Consumer behaviour towards delicatessen products and branding influence

It is a fact that branding is a tool for the business to get stronger and also embrace sustainability, which can apply to the delicatessen product market. In addition, the demand of delicatessen products has increased as new trends emerged. Greek businesses have successfully entered the market, advertising the superiority of delicatessen products. The aim of this paper is to provide better understanding of consumer behaviour towards delicatessen products. This is achieved through the views of market experts and a research on consumers investigating how branding influences them. The findings show that there are differences between market experts' opinions and consumers' preferences, which can contribute to the holistic development of the delicatessen market. Finally, this study may provide a basis for a survey of a larger sample of delicatessen firms nationwide and contributes important knowledge to enhance further development in the delicatessen sector and in the management and marketing approach of the market of Thessaloniki

Recent contributions to the distribution of the freshwater ichthyofauna in Greece

In this paper we supplement Greece’s recent annotated inventory of freshwater fishes per hydrographic basin with recent distributional data and taxa alteration information, based on field sampling and a literature review up to September 2011. We report on newly documented distributional records of 31 fish species plus one unidentified taxon, within 35 hydrographic river basin units in Greece. These new records include 14 native fish species, seven alien and 12 translocated. Translocated taxa are distinguished from aliens, in order to report species non-indigenous to a basin but native within the same ecoregion. Twelve hydrographic basin units are newly added to the roster of ichthyologically explored river basins following a previous basin-scale inventory method (the total is now 117). This review increases the number of Greece’s freshwater fish taxa to 167, since four new species are added to the list (Carassius langsdorfii, Neogobius fluviatilis, Telestes alfiensis, Millerigobius macrocephalus) and two are deleted (Salmo dentex, Barbus rebeli) due to taxonomic changes. Taxonomic changes will probably continue to alter the national list since phylogenetic research is ongoing on several taxa in many parts of the countr

COMBINING METHODOLOGICAL TOOLS FOR THE OPTIMUM 3D MODELLING OF NTUA CAMPUS

Rapid urbanisation relates to increased space requirements above and below ground and the development of complex structures. This profound need attracted increasing interest for the collection, modelling, management, visualisation and dissemination of 3D objects through various application fields, such as: 3D Cadastre, 3D City Modelling and Building Information Modelling. Contemporary advances in GIS technology, Geo-Web services and computer graphics facilitate the development of such models accompanied by semantic, geometrical and topological information, while the use of international standards enables the communication and interoperability between the systems. The aim of this paper is to combine state-of-the art methodologies and technologies for the development of semantically enriched 3D models for the Campus of the National Technical University of Athens in Greece. The result is a web-based 3D Campus map that integrates these models as Web Services, providing access to management and navigation for the campus area and can also be used for maintenance purposes from the various NTUA Departments. To this end, the database schema has been designed compatible with CityGML, while attention was given to interoperability issues that arise from differently derived 3D models which had to be stored and visualised while retaining their characteristics

Brainstem phaeohyphomycosis due to Curvularia lunata (Cochliobolus lunatus) in a cat

A 13-year-old female neutered domestic short-hair cat was presented with chronic progressive vestibular ataxia, lethargy and anorexia. Clinical examination revealed bilateral mucopurulent nasal discharge. Neurological examination revealed obtundation, a right head tilt, ambulatory tetraparesis, generalised vestibular ataxia, decreased postural reactions in all limbs, right Horner's syndrome, spontaneous conjugate jerk rotatory nystagmus and right positional ventral strabismus. Neuroanatomical localisation was observed in the right central vestibular system. Computed tomography revealed a solitary ill-defined contrast-enhancing mass lesion at the level of the right cerebellopontine angle. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis revealed mild mononuclear pleocytosis and fungal elements. CSF culture was positive for Curvularia spp. Further tests for underlying diseases were all negative. The cat was treated with antibiotic and antifungal treatment, but it deteriorated rapidly and was euthanased. Necropsy of the brainstem mass lesion revealed pyogranulomatous inflammation. Panfungal polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region and subsequent sequencing identified Curvularia lunata in the formalin fixed brain tissue. This is the first report of brainstem phaeohyphomycosis by Curvularia lunata (Pleosporales) in a cat. In addition, this is the first report among animal and humans where fungal elements of Curvularia lunata were found in the CSF cytology. Opportunistic fungal pathogens should be always considered within the differential diagnoses list in cats with neurological signs and advanced imaging findings compatible with solitary mass lesions in the brain. In feline patients with pyogranulomatous meningoencephalitis and a suspicion of a fungal aetiology, panfungal PCR for the ITS region and sequencing should be performed regardless of the absence of fungal elements in histopathology

The removal of thermally aged films of triacylglycerides by surfactant solutions

Thermal ageing of triacylglycerides (TAG) at high temperatures produces films which resist removal using aqueous surfactant solutions. We used a mass loss method to investigate the removal of thermally aged TAG films from hard surfaces using aqueous solutions of surfactants of different charge types. It was found that cationic surfactants are most effective at high pH, whereas anionics are most effective at low pH and a non-ionic surfactant is most effective at intermediate pH. We showed that the TAG film removal process occurs in several stages. In the first ‘‘lag phase’’ no TAG removal occurs; the surfactant first partitions into the thermally aged film. In the second stage, the TAG film containing surfactant was removed by solubilisation into micelles in the aqueous solution. The effects of pH and surfactant charge on the TAG removal process correlate with the effects of these variables on the extent of surfactant partitioning to the TAG film and on the maximum extent of TAG solubilisation within the micelles. Additionally, we showed how the TAG removal is enhanced by the addition of amphiphilic additives such as alcohols which act as co-surfactants. The study demonstrates that aqueous surfactant solutions provide a viable and more benign alternative to current methods for the removal of thermally aged TAG films

Carbon nanoparticles in lateral flow methods to detect genes encoding virulence factors of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli

The use of carbon nanoparticles is shown for the detection and identification of different Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli virulence factors (vt1, vt2, eae and ehxA) and a 16S control (specific for E. coli) based on the use of lateral flow strips (nucleic acid lateral flow immunoassay, NALFIA). Prior to the detection with NALFIA, a rapid amplification method with tagged primers was applied. In the evaluation of the optimised NALFIA strips, no cross-reactivity was found for any of the antibodies used. The limit of detection was higher than for quantitative PCR (q-PCR), in most cases between 104 and 105 colony forming units/mL or 0.1–0.9 ng/μL DNA. NALFIA strips were applied to 48 isolates from cattle faeces, and results were compared to those achieved by q-PCR. E. coli virulence factors identified by NALFIA were in very good agreement with those observed in q-PCR, showing in most cases sensitivity and specificity values of 1.0 and an almost perfect agreement between both methods (kappa coefficient larger than 0.9). The results demonstrate that the screening method developed is reliable, cost-effective and user-friendly, and that the procedure is fast as the total time required is <1 h, which includes amplification

Linking the legal with the physical reality of 3D objects in the context of Land Administration Domain Model

The massive developments and uses of high rise buildings indicate that the demand for use of space above and below the ground surface is rapidly increasing in recent years. In the context of this thesis, the research is focused on exploring the possibilities of linking 3D legal RRR spaces, modeled with LADM (ISO 19152), with physical reality of 3D objects. The possibilities are explored towards the development of a prototype which is elaborated in two core stages: At first, a physical model is derived from the corresponding conceptual model, using existing national and international standards and then, its efficiency is tested using real world sample data, querying the database and visualizing the result in 3D environment. The conceptual modeling of the proposed model is based on the "people to land" relationship using LADM core concepts described with UML diagrams. Towards the conversion from conceptual model to implementation of a working prototype, the model is first converted into the INTERLIS modeling language, in order to be formally expressed including various constraints in a platform/ vendor neutral manner. INTERLIS is a standard modeling language for geodata exchange which is used to provide more direct implementable models and at the same time support the constraints. The model described, initially, with UML diagrams and especially the constraints in OCL cannot be automatically converted into implementations. During the prototype, emphasis is given at the exploitation of the capabilities of INTERLIS, under the scope of LADM, which is used in actual implementation of land administration system. INTERLIS tools are used to automatically generate implementation components for specific environments; e.g. database schema or exchange file format. Challenges among others during the system's development cycle include the following: how to express the various LADM constraints OCL and semi-formal in standard) formally in INTERLIS, how to include extensible hierarchical code lists in INTERLIS models (not natively available) and distinguish them from enumeration values, how to model 3D volumetric primitives in INTERLIS (not natively available), how to link two models (legal - physical) using cross domain constraints, etc. The system’s development cycle, is illustrated with a proposed model for MLAS in Greece. The model is based on international standards, covering a broader perspective than the existing one used today, including several types of objects and interests that are not currently registered by the Hellenic Cadastre. More precisely, utility networks (both the legal and their physical counterpart), planning zones, marine parcels and 3D (land) parcels are now included at the proposed model and organized appropriately. The different types of spatial units are organized in levels according to the LA_Level structure of LADM, ISO19152. This model is considered as an effort for overcoming these shortcomings, based on international standards, including the representation of a wide range of different types of spatial units, in three dimensions, aiming to establish an appropriate basis for the NSDI of Greece. It is a flexible proposal for comprehensive multipurpose LAS supporting both 2D and 3D cadastral registration in Greece. The prototype is developed in order to evaluate the strengths and limitations of the proposed conceptual model (linking legal and physical objects), as well as to investigate the efficiency and limitations of the existing technological (INTERLIS) tools. The process followed during the prototype development is cyclical and repetitive, providing feedback to the initial model during all the stages and improving it in terms of efficiency, reality and technical implementation. Finally, differences and similarities are mentioned from the comparison of the final (corrected) conceptual model, which results after the evaluation of the prototype, with the initial one. Conclusions and remarks made based on the database queries and visualization, as well as similarities, differences and patterns can be observed between the legal and physical objects. All the design and technical decisions that were taken during the system’s development cycle together with the problems arised, the solutions proposed and challenges for future work are described at the following chapters.GeomaticsOTBArchitecture and The Built Environmen

LADM AND INTERLIS AS A PERFECT MATCH FOR 3D CADASTRE

Standardization in land administration domain has been expanded to 3D and even 4D representations, adopting a multipurpose character, in order to become the foundation of a sustainable and smart economic development. At the moment, although the potential benefits of 3D Cadastre is argued to be enormous and there are plenty of standards related to 3D Cadastre while others enhancing the role of 3D Cities, there is no complete solution for 3D Cadastre. That being so, the last years, there has been a rapid increase in the integration, harmonization and implementation support of such standards. In this context, the integration of 3D legal spaces with 3D physical objects is gaining ground, as the (invisible) legal boundaries do not always match with the physical counterparts, leading to obscure situations. LADM, the International Standard for land administration, was proved to be one of the best candidates to unambiguously represent 3D Rights, Restrictions and Responsibilities. On the other side, spatial data models and virtual city models manage 3D urban structures without focusing on legal aspects. Many researchers have explored integrations between those aspects giving promising results. In this direction, apart from international standards, also national standards have been developed to enable the communication between land information systems. One of the most representatives is INTERLIS, a Swiss standard, a precise, standardized Object Relational modelling language on the conceptual level, which allows for automated quality control. Thus, in this paper the focus is given on how INTERLIS and LADM complement each other in the actual implementation of land administration systems. Main challenges among others in the context of this research include: 1. extensible hierarchical and versioned code lists in INTERLIS models, 2. formally define LADM constraints in INTERLIS, 3. discuss 3D geometry types and 4. introduce a holistic LADM/INTERLIS approach for country profiles