Objective: Investigate the relationship between age, gender and dental status with changes in the osseous structures of the TMJ. Material and Methods: The study included 110 CBCT images of patients. According to age, the CBCT images of patients were divided into three groups: 20-40 years old, 40-60 years old, group over 60 years old. According to dental status, the images of patients were divided according to the Eichner's classification I, II and III. Analysis and measurements, vertical, linear and angular were performed on CBCT images: condylar morphology, medio-lateral and antero-posterior width condyles, height and inclination of the articular eminence and depth of the glenoid fossa. Results: One-way ANOVA revealed no statistically significant differences in any TMJ measurements across Eichner classes I, II, and III and between the different age groups. Significant difference was observed for antero-posterior condylar width between the age groups (p = 0.016). Males showed significantly greater medio-lateral condylar width (p = 0.0006), as well as a larger articular eminence height and inclination (p = 0.003, p = 0.006,), and a greater glenoid fossa depth (p = 0.0036) compared to females. Coronal morphology was not significantly associated with sex and age. Sagittal condylar morphology showed a trend toward statistical significance in relation to age (p = 0.055). Conclusion: Antero-posterior condylar width was significantly shorter with increasing age. Men showed significantly greater medio-lateral condyle width, articular eminence height and inclination, and greater glenoid fossa depth in relation to women. Dental status classified according to Eichner showed no measurable association with temporomandibular joint morphology in this sample. Only sagittal condylar morphology showed a trend toward statistical significance with respect to age.

In the aim of this study was to analyze oral hygiene maintenance habits and the correctness of applying oral hygiene methods among students of the Faculty of Dentistry and students of other faculties at the University of Sarajevo, with focus on assessing the importance of oral hygiene in the prevention of gingivitis. Materials and methods: The study included 30 students from the Faculty of Dentistry and 30 students from other faculties. The age of participants ranged from 21 to 26 years. All participants signed informed consent for voluntary participation prior to the examination. Data were recorded on specially designed forms. Inclusion criteria were systemic health and absence of ongoing therapy. All participants answered questions regarding harmful habits, oral hygiene practices, and regular dental visits. A clinical examination of the gingiva was performed, including the assessment of periodontal indices and diagnostic tests. Results: Dental students demonstrated better oral hygiene habits and gingival health compared to students from other faculties. Plaque, calculus, and gingival index values were lower among dental students, while signs of gingival inflammation—such as redness, smooth surface, and a positive Pitting test - were more common among students of other faculties. Dental students more frequently used interdental cleaning aids and regularly visited the dentist, indicating a higher level of knowledge and awareness regarding oral health. Conclusion: The results confirm that education plays a key role in maintaining oral health and highlight the need for preventive and educational programs even among populations not belonging to the dental profession.

Background: Periapical lesions in adolescents present a particular therapeutic challenge due to age related anatomical and physiological characteristics, including greater susceptibility to dental trauma, higher caries risk, wide apical foramen and thin dentinal walls. At the same time, high regenerative capacity offers the possibility of successful treatment even in cases with an initially very poor prognosis. Case Presentation: This report presents a 14-year-old patient with a massive periapical lesion and an iatrogenic root canal perforation of tooth 12. Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging revealed an extensive osseous defect with complete perforation of the palatal cortical plate and marked destruction of the vestibular bone. Management included sealing the perforation with MTA under an operative microscope and endodontic treatment followed by apicoectomy with bone graft augmentation and placement of a PRF membrane. After the surgery, the tooth was stabilized with a wire-composite splint until physiologic stability was restored. A four-month follow-up CBCT scan showed complete repair of the osseous defect, homogeneous graft integration, re-established cortical continuity, and preservation of a normal periodontal ligament space. Clinically, stable function and satisfactory esthetics were achieved. Conclusion: This case demonstrates that even large periapical lesions complicated by iatrogenic perforation with an initially unfavorable prognosis can be successfully managed through a combination of advanced endodontic therapy and surgical intervention. A multidisciplinary approach, precise diagnostics, and the use of bioactive materials enabled preservation of the natural tooth and complete recovery of periapical structures in an adolescent patient.

This paper defines the concepts of visual-spatial perception, visual-motor coordination, and hearing impairment. The aim of the study was to examine the characteristics of visual-spatial perception and visual-motor coordination in students with hearing impairments in comparison to their hearing peers. The research also explored whether these abilities vary depending on the degree of hearing loss and aimed to identify the factors that influence them.The Diagnostic Kit for Assessing Speech, Language, Reading, and Writing Abilities in Children –Diagnostic Material for Identifying Specific Difficulties in Reading and Writing (Bjelica-Posokhova, 2001) was used, with a focus on variables related to visual-spatial perception and visual-motor coordination. Descriptive statistics, optimal scaling regression, and linear regression analyses were used for data processing.The findings indicate that hearingstudents achieved statistically significantly better outcomes in both visual-spatial perception and visual-motor coordination compared to students with hearing impairments. Age, degree of hearing loss, educational conditions, and gender did not influence visual-spatial perception in students with hearing impairments. However, educational conditions and the degree of hearing loss did influence visual-motor coordination, while gender and age did not.Understanding how hearing impairment affects visual-spatial perception and visual-motor coordination is essential for the education and rehabilitation of children with hearing loss. These children may experience different developmental patterns in visual-motor and visual-spatial abilities, which can impact their daily functioning and academic performance. Rehabilitation and educational strategies should aim to integrate all sensory inputs to foster the development of adequate visual-spatial and visual-motor skills.Key words: visual-spatial perception, visual-motor coordination, hearing impairment

Loud noise in the workplace is a common occurrence in the labor market. Prolonged exposure to excessive noise can lead to hearing lossand the development of occupational disease. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of occupational noise exposure on the occurrence of hearing lossamong workers exposed to hazardous noise levels in the workplace and to determine the extent to which non-occupational noise exposure contributes to overall exposure and the development of occupational hearing loss. Hearing assessment was performed using subjective audiological testingpure-tone audiometry, on a sample of 72 participants. The results revealed a significant risk of hearing lossamong workers exposed to workplace noise (χ²=72.688, df=10, p=0.000<0.001). Itwas found that the degree of hearing lossincreased with the duration of work in noisy environments (t=14.449, df=70, p<0.001). No statistically significant association was found between non-occupational noise exposure and changes in the degree of hearingloss, indicating that noise outside the workplace does not represent a significant predictor of the occurrence or progression of hearing loss.Key words: occupational noise, non-occupational noise, hearing loss.

Introduction: Periodontitis is a chronic inflammatory disease leading to the loss of the supporting apparatus of the tooth, and tooth mobility is a common complication of advanced stages of the disease. Splinting is a therapeutic measure stabilizing mobile teeth and improves function in the patient. Aim: To present the clinical procedure and therapeutic outcome of splinting of mobile lower incisors in a patient with stage 3, class B periodontitis. Methods: A case of a 40-year-old patient with pronounced gingival recessions, moderate plaque index, subgingival calculus and mobility of the lower frontal teeth is presented. After initial non-surgical therapy and subgingival curettage, splinting of the lower incisors was performed using Ribbond fibers. The procedure included etching, adhesive preparation, adaptation of the fibers to the contour of the tooth and finishing with composite material, with occlusion check and polishing. Clinical effects were monitored through multiple visits. Discussion: Splinting with fiber-reinforced composite materials is an effective and aesthetically acceptable method of tooth stabilization in patients with periodontitis. In this case, stabilization of mobile teeth and reduction of subjective symptoms of hypersensitivity after treatment were achieved. The literature confirms that adequately planned and timely splinting can contribute to the improvement of periodontal parameters, bone remodeling and increased oral health quality of life. An individualized approach and estimation of optimal intervention timing are key to achieving stable long-term outcomes.

Gastrointestinal (GI) motility disorders are characterized by abnormalities in the motor functions of the GI tract. The diagnostic evaluation of these disorders frequently involves invasive and time-consuming examinations, for which access may be limited. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) could serve as non-invasive alternative. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the potential of exhaled breath VOCs as biomarkers in patients with GI symptoms and potential GI motility disorders. In this exploratory, prospective study, breath samples were obtained from patients undergoing ambulatory motility tests as part of routine clinical care. VOCs in exhaled breath were assessed using thermal desorption chromatography-mass spectrometry (TD-GC-MS). The resulting data were subsequently pre-processed and analyzed using machine learning approaches. Hundred participants were included in the analysis, of whom 67 were women (67%), with a median age of 56.5 years (IQR: 29.8). The diagnostic work-up comprised 55 gastric emptying tests, 55 high-resolution esophageal manometries, 3 antroduodenal manometries, and 1 colon manometry. These examinations resulted in 48 motility disorder diagnoses, while 51 patients showed no evidence of motility abnormalities. Fifteen VOCs were identified as most discriminative markers for the presence or absence of GI dysmotility, with a sensitivity of 75%, and specificity of 60%. VOCs in exhaled breath show promise to distinguish patients with GI motility disorders from those without, in a population of patients with GI symptoms. Future research is warranted to further refine and validate these results in a larger cohort and to explore the diagnostic performance of VOCs in specific subtypes of motility disorders.

Background Delayed diagnosis of brain cancer leads to two-thirds of patients receiving a diagnosis only after presenting to the emergency department with more severe symptoms or neurological deficits. A simple, rapid, liquid biopsy implemented in primary care could enable more efficient triage of patients with non-specific symptoms potentially related to brain cancer, prioritising patients for urgent brain imaging, and accelerating diagnosis. Patients and methods Presented is the international, multi-centre, observational Early and tiMely detection of BRAin CancEr (EMBRACE) study. Patients were prospectively recruited across seven sites in Europe, from the United Kingdom, Belgium, Sweden and Switzerland. The target population consisted of patients with symptoms potentially associated with brain cancer. Blood serum samples were analysed by the Dxcover® Brain Cancer Liquid Biopsy Platform. Test performance was assessed by comparison of the liquid biopsy result to diagnostic imaging. Results Two thousand five hundred and fifty-four patients were enrolled across the seven collection sites; 2324 were deemed eligible and taken forward for test assessment. There were 697 brain tumours in total, of which 395 were malignant, and 1627 non-tumour diagnoses. Overall diagnostic performance for the primary objective was 86% sensitivity for brain cancer detection with 99% negative predictive value (NPV). Sensitivity for all brain tumours combined (malignant and benign) was 77%. Notably, for the most prevalent and most aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma, 86% of cases were successfully identified. Additionally, 94% of patients with central nervous system lymphoma, and 90% of brain metastases were predicted correctly as having tumours. Conclusions Existing symptom-based referral pathways are ineffective for the detection of brain cancer, and there is an urgent need for new tests to help with clinical decision making. With a NPV of 99%, the Dxcover Liquid Biopsy test could assist in primary care for efficient stratification of patients toward diagnostic imaging.

The prevailing paradigm in AI for physical systems: scaling general-purpose foundation models toward universal multimodal reasoning, confronts a barrier at the control interface. Frontier vision-language models achieve only 50-53% accuracy on basic quantitative physics tasks, behaving as approximate guessers that preserve semantic plausibility while violating physical constraints. Safety-critical control demands outcome-space guarantees over executed actions, not parameter-space imitation. Here we present a pathway toward domain-specific foundation models through compact language models operating as Agentic Physical AI: policy optimization driven by physics-based simulator validation rather than perceptual inference. We train a 360M-parameter model on synthetic nuclear reactor scenarios scaled from 10^3 to 10^5 examples. Scaling produces strong, regime-dependent reliability gains under nominal simulated conditions, with variance collapse of approximately 500x and elimination of>10% terminal-power excursions on the sampled distribution. Despite balanced exposure to four actuation families, the model concentrates 95% of runtime execution on a single-bank strategy, without reinforcement learning or reward engineering. Representations transfer across simulators without architectural change. We position the system as a candidate decision component within a verification, monitoring, and defense-in-depth architecture, not as a stand-alone safety solution: the demonstrated behavior speaks to closed-loop reliability on a single-step task in simulation and does not yet address off-nominal operation, sensor faults, or uncertainty quantification.

Maleic anhydride is a key intermediate in the chemical industry, predominantly produced through the partial oxidation of n-butane over vanadium-phosphorus-oxide (VPO) catalysts. This reaction is accompanied by side reactions that lead to the formation of undesired by-products, primarily CO and CO₂. In this work, a previously developed mathematical model of a fixed-bed tubular reactor was extended to include a catalyst activity function accounting for catalyst deactivation, and the kinetic parameters were optimized using experimental data from an industrial reactor at Koksara d.o.o. Lukavac. The model describes the partial oxidation of n-butane to maleic anhydride through multiple reactions, with reaction rates expressed as functions of temperature, partial pressures, and catalyst activity. Numerical simulations were performed using MATLAB, employing a nonlinear least-squares solver to minimize the deviation between the predicted and measured temperature profiles along the reactor. The validated model showed good agreement with experimental data, demonstrating its capability to accurately simulate reactor behavior under typical industrial conditions. Parametric studies were conducted to analyze the effects of inlet n-butane and oxygen flow rates, reaction mixture temperature, and pressure on the formation of CO and CO₂. The results indicate that by-product formation is strongly influenced by the oxygen/n-butane ratio, temperature, pressure, and the catalyst oxidation state. Higher oxygen flow rates and elevated temperatures increase CO and CO₂ formation, while lower values reduce their production. Changes in n-butane flow have a minor effect on CO₂, but more pronounced effects on CO due to the interplay between partial and complete oxidation at different catalyst sites. Increasing the inlet pressure enhances by-product formation by increasing reactant concentrations, whereas reduced pressure decreases CO and CO₂ formation. The developed model provides a practical tool for understanding and optimizing industrial maleic anhydride production. It offers insights into the effects of key process parameters on by-product formation, supporting improved reactor operation, reduced trial-and-error experimentation, and more efficient industrial process design.

This study aimed to examine the role of recruitment and selection practices in shaping employee organizational commitment in organizations operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The empirical research was conducted on a sample of 128 companies from different regions of the country, and the data were collected through a survey questionnaire. The dimensional structure of the research constructs was examined using multivariate statistical procedures, after which the proposed hypotheses were tested through regression analysis. The findings indicate that recruitment and selection practices have a statistically significant and positive impact on overall organizational commitment. In addition, a significant positive relationship was identified between recruitment and selection practices and affective and normative organizational commitment, while the relationship with continuance commitment, although statistically significant, was notably weaker. These results suggest that transparent, fair, and consistently implemented recruitment and selection practices contribute more strongly to employees’ emotional attachment and sense of moral obligation toward the organization than to commitment primarily driven by perceived costs of leaving. The findings are discussed in relation to existing theoretical and empirical research, emphasizing the importance of professional hiring practices for long-term employee commitment. In the specific context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where organizations face persistent challenges related to employee retention and labor market mobility, the study emphasizes the strategic role of recruitment and selection systems as internal mechanisms for enhancing organizational commitment and fostering stable and sustainable employment relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the CONNECT 2025 Symposium in Neum, Bosnia and Herzegovina, from the angle of a junior organizer and a lecturer. We share our journey from the Western Balkans toward academic and research paths in the EU, beginning with CONNECT in 2017 and continuing through studies, research, and PhD work in Germany. Along the way, we highlight why studying abroad matters, what it teaches beyond formal education, and how these experiences can be brought back to strengthen local communities. The contribution also summarizes two accompanying lectures on AI in Science and Gender and Science in the Western Balkans, linking personal experience with broader scientific and societal themes.

This research examines which organizational structure would yield the best results for the operations of a selected agro-food company. To do this, a decision-making model was developed, including six organizational structures and 19 criteria. The model was evaluated by experts using linguistic assessments. In addition, uncertainty was incorporated into this decision-making process through an intuitionistic approach. The results were obtained using the SiWeC (Simple Weight Calculation) and RAWEC (Ranking of Alternatives with Weights of Criterion) methods. The SiWeC method identified employee satisfaction and decision-making speed as the most important criteria, while the RAWEC method found that a digital organizational structure provides the best results. However, to achieve even better results in this company, it is necessary to upgrade the digital organizational structure to a network structure, leveraging the strengths of both. In this way, by forming a hybrid organizational structure, better effects would be obtained than using a single organizational structure.

Reduplication of linguistic units at different levels is a widespread phenomenon both in Arabic in general and in the text of the Qur'an. Therefore, some of its forms, such as lexical repetition, syntactic parallelism, and reduplication at the semantic level, are frequently discussed in the literature as cohesive and text building devices. The main goal of this paper is the analysis of the forms and functions of system intrinsic forms of reduplication in Arabic, i.e. reduplication of grammatical morphemes, derivational patterns, and a specific form of root morpheme reduplication producing a unique semantic effect. The analysis is based on the analytical-descriptive method and the typological-functional approach. Although the reduplication of grammatical morphemes and derivational patterns originates from the core rules of the Arabic language system, the analysis presented in the paper shows that its usage plays a significant role in the text of the Qur'an. In addition to producing of the complex sound patterns of rhyme and rhythm, it also serves as a text-building and cohesive device, and a means of emphasis, reinforcing the content of the message by drawing attention to its form.