Risk Assessment of Transitional Economies by Multivariate and Multicriteria Approaches

This article assesses country-risk of sixteen Central, Baltic and South-East European transition countries, for 2005 and 2007, using multivariate cluster analysis. It was aided by the appropriate ANOVA (analysis of variance) testing and the multicriteria PROMETHEE method. The combination of methods makes for more accurate and efficient country-risk assessment.Country risk classifications and ratings involve evaluating the performance of countries while considering their economic and socio-political characteristics. The purpose of the article is to classify, and then find the comparative position of each individual country in the group of analyzed countries, in order to find out to which extent development of market economy and democratic society has been achieved.Country-risk, Transition countries, Multivariate cluster analysis, PROMETHEE method.

Students’ perceptions of characteristics of effective teachers

The aim of this research was to investigate and analyse secondary school students’ perceptions of the characte ristics of effective English teachers. Furthermore, the aim was to examine how the variables of school type, gender and achievement influenced students’ perceptions of effective teaching practice. The study was conducted on 95 secondary school students attending language grammar school and vocational technical school. The data was collected using a questionnaire with one open-ended question in which the participants were asked to provide short-essay responses on the characteristics of effective teachers. The data were subjected to the process of qualitative content analysis and were coded into the categories of subject knowledge, pedagogical knowledge, socio-affective skills and personality characteristics. The results showed that secondary school students considered pedagogical knowledge and socio-affective skills to be the most important characteristics of effective teachers. Furthermore, the study findings were used to construct the profile of an effective secondary school English teacher and their use as a valuable source for teachers’ self-reflection and evaluation was advised

MAO and aggression

PreprintNon peer reviewe

QUALITY INDEX CREATING AND ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSPARENCY OF AUDIT FIRMS - CASE STUDY IN CROATIA

This paper analyzes transparency of audit firms that audit financial statements of listed companies. Audit Act requires that all listed companies in Croatia must have their financial statements audited. In addition, the Act obliges auditing firms which carry out audits of public interest companies to prepare transparency reports and to publish them on their websites or on websites of the Audit Chamber. Considering the above, the main objective of this paper is to explore if audit firms operate transparently or not, and to create the quality index of transparency report based on archival analysis of published transparency reports and survey analysis conducted with relevant audit experts. Also, with regard to the essential elements of the audit transparency report, the aim of this paper is to investigate their stability and quality. Moreover, we wanted to find out whether there is a significant difference in transparency between the \u27Big Four\u27 audit firms and others. The analysis comprises the examination of the importance of certain elements of audit transparency reports, with aim of finding new elements (i.e. voluntary reporting) to achieve a more transparency and better reports. The results of our study indicate that audit firms are not transparent fully

Job satisfaction and attitudes of restaurant staff regarding the smoking ban – a case study

While extant research on the impacts of smoke-free legislation on hospitality employees and industries has centered on developed countries, the research on the effects of smoking bans in transition countries has received very little attention. Hoping to assist in filling this void, this research empirically explores the relationships among restaurant employees’ attitudes, demographics, work-related variables (WRV), and job satisfaction after the introduction of a smoke-free legislation in one transition economy, i.e. Croatia. Results revealed that gender, education, age, restaurant seating allocation, hospitality work experience, smoking status, average weekly workload, and the restaurant area served were for the most part not significant in explaining different perceptions toward a smoking ban. However, the respondents’ preferred restaurant smoking policy somewhat influenced how respondents view the smoking ban. In terms of the respondents’ preferred restaurant smoking policy, results revealed no significant differences in regards to demographics and WRV. With regard to job satisfaction, staff with more positive post-implementation attitudes towards the ban exhibit somewhat higher levels of satisfaction with the current job. Overall, respondents appear willing to make concessions for both pro- and anti-smoking patrons, staff, and owners/managers. Therefore, lawmakers should consider population characteristics, seating allocation, and the combination thereof when devising restaurant smoking policies

Sustavno praćenje katastarskih reizmjera

The cadastral system that was established in Croatia as early as the 19th century has been undergoing various reforms throughout history related both to documents as well as to data. The data have been updated through the processes of revision, reambulation, land consolidation and resurveys. Recent resurveys with the aim to replace the Land Cadastre with the Real Estate Cadastre started in the year 2000 and have been performed ever since within the scope of the projects of cadastral survey for the whole or a part of cadastral municipality. The paper presents an overview of the activities carried out within the scope of the project, as well as the analysis of available official documents on individual activities. The documents reveal the key metadata that make it possible to perform systematic monitoring of a project and of the duration of activities in individual projects. Based on key information provided by the available documents, the project duration has been determined and the state of completion of individual project analysed. The cadastral survey project is modelled by an activity diagram, and the results obtained from the analysis of started, completed or on-going projects are presented graphically and commented.Katastarski sustav, koji je u Hrvatskoj uspostavljen još u 19. stoljeću, tijekom povijesti izložen je raznim obnovama, kako dokumentacije tako i podataka. Obnove podataka provodile su se postupcima revizije, reambulacijama, komasacijama te ponovnim izmjerama (resurveys). Najnovije reizmjere, s ciljem zamjene Katastra zemljišta Katastrom nekretnina, započele su 2000. godine, a provode se projektima katastarske izmjere za cijelu ili dio katastarske općine. U radu je dan pregled aktivnosti koje se obavljaju tijekom projekta, kao i analiza dostupne službene dokumentacije o pojedinoj aktivnosti. U dokumentaciji su prepoznati ključni metapodaci pomoću kojih je moguće sustavno praćenje projekata i trajanje aktivnosti u pojedinom projektu. Na osnovu ključnih informacija iz dostupne dokumentacije određeno je trajanje projekata te analizirana dovršenost pojedinog projekta. Projekt katastarske izmjere je modeliran dijagramom aktivnosti, a rezultati analize o započetim, završenim te projektima u tijeku prikazani su grafički i komentirani

QUALITY INDEX CREATING AND ANALYSIS OF THE TRANSPARENCY OF AUDIT FIRMS - CASE STUDY IN CROATIA

This paper analyzes transparency of audit firms that audit financial statements of listed companies. Audit Act requires that all listed companies in Croatia must have their financial statements audited. In addition, the Act obliges auditing firms which carry out audits of public interest companies to prepare transparency reports and to publish them on their websites or on websites of the Audit Chamber. Considering the above, the main objective of this paper is to explore if audit firms operate transparently or not, and to create the quality index of transparency report based on archival analysis of published transparency reports and survey analysis conducted with relevant audit experts. Also, with regard to the essential elements of the audit transparency report, the aim of this paper is to investigate their stability and quality. Moreover, we wanted to find out whether there is a significant difference in transparency between the \u27Big Four\u27 audit firms and others. The analysis comprises the examination of the importance of certain elements of audit transparency reports, with aim of finding new elements (i.e. voluntary reporting) to achieve a more transparency and better reports. The results of our study indicate that audit firms are not transparent fully

Pharmacotherapy of Treatment-resistant Combat-related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder with Psychotic Features

Aim: To assess retrospectively the clinical effects of typical (fluphenazine) or atypical (olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine) antipsychotics in three open clinical trials in male Croatian war veterans with chronic combat-related posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with psychotic features, resistant to previous antidepressant treatment. Methods: Inpatients with combat-related PTSD were treated for 6 weeks with fluphenazine (n=27), olanzapine (n=28), risperidone (n=26), or quetiapine (n=53), as a monotherapy. Treatment response was assessed by the reduction in total and subscales scores in the clinical scales measuring PTSD (PTSD interview and Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale) and psychotic symptoms (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale). Results: After 6 weeks of treatment, monotherapy with fluphenazine, olanzapine, risperidone, or quetiapine significantly decreased the scores listed in trauma reexperiencing, avoidance, and hyperarousal subscales in the clinical scales measuring PTSD, and total and subscales scores listed in positive, negative, general psychopathology, and supplementary items of the Positive and negative syndrome scale subscales, respectively, in patients with PTSD (P<0.001). Conclusion: PTSD and psychotic symptoms were significantly reduced after monotherapy with typical or atypical antipsychotics. As psychotic symptoms commonly occur in combat-related PTSD, the use of antipsychotic medication seems to offer another approach to treat a psychotic subtype of combat-related PTSD resistant to previous antidepressant treatment