The aspiration of this study was to examine the impact of foreign direct investments (FDI) and economic growth on environmental degradation in the Balkans for the period 1998–2019. Balkan countries were classified into two groups, high income countries (HIC) and upper-middle income countries (UMIC). Thus, two hypotheses have been set. The effect of FDI on environmental degradation was observed through pollution haven hypothesis (PHH). To examine that connection, we used Pearson correlation for all countries, HIC and UMIC. Furthermore, the impact of economic growth on environmental degradation was tested through the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. For that purpose, polynomial linear regression was applied. In order to examine the dependence of environmental degradation in relation to all predictors in the model, a multivariate linear regression was used. PHH was confirmed in Serbia, Albania, Croatia, Romania, and Bulgaria, the Balkans as a whole, and HIC, and the EKC hypothesis was rejected. This paper represents a contribution to a very scarce number of studies regarding the impact of FDI and economic growth on the environment in the Balkans, as a whole. The results of this study can be useful to policy makers in the terms of inducting stricter environmental rules.

The inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry method (ICP OES) was optimized and validated for the quantification of 21 elements in 88 samples of 23 types of culinary herbs and spices. All analyzed samples were low in Na, but rich in Ca, K and P. Among the microelements, the most abundant was Fe, followed by Cu, Zn, Cr, and Se. The concentrations of toxic elements (Cd and Pb) were below the permissible limits given by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Chemometrics was performed by the principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA). PCA generated two principal components that explained 43.82% of the total variance in the data and all samples were classified into six groups based on the element content. Also, PCA and CA allowed the differentiation and classification of culinary herbs and spices based on the concentration of five major elements.

Transformational leadership links creative thinking, persistence and energy, intuition and the sense for people's need for organizational culture. It strives for innovation and expresses the sense for vision and meaning. Literature analysis in this field is followed by the research that examines transformational leadership and its coherence with an organisational culture in the international service company operating in Serbia. The participants in his research have perceived the role culture as primary, particularly the culture of rules and procedures. This culture is suitable to people that expect security at work, which could be the main goal in the particular company, having in mind that work instability and insecurity have been a common denominator in the past three decades. However, if a company wants to be innovative, it would have to put more effort into transformational leadership that could not be thoroughly examined in this study. Suggestions for further investigation are given at the end of this study, lack of instruments for investigations are pointed out, with an idea for improvements.

The five agricultural soil preparation methods for the purpose of determining the pseudo-total content of 20 elements (Al, As, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Si and Zn) in 4 soil samples taken from different plots of soils in the vicinity of Vranje (Southern Serbia) was applied in this paper. The following methods were used: digestion with aqua regia and hydrogen-peroxide with heating at temperature 190 °C, digestion with aqua regia and hydrogen-peroxide in combination with ultrasound with heating at temperature 95 °C, digestion with reverse aqua regia and hydrogen-peroxide with heating at temperature 190 °C, and digestion with nitric acid and hydrogen-peroxide under reflux with heating at temperature 95 °C, and digestion with perchloric acid with heating at temperature 190 °C. The results were statistically processed using an ANOVA test. The results obtained by this study show that the amount of extracted elements from the soil is influenced by several different factors including the following: soil type, soil content and chemical form of the elements.

The problem of establishing an effective solid waste management system is complex and still unresolved in Serbian municipalities, cities and settlements. Most landfills in Serbia do not meet basic sanitary standards and can often contain waste that is dangerous to human, plant and animal health, and waste that can be recycled is often dumped. The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between waste generation and private investments in waste management. Statistical method of multiple linear regression was used to examine the impact of three predictors - economic development, investments in waste management, and urban population, on the dependent variable - municipal solid waste generation. The results of the research reveal that investments in waste management in Serbia do not have an effect on the waste reduction because the financial resources for such investments are not adequately managed. There is a large number of scientific researches that have dealt with the analysis of the mentioned relationship, however, their number on the example of Serbia is rather scarce. The results of the research could be useful to the state administrations of the Republic of Serbia.