Volumen 5 (2017): Edición 2 (June 2017)

The aim of this research was to analyse the functional transformation of settlements in the Presheva Valley and the main factors that have affected on these changes. Among the many factors that determine the trend and the rhythm of functional transformation, we have chosen to analyse the relationship between the functional transformation and the ethnic structure of the region. Presheva Valley is situated in the central part of the Balkan Peninsula, with Morava Valley to the north and Vardar Valley to the south. It has an Albanian population who currently make up around 80 percent of the region’s population. It includes 67 settlements inhabited by an Albanian population and 71 settlements inhabited by a Serbian population. The Valley was, and remains, the most underdeveloped region in Serbia and the Balkans: the Albanian-inhabited areas are more than 7 times less developed than the average of Serbia. The first part of the article analyses the functional transformation of the settlements inhabited by Albanians, while the second part depicts a comparison of functional transformation between Albanian and Serbian settlements. The analysis is based on census data from 1971 and 2002. Comparison of statistical data of the population by activity within the 30 year period and mapping of statistical data of population by activity indicates a very slow functional transformation of the settlements in the Presheva Valley.

During the period from February 2013 to April 2014, 74 (12.3%) isolates of Streptococcus pneumoniae were isolated from 600 patients (359 males and 241 females) with clinical symptoms of Lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) (pneumonia and COPD) obtained from Najaf/Iraq Hospitals. Patients in the age groups 51-60 years had a high percentage of S. pneumoniae isolates (19.7%) compared with other age groups with a significant variation (P<0.05) between them. Males (54%) showed a higher percentage of S. pneumoniae isolates than females (45.9%) with no significant variation (P>0.05). Smokers have been shown to have increased risk to LRTI than non-smokers (P>0.05), and there was no significant variation between Urban and Rural (56.8:43.2%) patients. S. pneumoniae showed different susceptibilities towards antibiotics used in this study. The highest rate of resistance was against erythromycin (100%), azithromycin (83.8%), clindamycin (83.8%) and trimethoprim/sulfamethaxzol (81.1%) and moderate resistance to ceftriaxone (67.6%), cefotaxime (64.9%), chloramphenicol (64.9%), tetracycline (59.5%) and benzylpenicillin (45.9%) whereas there was a relatively lower resistance towards others. The results of this study showed that S. pneumoniae isolates were found to be remarkable sensitive to Vancomycin (100%) and Imipenem (100%). In this study, sixteen antibiotics were tested for (MIC) against 37 S. pneumoniae isolates by using Vitek-2 antibiotic susceptibility testing (AST) cards (41497) AST-GP74. 100% and 83.8% of S. pneumoniae isolates were resistant to erythromycin and SXT with MIC ≥1 mg/ml and 4/76 mg/ml of these antibiotic respectively, and moderately resistant to cefotaxime 64.9%, ceftriaxone 64.9% and chloramphenicol 64.9% with MIC 4 mg/ml for CTX and CRO each one, and MIC 8 mg/ml for C only. All isolates showed 100% sensitivity for each of Vancomycin and Erythromycin with MIC mg/ml and ≤1 mg/ml and ≤2 mg/ml, respectively. S. pneumoniae isolates showed a high rate of sensitivity to Ertapenem 97.3% with MIC ≤1 mg/ml, Telithromycin 89.2% with MIC ≤1, Meropenem 86.5% with MIC ≤0.25 mg/ml.

An analysis was made of comments in media reports on the selected case, the „Orzesze” mining project, posted by Internet users on news websites during the period July 2014 - December 2016 This article is an attempt to examine the relationship with the Other/Alien when thinking about conflicts around investment projects which will interfere with the surrounding social and natural environment. The article considers the theories on the sources of conflict and the development of the conflict process and its consequences and suggests possible courses of action to prevent the escalation of such conflicts particularly with respect to the “Orzesze” mining project in the Upper Silesia, Poland. Taking into account that the Data, Relationship, Value, and Interest conflicts can all be sources of conflict, it should be underlined that good social communication is extremely important in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and the mitigation of their destructive influence. In a cooperation/communication oriented environment it would be much easier to focus on finding solutions rather than finding the guilty party as this can lead to an escalation of the conflict as searching for the guilty party is inextricably linked with the desire to win or to take revenge.

With the current economic and political instability in Ukraine, children's health is most certainly the best indicator of socioeconomic development within the country and its different regions. This article analyses the socio-economic and environmental determinants of a child’s health in a big city (using the example of Lviv, a city in Ukraine). The demographic indicators of the child population of the city of Lviv and the reasons for mortality were traced; the structure of children’s diseases was analyzed; the factors affecting children’s health potential (such as local budget expenditures on health care, the level of average nominal wages, the ecological situation in the region) were studied. Published and non-published statistical data from the Main Statistical Department of Lviv Region, Lviv City Council were used. Specific consumer behavior among randomly selected Lviv households with children aged between 0-14 years was studied by using a special survey. Research results show the links between socio-economic and ecological factors (local budget expenditures on health care, the level of average nominal wages, the ecological indices in the region), and child mortality. The limited capacity of parents to satisfy the basic needs of households and complete lack, or limitation, of time that parents spend with their children undoubtedly influences the potential of children’s health in a destructive way.

The traditions related to mining activities in the Silesia-Cracow area go back to the 11^th century when lead, silver, and iron ores were exploited from open pit mines. For centuries, the growth in ore exploitation was an incentive for the development of other industries (hard coal mining, steelmaking). This, in consequence, resulted in progressive urbanization. The areas analyzed are of highly transformed character, mainly because of mining activities. These changes are especially seen in relation to the aquatic environment since this component is exposed to heavy modifications due to the mining processes. Hence the study was carried out in order to determine the quantitative changes in the surface hydrographic network. It was found, that of the 62 main watercourses (existing during the whole analyzed period) 25 changed only slightly in terms of their length, 20 shortened by a few hundred meters and 17 lengthened. In the case of the aggregated length of the tributaries, the value increased for the 41 main watercourses, for 10 of them it was constant and was reduced slightly for a further 11. The areas where the length of the watercourses increased and the drainage density grew were found to be as well those where the total area of wetlands decreased. The element of the hydrographic network which was affected by the most changes was the water bodies. During the analyzed period of over 200 years, their number increased from 154 to 1413.