Impact of Market Concentration on the Profitability of Lithuanian Banking Sector

Impact of Market Concentration on the Profitability of Lithuanian Banking Sector

Author(s): Vaida Rinkevičiūtė,Raimonda Martinkute-Kauliene / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2014

Keywords: concentration; profitability; return on equity; return on assets; banking sector

The performance of the bank can be measured in many different ways. However, profitability is the primary instrument depending on various factors one of which is market structure having the most significant indicator – industry concentration that can be defined as the number and distribution of competitors with reference to a simple index. The conducted research is based on the most frequently used concentration measures: the Herfindahl­Hirschman index, the k bank concentration ratio and profitability indicators such as return on assets and return on equity. The analysis of the results of changes in the ratios of banking sector concentration and profitability has disclosed no direct connection between these indexes.

Advancement of Marketing Developing Biotechnology-Based Business

Advancement of Marketing Developing Biotechnology-Based Business

Author(s): Vaidas Vilmantas,Borisas Melnikas / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2014

Keywords: biotechnology business; consumer behaviour; consumer formation; development; high technology; marketing

The article, in a complex way, analyzes the needs of marketing improvement in developing biotechnology­based business and highlights its role in the context of modern society and globalization challenges. The article distinguishes between the existing problems of biotechnology business, the present perspectives and specific characteristics of developing the marketing of biotechnological business. The paper represents the possibility of the substantial modernization of marketing tools with regard to modelling user’s behaviour, improvement in marketing strategy for the company, the correction of the elements of the marketing complex, changes in the marketing conception inside the company, product and service differentiation and renewal, the encouragement of expansion into other markets, variations in or the expansion of the target market, alternatives to the positioning strategy for the company, an increase in competitive ability and an internal impact of marketing on the varying elements. The article has referred to the analysis of scientific literature and research on the opinions of consumers and experts in the field in the context of biotechnology­based businesses.

Interconnectivity among Assessments from Rating Agencies: Using Cluster and Correlation Analysis

Interconnectivity among Assessments from Rating Agencies: Using Cluster and Correlation Analysis

Author(s): Karel Doubravsky,Petr Dostál,Jaroslav Krejčíř / Language(s): English / Issue: 3/2014

Keywords: credit rating assessments; credit rating agencies; cluster analysis; correlation coefficient; test independence

The aim of this paper is to determine whether there is a dependency among leading rating agencies assessments. Rating agencies are important part of global economy. Great attention has been paid to activities of rating agencies since 2007, when there was a financial crisis. One of the main causes of this crisis was identified credit rating agencies. This paper is focused on an existence of mutual interconnectivity among assessments from three leading rating agencies. The method used for this determines is based on cluster analysis and subsequently correlation analysis and the test of independence. Credit rating assessments of Greece and Spain were chosen to the determination of this mutual interconnectivity due to the fact that these countries are most talked euro­area countries. The significant dependence of the assessment from different rating agencies has been demonstrated.

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY ANNIVERSARY OF EDUCATION IN BROTNJO

STO PEDESETA OBLJETNICA ŠKOLSTVA U BROTNJU

Author(s): Emil Raspudić / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Ove 2011. godine navršava se sto pedeset godina od osnutka prve osnovne škole u Brotnju. Bila je to katolička osnovna škola u Gradnićima. Prve državne osnovne škole u Europi otvorene su znatno ranije, a poznato je da su se i visoke škole u europskim zemljama otvarale već od dvanaestoga stoljeća pa se ova obljetnica, usporedivši ju s europskim, može učiniti neznatnom. No za naše prilike sto pedeseta obljetnica školstva u Brotnju i te kako je važan događaj koji svakako treba proslaviti.

IMPORTANCE OF VERBAL AND NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

VAŽNOST VERBALNE I NEVERBALNE KOMUNIKACIJE

Author(s): Snježana Šušnjara / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

The intention of this work is to present psychological aspects of verbal and non-verbal communication in every day life. All of us use verbal communication while non-verbal communication is often forgotten or is put in the second place. The importance and value of verbal and non-verbal communication will be presented in this paper. The purpose of this work is to compare these two ways of communication in order to realize their values and failures or to promote using a proper combination of these two ways of communication in everyday life, especially in public relations or formal negotiations, etc. Non-verbal communication is getting its importance in these days in a practical way. Namely, it should be more presentable or ‘loud’ and visible to people who consider that silence and quietness are not welcomed and that these two non-verbal ways of communication are of a negative perspective. This is true in some situations, but in most cases silence is a sign of wisdom, which is often emphasized but not practiced in life. It is necessary to provoke people to think, to read signs of body which people usually use unconsciously in order to supplement their speech. For often, and this is proved in practice, the strength of non-verbal communication is more influential than that of the verbal one. Non-verbal signs are promoters of a hidden message and sense which could provoke confusion if they are not in agreement with the verbal signs. The other name for non-verbal communication could be “reading between the lines”.

PUBLIC RELATIONS IN EDUCATION

ODNOSI S JAVNOŠĆU U OBRAZOVANJU

Author(s): Vlade Dragun / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Nowadays, all successful companies, public institutions or non governmental organizations have a management for communication or a strategic program designed for public relations. This activity is expected to build confidence in the public as an obligatory factor for success. The purpose of management is to influence public opinion and win the public over to realize their goals. The concept of public relations denotes a communication activity that the English speaking world calls public relations or PR for short. It is believed that this term first began to be used in the USA, from where its use spread to other countries. Media relations, event creation and management, internal communications, relations with public institutions, relations with the market, relationships with the local community, crisis communications, lobbying, are only some of the many kinds of public relations. There are many different approaches and interpretations of the term public relations, but they all have one in common: that the activity of public relations has a bright future and that it is among the most promising professions in the world.

STUDENT VOICE

UČENIČKI GLAS

Author(s): Anita Lukenda / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Keywords: student voice; change; schools; levels of student engagement; abuse of the student voice

This article gives a brief account of the emergence, meaning and use of the term „student voice“, in several English-speaking countries. Three concrete examples of the research on student engagement as well as several different typologies of the student voice have been presented here. The article pays special attention to the Fielding’s four- fold typology of schools with regard to the mutual relation between the functional and the personal relations among human beings. This typology helps to expose the abuse of the student voice by the high performance institutions of schooling.

HYPO-THERAPY AS AND AID TO CHILDREN WITH DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFICULTIES

HIPOTERAPIJA KAO POMOĆ DJECI S POTEŠKOĆAMA U RAZVOJU

Author(s): Ines Novak / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Keywords: developmental difficulties; hypo-therapy; therapeutic riding

Every child has a right to an undisturbed growth and development and to a carefree life. Unfortunately, for some children the life is not easy and carefree since they have to cope with the limitations that the nature has imposed on them. Nevertheless, the children with developmental difficulties have a full right to an unhindered growth and development, and it is for this reason that many types of therapies are employed to make their everyday activity easier and to raise the quality of their lives. One of the effective types of therapy applied in the work with the children handicapped in their development is hypo-therapy – a medical form of therapeutic riding that is directed exclusively by a certified hypo-therapist, and prescribed by a medical doctor. An indispensible member of a hypo-therapy team is the therapy horse which is the main therapeutic aid. Hypo-therapy has a number of advantages and disadvantages, but it is highly effective for the patients that use it.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY AS A POSSIBILITY OF SELF-OBSERVATION IN TIME AND SPACE

AUTOBIOGRAFIČNOST KAO MOGUĆNOST PROMATRANJA SEBE U VREMENU I PROSTORU

Author(s): Mato Nedić / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Keywords: autobiography; composition; style; language; authentic testimony; Bosnia; Slavonia

The paper considers the model of autobiography as a possibility of self-observation in time and space. The paper was inspired by the discovery of a part of an autobiographical manuscript by the writer Father Bono Dobroslav Nedić which he entitled as Various Experiences from the Past, and in which, by presenting his youth, he brought a few authentic testimonies about the life in Bosnia and Slavonia in the second half of the 19th century. Especially interesting are the descriptions of the living conditions in the monastery at Kraljeva Sutjeska, then the descriptions of the customary culture of the Croats in the Bosnian Sava Valley, the way of education, etc. The autobiography of Father Bono Nedić is also important as a source for studying lexis and other linguistic elements in the linguistic identification of the Croats at the time of the fight of philological schools.

STANDARDIZATION OF TECAHING MATHEMATICS TO THE FIRST GRADE OF GENERAL PROGRAMME SECONDARY SCHOOL

STANDARDIZACIJA NASTAVE MATEMATIKE U PRVOME RAZREDU GIMNAZIJE

Author(s): Marina Zubac / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Keywords: teaching mathematics; sufficient standard; middle standard; high standard; student

This paper represents standardization of teaching mathematics to the first grade of general programme secondary school. Standards are classified into three levels: sufficient, middle and high level. Sufficient standard represents the lowest level of students’ achievements. That is a level sufficient for continuing further education. This level has to be accomplished by all students, or at least by 90% of them. Middle standard shows the level of achievement which allows students a successful continuation of education. This level has to be reached by 75% of students.High standard can be achieved only by a small number of students, about 10%. The students who reach this level can continue studying mathematics very successfully.

MARIJANA ŠUNJIĆ’S LINGUISTIC CONTRIBUTIONS AND FEATURES OF HIS LANGUAGE

JEZIKOSLOVNI PRINOSI MARIJANA ŠUNJIĆA I OSOBITOSTI NJEGOVA JEZIKA

Author(s): Marija Vasilj,Šimun Musa / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Keywords: language; orthography; stress; vocals; consonants; ilirism; revival

The article speaks about work of Marijan Šunjić, one of prominent Franciscans from Silver Bosnia in the 19th century, as an extraordinary contribution to the Croatian national- revival movement in Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially in the linguistic area. It deals with Šunjić’s linguistic solutions (alphabet, orthography, vocals, consonants, stresses), in which he had Gaj’s support. In the end it discusses characteristics of the language which he used.

BREAD AND PUPPET THEATER - TYPE OF POLITICAL THEATER

TEATAR KRUH I LUTKA – TIP POLITIČKOGA KAZALIŠTA

Author(s): Maja Lasić / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

U ovome se radu želi pokazati, odnosno objasniti istinitost naslovne teze, stoga i počinje definiranjem ili, prihvatljivije rečeno, razmatranjem ključnih pojmova iz samoga naslova poput kruha, lutke, političkoga kazališta. Nakon toga pristupit će se analizi Schumannova teatra, i to od odabira naziva pa do načina djelovanja. Tragat će se za odgovorima na pitanja zašto kruh i zašto lutke.

HAGIOTHERAPY AS ON MODEL IN SOLVING CONFLICTING AND AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR IN PUPILS

HAGIOTERAPIJA KAO JEDAN OD MODELA RJEŠAVANJA KONFLIKTNOGA I AGRESIVNOGA UČENIČKOG PONAŠANJA

Author(s): Anto Ledić / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Keywords: hagiotherapy; spirituality; conflict; aggression; agape therapy; irenic therapy; pistis therapy; dunamis therapy; spiritual formation; hagiotherapist

The goal of this paper is to present a specific educational trend that may help pedagogues in solving conflicting and aggressive behaviour in pupils, which in today’s contemporary world is expanding. Hagiotherapy is a theological concept for it implies therapeutic norms based on the spiritual – the sacred, but it also implicitly includes pedagogical-psychological standards which are traditionally used in solving conflicting and aggressive behaviour among students. The main topic of this originally spiritual therapy is the approach to the student through a spiritual prism as defined by its founder Tomislav Ivančić. Therefore I paid particular attention to this spiritual synthesis which is the main supposed attribute of this specific way of solving student’s problems. Tomislav’s theory is universal, anthropolo gical, soteriological and, above all, pedagogical. The value of this concept is its universal character which can be used not only by Catholics but also by members of other confessions and even atheists. Hagiotherapy also manages to encompass basic human values, to perceive the entirety of the human character, and, by means of the biblical message, to cut to the core of the problem and offer an adequate solution.

MS AUTUMN

GOSPOĐA JESEN

Author(s): Lidija Pavlović / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Raznovrsnim plodovima i lišćem učenici VIII.e stvorili su u učionici jesenski ugođaj kako bi spremno dočekali sat hrvatskog jezika i pjesmu „Zavodljiva jesen“. Kad je zazvonilo, stigla je i nastavnica s velikim panoom na kojem je nacrtala svoje viđenje jeseni – gospođu srednjih godina, s gustom kosom od lišća i raskošnom ogrlicom od raznog voća i povrća. Željela je, služeći se crtežom i razgovarajući s učenicima, napraviti poveznicu između žene u najboljim godinama života i bujnoga godišnjeg doba. Čim je izložila pano, započela je razgovor s učenicima.

FORTY YEARS OF MATURITY

ČETRDESET GODINA ZRELOSTI

Author(s): Marinko Jovanović / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Ne treba mnogo mudrovati kako bismo se složili s čovjekom za kojega mnogi kažu da je najcitiraniji Amerikanac i prihvatili činjenicu o mladosti kao najljepšem razdoblju ljudskoga života. Pa kad se doživi puna zrelost, sjeta za mladim godinama sasvim je razumljiva. Ponajviše zato obilježavanje maturalne godišnjice budi razne lijepe uspomene iz tih sretnih mladih dana. Ove je godine moja generacija obilježila 40 godina mature. Susret s kolegama koji su 1970. godine završili Učiteljsku školu u Mostaru uvijek je poseban doživljaj, osobito što se s nekima treba sresti nakon dva i više desetljeća, a s nekima nakon punih 40 godina. Poznati razlozi iz bliske prošlosti mnoge su raselili na razne strane svijeta tako da su članovi Odbora, koji je uložio maksimalan trud pri pripremi i organizaciji ovoga susreta, imali zaista puno posla. Otežavajuća je okolnost i činjenica da je Učiteljska škola u Mostaru prestala s radom 31. kolovoza 1972., a sretna je okolnost što je sve popise maturanata iz 1970. godine sačuvao Jefto Šotra, profesor metodike u Učiteljskoj školi i razrednik IV.d razreda.

PUBLIC SERVICE IN THE FUNCTION OF EDUCATION

JAVNI SERVIS U FUNKCIJI OBRAZOVANJA

Author(s): Mensuda Karović / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Keywords: public service; education; informing; educational reform

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, apart from a multitude of TV-stations, there are also public services as nonprofit organisation whose tasks are to inform, to educate and to entertain its viewers with entertaining programmes of the highest quality. The population in BiH is mainly informed by means of television, and so it is important what contents are represented in the programme scheme of public services. Since the appearance of television up to date, as numerous investigations show, the television has been credited with an educational power. In this paper we are going to present the results of the investigations carried out in order to determine the quantity and quality of the educational programme in the programme of the Public Service of the Federation BiH, and to determine the quantity and quality of the informative broadcasts about a very important process of the educational reform in BiH.

TEACHER AS A MODERATOR OF EVALUATION SYSTEM

UČITELJ KAO MODERATOR SUSTAVA VRJEDNOVANJA

Author(s): Vedrana Šuvar / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Keywords: monitoring; assessment; school mark; evaluation; pupil; teacher

In order to form an objective judgement on competences acquired by pupils during a particular educational period, each pupil’s work should be continually monitored, verified and evaluated. Arranged pedagogical rules which are integrated into curricular contents should be followed by all educational institutions. Despite that, there are wide discrepancies between the evaluating criteria and the very process of evaluation. School mark as a basic evaluation category should not be perceived only as a unit of measure for the evaluation of the pupil’s knowledge in a particular school subject. School mark, serving as a relevant instrument for evaluation of the pupil’s achievements, should contribute to the objective assessment of all the competences acquired by the pupil. Assessment is a kind of measuring. From the mathematical point of view, measuring equals comparing two variables– one of these representing a unit of measure, and another one being an object of measurement in the educational process (i.e. pupils). School evaluation is influenced by a wide range of factors which, to a varying extent, are either objectively set by institutions or subjectively categorized by teachers during the process of assessment. These factors influence both school evaluation and marks as units for measuring the pupil’s acquired competences.

JEWELS IN MIRACULOUS LANGUAGE

DRAGULJI U ČUDOTVORNOME JEZIKU

Author(s): Antun Lučić / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Stvarateljsko otkrivanje svijeta u suodnosu vremena i prostora, kao i pojavnosti koje nastaju različnim uzročno-posljedičnim vezama, uvijek bivaju izazovom, obnavljajućim pozivom za jezično usuglašavanje ili prešućivanje sa zbiljom. Sve i kada bismo uočavali značajke pisca kao građanske osobe s navadama i potrebama koje ga stvarno određuju, nikako ne treba isključiti da svojim autorstvom priznaje duhovnu snagu stvaranja. Zato i primjećujemo da komuniciramo s autorom koji pridržava svemir pa u nastale suodnose uvodi sve pojedinosti i razine teksta.

EDITORIAL

PITANJE KOMPETENCIJE ILI LEKCIJE IZ POVIJESTI

Author(s): Ivan Sivrić / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

U stvari odgoja svi smo uključeni na poseban način. Svakodnevna i raznorodna iskustva odgojitelja upućuju na njihovu kompetenciju, ali postaju i breme kad se opredjeljujemo za neko iskustvo ili neku kompetenciju. Posebna je teškoća kad se traži odabir reda vrjednota ili prioriteta. Pitanje koje se nameće, jest: Kojoj kompetenciji dati povjerenje?

SCHOOL OF INCLUSION

ŠKOLA I(NK)LUZIJE

Author(s): Slavica Pavlović / Language(s): Croatian / Issue: 11-12/2011

Keywords: integrated/inclusive education (mainstreaming); children with developmental difficulties; parents; primary school; teachers

Educational reforms marked the past decades throughout European countries, including Bosnia and Herzegovina as well. The point that interests us is the inclusive education (mainstreaming), being the integral part of the (compulsory primary) educational reform, with particular reference to its first triad. Many questions are to be posed: what does the mainstreaming bring with?; which pedagogical implications does it imply?; which and what results has it been giving in the years following the launching of the educational reform?, which long-term outcomes could be expected so far, or could be pondered upon already now in order to prevent or alleviate – if at all possible – undesirable impacts of this complex, delicate and turbulent process in our country. This paper tends to show bona fide and sine ira et studio, both positive and negative sides of the mainstreaming (more precisely, integration of the pupils with developmental difficulties), as well as the related experiences and problems from the point of view of the parents in the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton.