Meat inspection is an important part of education for every veterinary student. However, traditional teaching methods require the sacrifice of living animals, and are thus considered expensive, inadequate and inhumane. Development of novel technologies has provided opportunities for new, improved ways of education. Smart 3D Meat Inspection (S3DMI) is an elearning tool that allows veterinary medicine students to acquire required skills using virtual 3D models of animal organs and carcasses. These models can be manipulated and “cut” just like real organs, allowing students to learn this essential skill without the need for animal carcasses. Students are allowed to practice any part of meat inspection as many times necessary, at their own pace, without time, place or resources limitations. This type of education is considered superior to traditional methods. There is no need for sacrification of animals for educational purposes and the cost of education is greatly reduced, while the educational quality is uninterrupted. Models developed for S3DMI can also be adjusted for courses like animal anatomy and pathology, which also require the use of real animal cadavers. S3DMI is still in its developmental stages, but it has a great potential to minimalize the need for animal sacrifice in the education of future veterinarians, while ensuring the quality improvement.

— Cause-effect graphing is a commonly used black-box technique with many applications in practice. It is important to be able to create accurate cause-effect graph specifications from system requirements before converting them to test case tables used for black-box testing. In this paper, a new graphical software tool for creating cause-effect graph specifications is presented. The tool uses standardized graphical notation for describing different types of nodes, logical relations and constraints, resulting in a visual representation of the desired cause-effect graph which can be exported for later usage and imported in the tool. The purpose of this work is to make the cause-effect graph specification process easier for users in order to solve some of the problems which arise due to the insufficient amount of understanding of cause-effect graph elements. The proposed tool was successfully used for creating cause-effect graph specifications for small, medium and large graphs. It was also successfully used for performing different types of tasks by users without any prior knowledge of the functionalities of the tool, indicating that the tool is easy to use, helpful and intuitive. The results indicate that the usage of standardized notation is easier to understand than non-standardized approaches from other tools.

A QKD network provides an additional security layer for IT-secure cryptographic key distribution that is added to existing conventional networks. Thus, QKD network components must be resilient to security challenges from conventional network environments. This paper provided a novel solution for designing a Key Management System resistant to DoS attacks. Our solution allows applications to function securely in environments with fewer keys. In addition, we have provided approaches for allocating and managing QKD resources to avoid malicious key reservations. Simulation experiments verified the proposed solutions.

In GMAW welding, there are several types of metal transfer that are primarily determined by the primary welding parameters. Different metal transfers in an electric arc are characteristic of different applications. In this paper, a detailed characterization of the pulse transfer of metals in an electric arc is performed, including the characterization of parameters and criteria for their selection on the used power source for welding Welbee. For a given Welbee device, the choice of parameters in steel welding is shown, as well as the synergy function that is characteristic of these devices. Welding was performed on structural steels, with previously adopted parameters, accompanied by recording the dynamic characteristics of current and voltage with an oscilloscope. Based on the available literature sources, the existing models for heat input calculation in GMAW pulse welding were analysed in detail. Heat input calculation for welded steel sheets was performed by using one of them, with current and voltage profiles recorded with an oscilloscope. After the experiment, the obtained results were elaborated, and general comments were given regarding influence of parameters on the quality of welded joints.

Aim: The chief aim of this study was monitoring of laboratory parameters of chronic kidney failure in elderly patients. Methods: All samples were taken and processed by standard methods and according to the principles of good laboratory practice. Data were collected in an organized and systematic manner in the form of a questionnaire with respect to ethical principles and as such were analyzed by statistical tests and analyses (Student's t-test, Analysis of variance-ANOVA, Pearson's and Spearman's correlation coefficients). The limit of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results: Mean values of creatinine clearance and proteinuria for the total study population were: 41.30 ± 21.43 mL/min, 1.5 ± 2.3 g/L/24 h, respectively. Hematological parameters did not significantly differ from normal values. The highest frequency of comorbidities was observed in subjects aged ≥ 80 years with an average of 2.03 comorbidities per subject. Serum creatinine and urea values as well as creatinine clearance are good indicators of disease progression. Conclusion: The results of the presented research suggest that old age is a predisposing risk factor for the development of chronic kidney disease, and that in combination with comorbidities (hypertension and/or diabetes), it contributes to poor prognosis or disease progression.

The Western Balkan countries have been lagging behind in their transition process, which started more than 30 years ago. While some justification can be made in the fact that the countries went through wars in the 1990s, the real problem is that they have not been able to create efficient institutions. Inefficient institutions hamper economic growth, as the countries do not attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to the extent they could and should. A lack of FDI affects three aspects of the transition process in the region: developing a functioning market economy, competitiveness, and convergence. Improvements in these areas can only be done by building efficient institutions.

Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) held presidential and parliamentary elections on 2 October 2022, amid the most severe political crisis since the 1992-1995 war. Inefficient institutions and problems created by political leaders led the country to the bottom of economic and political statistics in Europe. While citizens were hoping for a change, it did not come as the nationalist parties won the majority again. The change of the election law imposed by the High Representative during the election night did not bring much hope either. The country is still stuck in its nationalist rhetoric and the lack of dialogue among the decisionmakers. It is difficult to see how the newly elected political leaders will be the ones finally taking responsibility for bringing change.

Croatia, the newest member of the European Union, is set to introduce the euro as its currency in January 2023. Although it was announced that Croatia had fulfilled the Maastricht criteria for monetary union membership in May 2022, the country did not meet the criterion on the general government debt rate. This paper analyses Croatia’s readiness to join the euro area beyond meeting the Maastricht criteria. While monetary union membership has its positive sides, by joining, a country loses one of the most important tools of managing its economy – monetary policy. If the economy is strong and competitive enough, with efficient institutions and stable fiscal policy, the loss of monetary policy can be mitigated. However, Croatia’s decision to join the euro area is hasty, as if the country just wanted to join a prestigious club. This lack of preparedness could have major negative effects on one of the least competitive economies in the EU.

This is the second volume of the official magazine of the European Federation for MedicalInformatics (EFMI) named as “EFMI Inside”, which was established as Newspaper in Lyon in August 2019, during “MEDINFO 2019” Conference and EFMI Council meeting. Idea for founding EFMI Inside was born by Catherine Chronaki, current President of EFMI and Izet Masic, Honorary Fellow of EFMI and Editor-in-Chief of the official journal of EFMI Acta Informatica Medica. EFMI Council members discussed and concluded to start with magazine in which we can record important and prompt facts and information about past of EFMI, with current and future activities of European Federation for Medical Informatics). After the first issue published in 2020 a lot of medical informaticians expressed their positive comments about usufull and informative magazine within medical informatics field worldwide. This publication became an important and useful resource of EFMI activities for everybody who wants to be familiar with Medical informatics development and achievements in all areas of this academic and scientific discipline in European countries, but also, worldwide. The second issue covered facts about 31st MIE 2021 Conference organized in Athens in May 2021, but also contains important facta about other EFMI activities and intreview with a pinoneer of Medica informatics, academician Gjuro Dezelic from Croatia, and finaly, obituaries of the three influential Medical informatics experts: Francis Roger France, Ragnar Nordberg and Peter Pharow. Some of chairs of Working Groups contributed with their reports in the past year who were actively involved in the development of Medical informatics in their countries, but also worldwide.