Women equality in labour market,a myth or a reality? The case of women PR managers

Whether or not women’s presence in the labour market has improved the last decades is under investigation. This study examines the historical evolution of gender equality, the labour characteristics and the main reasons of gender inequality in Greece. In order to validate the study a research is undertaken using a sample of 258 PR managers. The purpose of the research is to examine whether gender is responsible for the difference in the given answers of the PR managers. The analysis reached interesting conclusions concerning the issues that need to be reevaluated by society in order to improve women’s position in society and business

Μεθοδολογικά εργαλεία για την επίλυση του προβλήματος της εννοιολογικής αλλαγής στη θεωρία της εξέλιξης σε μαθητές δευτεροβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης: ο ρόλος των ανατρεπτικών κειμένων και της πληροφορίας κατηγοριοποίησης

Η εισαγωγή της διαδικασίας της εννοιολογικής αλλαγής στη διδακτική των φυσικών επιστημών, προκάλεσε το έντονο ενδιαφέρον των ερευνητών για τη μεθοδολογία και το είδος των εργαλείων που μπορούν να διευκολύνουν την αντικατάσταση των αφελών, αρχικών θεωρήσεων των μαθητών από τις επιστημονικές προσεγγίσεις. Μεταξύ των εργαλείων που έχουν συγκεντρώσει το ενδιαφέρον των ερευνών, είναι τα ανατρεπτικά κείμενα και η πληροφορία κατηγοριοποίησης. Ως τώρα ενώ έχει επισημανθεί η σημασία των συγκεκριμένων μεθόδων στη βιβλιογραφία, δεν έχουν χρησιμοποιηθεί σε μεγάλο βαθμό συνδυαστικά. Παράλληλα ενώ έχουν δοκιμαστεί σε διάφορα πεδία κατανόησης εννοιών φυσικών επιστημών, δεν έχει γίνει εκτεταμένη προσπάθεια να χρησιμοποιηθούν στην εννοιολογική αλλαγή στην εξέλιξη των ειδών. Η παρούσα έρευνα επιχείρησε να εξετάσει την επίδραση των ανατρεπτικών κειμένων έναντι των απλών επεξηγηματικών κειμένων καθώς και την επίδραση της πληροφορίας κατηγοριοποίησης, έναντι της πληροφορίας για την ερμηνεία των εξελικτικών φαινομένων, στις απαντήσεις που δίνουν μαθητές της Β΄ Λυκείου σε βιολογικά προβλήματα. Για το σκοπό αυτό σχεδιάστηκε μία πειραματική παρέμβαση με τη χρήση κειμένων που συνδυάζουν τη δομή του κειμένου με την κατάλληλη πληροφορία. Ο έλεγχος της εννοιολογικής αλλαγής μετρήθηκε με τρία ερωτηματολόγια που περιελάμβαναν ανοιχτές ερωτήσεις, κλειστές ερωτήσεις και ερωτήσεις κατηγοριοποίησης. Τα συμπεράσματα της παρούσας έρευνας έδειξαν ότι η δομή του κειμένου από μόνη της δεν επαρκεί για την επίτευξη σημαντικής βελτίωσης στις απαντήσεις των μαθητών. Όταν όμως συνδυαστεί με την πληροφορία κατηγοριοποίησης, επιτυγχάνεται μετρήσιμη μετακίνηση προς όφελος των επιστημονικών προσεγγίσεων. Επιπρόσθετα η πληροφορία κατηγοριοποίησης, καταφέρνει να επιδράσει ευεργετικά σε ευρύτερα έργα, πέρα από την ορθή ταξινόμηση των εξελικτικών φαινομένων στις αναδυόμενες διαδικασίες. Φαίνεται ότι επιτυγχάνεται σημαντική βελτίωση και στην ερμηνεία των εξελικτικών φαινομένων με βάση τη θεωρία της δαρβινικής φυσικής επιλογής, πιθανόν επειδή εφοδιάζει τους μαθητές με βαθύτερες οντολογικές πληροφορίες. Eνδεχομένως βοηθά στην ανατροπή θεωριών πλαισίου των μαθητών, για παράδειγμα ουσιοκρατικών αντιλήψεων άρνησης της εξέλιξης, τελεολογικών ερμηνειών κλπ. Η παρούσα έρευνα ανέδειξε σημαντικά μεθοδολογικά ερωτήματα που σχετίζονται με τη διάρκεια της εκπαιδευτικής παρέμβασης, τα ιδιαίτερα χαρακτηριστικά των συμμετεχόντων, τις δυνατότητες κατασκευής πιο ειδικών εργαλείων όπως τα ερωτηματολόγια και τα κείμενα, ανάλογα με το είδος των πρότερων αντιλήψεων που πιθανόν διαπιστώνονται κατά την εφαρμογή της εκπαιδευτικής διαδικασίας. Προέκυψαν ενδιαφέροντα συμπεράσματα σχετικά με την ευαισθησία των ανοιχτών ερωτηματολογίων σε αντίθεση με τα κλειστά, που εμφανίστηκαν λιγότερο ευαίσθητα στο να αναδείξουν τη διαδικασία της εννοιολογικής αλλαγής. Διαφαίνονται σημαντικές προεκτάσεις της συγκεκριμένης έρευνας που δίνουν τη δυνατότητα σχεδιασμού πολύ πιο αποτελεσματικών εκπαιδευτικών παρεμβάσεων στη σχολική τάξη για την επίτευξη της επιθυμητής εννοιολογικής αλλαγής.The introduction of the procedure of conceptual change to science teaching provoked intense interest to the researchers about the methods and tools that could facilitate the replacement of students’ naïve, initial ideas by scientific approaches. Refutation texts and the categorization information are among the tools that have gathered the interest of research. Although the importance of the specific methods has been pointed out in literature, till now, they haven’t been used in combination. At the same time, although they have been used in various fields of understanding natural science concepts, no extensive attempt has been made to use them in the conceptual change in the evolution of species. The present research attempted to examine the effect of refutation texts against plain explanatory texts as well as the effect of categorization information against the information of the interpretation of evolutionary phenomena, on the answers given by second class Lyceum students to biological problems. For this purpose, an experimental intervention was designed using texts that combine the structure of the text with the appropriate information. The control of conceptual change was measured with three questionnaires that included open-ended questions, closed-ended questions and categorization questions. The findings of the present study showed that the structure of the text alone is not sufficient to achieve a significant improvement in students' responses. But when combined with categorization information, measurable movement is achieved for the benefit of scientific approaches. In addition, the categorization information manages to have a beneficial effect on wider projects, in addition to the correct classification of evolutionary phenomena in emerging processes. It seems that a considerable improvement in the interpretation of evolutionary phenomena based on the theory of Darwinian natural selection is achieved, probably because it equips students with deeper ontological information. Possibly helps to overturn students' framework theories, for example essentialist perceptions of denial of evolution, teleological interpretations, etc. The present research highlighted important methodological questions related to the duration of the educational intervention, the particular characteristics of the participants, the possibilities of constructing more specific tools such as questionnaires and texts, depending on the type of previous perceptions that may be found during the implementation of the educational procedure. Interesting conclusions were drawn about the sensitivity of open-ended questionnaires as opposed to closed-ended questionnaires, the later been less sensitive to highlighting the process of conceptual change. Significant extensions of this research are emerging that enable the design of much more effective educational interventions in the classroom to achieve the desired conceptual change

Biometric Keys for the Encryption of Multimodal Signatures

Electricity, electromagnetism & magnetis

Energy-based decision engine for household human activity recognition

We propose a framework for energy-based human activity recognition in a household environment. We apply machine learning techniques to infer the state of household appliances from their energy consumption data and use rulebased scenarios that exploit these states to detect human activity. Our decision engine achieved a 99.1% accuracy for real-world data collected in the kitchens of two smart homes

Defining the microbial effluxome in the content of the host-microbiome interaction

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Cellular Automata Applications in Shortest Path Problem

Cellular Automata (CAs) are computational models that can capture the essential features of systems in which global behavior emerges from the collective effect of simple components, which interact locally. During the last decades, CAs have been extensively used for mimicking several natural processes and systems to find fine solutions in many complex hard to solve computer science and engineering problems. Among them, the shortest path problem is one of the most pronounced and highly studied problems that scientists have been trying to tackle by using a plethora of methodologies and even unconventional approaches. The proposed solutions are mainly justified by their ability to provide a correct solution in a better time complexity than the renowned Dijkstra's algorithm. Although there is a wide variety regarding the algorithmic complexity of the algorithms suggested, spanning from simplistic graph traversal algorithms to complex nature inspired and bio-mimicking algorithms, in this chapter we focus on the successful application of CAs to shortest path problem as found in various diverse disciplines like computer science, swarm robotics, computer networks, decision science and biomimicking of biological organisms' behaviour. In particular, an introduction on the first CA-based algorithm tackling the shortest path problem is provided in detail. After the short presentation of shortest path algorithms arriving from the relaxization of the CAs principles, the application of the CA-based shortest path definition on the coordinated motion of swarm robotics is also introduced. Moreover, the CA based application of shortest path finding in computer networks is presented in brief. Finally, a CA that models exactly the behavior of a biological organism, namely the Physarum's behavior, finding the minimum-length path between two points in a labyrinth is given.Comment: To appear in the book: Adamatzky, A (Ed.) Shortest path solvers. From software to wetware. Springer, 201

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London

Surgical site infection after gastrointestinal surgery in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: a prospective, international, multicentre cohort study

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most common infections associated with health care, but its importance as a global health priority is not fully understood. We quantified the burden of SSI after gastrointestinal surgery in countries in all parts of the world. Methods: This international, prospective, multicentre cohort study included consecutive patients undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection within 2-week time periods at any health-care facility in any country. Countries with participating centres were stratified into high-income, middle-income, and low-income groups according to the UN's Human Development Index (HDI). Data variables from the GlobalSurg 1 study and other studies that have been found to affect the likelihood of SSI were entered into risk adjustment models. The primary outcome measure was the 30-day SSI incidence (defined by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for superficial and deep incisional SSI). Relationships with explanatory variables were examined using Bayesian multilevel logistic regression models. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02662231. Findings: Between Jan 4, 2016, and July 31, 2016, 13 265 records were submitted for analysis. 12 539 patients from 343 hospitals in 66 countries were included. 7339 (58·5%) patient were from high-HDI countries (193 hospitals in 30 countries), 3918 (31·2%) patients were from middle-HDI countries (82 hospitals in 18 countries), and 1282 (10·2%) patients were from low-HDI countries (68 hospitals in 18 countries). In total, 1538 (12·3%) patients had SSI within 30 days of surgery. The incidence of SSI varied between countries with high (691 [9·4%] of 7339 patients), middle (549 [14·0%] of 3918 patients), and low (298 [23·2%] of 1282) HDI (p < 0·001). The highest SSI incidence in each HDI group was after dirty surgery (102 [17·8%] of 574 patients in high-HDI countries; 74 [31·4%] of 236 patients in middle-HDI countries; 72 [39·8%] of 181 patients in low-HDI countries). Following risk factor adjustment, patients in low-HDI countries were at greatest risk of SSI (adjusted odds ratio 1·60, 95% credible interval 1·05–2·37; p=0·030). 132 (21·6%) of 610 patients with an SSI and a microbiology culture result had an infection that was resistant to the prophylactic antibiotic used. Resistant infections were detected in 49 (16·6%) of 295 patients in high-HDI countries, in 37 (19·8%) of 187 patients in middle-HDI countries, and in 46 (35·9%) of 128 patients in low-HDI countries (p < 0·001). Interpretation: Countries with a low HDI carry a disproportionately greater burden of SSI than countries with a middle or high HDI and might have higher rates of antibiotic resistance. In view of WHO recommendations on SSI prevention that highlight the absence of high-quality interventional research, urgent, pragmatic, randomised trials based in LMICs are needed to assess measures aiming to reduce this preventable complication