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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]

In this paper the relative efficiency of the forest sector of 28 EU/EFTA countries during the period 2010–2015 is assessed using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Three non-discretionary inputs (persons employed, forest available for wood supply and initial growing stock) are considered. The outputs are roundwood production, gross value added and final growing stock. The proposed DEA model not only computes efficiency scores but also improvement targets. The countries with the lowest efficiency scores during the period under study are Greece, Bulgaria and Italy. In the second stage, a fractional regression model is fitted and the factors that have an influence on the estimated efficiency are identified. The factors that have an influence are GDP and belonging to the NORTH Europe and CENTRAL-WEST Europe regions. Quantitative estimates of the partial effects of these factors are provided. The results can contribute in providing guidance towards the best practice in roundwood production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today’s single market, standardization helps integrate market requirements and reduce costs, and standards ensure compatibility, quality, safety and efficiency. The impact of standards is highly dependent on the level of knowledge among the workforce. Knowledge, skills, attitudes and experience in standardization add value to professions and roles in many fields. The rising awareness and spread knowledge about standardization are globally-recognised as a powerful tool to assure public safety having a proficient workforce, bring new technologies to market and drive future businesses. The paper presents the main results of research aiming to identify what is the expectations and requirements of the lecturers and students of five EU countries, namely Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Latvia, and Romania, for a standardization course. What are opinions, and attitudes of the faculty staff as well as the students regarding the standards focused education? How the integration of the standards’ focused training into HE could be facilitated and improved? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report for the first time two spider species for Albania, four for Bulgaria and two for Greece: Altella lucida (Simon, 1874) (Bulgaria), Eresus moravicus Rezác, 2008 (Bulgaria and Greece), Filistata insidiatrix (Forsskål, 1775) (Albania), Harpactea samuili Lazarov, 2006 (Greece), Loxosceles rufescens (Dufour, 1820) (Albania), Pritha parva Legittimo, Simeon, Di Pompeo et Kulczycki, 2017 (Bulgaria) and Pritha vestita (Simon, 1873) (Bulgaria). The recently described species P. parva is the first report for the Balkan Peninsula, while P. vestita is the first record for mainland Europe. Their congener Pritha nana (Simon, 1868) is removed from the Bulgarian checklist of spiders (misidentification). As a result of our report, the number of spider species increases to 571, 1049 and 1183 in Albania, Bulgaria and Greece, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

North Macedonia’s foreign policy goals have not been completely achieved. This is in part due to the complex processes of international establishment of a small state in the Balkans. Unlike the creating of establishment of other countries after the break-up of the former Yugoslavia where military conflicts took place, Macedonia managed to secure its independence in a peaceful way. However continuous challenges from its neighboring Greece and Bulgaria, who are Guided by residual policies from the Balkan Wars (1912-1913) and the division of the former Ottoman province of Macedonia, Athens and Sofia imposed revisionism on Macedonian reality. Instead of developing mutual cooperation, bilateral relations were burdened with conditioning, threats and imposed political disputes. It negatively affected the domestic political scene, compromising Macedonia’s position on the international stage and distancing it from achieving its most important goals, membership in NATO and the European Union. However, Following the conclusion of the Good Neighbor and Friendship Agreement with Bulgaria and the Prespa Agreement with Greece, the country with the new name Republic of North Macedonia became a full member of NATO in 2020 and expects the start of negotiations with the EU regarding its membership. This paper examines the key aspects of efforts spanning almost three-decades in order to achieve the previously mentioned Macedonian foreign policy goals, drawing conclusions about the most important moments of the country's European and Euro-Atlantic integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The clinical and economic burden of type 2 diabetes mellitus on society is rising. Effective and efficient preventive measures may stop the increasing prevalence, given that type 2 diabetes mellitus is mainly a lifestyle-driven disease. The Feel4Diabetes-study aimed to tackle unhealthy lifestyle (unhealthy diet, lack of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and excess weight) of families with a child in the first grades of elementary school. These schools were located in regions with a relatively low socio-economic status in Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, Greece, Hungary and Spain. Special attention was paid to families with a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods: The aim of this paper is to describe the detailed methodology of the intervention's cost-effectiveness analysis. Based on the health economic evaluation of the Toybox-study, both a decision analytic part and a Markov model have been designed to assess the long-term (time horizon of 70 year with one-year cycles) intervention's value for money. Data sources used for the calculation of health state incidences, transition probabilities between health states, health state costs, and health state utilities are listed. Intervention-related costs were collected by questionnaires and diaries, and attributed to either all families or high risk families only. Conclusions: The optimal use of limited resources is pivotal. The future results of the health economic evaluation of the Feel4Diabetes-study will contribute to the efficient use of those resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents and discusses the water and gas geochemistry of a large number of thermal springs occurring along the N-S trending Strymon Valley, from its source, near Sofia (Bulgaria), to the Aegean Sea (Greece). In Bulgaria springs have markedly alkaline p H, relatively low Total Dissolved Solids and prevalent Na-HCO 3 to Na-Cl(SO 4) in composition while the associated gas phase is mostly N 2 -dominated. When moving to the Greek sector, the thermal springs, Ca(Mg)-HCO 3 to Na-HCO 3 , become less alkaline and more saline whereas the associated gas phase is CO 2 -dominated. The abrupt geochemical change in the Greek sector is caused by a variation in the thickness and nature of the sediments filling the Strymon Valley, the latter being characterized by a relevant amount of Neogene marine material. Such changes occur south of an important E -W lineament named Middle Mesta, south of which marble formations extensively crop out and are likely occurring below the sedimentary succession. The presence of these carbonate sequences embedded in the Neogene sediments is explaining the CO 2 -rich gases associated to the Greek springs. Water isotopes indicate a meteoric origin for the studied waters. From a geothermometric point of view, solute (previous studies) and gas (this work) geothermometers suggest that no high enthalpy systems occur in the Bulgaria and northern sector of Greece with estimated temperatures <120 °C. Consequently, these thermal springs can be regarded as tectonically-derived along the many fault systems that border the Strymon Valley. The convective circuits are thus originated from rainfall in the crystalline massifs that border the valley, i.e. the Serbo-Macedonian to the west and the Rhodope to the east. • Water and gas discharges from the Strymon Valley (Bulgaria-Greece) were investigated. • Chemical and isotopic differences between the Bulgarian and Greek samples occur. • No high-enthalpy systems were recognized. • Fluid discharges are mostly driven by tectonic lineaments. • A conceptual model of fluid circulation is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relation between memory and national identity. It is based on the hypothesis of whether—and to what degree—local memory, the cultural identity of a region as expressed by collective memory, serves the constitution of national identity or is a threat to the materialization of this objective, because of its cultural ‘polyphony’ and different discourse. In order to investigate these questions, research focused on the village of Petrota in northern Evros, Greece, and its relation with the village of Malko Gradishte, on the other side of the Greek–Bulgarian border. The relations and the manner of their representation by the inhabitants, before and after the 1940s, when Bulgaria joined the communist camp, are discussed. The paper underlines the importance of collective memory for understanding official histories and identities. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Three R.E.MO.S. (Remote Environmental MOnitoring System) telemetric networks have been installed in the catchment area of River Nestos, by research team PERSEAS. The first network has been installed in Nestos Delta. This network consists of two Remote Stations (R.S.): [•] The first one is called R.S. “Nestos” and is settled in Nestos Delta in Chrysoupoli and [•] the second one is called R.S “Agiasma” and is settled in the homonymous Lagoon. This paper deals with R.S. “Agiasma”, which operates in Agiasma Lagoon, an area of great environmental importance in the west part of River Nestos Delta. The gradients of the water quality and quantity monitored parameters are very important for the ecological preservation of the lagoon. Moreover, this case can be an excellent example of how the real-time monitoring data can work as an alarm system to prevent environmental hazards. The scientific issues this paper is focused on are: [1.] The three years systematic daily electronic monitoring data (1/1/2000–31/12/2002). The monitored parameters are Water level—H (cm), Salinity—Sal (‰), Redox Potential—RP (mV), Dissolved Oxygen—DO (mg/l), Water Temperature—T w (oC) and Air Temperature—T a (oC). [2.] The assessment of water quality and quantity parameters and the aquatic environment of Agiasma lagoon. [3.] The detection of trends, using the non-parametric Spearman''s criterion. This trend analysis proved the existence of trends for the parameters H, Sal and RP. [4.] The necessity of real-time monitoring, which can prevent and confront possible natural hazards and disasters and work as an alarm system for the local authorities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Data about rabbit meat production are provided from the web site of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The mentioned information for the studied three Balkan countries (Bulgaria, Romania and Greece) has been extracted and organized in a created relational database. Different parameter queries have been used for visualization of certain subsets from the indicated database. Subsequently, they have been processed and evaluated. The article presents comparative analysis of the rabbit meat production in these Balkan countries for the period 1984-2018. Hierarchical cluster analysis has also been applied to the considered data. The grouping of the investigated indicator is discussed. The obtained results showed that the rabbit meat production in Romania increased significantly for 1984-1990. The same process was observed in Bulgaria and Greece during 1987-1997 and 1988-1993, respectively. The values of this indicator for Greece and Bulgaria are quite higher in comparison with those ones in Romania for 2006-2018. A decreasing tendency in the rabbit meat production in the listed three countries was established for the last five years of the time interval. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leptospirosis, a re-emerging zoonosis caused by pathogenic Leptospira, has a low incidence in Bulgaria. This paper reports a case of leptospirosis in Pleven, Bulgaria, in which the subject was infected after wading through irrigative canal in northern Greece. Two days later, he had a fever, myalgia and vomiting followed by jaundice, darkness of urine and oliguria. The patient was admitted to Clinic of Infectious Diseases at University Hospital-Pleven after returning to Bulgaria. The history and laboratory findings suggested icterohaemorrhagic leptospirosis. Penicillin G was prescribed and intensive supportive treatment was initiated. Dialysis was performed two hours after admission and was followed by poliuric stage of acute renal failure (peak urine output 16 600 mL/day). Microaglutination test (MAT) for sero-diagnosis was positive (L. hardjo 1:1600, L. icterohaemorrhagiae 1:800). The patient was discharged after sixteen days with improved renal and liver functions. In conclusion, The probability of leptospirosis should not be ignored in patients with fever after returning from abroad. The prompt dialysis and adequate treatment improve prognosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using satellite data for flood forecasting in catchments located in mid-latitudes is challenging to engineers and model developers, in no small part due to the plethora of data sets that need to be retrieved, combined, calibrated and used for simulation in real time. The differences between the various satellite rainfall data products and the continuous improvement in their quantity and quality render the development of a single software tool, able to read and process all the different data sets, particularly difficult. Even if such an endeavour was undertaken, the degree of flexibility and extensibility that such a tool would require to accommodate future versions of data sets, available in different file formats as well as different temporal and spatial resolution should not be underestimated. This paper describes the development of a flood forecasting system that addresses this issue through a modular architecture based on the use of the Open Modeling Interface (OpenMI) standard, which facilitates the interaction between a number of separate software components. It is suggested that this approach greatly simplifies programming and debugging and eliminates the need to create spatial and temporal transformation functions without significantly compromising the overall execution speed. The approach and system were tested for forecasting flood events within a particularly challenging transboundary catchment, the Evros catchment, extending between Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. The system uses two sets of data sources, as an example (NASA’s TRMM 3B42 and 3B42RT satellite data sets) to forecast flooding in the Evros catchment. Results indicate that OpenMI greatly facilitates the complex interaction of various software components and considerably increases the flexibility and extensibility of the overall system and hence its operational value and sustainability. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, the question of freshwater induced stratification at the mouth of two dam-controlled Greek rivers is addressed. Results from a monitoring program are presented along Strymon River estuary and Nestos River coastal zone, two of the most important freshwater suppliers in the North Aegean Sea. Strymon River flow is man-controlled through Kerkini Dam, while Nestos River discharge patterns depict significant alterations, due to the operation of two hydropower dams. Moreover, a stratification–mixing model was developed based on the water column potential energy ϕ TOTAL, which accounted separately for the local contributions to stratification (solar heating and freshwater buoyancy) and mixing (wind and bottom shear stresses). The model was run under two different scenarios: a) the influence and the absence of Kerkini Dam for the case of Strymon River, and b) the presence and absence of the hydropower dams for the case of Nestos River. Results show that Kerkini Dam affects the stratification conditions in Strymon River mouth during spring and early summer (April to June), by reducing ϕ TOTAL by approximately 13%. In Nestos River mouth, the water column dynamics are highly affected by river damming, as ϕ TOTAL appeared reduced during November to July, by approximately 50.2%. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: River flow forecasting consists one of the most important applications in modern hydrology, especially for the effective hydropower reservoir management. In this paper, an innovative non-linear time-series fitting and forecasting model is proposed, consisting of the following sub-modules: (a) the division of the time-series into generations, by identifying the structural change points, (b) the generation decomposition into linear trend, harmonic component and autoregressive component, consisting of several gene ARMA models, (c) the use of fuzzy methods to determine the relative weight of each gene model, and (d) the time-series expansion for the optimal forecasting. The method was applied to the mean monthly Nestos River discharge data for the 1966–2006 period, recorded at the Greek–Bulgarian border, serving as inflow to the Thissavros Hydropower Reservoir. The selected series was divided into five distinctive generations representing periods of gradual surface runoff reduction. It occurred that mean monthly discharge during the fifth generation was almost halved, compared to the corresponding value of the first generation. Harmonic decomposition produced periods in agreement with the large-scale atmospheric fluctuations, while ARIMA modeling performed on the residuals from a pre-defined gene model-base, produced satisfactory fitting to the measured flow series. Model expansion for the last 2 years (2005–2006) of the time-series illustrated reasonable good approximations. Model forecasts during 2005 followed closely the recorded variability, with MAPE and RMSE statistics indicating increased model accuracy. Overall, it is evident that the model slightly underpredicts Nestos River discharge, while slight overestimation occurs under high river flow conditions (winter 2006). Although current research proved model’s distinct capability and advantages in river flow fitting and medium-scale forecast, future improvement could facilitate the use of more elaborative models (ARCH, fuzzy, ANN), in the developed gene model-base. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Management of transboundary water resources has been the focus of many studies due to the observed water stress all over the globe combined with the continually increasing water demand. States sharing water resources often proceed to negotiations regarding water allocation issues and other managerial issues in order to settle their disputes. During such negotiations the use of appropriate tools, which will provide assistance to the opponent parties in terms of scenarios quantification and simulation processes, is a vital component toward conflict resolution. The present paper implements game theoretical concepts in the case study of Greek–Bulgarian negotiations on Nestos/Mesta transboundary river. The quantification of consequences caused by water flow decrease for different scenarios provides the background for estimations of compromising solutions that could be acceptable to both countries. Moreover, implementing interconnected games widens the countries’ available options and contributes to the avoidance of unreasonable outcomes while balancing uneven “power” potentials. The different utilities of the calculated payoffs to each country are leveled by the incorporation of socioeconomic factors reflecting the differences observed in the development level of the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italy, Greece, and, to a lesser degree, Bulgaria have experienced fast growth in their renewable generation capacity (RESc) over the last several years. The consequences of this fact include a decrease in spot wholesale prices in electricity markets and a significant effect on cross border trading (CBT) among neighboring interconnected countries. In this work, we empirically analyzed historical data on fundamental market variables (i.e., spot prices, load, RES generation) as well as CBT data (imports, exports, commercial schedules, net transfer capacities, etc.) on the Greek, Italian, and Bulgarian electricity markets by applying the Granger causality connectivity analysis (GCCA) approach. The aim of this analysis was to detect all possible interactions among the abovementioned variables, focusing in particular on the effects of growing shares of RES generation on the commercial electricity trading among the abovementioned countries for the period 2015–2018. The key findings of this paper are summarized as the following: The RES generation in Italy, for the period examined, drives the spot prices in Greece via commercial schedules. In addition, on average, spot price fluctuations do not affect the commercial schedules of energy trading between Greece and Bulgaria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Ottoman Empire's millet system with a focus on the Muslim populations in Greece and Bulgaria during the period of 1912 to 1923. The influence of this system on peace treaties, social institutions, and the status of religious minorities, the role of ethnicity and the concept of corporate autonomy in the millet system, the system's effect on assimilationist policies and social norms, the muftis who were considered to be civil servants, and the millet-system model as a way to protect minority rights are discussed.