This paper reports a detailed study of crystal structure and dielectric properties of ruthenium-substituted calcium-copper titanates (CaCu3Ti4−xRuxO12, CCTRO). A series of three samples with different stoichiometry was prepared: CaCu3Ti4−xRuxO12, x = 0, 1 and 4, abbreviated as CCTO, CCT3RO and CCRO, respectively. A detailed structural analysis of CCTRO samples was done by the Rietveld refinement of XRPD data. The results show that, regardless of whether Ti4+ or Ru4+ ions are placed in B crystallographic position in AA’3B4O12 (CaCu3Ti4−xRuxO12) unit cell, the crystal structure remains cubic with Im3¯ symmetry. Slight increases in the unit cell parameters, cell volume and interatomic distances indicate that Ru4+ ions with larger ionic radii (0.62 Å) than Ti4+ (0.605 Å) are incorporated in the CaCu3Ti4−xRuxO12 crystal lattice. The structural investigations were confirmed using TEM, HRTEM and ADF/STEM analyses, including EDXS elemental mapping. The effect of Ru atoms share in CaCu3Ti4−xRuxO12 samples on their electrical properties was determined by impedance and dielectric measurements. Results of dielectric measurements indicate that one atom of ruthenium per CaCu3Ti4−xRuxO12 unit cell transforms dielectric CCTO into conductive CCT3RO while preserving cubic crystal structure. Our findings about CCTO and CCT3RO ceramics promote them as ideal tandem to overcome the problem of stress on dielectric-electrode interfaces in capacitors.

Vascular smooth muscle cell plasticity plays a pivotal role in the pathophysiology of vascular diseases. Despite compelling evidence demonstrating the importance of transcription factor GATA6 in vascular smooth muscle, the functional role of GATA6 remains poorly understood. The aim of this study was to elucidate the role of GATA6 on cell migration and to gain insight into GATA6-sensitive genes in smooth muscle. We found that overexpression of GATA6 promotes migration of human coronary artery smooth muscle cells in vitro, and that silencing of GATA6 in smooth muscle cells resulted in reduced cellular motility. Furthermore, a complete microarray screen of GATA6-sensitive gene transcription resulted in 739 upregulated and 248 downregulated genes. Pathways enrichment analysis showed involvement of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) signaling which was validated by measuring mRNA expression level of several members. Furthermore, master regulators prediction based on microarray data revealed several members of (mitogen activated protein kinase) MAPK pathway as a master regulators, reflecting involvement of MAPK pathway also. Our findings provide further insights into the functional role of GATA6 in vascular smooth muscle and suggest that targeting GATA6 may constitute as a new approach to inhibit vascular smooth muscle migration.

Extremely complex crisis that occurred after the proclamation of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, contributed to the escalation of racism and xenophobia in the international arena. Their current rise must be observed from the perspective of the historically established pattern of connecting minorities, racial groups and certain communities with infectious diseases, which has made racist and xenophobic approaches and narratives indispensable constituents of responses to them. The stigma of the disease, as history confirms, is a permanent companion to the outbreak of infectious diseases, thus the coronavirus pandemic was no exception. The radicalization of public discourse through nativism, hatred and fear during the current health crisis, with the significant support of some mainstream media, was in the forefront contributed to by neo-nationalist forces. They exploited the insecurity and uncertainty generated by the pandemic to project fear of the other and different with their obligatory emanation as potential threats. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic contributed primarily to the reaffirmation of racism and xenophobia against the Chinese and Asians, which was supported by the coronavirus provenance, it undoubtedly paved the way for a general racist and xenophobic discourse.

The aim of the research is to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the occurrence and magnitude of mental health consequences among students at the University of Sarajevo, which manifest themselves in certain types and levels of psychological distress, as well as to examine various aspects of general mental functioning that are particularly important in an online learning and teaching environment. The research was conducted in July 2021 on a sample of 3439 students at the University of Sarajevo. The following measurement instruments were used: The Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21), a Stress Coping Strategies Inventory and a Sociodemographic Variables Questionnaire. The results have shown that depression, anxiety and stress were present among students at levels which require additional interventions. Symptoms are significantly more present among female students than among male students. The differences tested between students of distinct faculties indicate that arts students have the highest values of depression, followed by students studying humanities, while social sciences students show the lowest values. The results showed that positive coping with stress is a protective factor for the symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress, while negative coping style is a risk factor for students' mental health. The obtained results suggest that the pandemic has a significant psychological impact on students that require interventions in improving their mental health.

BACKGROUND: Monitoring cardiac parameters is the fundamental aspect of every diagnostic process and is facilitated by electrocardiography (ECG) devices. This way, continuous state-of-the-art performance of ECG devices can be ensured. The new Medical Device Regulation (MDR) defines medical device post-market surveillance (PMS) as performed by independent, third-party, notified bodies more strategically in hope to improve traceability of device performance. However, there is still an apparent gap in terms of standardised conformity assessment testing methods. OBJECTIVE: This paper proposes a novel method for conformity assessment testing of ECG devices for post-market surveillance purposes. METHOD: The method was developed on the basis of International Organisation of Legal Metrology (OIML) guidelines and applied in healthcare institutions from 2018 to 2021. RESULTS: The developed method was validated in healthcare institutions of all levels. The results obtained during validation suggest that conformity assessment testing of the ECG device as a method used during PMS contributes to significant improvement in devices’ accuracy and reliability. CONCLUSION: A standardized approach in conformity assessment testing of ECG devices during PMS, besides increasing reliability of the devices, is the first step in the digital transformation of the management of these devices in healthcare institutions opening possibility for use of artificial intelligence.

Measurements and searches performed with the ATLAS detector at the CERN LHC often involve signatures with one or more prompt leptons. Such analyses are subject to `fake/non-prompt' lepton backgrounds, where either a hadron or a lepton from a hadron decay or an electron from a photon conversion satisfies the prompt-lepton selection criteria. These backgrounds often arise within a hadronic jet because of particle decays in the showering process, particle misidentification or particle interactions with the detector material. As it is challenging to model these processes with high accuracy in simulation, their estimation typically uses data-driven methods. Three methods for carrying out this estimation are described, along with their implementation in ATLAS and their performance.

The recently emerged novel coronavirus, “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2),” caused a highly contagious disease called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). It has severely damaged the world's most developed countries and has turned into a major threat for low‐ and middle‐income countries. Since its emergence in late 2019, medical interventions have been substantial, and most countries relied on public health measures collectively known as nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). We aimed to centralize the accumulative knowledge of NPIs against COVID‐19 for each country under one worldwide consortium. International COVID‐19 Research Network collaborators developed a cross‐sectional online survey to assess the implications of NPIs and sanitary supply on the incidence and mortality of COVID‐19. The survey was conducted between January 1 and February 1, 2021, and participants from 92 countries/territories completed it. The association between NPIs, sanitation supplies, and incidence and mortality were examined by multivariate regression, with the log‐transformed value of population as an offset value. The majority of countries/territories applied several preventive strategies, including social distancing (100.0%), quarantine (100.0%), isolation (98.9%), and school closure (97.8%). Individual‐level preventive measures such as personal hygiene (100.0%) and wearing facial masks (94.6% at hospitals; 93.5% at mass transportation; 91.3% in mass gathering facilities) were also frequently applied. Quarantine at a designated place was negatively associated with incidence and mortality compared to home quarantine. Isolation at a designated place was also associated with reduced mortality compared to home isolation. Recommendations to use sanitizer for personal hygiene reduced incidence compared to the recommendation to use soap. Deprivation of masks was associated with increased incidence. Higher incidence and mortality were found in countries/territories with higher economic levels. Mask deprivation was pervasive regardless of economic level. NPIs against COVID‐19 such as using sanitizer, quarantine, and isolation can decrease the incidence and mortality of COVID‐19.

Cancelable biometrics is a demanding area of research in which a cancelable template conforming to a biometric is produced without degrading the efficiency. There are numerous approaches described in the literature that can be used to generate these cancelable templates. These approaches do not, however, perform well in either the qualitative or quantitative perspective. To address this challenge, a unique cancelable template generation mechanism based on signcryption and bio hash function is proposed in this paper. Signcryption is a lightweight cryptographic approach that uses hyper elliptic curve cryptography for encryption and a bio hash function for generating signatures in this proposed method. The cancelable templates are generated from iris biometrics. The hybrid grey level distancing method is used for perfect iris feature extraction for the CASIA and IITD datasets. The proposed approach is compared against the existing state-of-the-art cancelable techniques. The resulting analysis reveals that the proposed method is efficient in terms of accuracy of 98.86%, with lower EER of 0.1%. The average minimum TPR and TNR of the proposed method is about 99.81%.

U radu je izvedena komparativna analiza ustavne pozicije i organizacije lokalne samouprave u glavnim gradovima: Ljubljana, Zagreb, Beograd, Podgorica i Sarajevo. U komparativnoj analizi modela lokalne samouprave u glavnim gradovima su posebno uzeti u obzir aspekti ustavnog statusa glavnog grada kao jedinice lokalne samouprave; teritorijalna organizacija; obim samoupravnih nadležnosti u vršenju javnih poslova te institucionalna organizacija gradskih vlasti. Cilj rada je da se komparativnom analizom identificiraju nedostaci u ustavnoj poziciji i organizaciji lokalne samouprave u Gradu Sarajevu. Rezultati komparativne analize mogu biti od koristi u oblikovanju prijedloga institucionalnog modela reforme i organizacije lokalne samouprave u Gradu Sarajevu.

BIH lags far behind in development of the knowledge society and economy. It has a far smaller number of skilled workers and researchers compared to comparator countries, i.e. small countries of Central and Southeast Europe. Moreover, there are only 144 researchers employed in research and development in the economy. The City of Sarajevo can contribute to its own development and the development of BiH if it positions itself as the main information and communication capital. This can be achieved if the City and its municipalities decide to develop the Sarajevo Innovation District. The first step in this direction could be the establishment of the Council for Promotion of Software Production and Export and the establishment of an information and communication technology and innovation excellency centre. The experience of Ireland in establishing software study centres and India in forming Indian Silicon Valley in Bangalore is of valuable benefit. On this basis, Sarajevo would develop as a strong knowledge city and over time become an international centre for software developers, students and start-ups and as a strong innovation district. Sarajevo would become a city that attracts talent and knowledge workers. This would become a model for the development of other knowledge cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and contribute to the growth of an upper-middle-income country into a high-income country.

AIMS The risk for developing venous thromboembolism (VTE) is about equal in both sexes. Research suggests diabetes mellitus (DM) is a risk factor for pulmonary embolism and deep vein thrombosis, both forms of VTE. We aimed at investigating the sex-specific impact of DM on VTE risk. MATERIALS AND METHODS Medical claims data were analyzed in a retrospective, population-level cohort study in Austria between 1997 and 2014. 180,034 patients with DM were extracted and compared to 540,102 sex and age-matched controls without DM in terms of VTE risk and whether specific DM medications might modulate VTE risk. RESULTS The risk to develop VTE was 1.4 times higher amongst patients with DM than controls (95% CI 1.36-1.43, p < 0.001). The association of DM with newly diagnosed VTE was significantly greater in females (OR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.46-1.58, p < 0.001) resulting in a relative risk increase of 1.17 (95% CI 1.11-1.23) across all age groups with a peak of 1.65 (95% CI 1.43-1.89) between 50 and 59 years. Dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors were associated with a higher risk for VTE amongst female DM patients (OR = 2.3, 95% CI 1.3-4.3, p = 0.0096). CONCLUSION Amongst DM patients, females appear to be associated with a higher relative risk increase in VTE than males, especially during perimenopause.