The accurate quantification of ethanol in water is essential for forensic applications such as blood and breath alcohol testing and for commercial applications such as the assessment of alcoholic beverages. The intercomparison EURAMET.QM-S14 is part of a capacity building project named ALCOREF "Certified forensic alcohol reference materials" [1] that is running within the European Metrology Programme for Innovation and Research (EMPIR) [2]. The intercomparison should allow project partners and other interested National Metrology Institutes (NMIs) and Designated Institutes (DIs) to benchmark their analytical methods for the quantification of ethanol in water. The study plan was agreed by the European Association of National Metrology Institutes (EURAMET) Subcommittee Bio- and Organic Analysis (SCBOA) and the Organic Analysis Working Group (OAWG) of the Comité Consultatif pour la Quantité de Matière (CCQM) in February and April 2019, respectively. The intercomparison was coordinated by BAM. Two concentration levels relevant for the calibration and verification of evidential breath alcohol analysers were distributed to study participants. Fifteen institutes from 15 countries registered for the intercomparison and returned results. Participants mostly applied gas chromatography with flame ionisation detection (GC-FID) or mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), one participant used titrimetry and one participant employed a test bench for breath analyser calibration ("bubble train"). Participants did either in-house purity assessment of their commercial ethanol calibrants by Karl-Fischer titration, chromatographic methods, quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (qNMR) and/or density measurements; or they used ethanol/water Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) from NMIs/DIs for calibration. CCQM OAWG agreed to use a consensus value from participants' results that utilizes the reported uncertainties as Key Comparison Reference Value (KCRV). The Gaussian Random effects model with Hierarchical Bayesian solution (HB-REM) is a reasonable approach in this case. The KCRVs and Degrees of Equivalence (DoEs) were calculated with the NIST consensus builder version 1.2 Hierarchical Bayes procedure [3]. Successful participation in the interlaboratory comparison has demonstrated the capabilities in determining the mass fraction of ethanol in aqueous matrices in the range 0.1 mg/g to 8 mg/g. Fourteen out of 15 participants have successfully quantified both samples, one participant successfully quantified only the lower-level (0.6 mg/g) sample. To reach the main text of this paper, click on Final Report. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database https://www.bipm.org/kcdb/. The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCQM, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).

Introduction: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) causes severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which rapidly became a worldwide pandemic. During the pandemic, accurate utilization of medical resources is required while maintaining the safety and well-being of patients and medical staff. This study assessed the safety profile of performing emergency surgical procedures for COVID-19 negative patients confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) preoperatively while positive patients were transferred to be managed at a designated COVID-19 hospital. Methods: This retrospective descriptive study included COVID-19 negative patients who underwent urologic and general surgery procedures for 3 months from March to May 2020. Demographic characteristics, operative and postoperative hospital course, and postoperative COVID-19 status were evaluated. Results: During the 3 months, 865 preoperatively COVID-19 negative patients were evaluated. All patients had uneventful postoperative courses except 2 patients who developed SARS-COV-2 infection postoperatively and were managed conservatively at an isolation facility. The first patient developed bronchospasms and fever upon intubation for laparoscopic appendectomy, with RT-PCR yielding a positive result, while the second developed symptomatic COVID-19 infection 18 days after emergency ureteroscopy. Conclusion: Routine screening for COVID-19 using RT-PCR before emergency surgeries provide an acceptable safety profile and cost-effectiveness. COVID-19 negative patients can be managed safely with standard precautions, while positive patients should be managed at designated hospitals.

This article deals with the protection of consumers when they enter e-commerce transactions with foreign companies. Most states reacted to the growing importance of e-commerce by enacting data protection and consumer protection legislation and by requiring registration of e-businesses. Companies have found a way to circumvent the consumer legislation by offering the consumers to agree to a choice of foreign courts and laws which are included in their terms and conditions. Consumers give away the protection of their home state simply by clicking to accept the general terms and conditions on the company’s website. The purpose of this article is to examine if the solutions and the experience from the United States and the European Union could serve as a model for transnational protection of consumers in e-commerce. The authors discuss the different levels of protection offered in the United States and the European Union and consider unification of the standards by a multilateral convention.

The mail goal of this paper is to research usefulness and satisfaction with the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system from the end users' point of view in companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The research was conducted using a questionnaire, prepared on the findings from the literature. The data were statistically analysed in accordance with the research objectives. The results show that there is a significant difference in user satisfaction with ERP regard to numbers of modules in ERP. Research shows that end users in participated companies are relatively satisfied with their ERP solutions and consider them useful for business, but improvements are still possible.

(1) Background: Obesity could deepen women’s susceptibility to COVID-19 infections and deaths. While physical activity has the potential to improve women’s physical and psychological resilience to the pandemic, there is a dearth of research on factors that motivate women’s participation in physical activity. Thus, to bridge the research gap, this study aims to identify factors that motivate women’s participation in physical activity. (2) Methods: An online survey on motivations for physical activity was developed and distributed to the participants. A total of 108 women offered complete answers (N = 108, 18–33 years old, Mage = 20.34 ± 2.42 years). Participants selected factors that promote their physical activity from a list of 34 factors from the Reasons to Participate in Physical Activity Scale (RPPAS) developed in this study. (3) Results: Exploratory factor analysis revealed that factors that motivate women’s participation in physical activity are: enjoyment and gratification, consideration for other activities (i.e., exergaming), health benefits, networking opportunities, and appearance and performance. Multiple linear regression analyses indicate that only consideration for appearance and performance was significantly associated with participants’ physical activity levels after controlling for compounding factors. (4) Conclusions: The findings of this study underscore the importance of appearance and performance in shaping women’s participation in physical activity. Furthermore, the results also emphasize the need for a nuanced understanding of factors that influence women’s physical activity levels. Future research could investigate how to leverage these motivators in tailored health interventions that aim to improve women’s physical activity.

The importance of applying cooperative learning and aiming toward an increase in motivation to maximize the effectiveness of the learning process has not sparked an intense research interest in the Bosnian EFL context. Thus, the current study, conducted among 211 high-school participants, explores the impact of gender and grade level on students’ cooperative learning and motivation for EFL learning and aims to determine whether any cooperative learning components are significant predictors of students’ motivation and their EFL achievement. The findings showed no significant gender and grade level differences in cooperative learning and motivation. Additionally, the results revealed that individual accountability and interpersonal skills are significant predictors of participants’ motivation and that promotive interaction and interpersonal skills are significant predictors of their EFL achievement. The research points to the importance of incorporating cooperative learning strategies and motivation-strengthening activities into EFL teaching, which will eventually lead to the improvement in students’ EFL achievements.

this paper draws on Uses and Gratification theory and aims to explore the role and impact of different types of social media use at the workplace on employee innovative behavior and individual job performance. Structural equation modeling was used in the estimation of the model linking social media use, employee innovative behavior, and job performance. The findings suggest that only the cognitive use of social media in the workplace has a positive impact on employee innovative behavior and indirectly on job performance. In contrast, social use has a significant negative effect on job performance.