ISSN 2738-0971 | eISSN 2738-1013

Vol. 12 No. 2 (2022)

Vol. 12 No. 2 · 2022

Open Access Original Scientific Paper

CHANGES IN THE NUMBER AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE NATURAL INCREASE OF THE POPULATION OF GORNJE POLIMLJE IN THE SECOND HALF OF THE 20TH AND THE BEGINNING OF THE 21ST CENTURY

The northern part of Montenegro went through a very dynamic demographic development in the post-war period. The changes that have taken place can be characterised as both qualitative and quantitative, and are driven by various factors imposed by the overall social and economic development. In the second half of the 20th century, Gornje Polimlje increased the population of its towns, intensified urban development, established better social infrastructure, and achieved a more favourable openness to the surrounding countries. However, despite this, as part of north-east Montenegro it remained an underdeveloped area, which had a strong impact on the scope, intensity and quality of changes in its overall demographic development. The population of Gornje Polimlje is decreasing and the depopulation process has affected many local communities. Unfavourable demographic trends in this subregion began in the 90s of the previous century, and continued to intensify during the 21st century.

Open Access Original Scientific Paper

GEOSPATIAL ASSESSMENT OF VEGETATION CONDITION PRE-WILDFIRE AND POST-WILDFIRE ON LUŠTICA (MONTENEGRO) USING DIFFERENCED NORMALIZED BURN RATIO (DNBR) INDEX

Wildfire is one of the most dangerous environmental stressors in most vegetation zones worldwide. Determining and monitoring this stressor is important because of the disturbances that occur during the burning of biomass in ecosystems, as well as because of the damage or suffering of organisms. In the last decade, a greater number of wildfires and burnt areas were recorded in Southern Europe and Montenegro. Therefore, it is important to develop optimal methodology and models to help in better management of forest protection against wildfire. The spatial component in firefighting plays a significant role in management. In this context, Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) come to the fore, which analyze spatial data and turn it into useful information - models applied in practice. The study aims to geospatial assess condition of vegetation pre-wildfire and post-wildfire in study area of the Luštica peninsula in Montenegro during the summer of 2017. Open and publicly available Sentinel 2 satellite was used. The scaled index differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) of burned vegetation was applied as an indicator for assessing the state of vegetation after a wildfire in the open source software Quantum GIS (QGIS). The results of the damage assessment of the burned area based on the applied scaled index reveal that the category of low severity occupies an area of 335.86 ha (7%), moderately-low severity 250.13 ha (5%), moderately-high severity 406.22 ha (8%), high severity 238.03 ha (5%). The unburned areas occupy an area of 3624.95 ha (75%). This study contributes to assessing vegetation conditions and other accompanying activities pre-wildfire and post-wildfire using modern open-source geospatial tools.

Open Access Original Scientific Paper

QUALITY EVALUATION OF WINES FROM KOSOVO AND METOHIJA: POLYPHENOLS CONTENT, ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY AND ELEMENTAL COMPOSITION

Wine is a very rich source of polyphenols and essential elements which have multiple biological activities. This study evaluates the total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant activity (AA) of sixteen wine samples made from different grape varieties in the territory of Kosovo and Metohija, mostly from the area of Orahovac and Velika Hoča. The obtained results, determined by using the Folin-Ciocalteu assay, showed that wines from territory of Kosovo and Metohija are rich in polyphenols, with TPC ranges from 276±16 to 371±46 (white wines) and 1467±32 to 2823±43 mg gallic acid equivalents GAE/L (red wines). The total antioxidant activities, determined by ABTS method, range from 8.7±0.4 to 22.8±0.7 mmol trolox equivalents TE/L for red wines and from 1.3±0.1 to 3.8±0.3 mmol TE/L for white wines. Elemental content of studied wines showed certain difference between wines from nearby regions.

Open Access Original Scientific Paper

NOMA COOPERATIVE RELAYING SYSTEMS OVER RICIAN-SHADOWED FADING CHANNELS

Non-orthogonal multiple Access (NOMA) is an efficient 5G technology that enables network spectral efficiency increase and network access latency. In order to additionally improve the reliability of transmission and increase the achievable rate of NOMA system, combined utilization of NOMA and cooperative relay transmission (CRS) could appear as effective remedy. In this work, we will carry out performance analysis of NOMA based CRS over Rician-Shadowed fading channels. The closed-form expression for the exact average achievable rate is presented in the form of Meijer G functions infinite-series. Numerical results are presented in order to manifest the credibility of the presented method.

Open Access Original Scientific Paper

EXTRACT OF Morinda lucida LEAF RESCUES HYPOGLYCAEMIC AND DYSLIPIDAEMIC CONDITIONS IN Plasmodium berghei-INFECTED MICE

Increasing drug resistance is a great threat to malaria control. Therefore, a continuous investigation into alternative therapy to mitigate malaria-associated damages is important. In this study, we investigated the anti-hypoglycaemic and anti-hyperlipidaemic effects of aqueous extract of Morinda lucida leaf in Plasmodium berghei­-infected mice. Twenty-five mice were randomly grouped into five: Uninfected, infected-untreated, chloroquine (20 mg/kg, per oral), and extract-treated (400 mg/kg and 800 mg/kg, respectively, per oral) groups. Fasting blood glucose was measured before parasite inoculation and after the last treatment. Blood was collected for lipid profile assay at the end of the 4-day treatment. Our results revealed that both chloroquine and the extract lowered parasite growth (p