In today's globalized, fast-changeable, and digitalized market, companies strongly need and seek talents, who, besides basic skills, possess higher levels, as well as the optimal mix of different competencies and qualifications. Attracting the best employees, developing and retaining them represents a crucial success factor for any firm and requires well-organized talent management. The purpose of this study is to analyze the influence of talent management, viewed through attracting, developing, and retaining talents, on organizational performance improvement in companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Data collection is based on a questionnaire, related to core elements of talent management and organizational performance (profitability and sales growth), with respondents from the population of talented managers, who work in companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The findings indicate that talent management has a positive statistically significant influence on observed organizational performance in companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since talented managers are a key strategic resource, who lead organizations to accomplish excellent organizational performance, companies in developing countries need to tailor effective and customized talent management strategies, to achieve continuous improvement of organizational outcomes.

The current study examined anxiety, neuroticism and extraversion amongst Bosnian high school and university students who were studying English as a foreign language (EFL). By employing the Public Speaking Class Anxiety Scale and the Big Five Inventory (BFI) test, the authors showed that this group of students was characterised by a relatively high level of extraversion and a medium level of neuroticism and anxiety about public speaking in class. The study further investigated the variation in both personality traits and anxiety based on gender, the level of education and out-of-school exposure to English as the target language. The first two factors had an insignificant effect on personality traits and anxiety, whereas out-of-school exposure to English proved to be significant in all contexts. Finally, the multiple regression analysis suggested that anxiety, extraversion and neuroticism were not significant predictors of students’ average EFL grades, while extraversion was a significantly positive predictor and anxiety was a significantly negative predictor of the students’ self-reported EFL knowledge. The study contributes to the further individualisation of formal language teaching and learning, as well as to the promotion of the development of independent life-long learners.

The influence of the production method, i.e. casting technology on the cleanliness and thus the quality of carbon steels is best determined through the presence and type of non-metallic inclusions. A large number of inclusions, especially oxide and complex ones, can significantly affect the mechanical properties of carbon steels and limit their application for the production of finished products. This paper presents the influence of the presence, type and amount of non - metallic inclusions in B500B carbon steel according to ASTM / AISI produced by continuous casting technology without and with the application of stream protection.

The contemporary business environment, characterized by high levels of dynamism, turbulence, and uncertainty, has forced companies to re-evaluate traditional models of commerce and make a shift towards Internet-based e-commerce models. Since the perception of usefulness determines the firm’s willingness to adopt e-commerce, this study strives to explore the contributing factors among SMEs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. A survey of 154 SME managers/owners was conducted, to identify variables that are key drivers of perceived usefulness. The findings revealed that the strategic management benefits, compatibility, and external pressures are the key predictors of perceived usefulness. This study also shows that the perceived usefulness of e-commerce is higher, if companies belonging to the same industry, or the same business network, have already adopted this business model. These findings strengthen the idea of the enterprise bandwagon effect. Compared to the newer and younger firms, the results also indicate that mature firms tend to have higher perceived usefulness of e-commerce.

Takayasu arteritis (TA) is a challenging chronic inflammatory vasculitis of large vessels with unknown etiology. It usually affects the aorta and its main branches and in few cases it affects other arteries like pulmonary and coronary. We report a case of a young woman with transient ischemic attack (TIA) as the initial presentation followed later by ischemic limb syndrome and then ischemic stroke. Lack of specific diagnostic biomarkers for this disease makes early diagnosis and treatment challenging.

This paper presents a fuzzy system for reliability-based power distribution network planning. The proposed Mamdani type fuzzy inference system with subsequent application of the Bellman-Zadeh decision-making method is used to evaluate the reliability of the power line feeders as criteria for power system planning. Unplanned outages of system components, the Energy Not Supplied (ENS) and age of the power lines are used as input variables of the system and are fuzzified using triangular fuzzy functions. The proposed model was tested on a model of a realistic distribution network in order to prove its relevance and applicability. Results demonstrated that this model could make a contribution in this field as it can be used in practical planning situations for project priority ranking.

In this paper, the polyphenol content and antioxidant activity of fig leaf extracts were analyzed. Extraction was performed with methanol, ethanol, acetone and their aqueous mixtures (50:50 v/v). Extractions were performed with stirring at 300 rpm on a vibromix and ultrasonic bath for 15 minutes. The polyphenol content was determined spectrophotometrically using the Folin-Ciocalteu test. Antioxidant capacity was tested using the FRAP and DPPH methods. The results showed a significant effect of extraction of bioactive components using an organic solvent:water mixture in relation to the organic solvent itself. Ultrasonic extraction proved to be a more efficient technique compared to mixing at 300 rpm.  

This paper presents the overview and preliminary results of the HEKTOR - Heterogeneous Autonomous Robotic System in Viticulture and Mariculture project. HEKTOR is divided into two main parts, each dealing with specific scenarios in viticulture and mariculture. The robots used in the project and each specific scenario considered are presented. In viticulture, this includes vineyard surveillance, spraying and bud rubbing using an all-terrain mobile manipulator and unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In mariculture, scenarios include coordinated monitoring of fish net cages from below the surface and from the air, using the UAV, an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and a remotely operated underwater vehicle (ROV).

Metal injection molding technology is commonly used in production of small and very complex parts. Residual porosity is unavoidable characteristic of P/M parts, affecting their final properties. During injection molding phase powder-binder separation can occur, causing green density variation through cross section of the part. This behaviour is particularly pronounced as complexity of the parts increases. As a consequence, zones with different density and residual porosity can be seen after sintering. In this regard, porosity and hardness distribution of the sintered ring-shaped part is analysed and presented in the paper.

This study aims to improve the understanding of perceived managerial decency by developing an initial set of items for its measurement scale. Based on the social exchange theory and driven by the strong need for instilling more decency and civility in managerial discourse, this study makes a comprehensive overview of the scope and domain of perceived managerial decency and extracts the potential decency dimensions. After conducting a literature review, 50 collected interview responses on typical examples of managerial decency, as perceived by employees, served as a basis for further analysis. Using the content analysis tools, we generated a set of initial items and dimensions of decency. Those were further refined by 21 experts (5 from academia and 16 from the target audience) using the means of qualitative and quantitative assessment. as a result, we define the perceived managerial decency construct and outline its six potential dimensions: (1) respectful interactions, (2) treatment with good manners, (3) employee development, (4) mutual trust, (5) decent feedback, and (6) providing insight into a bigger picture, as well as generate a set of 75 valid items that reflect the decency construct. We further discuss the research implications for theory and practice.