Uticaj pandemije COVID-19 na kretanje SDI: iskustva Srbije

U ovom istraživanju analiziran je uticaj krize prouzrokovane pandemijom COVID-19 na ekonomska kretanja, kao i protok stranih direktnih investicija. COVID-19 recesija se može smatrati jedinstvenom, jer je jedina koja je od 1870. godine pokrenuta isključivo pandemijom. Uticaj novonastale pandemije posedovao je sliku sveobuhvatne stagnacije kao i usporavanja svetske ekonomije, čije se glavne vizualizacije ogledaju u sistematskom gašenju ekonomskih aktivnosti širom sveta, gde se gašenje aktivnosti dešava u različitim sektorima istovremeno. Ovo istraživanje se fokusira na uticaj svetske ekonomske krize prouzrokovanom pandemijom COVID-19 na ekonomska kretanja u svetu i u Republici Srbiji. U fokusu ovog istraživanja je utvrđivanje uticaja pandemije na strane direktne investicije u Srbiji, kao i odnosa SDI sa izvozom i uvozom. Generalna kretanja SDI pre pandemije odlikuje pad od 2019. godine, pri čemu je svetska kriza prouzrokovana pandemijom doprinela izrazitom padu SDI u 2020. godini. Protok SDI na globalnom nivou je u 2021. godini posedovao tendenciju rasta nasuprot prethodne godine, pri čemu s normalizacija protoka SDI očekuje tek u 2022. godini. Autori su koristeći tri modela utvrdili da je u Srbiji COVID-19 imao statistički značajan i negativan uticaj na BDP po glavi stanovnika na nivou pouzdanosti od 90%. Sa druge strane, uticaj COVID-19 na izvoz nije statistički značajan. Rezultati ukazuju da jedinični rast stranih direktnih investicija dovodi posledično do većeg rasta uvoza u odnosu na izvoz

The adolescent brain: Changes and challenges of development

Adolescence is a period between childhood and adulthood, characterized by specific physical and psychological development. It is a transitional developmental period, rather than a single snapshot in time. Traditional neurobiological and cognitive explanations of adolescent development of behavior have failed to account for the changes in behavior observed during adolescence. Magnetic resonance imaging studies have discovered that myelinogenesis continues from childhood to adulthood in the brain's region-specific neurocircuitry, which remains structurally and functionally vulnerable to impulsive habits. The maturation of the adolescent brain is influenced by heredity, environment, and sex, and they play a crucial role in myelination. Furthermore, one of the measures extracted out of MRI studies is also the thickness of cerebral cortex, a part that harbors synapses. It is the complexity of these synapses that allows humans to generate and understand complex thoughts and feelings in the real world, including the ability to solve analogies. And it is the complexity of those connections, remaining under construction during adolescence, that may be responsible for immature and impulsive behavior and neurobehavioral excitement during the adolescent life

Export Diversification in the CEFTA 2006 Region. A "U" Shape Pattern

The main purpose of this paper is to evaluate patterns among export diversification along with the economic development in the CEFTA 2006 region. The pattern, which is evaluated here, is a hump-shaped pattern, which states that diversification and re-concentration of export and has a „U“shape relationship withGDP per capita. Hump-shaped pattern suggests that countries add products to their export basket during the early stages of economic development, while high-income countries remove goods for which they have lost a comparative advantage. Consequently, countries are slower to specialize in exporting products in which they have a comparative advantage, which leads to a humpbacked appearance. It may be concluded that one of the driving forces for export diversification is certainly GDP per capita, where diversification and later re-concentration take place mainly through extensive margins. On the other hand, intensive margins do follow the same pattern as extensive margins. Furthermore, extensive margins represent export diversification to new markets, where intensive margins present export diversification of new products. Export diversification is closely related to commodity export dependence. The country is considered to be commodity export-dependent when more than 60 percent of its total merchandise exports are composed of commodities. In these terms, countries with lower export diversification usually suffer from slow development, non-diversified economic structures, macroeconomic instability, economic volatility,"Dutch disease", political instability, poor political and economic governance, etc. Empirical studies reveal that export diversification can promote economic growth and reduce economic volatility. Greater diversification of exports contributes to greater resilience to exogenous shocks as well as stronger long-term growth and development of the country.With greater export diversification of products and greater geographical diversification (extensive and intensive margins), the risk of exogenous negative impacts is reduced. To test the U-shaped hypothesis, we used Herfindahl–Hirschman index as a measurement for export diversification. In this paper, we used secondary data from the UNCTADstat database for export. Data for GDP per capita were gathered from the World Bank database. After calculating the mentioned index for export diversification/specialization for CEFTA 2006 region, we presented a link between mentioned indexes with GDP per capita. Our results reject the null hypothesis, which states that there is a U-shaped relationship between export diversification and GDP per capita in the CEFTA 2006 region. In the CEFTA 2006 region, countries do not follow the path of higher diversified export at lower GDP per capita, and later specialization in exporting products with an increase of GDP per capita, in a product that which they have comparative advantages. The examined period in this paper was from 2007 to 2020 (13 years). Future studies could examine what the main drivers for export diversification are in CEFTA 2006 region. Also, it would be interesting to examine which margins, extensive or intensive, are the main drivers for diversification and later re-concertation at an individual level of each country

Odnos konkurentnosti i priliva SDI u Srbiji i potpisnicama CEFTA 2006 sporazuma

Cilj ovog istraživanja je da analizira i utvrdi postojanje povezanosti između dvanaest stubova konkurentnosti i priliva stranih direktnih investicija u potpisnicima CEFTA 2006 sporazuma. Iako je naučna literatura veoma bogata empirijskim studijama povezanim sa stranim direktnim investicijama, ipak, postoji oskudan broj studija koje se bave ispitivanjem odnosa između stubova konkurentnosti i priliva stranih direktnih investicija. Kako bi se sagledala veza između posmatranih varijabli korišćeni su sekundarni podaci objavljeni od strane međunarodnih organizacija Svetskog ekonomskog foruma za dvanaest stubova konkurentnosti i Svetske banke za SDI. Primenom Pirsonovog koeficijenta korelacije utvrđena je jačina odnosa izmeđa stubova konkurentnosti i priliva SDI za posmatrani vremenski period 2007-2019. godine za potpisnice CEFTA 2006 sporazuma, pri čemu je posebna pažnja posvećena analizi Republike Srbije. Analizom korelacionih koeficijanata na nivou CEFTA 2006 sporazuma utvrđena je značajna pozitivna veza između SDI i sledećih stubova konkurentnosti: razvoja finansijskog tržišta i veličine tržišta, infrastrukture, visokog obrazovanja i obuka, tehnološke spremnosti i veličine tržišta. Sa druge strane, negativni korelacioni koeficijenti stubova konkurentnosti i stranih direktnih investicija su statistički značajni kod stubova koji se odnose na makroekonomsko okruženje i institucije na nivou CEFTA 2006 sporazuma. Pored toga, utvrđena je na nivou Republike Srbije jaka pozitivna veza između SDI i stubova makroekonomsko okruženje, inovacije, visoko obrazovanje i obuke i razvoj finansijskog tržišta. Dodatno, rezultati regresione analize pokazali su da na priliv stranih direktnih investicija u periodu 2007-2016 godine na nivou CEFTA 2006 sporazuma statistički značajno utiču sledeći stubovi konkurentnosti: 1. zdravlje i osnovno obrazovanje; 2. efikasnost tržišta robe; 3. efikasnost tržišta rada; 4. veličina tržišta; 5. inovacije, dok je u periodu 2017-2019. godine statistički značajna bila infrastruktura

Zakorovljenost kukuruza u ekstenzivnom, konvencionalnom i održivom sistemu gajenja

Industrijalizovana poljoprivreda je donela brojne ekološke probleme, vođena zahtevima za većom produktivnošću. Zbog toga je gajenje useva uz smanjenu upotrebu pesticida, u sistemima koji prate klimatske promene, predmet novih regulativa koje zahtevaju pronalaženje balansa između produktivnosti i osnovnih principa održivosti kao što je očuvanje biodiverziteta. Prema Evropskom zelenom dogovoru (2021) potrebno je smanjiti upotrebu pesticida za 50% do 2030. godine. U održivim sistemima gajenja useva prioritet je smanjiti upotrebu pesticida i povećati efikasnost proizvodnje uz iskorišćavanje postojećih resursa i zaštitu agroekosistema. Jedan od načina povećanja održivosti jeste gajenje kukuruza nakon pokrovnih useva koji doprinose unapređenju kvaliteta zemljišta, čuvaju rezerve vode, smanjuju zakorovljenost i pojavu štetočina i bolesti. Cilj istraživanja je da se ispita kako alternativni sistemi gajenja utiču na prinos i zakorovljenost kukuruza, pa će u tom smislu istraživanja biti višegodišnja. U 2020. godini je u Institutu za kukuruz „Zemun Polje“, Beograd, započet ogled sa proučavanjem tri sistema gajenja kukuruza i njihovog uticaja na zastupljenost korova: - ekstenzivni sistem: posle žetve strnina (oz. pšenica), površina ostaje neobrađena, žetveni ostaci se ne zaoravaju, tokom leta se primenjuje totalni herbicid radi suzbijanja izniklih korova, u proleće se direktnom setvom poseje kukuruz; - intenzivni sistem: posle žetve strnina (oz. pšenica), strnište se plitko zaorava (ljuštenje strništa), kasnije se suzbijaju iznikli korovi primenom totalnog herbicida, u jesen se sprovodi duboko oranje, u proleće predsetvena priprema zemljišta i setva kukuruza; -održivi sistem: posle žetve strnina (oz. pšenica), strnište se plitko zaorava (ljuštenje strništa), seju se ozimi pokrovni usevi – ozimi ovas, ozimi stočni kelj i ozimi stočni grašak, pokrovni usevi se u proleće pokose i kada biomasa svene i delom se razgradi, direktnom setvom seje se kukuruz. U sva tri sistema gajenja kukuruza, korovi su ocenjeni nakon primene svih opisanih mera, a pre primene herbicida, 3.6.2021., metodom probnih kvadrata. Utvrđen je broj vrsta, broj jedinki, sveža i suva masa korova po m2. Najveća zakorovljenost utvrđena je u konvencionalnom sistemu gajenja kukuruza - 15 vrsta, 109 jedinki, 1712,1 g sveže i 1166,8 g suve mase korova po m2. U ovom sistemu gajenja, najzastupljenije su bile vrste Chenopodium album (L.), Amaranthus retroflexus (L.) i Bilderdykia convolvulus (L.). U ekstenzivnom sistemu gajenja kukuruza je bilo 7 vrsta korova čiji je broj jedinki bio 28 jed. m-2 a sveža i suva masa 152,4 i 142,4 g m-2. Pretpostavlja se da su žetveni ostaci pšenice delovali kao mrtvi malč i sprečili klijanje i nicanje korova u većoj meri. Najmanju zakorovljenost imao je održivi sistem gajenja kukuruza i to varijante sa stočnim keljom i stočnim graškom kao pokrovnim usevima koje su imale 4 i 3 vrste korova i to Convolvulus arvensis (L.), Sorghum halepense (L.) Pers., Digitaria sanguinalis (L.) Scop. i Hibiscus trionum (L.). Navedene vrste korova su produkovale po 15 jedinki korova po m2 na svakoj varijanti dok je sveža masa korova iznosila 52,5 i 22,5 g m-2 a suva 31,6 i 14,0 g m-2. Dobijeni jednogodišnji rezultati nisu dovoljni za izvođenje suštinskih zaključaka pa će se istraživanja nastaviti. Ipak, evidentno je da alternativni sistemi proizvodnje kukuruza imaju perspektivu i prednosti u pogledu zakorovljenosti useva kukuruza

The effects induced by the gamma-ray responsible for the threshold voltage shift of commercial p-channel power VDMOSFET

The variations in the threshold voltage shift in p-channel power VDMOSFET during the gamma ray irradiation was investigated in the dose range from 10 to 100 Gy. The investigations were performed without the gate bias and with 5 V gate bias. The devices with 5 V gate bias exhibit a linear dependence between the threshold voltage shift and the radiation dose. The densities of radiation-induced fixed and switching traps were determined from the sub-threshold I-V characteristics using the midgap technique. It was shown that the creation of fixed traps is dominant during the irradiation. The possible mechanisms responsible for the fixed and switching traps creation are also analyzed in this paper

Depressive symptoms, exposure to aggression and delinquency proneness in adolescence: Impact of two decades of war and political violence on adolescent mental health

Traumatic experiences in Serbia in the last two decades have caused significant psychological consequences in children and adolescents. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between depressive symptoms, exposure to aggression and delinquency proneness among high school and elementary school students in Belgrade, Serbia. The participants were 899 students (51.8% were female) with no prior treatment for psychological problems, with a mean age of 16.70±1.95. All used instruments were taken from the modified Social and Health Assessment (SAHA). Our findings show that delinquent behavior or exposure to delinquency was significantly related to depressive symptoms. The strongest predictors of depression were variables concerning legal consequences, affiliation with delinquent peers, victimization by community violence and peer victimization. This study confirmed a strong correlation between depression and exposure to violence. Identifying adolescents with depressive symptoms is important for prevention of serious mental health consequences

Psychopathology and resilience in relation to abuse in childhood among youth first referred to the psychiatrist

Uvod/Cilj. Zlostavljanje u detinjstvu može biti uzrok različitih psiholoških problema kod odraslih osoba. Malo se, međutim, zna o specifičnim kliničkim i porodičnim profilima, kao i karakteristikama rezilijentnosti adolescenata koji su doživeli zlostavljanje u detinjstvu. Cilj našeg rada bio je ispitivanje simptoma, porodičnog funkcionisanja i rezilijentnosti adolescenata sa iskustvom zlostavljanja u detinjstvu upućenih na psihijatrijski pregled. Metode. Uzorak se sastojao od 84 konsekutivno regrutovana mlada ispitanika (prosečne starosti 14,90 ± 3,10, u rasponu od 11 do 18 godina) upućena na prvi pregled u Kliniku za decu i omladinu Instituta za mentalno zdravlje u Beogradu, koji su na osnovu Matrice rizika za zlostavljanje i zanemarivanje dece bili podeljeni u dve grupe. Prvu grupu činili su adolescenti sa iskustvom zlostavljanja u detinjstvu (n = 38, 13 dečaka, 25 devojčica), a drugu, kontrolnu grupu, adolescenti bez iskustva zlostavljanja u detinjstvu (n = 47, 20 dečaka, 27 devojčica). U istraživanju su korišćeni sledeći upitnici: Upitnik za samoprocenu adolescenata (Youth Self-Report - YSR), Skala adolescentnih rezilijentnih stavova (Adolescent Resilience Attitudes Scale - ARAS) i Upitnik za porodicu, (Self-Report Family Inventory - SFI). Rezultati. Značajne razlike pronađene su kod adolescentkinja. Na upitniku YSR, zlostavljane adolescentkinje imale su značajno više skorove delinkventnog ponašanja i marginalno veće skorove anksioznosti/depresivnosti i socijalnih problema. Analize upitnika SFI pokazale su značajno lošije funkcionisanje kod zlostavljanih adolescentkinja u svim podskalama osim na podskali direktivnog vođstva. Na upitniku ARAS, zlostavljane adolescentkinje imale su značajno niže skorove na podskali uvida i marginalno niže skorove na podskali za inicijativu. Zaključak. Navedeni rezultati mogli bi imati praktičnu primenu pri planiranju specifičnih preventivnih strategija i tretmana koji se posebno fokusiraju na delinkventne tendencije kao i na jačanje rezilijentnosti obezbeđivanjem pozitivnog okruženja u okviru porodice, škole i zajednice.Background/Aim. Child abuse may be related to adverse psychological outcomes in adult life. However, little is known about specific clinical, family and resilience profiles of adolescents that have experienced child abuse. The aim of this study was to investigate clinical symptoms, family functioning and resilience characteristics of adolescents with the experience of abuse, first referred to psychiatrists. Methods. The study included 84 young participants (mean age 14.90 ± 3.10, ranging from 11 to 18 years) as consecutive first referrals to the Clinic for Children and Youth of the Institute of Mental Health, Belgrade, Serbia. The sample consisted of two groups, based on the Child Abuse Matrices of Risks. The first group included adolescents with the experience of abuse in childhood (n = 38, 13 males, 25 females), whereas the second, control group, comprised of non-abused adolescents (n = 47, 20 males, 27 females). The presence of abuse was evaluated by the Child Abuse Matrices of Risks. The study used the following questionnaires: Youth Self-Report (YSR), Adolescent Resilience Attitudes Scale (ARAS), and Self-Report Family Inventory (SFI). Results. Significant differences were found only among females. According to YSR, the abused girls had significantly higher scores on the Delinquent Behavior scale and marginally higher scores on Anxious/ Depressed and Social Problems scales. Analyses of the SFI showed significantly lower family functioning among the girls with the child abuse history for all scales except for the Directive Leadership. The abused girls also showed significantly lower scores on the Insight scale, and marginally lower Initiative scores at the ARAS. Conclusions. These findings may have practical application in the creation of specific preventive and treatment strategies, particularly focused on delinquent tendencies, as well as on enhancing resilience through providing positive environments within families, schools and communities

The unity of music and surgery: Music application in the perioperative period

Application of music has positive effects on physical, emotional and spiritual well-being, stress reduction, patients' and medical staff mood improvement, making the work environment more pleasant for both patients and staff. The aim of this narrative review is to present facts about perioperative music implementation and effects on patients and medical staff. In highly developed countries, music provided by professionals in the form of music therapy is incorporated in patients' care on the wards or in the recovery room to improve their mood, prevent depression and enable physical rehabilitation and relaxation. Perioperative music application decreases postoperative pain intensity and anxiety level, and increases patient's satisfaction. So far, music therapy application was studied in patients undergoing gynecological procedures, Caesarean section, breast surgery, urological procedures, cardiovascular surgery, abdominal surgery, orthopedic and maxilofacial surgery and different kinds of diagnostic and interventional procedures. Moreover, in real life, music is present on daily bases during performances in the operating rooms all over the world. There is an open question about music's influence on surgical team performance. In the operating room, choice of music and its perception differs depending on professional status and medical specialty. Music can improve surgeons' performance in the operating room. Type of music and its volume needs to be carefully chosen if music is used in the operating room, to prevent distraction of medical staff during performance. In surgical patients, music as nonpharmacological method can be safely used in the perioperative period as adjuvant therapy to pain medications, for anxiety and pain relief

Nonsuicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) in Serbia: Nationally representative sample study

Although NSSI has been drawing the attention of researchers intensely for the last 30 years, to date there is no published study about rates of NSSI behaviors in countries of south-eastern Europe. The study aimed to explore NSSI in the Republic of Serbia. Data were collected using multistage random sampling. The final sample consisted of 2792 participants (57.4% female) while the NSSI subsample consisted of 405 participants (54.3% males). Results showed the NSSI rate in Serbia is 4.3% based on a percentage of people who answered affirmatively to lifetime NSSI engagement. However, when the percentage of people who reported at least one positive answer through the NSSI behaviors checklist, the rate rises to 14.5%. The most frequent NSSI behavior is wound picking. NSSI rate drops to 8.8% when wound picking is excluded. Those engaged in NSSI were more likely to report suicide attempts and seek professional help than those who did not report NSSI. Gender differences in NSSI frequency are found only in cases of headbanging and burning oneself. This study showed the scope of NSSI-related problems is similar in Serbia compared to other countries. It also raised questions about the lack of preventive programs and treatment strategies for dealing with NSSI in Serbia.[https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772598722000320]Corresponding author. Institute for Educational Research, Dobrinjska 11/3, 11 000, Belgrade, Serbia. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (A. Radanović)