bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
WW Domain Binding Protein-2, an E6-Associated Protein Interacting Protein, Acts as a Coactivator of Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors
Authors: Dhananjayan Sarath C. , Ramamoorthy Sivapriya , Khan Obaid Y. , Ismail Ayesha , Sun Jun , Slingerland Joyce , O’Malley Bert W. , Nawaz Zafar
Published: June 2006

WW domain binding protein-2 (WBP-2) was cloned as an E6-associated protein interacting protein, and its role in steroid hormone receptors functions was investigated. We show that WBP-2 specifically enhanced the transactivation functions of progesterone receptor (PR) and estrogen receptor (ER), whereas it did not have any significant effect on the androgen receptor, glucocorticoid receptor, or the activation functions of p53 and VP-16. Depletion of endogenous WBP-2 with small interfering RNAs indicated that WBP-2 was required for the proper functioning of PR and ER. We also demonstrated that WBP-2 contains an intrinsic activation domain. Moreover, chromatin immunoprecipitation assays demonstrate the hormone-dependent recruitment of WBP-2 onto an estrogen-responsive promoter. Mutational analysis suggests that one of three polyproline (PY) motifs of WBP-2 is essential for its coactivation and intrinsic activation functions. We show that WBP-2 and E6-associated protein each enhance PR function, and their effect on PR action are additive when coexpressed, suggesting a common signaling pathway. In this study, we also demonstrate that the WBP-2 binding protein, Yes kinase-associated protein (YAP) enhances PR transactivation, but YAP’s coactivation function is absolutely dependent on WBP-2. Taken together, our data establish the role of WBP-2 and YAP as coactivators for ER and PR transactivation pathways.
Progesterone Receptor Plays a Major Antiinflammatory Role in Human Myometrial Cells by Antagonism of Nuclear Factor-κB Activation of Cyclooxygenase 2 Expression
Authors: Hardy Daniel B. , Janowski Bethany A. , Corey David R. , Mendelson Carole R.
Published: June 2006

Spontaneous labor in women and in other mammals is likely mediated by a concerted series of biochemical events that negatively impact the ability of the progesterone receptor (PR) to regulate target genes that maintain myometrial quiescence. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that progesterone/PR inhibits uterine contractility by blocking nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation and induction of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), a contractile gene that is up-regulated in labor. To uncover mechanisms for regulation of uterine COX-2, immortalized human fundal myometrial cells were treated with IL-1β ± progesterone. IL-1β alone caused a marked up-regulation of COX-2 mRNA, whereas treatment with progesterone suppressed this induction. This was also observed in human breast cancer (T47D) cells. In both cell lines, this inhibitory effect of progesterone was blocked by RU486. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we observed that IL-1β stimulated recruitment of NF-κB p65 to both proximal and distal NF-κB elements of the COX-2 promoter; these effects were diminished by coincubation with progesterone. The ability of progesterone to inhibit COX-2 expression in myometrial cells was associated with rapid induction of mRNA and protein levels of inhibitor of κBα, a protein that blocks NF-κB transactivation. Furthermore, small interfering RNA-mediated ablation of both PR-A and PR-B isoforms in T47D cells greatly enhanced NF-κB activation and COX-2 expression. These effects were observed in the absence of exogenous progesterone, suggesting a ligand-independent action of PR. Based on these findings, we propose that PR may inhibit NF-κB activation of COX-2 gene expression and uterine contractility via ligand-dependent and ligand-independent mechanisms.
Wear and cutting forces in high-speed machining of H13 using physical vapour deposition coated carbide tools
Authors: Mativenga P T , Hon K K B
Published: June 2006

This paper reviews the contributions that coatings make in enhancing the cutting performance of carbide tools and, in particular, their application in high-speed machining. It examines flank wear and cutting force process trends that are essential for monitoring tool degradation in automated machining factories. The findings of the investigation into cutting forces over the life cycle of different physical vapour deposition (PVD) tool coatings on micrograin carbide in the high-speed machining of tool steel are presented and related to the existing literature. Cutting tests were carried out at a very high spindle speed, 40000 r/min, and for a predetermined cutting time. Variants of the TiAlN coating, i.e. single- and double-layer and composite coating enhanced with WC/C, were evaluated against the uncoated tool and the TiCN, CrN, and TiN coatings. The paper reflects on the performance of advanced PVD coatings and also presents force trends and suggestions for process monitoring.
A novel nucleocytoplasmic shuttling sequence of DAZAP1, a testis-abundant RNA-binding protein
Authors: Lin Yi-Tzu , Yen Pauline H.
Published: June 2006

Deleted in Azoospermia Associated Protein 1 (DAZAP1) is a ubiquitous RNA-binding protein highly expressed in the human and the mouse testes. It shows a dynamic subcellular localization during spermatogenesis, present predominantly in the nuclei of late-stage spermatocytes and round spermatids and translocated to the cytoplasm during spermatid elongation. To test the hypothesis that DAZAP1 shuttles between the nucleus and the cytoplasm, we studied the nuclear transport of DAZAP1 in somatic cells using immunostaining, heterokaryon formation, and mutagenesis. DAZAP1 is detected exclusively in the nucleus and has the ability to shuttle between the nucleus and the cytoplasm using a highly conserved 25 amino acid segment, designated ZNS, at its C terminus. ZNS shares no sequence homology with other known nuclear localization or export signals. Attachment of ZNS to a red fluorescent protein DsRed2 confers the nucleocytoplasmic shuttling ability to that protein. The nuclear localization of DAZAP1 depends on active transcription. In the presence of an RNA polymerase II inhibitor, DAZAP1 is retained in the cytoplasm. DAZAP1 colocalizes with hnRNP A1 and hnRNP C1 in the nucleus and is a component of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein particles. Our results suggest that DAZAP1 plays a key role in mRNA transport during spermatogenesis.
Rhabdomyolysis in a Patient Treated with Colchicine and Atorvastatin
Authors: Tufan Abdurrahman , Sener Dede Didem , Cavus Safak , Defne Altintas Neriman , Bektas Iskit Alper , Topeli Arzu
Published: June 2006

Objective:

To report a case of severe rhabdomyolysis that developed after administration of atorvastatin to a patient receiving regular colchicine treatment.

Case Summary:

A 45-year-old man with nephrotic syndrome and amyloidosis presented with dyspnea, altered mentation, and severe fatigue. He had been taking colchicine 1.5 mg/day for amyloidosis for 3 years without adverse effects. Atorvastatin 10 mg/day was prescribed for hypercholesterolemia one month prior to admission. After 2 weeks of atorvastatin treatment, he began to experience myalgia and reduced muscle strength. The creatinine and creatine kinase concentrations on admission were 8.1 mg/dL and 9035 U/L, respectively. The patient was diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis with the findings of myoglobinuric, oliguric acute renal failure, and more than 50–fold elevated creatine kinase concentration. His muscle strength improved after withdrawal of atorvastatin and colchicine. However, he died because of nosocomial pneumonia that developed during his hospital stay. The Naranjo probability scale indicated that atorvastatin and colchicine were probable causes of rhabdomyolysis.

Discussion:

Atorvastatin and colchicine have well-known myotoxic adverse effects. Despite atorvastatin's proven safety, its use with certain drugs, such as colchicine, makes it a potential myotoxic drug. This might be because concomitant administration of P-glycoprotein substrates, such as statins, and colchicine, which is a P-glycoprotein inhibitor, modifies pharmacokinetics by increasing bioavailability and organ uptake of the substrates, leading to more adverse reactions and toxicities.

Conclusions:

We recommend checking the creatine kinase level one week after prescribing 2 or more potentially myotoxic drugs concomitantly, after dose increase of a myotoxic drug, or after prescribing a new drug to a patient already using other myotoxic agents.
Youth Tobacco Sales-To-Minors and Possession-Use-Purchase Laws: A Public Health Controversy
Authors: Jason Leonard A. , Pokorny Steven B. , Muldowney Kathleen , Velez Melissa
Published: June 2006

Tobacco use among youth remains one of our nation's most significant public health problems, and yet available evidence from prevention and cessation person-centered approaches has been mixed. Given these disappointing outcomes, some have recommended more public health approaches, and these include tobacco sales-to-minors and possession-use-purchase laws. While community members and police officials have endorsed these types of public health initiatives, many within the public health community have been either guarded or even oppositional to such approaches. The primary reasons for this controversy are reviewed in this article. Outcome studies indicate that sales-to-minors laws can be an effective step toward the reduction of youth access to commercial sources of tobacco. However, even with these laws in place, many youth indicate that they continue to have easy access to tobacco, often by means of social sources. Advocates of these approaches have argued that more comprehensive public health interventions are needed, such as programs that combine youth access and possession-use-purchase laws. This article reviews the ongoing debate behind these types of public health efforts, and examines the evidence of such programs to reduce youth tobacco use.
Perceptions of Drinking among Hispanic College Students: How Qualitative Research Can inform the Development of Collegiate Alcohol Abuse Prevention Programs
Authors: Quintero Gilbert A. , Young Kathleen J. , Mier Nelda , Jenks Shepard
Published: June 2006

Alcohol abuse on college campuses continues to be a significant public health issue and health promotion strategies are being directed at changing the culture of collegiate drinking. From a qualitative research perspective such efforts remain uniformed since this area of research is currently dominated by large-scale surveys that illuminate little regarding undergraduate perceptions of alcohol use. This study describes results conducted on perceptions of drinking among college students, and discusses the implications these results may have for developing collegiate alcohol abuse prevention programs.
An Evaluation of the Fidelity of Implementation of a School-Based Drug Abuse Prevention Program: Project toward No Drug Abuse (TND)
Authors: Skara Silvana , Rohrbach Louise Ann , Sun Ping , Sussman Steve
Published: June 2006

This article provides an implementation fidelity evaluation of the fourth experimental trial of Project Towards No Drug Abuse (TND). Two theoretical content components of the curriculum were examined to increase our understanding of the active ingredients of successful drug abuse prevention programs. A total of 18 senior high schools were randomly assigned by block to receive one of three conditions: cognitive perception information curriculum, cognitive perception information + behavioral skills curriculum, or standard care (control). These curricula were delivered to both regular and continuation high schools students ( n = 2331) by trained project health educators and regular classroom teachers. Across all program schools, the two different curricula were implemented as intended, were received favorably by students, and showed significant improvements in knowledge specific to the theoretical content being delivered. This pattern of results suggests that the experimental manipulations worked as intended, and thus, permit the attribution of future behavioral outcome differences between conditions to differences in content of Project TND material provided rather than to differences in the fidelity of delivery. Further, our findings indicate that Project TND can be implemented effectively with low and high risk youth in a general environment as well as with high risk youth in a more specialized environment.
Razvoj i perspektive regionalne politike Evropske Unije
Authors: Devetakovic Stevan
Published: June 2006

EU regional policy is interesting to be studied from several aspects and this paper deals with the basic elements of its development so far, current solutions and perspectives. First of all, we have in mind that it is implemented in market economies, which is the setting favored by the former socialist countries, including ours. This policy is also carried out at an above-national level and is complementary to regional policies of individual member countries, having been designed to help their efforts to improve the territorial aspect of development, increase efficiency of using limited available resources, achieve standardization of their planning procedures and evaluate all phases of the project execution. In addition, EU regional policy is not limited only to member countries of this economic integration, but it also, at the present stage, refers in part to candidate countries for EU membership, thereby soon concerning our country as well. .
Dinamika razvoja turistickih destinacija - koncept zivotnog ciklusa
Authors: Zecevic Bojan
Published: June 2006

This paper deals with the concept of a tourist destination life-cycle and the possibilities of its application to making managerial decisions of destination managers. Fundamental conceptual definitions are presented and a review of the tourist destination typology is given, as well as the basic types of destination development. In accordance with the fact that destinations change the pace of their development over time, and that these variations in the dynamics of development are explained in the existing literature by the transformation of the destination from one stage of its own life-cycle to another, this concept is explained in detail and an evaluation of the possibilities of its application to making managerial decisions at the level of a tourist destination is also given. .
Endogena korupcija kao ravnoteza sekvencijalne igre
Authors: Milovanovic Milic
Published: June 2006

In this paper power struggle over the control of an insider privatized firm is modeled as a sequential game with perfect information. The endogenous corruption is a consequence of an insider privatization plan, where employees obtain majority of shares. In the post privatization game three players are dominant: managers, employees, and outside owners. Managers are by far the strongest player, with their key position in privatized firms despite their minority ownership stake. Since managers control working conditions of employees-cum-owners, they exercise an unparalleled power. Motivational structure is given for each player. Their ranked lists of goals and fears are necessary in order to specify parameters for the model. The game is modeled in an extensive form, and backward induction suggests a coalition of insiders (managers and employees) against the interests of outsiders. Under stated conditions, the equilibrium strategy results in an endogenous corruption.
Logisticki provajderi
Authors: Acimovic Slobodan
Published: June 2006

The importance and the position of mediators in the logistic business operations are generally determined through identifying logistics as a set of important business activities. Accordingly, this paper is designed so that the general characteristics of the logistics providers in the Western economies are presented in its first part, while the second part contains a short critical review of the condition of the logistics outsourcing market in our country. The text essentially refers to emphasizing great differences in both the general logistic knowledge and in the specific characteristics of the logistic mediation between the Western markets and ours. So far two kinds of mediation have been identified in the world: 1) Third party logistics (3PL firms) - partial, i.e. incomplete logistics mediators and 2) Fourth party logistics (4PL firms) - complete logistics mediators basing their activity on the full supply chain. In our country we succeeded in identifying only transport firms and/or shipping agencies as the logistics mediators with a rather limited scope of activity; and as their activity's name implies, they are performing only one or two logistics activities.
Model spoljnotrgovinske politike Evropske unije
Authors: Bjelic Predrag
Published: June 2006

When the European Economic Community, the forerunner of the European Union was formed in 1958, it was agreed that the new integration would be a tariff union with common tariffs toward third countries, but also that it would have a common foreign trade policy. As the Union's executive body, the European Commission is responsible for proposing and implementing foreign trade policies. However, the main subject in creating foreign trade policies still remains the Council of Ministers as the EU's main decision-making and legislative body. The Commission negotiates trade agreements with outside countries on behalf of the Union. However, on foreign trade issues the Commission must report to a committee (the "133 Committee"), which assists the Commission in the course of the negotiations and before becoming valid all agreements must be ratified by the Council of Ministers. The Commission ensures that the European Parliament is kept quickly and fully informed at all stages of the negotiation and conclusion of international agreements, in such a way as to enable the Commission to take account of the European Parliament's view, but its role is purely consultative. The EU is trying to establish closer partnership relations with the USA through establishing transatlantic marketplace. However, as the EU is becoming a respectable economic power, an increasing number of trade disputes arise between the EU and the USA. The EU is trying to establish a closer relationship with the European countries since they are candidate countries for EU membership. However, some of them are closer to the membership than others. Therefore the agreements that the EU conclude with certain groups of countries differ among themselves. The EU has special relations with the countries in Africa the Caribbean and the Pacific, former European colonies, that have been granted a preferential treatment allowing preferential trade with the EU. Close relations have been established with countries and regional groups in Latin America as well. The EU has become a significant factor in international economic organizations. However, in order to become an economic power as respectable as the USA and Japan and to give strategic support to its companies in global competition, the EU must integrate politically as well.
Rezimi kursnog koridora u kontekstu valutnih kriza
Authors: Malovic Marko
Published: June 2006

One of the pillars of open-economy macro is the well-known axiom of "inconsistent trinity", which claims it is impossible to simultaneously achieve significant liberalisation of international capital movements, monetary policy independence and fixed exchange rate. Ignorance or inability to accept this identity, have recently placed many developing countries with fixed (yet adjustable) exchange rate regimes in the centre of fierce international financial crises with both monetary and real repercussions. Precautionary or after being burnt by crisis, majority of small open economies adopted the so-called bipolar view, i.e. one of exchange rate modalities which stretch along the wide axis between rigid fixation and free floating. After having dealt with elementary dynamics of crawling/monitoring band intermediate regime, this paper analyses its behaviour in the face of speculative attacks against domestic currency. In doing so, first, we reminded that exchange rate trajectory, even inside ("honeymoon"-free) currency band, does not follow Brownian motion (standard Wiener process). We showed, thereafter, that imperfectly-credible target zones could also have an asymptotically stabilizing effect on intramarginal exchange rate dynamics. This mean-reverting trait enables monetary authorities to control speculative volatility of exchange rate even in cases when they lack sufficient amount of foreign reserves, inasmuch as fundamental or globally spread crises need not be defended by means of open-market intervention, but by unanticipated, temporally irregular inside-the-band realignment or simply by sustainable widening of the band. Nevertheless, in principle, currency band should be shielded against non-fundamental market pressures. Therefore, we felt it was worthwhile calibrating the imminent danger of initial and cumulative attacks cum total currency crash, by means of introducing formal mathematical relationships among key variables which reflect both structural and behavioural features of the economy at hand (and, primus inter pares, its exchange rate regime), on the one hand, and on the other hand, objective functions of both policymaker and speculators (individually). At first armed with ad hoc log-nonlinear stochastic model of currency band, and later on by intertemporal optimisation modeling, we reconstructed preattack exchange rate trajectory, "sufficient" amount of foreign exchange reserves, exchange rate behaviour during the currency crisis and sequence of crisis events. At last, we carried out rigorous analysis of variables which influence width and/or location of ranges of effective commitment. Finally, we suggested alleys which may prove fruitful for further research efforts.
Ekonomski i trzisni instrumenti u politici odrzivog razvoja EU
Authors: Zekovic Slavka
Published: June 2006

In the paper one elaborates the role of economic instruments in the politics of environmental protection and sustainable development. Key elements are pointed out as well as the frameworks for two basic approaches to the uses of economic instruments: commanding - controlled approach (CAC) and market -based instruments (MBI) -an approach based on market mechanisms. The existing economic instruments in the politics of environmental protection and sustainable development are analyzed in the counties of EC, OECD and in the countries in transition. The review is given of the experiences in the implementation of economic instruments in the countries of EC, OECD and in the countries in transition.
Tranzicija i segmentirani razvoj informacionog sistema - primjer "informacioni sistem za kontrolu distribucije i upotrebe lijekova"
Authors: Lazovic Vujica
Published: June 2006

In this paper an approach is presented to the segmented development to the information system in the conditions of limited competence of the management structures and the real system's started reforms - transition. A well set segment of the information system (IS) may lead to important economic effects in spite of a high level of stochastic and the poorly arranged real system. There by, the implementation of the new information system should not be treated as a result but as a necessary precondition and the way of the system's successful transition. The paper consist of five parts: in the first introductory part the foundation of the problem is presented, in the second part consists of the situation analysis. In the third part the methodological approach and the complexity of the project is development is presented, in the fourth part thought known information instrument a logistic specification of the system is presented with the aim to specify the economic effect's of the segmented approach through the presentation of users functions. The final fifth part is dedicated to the conclusions.
Poslovni plan - pojam, namena i proces njegove izrade
Authors: Kalicanin Djordje
Published: June 2006

Business plan has been one of the most popular management categories in our economy over the last two years. Popularity of business plan has been created from the outside. It is not the result of our managersz belief in its usefulness, but of the creditors request for potential debtors. In that way, business plan is becoming the main negotiating tool in providing financial resources for expanding capacities of the existing firms or start-ups. Creating business plans with this purpose only poses the biggest threat to its implementation. For these reasons, the concept, purposes and business planning process are also presented.
Redizajn organizacije preduzeca u javnom sektoru
Authors: Petkovic Mirjana
Published: June 2006

This paper addresses factors, parameters and organisational structure model of public companies. The premise is that public companies have massive, inefficient and expensive organisation due to conditions (contingent factors) influencing operations; with changes in conditions their organizational structure will unavoidably change. As a possible solution for organisational redesign of public companies network forms are suggested. Two possible forms of big companies restructuring and four levels of thinning of public companies organisations are described.
Da li je moguca sinteza alternativnih teorijskih koncepcija makroekonomske politike
Authors: Fabris Nikola
Published: June 2006

There is little debate about the main goals of macroeconomic policy (full employment, absence of inflation, rapid economic growth, a balanced budget, etc.). However, when answering the question what instruments should be used to accomplish these goals, some differences arise. Different theoretical approaches to identical problems often suggest completely different instruments. Apart from the first dilemma, what school of thought is right, there is another dilemma: is it possible to reach a synthesis of alternative theoretical approaches, such as a consensus which was present in economic policy during 1960'. Two approaches to this problem are offered in this paper. The first assumes that such a synthesis is not possible and, depending on the observed situation, a selection of a specific school is made. The second approach assumes the possibility of such a synthesis based on ten common variables.
Osnovne karakteristike druge etape tranzicije u Ruskoj Federaciji - pouke za ostale zemlje
Authors: Ilic Bogdan , Prvulovic Ljubivoje
Published: June 2006

A post-socialist transition in the Russian Federation started in 1992. Generally speaking, the first stage of post socialistic economic transition in Russia means transformation from a centrally planned to a market economy. The transition processes in Russia have been accompanied by many dilemmas. The main of them is the method of transition: shock therapy and gradualism. The results of transition have been both positive and negative: it depends on the way and radicalism of the changes. The second stage of the Russian transition began after the monetary and financial crisis in August 1998. After that, the renewal of the Russian economy began. This stage had its specific problems. The main of them is related to the repatriation of the Russian capital from abroad. One of the basic components of the transition in Russia is its full involvement in the world economy and in the processes of integration and globalization. One of the ways of realisation is the full Russian cooperation with international organisations, especially with the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization.
Ciklicne fluktuacije - teorije Knuta Viksela i Austrijske skole
Authors: Prascevic Aleksandra
Published: June 2006

This paper contributes to reflection on economic thought, through consideration of Knut Wicksell's and Austrians' contributions according to possible solutions of macroeconomic instability and cyclical fluctuation. Particular contribution of Wicksell upon which the Austrians built their cycle theory is considered. The paper focuses on questions about causes of these fluctuations, manners and mechanism of their dispersion and propagation through the economy, and possible policy responses to these causes. All key concepts, such as cumulative process, natural rate of interest and forced saving, developed by Wicksell and Austrians are incorporated and analyzed in this paper.
Social economic and ethical aspect of sustainable development
Authors: Malesevic Krstan
Published: June 2006

Uncritical fostering of social development within the industrial paradigm often referred to as "unlimited growth", has caused so catastrophic effects that they could argumentatively be described as a real ecocide. This is not only reflected in the total pollution of environment, irrecoverable destruction of natural resources and non-renewable energy sources, but the very existence of elementary biological preconditions for survival of human and other life forms on Earth is endangered. Social development, perceived and applied as mere growth, has favored partial interests on behalf of those of the whole. It has also endorsed interests of present over future generations relying on partial, positivist knowledge against holism humanism and wisdom. These effects have contributed to the new knowledge of the necessity for radical change in dominant development paradigm. An alternative has been found by some authors in the concept of "sustainable development". This concept is based on the idea of adjustment of social growth and development to the natural adaptive capacities. The idea of sustainable development should represent a key for human duration in time and with this a concrete form of responsibility towards future generations. This strategy, now within the ecological paradigm, transcendent partiality of industrial paradigm and offers a uniquely new form for the rationalization of development. At the same time this strategy functions as a new form of ethics (biocentric instead of anthropocentric one) and as a new model for wisdom of living. The concept of sustainable development is also the only operative way for radical and permanent elimination of the deepest causes of ecological crises instead of periodical and partial healing of its consequences.
A Markov chain Monte Carlo method family in incomplete data analysis
Authors: Vasic Vladimir
Published: June 2006

A Markov chain Monte Carlo method family is a collection of techniques for pseudorandom draws out of probability distribution function. In recent years, these techniques have been the subject of intensive interest of many statisticians. Roughly speaking, the essence of a Markov chain Monte Carlo method family is generating one or more values of a random variable Z, which is usually multidimensional. Let P(Z) = f(Z) denote a density function of a random variable Z, which we will refer to as a target distribution. Instead of sampling directly from the distribution f, we will generate [Z(1), Z(2)..., Z(t),... ], in which each value is, in a way, dependant upon the previous value and where the stationary distribution will be a target distribution. For a sufficient value of t, Z(t) will be approximately random sampling of the distribution f. A Markov chain Monte Carlo method family is useful when direct sampling is difficult, but when sampling of each value is not.
Strategy for accelerated economic development of Bulgaria by 2020
Authors: Angelov Ivan
Published: June 2006

In this summary we present the most important conclusions and recommendations. For obvious reasons no room is devoted to argumentation here. It is in the main text. References and tables are not included either. The study comprises references to more than 400 publications in Bulgarian and other languages and 29 tables.
Economic development: How should we proceed?
Authors: Stamenkovic Stojan , Kovacevic Miladin , Savin Davor , Nikolic Ivan , Vuckovic Vladimir
Published: June 2006

This paper attempts to answer the following questions: where were we in a systemic and development sense in October 2000? What changes have occurred in the last three years? What are the main problems regarding economic development and, opposed to them, the created stereotypes? What are the key mistakes from economic aspect? What should be done in the short run and in the medium run? In addition to providing the necessary level of investment as the most important tool of sustainable development and growth in gross domestic product, it is also necessary to ensure: conditions for efficient market functioning, firm and uncompromising legal protection of businesses innovative management, modern technological base. If such conditions are fulfilled, it will be possible to transform the economy, to ensure sustainable economic growth and to regularly service foreign debts. The alternative is a populist scenario, with a short-run rise in living standards and its fall in the medium and long run.
The system of margins and the clearing house in the system of commodity futures markets
Authors: Eremic Milan
Published: June 2006

In a commodity futures trading system, the clearing house is of great importance. This paper describes and analyses in detail its essence functions and numerous activities. The main goal and a major task of such activities is to preserve financial integrity and stability of the market place. Clearing houses accomplish this task by means of a financial safeguard system of the futures markets. In order to preserve financial integrity and stability of the commodity futures markets, the clearing house uses three mechanisms. First, the membership in a clearing corporation requires a certain business and professional profile of a firm or an individual member accompanied by a minimal amount of capital determined by special regulations of a clearing corporation and the stock exchange. Second, the clearing house provides a financial safeguard through self-insurance schemes: funded and unfounded ones. Third, the clearing house uses a developed system and mechanism of margins through which it most efficiently exerts permanent control and sustains financial stability of the trading system as a whole. The third system of preserving financial integrity and stability of commodity futures markets is undoubtedly of the greatest importance, as it simultaneously embodies the true nature and essence of commodity futures markets. The development of margin system in commodity futures market has been a long process through which the clearing house has become a general partner and a guarantee of all stock exchange transactions. As a general partner the clearing house embodies the total amount of capital on the stock exchange. In this way, the system of margins appears to be acting not only as an element of the commodity market financial safeguard, but also to have a completely new function, that of imposing capital as a homeostatic subject which maintains its total capital value. The preservation of the total capital value flowing into the commodity futures market is the first and the basic function of the system of margins. However, it has an additional function: to guarantee historical cost of the goods, thereby maintaining the value of individual capitals, the function which is accomplished through various hedging strategies of individual capital.
The development of environmental management system in Serbia and Montenegro as part of the EU accession
Authors: Zdravkovic Dusan , Vasic Snezana
Published: June 2006

Environmental protection is one of the top priorities of the EU. The EU regulates this area both within the Union and internationally. Also, the regulations concerning environmental protection in the EU to a certain extent exceed the national level. The EU environmental legislation imposes a number of challenges to membership candidates. Legal heritage of the EU is very extensive, complex and costly, and environmental problems are much more important in the EU membership candidates than in the member states. Therefore, it is of great importance for transitional countries such as Serbia and Montenegro to participate in the EU Stabilization and Association Process as well as in the WTO accession process.
Mehanizmi odlucivanja i strateske manipulacije
Authors: Azdejkovic Dragan
Published: June 2006

The theory of social choice deals with both the processes and results of collective decision making. In this paper, we explore some issues in the theory of social choice and mechanism design. We examine the premises of this theory, the axiomatic approach, and the mechanism design approach.
The determination of disparity between supply and demand in services market
Authors: Macura Perica
Published: June 2006

Respecting the principles of analytics, systematization and comprehensiveness, the paper deals with the frames of disparity between supply and demand in services market. The basic reasons for disparity are systematically divided into five groups: (1) reasons for problems in the area of information on supply and demand, (2) reasons for problems in the area of parallel functioning of the gray market, (3) reasons for problems in the area of psychological conditions and perceptions of consumers, (4) reasons for problems in the area of social and economic situation, (5) reasons in the area of institutional functioning. These groups contain reasons of the general character and reasons in individual areas and flows. The analysis of disparity has been conducted via relevant relations of demand and supply that exist in services market, as follows: (1) the relation of supply of services provided by companies towards adequate forms of demand (other companies, institutions, population), (2) the relation of institutions' supply of services toward adequate forms of demand (all companies, population) and (3) the relation of unofficial supply of services toward adequate demand (population). Within basic prerequisites for the solution to disparity of demand and supply in the service sector, we have especially emphasized and analyzed personnel potential. We have analyzed elements and problems of the labor market, available personnel potential (personnel potential of the employed and the unemployed), as well as latent personnel potential.
Financial services with a special review of insurance services
Authors: Labudovic Jasmina
Published: June 2006

The aim of this paper is to point out certain characteristics of insurance market as a specific segment of financial services market. One of the characteristics of this market is the cost of insurance as differentia specific. The model presented in this paper shows how the insurer who is informed about the takeover risk can influence the cost of insurance. The development of insurance market indicates the development of national economies and the living standards. The data about the premium per capita national income per capita, the size of GDP and the number of citizens in different regions contain very interesting information. Processes of transition and macroeconomic reforms have led to a faster development of insurance in ex-socialist countries.
Financial evaluation of competitive ability of fruit growing in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Authors: Cejvanovic Ferhat , Rozman Crtomir
Published: June 2006

Before making a decision to invest in fruit growing, an investor needs to have the basic information on which to base his decision. This information contains sufficient economic indicators to form the basis for the decision making. The decision should be based, first of all, on economic profitability of the investment. Cost-benefit analysis is a method which provides the decision maker with the information about a number of economic indicators regarding the desired investment, from its profitability and competitiveness to the return on investment period, etc. This paper deals with the cost-benefit analysis in the decision-making process concerning economic profitability of investing in agricultural production, namely the newly planted fruit. Cost-benefit analysis has many advantages compared with the other known methods. It has proved very useful in agricultural production since it makes it possible to estimate the profitability of investment in very specific conditions of agricultural production, taking into account numerous factors of its economic efficiency as well as the main effects that may be expected both by individual producers and the social community as a whole.
Tax competition: A general review
Authors: Raicevic Bozidar , Nenadic Jelena
Published: June 2006

Tax competition is increasingly attracting the attention of not only experts Although it is difficult to define precisely, grosso modo, it is actually a competition between states (jurisdictions) in attracting capital (investors) by tax instruments, especially tax incentives. The first recorded cases of tax competition emerged in 12th century (attracting wool weavers into regions of North Italy-Piemont). Today, tax competition has undreamt-of and very dynamic forms, both territorial and sectored. However, tax competition is accompanied not only by positive but also by rather strong negative effects. Positive effects worth mentioning are the following: 1. control of power, 2. innovations, and 3. incentives. However, negative effects, embodied in "unfair tax competition", provoke a range of unwanted and important distortions in international trade. All of them arise from requirements and wants of tax payers (especially companies) to minimize or evade their tax obligations, on the one hand, as well as.
Private law enforcement in post-communist Southeastern Europe: An economic analysis of arbitration and execution
Authors: Schoenfelder Bruno
Published: June 2006

The very idea of private law enforcement is alien in Southeastern Europe and appears there to be perceived as somewhat extravagant. A thoroughgoing search for the reasons of an extremely limited scope of the private law enforcement is undertaken in the paper. Private law enforcement is seen as taking three basic forms: self-enforcement, enforcement through other agents and illegal means and through specialized agents and with reliance on legal means. Particularly extensive is the analysis of arbitrage, both domestic and international, and of the causes of its modest deployment. Several possible causes are examined to some detail: the lack of knowledge both generally and in the sense of the lacking awareness of the possibility to find recourse to arbitrage, the shortage of lowers and the inadequacy of legal advice, distrust in courts, the preference for secrecy combined with partly operating in the realm of the gray economy, the missing of appellate proceedings and the shortfall in execution. Various factors influence the market share of arbitrage in the mass of litigations through various mechanisms and to a significantly differentiated degree. The paper centers on the various, sufficiently numerous components of these mechanisms. The stress is placed upon the still subdued power of reputation capital due mostly to a highly unstable macroeconomic situation, weakly and recently institutionalized property relations and, as a consequence, short decision making horizon. A new law enforcement mechanism, based on notaries as specific private enforcers and emerging in Croatia, is surveyed with an account of its advantages and disadvantages.
Financial and economic approach: Financial & banking sector development pact from the perspective of the euro area European economic policy
Authors: Theodoropoulos Theodore , Vojinovic Borut
Published: June 2006

Powerful obstacles to the further integration of repot, bond and equity markets remain the still fragmented securities settlement industry in Europe, which charges much higher fees for cross border transactions than for domestic transactions, and differences in legal systems. This paper describes the main developments in the euro area financial markets before and after the introduction of the single currency. It looks at the evolution of the euro area financial structure in the last few years. Interestingly in various dimensions the financial structure of euro area countries seems to become more diverse over time. We assess the progress towards financial integration in the most important euro-area financial segments, namely money and equity markets, as well as banking. The available data suggest that the unsecured money market strongly integrated with the introduction of the euro, as the single currency and related euro-area-wide large-value payment systems link the different countries well. Also, some progress occurred in the integration of euro-area equity markets, as stock exchanges in a few countries merged to form Euronext and professional asset managers replaced country allocation by sector allocation strategies. Overall, while asset holdings have become more international in the euro area since the introduction of the single currency, securities markets are still much less integrated than in the US. In the area of retail banking the increased homogeneity of interest rates seems to be driven more by macroeconomic convergence than by market integration. In addition we consider a wide range of other determinants, such as foreign debt or net foreign assets, terms of trade, government debt and regulated prices.
Vizija, institucije i privredni razvoj
Authors: Jaksic Miomir
Published: June 2006

Lack of vision, instead of finding new facts, is a key problem of modern economic science. The art of economics is lost due to the fact that economists have favored the methodology of positive economics. The methodology of the art of economics is much more complex, less deterministic, relies upon institutions and a close network between economy and society. Instead of utopia, economists should develop evtopia, a society that develops and changes itself. This system fosters knowledge human capacities, and systematically incorporates all new knowledge adapting itself to the changing circumstances.
Trans-European transport networks influence on the regional development and urban systems: Serbian experience
Authors: Maksin-Micic Marija
Published: June 2006

The trans-European transport network has different effects at macro regional mezzo-regional and micro-regional level, and its effectiveness rises with the lower regional levels. Possible approaches to the trans-European transport network impact and effect survey and policy options have been pointed out. The importance of increased accessibility and mobility for regional expansion and for a more balanced and polycentric system of city networks has been underlined. Changes in the spatial organization utilization and structure of cities, as well as in social benefits and losses subsequent to impacts of trans-European transport corridor "X" section Belgrade-Nis have been analyzed. The new trans-European or major transport infrastructure does not per se create regional and urban system network development, although it can affect the conditions for the processes that create growth and development. The effects can be increased by co-ordination of measures of regional, spatial and urban policy, land use transport, environmental and other policies. The necessary measure is the introduction of spatial impact assessment as sartorial policy instrument for the large transport infrastructure plans and projects.