Decentralization in the Republic of Croatia - A City Budget in the Period from 1996 to 2000

This paper deals with the global decentralization issues, i.e. it explores how, when and why decentralization occurs, the preconditions for a successful decentralization and its advantages. It also examines the situation at the lowest levels of government in Croatia i.e. in a city, with the purpose of presenting the current financial situation and recognizing the key problems connected with decentralization at this level of government. It has been established that Croatia has made a remarkable progress in its decentralization process, although there are still many shortcomings that need to be removed.decentralization, Croatia, city, budget

Croatian Accession to the European Union: Economic and Legal Challenges

This paper analyses the EU tax system and its main components qua conditions for the accession of the Croatia to the European Union as well as the current degree of adjustment of Croatian taxation regulations with the corresponding regulations in the EU. As a result of this analysis, proposals for further procedures on the part of the creators of taxation policy in Croatia are made. After the tax reforms started in the 1990s, after the achievement of independence, the Croatian tax system was comparable with the tax systems of EU member countries. All the essential taxes correspond conceptually to the same kinds of taxes in EU countries. However, there is still space for further adjustment, above all in connection with value added tax, and it is desirable that this should be carried out as soon as possible. However, adjustments in the area of profit tax and adjustments of some rates of excise duties should be put off until the moment when they will have to be done for the sake of joining the Union, because the maintenance of the current situation, which is not in line with the provisions of European regulations, but nevertheless not in contravention of general rules regulating the area of taxation, is in the interests of Croatia. In the area of the taxation of income no adjustment or coordination is needed, for members are allowed to settle the taxation of income in their countries independently, as long as the fundamental principles of the single market are not threatened (the free movement of goods, people, services and capital).European Union, Croatia, taxes, profit tax, income tax, value added tax,excise duties, adjustment, harmonisation

Utveckling av ett pick-up-and-play gamification geografispel för lärbarhet

Gamification, immersion and flow are well known within game design, and more frequently considered within the development of educational applications. The simplicity and comprehensibility of an educational game can result into improved learning and a more enjoyable experience, as the focus on the gameplay increases with less instructions and a more straightforward approach for playing and learning. The aim is to focus on the relevant areas in order to implement a pick-up-and-play gamification geography game for learnability, as well as understanding the considerations when developing an educational application of this kind. Moreover, the work mainly focuses on the implementation of relevant and central game design elements, including animations, correlated to the researched areas. Given the information and the implementation, evaluation and analyzation were performed using Think-Aloud protocol combined with two scripted tests. Additionally, two slightly modified questionnaires were used, the Game Experience Questionnaire and User Engagement Scale Short Form, as a completion for any uncertainties or missing information after the Think-Aloud protocol. The work has brought up the importance of understanding the correlation between the relevant areas and the game design elements, as well as discussed these in context of this work. Moreover, it describes the importance of the well-balanced usage of animations, which improves the dynamic and engaging experience, while also contributing to a clearer feedback. The Think-Aloud protocol have shown being very useful and effective for the evaluation and analyzation. However, the questionnaires were only useful to some extent, but overall ambiguous and confusing, mainly because of the short playtime by the participants, as well as the difficulties in interpreting the assumptions

Utveckling av ett pick-up-and-play gamification geografispel för lärbarhet

Gamification, immersion and flow are well known within game design, and more frequently considered within the development of educational applications. The simplicity and comprehensibility of an educational game can result into improved learning and a more enjoyable experience, as the focus on the gameplay increases with less instructions and a more straightforward approach for playing and learning. The aim is to focus on the relevant areas in order to implement a pick-up-and-play gamification geography game for learnability, as well as understanding the considerations when developing an educational application of this kind. Moreover, the work mainly focuses on the implementation of relevant and central game design elements, including animations, correlated to the researched areas. Given the information and the implementation, evaluation and analyzation were performed using Think-Aloud protocol combined with two scripted tests. Additionally, two slightly modified questionnaires were used, the Game Experience Questionnaire and User Engagement Scale Short Form, as a completion for any uncertainties or missing information after the Think-Aloud protocol. The work has brought up the importance of understanding the correlation between the relevant areas and the game design elements, as well as discussed these in context of this work. Moreover, it describes the importance of the well-balanced usage of animations, which improves the dynamic and engaging experience, while also contributing to a clearer feedback. The Think-Aloud protocol have shown being very useful and effective for the evaluation and analyzation. However, the questionnaires were only useful to some extent, but overall ambiguous and confusing, mainly because of the short playtime by the participants, as well as the difficulties in interpreting the assumptions

Utveckling av ett pick-up-and-play gamification geografispel för lärbarhet

Gamification, immersion and flow are well known within game design, and more frequently considered within the development of educational applications. The simplicity and comprehensibility of an educational game can result into improved learning and a more enjoyable experience, as the focus on the gameplay increases with less instructions and a more straightforward approach for playing and learning. The aim is to focus on the relevant areas in order to implement a pick-up-and-play gamification geography game for learnability, as well as understanding the considerations when developing an educational application of this kind. Moreover, the work mainly focuses on the implementation of relevant and central game design elements, including animations, correlated to the researched areas. Given the information and the implementation, evaluation and analyzation were performed using Think-Aloud protocol combined with two scripted tests. Additionally, two slightly modified questionnaires were used, the Game Experience Questionnaire and User Engagement Scale Short Form, as a completion for any uncertainties or missing information after the Think-Aloud protocol. The work has brought up the importance of understanding the correlation between the relevant areas and the game design elements, as well as discussed these in context of this work. Moreover, it describes the importance of the well-balanced usage of animations, which improves the dynamic and engaging experience, while also contributing to a clearer feedback. The Think-Aloud protocol have shown being very useful and effective for the evaluation and analyzation. However, the questionnaires were only useful to some extent, but overall ambiguous and confusing, mainly because of the short playtime by the participants, as well as the difficulties in interpreting the assumptions

Utveckling av ett pick-up-and-play gamification geografispel för lärbarhet

Gamification, immersion and flow are well known within game design, and more frequently considered within the development of educational applications. The simplicity and comprehensibility of an educational game can result into improved learning and a more enjoyable experience, as the focus on the gameplay increases with less instructions and a more straightforward approach for playing and learning. The aim is to focus on the relevant areas in order to implement a pick-up-and-play gamification geography game for learnability, as well as understanding the considerations when developing an educational application of this kind. Moreover, the work mainly focuses on the implementation of relevant and central game design elements, including animations, correlated to the researched areas. Given the information and the implementation, evaluation and analyzation were performed using Think-Aloud protocol combined with two scripted tests. Additionally, two slightly modified questionnaires were used, the Game Experience Questionnaire and User Engagement Scale Short Form, as a completion for any uncertainties or missing information after the Think-Aloud protocol. The work has brought up the importance of understanding the correlation between the relevant areas and the game design elements, as well as discussed these in context of this work. Moreover, it describes the importance of the well-balanced usage of animations, which improves the dynamic and engaging experience, while also contributing to a clearer feedback. The Think-Aloud protocol have shown being very useful and effective for the evaluation and analyzation. However, the questionnaires were only useful to some extent, but overall ambiguous and confusing, mainly because of the short playtime by the participants, as well as the difficulties in interpreting the assumptions

Utveckling av ett pick-up-and-play gamification geografispel för lärbarhet

Gamification, immersion and flow are well known within game design, and more frequently considered within the development of educational applications. The simplicity and comprehensibility of an educational game can result into improved learning and a more enjoyable experience, as the focus on the gameplay increases with less instructions and a more straightforward approach for playing and learning. The aim is to focus on the relevant areas in order to implement a pick-up-and-play gamification geography game for learnability, as well as understanding the considerations when developing an educational application of this kind. Moreover, the work mainly focuses on the implementation of relevant and central game design elements, including animations, correlated to the researched areas. Given the information and the implementation, evaluation and analyzation were performed using Think-Aloud protocol combined with two scripted tests. Additionally, two slightly modified questionnaires were used, the Game Experience Questionnaire and User Engagement Scale Short Form, as a completion for any uncertainties or missing information after the Think-Aloud protocol. The work has brought up the importance of understanding the correlation between the relevant areas and the game design elements, as well as discussed these in context of this work. Moreover, it describes the importance of the well-balanced usage of animations, which improves the dynamic and engaging experience, while also contributing to a clearer feedback. The Think-Aloud protocol have shown being very useful and effective for the evaluation and analyzation. However, the questionnaires were only useful to some extent, but overall ambiguous and confusing, mainly because of the short playtime by the participants, as well as the difficulties in interpreting the assumptions

Azelastine

A variety of user interfaces have provided different solutions and possibilities, highlighting the importance of them in our interaction with computers. As our interaction with computers have been reaching different levels, the importance of the designing and development of user interfaces have become more obvious. The aim is to focus on the relatively new field within Human Computer Interaction, Distributed User Interfaces. Moreover, the work should focus on the provided Distributed User Interface framework, Marve, and further analyze and evaluate it through the implementation of a larger web application, a map based multiplayer game. Given the result, shortcomings and related requirements were introduced, which are not only applicable for Marve, but for web focused Distributed User Interface frameworks in general. The work has brought up the importance of understanding the contribution of a framework as Marve, and how this can be used to facilitate the development of a web application. Additionally, the work demonstrates where Marve contributes to facilitated development of the map based multiplayer game. Furthermore, it highlights important issues, which have to be managed by Marve in order to being a complete Distributed User Interface framework for web development. Several shortcomings have been brought up and discussed, setting up additional requirements for further development and improvements.