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Croatia is a multinational and multicultural country. According to the 1991 census there are 21.9 per cent various ethnic and cultural minorities in Croatia. Osijek‐Baranya county (Eastern Croatia) is the third in number of Roma people in Croatia. The Romany minority is in a particularly difficult position regarding the integration with the rest of the Croatian population. Their marginalisation can be seen at four levels: economic, cultural, territorial and political, and their integration becomes an ever‐increasing problem. Libraries have a potential to help the Romany minority towards their way out from marginalisation and segregation. This paper looks into the information needs of Romany minority and their awareness of those needs as well as the presence of library services aimed at that very minority in the area of Baranya (Eastern Croatia).

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of a small scale study the aim of which was to survey the information needs and library usage of major long‐established national minorities (Serbian, Hungarian and Slovak) in eastern Croatia (Osijek‐Baranya county); in particular in relation to the information and reading material in their native languages.

Owing to spatial limitations this paper focuses on the Serbian national minority. Data were gathered with the help of quantitative methodology. Self‐administered questionnaires were distributed through Serbian cultural associations (the snowball sampling method). In total, 140 valid and usable questionnaires were returned. Descriptive statistics and variant analysis were used to analyse the data.

The study indicated that respondents had the need for diverse information and reading material in their mother tongue and that for that purpose they used public libraries less often than some other information sources, such as TV, newspapers, internet and local Serbian cultural associations.

The limitations of the research are inherent in the methodology. The authors will, in the next phase of the project, carry out in‐depth interviews with respondents.

The importance of this research lies in its implications for the development of library services to multicultural communities in Croatia, as well as offering suggestions for improving collection building in Croatian public libraries. This study could encourage librarians in Croatia to systematically collect and analyse information about their local community minorities; especially their library and information needs.

This is the first investigation into the information needs and library usage of long‐established national minorities in Croatia.

This paper seeks to focus on energy recovery from municipal solid waste (MSW) in Croatia. The state strategy is based on the mechanical and biological treatment of waste in the future waste management centers (WMC). Left over after the treatment is waste that can be used as fuel (e.g. RDF).

Starting from the geographical distribution of waste generation (quantities and transport distances), taking into account the costs of collection, transfer and thermal treatment, recommendations on optimal number and size of the dedicated waste‐to‐energy (WtE) plants in Croatia as well as their potential locations are given. The opportunity of the cement industry to utilize ash from thermal treatment of waste in the process of the cement production and the RDF as a substitute fuel is also examined.

By varying the number of WMCs, the minimal specific cost of waste collection of €33 is obtained, for maximal number of WMCs, which is 21. The optimal capacity of WtE facility is approximately 300,000 t/year, for expected quantity of 600,000 t/year of waste available for energy recovery. However, the geographical shape of Croatia and traffic connections suggest that its area could be better covered by four WtE facilities, each with the capacity of 150,000 t/year. The alternative solution could include the existing cement industry. In this case one bigger WtE plant (preferably near the city of Zagreb) could be built, with the capacity of 400,000 t/year, while the rest of the waste would be used in the cement industry, which capacity amounts to 167,000 tons of RDF annually.

This analysis gives another view of a possible system for energy recovery from MSW in Croatia. MSW has never been used in Croatia for the purpose of energy generation on a wider scale.

This paper aims to analyze the influence of international trade of goods of Croatia in the period from 2001 till 2010. The study shows contribution of exports and imports of goods on the real GDP growth, in time which represented the global economic crisis, of Croatia in comparison to other European countries in the region. International trade has developed as a fast solution from the crisis of every affected national economy.

To determine previous comprehension of the problems of this research, the data were collected by documentary analysis of domestics and foreign scientific and academic literature. The data were complemented by statistics provided by Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Croatian National Bank, Eurostat and authors' own calculations of the data collected. The paper aims to clarify the level of international trade of goods, imports dependency, exports propensity, and degree of openness and involvement of Croatia in the international trade of goods.

This study implies that for the Croatian economy, its growth and the development, it is important to raise profit in exports which would result in higher coverage of imports by exports. Main focus in this research is to explore the Croatian industry, its development, competitiveness and international integration; thereby investigate foreign trade of goods. Exports of goods don't have a significant positive contribution to the realised GDP growth rate of Croatia such as other countries in the region.

It is suggested that international market success depends on the competitive ability of all business subjects included in the international trade.

This paper discusses the emergence and importance of cultural tourism in Croatia in relation to the country's transition and tourism. A model within which Croatia's cultural tourism can be developed is presented.

Examines the fourteenth published year of the ITCRR. Runs the whole gamut of textile innovation, research and testing, some of which investigates hitherto untouched aspects. Subjects discussed include cotton fabric processing, asbestos substitutes, textile adjuncts to cardiovascular surgery, wet textile processes, hand evaluation, nanotechnology, thermoplastic composites, robotic ironing, protective clothing (agricultural and industrial), ecological aspects of fibre properties – to name but a few! There would appear to be no limit to the future potential for textile applications.

Public-private partnership (PPP) growth is often related to infrastructure development needs and public debt increase. Despite huge infrastructure (re)construction needs, the number of PPP projects in Croatia has been rather small so far. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the prospects for PPP projects development in Croatia in the near future. It is examined whether the stance of local authorities towards implementing PPP projects depends more on the necessity of developing infrastructure needs of local citizens or on the available funds for capital investments in local budgets, which are, after covering all operational expenditures, scarce.

The Municipal Assemblies in European Local Governance (MAELG) survey data for Croatia are combined with available secondary data on local budgets’ revenues and expenditures in the period from 2008 to 2010 for the surveyed local government units. The differences between the answers of local representatives were tested for statistical significance by Pearson χ2 test, while ANOVA is used for testing statistical significance of budgetary data comparison. Some descriptive statistics’ results are also used. Apart from the quantitative data, qualitative research on PPPs, especially for fiscally constraint governments is used throughout the paper.

The main findings of the paper are that most Croatian local units are severely fiscally constraint to implement any capital projects. Their public revenues are often reserved for covering operational expenditures only. Since local representatives are mostly affirmative towards private sector involvement in providing public services, there is a room for PPP projects in Croatia. Due to the fact that every PPP contract requires active participation of the public partner, two possible solutions are proposed: pooled financing with a possible option of project’ bonds issuance to institutional investors and engaging publicly owned assets into infrastructure projects’ development.

The value of this paper is that it showed that there is little room for financing infrastructure development in Croatia if budgetary rules are followed straightforward. The paper aims to show fiscally constraint local governments a possible way for financing capital projects and rendering public services to their citizens. These solutions may also be applied in other indebted countries, especially if they own a significant portion of public assets.

The purpose of this paper is to examine a greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction potential from different waste management practices in Croatia. Energetic, environmental and economic benefits can be accomplished by utilizing municipal solid waste (MSW) and landfill gas as fuel in industry and energy sector, which is emphasized in this paper. The paper gives an overview of measures for energy recovery from MSW and landfill gas that could be implemented in Croatia. These measures also represent measures for an additional GHG emission reduction by decreased use of fossil fuels.

A methodology used for emission calculation (kinetic model) is explained. Three different scenarios of GHG reduction in waste management were defined. Implementation of best available techniques in waste management is envisaged by cross‐sectoral impact and effect of respective measures. Findings –This paper gives maximum achievable potential of GHG emission reduction with defined measure implementation dynamics. It was calculated that around one million ton of CO₂ can be avoided in 2020, which is 2.7 percent of projected GHG emissions in Croatia. The energy that could be recovered from waste (8.34 PJ in 2020) is relatively small in relation to the total final energy consumption in Croatia (about 3 percent).

The novelty of this work is achieved through integrated approach to GHG emission reduction and energy potential from MSW management in Croatia. The GHG reduction potentials are calculated by taking into account dependencies and interactions between the measures.

Based on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model, this study examines how safety measures, related assistance and tangible benefits affect consumers' emotional and cognitive states, leading to behavioural responses in an uncertain store environment.

The proposed model was tested with the survey data collected from grocery shoppers in Japan and Croatia (n = 314 in each country) and analysed using structural equation modelling.

Safety measures and related assistance decreased perceived threat in Croatia, enhanced arousal in both countries and caused fear in Japan. Tangible benefits reduced fear in Japan and increased arousal in Croatia. In a crisis, perceived threats push unplanned buying and motivate consumers to protect themselves. Arousal drives unplanned buying but diverts consumers from health-focussed behaviour. Loyalty can be gained if fear is controlled.

To retain consumers, retailers should secure a safe shopping environment that reduces fear and provides enough benefits to outweigh the threat.

Using the S-O-R framework, this study enriches the literature on consumer behaviour in a pandemic by contributing new insights into (1) the impact of safety measures and tangible benefits as stimuli, (2) the organismic response through affective and cognitive states, (3) health-focussed behaviour as a novel outcome and (4) comparing the effects in the two countries.

During the past two decades Croatia has faced numerous challenges: gaining independence, war conflicts, political and economic transition and the process of European Union (EU) accession. Despite rich and diversified landscapes and cultural heritage, it is still faced with problems limiting the economic development. So the purpose of this chapter is to point out the pragmatic reasons of Croatian delay in the process of adjustment to European business and agricultural policy standards.Based on statistic and literature analysis, the study determines specific characteristics of Croatian regions, rural areas, rural population and agriculture. Agriculture after independence shows increase in utilized area, but the production is still below pre-war level and results with unsteady and modest value. Harmonization with Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) standards is slow; big steps have been made in establishing new institutions in agriculture and preparing adequate legislative framework, so there are no significant formal differences between Croatian and European agricultural policy. However, European agricultural policy models cause problems. There is a daily debate about a low degree of self-sufficiency of the domestic production, low competitiveness and uncontrolled import of farm products. Farmers still often expect for the government to organize the production and guarantee the purchase prices as were in former, socialistic system.Due to these reasons, a fear was expressed by farmers that they could not be able to meet the strict criteria for the European financing. Despite this, a large part of farmers see the possibilities for their existence in rural areas, mostly through development of non-agricultural activities.