The entomofauna on the leaves of two forest species, Fagus sylvatica and Corylus avelana, in Menoikio Mountain of Serres

Ερευνήθηκε η σύνθεση και η αφθονία της εντομοπανίδας που απαντάται στα φύλλα της οξιάς (Fagus sylvatica) και της φουντουκιάς (Corylus avelana) στο μεικτό δάσος του Μενοίκιου Όρους των Σερρών. Για το σκοπό αυτό από τον Απρίλιο ως τον Ιούνιο του 2011 συλλέγονταν εβδομαδιαίως φύλλα από τα δύο δασικά είδη και τα έντομα που βρίσκονταν σε αυτά συλλέγονταν και διατηρούνταν στο εργαστήριο σε συνθήκες εξωτερικού περιβάλλοντος. Κατόπιν, ελέγχονταν κάθε ημέρα μέχρι την νύμφωση και την εμφάνιση των ενηλίκων. Συνολικά 27 είδη εντόμων καταγράφηκαν. Τα είδη αυτά ανήκαν σε 7 τάξεις: 15 είδη στα Κολεόπτερα, 4 είδη στα Ημίπτερα, 3 είδη στα Λεπιδόπτερα, 2 είδη στα Υμενόπτερα και από ένα είδος στις Τάξεις Δίπτερα, Νευρόπτερα και Εφημερόπτερα. Τα αποτελέσματα έδειξαν ότι υπήρχε μεγαλύτερη αφθονία εντόμων στα φύλλα της φουντουκιάς σε σχέση με τα φύλλα της οξιάς. Στα δένδρα της φουντουκιάς ο πληθυσμός του εντόμου Lymantria dispar (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) ήταν πολύ πιο υψηλός σε σχέση με αυτόν στα δένδρα της οξιάς. Επίσης τα παρακάτω είδη κολεοπτέρων ήταν σε αφθονία στις φουντουκιές: Phyllobius pyri (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Rhynchaenus populi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) και Agriotes acuminatus (Coleoptera: Elateridae). Στα δένδρα της οξιάς τα έντομα που ήταν σε αφθονία ήταν τα: Rhynchaenus fagi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Phyllobius pyri (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) και Anobium punctatum (Coleoptera: Anobiidae). Ο μεγαλύτερος πληθυσμός των εντόμων παρατηρήθηκε στα τέλη της άνοιξης, από 20/05/11 έως 08/06/11.The insect species composition and their abundance were investigated on the leaves of beech (Fagus sylvatica, Fagaceae) and hazel trees (Corylus avelana, Betulaceae) in the mixed forest located in Menoikio Mountain of Serres. For that purpose from April to June 2011 leaves were collected from the two forest species at weekly intervals and the insects found were reared in the laboratory under outdoor conditions and checked every day till their pupation and adult emergence. A total of 27 insect species was recorded. These insects belonged to seven orders. Fifteen Coleoptera species, 4 Hemiptera species, 3 of Lepidoptera species, 2 of Hymenoptera species and 1 species to the orders Diptera, Neuroptera, and Ephemeroptera were found. The results disclose that the number of insect species found on leaves of hazel trees was fewer than the insect species on beech trees. On hazel trees the population of Lymantria dispar (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) was much higher than in beech trees. The species of Coleoptera collected from hazel trees were Phyllobius pyri (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Rhynchaenus populi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Agiotes acuminatus (Coleoptera: Elateridae). In beech trees the insect species found more frequently were Rhynchaenus fagi (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Phyllobius pyri (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) and Anobium punctatum (Coleoptera: Anobiidae). The largest population of insects was observed at the end of spring, because the life cycle of the foliage insects were synchronized with leaf- flushing of the foliage

Facing and managing natural disasters in the Sporades islands, Greece

The region of the Sporades islands located in central Greece is at the mercy of many natural phenomena, such as earthquakes due to the marine volcano Psathoura and the rift of Anatolia, forest fires, floods, landslides, storms, hail, snowfall and frost. The present work aims at studying the perceptions and attitudes of the residents regarding how they face and manage natural disasters. A positive public response during a hazard crisis depends not only upon the availability and good management of a civil defense plan but also on the knowledge and perception of the possible hazards by the local population. It is important for the stakeholders to know what the citizens expect so that the necessary structures can be developed in the phase of preparation and organization. The residents were asked their opinion about what they think should be done by the stakeholders after a catastrophic natural disaster, particularly about the immediate response of stakeholders and their involvement and responsibilities at different, subsequent intervals of time following the disaster. The residents were also asked about the most common disasters that happen in their region and about the preparation activities of the stakeholders.Research Center for Spatial and Organizational Dynamics (CIEO); Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologi

Burnout syndrome in Cypriot physiotherapists: a national survey

Background. Burnout in the healthcare workers is formally defined as a state of physical, emotional and mental exhaustion caused by long-term involvement in situations that are emotionally demanding. Methods. Using a random stratified sampling method and taking into account geographical location, specialty and type of employment, 172 physiotherapists working both in the private and public sectors completed an anonymous questionnaire that included several aspects related to burnout; the MBI scale, questions related to occupational stress, and questions pertaining to self image. Results. Almost half (46%) of the 172 participants believed that their job is stressful. Approximately 57% of the physiotherapists who worked in the public sector and 40% of those who worked in the private sector (p = 0.038) reported that their job is stressful. In total, 21.1% of participants met Maslach's criteria for burnout. The point prevalence of burnout was as follows: (1) 13.8% of those who worked in the public sector and 25.5% of those in the private sector (2) 22.2% of males and 20% of females (3) 21.6% who were married, 18% who were single and 33.3% who were separated. Gender was found to be associated with the level of personal accomplishment (chi-squared test; p = 0.049), as 17.8% of men compared with 24.3% of women reported high personal accomplishment. The number of years of working as a physiotherapist correlated negatively (r = -0.229, p = 0.004) with the total depersonalization score. Regression analysis showed that the perception that the job is stressful (p < 0.001) and the low salary (p = 0.016) were significant predictors of high emotional exhaustion scores, while age group (p = 0.027) predicted high scores of depersonalization and the employment sector (p = 0.050) as well as the low salary predicted high personal accomplishment scores. Conclusions. Burnout levels in physiotherapists in Cyprus ranged from low to moderate

Life satisfaction and risk of burnout among men and women working as physiotherapists

Objectives: Recently in Poland as a result of the high rate of aging population and high rates of morbidity, a growing demand for the physiotherapist profession is observed. The results of this study can be used to formulate principles for better organization of physiotherapist's workplace in order to prevent occurrence of burnout. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of gender on satisfaction with life and burnout among active physiotherapists. Material and Methods: The survey was anonymous and voluntary, and involved a group of 200 active physiotherapists working in health care units and educational centers in Poland. The study group was selected randomly and incidentally. Each respondent received a demographic data sheet and a set of self-rating questionnaires (Life Satisfaction Questionnaire, Burnout Scale Inventory). Results: Burnout among men decreased along with increasing satisfaction with one's work and occupation, friends, relatives and acquaintances, sexuality, and increased due to greater satisfaction with one's housing status. Burnout among women decreased along with increasing satisfaction with one's health, free time and friends, relatives and acquaintances, and increased due to work at a setting other than a health care unit or educational center. Statistical analysis failed to reveal any significant differences with regard to the BSI domains and with regard to the overall burnout index as well as with regard to the assessment of satisfaction with life between female and male physiotherapists. Conclusions: Satisfaction with children, marriage and partnership, with one's work and occupation, interactions with friends, relatives and acquaintances and sexuality may contribute to reduction of burnout among men. Women who are satisfied with their children, family, health, free time and contacts with friends, relatives and acquaintances are less prone to burnout. Weak financial situation among women and deficiency of free time among men can induce burnout. Improving staff happiness may contribute to decreasing burnout

Burnout syndrome indices in Greek intensive care nursing personnel

Burnout symptoms in Greek intensive care unit (ICU) nurses have not been explored adequately. The aim of this descriptive, correlational study was to investigate the prevalence and intensity of burnout symptoms in Greek ICU nursing personnel and any potential associations with professional satisfaction, as well as with demographic, educational, and vocational characteristics. Findings showed that the overall burnout level reported by Greek ICU nursing personnel was at a moderate to high degree. The most pronounced symptom of burnout was depersonalization, whereas emotional exhaustion was found to be a strong predictor of job satisfaction. This is a factor connected with the nurses&apos; intention to quit the job. It appears that work factors have a more powerful influence over the development of burnout in comparison to personality traits. Copyright © 2012 Lippincott Williams &amp; Wilkins. Unauthorized reproduction of this article is prohibited

Investigating Deep Stock Market Forecasting with Sentiment Analysis

When forecasting financial time series, incorporating relevant sentiment analysis data into the feature space is a common assumption to increase the capacities of the model. In addition, deep learning architectures and state-of-the-art schemes are increasingly used due to their efficiency. This work compares state-of-the-art methods in financial time series forecasting incorporating sentiment analysis. Through an extensive experimental process, 67 different feature setups consisting of stock closing prices and sentiment scores were tested on a variety of different datasets and metrics. In total, 30 state-of-the-art algorithmic schemes were used over two case studies: one comparing methods and one comparing input feature setups. The aggregated results indicate, on the one hand, the prevalence of a proposed method and, on the other, a conditional improvement in model efficiency after the incorporation of sentiment setups in certain forecast time frames