Serbia, with its large population and rich mineral and agricultural resources, was the Kingdom of Yugoslavia's spiritual and economic heartland. It also hosted the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, and linked Central Europe with Greece and Turkey via strategically important lines of communication. These facts escaped neither the Germans nor the guerrilla movements which came into life after the war had begun. Therefore, Serbia enjoyed a special position in Yugoslavia in terms of the occupation system and how the occupiers dealt with the resistance they encountered. The necessities of war would force the opposing sides in other parts of the country to agree to a limited de-escalation of violence when prisoners were involved. Serbia, apart from the first months of the war, would remain excluded from these arrangements.

After the downfall of the Užice Republic in late November 1941, the focus of the war was transferred from occupied Serbia to the neighboring Independent State of Croatia. Unlike in Serbia, there were comparatively few encounters between the Partisans and the Germans west of the Drina River for the better part of 1942. Nevertheless, the Partisans in the NDH made several local attempts to exchange prisoners. After a group of German civilians was captured in Livno in August 1942, the exchange of prisoners was increasingly negotiated between the highest commands of both sides. These talks were perceived by all as a means to sound out the enemy's intentions and political aims. Consequently, both the Partisans and the Germans were keen to continue them into 1943.

This chapter examines prisoner exchanges that various units negotiated independently of the Pisarovina cartel. To provide the proper context, the chapter covers not only the contacts from 1944 and 1945, but also those which took place in the year preceding the establishment of the neutral zone. The willingness of a unit commander to offer or accept an exchange was largely dependent on the manner in which the high commands on both sides decided to wage the war. Therefore, the centrally negotiated agreement from early 1944 had a huge impact on the conduct of the war. Furthermore, several instances of German-Partisan talks pertaining to issues other than prisoner swapping are discussed as well.

What transpired in Pisarovina, a small village located on the outskirts of Zagreb, is unique not only to Yugoslavia, but to the Second World War in general. Pisarovina was the location officially agreed by both the German occupation authorities and the Yugoslav Partisans to function as the center of the prisoner exchange cartel at the end of 1943. In order to facilitate this, the village and its immediate surroundings were declared a neutral zone, quite possibly the only such place in war-torn Europe. The system saved hundreds, if not thousands, of prisoners who faced an uncertain fate. Frequent contacts between the envoys provided both the Germans and the Partisans with a "back-channel" for talks on political issues and trade, as well as the opportunity to spy on each other.

This chapter contains a few concluding remarks. This book is the first attempt at a comprehensive analysis of non-violent contacts between the Partisans and the German occupation authorities in Yugoslavia in the Second World War. Far from being the final word on the topic, it is a starting point for further research on various aspects of POW history. Frequent exchanges of able-bodied prisoners between the occupation forces and a resistance movement, partly through a cartel negotiated directly between their high commands, was a distinctive feature of the Second World War in Yugoslavia. It was probably the only place in war-torn Europe where representatives of two irreconcilable ideologies, Communism and Nazism, met regularly at the negotiating table. Both were primarily motivated by the desire to save their own men, but the talks did mitigate, however marginally, the horrors of the war.

Prisoner exchange is as old as warfare itself. Along with ransom, it was one of the few hopes for prisoners of war until the advent of modern international law. By the beginning of the 17th century, prisoner exchange had become a recognized institute of rules and customs of war, with European states agreeing on exchange arrangements (so-called “cartels”) whenever they fought. The prime motive behind the exchange was the need to get one’s own trained soldiers back as soon as possible, but also to minimize the cost of keeping enemy prisoners. Only full-fledged “civilized” nations could form a cartel; native tribes and rebels were not seen as subjects of law. It is therefore not surprising that the British did their utmost to avoid entering a general cartel during the Revolutionary War (1775–83), for by doing so they would recognize the legitimacy of the nascent United States and their Continental Army. Approximately ninety years later, the Federal government in Washington faced the same problem and kept refusing an all-encompassing cartel with the Southern “rebels” for over a year after the beginning of hostilities in April of 1861. The deal was eventually reached in July of 1862 and would be in place until May of 1863. Although the official text read that the Union representatives signed the agreement with the people who had been “commissioned by the authorities they respectively represent,” the signing was a ...

ABSTRACT Vaccination uptake in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH), in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is suboptimal. This study aimed to (1) assess vaccination coverage, timeliness and drop-out for children born in 2015 and 2016 and compare these with official administrative coverage estimates, (2) identify associations between characteristics of children/caregivers and vaccination uptake. This was a cross-sectional study based on patient files for children 12–23 months (n = 1800) and 24–35 months (n = 1800). Methods were adapted from the World Health Organization cluster survey methodology. A two-stage stratified sampling procedure was conducted in urban and rural strata. A structured paper-based form was completed by a pediatrician/nurse from randomly selected primary care centers and patient files. Estimates were based on weighted analysis with a 95% confidence interval to account for the survey sampling design. Vaccination coverage was consistent with administrative coverage levels for BCG, DTP and MMR, and lower for HepB; all considerably lower than regional targets. Children in urban areas had lower vaccination uptake. An assumption that anti-vaccination sentiment prevails among caregivers was not confirmed; only 2% of children were not vaccinated at all, instead challenges related to delays and drop-out. An assumption of caregiver concerns for the MMR vaccine was confirmed with low uptake and delays. The FBiH has experienced vaccination schedule changes due to supply issues; findings confirmed that sustainability in supply and schedule is high priority. These data are new and provide important information for developing strategies to increase uptake.

Access or access point usually presents approaching roadway constructed directly along the driveway of the main road through whom vehicles are entering on or exiting from private property, but also it implies commercial approaching and access roads. Increased access-point density connected on the main road affects the disorder of functional dependence of fundamental parameters of traffic flow. An increase of access-point density on the main road has the effect of decrease of capacity and speed of traffic flow, but also increase of travel time. This paper is the outcome of research on several roadway segments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and results are presenting the distribution of access points in a function of section length. Key results are related to access-point density, i.e. number of access points on both sides of two-lane highways divided by the length of the roadway segment. Depending on access-point density, decrease of free flow speed appears on mentioned sections which value goes from 2,35 km/h to 21,53 km/h and that is significant dispersion determined free flow speeds on given sections. In this paper is analyzed unplanned and uncontrolled construction of a large number of access points along the driveway of two-lane highway, which does not attract significant attention in our country and neighborhood. The main goal of this paper is to determine decrease of speed on segment of representative road network depending on access-point density and highlight the importance and necessity of increased control of access points.

Abstract Fetal shoulder dystocia (FSD) is an unpredictable and critical obstetric intrapartum emergency, where an objective problem is the relationship between the mother's pelvis and the child, i. e., an anthropometric disorder of delivery mechanics and dynamics. It is evident that the need to perform other maneuvers indicates the severity of FSD, which in turn correlates with the consequent iatrogenic injury of the fetus and/or mother. FSD is certainly the most controversial forensic obstetric problem, with the most disputes, compensation for damages due to peripartum injury to the child and/or mother, pain suffered, the need for someone else's care, and permanent disability. Suboptimal procedures and inadequate documentation are factors of forensic risk and subsequent litigations. Prevention of FSD is generally not possible, although good antenatal care can sometimes exclude risky cases of FSD, and some rare, chronic intrauterine disorders can result in orthopedic and neurological sequelae, which is especially important in forensic analysis. Because FSD is largely impossible to predict, it must be viewed as an intrapartum acceptable risk. During childbirth, FSD may compromise the safety of the mother and unborn child, therefore education and skills acquisition are necessary for obstetric work. Risk control, proper procedures, and proper documentation, along with good communication with the pregnant women and their families, significantly reduce litigation procedures.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a polygenic disease of unknown etiology, occurs worldwide in both developed and underdeveloped countries and involves all races. The aim of this study is to determine the correlation between hematological parameters (DBC and ESR) and biomarkers of inflammation (CRP) in patients with RA predisposing gene variants HLA-DRB1*04 or HLA-DRB1*03. This study analyzed the results of hematological and biochemical parameters of 33 patients diagnosed with RA, carriers ofgene variants of HLA-DRB1*04 or HLA-DRB1*03, and 33 subjects of control group non-carriers for HLA-DRB1*04 or HLA-DRB1*03. All hematological parameters (DBC) were analyzed on a Beckman Coulter DxH 800 hematology counter. The erythrocyte sedimentation rate was expressed in mm/h. The CRP biochemical test was performed on a Cobas c311 automatic analyzer. In group of RA patients carriers of HLA-DRB1*04 or HLA-DRB1*03 gene variants, the values of HGB and HCTwere significantlylower(p < 0.05) while the values of RDW, RDW-SD, MO, BA, MO#, BA#, ESR and CRP were statistically increased (p < 0.05) from the control group without these variants.

Retention is a phase of orthodontic treatment devised to keep the teeth in a correct position once the orthodontic treatment has been completed. There are three main characteristics that each ideal retainer is required to have: to keep the teeth in the correct position after orthodontic therapy, to be long lasting and resistant to mechanical damage, and to have no adverse long-term effects on periodontal tissue. Through a computer-based browsing through a number of databases (such as, e.g. PubMed and Google Scholar) we have found and analysed various articles used in this research. The inclusion criteria to be met were: an overall availability of a research paper, the requirement that these research papers are published in English, that these research papers were published in the period 2007-2019, the requirement that the research papers should involve clinically randomized studies and that their titles contain one of the predefined keywords. The database browsing that is based on the said keywords and carried out within the above time frame has resulted in finding 165 relevant articles. A complete set of the inclusion criteria were met by 8 published research papers, but 7 articles were analysed in the end. The selected articles have compared different types of fixed and mobile retainers, different times of wearing the retainers, the impact that the retainers had on the periodontium, and the acceptability of different retention protocols for patients. The conclusion of this research paper is that bonded retainers prove to be most effective in stabilising the position of the incisors, particularly the lower ones, but that their disadvantages include the reopening of the extraction space and the retention of plaque due to difficulties in maintaining oral hygiene. Vacuum-formed retainers appear to be more effective than Hawley retainers in retaining the position of the incisors, and patients have indicated that they are more acceptable to wear. Hawley retainers prove to be most effective in preserving a closed extraction space, but they do now show solid results with regard to other segments. Changes in the overbite, overjet, arch length, and anterior and posterior widths did not show any significant statistical differences in the different types of retainers.   Keywords: orthodontics, retention, stability, impact

The world agriculture uses about 70% of the world water resources in irrigation. The concern over the sustainability of water use as demand for agricultural, industrial, and domestic uses continues to increase. Conflicts between particular sectors result in tensions, which sometimes lead to “water wars” in different parts of the world. It is the reason why many national and international organizations are putting the water quantity and quality questions on the top of the world’s open questions/problems. The main aim of this paper is to present soil water balance of the Mediterranean region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, prepared for a long-term time series for two locations (Trebinje and Mostar) annually and during the vegetation period. The mean long-term data has been used as a base for future predicted calculation. The predicted PET was based on an increase in air temperature by 2°C and predicted decrease in precipitation by 25%. With so predicted calculated data of monthly PET and monthly precipitation the predicted soil water balance was done.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate adverse effects, progression free survival (PFS), one-year local control (LC) and one-year overall survival (OS) of patients with liver oligometastases treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), and whether there was a significant difference in these parameters in patients with primary colorectal cancer compared to other tumor localizations. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients were simulated using four-dimensional computed tomography (4DCT). Using volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) technique, SBRT was performed on 16 patients with <3 liver metastases. The prescribed dose was 60 Gy in 8 fractions (BED 105 Gy). Cone beam CT (CBCT) was used for image guidance before each fraction with online correction. RESULTS There were no adverse effects. Median PFS for all patients, patients with primary colorectal cancer, and patients with primary non-colorectal cancer was 11 months (SE 2.1), 16 months (SE 2.8), 6 months (SE 2.4), respectively. There was no significant difference in the PFS for these two observed groups (P=0.09). The one-year LC was 62.5%. Patients with primary colorectal cancer had one-year LC of 87.5%, while the group of patients with primary non-colorectal cancer had one-year LC of 37.5% (P=0.063). The total one-year OS was 87.5%. In the group of patients with primary colorectal cancer, the one-year OS was 100%, while in the group of patients with primary non-colorectal cancer, the one-year OS was 75% (P=0.317). CONCLUSION SBRT with 8 × 7.5 Gy can be safely delivered and is effective method of treating liver oligometastases.