The Collaboration of SMEs through Clusters as Defense against Economic Crisis

The aim of this paper is to present the realistic solution to the survival problem that SMEs have during the economic crisis. The role of SMEs is very important in the development of the regional and national economy of each country, particularly for small countries like Greece. On the other hand, universities also play a significant role in the national economy, since they provide Know-How and important research in the SMEs. Nevertheless, due to their small size and financial weakness, especially on the grounds of economic crisis, SMEs would not be able to cover on their own the cost of purchase of university research. The author of this working paper suggests the collaboration of SMEs in the form of clusters so as to be able to self-fund and absorb university Know-How at the same time

The contribution of SMEs to the development of the Greek economy, with the support of universities, during the Greek debt crisis

The aim of PhD Thesis is to propose the development of SMEs in clusters through university research. The absorption of Know-How by SMEs and its application in the real economy can bring significant results that will lead to the growth of national economy, especially during the Greek debt crisis. Also, PhD Thesis refers to the existence of an non-profit organization, which under the rules of operation of Venture Capital could play an particularly important role, as would can cover the gap between enterprise and academic field. The implementation of researcher’s proposal it implies a clear regulatory framework from Greek State, in order to bring stability. With that way the investment obstacles, like shadow economy and corruption, can be decreased. The first part of PhD Thesis was based on international scientific literature, while the second include research field. The researcher followed the exploratory method and his research in business field was quantative through systematic random sampling and data collection was performed though method of sending by e-mail structure questionnaires. In addition, the main statistical method was based on factor analysis using the statistical program SPSS 22.0. The database was the Greek Financial Directory of ICAP 2012 and the Greek Chambers.Η παρούσα διδακτορική διατριβή πραγματεύεται την πρόταση της ανάπτυξης των Μικρομεσαίων Επιχειρήσεων με τη μορφή συνεργατικών σχηματισμών μέσα από τη στήριξη που μπορούν να παρέχουν τα πανεπιστημιακά και τεχνολογικά ιδρύματα της Ελλάδας. Η απορρόφηση της τεχνογνωσίας τους από τις ΜΜΕ (Μικρομεσαίες Επιχειρήσεις) και η εφαρμογή της στην πραγματική οικονομία μπορεί να επιφέρει σημαντικά αποτελέσματα, που θα οδηγήσουν στην ανάπτυξη της οικονομίας, ειδικά κατά την περίοδο της ελληνικής κρίσης χρέους. Επίσης, η διατριβή αναφέρεται στην ύπαρξη ενός ενδιάμεσου, μη κερδοσκοπικού φορέα, που με τη μορφή Venture Capital θα μπορούσε να διαδραματίσει έναν ιδιαίτερα σημαντικό ρόλο, καθώς θα αποτελούσε το συνδετικό κρίκο μεταξύ ακαδημαϊκού και επιχειρηματικού χώρου. Η εφαρμογή της προαναφερόμενης πρότασης προϋποθέτει όμως και την ύπαρξη ενός ξεκάθαρου κανονιστικού πλαισίου από πλευράς ελληνικού κράτους, έτσι ώστε να υπάρξει σταθερότητα της αναπτυξιακής πολιτικής και να μειωθούν στο ελάχιστο τα σημερινά σημαντικά εμπόδια που ανακόπτουν την ανάπτυξη κάθε είδους επιχειρηματικής πρωτοβουλίας, όπως για παράδειγμα η απουσία ενός σταθερού φορολογικού καθεστώτος, η σκιώδης οικονομία και η διαφθορά. Το πρώτο μέρος της παρούσας διδακτορικής διατριβής στηρίχθηκε σε επιστημονική βιβλιογραφία, ελληνική και ξένη, ενώ στο δεύτερο συμπεριλήφθηκε έρευνα πεδίου. Ακολουθήθηκε η διερευνητική μέθοδος, ενώ η έρευνα στον επιχειρηματικό χώρο ήταν ποσοτική, μέσω συστηματικής δειγματοληψίας και η συλλογή στοιχείων πραγματοποιήθηκε με τη μέθοδο αποστολής δομημένων ερωτηματολογίων. Επίσης, η βασική στατιστική μέθοδος στηρίχτηκε στην παραγοντική ανάλυση με τη χρήση του στατιστικού προγράμματος SPSS 22.0. Τη βάση δεδομένων αποτέλεσαν ο Ελληνικός Οικονομικός Οδηγός της ICAP 2012 και τα Επιμελητήρια

Homocysteine, folic acid and B12 serum levels in pregnancy complicated with preeclampsia

Abstract Objective Elevated plasma homocysteine has been implicated in vascular changes compatible with atherosis and endothelial dysfunction similar to the vascular changes of the placenta in preeclampsia. Previous reports have indicated an increased incidence of hyperohomocysteinemia in preeclamptic patients. The aim of this study was to examine the association of homocysteine levels and preeclampsia in our patients. Study design Prospective study of 28 preeclamptic patients that were matched with 26 normal controls of the same gestational age. Results The preeclamptic group had an increased incidence of cesarean sections (75%), of growth retarded fetuses (50%), intrauterine deaths (7%) and placental abruptions (7%). Mean levels of homocysteine were signiWcantly elevated in the preeclamptic than in control group (11.11 vs. 6.40 mol/l, P < 0.001). There were no diVerences between the groups regarding the levels of folic acid (11.12 vs. 9.73 ng/ml, P = 0.55) and vitamin B12 (295.76 vs. 356.15 pg/ml, P = 0.43). Conclusion It is concluded that in our study homocysteine levels are signiWcantly elevated in patients with preeclampsia compared with control group, while no vitamin deWciencies were observed

An Object-Based Approach for Fire History Reconstruction by Using Three Generations of Landsat Sensors

In this study, the capability of geographic object-based image analysis (GEOBIA) in the reconstruction of the recent fire history of a typical Mediterranean area was investigated. More specifically, a semi-automated GEOBIA procedure was developed and tested on archived and newly acquired Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS), Thematic Mapper (TM), and Operational Land Imager (OLI) images in order to accurately map burned areas in the Mediterranean island of Thasos. The developed GEOBIA ruleset was built with the use of the TM image and then applied to the other two images. This process of transferring the ruleset did not require substantial adjustments or any replacement of the initially selected features used for the classification, thus, displaying reduced complexity in processing the images. As a result, burned area maps of very high accuracy (over 94% overall) were produced. In addition to the standard error matrix, the employment of additional measures of agreement between the produced maps and the reference data revealed that “spatial misplacement” was the main source of classification error. It can be concluded that the proposed approach can be potentially used for reconstructing the recent (40-year) fire history in the Mediterranean, based on extended time series of Landsat or similar data