Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly recognized as a transformative tool for soft skills training, offering immersive and interactive environments that enhance learning outcomes. The eXcape project leverages VR to develop realistic scenarios that can be designed to practice and learn critical soft skills, such as communication, teamwork, problem-solving, adaptability, and leadership. This paper presents a systematic approach to designing these scenarios ensuring effective skill acquisition and transferability. We discuss the methodology employed in scenario creation, key pedagogical considerations, and the challenges encountered in designing immersive training experiences.

The design process for motor yachts primarily relies on the experience of designers, who draw upon their knowledge gained from working on similar hull forms. However, when a new concept is to be developed, the experience garnered from standard platforms may not suffice for achieving a successful design within a short timeframe. Designing a motor yacht involves considering multiple aspects of ship hydrodynamics, including resistance, propulsion, seakeeping, and maneuverability. While these factors have been extensively discussed for different types of ships, a comprehensive joint investigation of hulls, such as those of motor yachts, is noticeably absent in the available literature. This paper aims to fill that gap by providing guidelines for the design of motor yachts with lengths ranging from 20 to 40 m. As part of a preliminary study, a series of 15 yacht hulls were developed, starting from a reference hull form. The resistance, seakeeping and maneuverability performance of these hulls were assessed under specified environmental conditions and speeds, following the ISO 22834:2022 guidelines for comfort assessment. The calculations produced response surfaces detailing the hydrodynamic properties for this series of yachts as functions of the main dimensions of the hulls. Ultimately, these responses assist in identifying optimal design solutions for the main dimensions of a new motor yacht within the 20 to 40 m length range.

With engineering plastics increasingly replacing traditional materials in various drive and control gear systems across numerous industrial sectors, material selection for any gearwheel critically impacts its mechanical and thermal properties. This paper investigates the engagement of steel and Polyvinylidene Fluoride (PVDF) gear pairs tested under several load conditions to determine polymer gears’ characteristic service life and failure modes. Furthermore, recognizing that the application of polymer gears is limited by insufficient data on their temperature-dependent mechanical properties, this study establishes a correlation between the tribological contact, meshing temperatures, and wear coefficients of PVDF gears. The results demonstrate that the flank surface wear of the PVDF gears is directly proportional to the temperature and load level of the tested gears. Several distinct load-induced failure modes have been detected and categorized into three groups: abrasive wear resulting from the hardness disparity between the engaging surfaces, thermal failure caused by heat accumulation at higher load levels, and tooth fracture occurring due to stiffness changes induced by the compromised tooth cross-section after numerous operating cycles at a specific wear rate.

Increasing travel, climate change, spread of antimicrobial resistance and pandemics increased the need for well-trained infectious diseases (ID) specialists and qualified ID specialist training for protecting public health all over the world. In this study, we aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of ID specialty training programs for standardization and quality improvement in a large geographical area. We conducted a cross-sectional study among national respondents of 29 countries [Central Asia (Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan), the Middle East (Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Lebanon), Southeast Europe (Albania, Greece, Kosovo, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, the Republic of North Macedonia, Croatia), Eastern Europe (Russia, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria), South Asia (India, Pakistan, Afghanistan), Southeast Asia (Malaysia), Türkiye] to evaluate the structure and components of ID training programs. In this study, structural variability in ID training programs was notable. 65.5% of the countries offered independent specialty program, 59% of the countries reported a required exam for entry into the ID specialization. Nearly all of the countries had a formal training curriculum; written exams were the most common used assessment method. This study provides a comprehensive overview of ID specialty training across diverse regions, highlighting major structural differences in curricula, training duration, and national standards. Its broad geographic scope and contributions from actively engaged ID educators offer a unique global perspective. The findings underscore the urgent need for harmonized training frameworks, the strengthening of national curricula, and the promotion of international collaboration and inclusive strategies, all essential for developing a skilled, competent and resilient global ID workforce.

Collocational competence, the ability to use grammatical and lexical collocations accurately, is a crucial aspect of language proficiency, closely linked to natural and fluent language use. Despite its importance, non-native speakers often struggle with collocations, particularly in productive tasks such as writing. This study examines the frequency, types, and errors of collocations among B2-level English language students at the University of Zenica, as defined by the Common European Framework of Reference (2001). A corpus of 150 student essays (76,319 words) was compiled. Collocations were extracted, classified, and analysed based on Benson et al. (2010). The results indicate that lexical collocations (3.3%) were more frequent than grammatical collocations (2.68%), confirming the first hypothesis. However, grammatical collocations exhibited a higher error rate (6.53%) compared to lexical collocations (5.15%), supporting the second hypothesis. Error analysis revealed that negative L1 transfer was the main cause of grammatical collocation errors, while synonymy and analogy contributed significantly to lexical errors. The findings also indicated that students tend to rely on familiar collocations, showing limited experimentation with less common structures. The study has pedagogical implications, suggesting that contrastive analysis, exposure to authentic materials, and creative writing activities could enhance students’ collocational competence. Addressing L1 interference and verb-preposition collocations through targeted instruction could further improve accuracy. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of collocational competence in EFL learning, offering practical strategies for improving teaching methods and student writing skills.

Hearing aid (HA) users often experience increased listening effort, particularly in noisy environments. While noise reduction (NR) algorithms aim to alleviate this, traditional electroencephalography (EEG) methods based on power analysis have limited success in assessing the listening effort in this population. This study proposes a novel method using a whole-head synchronization map analysis that uses local connectivity, a measure of statistical dependencies within localized brain regions. We use EEG electrodes to define a region based on the surrounding electrodes in the first-order neighborhood. This approach was tested using EEG data from 22 HA users with active or inactive NR engaged in a continuous speech-in-noise (SiN) task at low (3dB) and high (8dB) signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) levels. Whole-head synchronization was quantified using circular omega complexity (COC), a multivariate phase synchrony measure. Results showed increased local connectivity in the alpha band (8–12 Hz) within frontal and occipital regions during SiN condition compared to the background noise-only (NO) condition. Furthermore, NR activation impacted the synchronization map differently at the two SNRs of the experiment, with greater effect observed at low SNR, primarily in the left parietal region and alpha band. This behavior is in line with that of existing measures for listening effort, and therefore suggests that EEG local connectivity analysis holds promise as a tool for objectively assessing listening effort in HA users, especially in challenging listening environments.

In this study, we investigate integrating eye tracking with auditory attention decoding (AAD) using portable EEG devices, specifically a mobile EEG cap and cEEGrid, in a preliminary analysis with a single participant. A novel audiovisual dataset was collected using a mobile EEG system designed to simulate real-life listening environments. Our study has two main objectives: (1) to use eye tracking data to automatically infer the labels of attended and unattended speech streams, and (2) to train an AAD model using these estimated labels, evaluating its performance through speech reconstruction accuracy. The results demonstrate the feasibility of using eye tracking data to estimate attended speech labels, which were then used to train speech reconstruction models. We validated our models with varying amounts of training data and a second dataset from the same participant to assess generalization. Additionally, we examined the impact of mislabeling on AAD accuracy. These findings provide preliminary evidence that eye tracking can be used to infer speech labels, offering a potential pathway for brain-controlled hearing aids, where true labels are unknown.

Purpose – Money laundering is one of the most widespread phenomena in the financial world which is seriously threatening the integrity of system and representing a significant risk to a country’s economic development, as well as its progress in geopolitical and infrastructural terms. In recent years, Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) has frequently appeared in various studies, articles, and media publications as one of the countries where this phenomenon is becoming more and more popular, and now we are witnessing that our country is being referred to as a “paradise” for money laundering. This research will focus on the role of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s financial and business sectors, analyzing their role in the money laundering process and attempting to light up on some of the most common methods related to this phenomenon in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Methodology/Research Approach – The research will be conducted using both qualitative and quantitative methods. A detailed analysis of secondary sources of information will be carried out, along with the collection of primary data on the given topic. A review of previously published works and relevant literature will also be conducted. Limitations/Implications – The topic of this research is relatively unexplored and does not receive enough attention in the existing literature/studies, which presents a challenge in gathering needed data. The high unavailability of key information may limit the depth of analysis and accuracy of conclusions. Given the limited data sources, the research has been conducted in accordance with the available information from the approximately last 10 years, which may affect the scope and validity of the findings. Practical Implications – This research contributes to a better understanding of the money laundering phenomenon, with a particular focus on the role of the business and financial sectors in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The research results can help in developing more effective strategies to combat money laundering, thereby reducing the harmful economic and social consequences that this phenomenon brings. Practical recommendations may include improvements in legal provisions and strengthening oversight and control in the business and financial sectors. Originality – This research provides an original perspective on money laundering in the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s business and financial sectors and encourages further discussions and deeper investigations. Previous studies can mostly be characterized as reviews, whereas this paper brings together all relevant macroeconomic variables and variables of interest in this case, offering a deeper insight into and addressing a previously unexplored area.

The future circular $e^+ e^-$ collider (FCC-ee) stands out as the next flagship project in particle physics, dedicated to uncovering the microscopic origin of the Higgs boson. In this context, we assess indirect probes of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), a well-established benchmark hypothesis, exploring the complementarity between Higgs measurements and electroweak precision tests at the $Z$-pole. We study three key sectors: the heavy Higgs doublet, scalar top partners, and light gauginos and higgsinos, focusing on the parameter space favored by naturalness. Remarkably, the Tera-$Z$ program consistently offers significantly greater indirect sensitivity than the Mega-$h$ run. While promising, these prospects hinge on reducing SM uncertainties. Accordingly, we highlight key precision observables for targeted theoretical work.