Breaking down the barriers between Ecosystem services and the Fisheries Socio-Ecological System : abstract

Fisheries research gives scientific advice towards informing the management of different types of fisheries, mainly on the basis of the biology of a single stock, i.e. how much can sustainably be harvested from this stock every year. Implicitly, some ecosystem functions of this stock are taken into account through specific natural mortality analyses to assess the stock status and to derive advice on total catch for the following year. Indeed the ecosystem-based management is becoming more and more used on the assessment of fisheries, for instance in the last update of the European Common Fisheries Policy. Still there are several issues and conflicts emerging in different fisheries-related cases around the globe. This highlights the need for a holistic approach of the the marine/fisheries system where ecological, social, economic and institutional aspects are taken into account. We go beyond the standard fisheries or ecosystem-based approach and see the fisheries “system” as a complex, dynamic socio-ecological system, with a variety of interaction types and a broad range of ecosystem services and beneficiaries. Our goal is to highlight the complex nature of this system, give emphasis on different types of ecosystem services generated by this system (from the standard food provisioning ones, to regulating and cultural) and use this approach as a means to incorporate fisheries management in broader decision-making strategies. We highlight research areas where fisheries and ecosystem services science share common grounds and explore ways to improve scientific knowledge around this topic. This work is a conversation starter, aiming to bring together researchers from both communities in order to improve research and practice around the topic

Occupant interaction with interior environment in Greek dwellings during summer

User behaviour significantly affects energy consumption simulation estimates, which can consequently influence architectural design decisions at an early stage. Different regional behavioural patterns could, therefore, hinder the applicability of certain architectural and environmental strategies. Through questionnaires analysis and field studies, this study investigates the pattern use of manual control of windows, shading and air condition units, in residential buildings in Greece, during summer. Initial findings of the analysis indicate significant interaction of Greek residents with the building shell, in their effort to maintain comfort

Antiquity, primitivism and national stereotypes in Greek travel writing (1850-1870)

This thesis sets out to study the representations of rural people in Greek travel writing over the period 1850-1870, by focusing on the way in which such representations reveal the process of national identity formation. In the first chapter, I address the issue of travellers’ lack of interest in the peasant way of life, and I undertake to explore the significance of this ‘absence’. In the second chapter, I examine travel texts pursuing to establish a direct connection of rural customs and mores with the ancient Greek ones. In the third chapter, I analyse the way in which the ethnographical concern of travel writing brings to the fore primitive aspects of rural life. The concept of primitiveness will be further developed in the last two chapters, in the context of race and gender representations in the observation of Greek peasants

Inequalities and Inequity in utilisation of health care among the older people in Greece

Thirty years have passed and five major reforms have followed since the establishment of the Greek National Health System (NHS) in 1983 on universal coverage as an elementary policy goal, and the Greek NHS is still insufficient with regard to organisation, coverage, funding and delivering health services. The primary objective of the thesis is to employ quantitative empirical methods to explore some key aspects of equity in the receipt of health care in Greece among the older population via two nationwide and one urban setting datasets. This thesis comprises three essays which shed light on the equity issue before and after NHS major reforms of 2001-4 and 2005-7. The findings of this thesis suggest that inequalities in health care exist mainly for the probability of specialist and dentist private visits. Income- related inequalities are less apparent in probability of inpatient admissions and probability of outpatient visits, favoring the less advantaged. Income itself is not the only contributor. The findings indicate intra and interregional inequalities in most of health care services use except for probability of GP visits, favoring residents of thinly-populated areas. Compared to Athens region, regional disparities-inequalities are not apparent for inpatient care, as well. Furthermore, the findings suggest that even though we signify territorial disparities in the probability of specialist visit favoring the better off, once the positive contacts of specialist visits are included, the elderly have equal probability to make a specialist private visit, irrespective of their income and their region of residence. In addition, this thesis finds that inequalities are apparent among the Social health insurance funds (SHIFs) in use of most health care types, except the probability of inpatient admissions. Non Noble Farmers OGA SHIF - who tends to be less advantaged - has a more pronounced pro poor contribution to overall inequity in the probability of specialist private visit than the Noble SHIFs, revealing an unfair relationship. This thesis also finds that OOP expenses constitute a significant financial burden to inpatient and outpatient care. There is a regressive trend in OOP amount for inpatient admission in terms of ability to pay and region of residence favoring residents of thinly-populated areas and Central Greece region- who tend to be less advantaged. For outpatient care, there is a progressive trend in OOP amount in terms of ability to pay, SHIF coverage and region of residence. The thesis provides useful tools for understanding and measuring inequalities in the use of health care among the older population, who are the most constant consumers of health services. It urges policy makers to review the governance of primary health care by setting conditions and implements measures for improving efficiency, unifying SHIFunds, eliminating geographical inequalities and control the role of OOP expenses as significant barriers to access health care, especially during the current period of economic crisis

Chapter Unraveling Stakeholders’ Discourses Regarding Sustainable Development and Biodiversity Conservation in Greece

Pharmacolog

Echange rate dynamics in a model of pricing-to-market

Only abstract. Paper copies of master’s theses are listed in the Helka database (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Electronic copies of master’s theses are either available as open access or only on thesis terminals in the Helsinki University Library.Vain tiivistelmä. Sidottujen gradujen saatavuuden voit tarkistaa Helka-tietokannasta (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Digitaaliset gradut voivat olla luettavissa avoimesti verkossa tai rajoitetusti kirjaston opinnäytekioskeilla.Endast sammandrag. Inbundna avhandlingar kan sökas i Helka-databasen (http://www.helsinki.fi/helka). Elektroniska kopior av avhandlingar finns antingen öppet på nätet eller endast tillgängliga i bibliotekets avhandlingsterminaler.Title: Exchange rate dynamics with pricing-to-market (PTM). This study aims to demonstrate how the presence of sticky prices and pricing-to-market practices of firms affect the exchange rate volatility as well as international macroeconomic transmission and welfare. The model utilized is a simple exchange rate framework which combines international market segmentation by competitive firms as well as local currency price setting. The main reference of the study is Betts and Devereux (2000), "Exchange rate dynamics in a model of pricing-to-market". Section 2 presents the determinants of the model, section 3 the impact of PTM to exchange rate variability, section 4 the impacts of monetary government spending shocks under PTM, and finally section 5 examines the welfare aspects. Main results are the following. PTM is important for the determination of the exchange rate as well as for international macroeconomic fluctuations. It decreases the pass-through from exchange rate changes to prices, as well as the expenditure switching effect of exchange rate variations. The presence of PTM also increases exchange rate variability. Furthermore since it causes departures from purchasing power parity, it also lessens the comovement in consumption across economies. Finally PTM influences the transmission of monetary policy shocks, thus causing vital welfare repercussions. More specifically, domestic monetary expansions raise domestic welfare while reducing foreign one. Thus monetary policy becomes a beggar thy neighbor instrument under the influence of pricing to market policies

Using social media to measure the contribution of Red List species to the nature-based tourism potential of African protected areas

Cultural ecosystem services are defined by people’s perception of the environment, which make them hard to quantify systematically. Methods to describe cultural benefits from ecosystems typically include resource-demanding survey techniques, which are not suitable to assess cultural ecosystem services for large areas. In this paper we explore a method to quantify cultural benefits through the enjoyment of natured-based tourism, by assessing the potential tourism attractiveness of species for each protected area in Africa using the IUCN’s Red List of Threatened Species. We use the number of pictures of wildlife posted on a photo sharing website as a proxy for charisma, popularity, and ease of observation, as these factors combined are assumed to determine how attractive species are for the global wildlife tourist. Based on photo counts of 2473 African animals and plants, species that seem most attractive to nature-based tourism are the Lion, African Elephant and Leopard. Combining the photo counts with species range data, African protected areas with the highest potential to attract wildlife tourists based on attractive species occurrence were Samburu National Reserve in Kenya, Mukogodo Forest Reserve located just north of Mount Kenya, and Addo Elephant National Park in South-Africa. The proposed method requires only three data sources which are freely accessible and available online, which could make the proposed index tractable for large scale quantitative ecosystem service assessments. The index directly links species presence to the tourism potential of protected areas, making the connection between nature and human benefits explicit, but excludes other important contributing factors for tourism, such as accessibility and safety. This social media based index provides a broad understanding of those species that are popular globally; in many cases these are not the species of highest conservation concern.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen