L'implant laryngé ajustable pour le traitement de paralysies de la corde vocale : technique chirurgicale et qualité de vie

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

Good management or good finances? An agent-based study on the causes of bank failure

© The author(s) 2019 The recent series of banking crises in the United States and in the Eurozone has resulted in numerous bank failures. In this paper, an agent-based model is employed to test for factors that determine bank viability in times of distress, focusing mainly on the endogenous risk of financial institutions. The authors test for the effects of both management and financial factors on the institutions’ ability to weather the storm during times when the banking system experiences distress. The agent-based simulation process is split into a setup period, when the simulation builds the structural characteristics of each bank, and a testing period, where these characteristics are tested against the final result, which is the bank’s viability. A risk estimation model is built and it is found that the proposed model is successful in predicting whether a particular bank can endure a stress testing situation. The empirical results confirm the relevant literature and put further emphasis on the policy implications regarding banking supervision and regulation, particularly in context of the Eurozone banking union

An investigation of cointegration and casualty relationships between the PIIGS’ stock markets

The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship of price changes in the southern European E.U. member states through their stock markets and especially among the exchange markets of Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain, known also as the PIIGS countries. More specifically, it is examined whether cointegration and causality relationships exists among the PIIGS’ Stock Markets while by testing these relationships the existence of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) among these stock markets is also tested. In case of cointegration relationships between these markets it is proved that possible advantages by internationalizing portfolio diversification are limited and further attention must be given for the selection of an internationalized optimal portfolio. It is also wealth mentioning that since 2012 Europe faces a serious economic crisis which is deeper in the member states of the South, so even further attention must be given to the construction of optimal portfolios.peer-reviewe

Cognitive mechanisms underlying instructed choice exploration of small city maps

We investigated the cognitive mechanisms underlying the exploration and decision-making in realistic and novel environments. Twelve human subjects were shown small circular U.S. city maps with two locations highlighted on the circumference, as possible choices for a post office (“targets”). At the beginning of a trial, subjects fixated a spot at the center of the map and ultimately chose one of the two locations. A space syntax analysis of the map paths (from the center to each target) revealed that the chosen location was associated with the less convoluted path, as if subjects navigated mentally the paths in an “ant's way,” i.e., by staying within street boundaries, and ultimately choosing the target that could be reached from the center in the shortest way, and the fewest turns and intersections. The subjects' strategy for map exploration and decision making was investigated by monitoring eye position during the task. This revealed a restricted exploration of the map delimited by the location of the two alternative options and the center of the map. Specifically, subjects explored the areas around the two target options by repeatedly looking at them before deciding which one to choose, presumably implementing an evaluation and decision-making process. The ultimate selection of a specific target was significantly associated with the time spent exploring the area around that target. Finally, an analysis of the sequence of eye fixations revealed that subjects tended to look systematically toward the target ultimately chosen even from the beginning of the trial. This finding indicates an early cognitive selection bias for the ensuing decision process

First record of Anatololacerta pelasgiana (Mertens, 1959) in mainland Greece: another new species in Athens

Urban habitats receive an increasing number of species due to anthropogenic activities, mainly transportations. Here, we report a new addition to the herpetofauna of Athens (Greece): a small population of the Pelasgian wall lizard (Anatololacerta pelasgiana) was found in a suburb of the Athenian metropolitan area. The species normally occurs in southwestern Anatolia and southeastern Aegean islands and this is the first record in the Greek mainland. Allochthonous species that successfully colonize cities raise new challenges to urban ecology

Business cycles in Greek maritime transport: an econometric exploration (1998–2015)

Maritime transport has been a crucial input for the growth of the Greek economy given that the Greek fleet is one of largest merchant fleets in the world. However, the impact of the local and international business cycle on Greek maritime transport is inadequately researched, so far, in the literature. In this context, the present paper investigates the key determinants of maritime transport fluctuations in the three major ports of the Greek hinterland, taking into account a number of variables for the 1998–2015 time-span, capturing, at least partly, the global financial crisis and the local crisis, as well. To this end, various relevant quantitative techniques have been used, such as Granger causality, Dufour and Renault multistep causality and SURE system estimation. Our main finding is that Greek maritime transport traffic, as expressed through the cargo volumes of the three major ports of Piraeus, Volos and Thessaloniki, has not been influenced by the Greek business cycle, implying that the country’s maritime sector is practically independent of the macroeconomic conditions of the total economy. Clearly, future and more extended research would be relevant in the direction of applying the aforementioned approach to other EU countries of the Mediterranean

A New Invasion of the Common Slider on a Mediterranean Island (Lesvos, Greece): A Potential Threat to Native Terrapin Populations?

Island wetlands are considered crucial to biodiversity due to their unique ecological, biogeographical, and socioeconomic dynamics. However, these habitat types are particularly vulnerable to invasion; invasive species can cause severe ecological, evolutionary, and epidemiological impacts on native species. One of the most important invasive species, the common slider Trachemys scripta, an opportunistic inhabitant of freshwater habitats, has been released in multiple localities across Greece in recent years, and has expanded its range through random and unintentional releases in the Aegean islands. Since its first documented record on the island of Crete in 1998, the species has been observed on six more islands. Here, we report, for the first time, two subspecies of the common slider (T. scripta scripta and T. scripta elegans) on the wetlands of the island of Lesvos. We discuss the potential threats to native terrapins and we examine whether the introduction of this invasive species has affected native terrapins by monitoring their populations for 12 consecutive years (2010–2022). We found the common slider in 3 out of 110 wetlands surveyed. At one site, we document the presence of invasive terrapins belonging to two different subspecies. In all surveyed wetlands, we found stable populations of the two native freshwater terrapins, Mauremys rivulata and Emys orbicularis, with the first species found in much larger populations than the second. Despite these reassuring findings, the presence of this introduced species on the island of Lesvos raises serious concerns regarding its negative effects on the local terrapin populations. We propose that systematic and thorough monitoring of insular wetlands, as in the case of Lesvos, should be adopted on other islands as well, with priority on those where the common slider has been recorded

Occupational risk at mining-metallurgical company

176 σ.Αντικείμενο της παρούσης διπλωματικής εργασίας αποτελεί η Εκτίμηση Επαγγελματικού Κινδύνου στο τμήμα μεταφορών και αποθήκευσης μεταλλευτικής-μεταλλουργικής βιομηχανίας με τη βοήθεια μετρήσεων, ανάλυσης και επεξεργασίας των ήδη υπαρχόντων δεδομένων και στατιστικών στοιχείων (κυρίως ατυχημάτων ή παρ’ ολίγον ατυχημάτων) της εταιρίας. Αποτέλεσμα της συγκεκριμένης μελέτης είναι η δημιουργία του πίνακα εκτίμησης της επικινδυνότητας για τον χώρο του εν λόγω τμήματος και η εξαγωγή χρήσιμων συμπερασμάτων και προτάσεων βελτίωσης της υπάρχουσας κατάστασης στο τμήμα αυτό της επιχείρησης. Αρχικά, γίνεται η παρουσίαση της εταιρίας, των εγκαταστάσεων και του εξοπλισμού του εργοστασίου, της παραγωγικής διαδικασίας και άλλων βασικών στοιχείων της. Εν συνεχεία, αναπτύσσεται το θέμα της Ασφάλειας και Υγείας της Εργασίας, παρουσιάζεται συνοπτικά η αντίστοιχη ισχύουσα νομοθεσία και γίνεται αναφορά σε ορισμένα ατυχήματα για να γίνει κατανοητή η σημασία της Ασφάλειας και Υγείας της Εργασίας ειδικά σε χώρους με υψηλή επικινδυνότητα. Έπειτα, αναλύεται θεωρητικά η μεθοδολογία της Εκτίμησης Επαγγελματικού Κινδύνου και τέλος εφαρμόζεται στην πράξη για την συγκεκριμένη εταιρία που μελετάται στην παρούσα διπλωματική.The purpose of this diploma thesis is the Occupational Risk Assessment in transport and storage section of a mining-metallurgical industry with the help of measurements, analysis and processing of existing data and statistics (mainly accidents or near misses) of the company. The result of this study is the creation of a table of risk assessment in the area of that section and to produce useful conclusions and proposals to improve the existing situation in this section of the company. First, we present the company and the equipment of the plant, the production process and other essential elements. Then, we develop the subject of Occupational Safety and Health, we outline the relevant legislation and we describe some relevant accidents in order to understand the importance of Health and Safety, especially in working areas at high risk. Then, we analyze theoretically the methodology of the Occupational Risk Assessment and at last, we apply this theory for the particular company studied in this diploma thesis.Απόστολος Μ. Χριστόπουλο