Κοινωνική επιχειρηματικότητα στην Ελλάδα. Σύγκριση στην επιχειρηματική στρατηγική στις κοινωνικές επιχειρήσεις, μελέτες περίπτωσης: 1) Συνεταιριστική τράπεζα Καρδίτσας, 2) ΒΙΟΜΕ, 3) Κοινωνικό εργοστάσιο μόδας SOFFA και 4) συνεταιρισμός αλληλέγγυου εμπορίου "Συν άλλοις"

Η σημερινή κοινωνία είναι διαμορφωμένη με τέτοιον τρόπο, ώστε πάντα δημιουργούνται νέες ευάλωτες κοινωνικές ομάδες. Η οικονομική κρίση, η παγκόσμια και εγχώρια πολιτική κατάσταση, οι υγειονομικές περιστάσεις, οι περιβαλλοντικές καταστροφές αλλά και η διαφορετικότητα πολλές φορές μεταξύ των ανθρώπων, αποτελούν παράγοντες οι οποίοι δημιουργούν τις ιδανικές συνθήκες για να ευδοκιμήσει η δημιουργία τέτοιας φύσεως ομάδων. Επίσης, η έλλειψη πόρων από το εκάστοτε κράτος επιτρέπει σε τέτοιου είδους κοινωνικά προβλήματα να διογκωθούν. Επιπλέον, όταν πολλές και διαφορετικές μεταξύ τους κοινωνικές ομάδες επιζητούν άμεση βοήθεια από το εκάστοτε κράτος, εκείνο δεν μπορεί να επικεντρωθεί σε άλλου είδους προβλήματα όπως, για παράδειγμα, τα περιβαλλοντικά. Δυστυχώς, χωρίς οικονομική ενίσχυση δεν είναι εύκολο να λυθούν αυτά τα κοινωνικά προβλήματα. Πλέον έχουν δημιουργηθεί νέα μοντέλα επιχειρήσεων, των οποίων βασικός στόχος είναι η επίλυση ορισμένων κοινωνικών και περιβαλλοντικών προβλημάτων, χρησιμοποιώντας μεγάλο ποσοστό από τα κέρδη της επιχείρησης χωρίς την επιβάρυνση του κρατικού ταμείου. Στην παρούσα εργασία θα αναλυθούν οι όροι της κοινωνικής οικονομίας και κοινωνικής επιχειρηματικότητας, καθώς επίσης και η επιχειρηματική στρατηγική την οποία μπορεί να ακολουθεί μία κοινωνική επιχείρηση. Σκοπός της συγκεκριμένης εργασίας είναι η μελέτη και η κατανόηση του τρόπου λειτουργίας μίας τέτοιου είδους επιχείρησης και των κριτηρίων σκέψης και λήψης αποφάσεων για την επιχείρηση, όσον αφορά, κυρίως, την ελληνική επικράτεια. Στόχος είναι ή όσο το δυνατόν καλύτερη κατανόηση της ιδέας και των πεποιθήσεων που βρίσκονται πίσω από τέτοιου είδους επιχειρήσεις, καθώς και οι διαδικασίες εκείνες οι οποίες ακολουθούνται για τη λήψη των επιχειρηματικών αποφάσεων, στο πλαίσιο των κοινωνικών επιχειρήσεων.Nowadays, the society is shaped in a way, that it always creates new vulnerable social groups. The economic crisis, the global and domestic political situation, the health situation, the environmental catastrophe and, often, the diversity between people, are all factors that create the ideal conditions for the creation of such groups to prosper. Also, the lack of resources from each country allows such social problems to inflate. In addition, having social groups that seek immediate help, the country cannot focus on other types of problems such as environmental ones. Unfortunately, without financial support it is not easy to solve these social problems. In present, new business models have been created, whose main goal is to solve some social and environmental problems, using a large percentage of the company’s profits without the burden of the state fund. In this thesis, it will be analyzed the term of social entrepreneurship and the business strategy followed by a social enterprise. The purpose of this thesis is to study and understand the operation of such a business and the criteria of thinking and decision making for the company, regarding the territory of Greece. The aim is to get the best possible understanding of the ideology behind such companies, as well as the procedures followed for making business decisions in the context of social enterprises

Medication review and polypharmacy management in the hospital setting. The cases of Greece and Catalonia

Introduction: Medication review and polypharmacy management, especially in the elderly, are key components of integrated care. Although polypharmacy management is often associated with the primary care setting, hospital clinicians, who are often members of multidisciplinary therapeutic teams, have an opportunity to improve the management of polypharmacy, which has the potential to improve health outcomes in both hospital and primary care.Methods: Mixed-methods (desk reviews, key informant interviews and focus groups) case studies were carried out in Greece and Catalonia, in the framework of the SIMPATHY (Stimulating Innovation Management of Polypharmacy and Adherence in The Elderly) project, in order to describe policies and procedures on the management of polypharmacy and adherence in the elderly and describe implementation strategies. Kotter’s Eight Step Process for transforming change and normalization process theory (NPT) were applied both in data collection tools and in the analysis.Progress report: At both sites there was awareness regarding the need for management of polypharmacy in the elderly, although in Greece awareness had not translated to a sense of urgency, a critical early step in Kotter’s process. Barriers to implementation in Greece included extreme financial pressure, lack or organizational culture supporting multidisciplinary teams and shared decision making, and lack of guidance from central health authorities. However, despite the lack of national guidelines, hospital pharmacists in state (public) hospitals currently review medication for inpatients and out-patients, and interventions regarding inappropriate polypharmacy and reconciliation of care have been piloted. In Catalonia, implementation of an Institutional network sponsored model has been implemented and it is being evaluated. Polypharmacy was integrated as a specific component of a broader patient-centered service model, driven by a small multidisciplinary team, with a focus on global health outcomes. Facilitators, to implementation included an organizational culture of innovation and shared decision making, advanced training requirements of all hospital pharmacists, and regional health policies focusing on improved care for patients with complex chronic disease.Conclusion and future work: Although Greece is a country with no programme of polypharmacy management identified, there are some policies and clinical activities in place that could support future programmes. National guidance will ultimately be needed to mobilize health professionals and ensure consistency of care. The Catalan experience demonstrates that polypharmacy management can occur in the hospital setting. Future challenges include scaling the current model into other units within the hospital and into primary care. Given the pharmacist training and current medicines management activities in Greece, the hospital may be an appropriate entry point for polypharmacy management activities in that country, later scaling up to the community. As other health systems look to address polypharmacy, hospital should be considered a potential starting point for initiating a programme.Funding: This poster is part of the SIMPATHY project (663082) which has received funding from the European Union’s Health Programme (2014-2020)

Data driven case study of a wind turbine main-bearing failure

This paper presents a data driven case study of two outer-race spalling faults in double-row spherical roller main-bearings, with the purpose of identifying key features and relevant measurements associated with this failure mode in wind turbine main-bearings. Supervisory data is analysed for one fault case and vibration data for the other. The aim of this work is to inform practitioners and assist in improving fault detection systems for this component

A parallel meshless dynamic cloud method on graphic processing units for unsteady compressible flows past moving boundaries

This paper presents an effort to implement a recently proposed meshless dynamic cloud method (Hong Wang et al., 2010) on modern high-performance graphic processing units (GPUs) with the compute unified device architecture (CUDA) programming model. Within the framework of the meshless method, clouds of points used as basic computational stencils are distributed in the whole flow domain. The spatial derivatives of the governing equations are discretised by the moving-least square scheme on every cloud of points. Roe’s approximate Riemann solver is adopted to compute the convective flux. A dual-time stepping approach, which iterates in physical and pseudo temporal spaces, is employed to obtain the time-accurate solution. Simulation of steady compressible flows over a fixed aerofoil is firstly carried out to verify the GPU implementation of the method. Then it is extended to compute unsteady flows past oscillatory aerofoils. Numerical outcomes are compared with experimental and/or other reference results to validate the method. Significant performance speedup of more than an order of magnitude is verified by the numerical results. Systematic analysis shows that GPU is more energy efficient than CPU for solving aerodynamic problems. This demonstrates the potential of the proposed method to solve fluid–structure interaction problems

A case study of polypharmacy management in nine European countries: Implications for change management and implementation

BackgroundMultimorbidity and its associated polypharmacy contribute to an increase in adverse drug events, hospitalizations, and healthcare spending. This study aimed to address: what exists regarding polypharmacy management in the European Union (EU); why programs were, or were not, developed; and, how identified initiatives were developed, implemented, and sustained.MethodsChange management principles (Kotter) and normalization process theory (NPT) informed data collection and analysis. Nine case studies were conducted in eight EU countries: Germany (Lower Saxony), Greece, Italy (Campania), Poland, Portugal, Spain (Catalonia), Sweden (Uppsala), and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland and Scotland). The workflow included a review of country/region specific polypharmacy policies, key informant interviews with stakeholders involved in policy development and implementation and, focus groups of clinicians and managers. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis of individual cases and framework analysis across cases.ResultsPolypharmacy initiatives were identified in five regions (Catalonia, Lower Saxony, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Uppsala) and included all care settings. There was agreement, even in cases without initiatives, that polypharmacy is a significant issue to address. Common themes regarding the development and implementation of polypharmacy management initiatives were: locally adapted solutions, organizational culture supporting innovation and teamwork, adequate workforce training, multidisciplinary teams, changes in workflow, redefinition of roles and responsibilities of professionals, policies and legislation supporting the initiative, and data management and information and communication systems to assist development and implementation. Depending on the setting, these were considered either facilitators or barriers to implementation.ConclusionWithin the studied EU countries, polypharmacy management was not widely addressed. These results highlight the importance of change management and theory-based implementation strategies, and provide examples of polypharmacy management initiatives that can assist managers and policymakers in developing new programs or scaling up existing ones, particularly in places currently lacking such initiatives

Quaternary Evolutionary Stages of Selinitsa Cave (SW Peloponnese, Greece) Reveal Sea-Level Changes Based on 3D Scanning, Geomorphological, Biological, and Sedimentological Indicators

Significant evolutionary stages of Selinitsa Cave (SW Peloponnese, Greece) were revealed by 3D mapping, as well as geomorphological study of the cave and the nearby landscape. Four marine terraces were identified in the area of the coastal cave at 6, 10.7, 16.6, and 30–32 m above sea level (asl), with the terrace at 16.6 m representing Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5. The widest karstified space of Selinitsa Cave clusters between 15.73 and 18.05 m above sea level (asl), with the peak lying at 16.4 m asl, corresponding to the level where the phreatic/epiphreatic zone was stable for a sufficient period of time. A tidal notch at 16.4 m asl at the cave entrance is correlated to the marine terrace at 16.6 m. Both features correspond to the sea-level stand at which intense karstification occurred. The tidal notch bears a horizontal arrangement of Lithophaga borings at the vertex. Sedimentological investigation of the Selinitsa fine-grained deposit revealed the paleohydrologic regime of the cave. It is characterized by “slack-water” facies, indicating very low water flow speeds, whereas the thickness of the deposit points to stable hydrological conditions for prolonged periods. The cave sediment height of 18.8 m asl indicates a flooding level higher than sea level. The overlying Plattenkalk flysch is most probably the major source of detritus, and the predominance of authigenic dolomite (>98% modal in the carbonate fraction) indicates a hyposaline environment related to mixing of sea water with percolating fresh water. The approach of this study shows the significance of 3D mapping, bio-geo-Relative Sea Level (RSL) indicators, and sedimentology in deciphering the paleogeographic evolution of coastal karstic systems and subsequently defining the paleoclimate regime of coastal areas in Greece and the eastern Mediterranean during the Late Quaternary

Statistical Analysis for Long-Term Weather Forecast

A weather forecast is a result of applying science and technology to predict the conditions of the atmosphere in a selected location and time in the future. The main input is a collection of data (atmospheric, land, and ocean), and the resulting output is meteorology (how atmospheric conditions will change). People have been trying to predict the weather by observing nature for thousands of years, but in a scientific way only since the 19th century. First manually and based mostly on changes in barometric pressure, and later in modern times with the contribution of computer-based models (numerical weather prediction). Despite the high inaccuracy of numerical weather prediction beyond 10 days, the interest in long-term weather forecasts is very high due to social reasons—energy sector, civil protection, etc.—and the scientific effort is constant. Here, we propose a statistical weather model for long-term weather forecasts based on weather/climate data time series. We will analyze atmospheric data in 850 hPa for a period of 35 years, resulting in temperature ensembles and temperature deviations for specific periods. Finally, we will contrast the results of the statistical weather model (prediction) with the real data to check the accuracy of the model