Rural settlements in Serbia are increasingly exposed to the combined pressures of demographic decline and climate-related hazards. This study integrates Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS), census data, gridded population datasets, and climate projections to assess long-term rural vulnerability through 2100. Historical census information spanning 1948–2022 provides the demographic context, while the 1991 and 2022 rural populations are used for the baseline demographic projection. Landsat 8/9, Sentinel-2, hazard-event databases, and CMIP6-MIROC6 climate projections under SSP5-8.5, downscaled using CHELSA, are integrated in the spatial analysis. A dimensionless Climate-Hazard Exposure Index (CHEI), based on normalized drought, flood, extreme-rainfall, and temperature scores, and a Settlement Viability Index (SVI) are used to identify areas where demographic decline coincides with elevated climate-hazard exposure. The baseline demographic model estimates a reduction of the rural population from approximately 2.1 million inhabitants in 2022 to 1.44 million by 2050 and about 730,000 by 2100. Climate exposure is treated as an independent spatial layer rather than as a calibrated causal coefficient of population decline. Severe demographic viability risk is operationalized using a projected settlement population threshold of fewer than 100 inhabitants. The spatial classification achieved an overall accuracy of 80.0%, with precision of 83.0%, recall of 80.0%, and an F1-score of 81.5%. Demographic hindcasting is interpreted as an internal agreement check rather than independent predictive validation. Southern and eastern Serbia show the highest combined vulnerability, supporting the need for targeted adaptation, climate-resilient infrastructure, and sustainable rural-development policies.
Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) production and the hemp-based industry are set for expansion. Hemp is cultivated for valuable fibers from stems and oil from seeds, used in various industrial applications. Recently, hemp has been grown for energy production due to its high biomass and seed yields. Hemp oil is suitable for biodiesel production through transesterification, while hemp biomass serves as a solid fuel or raw material for bioethanol, biohydrogen, and biogas production. This paper provides a comprehensive review of hemp seed and biomass pretreatment, oil extraction, and biofuel production methods. Pretreatment methods for hemp seed and biomass are largely unexplored, and innovative methods require detailed economic analysis before commercialization. Research on hemp oil extraction is sparse and lacks comparative analyses of different techniques regarding yield and quality. Advanced methods yield more oil in shorter times than conventional techniques. Advanced solvent extraction yields more oil than screw pressing and maceration but less than Soxhlet extraction. Transesterification of hemp oil for biodiesel typically uses base catalysts, either homogeneous or heterogeneous, but novel methods have yet to be applied. Other biofuels are produced by thermochemical (torrefaction, pyrolysis, gasification) and biological (fermentation, anaerobic digestion) processes. A comparative analysis of biofuel yields and primary energy recovery potentials of different hemp components is needed to optimize biomass utilization in bioenergy production. Despite the substantial benefits of hemp biofuel production, challenges such as legal and regulatory barriers, economic competition with high-value products, production costs, environmental trade-offs, technological advancement, and public perception need to be addressed.
Torrential floods are among the most destructive hydrological hazards due to their sudden onset and high flow energy. This study assesses torrential flood susceptibility in the Čemernica River basin (central Serbia) using two expert-based multi-criteria decision-making approaches: the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Best–Worst Model (BWM). The analysis integrates hydrological characteristics of the basin, including pronounced discharge variability and the extreme flood event of May 15, 2014, when peak flow reached 240 m³/s following intense rainfall. Eight flood-conditioning factors – geology, altitude, slope, distance from rivers, river network density, annual precipitation, land use, and bare-soil index, were derived from Sentinel-2 imagery, a digital elevation model, and ancillary spatial datasets and processed within a GIS framework. Weighting coefficients were assigned using both methods, resulting in differences in the relative importance of conditioning factors, where distance from rivers and river network density emerged as dominant contributors, while elevation and the bare-soil index showed minor influence. According to AHP, 22.33 The graphical abstract summarizes the analytical workflow and visual logic of the susceptibility mapping procedure applied in the Čemernica River basin. The figure is organized from left to right, starting with the study area and spatial input layers derived from remote sensing and GIS analyses, followed by a workflow diagram outlining criteria selection, and spatial integration in a GIS environment. Intermediate panels illustrate the generation of individual susceptibility maps using two parallel expert-based multi-criteria models (AHP and BWM), which are subsequently integrated into a composite susceptibility map. The final panel highlights areas classified into higher susceptibility classes and their spatial relation to settlements and industrial facilities. A results section presents the susceptibility maps generated using the AHP and BWM approaches, as well as their integrated composite map. This is the first study to address the prediction of torrential (flash) floods in the Čemernica River basin. The integrated AHP–BWM model identifies 7.52
The proposed exploitation of the Jadar Valley lithium/borate deposit in Serbia, by the Rio Tinto Corporation, indicates that it would become large-scale processing of boron- and lithium-containing ore. It would be one of the world's very first lithium mines in populated and agricultural area. The company claims that the envisioned mining will be in accordance with environmental protection requirements. The Jadar Valley deposits have been claimed to cover 90% of Europe's current lithium needs. Yet, local opposition to the mining has arisen due to potential devastating impacts on groundwater, soil, water usage, biodiversity loss, and waste accumulation. Research drilling by the mining company has already produced environmental damage, with mine water containing high levels of boron leaking from exploratory wells and causing crops to dry out. Furthermore, our investigations reveal substantially elevated downstream concentrations of boron, arsenic, and lithium in nearby rivers as compared to upstream regions. Additionally, here we show that soil samples exhibit repeated breaches of remediation limit values with environmental consequences on both surface and underground waters. With the opening of the mine, problems will be multiplied by the tailings pond, mine wastewater, noise, air pollution, and light pollution, endangering the lives of numerous local communities and destroying their freshwater sources, agricultural land, livestock, and assets.
We address the fundamental challenge of achieving low-frequency wave attenuation in periodic structures without increasing system mass - a critical limitation in current design of metastructures. Traditionally, low-frequency attenuation has been achieved through the use of local resonators, which can be tuned to a specific low-frequency range by increasing their mass. To overcome this trade-off, we investigate the influence of two inertial amplifiers with distinct configurations: one with auxiliary masses connected to both beam and main mass and another with auxiliary masses suspended between the main mass and a fixed support. The transfer matrix method, combined with the spectral element method, is employed to analyze how design parameters influence the dispersion properties of each system. Our findings show that purposeful structural design of these inertial amplifiers can lead to as much as 50% broader attenuation bands across both high and low-frequency ranges. We also demonstrate near-coupling phenomena between local resonance and Bragg scattering mechanisms, which result in an ultra-wide low-frequency band gap. This study provides a method for robust wave control in periodic structures made of elastic and rigid segments such as buildings and bridges, particularly for low-frequency, lightweight acoustic and seismic isolation.
