This paper analyzes the current status of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) and emphasizes the need for change so as to transform it from an existing partisan body with weak capacities into a ...more neutral, stronger, and more independent institution. Based on solutions from comparative practices, several measures that can be taken on this path are proposed. Firstly, it is necessary to change the current method of electing RIK members in order to reduce partisan influence on this body. Additionally, extending the term of office for RIK members is required to ensure greater independence of RIK from the current configuration of political forces and provide the opportunity for fundamental and concrete steps towards improving the electoral process. Activities related to elections, currently carried out by several other bodies in addition to RIK, should be centralized and entrusted to a professional electoral administration in order to eliminate unnecessary communication between RIK and these bodies. This would make the entire process of organizing and monitoring elections more simpler and coherent. Implementing these solutions could lead to RIK becoming a game changer in contexts of weakened institutional capacities and a limited number of external factors that can influence the improvement of the democratic process, contributing to freer and fairer elections.
This paper analyzes the problem of insufficient territorial representation of parliaments elected through a proportional electoral system with a nationwide electoral district. The subject of analysis ...are the representative bodies of Serbia, the Netherlands, and Israel, with the claim that their geographical representativeness is dominantly influenced by factors that have no direct connection with election rules, such as the ethnic diversity of society and the number of party lists that win seats in parliament. It is established that there is no single regularity that has an equal effect on the geographical composition of the parliament in each of these countries. Instead of that, the key factors of territorial representation are different depending on the social context in which the electoral system exists.
Rad analizira problem neadekvatne teritorijalne reprezentacije parlamenata koji se biraju putem proporcionalnog izbornog sistema sa jednom izbornom jedinicom. Predmet posmatranja su predstavnička ...tela Srbije, Holandije i Izraela sa tvrdnjama da na njihovu geografsku reprezentativnost dominantno utiču faktori koji nemaju direktne veze sa izbornim pravilima, kao što su etnička struktura društva i broj lista koje prelaze cenzus. Utvrđuje se da ne postoji jedinstvena pravilnost koja utiče na geografski sastav parlamenta u svakoj od ovih država, već se presudni faktori teritorijalne reprezentativnosti razlikuju u zavisnosti od društvenog konteksta u kome izborni sistem egzistira.
This paper analyzes the current status of the Republic Electoral Commission (RIK) and emphasizes the need for change so as to transform it from an existing partisan body with weak capacities into a ...more neutral, stronger, and more independent institution. Based on solutions from comparative practices, several measures that can be taken on this path are proposed. Firstly, it is necessary to change the current method of electing RIK members in order to reduce partisan influence on this body. Additionally, extending the term of office for RIK members is required to ensure greater independence of RIK from the current configuration of political forces and provide the opportunity for fundamental and concrete steps towards improving the electoral process. Activities related to elections, currently carried out by several other bodies in addition to RIK, should be centralized and entrusted to a professional electoral administration in order to eliminate unnecessary communication between RIK and these bodies. This would make the entire process of organizing and monitoring elections more simpler and coherent. Implementing these solutions could lead to RIK becoming a game changer in contexts of weakened institutional capacities and a limited number of external factors that can influence the improvement of the democratic process, contributing to freer and fairer elections.
The Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) has historically played a crucial role in shaping Serbia’s spiritual and national identity. As a consequence of this, it still represents an institution of high ...social significance whose attitudes predominantly influence political life in Serbia. This paper analyzes the political messages sent by the SOC after the collapse of socialism and the restoration of pluralism in the country, during the time of Patriarch Pavle (1990-2009) and Patriarch Irinej (2010-2020). I claim that church – state relations, after the initial opposition activities of the church against the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, and active cooperation with the new democratic authorities that replaced him on October 5, 2000, became the closest after the Serbian Progressive Party came to power in 2012.
This paper analyzes the problem of insufficient territorial representation of parliaments elected through a proportional electoral system with a nationwide electoral district. The subject of ...analysis are the representative bodies of Serbia, the Netherlands, and Israel, with the claim that their geographical representativeness is dominantly influenced by factors that have no direct connection with election rules, such as the ethnic diversity of society and the number of party lists that win seats in parliament. It is established that there is no single regularity that has an equal effect on the geographical composition of the parliament in each of these countries. Instead of that, the key factors of territorial representation are different depending on the social context in which the electoral system exists.
Aim of the study: This study aimed to formulate a novel, commercially applicable biofertilizer, to optimize the microencapsulation procedure of Bacillus subtilis NCIM 2063 and examine the stability ...and phytostimulatory effects of obtained formulation. Area of the study: Southestern Serbia. Material and methods: Microbial powder formulations were prepared using spray drying with maltodextrin as a carrier. The spray drying conditions were set according to Box-Benkhen experimental desing. The effect of the formulation was tested on green pepper (Capsicum annuum) seeds in controled conditions. Main results: Response surface models were developed. All of the models were statistically significant, adequately fitted and reproducible. The maximum achieved values of viability and yield in a formulation were 1.99·109 CFU/g and 96.8%, respectively, whilst the driest formulation had 1.44% moisture. The following optimum conditions were proposed for the spray drying procedure: an inlet air temperature of 133 °C, maltodextrin concentration of 50 g/L and a feed flow rate of 6.5 mL/min. The obtained microbial formulation had a high survival rate after being stored at room temperature over a 1--year period. Its application on green pepper seeds had beneficial effect on plant height, leaf dry weight and chlorophyll content of the seedlings. Research highlights: B. subtilis was successfully microencapsulated on maltodextrin as a carrier. Interaction effects between the process variables were fully explained and statistically significant models were developed. In addition to biocontrol properties formulation had a phytostimulatory effect, excellent stability and satisfactory physical properties.
Useful and important information for the spatial, ecological, and many other changes in the living environment may be obtained using the analysis of historical aerial photography, with comparison to ...contemporary imagery. This method provides the ability to determine the state of elements of the space over a long period, encompassing the time when it was not possible to acquire the data from satellite imagery or some other contemporary sources. Aerial images are suitable for mapping spatial phenomena with relatively limited spatial distribution because they possess a high level of details and low spatial coverage. With a comparative analysis of aerial imagery from the past, contemporary aerial imagery, and other sources of aerial imagery, we can obtain information about the nature and trends of the observed phenomena as well as directions of future actions, considering changes detected in the environment, whether they are preventive or corrective in nature. This paper gives the methodological framework for the appliance of the existing knowledge from various fields, intending to use historical aerial photography for monitoring of environmental changes of the Bovan Lake in Eastern Serbia.
The aim of this study was to develop a model for forecasting CH4 emissions at the national level, using artificial neural networks (ANN) with broadly available sustainability, economical and ...industrial indicators as their inputs. ANN modeling was performed using two different types of architecture; a backpropagation neural network (BPNN) and a general regression neural network (GRNN). A conventional multiple linear regression (MLR) model was also developed in order to compare the model performance and assess which model provides the best results. ANN and MLR models were developed and tested using the same annual data for 20 European countries. The ANN model demonstrated very good performance, significantly better than the MLR model. It was shown that a forecast of CH4 emissions at the national level using the ANN model could be made successfully and accurately for a future period of up to two years, thereby opening the possibility to apply such a modeling technique, which could be used to support the implementation of sustainable development strategies and environmental management policies.
This paper describes the development of an artificial neural network (ANN) model based on economical and sustainability indicators for the prediction of annual non-methane volatile organic compounds ...(NMVOCs) emissions in China for the period 2005–2011 and its comparison with inventory emission factor models. The NMVOCs emissions in China were estimated using ANN model which was created using available data for nine European countries, which NMVOC emission per capita approximately correspond to the Chinese emissions, for the period 2004–2012. The forward input selection strategy was used to compare the significance of particular inputs for the prediction of NMVOC emissions in the nine selected EU countries and China. The final ANN model was trained using only five input variables, and it has demonstrated similar accuracy in predicting NMVOC emissions for the selected EU countries that were used for the development of the model and then for China for which the input dataset was previously unknown to the ANN model. The obtained mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) values were 8 % for EU countries and 5 % for China. Also, the temporal trend of NMVOC emissions predicted in this study is generally consistent with the trend obtained using inventory emission models. The proposed ANN approach can represent a viable alternative for the prediction of NMVOC emissions at the national level, in particular for developing countries which are usually lacking emission data.
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