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The paper focuses on embodied mystery experiences of initiates in ancient Greek mystery cults. Four main questions are addressed: what kind of experience was considered the core of Greek mystery initiations, how was this experience attained, in what way did it influence the life of the initiates, and what real-life experience could prompt the idea of mystery initiations. Mystery initiation may be defined as ersatz-death, a rehearsal of the real one. Modelled as it seems on near-death experiences, these rites comprised alterations of the initiate's state of consciousness. For trivial events to be remembered by the mystai as revelations, they were brought to a state of heightened sensitivity and perhaps also suggestibility. The knowledge of life and death thus acquired was a holistic and ineffable sensation, rather than a learnt doctrine: in Aristotle's words, the initiates were 'not to learn anything, but rather to experience and to be inclined'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets a bibliometric analysis of Greek biotechnology publications in the context of national policy for biotechnology, and the characteristics of the economy so as to identify how far policy intentions are being achieved. Agro-food biotechnology research receives a high proportion of research funds and is relevant to the national economy, but the majority of publications are in the medical area. Policy to stimulate public– private research results in few publications co-authored by Greek firms. Some explanations for the gap between intentions and outcomes are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence ('AI') has left few well-established laws and norms unchallenged, and copyright is not an exception. Nowadays art can be created by algorithms and continental Europe's copyright law ‒ which inter alia includes Greece ‒ no longer seems fit for purpose, persisting as it does in searching for a human behind each creative outcome. This paper aims to analyse the issues algorithmic generated art brings in terms of copyright protection, and to explain why the current legislation and proposed solutions are inadequate to resolve them. Inspired by a theory already applicable in Germany in certain civil law cases, this paper will then propose a new twofold sui generis right that includes a new, partial e-moral right and a sui generis economic right. The paper will then explain how this proposed sui generis right manages to avoid potential pitfalls from granting legal personhood to AI, while letting humans reap the financial benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A modified theory of gravity, avoiding singularities in the standard theory of gravitation, has been developed by Hess & Greiner, known as the pseudo-complex theory of gravitation. The pseudo-complex General Relativity (pc-GR) theory shows remarkable observational differences with respect to standard GR. The intensity profiles are significantly different between both theories, which is a rare phenomenon in astrophysics. This will allow robust tests of both theories using Event Horizon Telescope observations of the Galactic Centre. We also predict the time evolution of orbiting matter. In this paper we summarize the observational tests we have developed to date. The theory is described in the second paper of this series (referred to as paper II hereafter). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents and critically assessed the implementation of the executive state model in Greek law-making, and identifies the elements of the model that are transferable elsewhere. The first four years of extensive legislative reforms in application of the executive state model have produced tangible innovations fertile to better law-making. But the real challenge, the change of legislative mentality, resists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 5(2)(b) of Directive 2001/29/EC (InfoSoc Directive) has been interpreted by several judgments of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), but there are some discrepancies in national court judgments. Greek case law, collating the private with the public use, is an example. This paper introduces the reader to the meaning of private use as framed by Art. 5(2)(b) of the Directive and approaches the legal issues from the angle of case law of CJEU in comparison to Greek national law and Greek national case law. This opinion seeks to highlight the slight divergence of national Greek case law from the case law of CJEU despite the fact that the Greek legal system has incorporated the InfoSoc Directive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper article scrutinizes the initiatives for Better Regulation implemented in Greece, set against the backdrop of a globalized world that is persistently grappling with sporadic, and occasionally dramatic and chaotic, challenges. A significant proportion of these initiatives are designed to mitigate the enduring adverse effects on Greece economy, environment, and society, which are the consequences of a flawed legislative process. This process has been criticized in numerous studies and reports for its bureaucratic red tape, inefficiency, fragmentation, and lack of a culture promoting better regulation. The handbooks and methodologies examined in this article originate from the law on the Executive State and were executed under the auspices of the European Commission (DG REFORM) Technical Support Action, which was implemented by Expertise France and is titled: "Support Public Administration Reform and its Digital Transformation." Most of these initiatives have been successfully completed and implemented, while the completion of others is imminent. In conclusion, the author suggests several additional measures for implementation, which are intended to enhance the reforms that are already in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Smoking rates in Greece are the highest recorded among OECD countries, but the historical and life-course evolution of smoking patterns is largely unknown. The present paper addresses this gap. Methods We produce nationally representative life-course trajectories of smoking and related mortality of eight generations of Greek men and women. We estimate the smoking–mortality correlation conditional on several confounders and project the estimates forward. Results We show that smoking prevalence among Greek men has plateaued at >60% for all but the youngest generation. For women, smoking prevalence is relatively lower, lags by several generations and follows a hump-shaped pattern. Smoking-attributable mortality is currently peaking for men (nearing 40% of total deaths) and is rising for women. We estimate that it takes ~20 years of smoking to maximize the smoking–mortality correlation (at 0.48 for men and 0.32 for women). Based on this estimation, we forecast that mortality rates will begin falling within the current decade. Conclusions The breadth of the Greek smoking epidemic has been high by international standards, reflecting the ineffective tobacco control efforts in the country. While smoking popularity fell during the Great Recession, policy vigilance is necessary to prevent a relapse once the economy recovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global populist backlash is considered threatening to the multilateral order, but its impact on individual attitudes toward international organizations, like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is understudied. We bridge insights from research on the IMF and populism to develop a theoretical framework centered on three propositions. We argue that populist individuals should be more prone to blame the IMF for economic problems than non-populists, but that this effect is highly conditional on sovereignty intrusion, escalating when an IMF program exists and as the program becomes more onerous. In contrast, IMF scapegoating by populist politicians should be largely ineffective. Analyzing survey data from across the European Union and an original survey experiment in Greece, we find support for each contention. The paper advances understanding of the partisan politics of the IMF and shows that the implications of the populist wave for international order are more complex than often assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the lead-up to the Final Agreement settling the Macedonian name dispute, apparently no or scant mention was made of the Interim Accord (FYROM v. Greece) case that FYROM brought in 2008 and won overwhelmingly in 2011 against Greece at the International Court of Justice ("ICJ" or the "Court"). This paper highlights the structure and main points of the ICJ judgment in the Interim Accord case and analyzes the part of the judgment on the main substantive issue. The paper argues that, even on its own terms, the Court's judgment did not conduct the interpretation exercise to the full and further that the experience with the Court's judgment in this case does flash a warning light to any decision-maker that it must not lose sight of "the one big thing", which may vary from case to case, in a dispute settlement endeavor if it wants to have its decision implemented. This experience also teaches any State party in a dispute that it may have to know and unyieldingly seize upon the one big thing in the dispute settlement effort in order to achieve its goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1980, the first formal association of mental patients, their relatives, and mental health professionals was founded in Athens, Greece. The Motion for the Rights of the "Mentally Ill" proposed a total restructuring of mental health care and a novel conceptualization of mental illness. On the one hand, it demanded that the mental health system be based on open services, psychotherapy, and on patients' active participation in all decisions concerning their treatment and life. On the other hand, it conceptualized mental illness as a political issue that concerned all. Thus, the Motion viewed the promotion of the rights of the mentally ill as part of a broader project of cultivating conscious, active, and collective citizenship. This paper traces the Motion's history during the 1980s, showing that it was shaped by both the socio-political conditions of Greece in the post-dictatorship period, a time of intense politicization, and by the legacy of mental patient activism in the Western world during the 1970s and 1980s. It argues that, although the Motion had a limited long-term impact, it represented the mental patient movement in Greece as it furthered the latter's main features, most importantly its twofold endeavor to change not only the mental health system and the attitudes towards mental illness, but also society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The traditional Mediterranean diet is defined as the dietary pattern in the countries of the Mediterranean basin between the 1950s and 1960s, and it is now widely accepted that has a beneficial effect on health. A debate exists from empirical and research data if the traditional Mediterranean diet remains the main dietary pattern of the region or if it has changed overtime. Aims: This systematic review addresses whether the people of Cyprus and Greece still follow the traditional Mediterranean diet or whether the diet has become more 'Westernised'. Methods: The MEDLINE database was searched using relevant free terms and independently reviewed by two authors. In addition, all reference lists of identified studies were hand-searched to identify additional, relevant studies. Results: The review resulted in 18 research papers that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria and represented 15 independent studies. The main outcome was consistent between studies and indicated moderate adherence of the Greek, and (probably) of the Cypriot, population to the Mediterranean diet. The majority of studies found no statistically significant differences by gender. There was an observed inter-study lower adherence to the Mediterranean diet by the younger population. Few studies addressed intra-study variations by age. Conclusions: This review shows that adherence to the Mediterranean diet is moderate in Greece (and probably also in Cyprus).This suggests a continuing transition from dietary patterns in the 50s-60s towards a more Westernized diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this research paper is to estimate the mean value of extremely low frequency (ELF) exposure in schools in Greece. Detailed ELF measurements were conducted and analyzed by the Weighted Peak Method (WPM), which estimates the overall contribution of electromagnetic waves from 1 Hz to 400 kHz, including their phases. A sample of 243 schools was sampled to calculate. The mean value of ELF magnetic fields (MFs) measured in these two groups comprising 243 schools was the principal focus of interest. ELF MF measurements taken in schools situated both far from and near ELF sources had mean and maximum values well below the current International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) standard. The mean value of ELF MFs from all sources within the sampled schools in Greece was 0.21 μΤ. A statically significant difference between the mean MFs measured in the two groups of schools was found, but the MFs in both groups were much lower than the ICNIRP standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current financial crisis has important consequences for small national research systems of the European periphery, where in some cases it leads to reform and significant downsizing of public R&D efforts. This paper develops a normative theoretical framework for guiding decisions concerning reform of R&D systems in periods of financial crises. The aim is to provide guidance for the reform of Greek R&D system and lessons for other national R&D systems faced with financial crises. Contrary to what is generally regarded as ‘perceived wisdom’, this paper argues that periods of crisis are not suitable for major reforms of R&D systems, even though they may seem to provide political opportunities for reform. Crises exacerbate the costs of R&D reforms and restrict the potential for benefits. Crises, as the discussion of the case of Greece shows, can undermine the trust between the government and the research community, generating important barriers to reform. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

License applicants are often faced with the need to perform a radiological impact assessment study for the liquid discharges in public sewers, even for practices with short-lived isotopes used in medical, educational or research laboratories. The present paper addresses the regulatory management challenges in performing such assessments and provides a practical calculation toolbox that enables more realistic derivation of doses to critical members, based on a simple calculation means. The proposed methodology is validated through comparisons with results from other models. The effectiveness of the method is illustrated by considering relevant examples of hospitals and education and research establishments in Greece. The results show that the proposed method is a sound tool that achieves a more realistic estimation of the induced doses. In most cases a reduction in the initial screening dose estimates by several orders of magnitude is attained, thus greatly facilitating the effort needed to ascertain regulatory compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the communicative architecture of reception at the peak of Europe's 2015-2016 'migration crisis.' Drawing on fieldwork at one of Europe's outer borders-the Greek island of Chios-the paper examines the border as a site where refugee and migrant reception takes place and where the parameters of Europe's ethico-political response to the 'crisis' are set. The paper demonstrates that the continent's double requirement of security and care produces a new and highly ambivalent moral order, hospitability. Constituted through techno-symbolic networks of mediation, hospitability reaffirms dominant theorizations of the border as an order of power and exclusion but goes beyond these in highlighting micro-connections of solidarity that simultaneously coexist with and attempt to challenge this order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the entangled productions of scientific archaeology, photographic technologies, and the Greek nation-state, this article analyses the ancient Greek idea of the eidōlon (image, phantom, double) as a paradigm for photography. Sophia Engastromenou Schliemann presented herself for the camera as Helen of Troy and mobilized an ancient textual debate about Helen and her double and the Trojan War. This image of Sophia adorned in Trojan gold is widely known and little studied and, as this essay will explore, it circulated far beyond Sophia's control. Undergirding this article's historical contingencies is an exploration of the photograph as eidōlon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs for the first time data envelopment analysis (DEA) and stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) as two performance measurement competing approaches to assess efficiency in the Greek mining industry. These two frontier estimation methodologies overcome the limitations of the partial productivity measures by explicitly considering two inputs and one output in the measurement of efficiency for the period 1970–1996. The paper is also innovative in utilizing a bootstrapping approach in DEA to aggregated industry (time series) data as an alternative to the more common DEA point estimates. In particular, the bootstrapping approach used relies on the homogeneity assumption that the distribution of the efficiency scores is independently distributed over the sample; the results from DEA and SFA are more comparable under this assumption as it corresponds to the independence assumption regarding the distribution of the inefficiency term in SFA. The two different approaches to performance evaluation, as used here, do not provide confirmation of each other's findings since they are based on different principles and treat the data in different ways. Although the joint use made here of DEA and SFA provides results that are consistent with points of view that have regarded these two approaches as mutually exclusive alternatives, this paper demonstrates that from a policy perspective DEA and SFA can be utilized in tandem on a common data set to assess the efficiency and investigate the return to scale patterns at the sectoral level. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper revises the taxonomy and phylogeny of Ropalopus (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Callidiini) species belonging to the taxonomically intricate Ropalopus ungaricus / insubricus group from the western Palaearctic. Specimens from all taxa were studied and compared. The key characters, including the male terminalia, were examined by means of scanning electron microscopy. High-quality stacked photographs of the habitus of the specimens (dorsal, ventral) are presented. The phylogenetic analyses were based on 34 adult morphological characters. Both the strict and majority consensus trees revealed the monophyly of the revised group. Identification keys are provided for every taxon from this group, and their geographical distributions are also mapped. All European populations are reduced to subspecies of Ropalopus ungaricus. Additionally, a new subspecies from Greece, Ropalopus ungaricus ossae subsp. nov. , is described and illustrated. A new synonymy for Ropalopus insubricus fischeri is proposed: Callidium insubricum = Callidium fischeri. Ropalopus nataliyae , which was described based on only a single female, is herein redescribed owing to the collection of abundant new material. Apart from geographical barriers, the main differentiating factor in this group is proved to be the elevation above sea level. Taxa of the R. ungaricus / insubricus group are therefore allopatric or, when parapatric, are isolated by elevation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a consistent theoretical framework for measuring irrigation water effectiveness and its impact on productivity growth rates by assuming a smooth transition process from traditional to modern irrigation technologies among individual farmers. The econometric model is based on a two-stage estimation procedure incorporating the transition process within a primal TFP decomposition framework. An empirical investigation addresses a panel of 56 small-scale greenhouse farms in Crete, Greece during the 2010–2013 period. The results indicate that technical change driven by irrigation water technology improvement contributes significantly to total factor productivity growth. Further, the impacts of specific climatic and soil conditions do not allow farmers to fully explore the potential of the new irrigation technology delaying adoption rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the end of 2015, the operation of the National Observatory of Electromagnetic Fields (established in 2012) has started. The National Observatory of Electromagnetic Fields is a network of 500 fixed (480 broadband and 20 frequency selective) and 13 mobile (vehicle mounted frequency selective) measurement stations throughout Greece that continuously monitor the electromagnetic field levels from all kinds of antenna stations in the frequency range 100kHz–7GHz. The results of this national monitoring network, which is operated and controlled by the Greek Atomic Energy Commission (EEAE), are presented through an interactive web portal (https://paratiritirioemf.eeae.gr), in which data are constantly updated with the latest station measurements. This paper presents the operational aspects and the measurement results of the first 3 years of operation (2016–2018). The measurement results revealed that all values were well below the reference levels for general public exposure, as defined by the Greek legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the financialization of refugee humanitarianism in Greece, bringing attention to the Cash Assistance Programme, which is the first European Union–funded project in Europe providing financial support to asylum seekers, coordinated by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. This program consists of the delivery and monthly recharge of prepaid debit cards to asylum seekers inside hotspots and refugee camps. The article deals with three aspects. First, it analyzes the political technologies of government that this system enforces, bringing attention to the modes for governing refugee populations in transit. Second, it considers the data circulation activities that are connected to it, analyzing what I call the circuits of financial humanitarianism and explaining in detail how data is shared between the different actors involved (banks, IGOs, Greek authorities, and NGOs). Third, it explores the specific effects of subjectivation produced by this temporary and exclusionary mechanism of financial support, together with the forms of value extraction that stem from it. The paper argues that far from generating financial inclusion, techniques of financialization of humanitarianism should be situated among measures for regaining control over unruly movements, predicated upon exclusionary and temporary mechanisms of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I explore the ancient Greek concept of paideia to contribute to an ongoing revitalisation of educational theory that positions freedom as central to the educational process. I also analyse the current crisis in public life in Europe as a consequence of neglect or inability to incorporate educational theory in the formation of school systems embracing democratic ways of life. I mainly explore the concept of teaching as a radical idea of allowing anyone be the bearer of culture and society and not just an exclusive group of people. I identify three types of abstractions distancing current orders of democracy from concerning the entire population. I also offer an educational strategy to break with these abstractions to be able to take on 'a divine life' in the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to contribute to our understanding of the overlapping fields of smuggling and asylum, and address the less studied condition of 'transit migration'. Based on a case study of Kurds in Greece, the paper describes the organization of the journey and the process of temporary and permanent settlement. Greece is currently one of the main entry points to Europe for migrants coming from the Middle East. In the absence of legal entry paths, almost all migrants arrive in Greece illegally. Many see Greece as the passage to Western Europe, and therefore do not apply for asylum but remain undocumented in the country for a couple of years. Some eventually leave the country, while others end up staying permanently. The paper explores the reasons behind the phenomenon of transit migration and its consequences for the migrants, the country and the EU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article introduces the papers in a 2012 special issue of the "Journal of Logic and Computation" presented at the conference CiE 2008: Logic and Theory of Algorithms held at the University of Athens in Greece in June 2008.

We document that in semiformal economies, banks lend to tax-evading individuals based on the bank's assessment of the individual's true income. This observation leads to a novel approach to estimate tax evasion. We use micro-data on household credit from a Greek bank and replicate the bank underwriting model to infer the banks estimate of individuals' true income. We estimate that 43-45% of self-employed income goes unreported and thus untaxed. For 2009, this implies €28.2 billion of unreported income, implying forgone tax revenues of over €11 billion or 30% of the deficit. Our method innovation allows for estimating the industry distribution of tax evasion in settings where uncovering the incidence of hidden cash transactions is difficult using other methods. Primary tax-evading industries are professional services--medicine, law, engineering, education, and media. We conclude with evidence that contemplates the importance of institutions, paper trail, and political willpower for the persistence of tax evasion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the topology of the multiplex Greek Aviation Network (GAN) consisting of layers representing networks of the aviation companies that operate in the regional Greek aviation market, by using complex network analysis and empirical techniques. The purpose of the study is to decode the strategic plans of the aviation companies constituting multiplex network's layers and to evaluate which layer contributes more in the composition of the overlaid GAN. Secondarily, this paper evaluates the operational utility of a new centrality measure, named mobility centrality, regarding its ability to quantify the potential that a node attribute induces to the topology of the network. Under an overall assessment, this article advances multilayer network analysis by applying a multivariate regression technique for evaluating in common the participation of each layer to the formation of the overlaid network and it provides insights on transportation management and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ancient writing is conventionally approached as a counterpart of speech, as in the dyad orality/literacy. Alphabetical writing systems are often regarded as superior precisely because they are better able to record speech. This paper takes inspiration from the work on ancient Near Eastern writing systems and considers ancient literacy as a general competence in handling sign systems that are often as much about numbers and quantities as about phonetic transcription. Means of recording proper names assume a special importance in transactions between strangers, and in documents that circulate without much context. But judged in terms of a capacity to handle numbers, signs, diagrams, and other symbols the debate over ancient literacy, and illiteracy, looks rather different. The paper argues that relative to their need to handle sign systems of this kind, very few members of the ancient world can be considered as functionally illiterate. Moving away from orality/literacy also raises questions about the widespread (but incomplete) spread of alphabets and abjads in the last and first millennia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Type-2 diabetes (T2D) and hypertension (HTN) are two of the most prevalent non-communicable diseases (NCDs): they both cause a relevant number of premature deaths worldwide and heavily impact the national health systems. This study illustrates the impact of HTN and T2D in four European countries (Albania, Bulgaria, Greece and Spain) and compares their policies towards the monitoring and management of HTN and T2D and the prevention of NCDs as a whole. This analysis is conducted throughout the DigiCare4You Project (H2020)—which implements an innovative solution involving digital tools for the prevention and management of T2D and HTN. Methods The analysis is implemented through desk research, and it is enriched with additional information directly provided by the local coordinators in the four countries, by filling specific semi-structured forms. Results The countries exhibit significant differences in the prevalence of HTN and T2D and available policies and programs targeted to these two chronic conditions. Each country has implemented strategies for HTN and T2D, including prevention initiatives, therapeutic guidelines, educational programs and children's growth monitoring programs. However, patient education on proper disease management needs improvement in all countries, registries about patients affected by HTN and T2D are not always available, and not all countries promoted acts to contain the increasing rates of risk factors related to NCDs. Conclusions While political awareness of the risks associated with HTN, T2D and NCDs in general is growing, there is a collective need for countries to strengthen their policies for preventing and managing these chronic diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Our paper assesses the relationship between social integration, in terms of social contact and social trust, and one's individual health. While a large body of research already engaged with clarifying this relationship, we know little about the role one's immigration background plays in moderating this relationship. With respect to this, we explicitly focus on how one's immigrant status moderates the relationship between social integration and self-reported health. Previous literature has demonstrably shown that the less socially integrated individuals are, the less likely they are to report good health. Moreover, we know from social capital literature that immigrants have difficulties being socially connected in their host country. Methods With the help of the new MIGHEAL survey, we test this proposed negative relationship. We also compare the results from the MIGHEAL data with findings from the European Social Survey round 7. Our analyses follow a thorough approach testing immigrant background as potential moderating factors. We implement logistic regression models and path analysis to reveal the complex interactive relationship between social integration, immigrant status and self-reported health. Results/Conclusion Our results suggest that immigrant status does play a moderating role in the relationship between social integration and health. This role, however, is limited to the relationship between social activity and self-reported health, which points to a potential endogenous effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The relationship between gender, migration status and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is rarely examined. In this study, we rely on data from the MIGHEAL Survey on health inequalities in Greece collected in 2016 comprising 1332 respondents of which 59.98% identified themselves as Greek-born, 24.02% as immigrants from Albania and 15.99% as immigrants from another country than Albania, to analyse this often neglected relationship. With the help of average risk ratios, this paper explores and explains gender inequalities in heart or circulation problems, high blood pressure, breathing problems, allergies, back or neck pain, muscular pain, stomach or digestion-related problems, skin conditions, severe headaches, and diabetes in Greece among Greek-born individuals, Albanian immigrants and among immigrants of 'other origin'. We found that both among Greek-born and among immigrant groups women report substantially higher rates of NCDs although gender inequalities are more pronounced among 'other-origin' immigrants. Further, our findings show that the observed gender inequalities are fostered by occupational factors both among Greek-born and migrants. Policies targeted at reducing the risk of NCDs need to consider not only gender and migration status but also how their intersection renders certain social groups more vulnerable than others. Moreover, specific attention should be paid to the underlying structural factors associated with NCD reporting, such as working conditions, labour market regulations and employment initiatives that have a differential health influence across diverse population groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This paper provides the socio-economic context of the MIGHEAL study, the results of which are presented in this special issue. The aim of the MIGHEAL study was to compare the physical and mental health of the native and migrant populations of Greece in the wake of the economic crisis that commenced in 2008. Methods The background of the migrant population of Greece is described, drawing on population censuses of Greece and data on residence permits held by foreigners. Then the migrant and native populations are compared with respect to several socio-economic outcomes, using Eurostat data on unemployment and the risk of poverty. Results The settled migrant population of Greece is largely of Central and Eastern European origin, resulting from the massive migrant inflowsthat started at the beginning of the 1990s after the collapse of socialist regimes in the area. Before the economic crisis, migrant unemployment was lower than that of natives, but after its onset, the unemployment of migrants surpassed that of natives. Prior to the crisis, migrants were already subject to greater risk of poverty than natives, but the gap widened considerably subsequent to the crisis. Conclusion The Greek institutional framework has restricted access to citizenship for both first- and second-generation migrants while conditions for permit renewal are onerous, rendering citizenship an important factor differentiating socio-economic outcomes. The different outcomes observed among the native and migrant populations after the onset of the Greek economic crisis create concerns regarding health inequalities between the two populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the Zygomala Museum, a small institution created in 1936 by Loukia Zygomala in Avlona, a village in Attica (mainland Greece). The creation of the museum was the result of twenty years of artistic and philanthropic work by Loukia who, in the spirit of the ‘return to the roots’ movement which dominated Greek intellectual and artistic life at the beginning of the twentieth century, aimed to contribute to the ‘pure Greek style’. She created workshops where peasant women would develop the art of embroidery based on traditional Greek designs under her instruction and supervision. At the end of this endeavour, Loukia created a museum to house the embroideries she had collected over the years, but also to commemorate her family and herself, and to provide artistic inspiration for the generations to follow. The complex set of ideas that led her to shape a museum in this way are explored in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper—by using the pirated CD/DVD market in a provincial city in Greece as a case study—will attempt to show how alien conspiracy theory has permeated the understanding of ‘organized crime’ and how the concept serves to enforce racism and, in particular, the treatment of diasporic communities. The paper will then proceed to interrogate the concept in the context of the local operation of this market in tandem with various legitimate interests and how, despite the exhortations of powerful commercial forces, it is tolerated. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The decentralization process that has been introduced during the last decades in Greece, along with initiatives co-funded by the EU, forms a different context for the Greek society. This provides the ground for an academic and political dialog concerning the ability of local societies to participate in planning and implementing social and local development policies. Focusing on a case study of a small, multicultural municipality in Thrace, Greece, the aim of this paper was to participate in this dialog by presenting it as an example of using techniques and methods of community work, ‘real conditions’ planning, empowering and encouraging community participation in a multicultural region, finding pathways to build on social capital and support local development and thus making the most of EU co-funded projects against social exclusion. The case study was an action research that took place in the context of a PhD thesis2 from October 2005 to December 2006. The paper discusses the role of community work in an effort to identify and confront the problems that were faced by the community. The aim was to set a multicultural and more responsive to the local needs and particularities perspective in the procedure of the local authority policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The famine in occupied Greece between 1941 and 1943 was a deadly one with important short- and long-term effects on society at large. This paper focuses on the effect the famine had on the operation of two hospitals, those of Hios and Hermoupolis. The unique availability of patients' registers for both hospitals means that questions relating to the hospital's role and how they were utilised by the population during the famine can be addressed. Thus the paper examines the identity of patients, how long they stayed in the hospital, the outcomes of their stay and the diseases from which they suffered. Comparisons are made with the pre-famine period in an attempt to establish whether any of the parameters changed during the famine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creativity and human capital are increasingly being recognised by an expanding body of work on regional economics, and policy and innovative workspaces. A short review of this literature provides the theoretical base for discussing a number of challenges related to mainstreaming creativity in regional and urban economies. Implementing innovation policies in peripheral, less favoured contexts is challenging and requires specific adaptations. This paper argues that a science park and triple-helix institutions can act to animate regional creativity in Europe's less favoured regions. It illustrates this point with a case study of the regional economic and policy environment for innovation, creativity and entrepreneurship, in Patras, Greece. Lessons learnt include: the need for consistency and continuity in planning, local ownership of the initiatives, multilevel collaboration in the governance and effective collective learning channels and processes between academia, business and state government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a notional account of the challenges facing the introduction of English as an international lingua franca (ELF) curriculum in the state schools of the expanding circle, taking Greece as a case in point. It broadly delineates an ELF curriculum as one focusing on the skills necessary for carrying out successful communication involving non-native speakers and then highlights a set of challenges linked to both teaching context and teachers' perceptions of professional identity. It focuses on challenges related to three facets of the professional identity of academically trained Greek state school EFL teachers, namely, their roles as users, specialists, and, ultimately, custodians of English for their learners and wider community. These facets are discussed with reference to a description of the country's current sociolinguistic and educational profile. The paper concludes with an overview of the strengths of an ELF curriculum for Greek state schools and discusses implications for ELF teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses a recent practice applied by the Greek asylum authorities in the case of many asylum applicants who are returned to Greece by another European Union Member State by virtue of the 'Dublin-II' Regulation. This practice consists in interrupting the examination of their asylum claim on the grounds that the applicants have arbitrarily abandoned their place of residence. Greek legislation provides for this action in similar cases but was not used, up till recently, on cases of 'Dublin' returnees. The paper examines the reasons that led the Greek authorities to adopt this policy and its foundation in Greek asylum law and procedures, and challenges the practice legally and politically. It argues that, in adopting such a stance, Greece seems not only to go against the main objective of the Dublin-II Regulation (that an asylum application is examined once, and once only in the EU) but to contradict and undermine European Union policies on asylum, breaking the principle of good faith in its relations with its EU partners. In addition, it considers the possibility of similar problems being repeated in other national legal orders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zero-energy and zero-carbon buildings would be a huge opportunity for contrasting the climatic changes and, more in general, the deterioration of the microclimate inside and around cities. About it, a question appears compulsory: are zero-energy and zero-carbon concepts applicable at urban scale? This paper tries to answer to this question, by discussing the possible effects of the application of appropriate city planning techniques when a new settlement is designed. An integrated approach to urban planning is applied to a case study, for promoting the design of buildings with very low (or zero) energy needs, characterized by high indoor comfort conditions, by taking into consideration whole city areas, with different kinds of services. Passive heating, cooling and daylighting techniques have been combined, as well as the integration of renewable sources, in order to minimize the energy demand and environmental impact, for having a sustainable 'urban balance' and in general, a sustainable urban growth. As real case study, the design of the holiday village 'Olympiad' is presented; it should be built in an unstructured seaside area in Greece. Several indexes are introduced to evaluate the global sustainability of the settlement, through the application of the definition of 'on-grid ZEB' with reference to each building as well as for the entire village. This kind of research could help city planners for a growth inspired to general goals of urban sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on a particular instance of migrant resistance: the hunger strike of three hundred irregular migrants in 2011 in Greece. It does not conceptualize the politics of migrant resistance as an isolated incidence of mobilization of irregular migrants against the government in support for their rights in existing institutions. By drawing on a set of fifty-two face-to-face semi-structured interviews with migrant protesters and organizers of the hunger strike, this paper rather argues that the politics of migrant resistance is performed in the daily lives and day-today activities of irregular migrants. It is performed by irregular migrants and those who stand in solidarity with them through the mundane production of information, tricks for survival, mutual care, social relations, services exchange, solidarity, and sociability, which challenge security policies and controls and establish an alternative form of life. The differential inclusion of irregular migrants in various social fields, and the leeway that this inclusion potentially creates in their daily lives and social relationships, enables irregular migrants to create ties with other agents/actors in dominated positions in their social fields, who possess and control the essential capital for the creation of these alternative modes of life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2015, the mass mobilities of refugees, many from Syria, towards Western Europe, were presented as a crisis threatening the integrity of nation-states. Whilst governments along the so-called 'Balkan route' increasingly responded with exclusionary measures, large-scale solidarity movements emerged and played a key role in assisting refugees in their journeys and settlement. All along the route, activists and volunteers (sometimes in loose collaboration with official relief organizations) established solidarity communities that tasked themselves with assisting people on the move. Their activities have been underpinned by discourses of solidarity and hospitality reflecting deep-seated popular beliefs about displacement, sanctuary and refuge—alternative narratives of what is today called asylum. Based on ethnographic fieldwork with solidarity and refugee groups in Greece, Serbia and Hungary, I examine the practices and discourses of refugees and those mobilized to support them along the 'Balkan route'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1984 and 1996, the distribution of Albinaria in an area of approximately 6000 km2 in central and eastern Crete has been investigated at a scale of 1 x 1 km. The distribution map presented in this paper covers the area between Réthimno and Sitía. Albinaria has been found in more than 3000 1 x 1 km squares. Areas where Albinaria does not live are also indicated on the map. For 1 km squares in these areas the term empty squares is proposed. As a result of the discovery of hybrid zones in the field, the taxa leonisorum, fulvula, purpurea and moreletiana are classified as A. corrugata, and the taxon sturanyi synonymized with A. teres. The distributional areas of these forms are also given. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The scope of this paper is to comparatively present the extremely low-frequency (ELF) measurements performed at four power plants in Greece, focusing on: (a) the worst-case exposure conditions, (b) the existence of magnetic field harmonic components, (c) the technical similarities among the power plants and (d) comparison of the measured percentages of reference levels at typical working areas in the power plants. A detailed measurement methodology is proposed, including broadband on-site inspection of the working areas, weighted averaged root-mean-square and peak values of magnetic flux density, percentage of reference levels, according to 1998 ICNIRP guidelines and harmonic analysis of the multi-frequency magnetic fields. During the analysis of the occupational exposure in all power plants, the new Directive 2013/35/EU has been taken into account. The study concludes by proposing a mapping procedure of working areas into certain zones, in order to take measures for workers safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the topology of the multiplex Greek Aviation Network (GAN) consisting of layers representing networks of the aviation companies that operate in the regional Greek aviation market, by using complex network analysis and empirical techniques. The purpose of the study is to decode the strategic plans of the aviation companies constituting multiplex network's layers and to evaluate which layer contributes more in the composition of the overlaid GAN. Secondarily, this paper evaluates the operational utility of a new centrality measure, named mobility centrality, regarding its ability to quantify the potential that a node attribute induces to the topology of the network. Under an overall assessment, this article advances multilayer network analysis by applying a multivariate regression technique for evaluating in common the participation of each layer to the formation of the overlaid network and it provides insights on transportation management and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a response to Kostas Vlassopoulos' 'Ethnicity and Greek History: Re-examiningour Assumptions', especially his comments about the unit of analysis that we should adopt in studying ancient ethnicity, the relationship between ethnicity and nationalism, and the limitations of testing evidence against definitional models. It also considers the role that religious ritual played in professions of ethnicity as well as the heuristic utility in distinguishing between 'aggregative' and 'oppositional' identities or between 'ethnic' or 'cultural' definitions of Hellenic identity. Finally, it questions prevailing opinions about the relationship between ethnicity and the ethnic group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the Centre for Mental Health and Research, an organisation launched in Athens in 1956 and that is still operational today. Its story up to 1970 is analysed as a case study of the development of mental hygiene and child guidance in Greece, where international movements became relevant within the context of the social transformations of the post-war period. Seizing the opportunities created by the ‘modernisation’ of Greece and the anxiety around it, the Centre managed to secure funding and develop a number of services and activities. It is concluded that, although it was not successful in its broader social projects, it had an impact at the micro-level of the family and played a part in opening up new possibilities for the ‘psy’ disciplines in post-war Greece beyond the pathological and the hospital, so addressing the ‘normal’ individual and society as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the role played by the Archaeological Society at Athens under the influential leadership of the epigrapher Stephanos Koumanoudis (1818-1899) in the discovery, preservation, and publication of inscriptions in nineteenth-century Greece, and in the emergence of epigraphy as a scientific discipline in a scholarly context focused on sensational archaeological finds. The region of Boiotia provides illuminating case-studies, notably with the emblematic site of Tanagra, whose systematic looting in the 1870s sparked intense debates over the preservation of Greek antiquities and highlighted the need for new archaeological legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]