Language learning strategies in third language acquisition

Language learning strategies are specific actions that learners employ in order to make their learning easier, faster, more self-directed and efficient (Oxford, 1990). It is of great interest to both teachers and students to know what these techniques are and how they can be employed, in order to improve their teaching and learning. Even though there is evidence that bilingualism and multilingualism may positively affect an additional language learning in various ways, some studies (Kemp, 2007, Korkmaz, 2013, Mitits & Sarafianou, 2012, Psaltou-Joycey & Kantaridou, 2009, Qasimnejad & Hemmati, 2013, Sung, 2011) have been undertaken to find how exactly multilinguals apply their vast linguistic knowledge when approaching various linguistic tasks in terms of strategies used. This paper investigated the use and frequency of language learning strategies of two multilingual groups of Croatian high school students who had been studying two or three foreign languages, respectively. The research study was carried out using statments based on items from Oxford's SILL questionnaire (1990), and additional items, which were added with the aim to test cross-linguistic strategies in particular. The results showed that the participants with the knowledge of three languages used a wider variety of strategies and used them more often. The same was found in the case of cross-linguistic strategies

Ured europskog javnog tužitelja i sudska kontrola odluke o odustanku od kaznenog progona – sklisko tlo ili konačno rješenje?

This paper examines the issue of judicial review of the decision to dismiss a case as envisaged in the Regulation on implementing enhanced cooperation on the establishment of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. In this respect, the institutional framework of the EPPO and the procedure for judicial review of a decision not to prosecute is examined through comparative analyses of the Commission’s proposal of 2013 and the finally adopted text in the Regulation considering both theoretical and practical implications. Then, attention is drawn to the new mandate for the Permanent Chamber to dismiss a case, analysing the justification for lifting that decision at the EU level and considering the legal consequences that result from it. Finally, the real potential for the CJEU to review a decision to dismiss a case is scrutinised through an in-depth examination of the current normative framework of the Regulation and the TFEU, offering possible solutions to simplify and accelerate the proceedings before the CJEU.Ovaj rad razmatra problematiku sudske kontrole odluke europskog javnog tužitelja da odustane od kaznenog progona kako je predviđeno Uredbom o provedbi pojačane suradnje u vezi s osnivanjem Ureda europskog javnog tužitelja. Najprije se analizira institucionalni okvir Ureda EJT-a i postupak za sudsku kontrolu odluke o odustanku od kaznenog progona usporednim analizama prijedloga Uredbe iz 2013. godine i konačno usvojenog teksta, pri čemu se uzimaju u obzir teorijske i praktične implikacije. Zatim se skreće pozornost na novu nadležnost Stalnog vijeća da donese odluku o odustanku od kaznenog progona razmatranjem opravdanosti uzdizanja te odluke na europsku razinu te pravnih posljedica koje iz nje proizlaze. Naposljetku se kritičkom analizom aktualnog normativnog okvira Uredbe i Ugovora o funkcioniranju Europske unije propituje stvarni potencijal Suda Europske unije da kontrolira odluke o odustanku od kaznenog progona te se daju određeni prijedlozi de lege ferenda

The role of capital in bank failures across EU-15 countries: backward LR approach

Resolving the puzzle which financial indicators persistently indicate severe disruptions in the business of banking, is of the utmost importance for prudential authorities. Thus, the intent of this paper is to outline microeconomic determinants of bankruptcies within the banking sectors of the EU-15 countries and to clarify the role of bank capital in it. Namely, the bank capital regulation is designed as both, ex-ante (bankruptcy prevention) and ex-post (bankruptcy costs reducer) regulatory instrument. Backward stepwise logistic regression was applied on the Bankscope data sample of around 60 commercial banks in the period that preceded the global financial crisis. Estimations were obtained for the year in which a certain bank bankrupted as well as for each year over the five-year period prior to the bankruptcy. Research findings confirm that a number of financial indicators, such as asset quality and liquidity indicators could serve as early warning signals of bank failures even five years before the bankruptcy. The results for bank capital ratios were non-persistent regarding their sign and significance in the year preceding the bankruptcy and several years prior to bankruptcy. Finally, the most convincing results speak in favor of the too-big-to-fail phenomenon, as bank size explains the most of its survival odds

Odgovornost država prema konvenciji o genocidu – pitanja nadležnosti u novijoj praksi međunarodnog suda

The author analyses certain questions regarding the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the most recent cases deliberated before the Court. Special attention is given to the decisions in the cases The Gambia v. Myanmar and Ukraine v. Russian Federation in which the Court discussed issues of a preliminary character relevant for the establishment of its (prima facie) jurisdiction. Hence, the author particularly addresses the questions of the existence of a dispute between the parties, the ratione personae jurisdiction of the Court, the erga omnes character of obligations under the Convention, jus standi of the parties before the Court, the relationship between Articles VIII and IX of the Convention, and the problem of the use of force for the purpose of preventing or punishing genocide. In the author´s opinion, despite the fact that it has not yet been decided on the merits in the analysed cases, the decisions made so far are significant in two ways. On the one hand, they strengthen the Convention in terms of reaffirmation of the prerequisites for the establishment of the jurisdiction of the Court, and, on the other, they contribute to the preservation of the fundamental principles of international law and the rules on State responsibility, as well as to the prevention of future acts of genocide.Autorica analizira određena pitanja o utvrđivanju odgovornosti država prema Konvenciji o sprječavanju i kažnjavanju zločina genocida i najnovijim slučajevima koji se razmatraju pred Međunarodnim sudom. Posebna se pažnja posvećuje odlukama Suda u slučajevima Gambija protiv Mijanmara i Ukrajina protiv Ruske Federacije te interpretaciji odredaba Konvencije o genocidu koje se odnose na uspostavljanje nadležnosti Suda. U tom se kontekstu osobito analiziraju pitanja preliminarnog karaktera, poput postojanja spora između stranaka, nadležnosti Suda ratione personae, erga omnes obveze koje proizlaze iz Konvencije, jus standi stranaka pred Sudom, odnosa između članaka VIII i IX Konvencije, kao i pitanja uporabe sile radi sprječavanja ili kažnjavanja genocida. Po mišljenju autorice, unatoč tomu što u analiziranim slučajevima još nije odlučeno o meritumu, do sada donesene odluke imat će znatan utjecaj na ispravnu i učinkovitu primjenu Konvencije o genocidu u budućnosti, u smislu pojašnjavanja preduvjeta za uspostavu nadležnosti Suda, kao i očuvanja temeljnih načela međunarodnog prava i pravila o odgovornosti država

Within a single generation, Poland has gone from one of the most egalitarian countries in Europe to one of the most unequal

Poland experienced a sharp rise in inequality during its transition from communism to capitalism, and this trend has continued into the 2000s. Pawel Bukowski and Filip Novokmet chart a century of data on Polish inequality to examine the key causes. Their work illustrates the central role of policies and institutions in shaping long-run inequality. This rising inequality and promises to address it through redistributive policies were key factors in the victory of Law and Justice at this year’s Polish election – and they could well be a major feature in the UK’s upcoming election campaign

Croatian banks profitability under capital requirements pressure

Regulating bank behavior throughout capital requirements has been a focal point of prudential regulation since the late 1980s. However, their beneficial effect on the banking sector\u27s safety and soundness was disputed ever since their initial implementation, mainly due to an assumption that they deteriorate bank profitability and increase the odds for the enlarged risk appetites of bank managers, especially in the highly competitive financial markets. On the other hand, bank profitability is driven by many factors other than compliance with capital regulation. Concerning that, a question about the capital requirements\u27 impact on bank profitability was raised in this paper. The dynamic panel data analysis served to examine the consequences of bank capital regulation for the Croatian banking sector profitability, by taking into observation 24 commercial banks in the 2011-2016 timespan. The impact of capital regulation on the return on assets and net interest margin was positive, while for the return on equity a negative relationship was found. It was concluded that banks transfer regulatory costs on their clients, which was approximated with the net interest margin. In addition, results reveal that the overall bank profitability is achieved at the expense of bank shareholders. Thus, a more cost-efficient approach to managing a bank is suggested

Do students in Croatia care about corporate social responsibility performance of banks?

We investigate a relevance of the corporate social responsibility of banks from the students’ point of view. By doing so, we can pinpoint a compliance of the Croatian banks’ corporate social responsibility praxis with the expectations of students’ population as their current and/or future customers. Moreover, as we focus on the students of the higher years of studies at the Faculty of Economics, University of Split, who are potential employees or even future managers in the financial services industry, the results which are obtained throughout a questionnaire research might be perceived as a sort of a wider empirical verification of the stakeholder theory approach to corporate social responsibility. According to 163 responses, corporate social responsibility performance of banks in Croatia seems to be important to students, and some noticed disparities in their attitudes are discussed with regards to their socio-demographic characteristics. Nevertheless, most of students perceive an image and public reputation improvement to be the main driver of corporate social responsibility achievements in the Croatian banking sector, and thus they ask for a more responsible banking, especially from the foreign-owned banks. Apart from the identified policy recommendations in the corporate social responsibility area for the Croatian banks, students support the idea that faculties of economics should educate their students more on the ethical issues in business practices

From workers to capitalists in less than two generations: the Chinese urban elite

The transformation of China from a poor and egalitarian country to an upper middle-income country with the level of income inequality greater than in the United States has been the subject of innumerable publications. The Chinese transformation is a unique event in world economic history: never have so many people over such a relatively short period of time increased their income so much. China’s GDP per capita in 1978, at the time of the initiation of rural reforms, was about $1,500; by 2015, it was more than$12,000 (both in constant PPP dollars, data from the 2018 update of the Maddison Project Database.). For comparison, UK GDP per capita was (expressed in the same units) around $12,000 in 1953, while its GDP per capita at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution is estimated at more than$3,000. Thus, it took the UK about a century-and-half to increase its GDP per capita by half as much as China did in less than 40 years (see Figure 1)

Invasivne pneumococcal disease in adults : risk factors and clinical outcome

Invazivna pneumokokna bolest (IPB) definira se kao infekcija uzrokovana bakterijom Streptococcus pneumoniae koja je dokazana u primarno sterilnom materijalu. Odgovorna je za nemali morbiditet i mortalitet u odraslih i u djece te predstavlja veliki javnozdravstveni problem, osobito u populaciji koja nije obuhvaćena programom obvezog cijepljenja protiv pneumokoka. Cilj istraživanja bio je istražiti epidemiološke i kliničke osobitosti IPB u odraslih bolesnika. Retrospektivno su analizirani podaci bolesnika liječenih u Klinici za infektivne bolesti „Dr. Fran Mihaljević“ u Zagrebu tijekom 2010.─2013. godine u kojih je bolest potvrđena dokazom Streptococcus pneumoniae iz primarno sterilnih uzoraka. Obrada podataka napravljena je u paketu Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), verzija 20.0 (IBM corporation, Armonk, NY, USA). Tijekom ispitivanog četverogodišnjeg razdoblja hospitalizirano je 130 bolesnika s IPB od čega je bakterijemiju/sepsu imalo 11 (8,4%), meningitis 43 (33,1%), a pneumoniju 76 (58,5%) bolesnika. Dobnoj skupini 18─64 godine pripadalo je 56,9% bolesnika. Jedan od čimbenika rizika za razvoj IPB imalo je 67,7% bolesnika, a najčešći su bili alkoholizam (26,9%), pušenje (24,6%), maligna bolest (18,4%), šećerna bolest (18.4%) te kronična bolest kardiovaskularnog sustava (16,9%). Ukupna smrtnost od IPB iznosila je 16,9%, a u bolesnika s meningitisom 13,9%, s pneumonijom 17,1%, a s bakterijemijom/sepsom 27,3%. Smrtnost u bolesnika dobi ≥75 godina iznosila je 29,4%, a ≥85 godina čak 75%. Obzirom da su među kliničkim izolatima u naših bolesnika dominirali serotipovi sadržani u cjepivima PCV13 (82,1%) i PPSV23 (94%), možemo zaključiti kako bi uvođenje obveznog cijepljenja odrasle populacije pridonijelo smanjenju morbiditeta i mortaliteta od IPB.Invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) is defined as an infection caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae that is detected in primarily sterile material. It is responsible for high morbidity and mortality in adults and children and continues to be an important public health issue, especially among population not covered by mandatory pneumococcal immunisation program. The aim was to investigate the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of IPD in adults. We retrospectively analyzed medical history data of patients treated at the University Hospital for Infectious Diseases in Zagreb in the period 2010─2013, in whom the disease was confirmed by detection of Streptococcus pneumoniae from primarily sterile samples. Data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS), version 20.0 (IBM corporation, Armonk, NY, USA). During the analyzed period, a total of 130 patients with IPD were hospitalized, 11 (8.4%) of whom had bacteremia/sepsis, 43 (33.1%) meningitis, and 76 (58.5%) pneumonia. A total of 56.9% patients belonged to the age group 18─64 years. A total of 67.7% patients had one risk factor for development of IPD, the most frequent being: alcoholism (26.9%), smoking (24.6%), malignant disease (18.4%), diabetes mellitus (18.4%), and chronic cardiovascular disease (16.9%). The overall IPD mortality was 16.9%, in patients with meningitis 13.9%, in those with pneumonia 17.1%, and in patients with bacteremia/sepsis 27.3%. The mortality in patients ≥75 years was 29.4%, and in those ≥85 years even 75%. Given that serotypes contained in vaccines PCV13 (82.1%) and PPSV23 (94%) dominated among the clinical isolates, we can conclude that the introduction of mandatory pneumococcal vaccination among adult population would contribute to decreasing the morbidity and mortality from IPD. Keywords: invasive pneumococcal disease, sepsis, meningitis, pneumoni