We explicitly construct a heat kernel as a Neumann series for certain function spaces, such as $L^{1}$, $L^{2}$, and Hilbert spaces, associated to a locally compact Hausdorff space $\mathfrak{X}$ with Borel $\sigma$-algebra $\mathcal{B}$, and endowed with additional measure-theoretic data. Our approach is an adaptation of classical work due to Minakshishundaram and Pleijel, and it requires as input a parametrix or small time approximation to the heat kernel. The methodology developed in this article applies to yield new instances of heat kernel constructions, including normalized Laplacians on finite and infinite graphs as well as Hilbert spaces with reproducing kernels.

Introduction: Medical biochemical laboratory professionals play a critical role in diagnostics, research, and patient care, performing complex tasks that require extensive knowledge, professional attitudes, and adherence to best practices. Understanding their knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) is essential for improving laboratory performance, ensuring quality, and enhancing patient outcomes. Despite the importance of quality control systems and international standards, the existing literature reveals a lack of validated instruments to assess KAP among laboratory professionals. This study aimed to develop and validate a comprehensive questionnaire targeting key domains of laboratory practice, with the goal of identifying operational gaps and guiding future interventions. Methods: The questionnaire was developed through a four-phase process: Literature review, item construction, questionnaire distribution, and validation. Psychometric evaluation included internal consistency testing and factor analysis to ensure reliability and validity. Results: The final instrument, titled KAP of Laboratory Professionals on Standards and Work Quality Systems, comprised 73 items across six domains. The overall Cronbach’s alpha was 0.673, indicating moderate but acceptable internal consistency. The questionnaire effectively identifies gaps in KAP related to quality control in medical-biochemical laboratories. Its results can support laboratory managers in recognizing areas for improvement, ultimately enhancing service quality and patient outcomes. Conclusion: This descriptive and analytical study presents a validated and reliable tool for assessing KAP regarding standards and quality control systems in medical-biochemical laboratories. Its application can guide targeted interventions to address deficiencies and strengthen practices in laboratory medicine.

The aim of this research was to examine the current state of speech therapy work in the context of bilingualism in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a special emphasis on diagnostic techniques, assessment measures for bilingual speakers, and the preparedness of speech therapists for such assessments. The research was conducted through a survey entitled "The State of Speech Therapy Practice in the Context of Bilingualism in Bosnia and Herzegovina", which was answered by 61 speech therapists from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results show that speech therapists most often rely on interviews with family members to collect information about the language abilities of bilingual individuals, while informal assessment of both languages is the dominant assessment measure. The most common problem in working with bilingual speakers is the lack of developmental norms and standardized assessment measures for other languages. The results obtained indicate the need for further professional development of speech therapists, as well as the necessity of improving diagnostic approaches and treatments in order to characterize speech therapy practice in this specific context.Keywords:bilingualism, diagnostic techniques, professional readiness, speech therapists.

Social communication plays a crucial role in children’s social, emotional, and academic functioning, while difficulties in this domain may result in long-term developmental consequences. Increasing attention in contemporary research has been directed toward the role of biological risk factors in the development of social communication disorder, particularly those present during the prenatal, perinatal, and early postnatal periods. The study initially included 200 primary school students of both sexes, within which participants with social communication disorder were identified and constituted the experimental group. The aim of this study was to determine the presence and frequency of biological risk factors in children with social communication disorder, to examine differences between children with and without social communication disorder in relation to selected biological indicators, and to explore their association with the occurrence of the disorder. The research was conducted on a sample of 60 primary school students aged 7 to 11 years, including 30 children with social communication disorder and 30 children without the disorder. The criterion for forming the experimental and control groups was performance on a standardized test for the assessment of social communication. Data on biological risk factors were collected using a specially designed questionnaire completed by parents, encompassing prenatal, perinatal, and postnatal variables. Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistical methods, with the level of statistical significance set at p < 0.05. The results showed that social communication disorder was statistically significantly more prevalent among boys. Children with social communication disorder were more frequently bornprematurely, had lower Apgar scores, deviations in birth weight, shorter duration of breastfeeding, and a higher frequency of prenatal complications and maternal medication use during pregnancy. No statistically significant differences between groups werefound with regard to mode of delivery, postnatal hospitalization, or the presence of diagnosed illnesses. The obtained findings confirm the significant role of biological risk factors in the development of social communication disorder and highlight the need for early identification of children exposed to biological risks, as well as the planning of timely and targeted early intervention.Key words: social communication disorder; biological risk factors; prenatal and perinatal factors; children; early development

Arc conductance decay is a well-established performance indicator for thermal interruption in SF6, with a narrow range of known limit values. It is also shown that conductance decay can also serve as a performance indicator in CO2-based mixtures, although different limit values for successful thermal interruption apply. In this publication, values of arc conductance 200 ns before current zero are presented for a large number of experiments performed in CO2/O2 90/10 mixture under short line fault-like conditions. These measurements are used to establish limit values for the CO2/O2 mixture, and to investigate the pressure dependence of conductance decay.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The prevailing paradigm in AI for physical systems, scaling general-purpose foundation models toward universal multimodal reasoning, confronts a fundamental barrier at the control interface. Recent benchmarks show that even 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. This input unfaithfulness is not a scaling deficiency but a structural limitation. Perception-centric architectures optimize parameter-space imitation, whereas safety-critical control demands outcome-space guarantees over executed actions. Here, we present a fundamentally different pathway toward domain-specific foundation models by introducing compact language models operating as Agentic Physical AI, in which policy optimization is driven by physics-based validation rather than perceptual inference. We train a 360-million-parameter model on synthetic reactor control scenarios, scaling the dataset from 10^3 to 10^5 examples. This induces a sharp phase transition absent in general-purpose models. Small-scale systems exhibit high-variance imitation with catastrophic tail risk, while large-scale models undergo variance collapse exceeding 500x reduction, stabilizing execution-level behavior. Despite balanced exposure to four actuation families, the model autonomously rejects approximately 70% of the training distribution and concentrates 95% of runtime execution on a single-bank strategy. Learned representations transfer across distinct physics and continuous input modalities without architectural modification.

The most effective way to ensure drinking water quality and protect public health is the implementation of a preventive, risk-based approach to water supply management. This approach encompasses all stages, from the water source to the consumer, and can be applied across all water supply systems, regardless of their size. The EU Drinking Water Directive (Directive (EU) 2020/2184) emphasizes the importance of this concept. This study assesses and analyzes the risk of groundwater contamination at the water supply sources using a commonly applied risk assessment methodology, which quantifies risk based on the likelihood and potential consequences of hazard occurrence. The methodology for defining risks involved assessing the probability and consequences of certain hazards for the water supply. Based on this, a total of 19 risks were defined, which were prioritized into 4 levels.

In this editorial, we comment on the article published by Qiu et al. Pyogenic liver abscess is a serious clinical condition requiring timely and effective intervention. Ultrasound (US)-guided techniques - whether needle aspiration (NA) or catheter drainage - are key minimally invasive treatments, especially in patients with multiple or deep-seated abscesses where conventional surgery is often impractical. The timing and choice of evacuation method significantly influence clinical outcomes. Although catheter drainage may be necessary for larger or refractory collections, NA represents a less invasive alternative that is often sufficient for smaller abscesses - particularly multiloculated ones - and can avoid multiple catheter placements. This consideration is especially important in the early phase of the disease, when the abscess collection is poorly demarcated from surrounding tissue and more prone to bleeding during or after intervention. Traditional practice delays intervention until liquefaction occurs; however, emerging evidence supports early US-guided evacuation - even in partially liquefied or non-liquefied abscesses - as both safe and effective. Early intervention, particularly via NA when feasible, is associated with faster symptom resolution, shorter hospitalization, and fewer complications. This editorial explores the role of US-guided interventions in pyogenic liver abscess manaement, emphasizing the importance of individualized, timely approaches that optimize disease outcomes while minimizing procedural risk.

This study investigated the influence of biological maturity status on anthropometric, body composition, and physical performance characteristics in elite youth male basketball players. A total of 140 players (15.12 ± 0.78 years) competing in national elite programs were categorized as early, on-time, or late maturers according to years from peak height velocity (PHV). Each participant completed a standardized testing battery including anthropometric assessments, body composition analysis (InBody 720), countermovement jump (CMJ) with and without arm swing, drop jump from 40 cm (DJ40), linear sprints over 5–20 m, and agility tests (t-test and Lane Agility). Between-group differences were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post hoc tests, while partial eta squared (ηp2) and magnitude-based inference (MBI) were applied to assess effect size and practical significance. Significant differences were observed across maturity groups (p < 0.05), with early maturers being taller, heavier, and more muscular than their on-time and late-maturing peers. Large effects were found for height (ηp2 = 0.667) and body mass (ηp2 = 0.455), and moderate-to-large effects for jump, sprint, and agility performance (ηp2 = 0.051–0.166). MBI results indicated that most differences between early and late maturers were “very likely” or “almost certain,” highlighting their practical relevance. These findings confirm that biological maturity substantially affects physical and performance profiles in adolescent basketball players and underscore the importance of maturity-informed approaches such as bio-banding and individualized training to ensure fair evaluation and equitable talent development in youth sport.