Supporting the Caliph's Project: Bosnian Muslims and the Hejaz Railway

This article will analyse Bosnian Muslims response and contribution to the construction of the Hejaz Railway. Based on primary sources during the 1900–1908 period, the article will argue that Bosnian Muslims actively followed news about the progress of the railway and financially contributed to its construction. Bosnian Muslim contribution took the form of establishing committees for the collection of voluntary donations in a number of Bosnian towns in 1905 and 1906. The active involvement of Bosnian Muslims in the construction of the Hejaz Railway shows that the spiritual bonds between Bosnian Muslims living in Austria-Hungary and their Caliph in Istanbul were not completely severed by the Austro-Hungarian occupation of Bosnia in 1878. Following a brief survey of Bosnian Muslim history within the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the article describes the Hejaz Railway project and surveys the Bosnian Muslim contribution to the project.     

Sozialer Status und prosoziales Handeln: Ein Quasi-Experiment im Krankenhaus

Sociological, social psychological and economic research on the nexus between socioeconomic status and prosociality has so far provided contradictory findings. Some studies suggest that actors with a high socioeconomic status act more egoistically than actors with a lower socioeconomic status. Other studies find the opposite to be true. In contrast to previous research, which has worked with one-dimensional measures for socioeconomic status, this study examines prosocial behavior among occupational groups that have regular real-life contact in their workspace. About 150 hospital employees (physicians, nursing staff and nursing students) participated in experiments on altruistic giving in dictator games. The findings are surprisingly strong and clear-cut: Actors with higher social status act more prosocial than low-status actors. Furthermore, we find hardly any in-group effects, which have been repeatedly postulated. Our findings support the claim that high status promotes prosocial behavior. Also, they indicate that the inconclusive and in part contradictory findings provided by previous research stem to a considerable degree from deficient measures of social status and problematic experimental designs.     

Strengthening family cohesion through shared participation of family members in religious activities in Croatia

This article presents research results pertaining to an examination of the relation between family members’ participation in shared religious activities, perception of family cohesion, satisfaction with family life, and the level of conflict in the family. The survey of 503 parents of preschool children was conducted in Zagreb, Croatia. The findings demonstrate a significant correlation between shared participation of family members in religious activities, perception of family cohesion and satisfaction with family life, but not with perception of the level of conflict in the family. The results suggest that spiritual and religious matters are an important element necessary for understanding family functioning, and that cultivating shared religious practices in the family can contribute to the strengthening of family cohesion and greater satisfaction with family life.     

Cross-entropy method for estimation of posterior expectation in Bayesian VAR models

In this article, an importance sampling (IS) method for the posterior expectation of a non linear function in a Bayesian vector autoregressive (VAR) model is developed. Most Bayesian inference problems involve the evaluation of the expectation of a function of interest, usually a non linear function of the model parameters, under the posterior distribution. Non linear functions in Bayesian VAR setting are difficult to estimate and usually require numerical methods for their evaluation. A weighted IS estimator is used for the evaluation of the posterior expectation. With the cross-entropy (CE) approach, the IS density is chosen from a specified family of densities such that the CE distance or the Kullback–Leibler divergence between the optimal IS density and the importance density is minimal. The performance of the proposed algorithm is assessed in an iterated multistep forecasting of US macroeconomic time series.     

Preventing Religious Radicalization in Bosnia and Herzegovina: The Role of the BiH Islamic Community

The goal of the paper is to identify the Islamic Community’s methods of preventing religious radicalization in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). The roots of radicalism and extremism are explained by examining “Islamic revival” and studied within the Bosnian context. Although BiH appears in many international reports as a potential “cradle of terrorism”, the situation on the ground is quite different and there are many instances of combined efforts by the government and religious institutions in preventing religious radicalization in BiH. The analysis focuses on the Islamic community’s efforts to contend the spread of illegal mosques that sometimes promote radical Islam in BiH. Although there are radical individuals with different and sometimes radical understanding of Islam, the majority of Bosnian Muslims oppose any form of religious radicalization. The Islamic Community plays the most important role in preventing the spread of radical Islam in BiH, and this paper analyzes its efforts to homogenize Bosnian Muslims and prevent radicalization.     

Exchange Rate Policy in Serbia

In August 2006, Serbia adopted an inflation targeting regime as its monetary regime. The initial period of implementation of this regime was characterized by an extremely high capital inflow and appreciation of the exchange rate of the dinar. Under such conditions, the selected monetary policy regime functioned well. However, at the end of 2008, when the global financial crisis caused the outflow of foreign capital, deterioration of foreign borrowing conditions and an increase in inflationary expectations, the dinar lost about 25 per cent of its value within a relatively short period, despite the interventions of the National Bank of Serbia in the foreign exchange market. Therefore, the authors of this paper raise a dilemma whether Serbia conducts an adequate policy of the exchange rate of the dinar. The authors point out that, at the moment, the policy of a free floating exchange rate is not adequate for Serbia. As an alternative, a two nominal-anchor regime—inflation and the exchange rate—is proposed.     

彝语言文字信息处理技术的现况分析与发展前景

彝语言文字是彝文信息和知识的载体,彝语言文字的信息化或者说彝语言文字信息处理技术的发展水平是关乎彝族地区现代化、社会信息化的大事。通过对彝语言文字信息处理技术发展的基础语言资源层面、核心技术层面、应用系统层面、服务平台层面四个层面的分析反映了当前彝语言文字信息处理所达到的水平;提出了彝语言文字信息处理存在的问题;展望了彝语言文字信息处理的前景。     

猪肉价格波动的博弈分析

猪肉作为生活必需品,特点之一是需求的价格弹性很小。在市场机制的作用下,猪肉价格必然会产生周期性波动,波动幅度呈逐渐增长态势。猪肉价格波动的形成机理,一是内部传导机制,包括猪肉供需的散发型蛛网、生猪的生长周期及粮食等饲料成本对价格的影响;二是外部冲击机制,包括疫情等突发事件及宏观调控对猪肉价格的影响。通过对猪肉价格波动的博弈分析,说明单纯的依靠市场自我调节不但不会抑制波动反而会加剧波动。必须引进政府的作用,通过提供有效的市场信息,建立猪肉价格风险预警机制;建立储备制度;加大金融支持规模养殖力度,增强养殖户抗风险能力;实行市场准入制度和计划等有效措施,对猪肉这类生活必需品加强宏观管理,以保证养猪业均衡平稳发展。     

试论新疆游牧民族社会化的时代局限性

游牧社会所特有的游牧文化,使新疆传统游牧民族个体的社会化也具有独特性,其传统社会化过程深深打上了游牧文化的烙印。在现代化进程中,新疆传统游牧民族成员社会化具有明显的时代局限性,主要表现为:政治社会化的发育程度与现代社会的民主要求之间的冲突;知识资源相对不足制约了游牧社会成员竞争能力的提升;性别歧视观念抑制着游牧社会女性成员平等参与社会生活的权利。