Car jack is the basic equipment of every car. To replace the tires or to repair a specific defect on the car it is necessary to have a car jack. A modern way of creating the complex mechanical structures is described in this paper, which allows for rapid change of parameters and therefore of the whole design, i.e. the parameterized car jack model was developed. Also, the goal of this research is to carry out kinematic analysis of a car jack design. Parametric model is developed in such a way that all parameters of design are in correlations to one main parameter. The angle of thread spindle is chosen for main parameter. Usually, main parameter should be chosen as one of the parameters from power input elements. Car jack has a human hand power which is applied on car jack handle and because of that, the angle of rotation of thread spindle is the best for main parameter.

In this paper five neural network models were developed using NARX-SP neural network type in order to predict air pollutants concentrations (SO2, PM10, NO2, O3 and CO ) for the 72nd hour ahead for Sarajevo. Hourly values of air pollutants concentrations and meteorological parameters (air temperature, pressure and humidity, wind speed and direction) for Sarajevo were used. Optimal model was selected based on the values of R2, MSE and the complexity of models. Optimal neural network model can predict air pollutants concentrations for the 72nd hour ahead with high accuracy, as well as for all hours up to 72nd hour.

Economic growth is one of the most important concepts in the world economy. Although some authors critically believe that the level and rates of economic growth do not necessarily reflect the actual standard of living, it still remains the main way to measure a country's well-being. Different views on the topic of economic growth, as well as the factors that influence it, have been present throughout the history of economic thought from the very beginning. Unlike many theories of economic growth, which believe that in the long run there will be diminishing returns on factors of production such as labor and capital, Paul Romer in his theory of endogenous growth believes that technological progress, through knowledge accumulation, idea creation and innovation, leads to increasing returns, and thus contributes more to long-term economic growth, unlike other factors. In this paper, on the example of economic growth in B&H, the hypothesis that the activities of knowledge-based services contribute more to the gross domestic product, compared to other sectors was tested. To prove the hypothesis, a multiple linear regression model was made based on a time series of 48 consecutive quarterly values of B&H gross domestic product and sectoral gross value added according to the income and production approach. In the model, activities were grouped into those that are predominantly labor-intensive, knowledge-based services, personal and social services, and other activities. The results showed that the average value of gross value added per worker employed in the sectors of knowledge-based services has a 2.5 higher contribution compared to a worker in the labour-intensive sectors and a 2.47 higher contribution compared to one worker in the personal and social services segment. Also, tests of the implemented model show that additional employment in the sectors of knowledge-based services leads to accelerated economic growth in B&H.

This research was conducted to identify variables that affect the efficiency of banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The required data were collected from 30 respondents (banks directors and CEOs) and a targeted set of 20 questions. For the purposes of data analysis, the statistical technique of factor analysis was used with the help of principal components. In the process of implementing this technique, the general applicability of the model and each variable was tested in order to identify key indicators that affect the efficiency of bank operations. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to identify the factors that most affect the efficiency of banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results of the research showed that the value of the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) is greater than 0.50, which certainly confirms the application of factor analysis, that is, the significance of certain variables on the efficiency and effectiveness of banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Also, the factor rotation matrix indicates that the following variables have the greatest impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of banks operations: the bank provides fast service (q8), the banks communication with clients is good (q9), to meet when granting loans (q19), banks provide different types of loans (q14) and banks offer moderate interest rates on credit placements (q15).

This chapter examines the financial performance efficiency of the restaurant sector in Croatian counties over the period 2013–2017. Today's tourists are ambitious explorers who travel in order to find and explore new experiences and motives for travelling as long as there are interesting things, activities and offers which correspond to their preferences. Among the many motives that today's tourist decides to travel, gastronomic tourism certainty plays an important role. The observation period began in 2013, since that was the year when Croatia acceded to the European Union and joined all the other prominent European food destinations. In order to evaluate the financial performance efficiency, the methodology of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) was applied separately to the data processing of each year. The results of the Charnes–Cooper–Rhodes model showed that only four counties (Lika-Senj, Zadar, Istria and Dubrovnik-Neretva) achieved continuous efficiency over the whole observed period. In 2013 the results of scale efficiency showed that 10 counties (Krapina-Zagorje, Karlovac, Bjelovar-Bilogora, Lika-Senj, Požega-Slavonia, Zadar, Sibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia, Istria and Dubrovnik-Neretva) achieved a score of 1, and in later years there was a decrease. One of the main obstacles of the existing inefficiencies in the entire restaurant sector in Croatian counties is certainly changeable tax legislation and lack of employees in the restaurant sector.

The goal is to discover how Livno and Vlasic cheeses can be included in the gastronomic offer of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to discover how to use gastronomy for the purposes of tourism development in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In modern business conditions, human resources have become the most important resource of enterprises, and many authors point out that this is especially true for SMEs, in which, due to their specificity, human resources create a competitive advantage of the company and affect its survival and development. SMEs are faced with a strong, global competition of large enterprises and in order to survive and grow in the market, they must find specific strengths within themselves, develop and use them. Creativity is one of the most powerful tools that enable SMEs competitiveness, survival and development in the market. The basic objective of this research is to determine whether there is a correlation between recruitment and selection of human resources and organizational creativity in SMEs. The survey was conducted in SMEs in the Federation of B&H in 2019. An original questionnaire was created for the research, which collected the opinion of top managers on the recruitment and selection of human resources and organizational creativity in small and medium-sized enterprises. Data have been analysed using IBM SPSS Statistic 25.0. From the statistical procedures, the following were used: Shapiro-Wilk's test, Pearson's coefficient of correlation, Mann-Whitney U test and t-test for independent samples. The results of the survey showed that there is a correlation between the recruitment and selection of human resources and organizational creativity in SMEs and that there are differences in the correlation between the recruitment and selection of human resources and organizational creativity in the enterprises in terms of their size.

As populations grow, global energy consumption in the next 30 years is predicted to rise by nearly 50%. Nowadays and many years before, the most energy worldwide is provided by fossil fuel which leads to severe pollution and contributes to the greenhouse effect. Hydrogen is the most ideal alternative clean energy, but currently, there is no significant hydrogen production from renewable sources. Hence, there is an urgent need for the development of new photocatalysts which will allow a water splitting for hydrogen production. The photocatalytic water splitting using TiO 2 offers a promising approach for clean, low-cost, and environmentally friendly production of hydrogen as a sustainable fuel. This paper reviews some recently used methods of synthesis such as hydrothermal, rapid breakdown anodization method, impregnation method, and sol-gel synthesis for the preparation of modified TiO 2 materials. These methods of synthesis provide the production of ultra-thin mesoporous TiO 2 nanosheets, nanorods, and nanotubes as well as heterojunction structures. Some investigations show that introduction of Ti 3+ atomic defects is beneficial for the photocatalytic water splitting for hydrogen generation. Some progress has been achieved by heterocoupling the two or more semiconductors. There is experimental evidence that in the presence of alcohol as a sacrificial agent, H 2 production rates decreased from a higher number of hydroxyl groups i.e. in order 3>2>1. The H 2 generation is also larger when TiO 2 is modified with the addition of small quantity of metal nanoparticles such as Pt, Pd, and Ni. One study has shown that the samples sensitised with Pt nanoparticles were superior to Pd and Ni modified TiO 2 , the other has shown that the co-catalyst activity followed the order Pd>Pt≈Au.

Background Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H) is among the top 10 countries in the world in terms of number of smokers. The cigarette prices in B&H are under a direct impact of state excise tax policy. The specific excise on cigarettes was introduced in B&H in 2009. Since then it has been increasing every year thus being the main driver of cigarette prices growth. Methods In this paper we estimate price elasticity of demand for cigarettes following Deaton demand model and apply it on microdata obtained from the Household Budget Surveys in B&H conducted in 2011 and 2015. Deaton model uses within-cluster information to estimate total expenditure elasticities and then uses between-cluster information to estimate price elasticities. For B&H, the cluster is defined as a municipality × in the year t. Our sample contains 14 252 households, divided into 267 clusters. Results Our results show that the price elasticity is statistically significant and amounts to −1.366. This means that if cigarette prices in B&H are increased by 10%, the demand for cigarettes would decrease by 13.66%. Conclusions We found a negative price elasticity of demand for cigarettes of −1.366. These results of the econometric estimate of elasticity of demand are more elastic compared with the results of similar surveys carried out on the sample of low and middle-income countries. It demonstrates that the demand for cigarettes responds strongly to the price increase.

A conscious political erasure of the legacy of socialist revolutions and politics followed the regime changes in Eastern Europe in 1989. The transition moved away from the initial demands for the democratization of socialism, towards capitalism and procedural democracy. In the process, the political experience of the democratic practices of socialism was obscured, as well as the anti-fascist resistance and revolutionary experience of a century-old struggle against authoritarian tendencies and for equality, which was also the driving force of the movement behind the 1989 uprisings.The chapter looks into the case of Yugoslavia and the mechanisms of erasure to argue that a political debt to the socialist past of Europe has been incurred by a deliberate politics of oblivion and discreditation both nationally and supranationally, within the EU institutions. The Yugoslav example is particularly significant given the direct democratic practices it developed despite the bureaucratization of the Communist party in its final decades. The debt thus incurred is however making itself felt in present-day Europe through its political crisis of the so-called democratic deficit and the rising Far Right.

The intent in this paper is to define how the batch equilibrium results of copper removal from a synthetic solution on natural zeolite can be used for prediction of the breakthrough curves in the fixed-bed system for both a synthetic solution and wastewater. Natural zeolite from the Vranjska Banja deposit, Serbia, has been fully characterized (XRD, chemical composition, DTA/TG, SEM/EDS) as a clinoptilolite with cation exchange capacity of 146 meq/100 g. The maximum adsorption capacity (qm) in the batch of the mono-component system (synthetic copper solution) obtained using the Langmuir isotherm model was 7.30 and 6.10 mg/g for particle size below 0.043 and 0.6–0.8 mm, respectively. Using the flow-through system with the 0.6–0.8 mm zeolite fixed-bed, almost double the adsorption capacity (11.2–12.2 mg/g) has been achieved in a saturation point for the copper removal from the synthetic solution, compared to the batch. Better results are attributed to the constant high concentration gradient in flow-through systems compared to the batch. The complex composition of wastewater and large amounts of earth alkaline metals disturb free adsorption sights on the zeolite surface. This results in a less effective adsorption in flow-through systems with adsorption capacity in breakthrough point of 5.84 mg/g (~0.95 × qm) and in a saturation point of 7.10 mg/g (~1.15 × qm).

Dear Editor-in-Chief Marius M. Scarlat, We have read with great attention the article “Medications in COVID-19 patients: summarizing the current literature from an orthopaedic perspective”, written by Shi Heng Sharon Tan and colleagues (Authors) in the forthcoming August issue of International Orthopaedics [1]. We welcome the opportunity to make a short comment as well. This very interesting article evaluates current literature regarding common medications prescribed in orthopaedic surgery and their potential implications in COVID-19 patients. The Authors emphasized that vitamins are commonly prescribed in various orthopaedic conditions. We want to highlight that older people are in increased risk for mortality due to pandemic of COVID-19, but also for different vascular accidents after hip and/or other bone fractures. Also, hyperhomocysteinemia is common in elderly people and often associated increased risk for fractures and cardiovascular diseases, too. Interestingly, values of vitamin B9 (folic acid) and B12 are in negative correlation with levels of homocysteine [2]. Unfortunately, hyperhomocysteinemia appeared to be predictive of all-cause mortality, independent of frailty, an agerelated clinical state characterized by a global impairment of physiological functions and involving multiple organ systems [3]. In one of the very rare studies, high number of pulmonary embolism was noted in COVID-19 pneumonia patients (20.6%), despite the fact that 90% of them were receiving prophylactic antithrombotic treatment due to the current guidelines [4]. Furthermore, according to PubMed survey, there was no reliable data due to concomitance of COVID19, hyperhomocysteinemia and osteoporosis/fractures. So, what to do when we have older COVID-19 patient with high risks for different cardiovascular diseases, including pulmonary thromboembolism, as well as bone fracture? There is an urgent need to different opinions and recommendations, when proper data are absent due to enormous speed of COVID-19 disaster. Clinicians need to adapt to the challenges posed by this crisis and consider ways to continue serving the most vulnerable amongst us, those with chronic disease with their own substantive morbidity and mortality [5]. In light of this, we suggest that level of homocysteine and B9/B12 vitamin should be measured at clinical follow-up in all patients with COVID-19, immediately after hospitalization. If persistent, hyperhomocysteinemic proosteoporotic/ procoagulability state should be promptly decreased in acute phase of COVID-19, on the base of Latin phrase primum non nocere. Our studies from Bosnia and Herzegovina showed that the intake of B9 vitamin, sometimes with B12 vitamin as well, was efficient in creating normalized homocysteine levels in older patients with ischemic stroke and Parkinson’s disease [6, 7]. Fortunately, risk of side effects is minimal if the daily dose of B9 vitamin is 1–5 mg [8]. In addition, B2/B3/B6 vitamins are, as Authors wrote, enhancers of the immune system and might be efficient as soldiers from second echelon in battling with COVID-19. Lastly, we emphasize that further studies will elucidate hidden but also harmful potential of hyperhomocysteinemia on bone fractures/vascular accidents in COVID-19 patients as well as beneficial add-on effects of B9/B12 vitamin on their osteoporotic/vascular complications. * Suljo Kunić suljo.kunic@hotmail.com