An Application of Systems Science for the Usage of Web–tools in Environmental Education: The Case of Western Attica, Greece

Geography plays a leading role in developing the objectives of Environmental Education. Through Geography lessons, applications and tools, pupils should learn about the major environmental and developmental problems through issue-based learning. They must be given opportunities to explore how these issues relate to their everyday lives and what is the impact on the quality of the natural and social environment. Teachers can promote a holistic outlook, through promoting a multidimensional study of environmental problems on a variety of scales, e.g., through historical maps, which are of significant value, because through them students gain perspective on the living environment and the changes caused by the human intervention in coastal areas and environment. The purpose of this paper is to propose new, modern and up-to-date web-tools, as for example Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing applications, generally applicable for any geographical area although demonstrated in the area of Western Attica (Greece), in order to improve pupils’ knowledge and skills on Environmental Education issues. Additionally, a framework of Systems Science is suggested for planning the didactics of this multidimensional approach, for facilitating teachers in their related educational duties

A Systemic Model Proposed for the Management of Local Environmental Education, Awareness and Protection

The present study proposes a systemic model for the operation of small local environmental centers, as a key factor for the implementation of environmental policies that are close to local communities. The presentation and analysis of the required activities of local environmental organizations and the duties of their staff highlights their complex and demanding multidisciplinary character. The consequent necessity to optimize their operation, in order to respond more holistically and effectively to their complex mission, has been the motivation for the present study, proposing a planned operation based on techniques from Systems Science

Towards Sustainable Development and Green Economy in European Union

Sustainable development is suggested by environmentalists as the solution for confronting the intense environmental, social and economic problems that emerge globally in the last decades. This study presents the recent features and trends of the associated concepts, like the green economy, green entrepreneurship, green professions and labour-market, with a particular reference to European Union countries. In the course of transforming the current economic model towards a green direction, vocational education appears as a fundamental prerequisite that will prepare the future workforce of green economy. In this respect, a small-scale research is also presented, recording the relevant opinions of senior high-school students in Western Attica (Greece), being an area of acute environmental, social and economic problems

An application of Systems Science in the context of Greek Environmental Education for planning interventions against volcanic hazards

Schools (amid in secondary and primary education) are installations vulnerable to all kinds of hazards. Because within the last 70 years, at least, there has not been any experience of volcanic activity in Greece, this kind of hazard is not extensively referred to, by official plans, local communities as well as teachers and pupils. In this paper and by using the systemic methodology of Systems Inquiry, the authors make an exploratory analysis of school-units located at the relatively short distances of 2 to 50 Km from volcanoes with registered “Volcanic Explosivity Index” (VEI) activity. Data regarding schools, adopted from the official database of the Greek government and Ministry of Education, have been utilized. The results indicate, regarding only the historically registered VEI activity and not the following consequences/phenomena (as for example, a tsunami), that vulnerable schools are located in Sousaki (East Corinth prefecture), Methana, Milos, Santorini, Nisyros and Kos Islands. The possible number of educational personnel, pupils and infrastructures is estimated. New approaches in the context of Greek environmental education are proposed for the presentation of these hazards in the educational personnel

Determining the Opinions of Pupils on Space Professions

The purpose of this study was to plan educational interventions for informing the school population of Western Attica (Greece), an area with acute social and environmental problems (unemployment and natural disasters), about Space professions and their career perspectives. Accordingly, a questionnaire for determining the opinions of senior high-school pupils on the related issues had been designed and used for conducting a limited preliminary survey, to evaluate the entire process. This survey indicated that pupils are not aware of the related career prospects. The recording of the opinions about Space professions revealed that they are strongly associated with the profession of astronaut, although there are many more that can contribute to social welfare and environmental protection. Therefore, an educational intervention should be planned around three main points; these of presenting: Space professions, available career options and motives for pursuing them

Planning Educational Activities for Learning “Road Safety”

In this paper, a project of the local sustainability network of schools in the area of Western Attica (Greece) is described. The subject of this project is “Road Safety”, and it was addressed to third grade pupils of junior high-schools. It has been planned as the result of collaboration between the local Secondary Education Directorate, a few voluntary organizations, some private Vehicle Technical Inspection Centers and the local traffic-police department. This educational activity had been mainly implemented through the teaching and learning method of “experiential learning”. The pupils were divided into groups and attended six workshops that were designed accordingly. The entire process aims at establishing educational activities that in long-term will deal effectively with the acute problem of road safety

A novel method for pulmonary research: Assessment of bioenergetic function at the air–liquid interface

AbstractAir–liquid interface cell culture is an organotypic model for study of differentiated functional airway epithelium in vitro. Dysregulation of cellular energy metabolism and mitochondrial function have been suggested to contribute to airway diseases. However, there is currently no established method to determine oxygen consumption and glycolysis in airway epithelium in air–liquid interface. In order to study metabolism in differentiated airway epithelial cells, we engineered an insert for the Seahorse XF24 Analyzer that enabled the measure of respiration by oxygen consumption rate (OCR) and glycolysis by extracellular acidification rate (ECAR). Oxidative metabolism and glycolysis in airway epithelial cells cultured on the inserts were successfully measured. The inserts did not affect the measures of OCR or ECAR. Cells under media with apical and basolateral feeding had less oxidative metabolism as compared to cells on the inserts at air-interface with basolateral feeding. The design of inserts that can be used in the measure of bioenergetics in small numbers of cells in an organotypic state may be useful for evaluation of new drugs and metabolic mechanisms that underlie airway diseases

Targeting cap-dependent translation blocks converging survival signals by AKT and PIM kinases in lymphoma

PIM kinase expression in human lymphomas can influence the outcome of chemotherapy, and blocking cap-dependent translation can reverse PIM-mediated rapamycin resistance in murine lymphomas

Cell-selective labeling using amino acid precursors for proteomic studies of multicellular environments.

We report a technique to selectively and continuously label the proteomes of individual cell types in coculture, named cell type-specific labeling using amino acid precursors (CTAP). Through transgenic expression of exogenous amino acid biosynthesis enzymes, vertebrate cells overcome their dependence on supplemented essential amino acids and can be selectively labeled through metabolic incorporation of amino acids produced from heavy isotope-labeled precursors. When testing CTAP in several human and mouse cell lines, we could differentially label the proteomes of distinct cell populations in coculture and determine the relative expression of proteins by quantitative mass spectrometry. In addition, using CTAP we identified the cell of origin of extracellular proteins secreted from cells in coculture. We believe that this method, which allows linking of proteins to their cell source, will be useful in studies of cell-cell communication and potentially for discovery of biomarkers