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Reactive dyes are the most popular dyes for dyeing cellulose fibers. The exhaustion method is the most common technical method of their application, when large amounts of neutral salts and alkali are added to the dyeing bath to fixing the dyes. Despite this, 10-40% of the dye is not fixed to the cotton and together with the salts, it represents a large environmental burden for watercourses. Recently, methods have been studied to increase the substantiality and reactivity of these dyes with the aim of promoting procedures that are more economical and environmentally safer. In this sense, cationic modification of cotton can be considered a promising procedure for increasing the utilization of reactive dyes from the technological solution. This review paper reports on the possibilities of applying different cationic agents for cotton processing and the effects of cationic modification on the ability to dye with reactive dyes.

Factor analysis/principal component analysis (FA/PCA), applied to 16 physico-chemical parameters at three different monitoring sites (Mojsinje, Korvingrad, and Ristovac) of the South Morava River in 2015, and from 2011-2018 for station Ristovac, extracted two and four varimax factors which explain 100.000 and 90.874 % of the total variance in water quality, respectively. The relationships among the stations and years obtained by cluster analysis (CA) categorize observed objects in different quality levels. Parameters responsible for pollution of the South Morava River are related to point (industrial/sewage effluents), non-point (runoff from arable land and erosion), and natural source (a mineral component of the river water). The results of the water pollution index (WPI) method for 2015 have shown that the South Morava River at Korvingrad station represents a "moderately polluted" water body (class III), but at Mojsinje and Ristovac station a "polluted" water body (class IV). The obtained ecological potential values indicated that water quality at the Korvingrad station corresponds to class II, "good ecological potential". The surface water at Mojsinje and Ristovac stations deviated from the required ecological water standards by the European Union Water Framework Directive (EU WFD), class III. The South Morava River had the highest load of nutrients (PO4-P and TP) and organic matter (TOC) at Ristovac station, which was confirmed by the index and comparative method (polluted water with poor ecological potential) in period from 2011-2018. A comprehensive analysis of the paper identified a decreasing trend in pollution of the South Morava River, primarily at Ristovac station.

BackgroundThe empirical evidence shows that tobacco consumption is strongly associated with its affordability. The nominal growth in tobacco prices imposed by taxation should exceed or at least keep pace with nominal income growth, ensuring that tobacco products become less affordable over time. No analysis covering affordability issues in the Southeastern European (SEE) region has been conducted prior to this research.ObjectivesThe study aims to examine trends in cigarette affordability in ten selected SEE countries over the period 2008–2019 and the impact of affordability on the consumption of cigarettes. On the policy side, it aims to support conducting of more effective evidence-based policy of tobacco taxation.MethodsThe relative income price of cigarettes and the tobacco affordability index are used as affordability measures. The panel regression was run to estimate the impact of affordability measures and other covariates on cigarette consumption.ResultsThe affordability of cigarettes in the selected SEE countries has decreased on average but showed different patterns over the observed period. A decline in affordability has been more dynamic in Western Balkan (non-EU members) countries and low-and-middle-income countries within the SEE region. Econometric estimation confirms affordability as the main determinant of tobacco consumption, indicating that a decline in affordability considerably reduces tobacco consumption.ConclusionsDespite the evidence, affordability is still widely ignored by SEE policymakers when designing national tobacco taxation policies. Policymakers should be aware of the risk that future increases in cigarette prices could lag behind real income growth, making tax policy less effective at reducing consumption. Reducing affordability should be the paramount consideration in designing effective tobacco taxation policies.

This paper examines whether a long-run relationship exists between CO2 emissions and selected variables: real gross domestic product per capita, inward stock of foreign direct investments, gross fi...

In Serbia irrigation is not widely utilized to reduce water scarcity in crop production. Therefore, wheat yields largely depend on weather factors. Over the past two decades, there has been recorded a significant change in weather conditions in Serbia. Such change produces concerns about Serbia’s food security and exports since wheat is among the most important agricultural products. In this paper authors analyze and quantify the impact of weather factors on the achieved wheat yields, using a set of panel data on selected Serbian municipalities in fourteen years (2000–2013). The multidimensional regression was conducted as a sort of quasi-experiment, combining data on achieved yields in selected municipalities, with data on weather factors: temperature, precipitation, extraterrestrial radiation, and evapotranspiration. Utilizing the Hargreaves method of determining reference evapotranspiration, average daily water deficit was computed as a single representative indicator of weather conditions. Testing was conducted on four predefined sub-periods within the vegetation season of wheat, and the impact of average daily water deficit on wheat yields was estimated for each of these sub-periods. Results show a robust, statistically significant impact of change in average daily water deficit on decreased wheat yields. Growth of water deficit by 0.1 mm, in the period November 15th to April 1st results with 175 kg/ha lower yields, while in the period April 1st to May 15th results in 45 kg/ha lower yields. Impact shows to be conditional on the altitude, rapidly losing on intensity and significance above 100 m.

The Mre11-Rad50-Nbs1 complex (MRN) is important for repairing DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) by homologous recombination (HR). The endonuclease activity of MRN is critical for resecting 5′-ended DNA strands at DSB ends, producing 3′-ended single-strand DNA, a prerequisite for HR. This endonuclease activity is stimulated by Ctp1, the Schizosaccharomyces pombe homolog of human CtIP. Here, with purified proteins, we show that Ctp1 phosphorylation stimulates MRN endonuclease activity by inducing the association of Ctp1 with Nbs1. The highly conserved extreme C terminus of Ctp1 is indispensable for MRN activation. Importantly, a polypeptide composed of the conserved 15 amino acids at the C terminus of Ctp1 (CT15) is sufficient to stimulate Mre11 endonuclease activity. Furthermore, the CT15 equivalent from CtIP can stimulate human MRE11 endonuclease activity, arguing for the generality of this stimulatory mechanism. Thus, we propose that Nbs1-mediated recruitment of CT15 plays a pivotal role in the activation of the Mre11 endonuclease by Ctp1/CtIP.

This paper examines the relationship between FDI inflow per capita and unemployment rates in 17 transition countries over the period 2000-2014. It aims at testing the premise, usually suggested by policy makers, that higher attraction of FDI in transition countries results in inevitable unemployment reduction. The empirical analysis contributes to the existing literature applying panel cointegration approach in testing and assessing long-run impact of FDI on unemployment, as an alternative to typical panel analysis that examine contemporaneous relations. The evidence from seven performed panel cointegration tests provide the mixed results, while the Fully Modified and Dynamic OLS panel estimations indicate that FDI and unemployment are most likely not cointegrated. The inconclusiveness of the empirical evidences gives the argument in support of the general conclusion that long-run impact of FDI on unemployment in transition countries is either very loose or does not exist.

Objective of this paper is to empirically examine whether widespread unofficial dollarisation plays significant role in determination of exchange rate dynamic in Turkey and Serbia, as one big and one small of the EU candidate countries under managed floating currency regime and synthesize consequent policy recommendations. Our time-series approach utilised monthly data from 2006-2016 to research the aforementioned relationship. After resolving non-stationarity issues, we deployed GARCH analysis to pinpoint the sources of volatility. Our research shows that in Serbia dollarisation has significant and robustly positive influence on exchange rate levels, but not so in Turkey, whose national currency is pretty robust in levels yet its volatility is more sensitive than Serbian dinar to volatility of dollarisation. In addition, Serbian foreign exchange reserves share in the money supply positively influences dinar-euro nominal exchange rate volatility, while Turkish reserves' share in money supply has negative impact on exchange rate volatility. Even though uncovered interest parity doesn't hold in either of countries, Serbian dinar is somewhat susceptible to interest rate manipulation, unlike Turkish lira. In the end, one could conclude that flexible exchange rate has more sense and better results in Turkey than in Serbia, but rational choice between earlier-agreed upon or unilateral-official dollarisation on the one hand and continuing with managed (systematic) floating on the other in these two EU candidate countries, requires additional, more precise cost-benefit analysis, as formalised in the discussion and suggested for future research.

WOS: 000477088100006, One of the key characteristics of the world economy in the last few decades has been the rise of foreign direct investments (FDI), which represent the major and most desirable form of capital flows from developed to developing and transition countries. The aim of this paper is to investigate specificities of FDI inflow to six small open transition economies of the western Balkans over the 2004-2014 period. Formal econometric tests carried out in the paper imply that-contrary to widespread ideology-FDI inflows exhibit at best no impact whatsoever or indeed a statistically significant negative impact on both GDP and GNP (cumulative) growth rates in the western Balkans. After exploring stylized facts and contrasting them with theoretical predictions, the article goes on to debunk several misconceptions in regard to motives, modes of operation and economic effects of FDI confronted with inconsistent, partial or outright detrimental government policies. The authors therefore call for a considerably different attitude towards FDI and the growth-generating concept in the Balkans., Ministarstvo Prosvete, Nauke i Tehnoloskog Razvoja [III47009], This work was supported by the Ministarstvo Prosvete, Nauke i Tehnoloskog Razvoja [OI179015]; Ministarstvo Prosvete, Nauke i Tehnoloskog Razvoja [III47009].

Economic trends in recent years have led to rising unemployment across Europe. This trend is particularly evident among youth. At the same time, the negative demographic trends in many countries show that the number of young people is decreasing. Problems among young people are the reflection of the future state of the nation. Therefore there is a need to analyse whether the government can reduce youth unemployment rate using available regulatory tools. In this paper, the authors have analysed the impact of three groups of factors on the youth unemployment rate by using multiple regression analysis and controlling the long-term determinants of unemployment. The results show that the level of unemployment is largely impacted by a tax rate on low wages, primarily in the mid-term. Factors related to the general rate of unemployment, as well as the other demographic factors have showed no statistically significant impact on mid-term and long-term youth unemployment rate.

This paper analyses the relationship between real GDP and CO2 emissions for 17 transitional economies based on a series of annual data from 1997 to 2014. The analysis was conducted using Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) (DOLS) and Fully Modified OLS (FMOLS) approaches. The results clearly suggest the existence of a statistically significant long-run cointegrating relationship between CO2 emissions and real GDP. A 1% change in GDP leads to around a 0.35% change of CO2 emission on average for the considered group of countries. Close values of long-run coefficients for all estimations confirm the robustness of the estimated results. The authors state that transitional economies need to follow global policy incentives, and try to implement new mechanisms and instruments for the purpose of reducing CO2 emissions, such as environmental taxes, emissions-trading schemes, and carbon capture and storage, if they want to achieve future CO2 emission reductions, while attaining economic growth.

Youth on the labour market in developing countries such as Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina are facing numerous difficulties, with almost a half of their population aged between 15 -24 not working or working in informal sector. The reasons may be numerous. The financial crisis and the low economic development of the country have had negative impact on young generations and this resulted in lack of sufficient jobs vacancies. In addition, the reasons for their slow entry into the labour market could be the lack of experience, low education among young people etc. Although employers have certain expectations of young people, once they enter the labour market young people have certain values that are important for them when choosing a job. The paper presents the research on the expectations of young people entering labour market in the Republic of Serbia. According to survey results based on analyses of youth’ expectations and preferences in Serbia regarding potential work conditions, authors have by the means of factor analysis identified which groups of factors are the most important for young people ages between 16 and 30 in job finding in Serbia. The results showed that there is a significance of three questions: 1. Job does not affect the private life; 2. Work resources are provided; 3. Work is safe. In conclusion, if a company ensures that these three issues are regulated, it will more likely employ young professionals.

Population ageing is a global phenomenon without precedent in the history of humanity having implications in all facets of life. From an economic point of view, population ageing is certainly one of the biggest challenges of modern time. A consequence of these global demographic tendencies reflected in growing number of pensioners which negatively affects sustainability of public pension systems financed by the principle of intergenerational solidarity (Pay-As-You-Go) - widely represented in public pension schemes of European countries. In this paper, impact of demographic ageing on pension systems is analyzed in the context of sustainability of public finance in Serbia in the period 2010-2050. Although the comparative analysis of the pension expenditure share in gross domestic product (GDP) does not point to significant differences between Serbia and the countries in the neighborhood and the European Union, the growth trend of subsidizing the Pension Fund from the government budget endangers medium-term sustainability of the public pension system in Serbia, bearing in mind that the implementation of measures proposed in pension reforms can be valorized only in the long run. The main objective of the analysis is projecting long-term pension expenditure as a share of GDP. The projections were formed indirectly by modeling the average pension expenditure, because this variable incorporates both growth in the total pension expenditure and growth in the number of pensioners as a result of demographic trends, and better reflects the actual growth of pension expenditure. For the purposes of the analysis, in addition to the projection of real GDP growth, size of the inactive population aged 65 and over, as the main contingent of the pension system users and the total number of pensioners, was projected by means of stochastic cohort component methodology. Based on these projections and assumptions about the growth rate of average pension expenditure (three scenarios), the projections of total pension expenditure (as a percentage of GDP) are produced for the period 2010-2050. The results indicate that the growth rate of pension expenditure over the past few years is unsustainable in the long run. However, there is fiscal space for continuous real growth of pensions that does not jeopardize the budget deficit on the medium term, and leads to long-term reduction of the share of pension expenditures in GDP. The proposed change would not affect sustainability of the pension system and consequently public finance in Serbia, even in completely certain circumstances of significant increase in the number of elderly and their pressure on the workforce. In this context, critical review of the current government approach to the pension growth dynamics was given from the perspective of medium-term sustainability of pension system, which resulted in appropriate recommendations. Generally, the intent of the Government of the Republic of Serbia on the indexation of pensions represent a good solution long term, but the premise of increasing pensions for a part of real GDP growth, if it is higher than 4%, is subject to criticism from the point of view of medium-term sustainability. The crisis cycle of the Serbian economy, similarly to that on a global level, has its maximum and minimum phase. After a maximum of the crisis is reached, there should be a few years of economic stagnation followed by gradual, and then by faster economic growth. Due to the projection of a relatively higher rate of economic growth and GDP in a future economic recovery, there is an increased risk that such a growth could be followed by sudden jumps in the growth of pensions, which could result in unsustainable funding of pension system. Therefore, the Government should impose some limitations in terms of the maximum increase in pension per annum in case of intensive and high economic growth.