Two databases related to grassland in Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) have been used in this research-the Copernicus Grassland (GRA) and CORINE Land Cover (CLC). The data have been processed by using GIS tools, and the spatial distribution of grass vegetation in relation to three biogeographical and four elevation zones has been determined. By using the Copernicus Water and Wetness (WaW) database, an insight into the coverage of grass vegetation in wetlands has been obtained. In addition, the analysis of changes in databases determined the total amount and location of the largest grassland losses. Based on GRA database, B&H is one of the richest countries, with 22.4% of its territory covered by grassland. According to the CLC database, pastures occupy 6.3% and natural grasslands 5.6% of the territory of B&H. However, grassland is exposed to various anthropogenic and natural processes that affect its distribution, quality, functions, etc. The CLC database has been processed by extracting the grasslands (pastures and natural grasslands) and calculating their spatial coverage and changes which happened during the three six-year periods from 2000 to 2018. The trend of decreasing pasture areas and increasing natural grasslands has been noticed. The pastures are most endangered by the processes of conversion to other types of agricultural land, while natural grassland increased spatial coverage during the period 2012-2018 mostly due to the revitalization and grazing of burned areas in the region of Herzegovina. Grasslands have been particularly targeted for afforestation and cropland conversion at present.

Cancer is an abnormal proliferation of cells that is characterized by the presence of genomic alterations including DNA mutations, deletions, insertions, translocations, inversions, and others. KRAS gene is one of the most mutated genes across different cancer types. The most common mutations in KRAS are found in codons 12 and 13 of KRAS protein, which are associated with a lack of response to anti- epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody therapy. This study assessed and compared the performance between two diagnostic methods: droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) and next generation sequencing (NGS). The main goal was to determine KRAS G12 / G13 mutant allele fraction using NGS and to compare the accuracy toddPCR. A total of 28 samples of non – small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) were analyzed using ddPCR and NGS methods. Our results show that even though both methods exhibited high rate of concordance and correlation, the study proved that ddPCR is more superior when it comes to detecting low frequency mutations. Even though strong correlation was observed, based on the values obtained, we concluded that ddPCR is more accurate, reliable, and sensitive in comparison with NGS.

Greenhouse gases emission as well as total energy consumption in buildings of public importance, such as schools, municipal buildings, health care centers, can be significantly reduced by increasing buildings? energy efficiency. Buildings? energy consumption adds up to 37% of total energy consumption in the European Union countries. In the Republic of Serbia this amount is significantly higher, about 50%. School buildings are considered as one of the most diverse structures from the point of energy-efficient design and construction. The main aim of this paper is to determine the most appropriate settings for possible improvements in energy efficiency and temperature comfort inside a typical primary school classroom in Serbia. The energy efficiency analysis was performed during the heating season for the naturally ventilated primary school classroom located in the Eastern Serbia region. The analysis was performed using novel computational fluid dynamics model, suggested in this paper. The suggested model was used to solve two hypothetical scenarios. The first scenario simulates the temperature field in classroom with current energy characteristic envelope of the school building. The calculated numerical data from the first scenario were compared with in-situ measurements values of temperature and wall heat fluxes and showed satisfying accuracy. The second scenario was simulated to indicate possible improvements, which would allow energy consumption decrease and thermal quality enhancement. The analyzed results, calculated using the suggested numerical model under the second scenario conditions, showed that using appropriate set of measures, it is possible to obtain desired temperature comfort levels without need for increase in the building energy consumption.

The energy transition basically implies a phased and significant reduction in the use of fossil fuels, until the final cessation of use in the near future. Renewable energy sources and alternative fuels are an increasingly important part of the energy transition. At the same time, it is necessary that energy systems increase energy efficiency and environmental acceptability. In this regard, great efforts are being made to expand the portfolio of primary fuels in existing large energy systems, e.g. thermal power plants. Therefore, today in large boilers, in order to reduce NOx emission, staged air supply for combustion is inevitably used as the primary measure in the furnace (air staging). In addition to the previous measure, there are many examples of staged fuel supply to the combustion zone (fuel staging), and still a small number of examples of the use of third or additional fuel, e.g. application of biogas or natural gas in combustion of pulverized solid fuels (reburning technology). General, these measures simultaneously increase the efficiency of primary energy conversion from fuel and reduce the emission of undesirable components into the environment. The results of this paper show the extent to which the effects of the use of natural gas in the co-firing of Bosnian coal and waste wood biomass are expressed. In this process there is an additional reduction of NOx in proportion to the share of gas - at a process temperature of 1350 °C and at 10% of the energy content of gas in combustion with coal, compared to emissions without additional fuel, recorded reduction of NOx emissions by more than 250 mg/mn 3.

The effect of the partial replacement of natural filler by ground waste sulfur originating from the oil refining process on the fresh and hardened properties of self-compacting concrete was investigated. Properties investigated were slump flow, V-funnel, L-box, and sieve segregation of fresh concrete mixes; compressive, flexural, and bond (pull off) strengths, dynamic modulus of elasticity, ultrasonic pulse velocity, dynamic Poisson’s ratio, specific electrical resistance, density, and microstructure of hardened concrete. Results showed a slight decline in compressive, flexural, and bond strengths and dynamic elasticity modulus with increased addition of sulfur. Specific electrical resistance and density were higher for samples containing sulfur. Also, scanning electron microscopy indicated a slight porosity increase in the samples containing sulfur. Having in mind that, in the case of waste valorization in concrete, all properties of self-placing concrete should remain within acceptable levels or improve, this study proved that mixtures containing ground sulfur as a partial replacement for filler could be used for structural applications.

The research is conducted to study the outcome of digital leadership on dynamic capabilities, innovation capabilities, and alliances capabilities in manufacturing industries within the Malaysian context. Today, developing corporations and industries, at the least, require a virtual transformation to have greater organizational abilities in shaping and growing their new and present commercial enterprise to healthy the brand-new generation paradigm. A cross-sectional quantitative method has been used in this study with a sample of 132 respondents with different industry back grounds. These respondents are organizations, which are based on the nature of a business role like authorized representative, distributor, importer, manufacturer, combination authorized representative, distributor and importer, and combination distributor and importer that located in Selangor, Malaysia. The research used the SMART PLS software to analyze and interpret the results. There main hypotheses are proposed and tested. The results showed that digital leadership positively affects dynamic capabilities, innovation capabilities, and alliances capabilities.

The current study investigates how attitudes towards digital transformation and personal innovativeness affect the acceptance of emergency remote learning in the COVID-19 pandemic environment. The pandemic has affected all aspects of societies across the globe, including higher education that was also a significant push-up factor for the digital transformation of higher education. Thus, the main aim of this paper is to investigate the factors affecting emergency remote learning acceptance among the higher education students in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The results presented in this paper gained from a study carried out among higher education students in BiH cover the period of April – July 2020 via the open-source platform. The study focused on the students’ attitude towards a digital transformation is a significant factor in accepting emergency remote learning. Also, the personal innovativeness score has proven to be a crucial factor for adopting this new learning setting, i.e., more innovative students have a greater emergency remote learning acceptance than students with a lower personal innovativeness score. Hence, this study pinpoints the necessity of changing the attitudes towards technology applications in education. It would increase the usage of remote learning services and provide students with knowledge and skills for the new labour market

Different qualitative and quantitative changes in platelets are involved in the pathophysiological processes in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD): ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). The aim of the study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy of Platelet mass Index (PMI) and other platelet parameters in assessment disease activity in patients with UC and CD. A cross-sectional, observational study consisted of 60 IBD patients (30 UC and 30 CD) and 30 healthy subjects (Control group). Patients were grouped according to disease activity into active and inactive (remission). Platelet count (PLC), Plateletcrit (PCT), Mean Platelet Volume (MPV), Platelet Distribution Width (PDW) and PMI were determined for all study participants. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and their corresponding areas under the curve (AUC) were used to determine diagnostic accuracy. Although PLC had the highest AUC (0.756) compared to PCT (AUC: 0.731), PDW (AUC: 0.722) and PMI (AUC: 0.724), they all had fair diagnostic accuracy in distinguishing active and inactive UC patients. Discriminatory accuracy of PLC was excellent (AUC: 0.909), PCT and PMI good to excellent (AUC: 0.809 and AUC: 0.893, respectively) and PDW fair (AUC: 0.789) in classifying CD patients as active and inactive. Platelet parameters are simple, routinely available biomarkers more useful for assessing disease activity for patients with CD than for patients with UC. Our results indicate, for the first time, that PMI may serve as a novel and simple marker in identifying whether IBD patients are in the active or inactive phase of the disease.

Aluminium and its alloys have excellent corrosion resistance. When aluminium is exposed to the atmosphere, a thin invisible oxide Al2O3 is formed, protecting the metal from further oxidation. Compared to pure metals, alloys can have higher corrosion resistance depending on the content of certain alloying elements. Various substances such as organic or inorganic inhibitors can affect the corrosion of aluminium alloys and thus slow down the degradation of the material. In this paper, we studied the inhibitory effect of potassium dichromate on the corrosion processes of aluminium alloy. All measurements were performed in 0.5 M sodium chloride solution with the addition of different concentrations of inhibitors. The methods used were potentiodynamic polarization, cyclic voltammetry, and chronoamperometry.

<p style="text-align: justify;">The Bukva-Vila Business Zone is a place for various business activities and it was created as a result of preliminary spatial planning and organized development concept of the enterprising local population, in a unique area with developed infrastructure and proximity to the center of Te&scaron;anj. The development of the Zone caused the increase of the noise levels in this area. This paper presents the development of industrial noise map using data from previous monitoring of companies to determine the impact of an industrial noise on total environmental noise, and as well as, the development of a conflict noise map using results of own measurements.</p>

Illegal waste landfills are a current problem facing a large number of countries. In order to control and better manage illegal landfills, it is necessary to know the updated locations and contents of illegal landfills. Remote sensing methods have proven to be extremely effective in the automated detection of potential sites of illegal landfills. This paper focuses on the experimental testing of different values of the segmentation scale parameter of the Pleiades 1B satellite image in the function of detecting illegal landfills in the area of Novo Sarajevo municipality. In this case, the optimal value of the scale parameter is considered to be the value that gives the highest accuracy of classification and whose segments best correspond to the real situation on the ground.

The inclination is the most important criteria for determining stability of the object for objects for which the ratio of height and width is high (industrial chimneys, towers, tall buildings, etc.). In this paper, two methods for testing the verticality of objects with a circular base will be presented: principal components analysis (PCA), and a new method based on fitting circles and analytical geometry in space presented in the paper "Rapid assessment of verticality of structural objects with a circular base" (Hamzić, Kamber Hamzić i Avdagić, 2021). The cases when the verticality of the object is calculated from the cloud of measuring points of all or part of the object and when the verticality is calculated from the measurement of the circular arc of the object in two levels are analyzed. The results showed that both methods give quality results when the point cloud covers the entire circular arc of the object. In cases where only a part of the circular arc was observed, the method based on the circle fitting gave better results. In the case when the measurement is performed only in two levels on the object, the method based on circle fitting gave good results while the PCA method had large errors in estimating the inclination of the object.

Little is known about the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a canary bird (Serinus canarius domesticus). Although MRSA in a canary bird was previously reported, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first full description of the isolation and antibiotic resistance pattern of MRSA in this pet bird. A swab was taken from the nonhealing wound on the lateral thigh of a four-year-old, caged, housed alone, male canary bird. After the identification of Staphylococcus aureus, the antibiotic susceptibility profile of the isolate was obtained by the disk diffusion test. According to the resistance to Oxacillin and Cefoxitin, the isolate was identified as MRSA. The mecA gene was confirmed by PCR. The bird was treated by offering drinking water medicated with an injectable enrofloxacin formulation at 200 mg/L over 10 days period. Two weeks after therapy, intensive contraction of the wound was observed with a reduction in size. A week later, the complete epithelization of the wound defect was verified. In this study, we could not confirm the source of infection in a canary bird, but we believe that transmission was from wild birds when the cage was putting out in order to allow the bird to sunbathe or more likely via contact with the owner. The results of this study underline the necessity for further investigations on the epidemiological role of canary birds as potential reservoirs of MRSA.

Gallic acid is a phenolic acid widely spread in various plants, where it is present either in free form or as part of tannins, called gallotannins. It shows several positive effects on human health. It has different biological effects: antibacterial, antiviral, and anti-inflammatory. Many scientists are showing great interest in gallic acid precisely because of its antitumor effect. The content of gallic acid was determined in (Rubus idaeus L.) Polka raspberry by applying reverse-phase high-resolution liquid chromatography on reverse phases on Shimadzu Prominence Modular HPLC with UV/Vis detector, mobile phase degasser, pump, autosampler, and column oven. The analysis was performed in ethanolic extracts of Polka raspberry flower obtained by the Soxhlet extraction and the ultrasonic methods. Raspberry flowers (Rubus idaeus L.) Polka varieties were collected from two different localities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely: Starposle near Kakanj and Moševac near Maglaj. Gallic acid was determined in all analyzed samples of Polka raspberry. The highest gallic acid content was determined in the extract of Polka raspberry flower from the Maglaj-Moševac site, using the ultrasonic method (0.1789%), and the smallest in the Polka raspberry flower from the Kakanj Starposle site, using Soxhlet extraction (0.0995%). The proportion of gallic acid was higher in the extract of Polka raspberry flower from the Maglaj-Moševac site, which suggests that these flowers of Polka variety are recommended as better natural sources of this phenolic acid and that ultrasonic extraction has proven to be a more efficient method for extraction of gallic acid in ethanolic extracts, which is the goal of research.

The solid-state ion-selective electrodes presented here are based on the FePO4:Ag2S:polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) = 1:1:2 with an addition of (0.25–1)% microwave-synthesized hematite (α-Fe2O3), magnetite (Fe3O4), boehmite [γ-AlO(OH)], and alumina (Al2O3) nanoparticles (NPs) in order to establish ideal membrane composition for iron(III) cations determination. Synthesized NPs are characterized with Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). The iron oxides NPs, more specifically, magnetite and hematite, showed a more positive effect on the sensing properties than boehmite and alumina NPs. The hematite NPs had the most significant effect on the linear range for the determination of ferric cations. The membrane containing 0.25% hematite NPs showed a slope of −19.75 mV per decade in the linear range from 1.2∙10−6 to 10−2 mol L−1, with a correlation factor of 0.9925. The recoveries for the determination of ferric cations in standard solutions were 99.4, 106.7, 93.6, and 101.1% for different concentrations.