This paper investigates the absolute and conditional convergence process of the Western Balkan states toward the EU-27+1. The analyzed period is 2004–2018; therefore, we include the United Kingdom in the analysis. To test the effects of the 2008/2009 financial crisis on the absolute and conditional convergence process, we include three subperiods in this research: the precrisis period, the crisis period

Background: The pathophysiology and therapy of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), are a dilemma for scientists and health professionals, and the fact that patients show different symptoms and severity of the clinical picture also contributes to that. Objective: This paper aims to evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic protocols (the use of immunomodulators) in the treatment of COVID-19 patients of various severity of the clinical picture by monitoring inflammatory markers (ESR and CRP), as well as the impact of the type and number of comorbidities patients had on these markers. Methods: A total of 200 patients with a mild (n=76), moderate (n=70) or severe (n=54) clinical picture was included. Inflammatory markers [ESR (erythrocyte sedimentation rate), CRP (C-reactive protein)] were examined on three occasions: twice during hospitalization and once after hospital discharge. Immunomodulators used intrahospital were corticosteroids (methylprednisolone, dexamethasone, methylprednisolone + dexamethasone), tocilizumab or metenkefalin/tridecactide. Posthospital, patients were taking either methylprednisolone or did not use any immunomodulators. For statistical analysis, SPSS 26.0 and Microsoft Excel 2019 were used, with a level of significance of α=0.05. Nonparametric tests (Kruskal-Wallis and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank) were applied and effect size (ES) was calculated. Results: Three corticosteroid therapies used intrahospital caused a significant decrease in both inflammatory markers, especially in patients with a severe clinical picture, but the ES was the biggest with methylprednisolone + dexamethasone, then dexamethasone, and lastly methylprednisolone. Posthospital, methylprednisolone caused a significant decrease in both inflammatory markers, especially in patients with a severe clinical picture. The most common comorbidity in all patients, as well as in patients with a severe clinical picture, was hypertension. There was no statistically significant impact of the number of comorbidities patients had on ESR and CRP, but the highest number of comorbidities was in patients with a severe clinical picture. Conclusion: The use of immunomodulators, especially methylprednisolone + dexamethasone intrahospital and methylprednisolone posthospital, is justified in most COVID-19 cases as there is a significant correlation between this disease’s pathophysiology and the immune response. There is also a positive correlation between the number of comorbidities patients have and the severity of the clinical picture.

Allegations about the number of German soldiers engaged in Yugoslavia was one of the pillars of the narrative about the "People's Liberation War". This issue, however, was never given a proper historiographical treatment in the socialist period. It would have shown that the number of units in Yugoslavia depended on external factors (events on major fronts and broader strategic deliberations) at least to the same extent as on internal ones (guerrilla danger), that the occupation contingent was of highly heterogeneous nature, and that large numbers are not always synonymous for combat quality. This research, based almost entirely on unpublished primary sources, will attempt to provide a comprehensive account of the strength and quality of the German occupation contingent in the second half of the war. The original plan to hold the country with a symbolic force of 2 to 4 divisions was shattered already in the summer of the same year by the outbreak of the uprising in occupied Serbia and the NDH. From the early 1942 to mid-1943, anywhere from 4 to 7 divisions were engaged in anti-guerrilla duties, and from the summer of 1943 until the arrival of the Red Army in the late autumn of 1944, from 5 to 9 divisions (parts of the divisions that were nominally responsible for securing the coast, yet in practice constantly engaged against the Partisans, not counted). In the final phase of the war, almost the entire German contingent consisting of 11 to 15 divisions (including those stationed in Slovenia) ended up fighting the regular Yugoslav army. Apart from the divisions, dozens of independent combat battalions were involved in these operations. In the worst case, a large percentage of all these units could have been used to secure the rear areas of the main fronts, and a smaller percentage could be used directly against the Allied armies. Although, in general, these formations were of lower combat value, there is no doubt that their deployment to a secondary theater of war such as the Yugoslav one was to the detriment of the German war effort.

The primary objective of this research paper is to investigate the potential impact of emergency remote teaching on the academic performance of undergraduate students, while also assessing the consistency of academic outcomes across various courses during the emergency transition to distance learning. The research methodology involves the collection of students' accomplishments and course passing rates spanning four consecutive academic years, from 2018/2019 to 2021/2022. The study identifies three distinct teaching environments: traditional, distance learning, and hybrid. The academic year 2018/2019 is designated as a pre-pandemic reference point. The subsequent years mark a transition from distance learning to a hybrid teaching model and a return to the traditional in-class environment. The analytical framework includes descriptive and correlation analyses, supplemented by an analysis of variance to derive meaningful insights. It is essential to highlight that the results obtained are further validated by the passing rates for the academic year 2022/2023, reinforcing the contemporary relevance and credibility of the research findings.

Background: Acute pancreatitis (AP) is an acute inflammatory illness of the pancreas representing a true question in diagnostic process. Laboratory markers of the hepatobiliary tract such as liver transaminases with pancreatic enzymes give a true hint of a hidden diagnosis together with urea, creatinine and creatine kinase (CK). Objective: This clinical study aims to show whether there is any correlation between alpha-amylase and CK or their ratio examining hospitalized patients with AP diagnosis. Methods: From total number of 99 patients with a clinical picture of AP, 71 patients in this retrospective analysis (including both genders) were included according to the presence of two biochemical markers in collected laboratory analysis at admission and 72 hours later on a laboratory check-up: CK and alpha-amylase. Results: The median CK value of AP cases was 92 (41.75 – 207.25) in the acute period and 73 (37 – 159) after 72h staying in the hospital without statistical significant (p=0.521; p<0.05). However, there was a statistically significant correlation between the parameters of CK at admission and creatine kinase after 72h staying in the hospital. The median value of CK/Amylase ratio in the acute period was 0.168 (0.069 – 0.532) and 0.386 (0.12 – 1.12) after 72 hours of staying in the hospital. There was a statistically significant difference between values of CK/amylase ratio in these two groups (p=0.000; p<0.01). Conclusion: In conclusion, a connection between CK and alpha-amylase needs to be elucidated in further studies and its existence must be researched both in physiological and pathophysiological conditions, and it is two-way and very complex. This study helped us obtain significant information about the perspective of AP in the potential relation to other non-standard laboratory markers for some diseases

Intimacy is one of the fundamental aspects of our social life. It relates to intimate interactions with others, often including verbal self-disclosure. In this paper, we researched machine learning algorithms for quantification of the intimacy in the tweets. A new multilingual textual intimacy dataset named MINT was used. It contains tweets in 10 languages, including English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, and Chinese in both training and test datasets, and Dutch, Korean, Hindi, and Arabic in test data only. In the first experiment, linear regression models combine with the features and word embedding, and XLM-T deep learning model were compared. In the second experiment, cross-lingual learning between languanges was tested. In the third experiments, data was clustered using K-means. The results indicate that XLM-T pre-trained embedding might be a good choice for an unsupervised learning algorithm for intimacy detection.

Various activities in the tourism sector, especially transportation, have a negative impact on the atmospheric complex. The paper aims to re­search tourism’s impact on global carbon dioxide emissions, the generation of photochemical smog, and noise and light pollution. Various tourism in­dustry activities have been identified, as well as tourist transport factors on which the intensity of air pollution depends. To demonstrate the harmful effects, statistical indicators and other results of modern scientific research were used, including the consequences of pollution on the living world. The paper provides current knowledge in the field, highlighting the risks of mass tourism, and the global need for more rational planning of sustainable tour­ism development.

Although there is considerable evidence suggesting a strong association of glucose, glycated hemoglobin and fatty acid levels with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D), a limited number of studies have examined the association of individual fatty acids with disease progression. Acutely elevated plasma fatty acids stimulate insulin secretion while chronically elevated plasma fatty acids alter and disrupt insulin secretion. Furthermore, free fatty acids (FFA) are known to interfere with normal glucose homeostasis and affect pancreatic β-cell dysfunction. The study included 24 patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes and 27 healthy controls, and analysis of the level of glucose and glycated hemoglobin was done by routine methods. The concentration of individual FFA was determined by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry detection. The results showed statistically significant differences in glucose, HbA1c, lipid profile, palmitic, linolenic, arachidonic, arachidonic, behenic acid as well as in DHA levels in all participants. In healthy subjects, no significant correlation was found between glucose and individual free fatty acids but a negative correlation was observed between DHA and glycated hemoglobin (p<0.05). Newly diagnosed diabetics showed a negative significant association between glucose and lauric acid concentrations, and also the association of glycated hemoglobin with myristic acid levels (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively). These data indicate the association of different types of free fatty acids with glucose levels and their control in the serum of healthy and newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics, and therefore indicate the importance of monitoring glucose levels as well as glycated hemoglobin with concentrations of individual free fatty acids in the progression of diabetes.

This study deals with the unfolded quantities based on the time intervals between successive neutron events from the aspect of the power law. Neutrons from spontaneous fission in special nuclear material induce fission in most cases. In this study, it was demonstrated that the inverse value of the number of induced neutrons decreases following a power function with the increasing radius of a plutonium metal sphere. In addition, it was considered an increase in the neutron background level with increasing altitudes. The inverse value of the mean neutron counting rate depending on altitudes can be described with a power function merely for higher elevations. A linear relationship was obtained by plotting the quantities on logarithmic axes against each other indicating generally a power law relationship for both investigated phenomena. The results of this study showed a connection between two seemingly unrelated neutron phenomena through power laws based on the distributions of time intervals between successive neutron counts. The empirical evidence implies that a connection between the observed quantities in a log-log plot is unchanged except for a multiplicative constant.