Environmental protection impossibilities

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the mentality of humanity in present times, the structure of human life nowadays and tries to prove that under these it is impossible to solve the problem of getting humankind out of an environmental crisis. Design/methodology/approach: The paper investigates the ingredients of human life today, i.e. social political and economic aspects, combined all together. Findings: Our civilization leads deterministically to an environmental deadlock. It follows that one needs to clearly understand that preventing the environmental catastrophe of humankind is impossible. The task of saving humankind altogether is unrealistic. Originality/value: The only reversal to the present situation is social cohesion, which however is incompatible with the mentality of our civilization. Culture, depended upon the cohesion of the society (community or state), is a outdoing and not a mean average. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Free market economy, representative democracy, cultural globalisation and the protection of the environment

Leaning upon profit, competition and dominance, free market economy is obliged to create needs and invent prospects in order to survive through growth. In our days, democracy, the electoral body does not usually decide about the policies, the political parties do not represent relevant socio-economic classes and politicians, aiming at their political survival, are handling state affairs balancing among lobbies, which promote special and sectoral interests. Cultural globalisation preceded the economic globalisation of deregulated and internationalised markets, since the former was a necessary condition for the prevalence of the later and therefore for the survival (expansion) of capitalism through the flattening of the different people cultures. Human masses have now been used to the ambiguity of notions, the plurality and reflexivity of values. Our civilisation will never stop to grab and appropriate from the natural ecosystems. The deeper cause of the environmental deadlock we are today is the lack of moral stature and the frivolous behaviour of intellectuals and scientists. If humanity were willing to adopt moral values it should had turned back to classical studies and the compulsory humanistic education. Copyright © 2009 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd

Economic science: What it is and what the scientists do not tell us

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to explore the view that economic science is invented to support political regimes and not to find solutions to the economic problems of the society. Design/methodology/approach - Without virtue and the sense of justice, science does not serve wisdom, and scientists are not intellectuals but mere professionals who serve their employers, unknown sometimes. Findings - Scientists and the political regimes acting in common construct the social conscience and ethical values in their society and era. Practical implications - Science does not serve the mankind. Economic science serves capitalism and globalization, economists are calculating the size of economic growth but nobody is responsible for declining welfare and deterioration of environmental conditions. Originality/value - Humanistic education is the only that can provide an ethical code to the society and bring science to the status of wisdom and scientists spiritual leaders of the society. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

The moneyless free time

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to show that nowadays individuals feel helpless to live and to determine how to spend their free time without the existence of money. Design/methodology/approach - The predominant meaning of free time in the days depends upon the vaccination of society with dictated forged needs. The main target is the maintenance of high levels of mass consumption (using even lending if income becomes insufficient), in order high levels of mass production can be preserved. Findings - This type of free time, that the society serves, conceals the low level of the civilization. In real terms, free time means will for education-learning, creation, and sociability. Practical implications - If there are no money, there will be no lack of purchasing power for consumption in their free time, and hence forged needs are collapsing in such conditions. However, in order to confront such situations, people should be educated in the creative use of their free time. Originality/value - The blame, that people cannot even imagine their lives without the use of money, goes to the formal and obligatory educational system that creates brainless individuals. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Early retirement for mothers in Greece

Purpose: Greek social security system has a provision, under which women who have children are entitled to exit the labour force and claim pension benefits after completing 20 years of work and at a fully productive age. The critical issue arising from this regime is that it seems that mothers are rewarded for their nature of being able to give birth to children, which is unfair for the rest of working people. This paper aims to address these issues. Design/methodology/approach: The reward of maternity should be given at the proper time, i.e. by subsidizing mothers to stay at home and breeding their children. For this purpose we set up a cost-benefit analysis in an overlapping generation model in order to compare the present provision with an alternative, under which mothers are subsidized and abstain from the labour market for 15 years. However, this policy could be applied to either gender. Findings: In the model we develop (as alternative) we show that this kind of provision, under certain parameters' values could be to the benefit of the social security system in pure financial terms, beyond the other positive qualitative externalities for the society. Practical/implications: This alternative policy could be proved more efficient in financial and economic terms for the social security system, but it could also influence family programming and increase birth rate. Originality/value: The most valuable result is that children breeding and the occupation of one parent with this task are not deterministically inefficient, or waste of resources, for the economy and the social security system, as many economists (and other social scientists) insist. And on the other hand, breeding of children by their parents is precious for the society since it strengthens family and, through that, social bonds. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Endovascular repair of traumatic thoracic aortic injury: final results from the relay endovascular registry for thoracic disease

Background In blunt thoracic aortic injury, thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) offers a less invasive alternative to open chest surgery. New reliable and accurate stent grafts have widened the endovascular treatment options. We report our experience with the Relay stent graft Bolton Medical, Sunrise, FL; Barcelona, Spain) for treatment of this injury. Methods Relay Endovascular Registry for Thoracic Disease (RESTORE) is a multicenter, prospective European registry, which enrolled patients treated with the Relay stent graft for thoracic aortic diseases from April 2005 to January 2009. Regular follow-up examinations were conducted for up to 24 months. This paper analyzes the cohort of patients treated for traumatic aortic injury. Results Forty adult trauma patients from 12 European centers underwent TEVAR. Mean age was 40 years and 34 patients were male. The proximal landing zone involved aortic arch zones 1 to 2 in 40% and zone 3 in 55% of procedures. Technical success was achieved in all cases. One (2.5%) patient suffered a rupture of the iliac artery. No patient developed procedure-related paraplegia or required conversion to open surgery. Follow-up imaging demonstrated complete exclusion of the traumatic tear and regression of the false aneurysms without endoleak or graft infolding. One late device-related complication was reported; penetration of the distal end of the stent graft treated by stent-graft extension. Thirty-day mortality was 2.5 % (n = 1), and late mortality 2.5% due to a secondary accident. Actuarial 2-year survival was 93.7%. Conclusions Thoracic endovascular aortic repair with the Relay stent graft is a safe and effective treatment for patients with traumatic aortic injury