Since Bosnia and Herzegovina’s declaration of independence in 1995, its path has been a rocky one. Unwillingness by the international community to stand by the central government and stand in the way of the neighboring states of Serbia and Croatia’s territorial pretensions, produced a succession of ceasefire agreements, culminating in the final, Dayton Peace Agreement. Each of these agreements espoused the ethnic principle as the guiding philosophy for the organization of the state. The post-war period demonstrates that despite the passage of time, the principle of organization of multi-ethnic state along ethnic lines presents a stumbling block to the functioning of the political, economic and social life in the country. The political history of post-independence Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) therefore reads as a history of protracted political paralysis, with no hope of rectifying the problems without another forceful intervention of the international community.

Memantine is the non-competitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, used in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease. It also known that memantine pretreatment assured protection of skeletal muscles from poisoning with nerve agents and an interaction between memantine and AChE was proposed. In the study presented we examined interactions of memantine and its main metabolite (1-amino-3-hydroxymethyl-5-methyl adamantine, Mrz 2/373) with AChE in vitro as well as their effect on kinetics of the soman-induced AChE inhibition and aging. The results have shown that memantine and Mrz 2/373 exerted concentration-dependent inhibition of AChE, with Mrz 2/373 being a more potent inhibitor than the parent compound. Addition of soman 7.5 nmol/l induced gradual AChE inhibition that became almost complete after 20 min. Memantine (0.1, 0.5 and 1 mmol/l) and Mrz 2/373 (0.1, 0.5 and 1 mmol/l) concentration-dependently slowed down the AChE inhibition. After 30 min of incubation of AChE with soman, 5 min of aging and 20 min of reactivation by asoxime (HI-6 dichloride), AChE activity was 8.1% in control medium, 30.7% and 41.9% after addition of 1 and 10 mmol/l memantine, and 16.1% after addition of 1 mmol/l Mrz 2/373. It was concluded that it is possible that memantine and Mrz 2/373 can prevent AChE from inhibition by soman, which could, along with known memantine's neuroprotective activity, explain its potent antidotal effect in soman poisoning. The potential effect on aging of the soman-AChE complex warrants further studies.

While individual analytic therapy is still in its early stages of development, group analytic therapy and group psychotherapy in general are considerably advanced in comparison to other talking therapies, and are often used in healthcare settings and in private practice. All forms of psychotherapy offered in healthcare institutions are covered by health insurance. Most activities related to providing psychotherapy or undergoing training in various therapeutic modalities are not regulated by adequate laws or other regulations, nor does a definitive registry of psychotherapists exist. A majority of psychotherapists in healthcare institutions are (neuro)psychiatrists, but other helping professions are also often involved in providing therapies, with psychologists usually preferring cognitive-behavioural therapy.

Abstract The aim of this paper is to contribute to the debate on integration of Muslim immigrants into the European societies. Censuses 1 indicate a continuous growth of Muslims in member states of the European Union (EU) since the 1960s. 2 In some of the member states of the EU, Muslims make up more than five percent of the population, and this number is expected to grow in the coming decades, depending mostly on how much immigration into the EU will be allowed. Since 2011 the EU has been facing the biggest influx of migrants in its history. Reasonably, accepting and integrating such a large number of people in its societies became a great challenge for many EU member states. It has become clear that the integration programmes within the EU member states are outdated and that new migration policies, as well as practices will have to be adopted and developed.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors have transformed the prognosis and treatment paradigm of many cancer types, through the potential for durable responses. However, the majority of patients still do not benefit. Response to checkpoint inhibition is determined by dynamic host, tumour and tumour microenvironment factors that display spatial and temporal variability, but our understanding of these interactions is incomplete. Through investigating biomarkers of resistance and response, opportunities arise to discover new therapeutic targets and shape personalised treatment strategies. Here we review approved and emerging biomarkers of response to immune checkpoint inhibitors, in particular the recent rapid progress in host and tumour genomics. It is unlikely that a single biomarker will precisely predict response, but multivariate multiomic markers may provide a balanced assessment of these factors and more accurately identify patients who will benefit. Further efforts are required to translate these groundbreaking discoveries into novel therapeutics and biomarker driven clinical trials, to provide durable treatment response to a greater population of patients.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to assess the symmetric and asymmetric impact of a measure of policy uncertainty on house permits issued in each state of the USA. Design/methodology/approach To assess the symmetric effects, the authors use Pesaran et al.’s (2001) linear autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach to error-correction modeling. To assess the asymmetric effects, they rely upon Shin et al.’s (2014) nonlinear ARDL approach to error-correction modeling. Both approaches have the advantage of producing short-run and long-run effects in one step. Findings The authors find short-run symmetric effects of policy uncertainty on house permits issued in 22 states that lasted into the long run in three states only. However, the numbers were much higher when they estimated the possibility of asymmetric effects of policy uncertainty. Indeed, they found short-run asymmetric effects in 38 states and long-run asymmetric effects in 18 states. Originality/value Some previous studies assessed the effects of a measure of policy uncertainty on house prices. In this paper, the authors extend the same analysis to the supply side of the housing market by assessing the effects of policy uncertainty on house permits in each state of the USA.

Mars is the first extraterrestrial planet with seismometers (Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure, SEIS) deployed directly on its surface in the framework of the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport (InSight) mission. The lack of strong Marsquakes, however, strengthens the need of seismic noise studies to additionally constrain the Martian structure. Seismic noise autocorrelations of single‐station recordings permit the determination of the zero‐offset reflection response underneath SEIS. We present a new autocorrelation study which employs state‐of‐the‐art approaches to determine a robust reflection response by avoiding bias from aseismic signals which are recorded together with seismic waves due to unfavorable deployment and environmental conditions. Data selection and segmentation is performed in a data‐adaptive manner which takes the data root‐mean‐square amplitude variability into account. We further use the amplitude‐unbiased phase cross‐correlation and work in the 1.2–8.9 Hz frequency band. The main target are crustal scale reflections, their robustness and convergence. The strongest signal appears at 10.6 s, and, if interpreted as a P‐wave reflection, would correspond to a discontinuity at about 21 km depth. This signal is a likely candidate for a reflection from the base of the Martian crust due to its strength, polarity, and stability. Additionally we identify, among the stable signals, a signal at about 6.15 s that can be interpreted as the P‐wave reflection from the mid‐crust at about 9.5 km depth.

O trabalho tem como objetivo pesquisar os APLs de Gemas e de Joias na Região Metropolitana do Distrito Federal e verificar a possibilidade e o interesse na criação de uma Indicação Geográfica para esse setor. No decorrer da pesquisa, bibliográfica e qualitativa, foi detectado que no DF existia inicialmente um APL de gemas e de joias que foi desativado, permanecendo o APL de Gemas e de Joias da Região Metropolitana do DF em Cristalina (GO). São analisados os destaques e as tendências do mercado de joias no Brasil. A coleta de dados se deu por meio de entrevistas, observação não participante e análise documental. Como resultado preliminar, verificou-se que existem muitos problemas a serem superados, como a questão da organização das associações, da diversificação dos fornecedores pela rapidez de produção e dos acordos sobre concorrência que comprometem a qualidade dos produtos. Foi evidenciada também a falta de incentivos fiscais para o crescimento do setor na Região.

O atual cenário da engenharia brasileira tem requerido esforço maior de todas as áreas para que sejam operados projetos em BIM (Building Information Modeling). No país, o uso da plataforma BIM ainda não é unanimidade no âmbito da infraestrutura rodoviária, mesmo diante dos benefícios adicionais que esta apresenta em relação a outras formas de projeção consideradas ultrapassadas. Mas já existem iniciativas previstas, como é o caso de uma sequência de projetos pilotos definida pelo Departamento Nacional de Infraestrutura de Transporte (DNIT) em busca do aperfeiçoamento dos profissionais envolvidos no projeto para que dentro de alguns anos todos os processos em questão aconteçam a partir da modelagem da informação da construção de forma obrigatória (Silva, 2018).

Purpose: The primary purpose of this paper is to identify the most important factors related to the successful implementation of TQM in the literature and to compare the identified factors with the existing research. Methodology/Approach: By conducting a systematic literature review in three main stages, this research analyzes 13 empirical papers published between 1995 and 2017. Three main stages included: formulation of the problem to be solved by the systematic literature review; definition of inclusion criteria and exclusion of articles; and article search and selection. Findings: Analysing previous research and conducting a literature review, we identify six main critical success factors (CSF): top management leadership and commitment, customer focus, training (employees), procurement management (suppliers), information and analysis, and process management. Research Limitation/Implication: In this paper, we focused solely on the influence of TQM practices on the financial performance of a company. As such, the non-financial performance indicators were not considered. Originality/Value of paper: This paper adds value to the existing literature as it focuses on critical factors of TQM implementation examined in relation to the financial performance of the company and provides a good basis for understanding and developing more complex models. Category: Literature review