The Botanical Garden of the University of Banjaluka is part of the “University City” complex sprawling over 5.3 ha. The complex began as the "Vrbas" Austro-Hungarian barracks at the end of the nineteenth century and it was used for military purposes until 2004. After being assigned to the University of Banja Luka in 2004, the area was allocated to the Genetic Resources Institute to make use of it. The Botanical Garden facilities are divided into three separate sections. In one section, the setting up of the botanical collections of genetic resources has begun. There is a fruit collection and preliminary characterization has also started on the accessions. In addition, ex-situ collections of vegetables, aromatic and medicinal plants and herbs, industrial and wild plants were designed. In the middle section, a pond was planned and the establishment of an arboretum collection was initiated, with representatives of autochthonous woody species. In the third section, green houses were designed and a building with gene bank facilities and laboratories was built. The Botanical Garden of the University of Banja Luka, as a place for ex-situ plant conservation, is of great importance for the conservation of biodiversity as well as for scientific research in this field.

This paper presents the results of the project titled " Agricultural Biomass Cross-border Development of Energy in Posavina” - ABCDE Posavina implemented within the IPA Cross-border Programme between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Its main objective is to promote agro-bioenergy in rural economies by including utilisation of agricultural biomass for energy purposes in the Posavina region. The region includes Vukovar-Srijem County (VSC) in Croatia and four municipalities (Odžak, Domaljevac-Samac, Orasje, Samac) and Brcko District in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). These areas represent valuable agricultural land with a good potential for economic utilisation. The analysis of agricultural biomass potential includes production of biogas in co-digestion of manure (cattle, pigs and poultry manure) and maize silage (input of maize silage is limited at 30% of feedstock mass) as well as biodiesel from oilseed rape and bioethanol from maize. Potential GHG savings are estimated for the biogas and biofuels use. Theoretical biogas energy potential is estimated at 1,386 TJ/yr for VSC and 574 TJ/yr for BiH. Based on the theoretical potential for generation of electricity and heat from biogas, total installed capacity in VSC would be 19.8 MW e while 8.2 MW e in BiH. The corresponding theoretical potentials for biodiesel production are 4,258 TJ/yr (VSC) and 1,415 (BiH) while for bioethanol these are 6,140 TJ/yr and 1,689 TJ/yr, respectively. It is assumed that 50% of total theoretical biogas potential and 30% of total theoretical biofuel potential are achievable. Annual GHG savings for biogas use are estimated at 31.30 ktCO2-eq (VSC) and 26.84 ktCO2-eq (BiH). Annual GHG savings due to biodiesel use are estimated at 37.46-64.22 ktCO2-eq (VSC) and 12.45-21.34 ktCO2-eq (BiH) and for bioethanol use at 54.02-92.61 ktCO2-eq (VSC) and 14.86-25.48 ktCO2-eq (BiH).

The solubility enhancement of diazepam and nitrazepam in water was analyzed depending on temperature and amount of α-cyclodextrin ( α-CD), β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (2-HP-β-CD). The interactions of drug-cyclodextrin in solution were investigated by the phase-solubility analysis. Diazepam (nitrazepam) content in aqueous complexation medium was analyzed UV spectrophotometrically. Classical solubility data were used to derive apparent stability constants (K1:1) which were used to derive thermodynamic parameters for the diazepam (nitrazepam)-cyclodextrin complexes. Since all phase solubility plots were of AL–types, and calculated Slopes after linear regression analysis were found to be less than 1, it could be assumed that stoichiometry of the formed binary systems was 1:1. According to the calculated K1:1 values, the stability of the complexes of diazepam and nitrazepam with a-CD, β-CD and 2-HP-β-CD varies as follows: 2-HP-β-CD > β-CD > β-CD. The a-CD has higher affinity for dissolving nitrazepam compared to diazepam. While all parameters lead to an improvement in solubility, the largest effect was obtained for guest-host complexation with 2-HP-β-CD. The solubility of diazepam and nitrazepam in water increased 93.02 times and 64.23 times, respectively, in the presence of 40% (w/w) 2-HP-β-CD, at 25°C. Solubility data for diazepam and nitrazepam in aqueous 2-HP-b-CD were used to derive thermodynamic parameters, ΔG° at 298 K = –14.43 kJ·mol–1, ΔH° = 0.79 kJ·mol–1, ΔS° at 298 K = 51.17 J·mol–1·K–1 and ΔG° at 298 K = –13.43 kJ·mol–1, ΔH° = 2.38 kJ·mol–1, ΔS° at 298 K = 53.01 J·mol–1·K–1, respectively. Formation of inclusion complexes substantially increases the water solubility of diazepam and nitrazepam. Diazepam and nitrazepam dissolution thermodynamics in aqueous 2-HP-β-CD were characterized by spontaneous and endothermic dissolution and hydrophobic interactions.

According to the number of published research studies, Cattell's 16PF Inventory is the most commonly used tool for exploration of 'normal' personality ever. Besides confirmed cross-cultural validation and standardization on a very large number of respondents, from the early start this inventory was followed with a controversy regarding its factorial structure, especially its second-order factors. The ambiguity among studies that examined the 16PF leads us to the problem of this research which is evaluation of general factors of the 16PF personality inventory-5th edition. The main goal of this research is to explore the factorial structure of the second-order factors congruent with Cattell’s hypothesis. The research was conducted on a sample of students from Tuzla and Sarajevo (N = 512, average age M = 21.74; SD = 3.72). The 16PF showed relatively modest psychometric properties on first-order factors level. Reliability coefficients varied between α = .47 and α = .73. Only H and Q2 factors have satisfactory reliability. The second-order factor analysis, using promax rotation, extracted 4 factors which accounted for 54% of variance. The first factor, accounting for about 20% of variance, could be identified as Anxiety. The second factor, accounting for about 13% of variance, conditionally corresponds to Self-Control factor. The third factor accounts for about 11% of variance and can be conditionally designated as Extroversion. The fourth factor accounts for 10% of variance and is most similar to Cattell’s factor of Independence. Cattell’s fifth factor, Tough- Mindedness, was not confirmed. We can conclude that the 16PF in general has very poor psychometric properties, and that the factorial structure proposed by the authors was not entirely confirmed.

The aim of this paper is to examine the extent and impact of the global financial crises on position of the banking sector of Western Balkans covering both pre-crisis and crisis period as well as to provide an explanation for these trends.This paper deals with cross-country comparison analysis of banking in Western Balkans before and during crises. Although, depth of the crisis in the banking sector of Western Balkans is not yet fully evident, selected indicators in this paper point to its direction. The research alone has determined the paper’s structure which consist an analysis of the impact of the global financial crisis on recent occurrences in the banking of the region.Impact of global financial crises has been transmitted on the position banking sector selected countries through several sources, especially through: impact profitability, credit growth has dropped significantly and asset quality has deteriorated markedly.Although the economies of Western Balkan countries in crisis period performed differently the results of the comparison show that the global financial crisis has a substantial impact on the banking sector of the region.