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Paper documents in archives, libraries, and museums often undergo biodeterioration by microorganisms. Fungi and less often bacteria have been described to advance paper staining, so called "foxing" and degradation of paper substrates. In this study, for the first time, the fungal and bacterial diversity in biodeteriorated paper documents of Hellenic General State Archives dating back to the 19th and 20th century has been assessed by culture-dependent and independent methods. The internally transcribed spacer (ITS) region and 16S rRNA gene were amplified by PCR from fungal and bacterial isolates and amplicons were sequenced. Sequence analysis and phylogeny revealed fungal phylotypes like Penicillium sp., Cladosporium sp., Penicillium citrinum, Alternaria infectoria, Alternaria alternata, Epicoccum nigrum, and Penicillium chrysogenum which are often implicated in paper deterioration. Bacterial phylotypes closely related to known biodeteriogenic bacteria such as Bacillus spp., Micrococcus spp., Kocuria sp. in accordance with previous studies were characterized. Among the fungal phylotypes described in this study are included well-known allergens such as Penicillium spp., Alternaria spp., and Cladosporium spp. that impose a serious health threat on staff members and scholars. Furthermore, fungal isolates such as Chalastospora gossypii and Trametes ochracea have been identified and implicated in biodeterioration of historical paper manuscripts in this study for the first time. Certain new or less known fungi and bacteria implicated in paper degradation were retrieved, indicating that particular ambient conditions, substrate chemistry, or even location might influence the composition of colonizing microbiota., (© 2018 The Authors. MicrobiologyOpen published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

To investigate the formation of nestedness and species co-occurrence patterns at the local (sampling station), the intermediate (island group), and the archipelago scale. The study used data on the distribution of terrestrial isopods on 20 islands of the central Aegean (Greece). These islands are assigned to two distinct subgroups (Kyklades and Eastern islands). The Nestedness Temperature Calculator was used to obtain nestedness values and maximally nested matrices, the EcoSim7 software and a modified version of ) method were used for the analysis of species co-occurrences. Idiosyncratic temperatures of species and the order of species placement in the maximally nested matrices were used for further comparisons among spatial scales. The relationships of nestedness values with beta-diversity, habitat diversity and a number of ecological factors recorded for each sampling station were also investigated. Significant nestedness was found at all spatial scales. Levels of nestedness were not related to beta-diversity or habitat diversity. Nestedness values were similar among spatial scales, but they were affected by matrix size. The species that contributed most to the nested patterns within single islands were not the same as those that produce nestedness at the archipelago scale. There was significant variation in the frequency of species occurrence among islands and among spatial scales. There was no direct effect of ecological factors on the shaping of patterns of nestedness within individual islands, but habitat heterogeneity was crucial for the existence of such patterns. Positive associations among species prevailed at all scales when species per station were considered, while negative associations prevailed in the species per island matrices. All associations resulted from the habitat structure of sampling stations and from particularities of geographical distributions. There was no clear-cut distinction between nestedness patterns among spatial scales, even though different species, and partially different factors, contributed to the formation of these patterns in each case. There was a core of species that contributed to the formation of nested patterns at all spatial scales, while the patterns of species associations suggested that biotic interactions are not an important causal factor. The results of this study suggest that locally rare species cannot be widespread at a higher spatial scale, while locally common species can have a restricted distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plants that are available from various regions of Greece were investigated as sources of natural dyes in a paper-dyeing operation. The production of natural dyes was achieved by aquatic extraction of plant materials in order to obtain an environmentally friendly method of producing the dyes. The extracted dyes were applied on de-inked mechanical pulp. A broad variation in shade and color depth was achieved by applying mixtures of plant extracts in various combinations. The produced colours were found to lie in the first and second quadrant of a two-dimensional chromatic diagram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lacustrine environments are considered favorable locations for Neolithic settlements, constituting a reliable year‐round water resource, which contributes to fertile arable land, rich biodiversity, and natural protection. Living by the wetlands, however, is characterized by intensive ecological vulnerabilities, that is, floods and fire events. These recurrent episodes are difficult to trace in the occupation layers since natural processes combined with human activities can form variable mixed microenvironments. Consequently, the direct impact of these events on the biography of the settlement and the decision‐making of its inhabitants is understudied. This paper presents a high‐resolution, microstratigraphic analysis at the Neolithic pile‐dwelling settlement of Dispilio (Kastoria, northern Greece) to trace past ecological threats and unravel the resilience strategies of the lake‐dwellers against the continuously altered microenvironments. By correlating the results with regional environmental and cultural events, this paper questions the role of environmental changes as triggers for cultural modifications and considers a wide range of strategies for coping with wetland hazards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migration is considered a meaningful strategy whereby both migrants and nonmigrants can improve their well‐being and their livelihoods. The paper emphasizes the migrants' own perspective and sheds light on movers' noneconomic drivers. The concept of aspirations is treated as a 'missing link' that allows research into migration at its intersection with social inequalities, hierarchies and diversity. The paper's main aim is therefore to elucidate Romanian migrants' aspirations and to illustrate how these aspirations are informed by their agency and reflect their well‐being both during and after the economic recession in Greece. Romanian migration provides sufficient grounds to invoke a more nuanced approach to migrants' well‐being, which takes their 'dreams of fantasy' into account, along with their subjective experiences of inequalities and multiple belonging. This paper frames migrants' well‐being theoretically as a relational process, but also in terms of the socio‐spatial arrangements of migrant mobility/immobility acts. Romanians' narratives are analysed in relation to their social trajectories, spatial movement(s) and settlement patterns during their international and internal journey(s). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents updates on upcoming international congresses in the systems research and behavioral science sector happening in 2003. 47th Annual Conference of the International Society for the Systems Sciences in Crete, Greece; Informing Science+IT Education Conference in Pori, Finland.

Background: Lifestyle has become a major and well‐recognized aspect of modern healthcare, but there is little awareness of the origins of lifestyle medicine. Results: This paper shows that a major contribution to lifestyle medicine was made by Greco‐Roman physicians. Ancient Greek and Roman doctors placed considerable emphasis on the role lifestyle played in determining the state of their patients' health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper celebrates the life and legacy of psychiatrist and Jungian author Anthony Stevens, who passed away at age 90 on July 13, 2023. It outlines Stevens's origins as a research fellow in Greece, where his work on infant attachment led to a lifelong dedication to establishing the biological and evolutionary foundation of psychiatry. It details his instrumental role in the debate about the theory of archetypes and describes the current state of the literature including the responses and reactions to Stevens's biological innatist position. The paper concludes with a career retrospective in which Stevens's major works are introduced and briefly described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present and reflect upon the process of evaluating two residential mental health facilities in Thessaloniki, Greece, through the WHO QualityRights tool kit. The QualityRights tool kit is a structured process for assessing quality of care and human rights in mental health and social care facilities, in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), introduced by the World Health Organization in 2012. We have piloted the use of the Toolkit in two supported accommodation facilities, a hostel and a service supervising independent living in apartments, for individuals with long‐term severe mental health problems in the region of Thessaloniki. In this paper, we present the methodology and process of evaluating the facilities, including the challenges posed to the evaluation process by restrictions due to the Covid‐19 pandemic. We showcase the outcome of this evaluation through presenting a summary of the results and the ensuing recommendations for improvement. Finally, we reflect on the usefulness, appropriateness and relevance of the Toolkit for evaluating mental health care facilities in the particular context of contemporary Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a comprehensive analysis of the investment flows from Greek to Bulgarian regions against the context of COVID-19. Employing a mixed research method, it investigates the initial impact of COVID-19 on regional FDI flows from Greece to Bulgaria and intends to explore to which extent the pandemic acts as an impediment to firm relocation, by examining regional investment flows from 2013 to 2020. The effects of the COVID-19 macroeconomic shock are placed in the context of the existing conditions shaped by the 2008 global economic crisis. The paper also attempts to provide a critical insight of factors underlying investment flows. The results indicate that there was a limited investment halt but no disinvestment from the Greek to Bulgarian regions in the first year of the COVID-19 outbreak. Low and stable taxation, cheap labour and efficient regulatory regime attract Greek investments in Bulgaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Diadochokinetic rates tasks are frequently used for the assessment of diadochokinesia (DKK) in young and elderly adults. However, there is scarce research on healthy elderly adults over 65 years old, and little is known about the effect of different types of stimuli (non‐words/real words) in this specific population. Furthermore, the current research supports significant language variations, highlighting the need for language‐specific norms. Aims: To investigate the effect of age, gender and type of stimuli (non‐words versus real words) in DDK rates in healthy elderly adults of over 65 years of age, and to provide normative data for the Greek language. Methods & Procedures: The participants were 791 healthy monolingual Greek‐speaking adults (531 adults, aged 20–39 years; 157 participants aged 65–74 years; and 103 participants aged over 75 years). All participants were monolingual speakers of Greek and had normal hearing acuity, which allowed them to understand and follow instructions. Participants with a medical condition, which would affect DDK rates' performance, were excluded from the study. The time‐by‐count method was used, and all participants had to repeat as accurately and fast as possible: (1) four disyllabic non‐words (/′gaba/, /′taka/, /′kata/, /′baga/); (2) four disyllabic real words (/′kapa/, /′tapa/, /ka′la/, /′paka/); and (3) two trisyllabic non‐words (/′pataka/, /′badaga/). All responses were recorded and the speech samples that did not include at least 5 s of correct repetitions were excluded from the analysis. Outcomes & Results: Age affected DDK rates significantly, with older adults achieving slower DDK rates for all speech stimuli (non‐words/real words). Gender did not have an effect on the performance of DDK rates. The type of speech stimuli affected DDK rates significantly for all age groups. Analytically, trisyllabic non‐word stimuli were articulated more slowly than disyllabic non‐word stimuli, and real words were produced faster than non‐words. A linear regression analysis revealed that only the repetition of non‐words predicted 68.4% of the performance on the repetition of trisyllabic non‐words. Conclusions & Implications: The above results complement prior research, which supports that real word stimuli yield faster performance than non‐word stimuli. Clinicians should keep in mind that age, language and type of stimuli (non‐words/real words) affect significantly the performance of DDK rates, as well as the fact that different types of stimuli tap distinct underlying levels of speech. The current research highlights the need for language‐specific norms for different populations. What this paper adds: What is already known on the subject: DDK rates are significantly affected by the types of stimuli and language used. Moreover, the normal ageing process decreases performance in terms of DDK rates, but scarce evidence exists for healthy elderly adults over 65 years old. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: Most studies have examined DDK rates in healthy elderly people with restricted samples and using non‐word stimuli. The current study administered different types of stimuli (non‐words/words) in a large sample of healthy elderly participants. This is also the first study to attempt to provide DDK normative data for this population in the Greek language. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: The results of this study strongly suggest that clinicians should bear in mind the significant impact age and language have on performance in terms of DDK rates, especially when normative data are not available for a certain language or age group. Furthermore, non‐word and real‐word stimuli cannot be used interchangeably since they tap into distinct underlying levels of speech, thus providing clinicians with useful information about the level of breakdown and the proper treatment plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Down syndrome is the most common genetic syndrome of intellectual disabilities with a distinct linguistic profile. Language research so far has come mainly from the English language, a language with different syntax and morphology from many other languages, including Greek, indicating a paucity of research findings in the Greek language. Given the rich morphology and distinct syntactic characteristics of the Greek language, the present study evaluated the performance of children with Down syndrome (N = 45) who are native Greek speakers in syntax and morphology and compared it with the performance of children with typical development (N = 45) matched for chronological age. The paper also analysed the items of each task in terms of the performance of the two groups in subject–verb agreement, noun conversion from singular to plural, and verb conversion from present to past and future tenses. All children were tested in four subscales of a standardized test, including morphosyntactic comprehension, morphosyntactic completion and articulation (parts 1 and 2). The results showed that children with Down syndrome lag behind in syntax and morphology compared with children of typical development and present difficulties in specific aspects of morphology and syntax inherent in the Greek language. What this paper adds: What is already known on this subject: Morphosyntactic skills are severely impaired in Down syndrome, and research so far has come mainly from the English language, a language with different syntax and morphology from many other languages. What this paper adds to existing knowledge: This research adds more information about morphosyntactic skills in children with Down syndrome compared with typically developing children in the Greek language, a language with rich morphology and syntax. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?: Children with Down syndrome face difficulties in morphosyntactic skills in the Greek language, especially in subject–verb agreement and in converting nouns from singular to plural. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ios (an island in the Cycladic archipelago, Greece) was the first recognized Aegean metamorphic core complex. There is a paradoxical absence of an age jump in low‐temperature geochronology transects across the Ios Detachment Fault. This paper explains why this is so, by modelling the conductive response to detachment faulting. We demonstrate that transects across detachment faults consistently record age jumps only at shallow palaeodepths. Conductive relaxation of the perturbed geotherm keeps pace with fault movement, so the hangingwall heats just as fast as the footwall cools. Key variables are the fractional depth to the partial resetting zone, d [0.0.1], and the magnitude and rate of slip on the detachment. At shallow palaeodepths (d < 0.3, 10–50 km slip), significant age jumps occur across the actual fault contact. At deeper levels of exposure, this is no longer the case, and the effects of a 'stewing zone' readily become evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coffee consumption is a daily habit for the majority of people worldwide, resulting in consistently large amounts of residue. Spent coffee ground (SCG) is the residue obtained during the brewing process. It represents an abundant source of energy biomass, or raw material for added value products but it is still largely unexploited. This residue may find several applications, such as in polymers/composites precursors, solid/liquid biofuels, biofertilizers, and so forth. The aim of the present paper was the pilot production of pellets by mixing SCG and other residual biomass feedstock. Coffee residues were mixed at different ratios (0, 10, 30, 50, 70, 90 wt%) together with: (i) forestry residues; (ii) sawmill residues; (iii) urban prunings; (iv) maize residues; (v) peach prunings; and (vi) miscanthus. Samples of each fuel mixture were analyzed at the Solid Fuels Laboratory of CPERI/CERTH (Chemical Process and Energy Resources Institute/Centre for Research and Technology Hellas) in Greece by applying established standards. The results of the analyses show that the mixing of biomass residues with coffee could result in competitive solid biofuels. More specifically, pellets with up to 10% coffee residues, mixed with sawmill residues, complied with the class A2 limits set by the international standard ISO 17225‐2 for wood pellets, and pellets with up to 30% coffee residues complied with the class B limits for wood pellets for commercial/residential applications. Urban prunings mixed with 10 wt% coffee residues are within the limits set for class B wood pellets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the transfer, translation and recontextualisation of Laurence Stenhouse's work, as encapsulated in the ‘teacher as researcher’ metaphor, to the Greek language and in the fields of research and policy in Greece and Cyprus. We first briefly frame action research work as emerging through and within a specific space‐time (and in conversation with others in North America, Australia and Europe). We then trace its translation from English to Greek in specific key publications in books and articles (including his 1975 seminal work An introduction to curriculum research and development), which have since been central to curriculum studies as an academic field in both countries. We then construct four vignettes as cases of different uses of the metaphor in different fields. The first two refer to the institutional context of a new type of school called ‘second chance schools’ and a state policy for the professional development of teachers in Greece. The other two refer to an initial teacher education university programme and to the most recent school curriculum change in the Republic of Cyprus. We conclude by discussing certain patterns of constriction across the four vignettes in the recontextualisation of the ‘teacher as researcher’ to particular aspects of the metaphor as it morphed in two rather centralised contexts with a strong historical presence of a formal, state‐mandated curriculum and of teachers as public servants. Despite these patterns of constriction, we also note how other aspects of the metaphor provided conditions for some transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents an update of forensic accounting of the numbers and demographics of migrants found deceased in the Evros region of Greece in the years from 2015–22. Compared to data from 2000–14, this update reflects the mounting number of border‐related deaths in the region, as well as the changing demographic trends associated with the migrants who perish crossing the Greek‐Turkish border. Specifically, the paper documents a broadening of locations from which migrants originate, the increasing diversity of migrant death locations, and a shift in the leading causes of death. It contains important forensic accounting of the unique humanitarian crisis occurring along the Greek‐Turkish land border while also providing an additional context for the global migration crisis. The data presented here offer insights into other forensic stakeholders impacted by the global migration crisis, with respect to what factors contribute to and detract from identification rates, and can help stakeholders make informed policy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers recent evidence on autism education in Greece in order to shed light on current developments and attitudes. Given the increase in relevant research in the country, a scoping review to identify topics that have been explored so far and propose areas for future research and implications for practice is timely and necessary. Peer‐reviewed papers published between 2000 and 2019 were identified via electronic databases and their main themes were analysed. Themes related to autistic individual (i.e. the voice of autistic individuals and intervention studies), the family around them (i.e. the role of family and stigma), the role of teachers (i.e. teacher training and teacher stress levels) and the wider society (i.e. parent‐teacher collaboration, the medical/deficit model of disability and inclusion) emerged from the review. The above themes are discussed in the light of the cultural characteristics of Greece and the recent economic crisis the country underwent as well as similar findings from other European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to describe and discuss the significance of the social policy measures implemented in Southern European countries—Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain—in response to the first wave of COVID‐19. Our analysis covers interventions from 1 March to June 30, 2020. Despite significant differences in how the COVID‐19 pandemic spread—with Italy and Spain experiencing much higher rates of infection and lethality—Southern European economies are among the most hard‐hit—and are likely to find themselves in the eye of the storm, once more. The paper shows that despite differences in how countries have countered the spread of COVID‐19, there are important commonalities in the actions governments took to counteract the economic impact of the pandemic. Foremost efforts were directed at wage subsidy schemes to contain mass job destruction, additional temporary benefits to compensate self‐employed and other non‐standard workers for the loss of earnings; the expansion of unemployment insurance; and finally, the introduction and/or strengthening of schemes to provide support to families with care responsibilities. The scale of the social policy and employment protection response has nevertheless been constrained by the fiscal position of each individual country in the post‐Euro crisis context. We argue that, in the long run, the response capacity of these governments and the social and economic consequences of this crisis will need to be contextualised against the backdrop of the deep and prolonged impact of austerity‐driven measures on public budgets, production and welfare regimes over the last decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate to what extent highly educated skilled Greek migrants are attracted to global cities. With the use of a novel database, we find that highly educated Greek migrants are attracted more to cities indexed as global than to cities that are not indexed as global. Moreover, the more the international indexes that list a city as global, the greater the number of such migrants this city receives; that is, these migrants prefer to live in those global cities that are considered to have the most attributes to be classified as such. We provide information on which specific cities these migrants live in, thus filling a gap in the relevant literature. Our data further support a well‐documented argument that there is a mutual beneficial relationship between skilled migrants and global cities to the extent that global cities create a favourable socio‐economic environment that attracts highly skilled migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In biogeopolitics, the key state stakeholders develop and aim to accomplish their geopolitical goals by (mis)management and biopolitical governance of vulnerable population. In this paper, this population refers to asylum‐related migrants who use or aim to use an asylum request as their entry mechanism to the European Union. This paper explores the emergence of biogeopolitics at the EU borderland between Turkey and Greece during the COVID‐19 pandemic in 2020. Statistics about irregular migration from Turkey to Greece, field observations in Lesvos (Greece) as well as media and social media discussions about COVID‐19 in Lesvos are analysed. In the biogeopolitics of COVID‐19, the governance and (mis)management of asylum‐related migrants include policies and practices to let these migrants to live or die, including regulating illegal border‐crossings, everyday living conditions at the reception centres, and actions regarding the pandemic. The COVID‐19 pandemic was used as an additional tool to foster biogeopolitics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thessaloniki and its mayor have been portrayed quite favourably in international mainstream media compared to the Greek state after the 2008 economic crisis. The dominant (media) discourses on Greece interpret the crisis as the result of the failure of the Greek state to reform due to the prevalence of a traditional political culture over a modern one and the moral failures of the population. In the international media representations of Thessaloniki, the local government has been described as "exceptional" in its crisis management compared to the state and other local governments, and the city's mayor, Yiannis Boutaris, has been portrayed as a reform hero, due to the implemented entrepreneurial development strategy and the revamp of the city's image through place branding. Analysing the key role of international media in the production and reproduction of a place‐branding campaign of Thessaloniki in international media by employing critical discourse analysis, the paper questions the favourable representations of the city compared to the Greek state during the same period. I argue that the serial repetition of positive images contributed to Thessaloniki being perceived as an example to be followed by other Greek local governments and the central state, acting as a best practice example for transformations envisioned on wider scales. The paper contributes to place‐branding debates by illustrating the important role of international media in the dissemination of place brands, and by analysing how media representations of place may serve the legitimation of processes of neoliberalisation on scales wider than the concrete urban setting where they occur. The paper questions the favourable representations of Thessaloniki in international mainstream media compared to the Greek state during the crisis. I argue that the serial repetition of positive images contributed to Thessaloniki being perceived as an example to be followed by other Greek local governments and the central state, acting as a best practice example for transformations envisioned on wider scales. The paper contributes to place‐branding debates by illustrating the important role of international media in the dissemination of place brands, and by analysing how media representations of place may serve the legitimation of processes of neoliberalisation on scales wider than the concrete urban setting where they occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a qualitative study of youth identities in Greece, the paper unpacks the dynamic processes of ethnonational (dis)identification and belonging that Albanian young migrants are implicated in. Analysis of in-depth interviews illustrates how racism, coupled with their lack of citizenship, affects their (dis)identifications. Additionally, categorisation is reported to crucially mediate their belonging, giving rise to a double-edged sense of otherness and alienation. The paper concludes by putting forward a conceptualisation of young migrants' collective identities as involving the emotive dialectic of (dis)identification, categorisation and belonging, along with negotiation of boundaries and acceptance by 'others' in both home and settlement societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Disasters is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper modifies the income determination model to focus on two viable policies that would raise income in Greece with the government facing sizeable interest and debt payments. The usual macroeconomic policy options are unavailable in the Euro Zone with the balanced budget constraint, outside currency and fixed interest rate. On the monetary side, banking policy reform would eliminate bank account restrictions and mandatory purchase of government bonds. On the real side, investment policy reform would streamline the rent seeking bureaucracy. Together these policy reforms lead to income overshooting with a transitory trade surplus raising the money supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although leisure constraints that individuals have to cope with can negatively affect their social inclusion and satisfaction with life, little research has addressed the link between these variables. Therefore, the current paper examined the moderator role of leisure constraints on the relationship between satisfaction with life and leisure constraints among adults living in five different European countries. The respondents were 1,382 women and 877 men adults. The findings of analysis revealed that all factors used in the study accounted for 15% of the variance in satisfaction with life and social inclusion had a significant and positive impact on satisfaction with life. As a result, it can be said that leisure constraints had a moderating effect on the relationship between satisfaction with life and social inclusion. The present research study recommends that social inclusion should be encouraged through decreasing to leisure constraints to increase the life satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phenacoccus solenopsis Tinsley, 1898 (Hemiptera: Pseudococcidae), commonly known as the cotton mealybug or solenopsis mealybug, is a highly polyphagous species. This paper provides the first report of this species in Greece. It was detected in high numbers on tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) plants cultivated in a greenhouse in the region of Mirtos, close to the city of Ierapetra in the Southeast part of the island of Crete. The species identification was carried out using morphological and molecular analyses. The fact that P. solenopsis can be transferred easily via trade of live plant material, in combination with its ability to affect many different hosts causing severe damage, constitutes an increasing threat to Greek cultivation and especially to horticultural and vegetable crops. Additional surveys should be conducted to investigate the species distribution in Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the ways in which preschool children represent the spaces of their daily lives. It is based on the analysis of photographs taken by pupils from two kindergartens located in non‐privileged neighbourhoods of Athens. The children photographed the spaces where they live and move, and talked about their photos. The analysis maps these spaces and explores the social parameters (social class, ethnicity) that shape the children's relationship with private and public space. Thus, photographs become tools that provide a deeper understanding of the children's social worlds and highlight the importance of the social spaces where their practices and experiences are shaped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrient‐poor waters with small Utricularia species have been unknown in most of southern Europe and the Balkans. All the more notable are occurrences of Utricularia ochroleuca and Utricularia minor in north Greece. The records presented in this paper extend the known southeast European distribution boundaries of both species southward, and constitute U. ochroleuca a new species to Greece and southern Europe. U. ochroleuca was found in small peaty pools and seepage sites with base‐poor water within subalpine fens and headwaters, U. minor in very shallow base‐containing waters of spring brooks in upper montane ophiolite environments. The plant species composition of the Utricularia vegetation and its habitats are described. The pertinent vegetation types – Utricularietum ochroleucae and Scorpidio‐Utricularietum, respectively, as well as their higher‐ranking syntaxa – are new to Greece and the Balkans. The vegetation with U. ochroleuca forms part of the Annex I habitat type 3160 of the EU Habitats Directive, which is also new to Greece. Nature conservation status and management conditions of the detected plant communities and habitats with Utricularia in northern Greece are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a discussion of whether single‐member judicial panels are an effective way of accelerating the delivery of criminal justice. We use a reform which introduced single‐member courts in Greece, where delays in court proceedings are common according to the European Justice Scoreboard and the European Court of Human Rights. We use a novel dataset of 1463 drug trafficking cases tried between June 2012 and January 2014. As our measure of efficiency we use the time to issue a decision, and we find that single‐member panels are as efficient as three‐member ones. We take advantage of a feature of the reform to control for several confounding factors and support a causal interpretation of our findings. We complement our analysis with a survey of 142 judges to guide our interpretation of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents for the first time chemical data on the ancient (Antiquity period) marble quarries of Delos Island and some architectural marbles from its famous and exceptionally well‐preserved archaeological site. Delos geological substratum is mostly composed of granite, including very few decametric marble enclaves. However, ancient Delian architecture is dominated by gneiss and marbles. A large quantity of marble had thus to be imported from neighbouring Cycladic Islands and continental Greece. Their provenances remain mostly unknown. Several analytical methods have been developed in archaeometry for years to determine the origin of marbles, but they are generally destructive. This paper reports a methodology based on a hand‐held portable X‐ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyser to detect major and trace elements often used in provenance studies. Drawbacks of using those elements for marble provenance and analytical limitations attached to portable instruments were frequently discussed. Here the usefulness of pXRF for marble provenance research was tested in association with principal component analysis (PCA). Two artefacts of presumed Delian origin were selected and the results showed that one of them came undoubtedly from a Delian quarry while the other one was not of local origin. This protocol appeared to be a powerful tool when conventional destructive analyses are precluded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to a variety of reasons, the Greek economy faced a severe crisis being a member of EMU. Nonetheless, the country's banking system experienced a dramatic outflow of deposits, in the period 2009–2015. The present paper attempts to shed light on the possibility of forecasting bank deposits, based on the keyword "Grexit" of Google searches. In this context, apart from standard forecasting models like AR (p) and ARDL (p, q) we estimate a novel Neural Network ARDL (p, q, G) model and its respective Bayesian modification. We show that extending standard autoregressive models with the information provided by Internet Searches leads to significant improvement in the forecasting accuracy of the Bank Deposits, compared with other standard models. Furthermore, the forecasting performance of the models, which are extended with Google searches, is shown to be better than models containing only the well‐known indicators. Our findings are robust and econometrically sound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the impact of sovereign credit rating and outlook changes on the shape of the sovereign yield curve using data for five European countries, namely, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, known as the GIIPS for the period of 2001–2016. We use the dynamic Nelson–Siegel model to estimate the level, slope, and curvature of the yield curve. Subsequently, we employ the vector autoregressive model to estimate the effect of sovereign rating and outlook changes on the sovereign yield curve. We find a significant effect of rating downgrades and an insignificant effect of rating upgrades in all five countries; however, the results for the effect of changes in outlook status are mixed. Our results remain robust to various sensitivity tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights the 12th International Symposium on Toxicity Assessment that was held in Skiathos Island, Greece from June 12 to 17, 2005. It was organized by the Department of Planning and Regional Development of the University of Thessaly. As had previous symposia with the same context, the symposium was designed to encourage the exchange of ideas and to strengthen communication and cooperation between environmental researchers and the scientific community such as managers, regulators, policy-makers and academia.

Return migrants bring the prospects of an entrepreneurship gain to their country of origin. In this paper the key determinants of returnees becoming entrepreneurs in Albania are investigated. The survey data utilized enables returnees' characteristics before their migration, during their stay abroad, and after returning to be assessed as facilitators of entrepreneurship. There is evidence of significant entrepreneurial gain among Albanian returnees. The incidence of self‐employment after return was 2–3 times higher than it had been before migration and was nearly 15 times higher than the percentage of self‐employed in the Albanian labor force as a whole. However, the analysis suggests that self‐employment is a poor proxy for entrepreneurship among returnees. There is a need to distinguish between the planned/opportunity self‐employed (the entrepreneurs) and the unintended/necessity self‐employed, the latter largely becoming self‐employed as a means of addressing economic hardship. We find that women, those trained during migration and returnees who remitted more per year, were more likely to become entrepreneurs after returning, whereas men, those in self‐employment before leaving, those spending more time abroad, those who were forced to return, migrants who returned back to their place of birth and residence, and those who returned from Greece, were more likely to be self‐employed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Regional Science Policy & Practice is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article considers why despite mass displacement significantly affecting people from Muslim majority countries, Islamic understandings of refuge, protection and assistance remain de‐centered and made peripheral in formulations of asylum and refuge. The paper begins with an interrogation of how knowledge production on Muslim life‐worlds a priori gives emphasis to certain essential characteristics identified as Muslim. It is argued that this collapses understandings of the diversity of being and 'doing' Muslim in ways that make less visible everyday lived experiences attuned to the materiality, affect and emotion prompted by readings of Islamic tradition in displacement settings. To do so, I draw on Syrian experiences of displacement in Turkey and Greece to parse out the implications of this (in)visibility for Muslim responses to mass‐displacement and question whether they can be substantively different to modalities of humanitarianism and development anchored in liberal European ontologies. It is argued that by being attentive to the structures of feeling prompted by Islamic traditions pertaining to refuge and protection reveals ways of being and doing Islam outside of statist readings of humanitarianism. Here, the Islamic tradition of jiwār (a right of and to neighbourliness) provides a decolonial vocabulary to respond to state‐defined patterns of hospitality rooted in European knowledge production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore how social innovation can provide a range of ecosystem services to local people while supporting public policies and private sector initiatives in delivering successful and innovative food distribution channels. In the Mediterranean basin, the status of commercial fish stocks is critical. In this sense, small‐scale, low‐impact fishing is a way to sustainably utilise socially innovative practices in the use of natural assets and to provide support to rural livelihoods while having minimal impacts on the marine environment. We use an innovative evaluation method, based on the integration of qualitative information with quantitative indicators, to assess social innovation initiatives and their impacts. The use of the methodology is demonstrated on the example of the project A Box of Sea, Greece. The results obtained show that this social initiative provides a novel food consumption and distribution model aiming at making low impact fishing more economically viable, and therefore achieving a triple sustainability for the sector (environmental, social, and economic). We identify third sector social innovation schemes as key tools to develop novel distribution systems supporting local communities (providing employment, fostering new networks and collaborations across fishers), while improving governance practices of the current fishing sector by creating a fairer market that protects the marine environment. Our findings provide a foundation upon which future evaluations of similar projects can build and compare. Such comparisons are crucial in determining patterns related to the innovation transfer processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on ethnographic research, this paper explores the reasons why and the processes through which the Greeks from the former Soviet Union altered their self‐identification after migration to their ethnic homeland. Responding to their labelling by the native Greeks and the doubts expressed about their Greekness, most introduce themselves as Pontians, even though the area of Pontos was not a marker of identification for them in the Soviet Union. They do so to express their felt experience of otherness in Greece and to claim their belongingness in the Greek nation. Exploring this case of ethnic return migration, the paper shows how migrants select among available ethnic options and redefine them, to assert their desired identities and strive for inclusion. In so doing it highlights the situational and processual character of ethnic identification, which should not be treated as a direct function of one's descent and culture. At the same time, it shows the constraining role of available ethnic options delimiting this process. Ethnic labels are not empty vessels. They carry particular significations that make them appealing or foreign to different migrant categories and also define the discursive and performative limitations in their ability to claim them and gain national acceptance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural pozzolans have been used as building materials since ancient times. They are used as a supplementary cementitious material in combination with portland clinker to produce cements, characterized by high mechanical strengths and good durability performance. In the past the production of pozzolanic cement was mostly restricted to countries with natural pozzolan availability (Italy, Turkey, Greece, Philippine for example) and considered or even rejected in other countries that had the possibility of using other types of SCMs such as slag or fly‐ash. The market acceptance of natural pozzolanic cement also shows regional dependency. Colour and water demand strongly affect the perception and rheological properties of concrete containing natural pozzolan resulting in poor acceptancy in regions not used to working with this type of cement. Although, this SCM has been studied for very long time, today it makes sense to look closely at new pozzolanic binders. Innovative types of pozzolanic cement with very low clinker content are approaching the traditional cement market, due to the need for clinker factor reduction, and to the availability of separate grinding technology. New applications are being investigated with the aim of exploiting the behaviour of certain pozzolanic material to act as CO2 adsorbers for the removal of the exhaust gas during the production process. This paper will provide an overview of the most recent research work dealing with natural pozzolanic cement and the possible future opportunities and barriers offered by this very traditional and long‐used building material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about the topics discussed at the 13th International Conference on Experimental Mechanics (ICEM 13) which was held in Alexandroupolis, Greece from July 1-6, 2007 is presented. The event emphasizes the novel application of various techniques of experimental mechanics. The nine papers of the present issue, were peer reviewed according to the standard review policy of the journal. A paper by P.-F. Lou and C.-H. Wang presents a stereo vision method to measure the crack tip parameters.

This paper explores issues of health, diet, and mortuary practices in the countryside of Boeotia, Central Greece, during the Byzantine and post‐Byzantine periods (12th‐19th centuries AD). Boeotia was one of the Byzantine Empire's most important economic and artistic centers with a flourishing life in the cities and the countryside alike and a varied (socially and culturally) population. The human remains unearthed in connection to the church of Hagios Sozon in Orchomenos were analyzed to investigate the everyday challenges and social makeup of the inhabitants in the countryside. The examination of paleopathological lesions and stable isotopes (carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur) in combination showed moderate living conditions, a homogenous terrestrial diet, and signs of mobility, while the consumption of freshwater food sources was not detected, despite the vicinity to Lake Copais. Finally, social differentiation was suggested through the construction of a family burial structure and the mortuary treatment for preterms, perinates, and infants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst the link between young people's well‐being and the creative arts is strengthening, there is a lack of research which focuses on the roles that artists play to help teachers and parents engage young people in the creative arts. This paper explores the benefits of and barriers to artists working in education in six European countries (England, Iceland, Germany, Greece, Italy and Austria). Using the '5A's model of creativity' and a view of professional development taking place within 'landscapes of practice', the data were analysed in order to explain how creativity is operationalised in the different contexts. Our study highlights the need for policy at a national and transnational level to value the creative arts in order to help teachers cross boundaries and utilise the full potential of the creative arts in schools. Our study also highlights that further research is needed into how artists shape teaching and curriculum and how schools engage parents in the creative arts in order to build an evidence‐base relating to young people's positive mental health that can affect policy at these levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Syn‐rift deep‐water muds and mudstones preserve a relatively complete stratigraphic record of tectonic and climatic events. This paper investigates mud‐dominated deposits and stratigraphy using core from International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 381 sites M0078 and M0079 in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece. Millimetre‐scale logging defined several bed types: homogeneous and laminated mud beds, bioturbated beds, a variety of graded beds, and rare matrix‐supported conglomerates and slumps. Homogeneous muds and light grey to black laminated muds record deposition from distal, waning low density turbidity currents and terminal mud‐rich quasi‐laminar or laminar plug flows. Graded beds, interpreted as turbidites, range from beds several millimetre to a few centimetres of mud with silt to fine sand bases, to metre‐scale mud beds with coarser sand and pebble bases. Conglomerate and slumped beds record cohesive debris flows, transitional flows and slope failure. Three stratal package types are distinguished: bioturbated, bedded and laminated, recording distinct hydrological conditions. Bioturbated packages record interglacial marine conditions with well oxygenated waters. Bedded packages record hemipelagic processes and low energy density underflows in a mainly dysoxic, stratified, lacustrine setting (glacial phases). In laminated packages, white mm‐scale laminae of calcite or aragonite from varved, hemipelagic sediments demonstrating seasonal variability in a dysoxic non‐marine or transitional setting. Rift stratigraphy is linked to eustatically controlled connections to the global ocean across rift segment boundaries. The ca. 780 to 330 ka succession is dominated by laminated packages with thin bioturbated packages and distinct conglomerates and slumps, suggesting high sills, making ocean connections brief and transitional to lacustrine conditions prolonged. The ca. 330 ka to present succession shows well developed bioturbated and bedded packages, separated by thin laminated packages, suggesting brief transitions and well‐developed marine conditions due to lower sills. Results indicate that structurally controlled rift segment boundaries exert a first‐order control on syn‐rift stratigraphic evolution, with fault segment growth and linkage driving intra‐rift facies and sequence variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper calculates the top income shares in Greece from 1967 (the seizure of power by the military dictatorship) until 2017 (the aftermath of the debt crisis). This long‐run perspective allows for the examination of the relationship between inequality and institutional transformations, namely democracy, finance, and crisis. We find in particular that (a) transition to democracy did not affect the income share of the top decile, whereas social democracy had a significant negative impact; (b) financial development and liberalization substantially increased all top decile shares; and (c) debt crisis, consolidation, and recession increased the share of the upper ranks of the top decile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roman Macedonia has been largely neglected by bioarcheological research. As a result, little is known about the imprint of living conditions of that time on the skeletons of its inhabitants, especially those of the lower classes. This paper presents the paleopathological study conducted on a Roman period (1st–4th c. CE) skeletal assemblage from Pontokomi‐Vrysi, a site in the semi‐mountainous region of Eordaea in Upper Macedonia (now in Kozani Prefecture, Greece). The aim is to investigate differences in the frequency of multiple paleopathological conditions in the buried population and to assess whether these are linked to sex‐ or age‐related differences. The study examines cribra orbitalia (CO), porotic hyperostosis (PH), enamel hypoplasia (EH), osteoarthritis (OA), vertebral osteoarthritis (VOA), intervertebral disk disease (IDD), Schmorl's nodes (SNs), trauma (Tr), and lower limb periostitis/periostosis (PO). The results show higher frequencies of OA, IDD, PO, and Tr among males compared with those among females. These results suggest increased male physical hardship, pointing to a possible gender division of labor with the men of the community being mostly responsible for the physically demanding agricultural and animal husbandry activities. Additionally, comparisons of the CO, PH, and EH patterns in adults and nonadults support that, in general, the Pontokomi‐Vrysi community was resilient enough to overcome stress. Overall, these findings make an important contribution to both the bioarcheology and social history of Roman Macedonia and stress the need for more studies that combine historical, archeological (cultural), and bioarcheological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper examines the way protected areas are constructed as tourism destinations by the information sources (i.e. a Greek travel magazine) that are consumed by potential visitors to such areas. Specifically, it explores what form of tourism is proposed for virtual visitors, whether it is ecotourism (i.e. both tourism and environmentalism) or simply a nature-based one (i.e. exclusively tourism). Examining the way a Greek travel magazine builds protected areas as tourism destinations, and consequently what expectations are created for readers and potential visitors to such areas, the focus of the present paper is on whether the media contribute to the failure on the part of visitors to protected areas, who are the majority of the people engaging in ecotourism activities, to incorporate environmentalist besides tourism pursuits in their travel experiences. The analysis suggests that the travel magazine cultivates the view that other protected areas (with a tradition in mass tourism) are suitable for nature-based tourism, others (with great ecological interest) for environmentalism, but few for ecotourism. This means that visitors to protected areas will probably have a difficulty in combining tourism with environmentalist pursuits, rather than in developing environmentalist concerns in general. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper intervenes in recent geographical debates about territory, sovereignty, hegemony, and urban marginality by introducing the concept of a "spatial contract." The concept emerged from a longitudinal ethnographic engagement with the Exarcheia neighbourhood in Athens, Greece. The neighbourhood's unique concentration of riots during Greece's post‐dictatorial era is theorised thus as manifesting a kind of spatial contract in which local conflict and contestation of state sovereignty endures amid the wider regional and national reproduction of state hegemony. Exarcheia's reputation and sustenance as a place of protest becomes explainable in this way as being made possible by an unstated but enduring state–society contract that the local contestation can be continued so long as it is also spatially contained. The paper first identifies key advances in geographical understandings of the relationship between territory and sovereignty that support such a theorisation. This growing body of scholarship is still largely unable to account for temporal and spatial exceptions in the sovereign control of territory. The paper proceeds to explain how a two‐year ethnographic residence in Exarcheia (2008–2010), and repeat field visits since, have made manifest the emergence of a distinct spatial contract during Greece's immediate post‐dictatorial era (post‐1974), and again since 2008 during the country's three‐fold crisis (economic, political, and of migrant reception). Far from being disconnected from these wider social transformations, the spatial contract actually reflects them, including now as it comes undone during a new and arguably revanchist period of hegemony through coercion. In this way, the changing conflictual relationships in Exarcheia can be interpreted anew as part of a hybrid yet hegemonic sovereign control over territory at large. This hybrid hegemonic mix has critical implications for our understanding of marginality, sovereignty, and territorial control more generally, including our ability to conceptualise agency, resistance, and citizenship within shifting forms of hegemony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of EPPO Bulletin is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Greece is the country hit hardest by the crisis and subsequent fiscal consolidation strategies, suffering a cumulative output loss of about 30 percent since 2008. The present paper presents evidence that along with declining average living standards, consumption inequality has seriously grown, fueled primarily by a disproportionate drop in the consumption levels of what can be considered the middle class. Although poverty has not significantly risen in relative terms, it climbs to around 45 percent once the poverty threshold is anchored to pre‐crisis levels. Furthermore, significant indirect tax hikes have further increased inequality in consumption expenditure. The paper also shows that several reforms launched in the name of reducing labor costs, broadening the tax base or rationalizing the targeting of social benefits have had detrimental effects on one of the most vulnerable population groups, namely families with children, thus implying that the social consequences of the crisis will be long‐lasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper looks into the dynamics of information society policy and its implementation in the Greek context. It argues that information society development is a contested process, influenced by pre-existing state, economy and society relations. Based on this, it looks into the different aspects of the idiosyncratic path which the evolution of the Greek information society has followed, particularly after 2000. Using Bob Jessop's strategic-relational approach (SRA) to the state as an analytical framework and drawing on a number of in-depth interviews with relevant political actors, it provides insights into policy implementation by examining: the public management of information technology projects, how such projects were received in bureaucratic structures and practices, as well as the relationship between the state and the information and communication technology (ICT) sector in public procurement processes. The emphasis is on the period 2000-2008, during which a major operational programme on the information society in Greece was put into effect. The paper also touches upon the post-2008 experience, suggesting that information society developments might include dynamics operating independently and even in contradiction to the state agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]