Slovenia has been repatriating persons of Slovenian descent and their immediate family members from poverty-stricken Venezuela since 2019. The article explores the innate, situational, and structural ...vulnerabilities of the repatriates, focusing in particular on the vulnerabilities affecting their well-being and leading to emotional distress. The vulnerabilities are examined through the lens of time, i.e., before, during, and after the acquisition of the status of a repatriate, and in the context of specific age-related integration challenges. The article shows that their preferred emotional support is provided by the close-knit community of Venezuelan repatriates with whom they share the same language, culture, and experience of repatriation and integration and by the Catholic church through mass, confession, and church gatherings.
Dementia has been the subject of numerous medical and anthropological studies for more than two decades. This serious neurodegenerative disease that mainly affects the elderly can occur also in ...people who are still employed which is associated with the impairment of their ability to work and consequently with costs. The aim of our study was to display the economic consequences due to health absenteeism related to dementia in Slovenia in the period from 2015 to 2019. The methodology of direct and indirect costs was used. We limited ourselves to show the indirect cost-health absenteeism due to dementia, which includes loss of goods, services, early retirement, and premature death. The Database on temporary absence from work was used as data source and International Classification of Diseases as the source of the diagnoses. The cost of absenteeism due to dementia amounted to 11% of all calculated indirect costs in the period 2015–2019. All indirect costs amounted to 0.025% of health expenditures. These costs are greatly underestimated due to various data limitations which we faced and due to many cases of undetected disease. The findings are in line with those from some other countries. The rapid diagnosis and treatment of dementia, changes in lifestyle, as well as the encouragement of employers of affected persons to keep them as long as possible active proved to be absolutely necessary in the light of maintenance of quality of life of patients and the reduction of costs.
Demencija je više od dva desetljeća predmet brojnih medicinskih i antropoloških istraživanja. Ova ozbiljna neurodegenerativna bolest koja uglavnom pogađa starije osobe može se pojaviti i kod osoba koje su još uvijek zaposlene, što je povezano s oštećenjem njihove radne sposobnosti, a time i troškovima. Cilj našeg istraživanja bio je prikazati ekonomske posljedice zdravstvenih izostanaka vezanih uz demenciju u Sloveniji u razdoblju od 2015. do 2019. godine. Korištena je metodologija izravnih i neizravnih troškova. Ograničili smo se na prikaz neizravnih troškova, zdravstvenih izostanaka s posla zbog demencije koja uključuje gubitak dobara, usluga, prijevremeno umirovljenje i preranu smrt. Kao izvor podataka korištena je Baza podataka o privremenoj odsutnosti s posla, a kao izvor dijagnoza Međunarodna klasifikacija bolesti. Trošak izostanaka zbog demencije iznosio je 11% svih obračunatih neizravnih troškova u razdoblju 2015.-2019. Svi neizravni troškovi iznosili su 0,025% zdravstvenih izdataka. Ovi troškovi su uvelike podcijenjeni zbog raznih ograničenja podataka s kojima smo se susreli i zbog mnogih slučajeva neotkrivenih bolesti. Nalazi su u skladu s onima iz nekih drugih zemalja. Brza dijagnoza i liječenje demencije, promjena načina života, kao i poticanje poslodavaca oboljelih osoba da ih što duže zadrže aktivnima, pokazali su se prijeko potrebnim u svjetlu održavanja kvalitete života pacijenata i smanjenja troškova.
The rehabilitation and restoration of land is a key strategy to recover services -goods and resources- ecosystems offer to the humankind. This paper reviews key examples to understand the superior ...effect of nature based solutions to enhance the sustainability of catchment systems by promoting desirable soil and landscape functions. The use of concepts such as connectivity and the theory of system thinking framework allowed to review coastal and river management as a guide to evaluate other strategies to achieve sustainability. In land management NBSs are not mainstream management. Through a set of case studies: organic farming in Spain; rewilding in Slovenia; land restoration in Iceland, sediment trapping in Ethiopia and wetland construction in Sweden, we show the potential of Nature based solutions (NBSs) as a cost-effective long term solution for hydrological risks and land degradation. NBSs can be divided into two main groups of strategies: soil solutions and landscape solutions. Soil solutions aim to enhance the soil health and soil functions through which local eco-system services will be maintained or restored. Landscape solutions mainly focus on the concept of connectivity. Making the landscape less connected, facilitating less rainfall to be transformed into runoff and therefore reducing flood risk, increasing soil moisture and reducing droughts and soil erosion we can achieve the sustainability. The enhanced eco-system services directly feed into the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations.
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•Nature based solutions (NBSs) should become mainstream land management strategies.•NBSs are divided in soil-vegetation and landscape solutions.•Soil-vegetation solutions are based on the concept of soil health.•Landscape solutions are based on the concept of connectivity.•NBSs can provide solutions for restoring ecosystem services.
The Media of Memory Pusnik, Marusa; Luthar, Oto
2020, 20200831, Letnik:
29
eBook
Blick ins BuchThis book explores the nexus of media and memory practices in contemporary Slovenia. In the age of mediatised societies, the country’s post-socialist, post-Yugoslav present has become ...saturated with historical revisionism and various nostalgic framings of the past. Pušnik and Luthar have collected a wide range of case studies analysing the representation and reinterpretation of past events in newspapers, theatre, music, museums, digital media, and documentaries. The volume thus presents insights into the intricacies of the mediatisation of memory in contemporary Slovenian society. The authors engage with dynamic uses of media today and provide new analyses of media culture as archive, site of historical reinterpretation, and repository of memory.
A prototype of a low-cost GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) monitoring system was installed on a deep-seated landslide in north-western Slovenia to test its performance under field ...conditions. The system consists of newly developed GNSS stations based on low-cost, dual-frequency receivers and open-source GNSS processing software. It automatically receives GNSS data and transmits them over the Internet. The system processes the data server-side and makes them available to the end user via a web portal. The detected surface displacements were evaluated through a comparison with the network of classic geodetic measurements. The results of a nine-month monitoring period using seven GNSS stations provided a detailed insight into the spatial and temporal pattern of deep-seated landslide surface movements. The displacement data were correlated with precipitation measurements at the site to reveal how different parts of the landslide react to rainfall. These data form the basis for the further development of an early-warning system which will help to manage the risk the landslide poses to the local population and infrastructure.
Anthropologist Jasmina Praprotnik met Helena Zigon while running. Over the course of an icy Slovenian winter, the two marathon runners got together frequently, and Zigon told Praprotnik about her ...life. Here, Praprotnik tells Zigon’s captivating story in Zigon’s own voice. Each chapter is marked by a kilometer of the half-marathon Zigon ran along the Adriatic Sea on her eighty-sixth birthday, shortly after losing her husband of sixty years, Stane.
Zigon’s life spanned most of the twentieth century. She witnessed the Second World War, the rise and fall of Yugoslavia, and the founding of the new state of Slovenia. Abandoned by her parents and having grown up poor and mistreated by her stepmother, Zigon demonstrates the stoic resilience of a long-suffering Slavic woman. Though beset with challenges, she found a source of strength in the act of running. From a young girl running errands to an old woman running in the face of new grief, running has been a bright thread braided throughout her life. It has served her as a balm and a joy—one that she is grateful to still be able to savor. This inspirational memoir will appeal to general readers, especially those interested in history and running.
This paper provides an overview of the physical and chemical landscape changes that have occurred at four reference sites due to historical mining and smelting activities within Slovenia, and their ...comparison with similar sites around the World. Literature review has been made with the intention to identify major pollutant sources, its dispersion control factors, and effects. The four reference sites are Idrija, with more than 500‐year Hg mining and ore smelting history, the Meža Valley, also with a 500‐year PbZn mining and smelting history, the Celje area where Zn was smelted for 100 years and the Drava River alluvial plain, which is contaminated because of historical PbZn mining upstream. Based on the comparison between the four abovementioned reference sites and similar sites around the world that are situated in different landscapes and climates, we identified major sources of contamination, which are the erosion of mine and ore processing wastes, and atmospheric emissions of metal‐containing particles from smelters. In the first case, major control factors are rainfall pattern and river gradient, controlling erosion and sediment deposition patterns. In the second case, the prevailing control factors are topography and the dominant wind directions.
Spatial models are an effective tool for determining potential rockfall source, transit and deposit areas. The reliability of the final rockfall modelling results depends on the quality of the input ...data, which is mostly based on the digital elevation model (DEM). The spatial resolution of the DEM holds key information about the main morphological properties of the surface, which is crucially important when modelling this kind of geomorphological phenomenon. Therefore, this article studies the influence of DEM spatial resolution on the modelling of rockfall source, transit and deposit areas. Modelling was carried out at five different DEM spatial resolutions available for Slovenia (1 m, 5 m, 12.5 m, 25 m and 100 m). Rockfall source areas were identified using a geomorphometric approach based on a high resolution DEM and a geographical information system. Rockfall transit and deposit areas were modelled using the Conefall computer program, which is designed to estimate potential rockfall risk areas. The area of study was the municipality of Vipava (107.4 km2) in Slovenia, EU. A spatial resolution of 1 m was chosen as a reference layer to which all modelling results of the other spatial resolutions were compared. Validation of modelling included rockfall source area comparison with orthorectified aerial images and location collection of silent witnesses (rock deposits) in the field for estimating maximum runout zones. The modelling results indicate that a spatial resolution of 1 m is the most suitable for modelling on a local scale; resolutions of 5, 12.5 and 25 m can be used for modelling on a regional scale (depending on the purpose of the modelling results); and a resolution of 100 m should not be used for rockfall modelling. Major differences between spatial resolutions can be observed when modelling rockfall source areas, i.e. in areas with the most diverse topography, while in deposit areas the observed differences are smaller due to the less rugged surface.
•The influence of the spatial resolution of the digital elevation model was observed at five different spatial resolutions.•Deviations between modelling results are greater for rockfall source areas than for rockfall runout zones.•High spatial resolutions (1 m) should be used for modelling on a local scale.•Lower spatial resolutions (5 m, 12.5 m and 25 m) can be used for modelling on a regional scale.•Spatial resolution 100 m should not be used for modelling rockfalls.
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