Business crime in Greece: employment offences in third sector companies

In current times, with business as the focal point of society in which economic strain is prevalent, it is important to be able to investigate the dysfunction and deviance that can arise as a result, since their effects will be felt in all aspects of modern social life. Upon this assumption, the current research investigates the influence of business crime, with a specific focus on the offences committed by businesses against their workforce over employment legislation. This research is delimited to companies of the third sector of the economy, commerce and financial services in particular. Entrepreneurship, business practice, employment legislation, the regulatory system and economic strain and crisis are all examined in order to investigate the phenomenon in Greece. The fieldwork consists of secondary statistical analysis of reports from the relevant regulatory offices and qualitative interviews with four target groups: employees who are victims of business crime at the work place, inspectors, trade union members and business managers and owners. The analysis follows a macro-meso-micro focus of analysis in order to provide a spherical illustration of all factors influencing deviance. Power imbalances within the capitalist system of production influencing social structures and imbalances in relevant relations of agency agents and the state, community and society are significant analytical elements of business deviance. Unpaid enforced overtime and illegal employment constitute the two prevailing offences and create a work environment of insecurity and informality. Structural factors like state-promoted entrepreneurship, changes in legislation, decreased collectivity and economic strain play an important role as do low reporting and conviction rates. The role of the state is a key element linking the levels of analysis and its further functions are instrumental in shaping legislation, systems of control, and perceptions of harm and impact of crime. Additionally, the state can act as a facilitator to deviance by participation in criminality for profit. The conclusions of this study can enhance an interest in business crime, modern criminological research in Greece and can additionally inform policy and practice

Laser-induced spark ignition of pulsed methane jets in homogeneous and isotropic turbulence without mean flow

The influence of surrounding air turbulence on laser-induced spark ignition of a pulsed methane jet was investigated in an air environment where the turbulence is homogeneous and isotropic without mean flow. The methane jet Reynolds number (Rejet) was set at 160, while the surrounding air turbulent Reynolds number was varied in the range of Reλ = 0 - 220. Minimum Ignition Energy (MIE) was evaluated at four ignition locations by measuring the ignition probability and correlated with the local equivalence ratio (Φ) measured at three ignition locations using Laserinduced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) technique. The relationship between MIE and the local equivalence ratio obtained in quiescent air environment was similar to that reported in premixed methane/air mixtures. The impact of the surrounding air turbulence on MIE varies for different ignition locations, because the turbulence not only affects the mixing process and thereby the local equivalence ratio, but also increases the heat loss from the ignition point. The MIE decreased with increasing level of air turbulence, when the effect of local mixture composition becoming closer to stoichiometry was more significant than the adverse effect of increasing heat loss. Otherwise, the MIE increased with the level of air turbulence due to the dominance of the enhanced heat loss. The rate of increase in MIE became higher, if the local mixture composition moved further away from stoichiometry when turbulence was present. Successful ignition was also observed at locations where the mixture is relatively difficult to be ignited (Φmean = 2.38 and Φmean = 0.02), which may be attributed to the finite size of the plasma

Laser ignition and flame characteristics of pulsed methane jets in homogeneous isotropic turbulence without mean flow

The influence of turbulence on the minimum ignition energy (MIE) and ignited flame characteristics is investigated for pulsed methane diffusion jets ignited by laser-induced plasma. The methane jet is injected in a volume of homogeneous and isotropic air turbulence without mean flow, with the level of turbulence being controlled independently. The study is carried out for a range of fuel jet (Rejet) Reynolds number, namely 1000, 2000, and 3000, and a range of turbulent (Reλ) Reynolds number, namely 0–207. The results show that the position of the maximum intensity of flame emission was randomly scattered due to the fact that the ignited flame is deflected from the nozzle axis by the turbulent velocity fluctuations. The effect is more profound at higher Rejet. The value of the MIE, determined according to 50% ignitibility of mixture, increases by a factor of 2 for an increase of Reλ from 0 to 207 and by a factor of 5 for an increase of Rejet from 1000 to 3000. Two trends are observed on MIE with Reλ. For low Reλ, MIE is independent of Reλ. Past a critical value of Reλ, MIE increases as a linear function of Reλ. This transition occurs at critical values of Reλ,c = 158, 197 and 202 for Rejet= 1000, 2000 and 3000, respectively. The mean value of MIE for ignition before and after transition is a linear function of Rejet. The difference between the mean value of MIE before transition and after transition is around 5 mJ for all considered Rejet

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021:a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations.Methods: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model—a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates—with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality—which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. Findings: The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2–100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1–290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1–211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4–48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3–37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7–9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. Interpretation: Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. </p

Evaluation of natural and tracer fluorescent emission methods for droplet size measurements in a diesel spray

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12239-012-0070-zSpray sizing that records fluorescent emission and scattered light has been widely applied to spray diagnostics over the last two decades. Different experimental strategies have been developed, but comparing the different solutions offered has remained of interest to experimentalists. In this work, a comparison of two fluorescence strategies for measuring droplet size in the liquid phase of a last-generation DI diesel spray is conducted. The natural fluorescent emission of a commercial diesel fuel and the fluorescence emitted by a tracer (Rhodamine B) are compared using theoretical and experimental approaches. The LIF/Mie ratio commonly called Planar Droplet Sizing (PDS) technique is applied in two different ways to elucidate the possible advantages of using a fluorescent dopant. The sprays were injected under non-evaporative conditions into a constant pressure vessel that simulates densities present at the moment of injection in currently used passenger car diesel engines. Characterization of the signal properties was performed by measuring the absorption coefficient, fluorescence emission spectrum, quantum yield and lifetime of both configurations. The scattered light and fluorescence intensities were calculated to verify the dependencies of the droplet surface and volume. When applying the two techniques to quantify droplet size in dense diesel sprays, the results show that signal weakness and lack of control over the properties of natural fluorescence produce distortion in the shape of the spray and cause measurements to be unreliable. © 2012 The Korean Society of Automotive Engineers and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.This research has been funded in the frame of the project PROFUEL reference TRA2011-26293 from Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion. The injectors are part of the ECN international project.Pastor Soriano, JV.; Payri, R.; Salavert Fernandez, J.; Manin, J. (2012). Evaluation of natural and tracer fluorescent emission methods for droplet size measurements in a diesel spray. International Journal of Automotive Technology. 13(5):713-724. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12239-012-0070-zS713724135Albrecht, H. E., Damaschke, N., Borys, M. and Tropea, C. (2003). Laser Doppler and Phase Doppler Measurement Techniques. Springer. Berlin.Barnes, M. D., Whitten, W. B. and Ramsey, J. M. (1994). Enhanced fluorescence yields through cavity quantumelectrodynamic effects in microdroplets. J. Optical Society of America B 11,7, 1297–1304.Benajes, J., Molina, S., Novella, R., Amorim, R., Ben Hadj Hamouda, H. and Hardy, J. (2010). Comparison of two injection systems in an HSDI diesel engine using split injection and different injector nozzles. Int. J. Automotive Technology 11,2, 139–146.Charalampous, G. and Hardalupas, Y. (2011). 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J. and Chu, T. C. (2006). Characterization of imprinting polymeric temperature variation with fluorescent Rhodamine B molecule. Microelectronic Engineering, 83, 864–868.Lakowicz, J. R. (2006). Principles of Fluorescence Spectroscopy. 3rd Edn. Springer.Lee, S. H., Teong, J., Lee, J. T., Ryou, H. S. and Hong, K. (2005). Investigation on spray characteristics under ultrahigh injection pressure conditions. Int. J. Automotive Technology 6,2, 125–131.Lee, B., Song, J., Chang, Y. and Jeon, C. (2010). Effect of the number of fuel injector holes on characteristics of combustion and emissions in a diesel engine. Int. J. Automotive Technology 11,6, 783–791.LeGal, P., Farrugia, N. and Greenhalgh, D. A. (1999). Laser sheet dropsizing of dense sprays. Optics and Laser Techn., 31, 75–83.Lockett, R. D., Richter, J. and Greenhalgh, D. A. (1998). The characterisation of a diesel spray using combined laser induced fluorescence and laser sheet dropsizing. Conf. 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Automated office blood pressure measurements in primary care are misleading in more than one third of treated hypertensives: The VALENTINE-Greece Home Blood Pressure Monitoring study

Abstract Background This study assessed the diagnostic reliability of automated office blood pressure (OBP) measurements in treated hypertensive patients in primary care by evaluating the prevalence of white coat hypertension (WCH) and masked uncontrolled hypertension (MUCH) phenomena. Methods Primary care physicians, nationwide in Greece, assessed consecutive hypertensive patients on stable treatment using OBP (1 visit, triplicate measurements) and home blood pressure (HBP) measurements (7 days, duplicate morning and evening measurements). All measurements were performed using validated automated devices with bluetooth capacity (Omron M7 Intelli-IT). Uncontrolled OBP was defined as ≥140/90 mmHg, and uncontrolled HBP was defined as ≥135/85 mmHg. Results A total of 790 patients recruited by 135 doctors were analyzed (age: 64.5 ± 14.4 years, diabetics: 21.4%, smokers: 20.6%, and average number of antihypertensive drugs: 1.6 ± 0.8). OBP (137.5 ± 9.4/84.3 ± 7.7 mmHg, systolic/diastolic) was higher than HBP (130.6 ± 11.2/79.9 ± 8 mmHg; difference 6.9 ± 11.6/4.4 ± 7.6 mmHg, p Conclusions In primary care, automated OBP measurements are misleading in approximately 40% of treated hypertensive patients. HBP monitoring is mandatory to avoid overtreatment of subjects with WCH phenomenon and prevent undertreatment and subsequent excess cardiovascular disease in MUCH

Methodological considerations in injury burden of disease studies across Europe: a systematic literature review

Background Calculating the disease burden due to injury is complex, as it requires many methodological choices. Until now, an overview of the methodological design choices that have been made in burden of disease (BoD) studies in injury populations is not available. The aim of this systematic literature review was to identify existing injury BoD studies undertaken across Europe and to comprehensively review the methodological design choices and assumption parameters that have been made to calculate years of life lost (YLL) and years lived with disability (YLD) in these studies. Methods We searched EMBASE, MEDLINE, Cochrane Central, Google Scholar, and Web of Science, and the grey literature supplemented by handsearching, for BoD studies. We included injury BoD studies that quantified the BoD expressed in YLL, YLD, and disability-adjusted life years (DALY) in countries within the European Region between early-1990 and mid-2021. Results We retrieved 2,914 results of which 48 performed an injury-specific BoD assessment. Single-country independent and Global Burden of Disease (GBD)-linked injury BoD studies were performed in 11 European countries. Approximately 79% of injury BoD studies reported the BoD by external cause-of-injury. Most independent studies used the incidence-based approach to calculate YLDs. About half of the injury disease burden studies applied disability weights (DWs) developed by the GBD study. Almost all independent injury studies have determined YLL using national life tables. Conclusions Considerable methodological variation across independent injury BoD assessments was observed; differences were mainly apparent in the design choices and assumption parameters towards injury YLD calculations, implementation of DWs, and the choice of life table for YLL calculations. Development and use of guidelines for performing and reporting of injury BoD studies is crucial to enhance transparency and comparability of injury BoD estimates across Europe and beyond

Burden of non-communicable disease studies in Europe: a systematic review of data sources and methodological choices

Background: Assessment of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) resulting from non-communicable diseases (NCDs) requires specific calculation methods and input data. The aims of this study were to (i) identify existing NCD burden of disease (BoD) activities in Europe; (ii) collate information on data sources for mortality and morbidity; and (iii) provide an overview of NCD-specific methods for calculating NCD DALYs. Methods: NCD BoD studies were systematically searched in international electronic literature databases and in grey literature. We included all BoD studies that used the DALY metric to quantify the health impact of one or more NCDs in countries belonging to the European Region. Results: A total of 163 BoD studies were retained: 96 (59%) were single-country or sub-national studies and 67 (41%) considered more than one country. Of the single-country studies, 29 (30%) consisted of secondary analyses using existing Global Burden of Disease (GBD) results. Mortality data were mainly derived (49%) from vital statistics. Morbidity data were frequently (40%) drawn from routine administrative and survey datasets, including disease registries and hospital discharge databases. The majority (60%) of national BoD studies reported mortality corrections. Multimorbidity adjustments were performed in 18% of national BoD studies. Conclusion: The number of national NCD BoD assessments across Europe increased over time, driven by an increase in BoD studies that consisted of secondary data analysis of GBD study findings. Ambiguity in reporting the use of NCD-specific BoD methods underlines the need for reporting guidelines of BoD studies to enhance the transparency of NCD BoD estimates across Europe

Global, regional, and national burden of low back pain, 1990–2020, its attributable risk factors, and projections to 2050: a systematic analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

Background: Low back pain is highly prevalent and the main cause of years lived with disability (YLDs). We present the most up-to-date global, regional, and national data on prevalence and YLDs for low back pain from the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2021. Methods: Population-based studies from 1980 to 2019 identified in a systematic review, international surveys, US medical claims data, and dataset contributions by collaborators were used to estimate the prevalence and YLDs for low back pain from 1990 to 2020, for 204 countries and territories. Low back pain was defined as pain between the 12th ribs and the gluteal folds that lasted a day or more; input data using alternative definitions were adjusted in a network meta-regression analysis. Nested Bayesian meta-regression models were used to estimate prevalence and YLDs by age, sex, year, and location. Prevalence was projected to 2050 by running a regression on prevalence rates using Socio-demographic Index as a predictor, then multiplying them by projected population estimates. Findings: In 2020, low back pain affected 619 million (95% uncertainty interval 554–694) people globally, with a projection of 843 million (759–933) prevalent cases by 2050. In 2020, the global age-standardised rate of YLDs was 832 per 100 000 (578–1070). Between 1990 and 2020, age-standardised rates of prevalence and YLDs decreased by 10·4% (10·9–10·0) and 10·5% (11·1–10·0), respectively. A total of 38·8% (28·7–47·0) of YLDs were attributed to occupational factors, smoking, and high BMI. Interpretation: Low back pain remains the leading cause of YLDs globally, and in 2020, there were more than half a billion prevalent cases of low back pain worldwide. While age-standardised rates have decreased modestly over the past three decades, it is projected that globally in 2050, more than 800 million people will have low back pain. Challenges persist in obtaining primary country-level data on low back pain, and there is an urgent need for more high-quality, primary, country-level data on both prevalence and severity distributions to improve accuracy and monitor change. Funding: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

a review of methodological design choices

Publisher Copyright: © 2023 Cambridge University Press. All rights reserved.This systematic literature review aimed to provide an overview of the characteristics and methods used in studies applying the Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALY) concept for infectious diseases within European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA)/European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and the United Kingdom. Electronic databases and grey literature were searched for articles reporting the assessment of DALY and its components. We considered studies in which researchers performed DALY calculations using primary epidemiological data input sources. We screened 3,053 studies of which 2,948 were excluded and 105 studies met our inclusion criteria. Of these studies, 22 were multi-country and 83 were single-country studies, of which 46 were from the Netherlands. Food- and water-borne diseases were the most frequently studied infectious diseases. Between 2015 and 2022, the number of burden of infectious disease studies was 1.6 times higher compared to that published between 2000 and 2014. Almost all studies (97%) estimated DALYs based on the incidence- and pathogen-based approach and without social weighting functions; however, there was less methodological consensus with regards to the disability weights and life tables that were applied. The number of burden of infectious disease studies undertaken across Europe has increased over time. Development and use of guidelines will promote performing burden of infectious disease studies and facilitate comparability of the results.publishersversionepub_ahead_of_prin