Save and protect

To the cultural heritage of Varna and the Black Sea region, we can add the cultural work of Katya Papazova – philologist, journalist, director, and theater teacher; founder of the children and Zlatnoto Klyuche youth theatre, a theatre school that will soon be 50 years old. People close to the theatre call the time in which she carried out her calling—the Era of Katya Papazova.Her innovations are in the fields of stage acting and its relation to children's "nonsense", in the deployment of the Shakespeare for Children and Adolescents programme, and in the realisation of productions in the field of spatial theatre - the newest and most experimental trend in European theatre practice.Her theatre is distinguished by a very high repertoire. Plays by Molière, Goldoni, Gozzi, adapted texts for theatre by Duma, Mark Twain, and Bel Kaufmann were staged.Katya educated several generations of children and adolescents in the theatrical spirit. She saturated the contemporary cultural space with magnificent artists who honour Bulgarian theatre and cinema: the directors – prof. Plamen Markov, Galin Stoev, Vasilena Radeva; the actors – Marius Donkin, Krustyo Lafazanov, Stefan Denolyubov, Ivo Arukov, Stoyan Doychev, Hristo Cheshmedjiev, Markela Topalova; the innumerable theatre scholars, film critics, scriptwriters, playwrights, cinematographers, producers.When they were young, she called them "the saved children of Varna".  Saved from the streets, drugs, prostitution, crime... The ugly side of the Post-Communist Transition.Now a street in Varna bears her name.I took over the school after her passing. Only then did I understand the deep meaning hidden in the famous Orthodox-Christian aphorism "Спаси и Сохрани" (Save and Protect).It has two parts: the first part consists of a single act. Спаси (Save)! And that is it...The second part commands something else. Сохрани (Protect, Preserve)! It is a much longer process. It is terribly difficult to preserve what has already been saved

SOCIAL CAPITAL IN THE BALKANS: ARE SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC FACTORS IMPORTANT? CAN POLICY ASSUMPTIONS BE SUPPORTED?

The present paper introduces country-by-country overviews of survey results from nationally representative samples from Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Serbia and Montenegro, analyzing the link between some important socio-demographic factors and various measures of social capital, as well as at looking for support of some assumptions underlying different policy proposals targeting the level of social capital. Results indicate that in most cases, gender, age, and income have very weak explanatory power. Education and ethnic structure are statistically significant determinants of social capital in some cases, but there are substantive differences between countries. Possibly the most consistently important factor is the type of place of residence of the respondents, with most of the time the link being negative, indicating that people living in smaller settlements tend to exhibit higher levels of social capital. In terms of policy assumptions, the one which is relatively well conforming with the survey results from Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Serbia and Montenegro, is that empowerment of local authorities may enhance social trust and civic participation. The assumption which is very tentatively supported, is that improvements in institutional performance cause higher subjective evaluations of this performance and from there – higher trust. The assumptions which find no support in the four surveys, are that income and general economic well-being result in higher social capital, and that enhanced personal security is also positively related to social capital.European Commission, Framework Programme 6, Theme 3: citizenshipl governance and the dynamics of European integration and enlargement; Key-Action "Improving the socio-economic knowledge base", 3rd call, contract CT-2002-0013

Personality, Vocational Interests and Work-Related Strategies in the Years of Emerging Adulthood (18-29 Years)

One of the psychosocial tasks of development during the years of emerging adulthood (18-29 years) is related to the career choice. This article attempts to clarify the professional identity of young people in Bulgaria through their career interests, work-related strategies and personal characteristics. The sample consists of 257 respondents, aged 18-29. The used scales are the Oregon vocational interests scales – ORVIS (Pozzebon, Visser, Ashton, Lee, & Goldberg, 2010), a questionnaire for the study of alternatives and work-related strategies (Bozhinova, 2003) and the questionnaire for measurement of the five factor structure of personality - Big Five model (Costa & McCrae, 1992). The results showed that in the years of emerging adulthood the professional interests Creativity, Leadership and Altruism in combination with intermediate strategy and orientation in the labor market stand out. The personal factors that dominate are Conscientiousness, Openness to experience and Agreeableness. The five factors of personality interact weakly with seven of the eight vocational interests in youth. The three types of work-related strategies interact from low to moderate degree with some of the big five factors of personality and the eight professional interests on the Oregon scale.Language: Bulgaria

Zdravstveno stanje drveća u dendroparku Šumarskog fakulteta – Skoplje sa posebnim osvrtom na gljivične bolesti i štetne kukce

The Dendropark at the Faculty of Forestry in Skopje, North Macedonia, was established as an ‘outdoor museum’ with a collection of forest trees and shrub vegetation. The collection was planted in 1950 on the area of 4.05 ha, and includes 336 taxa from native Macedonian and Balkan endemic dendroflora and introduced species from around the world. The Dendropark, like the other botanical gardens all over the world, offers a unique resource that facilitate earlier detection of the potential invasive threats to forest tree species. The inventoried population includes 444 trees belonging to 43 families. The three most represented families are Pinaceae with 21 species (19.4% of the inventoried plants), Cupressaceae with 16 species (15.8%) and Rosaceae with 18 species (7.4%). The 2014 survey indicated that 33.8% of the total number of trees were rated with good health status, 1.8% as very good, 31.1% rated as fair, while 24.5% were poor. Approximately 4.1% were rated to be in a critical state (in a state of decline), and 4.7% of trees were dead. The assessment of health status of plants in the Dendropark could be used as a valuable asset to planners and decision makers and provides information about the quality, quantity and location of natural resources in urban areas. Identifying changes in plant species composition and presence of invasive pests and diseases helps maintaining healthy urban forests.Dendropark Šumarskog fakulteta u Skoplju, Makedonija, osnovan je kao “muzej na otvorenom” sa zbirkom šumskog drveća i grmlja. Zbirka je zasađena 1950. godine na površini od 4,05 ha i obuhvaća 336 taksona iz autohtone makedonske i balkanske endemske dendroflore, zajedno sa novim vrstama iz različitih područja svijeta. Aktualni popis bio je napravljen kao osnovno sredstvo za monitoring. Dendropark, poput ostalih botaničkih vrtova širom svijeta izvanredan je resurs koji uveliko olakšava otkrivanje potencijalnih invazivnih prijetnji za zastupljene vrste šumskoga drveća. Popisana populacija obuhvatila je 444 stabala, koja pripadaju 43 porodicama. Tri najzastupljenije porodice bile su: Pinaceae s 21 vrstom (19,4 % popisanih biljaka), Cupressaceae sa 16 vrsta (15,8 %) i Rosaceae sa 18 vrsta (7,4 %). Provedeno istraživanje iz 2014. godine procijenilo je tadašnje zdravstveno stanje prema kojemu 33,8% ukupnog drveća ocijenjeno kao dobro, 1,8 % kao relativno dobro, 31,1 % kao prosječno, dok ih je 24,5 % ocijenjeno kao loše. Približno 4,1 % drveća je bilo ocijenjeno kritično, tj. u stanju propadanja, dok je 4,7 % stabala bilo mrtvo. Procjena zdravstvenog stanja drvenastih vrsta u Dendroparku mogla bi biti dragocjeno sredstvo i od velike koristi i osobama koje planiraju i donose odluke. Također, ona može pružiti i potrebne informacije o kvaliteti, količini i položaju prirodnih resursa u urbanim područjima. Utvrđivanje promjena u sastavu vrsta i prisutnosti štetnika i patogena pruža dodatan uvid, koji olakšava očuvanje zdravih urbanih šuma

Einfluss der Elektrodenlage auf die Sprachverständlichkeit bei postlingual ertaubten Patienten mit einem Cochlea Implantat

Beeinflussen die Insertionstiefe und Lage zum Modiolus des Elektrodenarrays in der Cochlea die Sprachverständlichkeit postlingual ertaubter Erwachsener nach Versorgung mit dem Cochlea Implantat? Bei 56 postlingual ertaubten Patienten, die mit einem Nucleus CI 24 versorgt sind, wurden die postoperativen Röntgenaufnahmen nach Xu mit der Bildanalyse-Software „CView“ ausgewertet. Im Mittel waren die Patienten vor der Implantation 5,9±10,1 Jahre (Median 1,1) ertaubt und bei der Erstanpassung im Mittel 50,6±20,2 Jahre alt. Die Ergebnisse der Röntgenbildanalyse hinsichtlich der Insertionstiefe des Arrays und den Elektrodenabständen zum Modiolus wurden den postoperativen Hörtestergebnissen gegenübergestellt. Hierzu wurden jeweils die im Verlauf der Rehabilitation besten Ergebnisse der Patienten mit dem Freiburger Einsilber Sprachverständlichkeitstest in Ruhe bei 50, 60, und 70 dB und die niedrigsten adaptiv bestimmten Schwellen mit dem Oldenburger Satztest im Störgeräusch herangezogen. Die Ergebnisse unseres Kollektivs in den Sprachverständlichkeits-Untersuchungen mit dem Freiburger Einsilber Test lagen sowohl bei 70 dB, wie auch bei 60 dB mit 88±15 % und 82±17 % überwiegend im Sättigungsbereich, und wurden deshalb für die Korrelationen mit den aus der Röntgenbildanalyse gewonnenen Parametern nicht verwendet. Bei dem Schalldruckpegel von 50 dB ergab sich eine mittlere Einsilberverständlichkeit von 61±17 %. Im Störgeräusch registrierten wir eine mittlere Schwelle von -2,1±2,2 dBS/N. Die maximale Elektroden-Insertionstiefe wurde im Mittel mit 425±36° bestimmt. Im Mittel betrug der mittlere Abstand der Elektroden des Arrays zum Modiolus 2,1±0,1 mm. Es wurde auf dem 5% Niveau eine Korrelation der gemessenen Insertionstiefe mit dem mittleren Abstand der Elektroden vom Modiolus gefunden. Es ergaben sich jedoch keine signifikanten Korrelationen des Abstands und der Insertionstiefe mit den Sprachtestergebnissen in Ruhe und im Störgeräusch

Нормативно-регламентаційні джерела з історії діяльності ордену єзуїтів у східнослов'янському регіоні в останній третині XVI - першій половині XVII ст.

У статті розглянуто інформативні можливості нормативно-регламентаційних документів з історії діяльності ордену єзуїтів у східнослов'янському регіоні в останній третині XVI - першій половині XVII ст. Виявлено, що зазначений вид джерел має великі інформативні можливості щодо вивчення устрою та діяльності ордену єзуїтів: територіальної організації, внутрішньої структури, ієрархії членів, методів роботи, створення й роботи домів, регламентації діяльності. Однак самооцінка діяльності та здобутків у зазначених джерелах не відображає об'єктивних впливів на різні сфери життя, значення та наслідків роботи ордену для регіону

Anatomy of coronary sinus ostium

Background: The coronary sinus is the main cardiac vein and it has become a clinically important structure especially through its role in providing access for different cardiac procedures. Materials and methods: The study was carried out on 100 randomly selected adult human cadaver hearts fixed in 10% formalin. The transverse and craniocaudal diameters of the coronary sinus ostium (CSO) were directly measured. The presence of the Thebesian valve was noted and the anatomical details of the valve were documented in each case in terms of the shape and extent of coverage of the CSO. Results: Considerable variations in the diameter of the CSO were observed. The mean craniocaudal diameter of the CSO was 8.1 ± 1.51 mm, and the mean transverse diameter was 7.67 ± 1.72 mm. Heart specimens without Thebesian valve tended to have larger ostia. The mean craniocaudal diameter and the mean transverse diameter of the CSO were statistically larger in the specimens without Thebesian valves (p = 0.000 and p = 0.001, respectively). Conclusions: The Thebesian valves were observed in 86 hearts, and a wide variety of their morphology was seen. The majority of the Thebesian valves were semilunar in shape (74.42%). The extent to which the valve covered the ostium was variable, including remnant valves that covered < 15% of the CSO (35%), and valves that were large and covered at least 75% of the CSO (22.09%). In 3 specimens the valve completely occluded the ostium.