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The island of Rhodes is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Greece. However, the lack of tourism development planning has led to an overexploitation of resources and to gradual environmental degradation. The aim of this paper is to present a set of proposals concerning the sustainable development of the island. A general analysis of the area was carried out and specific problems and opportunities were identified through a SWOT (Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats) analysis of the region. Public participation was also incorporated into the whole process through a questionnaire survey, which investigated public opinions and perceptions concerning the existing problems and development opportunities on the island of Rhodes. After combining the SWOT analysis and the survey results, a general framework of proposals was formulated and further evaluated by an expert group through pairwise comparisons. The final outcome of the whole process is a portfolio of proposals, projects, activities, constructions and actions that need to be effectively implemented in order to target the sustainable development of this coastal area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water management has been the focus of research, not only because of water scarcity, but also as a result of its sharing across national boundaries. Approximately 40% of the global population lives in tranboundary water basins, shared by more than one country, emphasizing the need for concerted management of transboundary water bodies and harmonization of policies. Under this view, water should be managed in an internationalized way, integrating methodologies and techniques used in natural as well as social sciences. Public participation and information are vital procedural safeguards of transboundary water recourses management and sustainable regional development. The paper presents a combined methodology based on traditional engineering oriented tools on the one hand and interactive public participation procedures on the other, applied in the Greek-Bulgarian transboundary Mesta/Nestos river basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is a valuable diagnostic tool but often requires sedation to complete, especially in children. Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is an a2 agonist, for which there are experimental findings that support its potential neuroprotective effects. Given the potential risks of anesthetic drugs, we ran this study to examine DEX's effectiveness and cardiopulmonary safety as a sedative drug for children undergoing MRI., Material and Methods: Systematic research was conducted in PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus and Cochrane databases for randomized controlled trials published between 2010 and 6th/2022 and involving children undergoing MRI who received DEX as sedative medication. The records which met the including criteria, after indexing via the PRISMA chart and assessing for bias, were processed, and a meta-analysis was carried out with the random effects method., Results: Thirteen studies were included. Out of 6204 measurements obtained, in 4626, it was planned for the participants to only receive DEX (measure group) as an anesthetic drug throughout the procedure. The participants' mean age was 57 months (Ι 2 = 4%, τ 2 = 0.5317, p = 0.40). A total of 5.6% (95% CI: 0.6-14.1%, I 2 = 98%, p < 0.01) of the patients needed a second dose of DEX. In total, 6% (95% CI: 1-15%, I 2 = 93%, τ 2 = 0.0454, p < 0.01) required the administration of another drug, besides DEX, to complete the imaging (sedation failure). The effectiveness of the only-DEX method was 99% (95% CI: 97.5-100%, I 2 = 81%, τ 2 = 0.0107, p < 0.01). The whole rate of adverse events was 15% (95% CI: 9.3-21.5%, I 2 = 92%, p < 0.01). Hypotension was reported in 8.7% of the cases (95% CI: 3.1-16.4%, I 2 = 84%, p < 0.01), hypertension in 1.1% (95% CI: 0-5.4%, I 2 = 89%, p < 0.01), bradycardia in 10% (95% CI: 4-18%, I 2 = 95%, p < 0.01) and desaturation in 1.2% (95% CI: 0-4%, I 2 = 68%, p < 0.01). There was no statistically significant incidence in respiratory rate decrease (comparing the children who received DEX to their baseline). Five cases of vomiting and one of apnea were recorded., Conclusions: Given that DEX seems to be an effective as well as respiratory and hemodynamically safe drug, it may be a future spotlight in (pediatric) sedation for imaging procedures such as MRI.

The environmental degradation, because of various factors, such as climate change, human activities, increase of population globally, etc. have brought on pressures on the fresh water supplies that vary on time and space. Consequently, economic, environmental, and social tools have emerged known as footprints, in an effort to examine and measure the needs and consequences of humanity on the Earth's life support systems and take measures towards sustainable development. Furthermore, the constantly worsening environmental conditions have resulted in the cultivation of a green culture among society stakeholders that brought on terms such as green marketing and green products. This paper deals with the water footprint (WF) concept and an effort is performed, to explore through a literature review, in which ways it can contribute to the sustainable development of water use, in the context of green marketing (GM) strategies. The approach of the analysis is based on the discrimination to the following aspects: international scale, national and subnational scale, farmers, business, and consumers, in order to track the affection of each part in water issues. The main findings of the literature review showed that the aforementioned factors are playing a key role in protecting water recourses, by the way they formulate their water use and they are interrelated and interdependent. WFs can be useful in the context of GM, by providing helpful information about direct and indirect water consumption, to every contributor factor in supply chains, to consumers, governments, and water managers.