The Greek case of the European Integration process: a comparison to the other Southeast European countries

The cases that are used for the study of this subject are Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey. The Justification for these countries is based on three assumptions; first although Greece is a Balkan country it is considered outside the typical framework of other SEE countries and has gained membership to the EU logn before these states have initiated negotiations, second, Bulgaria is considered to be an indicative case of an SEE country that has managed to fulfill criteria and become member of the European Union and third, Turkey which is an SEE country as well, although has been negotiating with the European Union for more than two decades is still being challenged by extensive negotiations which have been inconclusive in regards to its potential membership and prospective integration

«Το διεθνές νομικό πλαίσιο που διέπει την Βιομηχανική Ασφάλεια στην Ελλάδα ως Κράτος Μέλλος του ΝΑΤΟ και της Ε.Ε- Ευθύνες και έννομες συνέπειες».

Τα κράτη θέλοντας να προστατεύσουν την εθνική τους ταυτότητα έχουν δημιουργήσει έναν «σκληρό πυρήνα» τον οποίο ονομάζουν «Εθνική Άμυνα / Ασφάλεια». Μέσα σε αυτόν τον πυρήνα περικλείουν πληροφορίες διαφόρων διαβαθμίσεων τις οποίες προστατεύουν καθώς αφορούν την ύπαρξη του κράτους. Κράτη που μοιράζονται κοινές αντιλήψεις περί αυτού που λέγεται «Δυτικός Πολιτισμός» δημιουργούν διακρατικές ενώσεις με σκοπούς που φαίνονται στις ιδρυτικές τους Συνθήκες. Η συμμετοχή όμως των κρατών σε οικονομικές, στρατιωτικές ενώσεις καθώς και σε διεθνής εμπορικές δραστηριότητες, έχουν επιφέρει την ανάγκη να ανταλλάσσονται διαβαθμισμένες πληροφορίες σε διμερή και πολυμερή επίπεδα, με αποτέλεσμα αν προκύπτουν διαφορές σε αυτά τα επίπεδα πολλές φορές να μην ακολουθούνται οι κανόνες επίλυσης διεθνών διαφορών, με αποτέλεσμα αφενός να πολυπλοκοποιείται το δικαιοδοτικό διεθνές σύστημα και βεβαίως μέσα σε αυτό το διεθνές νεφέλωμα να ευδοκιμεί η διαφθορά. Ως εκ τούτου διακρίνεται η ανάγκη άμεσης ομοσπονδοποίησης τουλάχιστον των Ευρωπαϊκών κρατών προς την κατεύθυνση της ομοφωνίας χωρίς απαραίτητη διακύβευση αποχρωματισμού εθνικών χαρακτηριστικών των κρατών. Παρά ταύτα η συνέχιση της υφιστάμενης διεθνούς δικαιοδοτικής λειτουργίας κρίνεται απαραίτητη έστω και με τις διαπιστωμένες εμπλοκές που τυχόν αυτή έχει.Member States wishing to protect their national identity have created a "hard core" which is called "National Defense / Security". Within this core information are included of various classifications which are protected as they are linked with the existence of the state. States that share common perceptions of what is called "Western Civilization" create international unions aiming purposes seen in the Treaties. However, participation of States in economic, military organizations and in international commercial activities has created the need to exchange classified information at bilateral and multilateral levels. Therefore, if disputes arise in these levels relevant resolution often does not follow the international dispute settlement rules. As of the aforementioned fact, on one hand complicates the international judicial system and of course in this international nebula prosper corruption. Thus, the need for immediate federalization is needed - at least of European nations - aiming consensus without, indispensably, essential discoloration of national characteristics of States. Nevertheless, the continuation of the present international judicial function is needed, even if there are any possible implications

Study of pollutant emissions with the evolution of technology

Διπλωματική εργασία που υποβλήθηκε στη σχολή Μηχανικών Παραγωγής και Διοίκησης του Πολυτεχνείου Κρήτης για την πλήρωση προϋποθέσεων λήψης του προπτυχιακού Διπλώματος.Περίληψη: Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία πραγματεύεται την συνεχόμενη και αυξανόμενη μόλυνση του περιβάλλοντος εξαιτίας των μηχανοκίνητων οχημάτων. Θα περιλαμβάνει μία εισαγωγή για τους ρύπους που εκπέμπουν ειδικότερα τα οχήματα και το ποσοστό υπευθυνότητάς τους στη μόλυνση του περιβάλλοντος. Έπειτα θα γίνει μία ανάλυση των ρύπων των οχημάτων που χρησιμοποιούν βενζίνη, πετρέλαιο καθώς και των ηλεκτροκινητήρων. Θα γίνει μία σύγκριση των παραγόμενων ρύπων σε αυτούς τους κινητήρες. Στη συνέχεια θα γίνει μια εμβάθυνση στη μακροπρόθεσμη ρύπανση του περιβάλλοντος λόγω των μπαταριών (λόγω της ανακύκλωσής τους) όπου εδώ θα τεθεί το ερώτημα αν τελικά η παραγωγή μπαταριών επιβαρύνει περισσότερο το περιβάλλον από ότι νομίζουμε. Επίσης θα γίνει εκτίμηση μέσω ανάλυσης ολικού κόστους κύκλου ζωής της μπαταρίας καθώς και των παραγόμενων ρύπων. Τέλος θα γίνει μια αναφορά στην καύση υδρογόνου για την παραγωγή κίνησης, αν είναι εφικτό να εισαχθεί αυτή η εναλλακτική μορφή πηγής ενέργειας και τι δυσκολίες θα είχε.Summarization: This dissertation deals with the continuous and increasing pollution of the environment due to motor vehicles. It will include an introduction to the pollutants emitted by vehicles in particular and their degree of responsibility for environmental pollution. Then there will be an analysis of vehicles that use gasoline, diesel and electronic engines. A comparison will be made of the pollutants produced in these engines. Then there will be a deepening of the long-term pollution of the environment due to batteries (due to their recycling) where the question will arise whether the production of batteries will burden the environment more than we think. An assessment will also be made through an analysis of the total life cycle of the battery as well as the pollutants produced. Finally, a reference should be made to the combustion of hydrogen for the production drive, whether it is possible to introduce this alternative form of energy source and what difficulties it had

Design of a residence building: 3D rendering and automation planning with KNX system

Περίληψη: Η παρούσα διπλωαμτική εργασία, που πραγματοποιείται ως προαπαιτούμενο του προπτυχιακού προγράμματος σπουδών του Τμήματος Συστημάτων Παραγωγής του Πολυτεχνείου Κρήτης, πραγματεύεται την σχεδίαση και την τρισδιάστατη απεικόνιση ενός διόροφου κτιρίου κατοικίας καθώς και την εφαρμογή κτιριακών αυτοματισμών με το σύστημα ΚΝΧ στο συγκεκριμένο κτίριο. Πιο συγκεκριμένα, η εργασία οργανώνεται με τέσσερα βασικά κεφάλαια, εκ των οποίων στο πρώτο παρουσιάζεται το θεωρητικό υπόβαθρο που αφορά το πρόγραμμα σχεδίασης ArchiCAD και τα χαρακτηριστικά του. Στην συνέχεια, το δεύτερο κεφάλαιο επικεντρώνεται στην αναλυτική σχεδίαση του κριτικού κελύφους και των εξωτερικών χώρων, όπου περιλαμβάνονται στοιχεία σχετικά με τις κατόψεις, τις όψεις και τις τομές του κτιρίου. Έπειτα, στο τρίτο κεφάλαιο παρατηρείται η πραγμάτωση της τρισδιάστατης απεικόνισης του κτιρίου όπως και εικόνες σχετικές με τις φωτορεαλιστικές απεικονίσεις. Τέλος, το τέταρτο κεφάλαιο απαρτίζεται αφενός από το ηλεκτρολογικό σχέδιο του κτιρίου (τοποθέτηση πριζών και διακοπτών), σύμφωνα με το πρότυπο κτιριακού αυτοματισμού ΚΝΧ, και αφετέρου με το μονογραμμικό σχέδιο, καθώς και με στοιχεία που αφορούν τα συστήματα αυτοματισμών για το προαναφερόμενο κτίριο

Predicting Meteorological Variables on Local Level with SARIMA, LSTM and Hybrid Techniques

The choice of holiday destinations is highly depended on climate considerations. Nowadays, since the effects of the climate crisis are being increasingly felt, the need for accurate weather and climate services for hotels is crucial. Such a service could be beneficial for both the future planning of tourists’ activities and destinations and for hotel managers as it could help in decision making about the planning and expansion of the touristic season, due to a prediction of higher temperatures for a longer time span, thus causing increased revenue for companies in the local touristic sector. The aim of this work is to calculate predictions on meteorological variables using statistical techniques as well as artificial intelligence (AI) for a specific area of interest utilising data from an in situ meteorological station, and to produce valuable and reliable localised predictions with the most cost-effective method possible. This investigation will answer the question of the most suitable prediction method for time series data from a single meteorological station that is deployed in a specific location; in our case, in a hotel in the northern area of Crete, Greece. The temporal resolution of the measurements used was 3 h and the forecast horizon considered here was up to 2 days. As prediction techniques, seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (SARIMA), AI techniques like the long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network and hybrid combinations of the two are used. Multiple meteorological variables are considered as input for the LSTM and hybrid methodologies, like temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure and wind speed, unlike the SARIMA that has a single variable. Variables of interest are divided into those that present seasonality and patterns, such as temperature and humidity, and those that are more stochastic with no known seasonality and patterns, such as wind speed and direction. Two benchmark techniques are used for comparison and quantification of the added predictive ability, namely the climatological forecast and the persistence model, which shows a considerable amount of improvement over the naive prediction methods, especially in the 1-day forecasts. The results indicate that the examined hybrid methodology performs best at temperature and wind speed forecasts, closely followed by the SARIMA, whereas LSTM performs better overall at the humidity forecast, even after the correction of the hybrid to the SARIMA model. Lastly, different hybrid methodologies are discussed and introduced for further improvement of meteorological predictions

When Crohn′s disease is in remission, more patients complete capsule endoscopy study but less lesions are identified

Background and Aims: Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is used in Crohn′s disease (CD) to define disease extent. We aimed to define WCE detection rate of small bowel ulcerative lesions and completion rate in CD patients. Patients and Methods: A total of 102 consecutive CD patients, who successfully passed patency capsule, were matched to 102 controls. WCE was performed in both patients (in acute phase and CD clinical remission) and controls. Results: Eighty-six (84%) controls versus 62 (61%) patients in the acute phase ( P = 0.003) and 96 (94%) in remission ( P = 0.02) completed WCE study. Gastric passing time was 48 ± 66 min in controls, 66 ± 82 min in CD acute phase ( P = 0.03) and 30 ± 21 min in remission ( P = 0.07). Small bowel passing time was 276 ± 78 min in controls, 299 ± 78 min in the acute phase of CD ( P = 0.04) and 248 ± 89 min in remission ( P = 0.01). Mean capsule endoscopy Crohn′s disease activity index (CECDAI) score was 14 ± 6 in acute small bowel CD, 12 ± 7 in acute small-large bowel CD ( P = 0.08) and 2 ± 2 in both CD types while in remission ( P = 1.00). Small bowel ulcerative lesions in the acute phase were more frequently in distal small bowel. Aphthous ulcers were frequent a month after entering clinical remission and tend to disappear gradually later on. No ulcerative lesions were present in deep remission. Patency capsule is rather safe to exclude small bowel obstruction. Conclusions: (1) A high percentage of patients with active CD do not complete small bowel study with WCE. (2) Small bowel ulcerative lesions in clinical remission were less severe, although at least 6 months are needed in order for them to disappear

Numerical modeling of sediment transport applied to coastal morphodynamics

Summarization: A bed-load sediment transport model is used to describe realistic cases of the morphodynamics in coastal areas. The hydrodynamic equations are based on the well-known, two-dimensional depth-averaged non-linear shallow water equations, with bathymetry forces and friction, which are subsequently coupled to the Exner equation to describe the morphological evolution. Different forms of the bed-load transport flux are considered in the Exner equation and certain relations between them are established. The numerical model is expressed in a fully-coupled form where a single system of equations is solved by a high-resolution two-dimensional finite volume scheme of the relaxation type. The relaxation is performed by classical models where neither approximate Riemann solvers nor characteristic decompositions are needed. The overall numerical scheme is validated in benchmark problems, and for a realistic application of a coastal area on the northern side of the island of Crete. The validity of these results is established by comparisons made with the well-known MIKE Software by DHI Group.Presented on: Applied Numerical Mathematic

The knowledge of osteoporosis risk factors in a Greek female population

Objectives: The social and economic burden of osteoporosis is important since it concerns a continuously aging population, while the disease is silent until the emergence of fractures. Aim of the study was to assess female population knowledge about osteoporosis risk factors and to identify the risk factors of the studied population. Methods: A sample of 99 (aged: 61.59 +/- 9.61 years) women under treatment for osteoporosis or osteopenia answered the questionnaire provided by their pharmacists and were included in the study’s analysis. Various parameters on osteoporosis awareness and risk factor knowledge of the population sample studied were analyzed. Results: It was revealed that 96% of the participants knew osteoporosis definition and sources of this knowledge were one or More of the following: doctors (86.3%), mass media (20%) and friends or relatives (13.7%). It was found that the older age was associated with less knowledge (OR = 0.93, CI: 0.88-0.97 p = 0.004), and higher education with increased knowledge (OR 1.68, CI: 1.10-2.55 p = 0.014) about osteoporosis. 56.4% of the participants were aware of at least one osteoporosis risk factor. In multivariate analysis, it was revealed that the participants who referred increased milk products consumption in childhood (OR = 3.72, CI: 1.34-10.36 p = 0.012) and current performance of physical activity (OR = 13.06, CI: 3.22-53.05 p < 0.001) were more likely to be informed about osteoporosis risk factors; age >61 years was associated with decreased knowledge of risk factors (OR = 0.27, CI: 0.09-0.82 p = 0.018). Conclusions: This study implies that a higher degree of participant’s health education may result in the avoidance of osteoporosis risk factors. Increasing knowledge of osteoporosis should be a priority for future intervention programs in order to promote specific behavioural strategies for osteoporosis prevention. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved