chemist who had an original approach and gave novel interpretation of van der Waals and Wohl’s equations. He also served as the president of Croatian Chemical Society. Neurobiochemist Mihovil Proštenik started as an organic chemist at “Prelog’s Zagreb School of Organic Chemistry”. He collaborated with two Croatian Nobel prize winners in chemistry: his PhD thesis supervisor Vladimir Prelog and Lavoslav Ružička. He was the founder of “Zagreb School of Lipidology”, discovered a new sphingoid base C20-sphingosine, and had a major role in the establishment of Ruđer Bošković Institute. Herein we honor their contributions to Croatian science and beyond, and share so far unpublished valuable material from the Department archive. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License