A Survey of Personality Trait Perceptions in Leadership Promotions in the Greek Armed Forces

Army personnel perceives character and personality traits as playing an important role in promoting high ranking officers to leaders. Whether the different categories of army personnel perceive the relative importance of such traits similarly is a question of significance for the morale, cohesiveness and efficiency of the armed forces. This paper addresses the documented scarcity of empirical research on such perceptions. The research literature on leadership traits was reviewed with emphasis on the armed and security forces. An online questionnaire was designed and 2702 responses of Greek armed and security forces personnel were collected, including 947 officers, 534 non-commissioned officers, 531 veterans, 81 security forces personnel, and 609 civil personnel. An 86.3% of respondents felt that leadership promotions failed to consider appropriate character and personality traits such as crisis management, integrity, perception, meritocracy, strategic proficiency, bluntness, and impartiality. Cooperation with the political leadership was considered unduly important. Cluster Analysis confirmed by Discriminant Analysis rendered four clusters: politically non-aligned; religious; authority-oriented conformist; and dissatisfied nonconformist. To maintain the morale and cohesiveness of military personnel, it was advised that the promotion to leaders of the armed and security forces be enriched with distilled elements of wisdom from the perceptions of all personnel clusters. Keywords: Leadership, armed forces, personality traits, Cluster Analysis DOI: 10.7176/JRDM/63-04 Publication date:March 31st 202

Twitter, Journalism and Affective Labour

<ul><li>The rise of the network aspects of journalism in the context of social media<br />such as Twitter, and the increased importance accorded to community building and maintenance as well as to reciprocity, point to the need to take into account the affective part of journalistic labour. This refers to these aspects of journalistic work that are linked to the creation of networks and communities, to interactions with readers and the forming of bonds between journalists and their readers. An analysis of the affective labour of journalists on Twitter, we argue, is necessary in order to understand the potential and ambiguities of this part of their labour. Based on a set of in-depth interviews with Twitter journalists, this article found three main repertoires of affective labour: the organic relations repertoire, which points to the increasing importance of authenticity as a means of establishing credibility on Twitter; the temporal repertoire; and the repertoire of responsibility. The importance of the affective labour of journalism is found in its biopolitical productivity. The development of an organic relationship with followers, the emergence of stronger bonds between core groups that then become communities, the extension of care and help to the network, are all evidence of the importance of this biopolitical productivity and point to the construction of a new and potentially more radical sociopolitical role for journalism. However, this potential is ambiguous insofar as these elements contain unresolved tensions and ambiguities. These include the trade in selves and the associated commodification; the re-formulation of time, especially its diachronic dimension, as accumulation of social capital; the role of reciprocity and responsibility in reproducing inequalities; and care as care for only those deemed deserving. These ambiguities severely undermine and limit the potentials of affective labour, pointing to the need to develop a purposeful political project for unleashing the power involved in this aspect of journalism.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>La hausse des aspects en réseau du journalisme dans le contexte des médias sociaux tels que Twitter, et de l’importance accrue accordée à la construction et à l’entretien d’une communauté ainsi qu’à la réciprocité, souligne la nécessité de prendre en compte la partie affective du travail journalistique. Cette notion fait référence aux aspects du travail journalistique liés à la création de réseaux et communautés, à l’interaction avec les lecteurs et à la formation de liaisons entre les journalistes et ceux-ci. Nous soutenons qu’une analyse du travail affectif des journalistes sur Twitter est nécessaire pour comprendre le potentiel et les ambiguïtés de cette partie de leur travail. Basé sur un ensemble d’entretiens avec des journalistes utilisant Twitter, cet article a trouvé trois principaux répertoires de travail affectif : le répertoire des relations organiques, qui souligne l’importance croissante de l’authenticité comme moyen d’établir une certaine crédibilité sur Twitter ; le répertoire temporel ; et le répertoire de la responsabilité. L’importance du travail affectif du journalisme se trouve dans sa productivité biopolitique. Le développement d’une relation organique avec les followers, l’émergence de liens plus forts entre les groupes noyaux qui deviennent alors des communautés, l’extension des soins et de l’aide au réseau, sont autant de preuves de l’importance de cette productivité biopolitique et montrent la construction d’un rôle sociopolitique nouveau et potentiellement plus radical pour le journalisme. Cependant, ce potentiel est ambigu dans la mesure où ces éléments contiennent des tensions et des ambiguïtés non résolues. Il s’agit notamment des échanges de soi, et la marchandisation associée ; de la reformulation du temps, en particulier sa dimension diachronique, comme accumulation de capital social ; le rôle de la réciprocité et de la responsabilité dans la reproduction des inégalités, et les soins comme soins uniquement pour ceux qui sont considérés comme méritants. Ces ambiguïtés limitent et compromettent gravement le potentiel du travail affectif, soulignant la nécessité de développer un projet politique délibéré pour libérer la puissance impliquée dans cet aspect du journalisme.</li></ul><p> </p><ul><li>O aumento de aspectos em rede do jornalismo no contexto das mídias sociais, como o Twitter, e a crescente importância atribuída à construção e ao estabelecimento de uma comunidade e também da reciprocidade, implicam na necessidade de se levar em conta a parte afetiva do trabalho jornalístico. Esta noção faz referência aos aspectos do trabalho jornalístico ligados à criação de redes e de comunidades, à interação com os leitores e à formação de laços ente os jornalistas e os leitores. Defendemos aqui a necessidade de uma análise sobre o trabalho afetivo dos jornalistas no Twitter para compreender o potencial e as ambiguidades dessa dimensão do trabalho dessas pessoas. Baseado em um conjunto de entrevistas com jornalistas usuários do Twitter, este artigo constatou três repertórios principais do trabalho afetivo: o repertório das relações orgânicas, que destaca a crescente importância da autenticidade como uma forma de estabelecer uma certa credibilidade no Twitter; o repertório temporal; e o repertório da responsabilidade. A importância do trabalho afetivo no jornalismo se explica pela sua produtividade biopolítica. O desenvolvimento de uma relação orgânica com os seus seguidores, a emergência de laços mais fortes entre os grupos nodais que se tornam, dessa forma, comunidades, a extensão dos cuidados e da assistência na rede, são igualmente provas da importância dessa produtividade biopolítica e mostram a construção de um novo papel sociopolítico e que é potencialmente mais radical para o jornalismo. Contudo, esse potencial é ambíguo na medida em que esses elementos contêm tensões e ambiguidades não resolvidas. Trata-se, sobretudo, de trocas de si, e da mercantilização associada a esse processo, da reformulação do tempo, particularmente em sua dimensão diacrônica, bem como da acumulação de capital social, do papel da reciprocidade e da responsabilidade na reprodução das desigualdades, e dos cuidados direcionados apenas àqueles considerados merecedores. Tais ambiguidades limitam e comprometem gravemente o potencial do trabalho afetivo, destacando a necessidade de se desenvolver um projeto político deliberado com o objetivo de liberar o potencial implícito a esse aspecto do jornalismo.</li></ul

Archaeological landscape and urban identity of the greek city: inverting integration

97 σ.Η διάλεξη διερευνά τις δυνατότητες συσχετισμού του αρχαιολογικού τοπίου της ελληνική πόλης με τον σύγχρονο αστικό ιστό υπό το πρίσμα του τριπτύχου: (α) επιχειρηματική προβολή για ενίσχυση του τουριστικού ενδιαφέροντος, (β) περιβαλλοντική αναβάθμιση και ενίσχυση του δικτύου των δημόσιων χώρων, (γ) πολιτική και πολιτιστική διεκδίκηση για την επανασυγκρότηση μνημονικών συνάψεων συλλογικής μορφής. Αρχικά, τονίζεται η ιδιαίτερη σημασία του ελληνικού αρχαιολογικού τοπίου για την διαμόρφωση του δυτικού πολιτισμού κατά τον 17ο και 18ο αιώνα. Ακολουθεί σύντομη ιστορική αναδρομή -από το νεοσύστατο ελληνικό κράτος μέχρι σήμερα- των τρόπων διαχείρισης του αρχαιολογικού τοπίου, με επίκεντρο την Αθήνα. Προς ενίσχυση του τριπτύχου, εν συνεχεία, μελετώνται τα εξής παραδείγματα : η αστική ανάπλαση της Λάρισας με στόχο την ανασυγκρότηση της ιστορικής της φυσιογνωμίας υπό σύγχρονους κοινωνικοοικονομικούς όρους και η πρόταση των «Αθηναϊκών Σκαμμάτων» για τον διαγωνισμό «Rethink Athens», που εισάγει μια ιδιάζουσα αρχαιολογική προσέγγιση για την αναβάθμιση του ιστορικού κέντρου της Αθήνας. Στον αντίποδα οποιουδήποτε συντελεστή του τριπτύχου, τέλος, παρουσιάζεται το «αντι-παράδειγμα» της Θήβας,πόλης-μνημείου με αδιάλειπτο γίγνεσθαι χιλιετιών. Η ανάλυσή της βασίζεται στην βιωματική προσέγγιση περιηγητικού χαρακτήρα, φέρνοντας στην επιφάνεια καίρια ζητήματα ανάδειξης του ιστορικού της βάθους. Συμπερασματικά, αναδύεται σε κεντροβαρικό αίτημα η ενίσχυση της πολιτικής και πολιτιστικής παιδείας της ελληνικής κοινωνίας, με στόχο την ανάκτηση της αξιοπρέπειας της κατοίκησης στην ιστορική πόλη και, εν τέλει, την αντίστροφη ένταξη: ένταξη της ίδιας της κοινωνίας στην ιστορία της.The project focuses on the possibilities of correlating the archaeological landscape of the greek city with the contemporary urban environment, based on three main factors: (a) touristic competitiveness for the economic reinforcement of the city, (b) improvement of the network of green and public spaces, (c) political and cultural demand for the reinforcement of collective memory of the citizens. At the beginning, emphasis is placed on the importance of the greek archaeological landscape for the development of the western civilization during the 17th and 18th centuries. A short historical review is additionally made focused on the city of Athens. Moreover, we study the following specific examples: the urban redevelopment of the town of Larisa aiming to the reconstruction of its historic identity and the proposal of “Athenian Trenches” introducing a different archaeological approach for the upgrade of the historic centre of Athens. On the other hand, we finally present the “counterexample” of Thebes, a town-monument continually inhabited throughout thousands of years. The analysis is based on a personal approach emerging important issues about the management of its historic wealth. In conclusion, we emphasize on the fundamental demand for the improvement of political and cultural education. This demand aims to restore the dignity of living in the greek city and finally, achieves the inverse integration of the greek society to its history

Honey Extracts Exhibit Cytoprotective Properties against UVB-Induced Photodamage in Human Experimental Skin Models

In the present study, we aimed to examine the antioxidant, antiaging and photoprotective properties of Greek honey samples of various botanical and geographical origin. Ethyl-acetate extracts were used and the and the total phenolic/flavonoid content and antioxidant capacity were evaluated. Honey extracts were then studied for their cytoprotective properties against UVB-induced photodamage using human immortalized keratinocytes (HaCaT) and/or reconstituted human skin tissue models. Specifically, the cytotoxicity, oxidative status, DNA damage and gene expression levels of specific matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) were examined. Overall, the treatment of HaCaT cells with honey extracts resulted in lower levels of DNA strand breaks and attenuated the decrease in cell viability following UVB exposure. Additionally, honey extracts significantly decreased the total protein carbonyl content of the irradiated cells, however, they had no significant effect on their total antioxidant status. Finally, the extracts alleviated the UVB-induced up-regulation of MMPs-3, -7 and -9 in a model of reconstituted skin tissue. In conclusion, honey extracts exhibited significant photoprotective and antiaging properties under UVB exposure conditions and thus could be further exploited as promising agents for developing novel and naturally-based, antiaging cosmeceutical products