Abstract An efficient method for evaluation of an optimal two-layer soil model from Wenner four-probe measuring method, which has been used during experimental investigations, is presented within this paper. A two-layer soil model is assumed, and this soil model is an adequate representation of nonhomogeneous soil for grounding system design. The application of optimization techniques is required to estimate the electrical parameters of the proposed soil model. In this paper, first the fast gradient-descent method to solve a given optimization problem is chosen, and then with the aim of faster calculation for accelerating the rate of convergence of an infinite sum, the application of Aitken’s δ2 method is proposed.

Despite emails having been a standard technology since the 1970s, they are still indispensable in daily communication and the number of sent emails continues to rise year by year. This technology is not limited to business, it is also used in education, entertainment, or personal correspondence. Emails are also present in the everyday life of children: they are required to join websites, social networks or to participate in school -especially in homeschooling. However, emails are also associated with disadvantages such as spam, phishing, or malware. To engage children in security awareness we developed the DigiSkill platform, which provides interactive educational experiences. It consists of modules such as email or browser simulations, to increase the student’s digital skills. In this research, we evaluated the tool with 52 secondary school students to observe their knowledge on security awareness in the context of email usage and to help gain a better understanding. Therefore, we conducted an in-class evaluation with a tool intervention and related pre- and post-activities. We observed different characteristics in emails that students use for classification and identified common misconceptions. We found that students follow an intensely visual approach, which means the visual representation of an email has a strong impact on the level of suspicion students have. We aim to provide educators with a tool to improve the security awareness skills of their students and to discuss educational possibilities in this field with our research findings.

This paper addresses and evaluates approaches to incorporating personality data into a recommender system. Automatic personality recognition is enabled by the LIWC dictionary. Personality-aware pre-filtering techniques are developed and discussed, with the introduced non-targeted stratified personality sampling performing the best. A novel personality-aware model, FFM-SVD, is proposed and shown to outperform alternative models in prediction accuracy.

Background: Acute gastroenteritis remains an extremely common problem among the general population. In Western countries, an average person will probably face one or two episodes of gastrointestinal infections every year. Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy of nifuroxazide and probiotic preparation containing lactic acid bacteria in the treatment of acute diarrheal syndrome. Methods: The study was prospective, comparative study. Patients who suffered from acute infective diarrhoea for ≤72 hours and had ≥3 unformed stools per day, with no administration of antibiotics during 10 days before enrolment were divided into two groups: nifuroxazide group and the lactic acid probiotic group. All patients received therapies four times a day for three days. Data was collected at the baseline visit (before the initiation of the treatment) and two follow-up examinations on the third and seventh day from the treatment start. Results: The study included 61 patients, 36 in nifuroxazide group and 25 in probiotic group. Nifuroxazide group compared to probiotic group showed faster improvement of patients’ condition with lower number of stools three and seven days after therapy start (p=0.001 and p<0.001 respectively) and faster stool consistency normalization. On the seventh day from therapy start medium mushy stool consistency was observed in the majority of patients in nifuroxazide group (n=31, 86%) and only in small number of patients in probiotic group (n=5, 20%). Patients were feeling better and there was a trend of reporting better therapy efficacy in nifuroxazide group. Subjective assessment of therapy tolerability was also better in nifuroxazide group. Compliance to therapy and recommended dietary regime was similar between groups and there were no significant differences between groups regarding age, gender, elevated body temperature, abdominal pain, cramps, nausea and vomiting. Conclusion: Although probiotics are sometimes used in the treatment of acute diarrheal syndrome, nifuroxazide has better efficacy and greater patients’ satisfaction. Nifuroxazide can be recommended as the first choice empirical treatment in adult patients with the acute diarrheal syndrome.

The aim of this paper was to analyze the spelling errors of children with dyslexia, in order to determine whether they have a specific pattern of spelling errors or are simply late in acquiring spelling skills. The sample included 30 children with dyslexiaand 30 spelling-level-matched younger children. The research was conducted in the area of Sarajevo Canton and Tuzla Canton in the period from March to May 2022. The results showed that children with dyslexia make similar patterns of errors as spelling-level-matched group. The obtained results show that children with dyslexia in transparent orthography do not have a specific deficit in spelling, but rather delay in acquiring spelling skills. Key words:dyslexia, transparent orthography, spelling errors, specific deficit, delay.

This paper presents geological characteristic of the deposit Kotezi of the Bugojno coal basin. Regional geological researches were conducted from 1983 to 1987, and detailed from 2014 to the end of 2018. After field research and laboratory tests, the analysis and interpretation of the obtained results was carried out. Based on the determined borders of surface distribution and the research results of the coal deposit Kotezi, proved are four coal layers: II bottom, I bottom, main and roof. Coal of the deposit Kotezi belong to the younger coals, soft to medium hard, no luster (matt), brown to black colored, and have brown streak. Their fracture is plate-like and particleboard. He do not have a distinct lignite structure, except in the lower layers. With their general habitus, they resemble younger brown coals, and belong to humic coals which are relatively low in carbonation. Coal deposit Kotezi is the most important deposit in the Bugojno basin, which is very important due to continuity of coal exploitation. Considering the raw material potential and the possibility of expanding the existing raw material base, the Bugojno coal basin has particular importance for the long-term development of lignite exploitation and its use for thermal energy purposes. Key words: the Bugojno coal basin, Kotezi, coal layers, raw material potential.

Assessing the consistency of quantitative MRI measurements is critical for inclusion in longitudinal studies and clinical trials. Intraclass coefficient correlation and coefficient of variation were used to evaluate the different consistency aspects of diffusion- and myelinbased MRI measures. Multi-shell diffusion and inhomogeneous magnetization transfer datasets were collected from twenty healthy adults at a high-frequency of five MRI sessions. The consistency was evaluated across whole bundles and the track-profile along the bundles. The impact of the fiber populations on the consistency was also evaluated using the number of fiber orientations map. For whole and profile bundles, moderate to high reliability of diffusion and myelin measures were observed. We report higher reliability of measures for multiple fiber populations than single. The overall portrait of the most consistent measurements and bundles drawn from a wide range of MRI techniques presented here will be particularly useful for identifying reliable biomarkers capable of detecting, monitoring and predicting white matter changes in clinical applications and has the potential to inform patient-specific treatment strategies. Key points Reliability and variability are excellent to good for DWI measurements, and good to moderate for MT measures for whole bundles and along the bundles. The number of fiber populations affects the reliability and variability of the MRI measurements. The reliability and variability of MRI measurements are also bundle dependent.

The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patterns of use of essential health services (EHS), health-seeking behaviors, and population health and wellbeing in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) from the perspective of its adult population. A population-based survey was implemented in the FBiH in December 2020 on a sample of 1068 adults. Overall, 64% of respondents received care, significantly more being women (67% vs. 61%, p = 0.046), those with a chronic disease (CD) (75% vs. 65%, p < 0.001), and of an older age (58% in 18–34 vs. 67% in older, p = 0.031). These groups also postponed care more often (39% in 55+ vs. 31% in 18–34 years old, p = 0.01; 55% with CD vs. 31% without, p < 0.001; and 43% in females vs. 32% males, p < 0.001). Main reasons for postponing care were lack of available appointments and fear of infection. The presence of a CD was the strongest predictor of need, access, and disruptions of health care. Respondents reported increased expenses for medicines (40%) and health services (30%). The findings of the survey add user insights into EHS disruptions to existing health statistics and other data and may be used to inform strategies for mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on the disruption of health care services, strengthening health system preparedness and building resilience for future emergencies.

Passive flow control techniques are needed to reduce flow separation and enhance aerodynamic performance. In this work, the effect of a knitted wire mesh on the flow separation of a backward-facing ramp was numerically investigated for a Reynolds number of 3000. A grid independence study and a RANS turbulence model sensitivity analysis were conducted. The CFD simulations exhibited counter-rotating streamwise vortices emerging from the knitted wire mesh, and the reattachment length was significantly reduced. A variation of the knitted wire rows revealed a maximum reduction of the reattachment length of 25.7% for the case of four rows. A comparison with a different knitted wire mesh geometry yielded a decreased reattachment length reduction.

BACKGROUND: Prosthetic mechanical valve endocarditis (PVE) can be manifested as early PVE (acquired perioperatively) and late PVE (resulting from infections unrelated to the valve operation). Causes of both are similar but are late PVE are more prone to less virulent microbes. PVE resulting with paravalvular abscess is confirmed through echocardiography (transthoracic or transesophageal), it results with a high mortality rate especially if it is not early recognized. The aim of article was to present a patient with heart failure symptoms caused by PVE. CASE PRESENTATION: Male patient, 44 years old, was admitted because of dyspnea and swelling of lower extremities. The patient is a long-standing heroin addict who had aortic valve replacement done 8 years ago due to endocarditis. The implanted valve was a mechanical aortic valve – Edwards MIRA bi-leaflet valve No 32 (Edwards Lifesciences; Irvine, California). He also was already diagnosed with hepatitis C years before. In multiple occasions were hospitalized on the Department of cardiology due to signs and symptoms of heart failure. On transthoracic echocardiography, dilatation of all heart chambers was found. The left ventricular systolic function was moderately reduced with an ejection fraction of left ventricle of 42% according to Simpson with restrictive filling pattern. Hypoechoic mass along the right side of the mechanical aortic valve was noted measuring 3.57 × 1.03 cm. CONCLUSION: Paravalvular abscess of mechanical heart valves is a very serious complication with a high mortality rate. It is essential to recognize this type of pathology as early as possible, so aggressive parenteral antibiotic therapy could be started, while in many cases, surgical reoperation is needed.

Stroke related adult neuropsychiatric syndromes can be classified according to four axes: behavior or personality disorders, disorders of the perception identification of the self, other people, places, and time, cognitive disintegration (acute confusional state) and affective or mood disorders. Although cognitive dysfunctions or mood and affect disorders are very common after stroke and represent a very important factor in the recovery and rehabilitation, we will give short overview of rare behaviour or personality disorders related to stroke because we emphasize the need for a good knowledge of the these syndromes, in order to make valid diagnosis and start targeted etiological treatment.

Background: The Gustave Roussy immune score (GRIm score) is a laboratory index developed to predict survival in nonsmall cell lung cancer patients undergoing immunotherapy and has shown that the pretreatment value is an independent prognostic factor for survival. In this study, we aimed to determine prognostic significance of GRIm score for pancreatic adenocarcinoma that have not been determined in the literature for pancreatic cancer before. The reason for choosing this scoring is to show that the immune scoring system works as a prognostic marker in pancreatic cancer known as immune-desert tumor via immune properties of microenvironment. Methods: Medical records of patients with histologically confirmed pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, who were treated and followed up between December 2007 and July 2019 at our clinic, were reviewed retrospectively. GRIm scores of each patient were calculated at the time of diagnosis. Survival analysis were performed according to risk groups. Results: A total of 138 patients were included in the study. While 111 (80.4%) patients were in the low-risk group; 27 (19.6%) were in high-risk group according to GRIm score. Median OS was 36.9 months (95% Confidence interval (CI): 25.42–48.56) in lower GRIm scores, and it was 11.1 months (95% CI: 6.83–15.44) in higher GRIm scores (P = 0.002). One-two-three-year OS rates were 85% versus 47%, 64% versus 39%, 53% versus 27% for low versus high GRIm scores, respectively. The multivariate analysis revealed that high GRIm score was an independent poor prognostic factor. Conclusion: GRIm can be used as a noninvasive, easily applicable, practical prognostic factor in pancreatic cancer patients.