"Myth, Identity, and Conflict A Comparative Analysis of Romanian and Serbian Textbooks, by Anamaria Dutceac Segesten, is an examination of how history and politics became entangled in Romania and ...Serbia. Segesten's findings confirm the presence of mythologized versions of the past in the history textbooks of both countries over the entire fifteen-year period studied (1992-2007), despite claims for professionalization of textbook-making. Ultimately, Myth, Identity, and Conflict, by Anamaria Dutceac Segesten, questions the alleged power of history textbooks to make a difference in ethnically divided societies prone to conflicts"--.
This book is a comprehensive exposition of the interaction of a national (the Serbian people) and a religiou (the Orthodox Christian faith) content, in the formation of a distinctive national ...identity and a mode of being. Its interdisciplinary approach, drawing on sociology, social anthropology, theology, political theory, Balkan historiography, and Serbian folklore, is deployed to provide a powerful and original analysis of how Serbian Orthodoxy has resulted in the sacralisation of the Serbian nation by framing the parameters of its existence. Addresses the following questions: what 'makes' a Serb? Are meaningful assumptions possible by introducing Serbian Orthodoxy as the primal point of reference? Why does religion appear to have an especially strong appeal?
"If I had no sense of humor, I should long ago have committed suicide," wrotethe late Mahatma Gandhi, expressing the potent power of humor to sustain anduplift. Less obvious is humor's ability to ...operate as a cunning weapon in nonviolentprotest movements. Over the last few decades, activists are increasinglyincorporating subversive laughter in their protest repertoires, realizing the waysin which it challenges the ruling elite's propaganda, defuses antagonism, andinspires both participants and the greater population.In this highly original and engaging work, Sombatpoonsiri explores thenexus between humor and nonviolent protest, aiming to enhance our understandingof the growing popularity of humor in protest movements around theworld. Drawing on insights from the pioneering Otpor activists in Serbia, sheprovides a detailed account of the protesters' systematic use of humor to toppleSlobadan Miloševic' in 2000. Interviews with activists, protest newsletters, anddocumentaries of the movement combine to illustrate how humor played a pivotalrole by reflecting the absurdity of the regime's propaganda and, in turn, bydelegitimizing its authority. Sombatpoonsiri highlights the Otpor activists' abilityto internationalize their nonviolent crusade, influencing youth movements in theUkraine, Georgia, Iran, and Egypt. Globally, Otpor's successful use of humorbecame an inspiration for a later generation of protest movements.
Civic and Uncivic Values Ola Listhaug, Sabrina P. Ramet, Dragana Dulic / Ola Listhaug, Sabrina P. Ramet, Dragana Dulić
2011, 20110410, 2011-01-10, 20110101
eBook
Discusses Serbia’s struggle for democratic values after the fall of the Milosevic regime provoked by the NATO war, and after the trauma caused by the secession of Kosovo. Are the value systems of the ...post-Milosevic era true stumbling blocks of a delayed transition of this country? Seventeen contributors from Norway, Serbia, Italy, Germany, Poland and some other European countries covered a broad range of topics in order to provide answers to this question. The subjects of their investigations were national myths and symbols, history textbooks, media, film, religion, inter-ethnic dialogue, transitional justice, political party agendas and other related themes.
In this study, we developed multiple hybrid machine-learning models to address parameter optimization limitations and enhance the spatial prediction of landslide susceptibility models. We created a ...geographic information system database, and our analysis results were used to prepare a landslide inventory map containing 359 landslide events identified from Google Earth, aerial photographs, and other validated sources. A support vector regression (SVR) machine-learning model was used to divide the landslide inventory into training (70%) and testing (30%) datasets. The landslide susceptibility map was produced using 14 causative factors. We applied the established gray wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm, bat algorithm (BA), and cuckoo optimization algorithm (COA) to fine-tune the parameters of the SVR model to improve its predictive accuracy. The resultant hybrid models, SVR-GWO, SVR-BA, and SVR-COA, were validated in terms of the area under curve (AUC) and root mean square error (RMSE). The AUC values for the SVR-GWO (0.733), SVR-BA (0.724), and SVR-COA (0.738) models indicate their good prediction rates for landslide susceptibility modeling. SVR-COA had the greatest accuracy, with an RMSE of 0.21687, and SVR-BA had the least accuracy, with an RMSE of 0.23046. The three optimized hybrid models outperformed the SVR model (AUC = 0.704, RMSE = 0.26689), confirming the ability of metaheuristic algorithms to improve model performance.
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•Support Vector Regression (SVR) with GWO, BAT and COA for landslide spatial modeling.•Comparison of landslide susceptibility models produced using RMSE, MSE, Frequency of error and ROC curve.•SVR-COA model shows the best result in landslide prediction.
Ancient Furies Saporito, Anastasia V; Saporito, Donald L
2014
eBook
Wealth and family privilege are no match for the brutal forward march of two armies intent on eliminating each other. As a teenager, Anastasia Saporito discovered just that truth as she and her ...family found themselves exiled, vulnerable, and no longer able to call on their societal standing and accumulated riches as the Soviet and German armies converged during World War II. Saporito recounts in vivid detail the difficulties of her childhood as the daughter of White Russian aristocrats forced to flee their native Russia for refuge in Yugoslavia. In Ancient Furies.
Applying geochemical proxies as measure for the weathering intensity of paleosols and sediments such as loess, the Quaternary scientist is confronted with various element ratios that have been ...proposed in literature. This paper gives an overview on the principle of geochemical weathering indices. Different types of indices are evaluated with respect to the suitability for loess–paleosol sequences, regarding the special characteristics of this type of sediments and paleosols. Case examples in this study are key sections in Southeastern and Eastern Europe: the loess–paleosol sequences Batajnica/Stari Slankamen (Serbia), Mircea Voda (Romania) and Stary Kaydaky (Ukraine), which represent archives of the Late and Mid-Pleistocene climate change of the region. Considering element behavior during weathering or diagenesis, the Chemical Proxy of Alteration (CPA) – i.e. the molar ratio Al
2O
3/(Al
2O
3 + Na
2O) × 100 – is proposed as the most appropriate index for silicate weathering. The CPA was evaluated against commonly used weathering indices including the “Chemical Index of Alteration” (CIA), the “Chemical Index of Weathering“ (CIW), the “Plagioclase Index of Alteration“ (PIA), the Index B of Kronberg and Nesbitt, and the Ba/Sr and Rb/Sr ratio. Depth profiles of “Sr-type indices” (e.g. Ba/Sr, Rb/Sr) are likely to be influenced by the dynamics of secondary carbonate. On the other hand, common “Na-type indices” (e.g. CIA, PIA, CIW) may suffer from uncertainties in separating carbonate–Ca from silicate–Ca or from biases due to K-fixation (illitization). The CPA is insensitive against such effects. Additionally, using the CPA (as with other Na-type indices) provides the possibility to evaluate the homogeneity of the parent material regarding the relevant host minerals via the A–CN–K diagram.
The main soil properties, concentrations of selected elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn), and the chemical speciation of each element were determined in urban soil samples taken from ...urban parks in four Serbian cities (Belgrade, Pančevo, Obrenovac, and Smederevo) exposed to different sources of pollution. Pollution indices (PI, PI
N
) and factors (MF, ICF, GCF) also were evaluated. The study revealed As and Cd concentrations below the detection limit, whereas the content of Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, and Zn at some sites exceeded the limits established by local regulations, as well as the background values, which may represent an environmental threat. Sequential extraction results show that Fe, Cr, Cu, and Ni were predominantly in the residual fraction at most sites; however, Ni from Pančevo and Smederevo also was bound to the reducible fraction. The presence of Pb at all sites and Zn in Smederevo and Belgrade was mainly associated with the reducible and residual fractions. The highest Mn content was found in the reducible fraction, followed by the acid soluble/exchangeable and residual fractions. Based on the obtained indices and factors, the overall soil status at the selected sampling sites was found to range from the warning limit to slightly polluted, whereby Smederevo had the highest risk, and Pančevo and the control site the lowest risk of contamination by toxic metals.
This book provides new and stimulating perspectives on how Kosovo has shaped the new Europe. It breaks down traditional assumptions in the field of security studies by sidelining the theoretical ...worldview that underlies mainstream strategic thinking on recent events in Kosovo. The contributors challenge the epistemological definition of the Kosovo conflict, arguing that we should not only be concerned with the 'Kosovo out there', but also with the debate about what counts as security and how our definition of security is shaped by various power and knowledge interests in Kosovo. They have adopted an innovative critical approach, both re-essentialising and deconstructing orthodox assumptions about the nature of European and global security. This book is perfect for final year undergraduates, postgraduates and academics in the field of security studies and international politics.
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