scholarly journals Balkan Vegetation Database (BVD) – updated information and current status

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 151-153
Author(s):  
Kiril Vassilev ◽  
Hristo Pedashenko ◽  
Alexandra Alexandrova ◽  
Alexandar Tashev ◽  
Anna Ganeva ◽  
...  

The Balkan Vegetation Database (BVD; GIVD ID: EU-00-019) is a regional database, which was established in 2014. It comprises phytosociological relevés covering various vegetation types from nine countries of the Balkan Peninsula (Albania – 153 relevés, Bosnia and Herzegovina – 1715, Bulgaria – 12,282, Greece – 465, Croatia – 69, Kosovo – 493, Montenegro – 440, North Macedonia – 13 and Serbia – 2677). Currently, it contains 18,306 relevés (compared to 9.580 in 2016), and most of them (82.8%) are geo-referenced. The database includes both digitized relevés from the literature (65.6%) and unpublished data (34.5%). Plot size is available for 84.7% of all relevés. During the last four years some “header data information” was improved e.g. elevation (now available for 83.4% of all relevés), aspect (67.7%), slope (66%), total cover of vegetation (54.3%), cover of tree, shrub, herb, bryophyte and lichen layers (27.1%, 20.1%, 40.2%, 11.5% and 2.1%), respectively. Data access is either semi-restricted (65.6%) or restricted (34.4%). Most relevés (84.6%) are classified to syntaxa of different levels. The database has been used for numerous studies with various objectives from floristic, vegetation and habitat-related topics, to macroecological studies at the local, regional, national, continental and global levels. During the last four years, BVD data were requested from 111 different projects via the EVA and sPlot databases.

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 9-20
Author(s):  
Đorđije Milanović ◽  
Vladimir Stupar

UDK: 581.5(497.6) The beginnings of vegetation research of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H), according to Braun-Blanquet’s approach, date back to early 1930s, culminated in the period of 60s-70s, and declined until the end of 20th century. Twenty years after the war B&H vegetation science hasn’t still achieved the pre-war level. The starting point for the preparation of the checklist of vegetation classes was the vegetation database of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which contains 6823 relevés, which were digitized and imported in TURBOVEG database for storage of large relevé datasets. Total of 4780 relevés were collected from 123 references (2906 regularly published, 1331 from grey literature and 543 from manuscripts), while 2043 are unpublished relevés, mainly recorded by the team of the Department of Forest Ecology at the Faculty of Forestry in Banja Luka. Analysis of this dataset suggests that vegetation of Bosnia and Herzegovina comprises 60 classes. According to the overviews of vegetation of Bosnia and Herzegovina published so far, the vegetation dominated by vascular plants numbers 33 and 39 classes respectively. This discrepancy can be partially attributed to different syntaxonomic concepts used in these overviews compared to the latest Checklist compiled at the European level (EuroVegChecklist), which was our guideline, but also to uneven level of elaboration of different vegetation types and geographical regions in B&H. Six classes of forest vegetation share almost 60% of the total number of relevés, while another six classes of various grasslands take another 25%. The other 15% is divided among the rest of 48 classes. Some of the classes without relevés are, in our own opinion, present in B&H, but still need to be confirmed, while the others, even though mentioned in literature, couldn’t be confirmed at the field after extensive research.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Bojan Jankovic

<p>This thesis focuses on the role of an international actor - United Nations (UN) - and its missions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMBiH) during 1992-1995 and Kosovo (UNMIK) in the post war conflict period of peace building. It scrutinizes the tenor of UN peace building missions in these territories by analysing the scope of the policies introduced and the effectiveness (or ineffectiveness) of the international actors' activities during the times of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) before the conflict in Kosovo and Metohija (KiM); and the current situation in these two territories. The thesis will also argue that the ethnic identities played a critical role in relation building between the UN and ethnic groups, where the one ethnic group (Serbs) was recognised as a crucial factor for the conflict's escalation and development. A further focus in this thesis is not only to provide constructive discussion of the ineffectiveness of policies and missions introduced by International Actors (IA) but also to challenge the UN and IA's decision for non-intervention in BiH and to address the consequence of subsequent humanitarian-military intervention in KiM. This paper outlines an analysis of the lack of literature relating to the historical-sociological perspective of the ethnic groups' in BiH. The lack of understanding of the complex relationships among the ethnicities is an additional gap. This is exacerbated by the lack of understanding of the complex relationships among the ethnicities, within itself, as well as the differences among the groups within each ethnic group. It appears that the literature is unable to acknowledge the structural formation of societies in BiH, and to make proper segmentation in understanding the particular group of people (Rex, 2001) as a collection of peoples with different sociological characteristics combined into something called 'ethnicity'. The handicap of such literature leads to the categorisation and generalisation of ethnicities; not at one particular area of an ethnic group's presence but to the generalisation of the peoples' ethnicities (all Serbs are barbarous, similar to the Germans after WWII). This paper argues that such generalisations developed the notion that the particular ethnic group (Serbs) has an 'evil' character, regardless of the territorial occupation (Bosnia as well as Serbia and Diaspora). In addition, the lack of recognising Serbs as a people composed of different individual (local) ethnic groups led to the global generalisation about Serbs. And yet, such generalisations, by the modern western actors, i.e. UN, EU (European Union) and USA (United States of America), led to the employment of negative assumptions about the Serbs which served as a tool for, and added impetus to, the implementation of a strategy to achieve the Western objectives of the devaluation of Serbian dominance in Bosnia and across the Balkan Peninsula. Therefore the quality of literature, in addressing the questions about the conflict in BiH and later KiM, beside its attempts to offer some sustainable answers, remains inadequate and poor. This unsubstantiated position, offered by many involved in former-Yugoslavian conflict discussions, to offer an informed conclusion, persists as a never-ending debate. Yet, the discourse about the guilty factor in BiH and KiM remains in the shape of the 'evil' Serbian nation.</p>


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-25
Author(s):  
J. Gardasevic ◽  
D. Bjelica ◽  
I. Vasiljevic

Background and Study Aim: The aim of this research was to determine the differences between the young soccer players (U19) in terms of anthropometric characteristics and body composition. We considered players of three the most successful clubs in three countries of the southern region of the Balkan Peninsula. Material and Methods: The first sub-sample of the subjects was consisted of 17 players of OFC Titograd from Montenegro of the average age 17.12±.69. The second sub-sample was consisted of 14 players of FC Siroki Brijeg from Bosnia and Herzegovina of the average age of 18.14±.86. The last sub-sample of the examinees was consisted of 15 players of FC Feronikeli from Kosovo of the average age 18.07±.46. Anthropometric characteristics in the body composition were evaluated by a battery of 11 variables. The significance of the differences between the young soccer players in the anthropometric characteristics and variables for assessing body composition were determined by ANOVA and LSD Post Hoc test. Results: The young soccer players of the three mentioned clubs have statistically significant differences by the two variables that estimate the upper leg skinfold and fat percentage. The young soccer players of OFC Titograd are significantly better in variable upper leg skinfold than other players. The young soccer players of FC Feronikeli are significantly better in variable fat percentage than players of OFC Titograd. Conclusions: The results can be useful for coaches of other clubs for making a comparison of their soccer players with the young soccer players in this research.


Author(s):  
Carlo De Bernardi

Abstract The API 20S Standard is designed to play a crucial role in leveraging Additive Manufacturing (AM) to foster innovation in the oil and gas industry. The paper, in association with the standard, will facilitate the understanding of how AM will enable equipment design improvements, faster prototyping, and better inventory management. By way of discussing the progress, challenges, and lessons learned from the standardization process, the paper aims to encourage a safer, broader, and faster adoption of AM technologies in the mainstream oil and gas applications. The paper will summarize the streamlining process, feedback from the API 20S task group, and current status of the standardization efforts. Additionally, upcoming challenges and the potential for the oil and gas industry industries to contribute to the standard will be summarized. The paper will also showcase a novel tiered approach (Additive Manufacturing Specification Levels) to allow the users of the document to match different levels of criticality.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 706-725 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annette Jäckle ◽  
Stephanie Eckman

Abstract Measurement and analysis of change is one of the primary reasons to conduct panel surveys, but studies have shown that estimates of change from panel surveys can be subject to measurement error, most commonly overreporting of change. For this reason, many panel surveys use a technique called proactive dependent interviewing, which reminds respondents of their answer in the previous wave, and has been shown to reduce the capturing of spurious change. However, so far very little guidance exists in the literature on how such questions should be worded. Here, we use data from three experimental studies to examine question wording effects with proactive dependent interviewing. Because we link data from one of the surveys to administrative records, we can examine not only different levels of change by format, but the accuracy of the change reports as well. Our results show that how questions about current status are worded affects the reporting of change. The overall results, including comparisons with administrative records, suggest that reminding respondents of their previous answer and then asking, “Is that still the case?” produces the most accurate data on change and stability experienced by respondents.


Author(s):  
H. Tahirović ◽  
A. Toromanović ◽  
N. Hadžibegić ◽  
D. Štimljanin ◽  
R. Konjević ◽  
...  

AbstractAssessment of the status of iodine prophylaxis was studied in 5,523 schoolchildren randomly selected in all cantons in Bosnia and Herzegovina Federation (BHF). According to the iodine content of household salt samples, all cantons of BHF were divided into two groups: Group A: 95.5% of the salt used is produced in the Tuzla plant, in which the salt is iodized at 5-15 mg Kl/kg salt, and 4.5% of the salt used is produced in the Pag plant, in which the salt is iodized at 20-30 mg Kl/kg of salt, and Group B: 19.9% of the salt used is produced in the Tuzla plant and 80.1% in the Pag plant. In Group A the amount of iodine in salt was significantly lower than in Group B (11.4 mg/kg vs 18.9 mg/kg, P <0.001). In Group A the prevalence of goiter was significantly higher than in Group B (32.6% vs 19.7%, P <0.001). The highest prevalence of goiter was in Bosnian Podrinje Canton (51.2%) and Central Bosnian Canton (42.6%) while the lowest was in West Herzegovina Canton (12.9%). Significantly higher concentrations of urinary iodine were found in Group B than in Group A (82.6 μg/1 vs 75.2 μg/1, P <0.001). In Group A the percentage of urine samples below 50 μg/1 iodine was significantly higher than in Group B (35.6% vs 26.9%, P <0.001), but there was no difference in the percentage of urine samples with iodine values less than 100 μg/1 (70.7 μg/1 vs 68.25 μg/1, P >0.05). We conclude that FBH is an iodine deficient area and that the improvement of iodine prophylaxis is urgently required, primarily by increasing salt iodine content to 20-30 mg/kg, in order to eradicate endemic goiter.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felix Camenzuli ◽  
Hartwig E. Frimmel ◽  
Adam Wooldridge

&lt;p&gt;The future search for mineral deposits will focus more and more on discoveries under cover. Indirect methods, such as prospective mapping, help in the early stages of exploration programmes to delineate potential target areas and thus reduce costs. On the Balkan peninsula, copper and gold ores have been mined for thousands of years and it hosts Europe&amp;#8217;s highest concentration of large porphyry Cu (-Au) deposits. Over the last decades, the region&amp;#8217;s mining history was strongly influenced by state-controlled mining under the previous communist regimes and the sudden demise of this mining activity after the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1991. Following the shutdown of the mining industry and political, social and ethnic tensions in the years thereafter, the region remained comparatively poorly explored and thus holds a high potential for modern brown- and greenfield exploration. This is exemplified by several new discoveries of porphyry Cu (-Au) deposits, e.g. Kiseljak (Serbia) and Skourries (Greece).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here we report on a regional-scale prospectivity mapping approach applied to the Balkan peninsula, covering Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bulgaria and Greece. The area of interest (AOI) has an acreage of &gt;1 Mill. km&lt;sup&gt;2&lt;/sup&gt;. We modelled the distribution of both porphyry and related epithermal Cu-Au deposits, ophiolite-hosted volcanogenic massive sulphide (VMS) and sediment-hosted stratiform Cu (SSC) deposits with the help of ESRI ArcGIS. The models used were knowledge-driven and mainly based on Fuzzy overlays using Gamma operator and &amp;#181;-value of 0.975. Areas favourable for porphyry and epithermal Cu-Au deposits follow magmatic arcs that are of Cretaceous and Tertiary age. While the Cretaceous arc has long been known for its fertility, our results suggest that the Tertiary arc is at least as promising. The results were validated by both the magmatic arcs, recommended porphyry Cu tracts and known deposits or occurrences. Our areas of high probability explain 67 % of the 72 existing deposits/occurrences if the location of the latter is considered with a 5 km radius. As the examined VMS deposits are ophiolite-hosted, they are distributed along the ophiolite-bearing tectonic units. Prediction of so-far undefined ophiolites based on lithology lead to a better comparability of prospective areas for VMS deposits throughout the AOI. By validation with locations of existing mines within a radius of 2.5 km, 50% of 16 known deposits lie in areas with a probability of &amp;#8805;0.5. So far no SSC deposits, which constitute the globally second most important source of Cu, have been discovered in the AOI. Our results suggest that areas favourable for SSC deposits might exist in parts of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the critical geological prerequisites for SSC formation were found in close vicinity. Whether this close spatial relationship, some of which is most likely tectonic, was realized at the right times remains to be investigated.&lt;/p&gt;


Zoosymposia ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 244-254 ◽  
Author(s):  
MLADEN KUČINIĆ ◽  
ANA PREVIŠIĆ ◽  
SVJETLANA STANIĆ-KOŠTROMAN ◽  
WOLFRAM GRAF ◽  
MILIVOJ FRANJEVIĆ ◽  
...  

Drusus klapaleki Marinković-Gospodnetić, 1971, is distributed in central Bosnia and Herzegovina and it belongs to the D. bosnicus Group. In the Balkan Peninsula, the D. bosnicus Group consists of 9 taxa with allopatric distribution. This study has 2 objectives. One is to describe the morphological characters of the Drusus klapaleki larva. Another objective is to find certain morphological and ecological features to larvae of the species belonging to the D. bosnicus Group from the Balkan Peninsula.


Biologia ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 71 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anđelka Lasić ◽  
Nenad Jasprica

AbstractPlant communities were studied along two oligotrophic karstic rivers – Trebižat and Lištica – from 2007 to 2009. Based on 93 phytosociological relevés, using Braun–Blanquet methods, a total of 25 plant associations were recognised in the rivers and nearby surveyed area. These associations have been subordinated to 11 alliances, eight orders and six classes:


2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 68-77
Author(s):  
O. V. Sharan

The article firstly identifies and reveales the essence of national and international political mechanisms of suppression of separatism that have been applied in the Balkan states, in particular, in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The national mechanisms of suppression of separatism include legal, financial, administrative, information mechanisms, and among the international political mechanisms are international legal mechanisms, the mechanism of recognition or non-recognition of the independence of new states, international financial and economic instruments. The study showed the dynamics of the most important events that took place in the Balkans after the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, in particular during the Croatian War of Independence in 1991-1995, the Bosnian War in 1992–1995, and during Kosovo’s struggle for independence from Serbia. The revival of separatist movements in the Balkan Peninsula began as a result of the overthrow of the communist regimes and the strengthening of centrifugal tendencies in Central and Eastern Europe in the 90’s of the twentieth century. The interethnic distrust and constant tension became one of the reasons for the beginning of the civil wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina after the collapse of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Moreover, the article characterized the concept of «Great Albania», which involves the reunification of all the territories where the Albanian ethnic group lives. Several regions of Macedonia, Montenegro, the Epirus region in Greece and Kosovo should be part of the «Greater Albania». Furthermore, the study considers the experience of suppression of separatism of Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, the possibility of its use in Ukraine and other countries where separatist tendencies dominate, in order to avoid human victims, preserve territorial integrity and inviolability of borders. Consequently, separatism is a dangerous phenomenon that contains an enormous threat to the national security and territorial integrity, since it is related to the change of borders of the existing states and creation of the new countries on the political map of the world.


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