Terrorism and Political Self-Placement in European Union Countries

Terrorism is widely regarded as a public bad vis-\ue0-vis security - a public good - affecting the subjective well-being of citizens. As studies have shown, citizens' risk-perceptions and risk-assessment are affected by large scale terrorist acts. Reported evidence shows that individuals are often willing to trade-off civil liberties for enhanced security particularly as a post-terrorist attack reaction as well as adopting more conservative views. Within this strand of the literature, this paper examines whether terrorism and in particular mass-casualty terrorist attacks affect citizens' political selfplacement on the left-right scale of the political spectrum. To this effect the Eurobarometer Surveys for twelve European Union countries are utilised and Ordered Probit models are employed for the period 1985-2010 with over 230 thousand observations used in the estimations. On balance, the findings reported herein seem to be pointing to a shift in respondents' self-positioning towards the right of the political spectrum

National health policy in Greece : regulations or reforms? The Sisyphus myth

This paper attempts an evaluation of health care reforms and regulations in Greece. The main findings indicate that the existing Conservative Government has kept but not developed some previous Social-democrats’ major reforms concerning decentralisation and hospital management arrangements. The government also announced new regulations concerning the pharmaceutical sector and the procurement procedures of the national health units. On the other hand, precedent regulations for primary health care were to be postponed and the fundamental financing issue of the system has been neglected. In addition, this paper intends to take parallel account that terms such as globalisation and enlargement are still within the European perspective of the country. Overall, the Greek NHS seems to be developed and enlarged, besides the lack of strong political will to consider reforms and even regulations, into a continuous managerial process, assessment and public dialogue. In this sense, there is a continuing gap between - on the one hand - principles and goals and - on the other hand - rational planning, political issues and implementation process, all resulting in a never-ending reform scenario.peer-reviewe

Electrostatic generation while tank washing and ignition hazards of fuel air mixtures

Thesis. 1976. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Ocean Engineering.Microfiche copy available in Archives and Engineering.Includes bibliographical references.by George Economou.M.S

Alternate means of power generation and fuel conservation in ship operations.

Thesis. 1976. M.S.--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Ocean Engineering.Microfiche copy available in Archives and Engineering.Includes bibliographical references.M.S

Prediction of climate change impacts on cotton yields in greece under eight climatic models using the aquacrop crop simulation model.

The impact of climate change on cotton yields in seven main arable crop sites in Greece (Agrinio, Alexandroupolis, Arta, Karditsa, Mikra, Pyrgos, Yliki) was investigated. The FAO AquaCrop (v.4) water driven model was used as a crop development simulation tool under eight climatic models (HadRM3, C4I, REMO MPI, ETHZ, CNRM, DMI-HIRHAM, KNMI, SMHI) based on IPPC’s A1B Climate Change scenario. The mean values of the models ensemble for temperature and precipitation were +1,8˚C until 2050 and +4 ˚C until the end of the century. The respective values for precipitation were -11% and -24%. The research was applied over three periods, 1961-1990, 2021-2050 and 2071-2099. AquaCrop validation for yield, biomass and canopy cover in respect to field data obtained from experiments carried out in Karditsa (Central Greece) from 2005 to 2007 was satisfactory on the account of Root Mean Square Error (0.17 to 0.49) and Index of Agreement (0.93 to 0.94). AquaCrop model was run using the Growing Degree Day mode in order to account better for the temperature variations. However, it gave erratic results for some specific climatic models (SMHI, KNMI, CNRM) in some years within the period 1961-1990. The predicted yields were highest in locations of western Greece (Agrinio, Arta, Pyrgos), whereas north-eastern Greece (Alexandroupolis) appeared to be less favoured by climate change. A tendency towards increasing yields by the end of the century was detected for the majority of the models. The efficiency of the eight models for yield predictions in the seven sites was assessed by means of a discriminant function analysis. On the account of their function coefficients over the seven sites, it was found that the models DMI and C4I explained consistently a great proportion of variation among the three time periods whereas the models ETHZ, SMHI and KNMI were more efficient in the periods 1961-1990, 2021-2050 and 2071-2099 respectively

Mechanical and electrochemical characterization of 3D printed orthodontic metallic appliances after in vivo ageing

Objectives: Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology is a promising technique for fabricating custom orthodontic metallic appliances. Aim of this study was to assess the effect of intraoral aging on the mechanical / electrochemical properties of 3D-printed orthodontic metallic appliances. Methods: Twelve molar orthodontic distalization appliances 3D-printed from cobalt chromium (Co-Cr) alloy were retrieved after intraoral use and twenty blocks fabricated under similar conditions were used as control. The samples' microstructural / elemental composition assessment was assessed with SEM/EDS, while their mechanical properties (modulus of elasticity [EIT], Martens hardness [HM] and the elastic index [ηIT]) were measured by instrumented indentation testing. Finally, the samples' electrochemical features were assessed with a potentiostat-connected cell arrangement in terms of open circuit potential (OCP), corrosion potential (Ez), current density (I300) and breaking potential (Epit). Results were analyzed by t-test / Mann-Whitney test (α = 0.05). Results: The used Co-Cr alloy was found to have a highly homogenous structure with no significant differences between retrieved and new specimens in HM (4037.7 ± 215.6 vs 4090.9 ± 259.8 N/mm2), EIT (120.0 ± 13.2 vs 123.8 ± 12.9 GPa), or nIT (28.4 ± 2.6 vs 28.6 ± 2.9 %) (P > 0.05 in all instances). Metallic surfaces retained the same oxidation tendency and oxide dissolution rate in passive region in both groups (P > 0.05 for OCP, Ez, and I300). However, intraorally-aged specimens had a significantly lower breakdown potential due to degraded protection efficacy of surface oxide (P = 0.003 for Epit). Significance: The tested 3D-printed Co-Cr orthodontic appliances present clinically-acceptable mechanical properties that remained unaffected by intraoral ageing, which however degraded the protection of surface oxide against pitting corrosion. Keywords: 3D printing; Co-Cr alloys; Corrosive resistance; Electrochemical behavior; Intraoral ageing; Orthodontic appliances