The Effects of the Work of Committee and Commissions on Interethnic Relations in Republic of Macedonia

The Committee and the Commissions on Interethnic Relations are two of the several Consocial instruments, introduced in 2001 following the conclusion of peace agreement and cease of armed conflict between forces under control of the Government of Republic of Macedonia and insurgent National Liberation Army. Principle task of both the Committee and the Commissions on Interethnic Relations is to monitor, discuss and give suggestions to the Parliament i.e. to the Municipal Councils on the manners of advancement of interethnic relations. In the article, the author is evaluating the effects of the work of the Committee and the Commissions through conducting research on various issues related to the structure and the performance of these institutions. The results show that the work of the Committee and the Commissions has inconsiderable influence on the advancement of interethnic relations. The author is suggesting that the partisan composition of these two institutions should be replaced with no partisan composition, and the authorities should provide structural and financial assistance for sustainability of the Commissions for Interethnic relations. &nbsp

Teaching Speaking focused on Pronunciation to Adult ESL Learners in the US

Learning the language of English for any adult English as a Second Language (ESL) learner is a challenge in and of itself. This is particularly pronounced in speaking skills. On top of that, if adult ESL learners try to learn the pronunciation of certain consonant sounds in English, where the consonant does not exist in their mother language, pronunciation can be an impeding factor to the improvement of oral skills. In fact, learning how to speak a language is one aspect of learning it, but correctly pronouncing the sounds of certain consonants is an added challenge to one\u27s learning. Specifically, if the reason behind an adult ESL learners\u27 breakdown in communication is due to their pronunciation, they may feel less motivated to pursue learning ESL. The purpose of the Field Project is to create a one specific task, the Job Interview--incorporating speaking with a focus on pronunciation, and implement it in an intermediate level adult ESL class

PARENT-CHILD INTERACTION IN SHARED-COMPUTER ACTIVITIES: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY EXAMINING PARENT-CHILD INTERACTION WITH A MOBILE DEVICE

The present exploratory study examined the shared-computer behaviours of parent-child dyads in order to examine how (and if) parents interact with their children when using mobile digital devices and parents’ perceptions of their child’s technology use. Little is known about how technologies are used with young children and how to maximize and support young children’s learning when they are introduced to these technologies. In total, ­­104 parents (­­n = 72 mothers and n = 32 fathers; one parent per child) participated in an observation session where parent-child interactions using a mobile device (Apple iPad™) were recorded in order to observe first-hand the supports and exchanges between parent and child. Parents displayed verbal, emotional-verbal, physical and emotional-physical supports. Parents completed a survey that assessed their perceptions of their children’s technology use as well as the verbal, emotional and physical supports parents report providing to support their children’s use of technology. Following the observation session, parents were interviewed to report their feelings about their experience in the study, whether they feel they should help their child when their child is using technology, how parents introduced technology and/or games on technology to their child(ren), and parents’ opinions on which critical aspects are important to address when deciding to use or not use technology. Results indicate that although parents do not differ as a function of gender or experience (novice versus advanced users of mobile devices) for the amount and type of support they provide their child while interacting with the iPad™, they provide a great deal of supports to their child. Results will be important for parents, educators, and child care providers as they make clear parents’ perceptions, behaviours and personal experiences in introducing technology to their children

The determinants of non-life insurance consumption: A VECM analysis in Central and South-Eastern Europe

This study examines the determinant of non-life insurance consumption in 14 countries of Central and South-Eastern Europe between 1995 and 2010 within a vector error correction model (VECM). We use non-life insurance penetration as a measure for non-life insurance consumption. Empirical results provide evidence that the number of dwellings and number of passenger cars positively and significantly influence non-life insurance consumption in the long run, while the existence of the rule of law and EU membership are significant in the short run

Adaptive low computational cost optimisation method for performance-based seismic design of friction dampers

This study aims to improve the computational efficiency and convergence rate of an already existing optimisation method for friction-based dampers based on the concept of Uniform Distribution of Deformation (UDD) and demonstrate the reliability of the results compared to Heuristic optimisation methods such as GA. In the proposed approach, the computational cost is considerably reduced by using a convergence factor that is modified in proportion to the level of performance violation. To investigate the efficiency of the proposed method, 3, 5 and 10-storey RC frames with friction dampers are optimised using adaptive UDD method, Genetic Algorithm (GA) and a coupled UDD-GA approach. The results indicate that the adaptive UDD method can lead to optimum design solutions with significantly lower computational costs (up to 300 times lower number of non-linear dynamic analyses) compared to both GA and coupled UDD-GA methods. It is shown that frames optimised under a single spectrum-compatible earthquake can efficiently satisfy the predefined performance targets under a set of synthetic earthquakes representing the design spectrum. Therefore, the proposed method should provide a reliable approach for more efficient design of friction-based dampers

An analysis of risk factors for juvenile delinquency: Case study the Republic of North Macedonia

Many countries in Europe and around the world are currently facing the problem of juvenile delinquency. In order to better understand the juvenile delinquency, as well as to explore main reasons and risk factors that contribute to the occurrence of delinquent and criminal behavior among juveniles, this paper is focused on an analysis of the data contained in the files of juveniles serving prison sentences in the Republic of North Macedonia. Having in mind that the research has been conducted in the Juvenile Prison in Ohrid and the fact that this prison is only for male juveniles, in the research, there is no data analysis for female juvenile delinquents. The results from this study show that the juvenile delinquency is a very complex phenomenon that occurs due to different factors and for the prevention and suppression of which, a coordinated and serious social action is needed. This analysis showed that juveniles serving prison sentences have not developed adequate social skills to deal with the problems and challenges they face in everyday life. Therefore, they manifest various forms of socially unacceptable behaviors, which is in conflict with existing moral and legal norms. The lack of social skills is one of the indicators which shows that the family, but also society, have misperceived the phenomenon and have negatively contributed in the process of building personalities of these young people with acceptable moral values and behaviors. To this end, the family and society have failed to exert adequate educational influence on these juveniles

Utjecaj makroekonomskih i financijskih čimbenika na bankarstvo u sjeni u novim državama članicama EU-a

The goal of this paper is to examine the impact of macroeconomic and financial determinants of the shadow banking dynamics in the selected 11 new EU member states using yearly data from 1999-2018. We apply three methods: fixed effects model, the difference-GMM and the system-GMM (Generalized Method of Moments). Empirical results provide evidence that the most important factors are the developments in the financial sectors (insurance and pension sectors), banking sector, money market rate, as well as the general economic growth. We also found that global financial crisis has a negative impact on the shadow banking growth. From the results we may conclude that traditional banks, insurance sector and pension funds are complementary with shadow banking. This results was opening new issues for macroprudential policy, bearing in mind the Basel III norms. Namely, one of the main goals of Basel 3 is to reduce procyclicality of bank lending, and the rise of shadow banking may have an impact on both capital-based regulation and income-based limits.Cilj ovog rada je ispitati kako različite varijable iz makroekonomskog i financijskog okruženja utječu na dinamiku bankarskog sektora u sjeni u odabranih 11 novih država članica EU-a koristeći godišnje podatke za razdoblje 1999-2018. Primjenjuju se tri alternativne tehnike procjene: model s fiksnim efektima, metoda procjene GMM razlika i GMM sustava. Empirijski rezultati dokazuju da su najvažniji čimbenici razvoja u financijskom sektoru (sektoru osiguranja i mirovinskom sektoru), bankarskom sektoru, te stopi na tržištu novca kao i opći ekonomski rast. Također je utvrđeno da globalna financijska kriza negativno utječe na rast bankarstva u sjeni. Dobiveni rezultati ukazuju na to da je bankarski sustav u sjeni komplementaran, ne samo tradicionalnim bankama, već i ostatku financijskog sustava, te otvara nova pitanja makrobonitetne politike imajući u vidu Basel III norme. Naime, jedan od glavnih ciljeva Basela III je smanjiti procikličnost bankarskog kreditiranja, a porast bankarstva u sjeni može utjecati kako na regulaciju koja se temelji na kapitalu tako i na ograničenja temeljena na dohotku