Excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers in agriculture in order to increase yields has proved unnecessary because a large part of them remain unused and have negative effects on the environment and human health. Therefore, it is a great challenge for farmers to replace the application of pesticides and fertilizers with nanopesticides and nanofertilizers, with the aim of reducing the use of mineral fertilizers and increasing yields, as well as supporting agricultural development. This review provides a detailed overview of the classification of pesticides, commonly used nanoparticles in agriculture and their function, as well as impact of nanopesticides and nanofertilizers on the environment. The application of nanopesticides and nanofertilizers and new delivery mechanisms to improve crop productivity are reviewed and described. Particularly, the advantage of the nanoencapsulation process is emphasized for both pesticides and fertilizers. For hydrophobic pesticides, it may be a tool to provide greater stability, dispersion in aqueous media, and allowing a controlled release of the active compound, which increases its effectiveness. In nanofertilizers, micro- or macronutrients can be encapsulated by nanomaterials which allow to release of nutrients into the soil gradually and in a controlled way maintaining soil fertility, thus preventing eutrophication and pollution of water resources. Risks assessment of application of nanopesticides and nanofertilizers in agriculture are required for their correct and safe application.

Enabling System-of-Systems (SoS) security is an important activity when engineering SoS solutions like autonomous vehicles, provided that they are also highly safety-critical. An early analysis of such solutions caters for proper security architecture decisions, preventing potential high impact attacks and ensuring people's safety. However, SoS characteristics such as emergent behavior, makes security decision-making at the architectural level a challenging task. To tackle this challenge, it is essential to first address known vulnerabilities related to each CS, that an adversary may exploit to realize his attacks within the unknown SoS environment. In this paper we investigate how to use Game Theory (GT) approaches to guide the architect in choosing an appropriate security solution. We formulate a game with three players and their corresponding strategies and payoffs. The proposal is illustrated on an autonomous quarry example showing its usefulness in supporting a security architect to choose the the most suitable security strategy.

Abstract For years, sustainable tourism has commanded the attention of academics and practitioners given its achievement through participatory planning. However, much research in the area has neglected to consider all voices of those (i.e., children) affected by tourism. This study, employing a post-test only experimental design, addresses this gap by including the voices of 498 children from six diverse European destinations concerning perceptions of tourism. Results show that children are willing to express their opinions given the opportunity. Moreover, their attitude towards tourists is negative, while they perceive locals to hold a subordinate position to tourists. In general, this study offers insight into children’s attitudes to tourism from the host perspective, demonstrating that there is a unique insider’s perspective that needs further research.

Abstract Background: The relationship between different surrogates of insulin resistance and left ventricular geometry in obese children is still unclear. Objective: We sought to explore the relationship between commonly used measures of insulin sensitivity/resistance (homeostatic model assessment index, serum uric acid, and triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio) and left ventricular geometry in normotensive obese children. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 32 normotensive obese children were examined. Transthoracic echocardiography was used to measure left ventricular mass index and relative wall thickness. Homeostasis model assessment index, serum uric acid level, and a ratio of triglycerides to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol were used as markers of the insulin resistance. Simple and partial correlation analyses (to control for the effects of body mass index) were conducted to explore relationship between studied variables and left ventricular mass index or relative wall thickness as outcome variables. Results: We found positive correlations between homeostasis model assessment index and relative wall thickness (r = 0.47, p = 0.03) which remained significant after controlling for the effect of body mass index, z-score (r = 0.48, p = 0.03). The cutoff level of homeostasis model assessment index with the optimum sensitivity (Sn) and specificity (Sp) derived from the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for predicting concentric remodelling was ≥5.51 with Sn = 83.33 and Sp = 68.75. Conclusion: There is a positive relationship between homeostasis model assessment index and relative wall thickness of obese normotensive children which may help to distinguish at risk obese normotensive children for the development of concentric left ventricular remodelling.

This paper presents a novel control algorithm for variable speed wind generators (VSWG), designed to provide support to grid frequency regulation. The proposed control algorithm ensures that VSWG ‘’truly’’ emulates response of a conventional generating unit with non-reheat steam turbine (GUNRST) in the first several seconds after active power unbalance. A systematic method of analysis and synthesis of the new control algorithm is described in detail.

OBJECTIVES The physical activity level (PAL) has significantly decreased as a result of the social distancing and lockdown related to the COVID‑19 pandemic, but there is a lack of knowledge on the correlates of PAL during the pandemic. The aim of this research was to examine the influence of pre-pandemic sports participation and substance use and misuse (SUM) on PAL during the COVID‑19 pandemic. MATERIAL AND METHODS The study included 661 high-school students from Bosnia and Herzegovina (aged 15-18 years, 292 females). The investigation included 2 testing waves: before the COVID‑19 pandemic (baseline, January 2020) and during the COVID‑19 lockdown (follow-up, April 2020). The variables included PAL as measured by the Physical Activity Questionnaire for Adolescents, sports factors, and SUM. RESULTS Sports factors at baseline were positively correlated with PALs at both baseline and follow-up. Smoking tobacco negatively affected PALs at both baseline and follow-up. Alcohol consumption was positively correlated with PAL at baseline but had no effect on PAL at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS This study confirmed the importance of sports participation in maintaining PAL during challenging situations, such as the COVID‑19 lockdown. The substance-specific influence of SUM on PAL before and during the lockdown points to evident social and cultural aspects of SUM behaviors in adolescents. Further studies evidencing the cumulative effects of PAL decline during the lockdown are warranted.

Many research studies suggest that the increasing competitiveness of the global economy emphasizes the importance of identifying the drives of sustainable competitive advantage in the intangible domain. This research aims to, according to resource-based theory of the enterprise, model corporate reputation as an invisible resource of the enterprises that enables the creation of the various advantages such as customer satisfaction and gaining loyal customers that further leads to creating competitive advantage and superior business performance. The research aim is to determine the significance and intensity of the simultaneous relationships between corporate reputation, presented as a construct composed of two elements: competence and likeability, and customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. It seeks to determine the significance of the mediator customer satisfaction in the relationship between corporate reputation and customer loyalty. Research data are collected by a survey questionnaire fulfilled by 116 respondents to participate in the research on enterprises from the telecommunication sector of transition economy Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina. To test the proposed research model partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) is applied. Prior to application of the PLS-SEM certain preliminary data and sample analysis are performed. The presence of outliers and requirements of the sample size for PLS-SEM evaluation are examined. To determine whether final sample size is appropriate to conduct PLS-SEM analysis both rule of thumb and results of the analysis made by G*Power software were used. Construct likeability has nearly two times stronger direct effect on customer satisfaction compared to other element of corporate reputation called competence. Only one element of corporate reputation called likeability has significant direct effect on final target endogenous construct customer loyalty. Customer satisfaction has strong significant direct effect on customer loyalty. Beside direct effects of the latent constructs corporate reputation and customer satisfaction on customer loyalty, mediation analysis is performed to test the significance of the mediator called customer satisfaction. Research results indicate the importance of the mediator customer satisfaction in the relationship between corporate reputation and customer loyalty. According to them, both elements of corporate reputation have significant indirect effect on customer loyalty. Likewise, research results enable ranking of the exogenous factors that create and improve corporate reputation. Directing the management attention towards improving certain exogenous factors ensures the development of certain corporate reputation elements – competence and likeability, and provides efficient and effective corporate reputation management. It is revealed that corporate social responsibility, promoting products’ and services’ quality and better business performances improve competence element of corporate reputation, while corporate social responsibility and investments into raising the attractiveness of the enterprise positively influence sympathy and likeability of the enterprises from a stakeholder perspective.

With the rapid advances in IoT, edge and cloud computing solutions, it is critical to educate and train students in computer science and engineering in various aspects of IoT-edge-cloud (IoT-E-C) system architecture implementations. We outline the design and development of an undergraduate laboratory course that sets the goal of implementing various interfaces and communication protocols to connect IoT, edge and cloud computing systems and evaluating their performance. The lab setup is modular and based on open source tools. In the IoT context, it consists of low-cost processing platforms with various sensors and actuators. In the edge and cloud computing context, we implement and deploy single board computers and Firebase cloud solutions, respectively. The modular lab setup allows students to engineer and integrate various communication protocol solutions, including MQTT, COAP and HTTP. In addition to the system implementation, students can evaluate and benchmark the performance of the entire system.