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This paper explores the factors affecting the net profit margins of railway companies, a relatively under-researched topic. The analysis focuses on ten railway companies within the European Union from 2010 to 2019. Historically, the railway has played a critical role in economic growth, especially during the first industrial revolution. Despite its influence waning in the latter half of the 20th century, it remains an integral component of the economy. The current rise of the green economy provides a vital motivation to focus on railways as a research subject. In this study, the authors examine the effect of six factors on the net profit margin of railway companies. The results indicate that the number of passengers, labour productivity, and the number of employees positively influence the net profit margin. Interestingly, the paper finds evidence of economies of scale in passenger transport but not goods transport. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the number of employees positively affects the net profit margin, contradicting the widely held assumption about the low productivity of workers in the public sector and state-owned companies.
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Determinants of Profitability in Railway Transport of Selected Companies in the European Union

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This paper examines information technology and information literacy of employees as one of the more essential prerequisites for creating smart hospitals, which are, on the other hand, a prerequisite for sustainable financial operations. Since nursing is the backbone of every hospital, research is focused on the nursing profession. Namely, if medical personnel do not know the basics of information and communication technology (ICT) and are incapable of recognizing, finding and structuring information into new knowledge and exchanging it with colleagues, an intelligent hospital is impossible, and the business is worse. For this reason, research was conducted to determine the state of computer and information literacy in the nursing field in hospitals in north-western Croatia. It was carried out in 2021, which determined the ratio of administrative work and health care and examined the level of ICT knowledge of nurses and technicians. Analysing the secondary, higher and higher medical school curriculum determined the current situation and required improvements. The research results showed that computer and information literate staff spend less time on administration; they estimate that there is not enough content on computer literacy in the existing curricula. The hospital's operations will also be efficient because the competencies of the nurses will enable better implementation of business processes and a better financial result for the hospital.
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Computer and Information Literacy in Nursing as a Prerequisite for Financial Sustainability

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Entrepreneurs often use various sources of financing to finalise an entrepreneurial idea. Crowdfunding on specialised internet platforms is an alternative method for collecting funds from several small sources for business investments and projects. The biggest difference between crowdfunding and other forms of financing is that crowdfunding uses smaller amounts of money from many investors interested in a business idea. Crowdfunding has been globally known for over a decade, and in Croatia, the interest has been growing for several years. The paper aims to demonstrate the importance and potential of crowdfunding, which, as a collective micro-investment of citizens, can serve as an alternative funding source for entrepreneurial ventures. The paper presents the research results conducted in Croatia based on the data collected through survey research. The paper investigates the knowledge and familiarity with the term and motives for investing through crowdfunding platforms.
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Crowdfunding as a Financing Alternative for Entrepreneurial Ventures

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Text-to-image generation is a rapidly growing field that aims to generate images from textual descriptions. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the latest trends and developments, highlighting their importance and relevance in various domains, such as art, photography, marketing, and learning. The paper describes and compares various text-to-image models and discusses the challenges and limitations of this field. The findings of this paper demonstrate that recent advancements in deep learning and computer vision have led to significant progress in text-to-image models, enabling them to generate high-quality images from textual descriptions. However, challenges such as ensuring the legality and ethical implications of the final products generated by these models need to be addressed. This paper provides insights into these challenges and suggests future directions for this field. In addition, this study emphasises the need for a sustainability-oriented approach in the text-to-image domain. As text-to-image models advance, it is crucial to conscientiously assess their impact on ecological, cultural, and societal dimensions. Prioritising ethical model use while being mindful of their carbon footprint and potential effects on human creativity becomes crucial for sustainable progress.
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Trends and Challenges of Text-to-Image Generation: Sustainability Perspective

AHEAD OF PRINT

Volume 4 (2023): Issue 2 (December 2023)

Volume 4 (2023): Issue 1 (December 2023)

Volume 3 (2022): Issue 2 (December 2022)

Volume 3 (2022): Issue 1 (June 2022)

Volume 2 (2021): Issue 2 (December 2021)

Volume 2 (2021): Issue 1 (June 2021)

Volume 1 (2020): Issue 1 (December 2020)

Croatian Regional Development Journal

 „Croatian Regional Development Journal” (CRDJ) is a multidisciplinary scientific journal. The journal aims at encouraging regional development through a multidisciplinary and innovative research approach in the area of sustainable development, ecology, construction, mechanical engineering, computer science, information and communication sciences　and economics. „CRDJ” has a special focus on theoretical and empirical research of new technology as a foundation of regional development. In addition to the multidisciplinary research, „CRDJ” publishes papers in the fields of technical, natural, social and human sciences. The journal publishes for decision makers in the private and public sector, scientists and experts. The journal combines advances and knowledge of different fields aiming to promote social and economic development. Special attention is paid to social, ecological, ethical and managerial aspects of regional development research. In this respect, the CRDJ journal fosters the exchange of ideas, experience and knowledge between regions, in particular in transition countries. Papers submitted for publication should be original, theoretical and practical papers.The journal also publishes case studies showing innovative solutions in practice and critical reviews of theory. Papers in both Croatian and English languages are published.The journal is published twice a year.   Archiving  Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.  Plagiarism Policy  The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process. 