An evaluation of websites quality factors in agro travel and ecotourism

Tourism is an information intensive industry and as a service industry, information is the most significant quality factor for the industry. E-tourism is part of electronic trade that includes the fastest developing technologies that assist to the hospitality and tourism strategic planning and management. The aim of this paper is to analyze and compare the quality of 3 Internet sites and detecting their strong and weak points by analyzing quality into its constituent dimensions. Research was carried out by personal interviews and via electronic mails to a sample of 413 persons and internet users, out of which 157 responded. Statistical analysis included simple and multiple comparisons ANOVA and t-tests. Research detected some medium quality ratings, as well as, some more positive evaluations of certain individual factors. The Internet sites that collected the highest ratings are Agrotravel (5.32), Guest inn (5.08) and Ecotourism (4.26). Elements considered important in all three web portals are the lack of interaction facilities and conversation sections and personalized options with user personal accounts. Emphasis must be paid on the design, information, interaction and overall quality of a web site

Soil-structure interaction effects in analysis of seismic fragility of bridges using an intensity-based ground motion selection procedure

The paper focuses on the effects of Soil-Structure Interaction (SSI) in seismic fragility analysis of reinforced concrete (RC) bridges, considering the vulnerability of multiple critical components of the bridge and different modelling approaches for soil-foundation and bridge-embankment interactions. A two-step procedure, based on the introduction of springs and dashpots at the pier foundations and the abutment to account for inertial and kinematic SSI effects, is incorporated into a component-based methodology for the derivation of bridge-specific fragility curves. The proposed methodology is applied for quantifying the fragility of a typical highway overpass at both the component and system level, while the effect of alternative procedures (of varying complexity) for modelling foundation and abutment boundary conditions is critically assessed. The rigorous SSI modelling method is compared with simpler methods and the results show that consideration of SSI may only slightly affect the probability of system failure, depending on the modelling assumptions made. However, soil-structure interaction may have a notable effect on component fragility, especially for the more critical damage states. This is an observation that is commonly overlooked when assessing the structural performance at the system level and can be particularly important when component fragility is an issue, e.g. when designing a retrofit scheme

Inappropriate Management of Asymptomatic Patients With Positive Urine Cultures: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract Background: Mismanagement of asymptomatic patients with positive urine cultures (referred to as asymptomatic bacteriuria [ASB] in the literature) promotes antimicrobial resistance and results in unnecessary antimicrobial-related adverse events and increased health care costs. Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that reported on the rate of inappropriate ASB treatment published from 2004 to August 2016. The appropriateness of antimicrobial administration was based on guidelines published by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. Results: A total of 2142 nonduplicate articles were identified, and among them 30 fulfilled our inclusion criteria. The pooled prevalence of antimicrobial treatment among 4129 cases who did not require treatment was 45% (95% CI, 39–50). Isolation of gram-negative pathogens (odds ratio [OR], 3.58; 95% CI, 2.12–6.06), pyuria (OR, 2.83; 95% CI, 1.9–4.22), nitrite positivity (OR, 3.83; 95% CI, 2.24–6.54), and female sex (OR, 2.11; 95% CI, 1.46–3.06) increased the odds of receiving treatment. The rates of treatment were higher in studies with ≥100 000 cfu/mL cutoff values compared with <10 000 cfu/mL for bacterial growth (P, .011). The implementation of educational and organizational interventions designed to eliminate the overtreatment of ASB resulted in a median absolute risk reduction of 33% (rangeARR, 16–36%, medianRRR, 53%; rangeRRR, 25–80%). Conclusion: The mismanagement of ASB remains extremely frequent. Female sex and the overinterpretation of certain laboratory data (positive nitrites, pyuria, isolation of gram-negative bacteria and cultures with higher microbial count) are associated with overtreatment. Even simple stewardship interventions can be particularly effective, and antimicrobial stewardship programs should focus on the challenge of differentiating true urinary tract infection from ASB

Bevacizumab-associated sudden onset of multiple monomorphic comedones on the scalp successfully treated with 30% salicylic acid peels.

Bevacizumab is a humanized monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial factor (VEGF) that targets tumor cell angiogenesis and proliferation. Although it is usually well tolerated, many side-effects have been reported. These include hypertension, bleeding, and thromboembolic events among others. Drug-associated cutaneous adverse effects are less common and include itching, exfoliative dermatitis, and acneiform eruptions. A man with bevacizumab-associated monomorphic skin eruption successfully was treated with 30% salicylic acid peels. To the author’s knowledge, this is the first report of open comedones with no further inflammatory acne lesions that developed in a patient treated with bevacizumab. Complete remission of the rash was achieved after performing 30% salicylic peels, and the patient continued the chemotherapy as planned with no need of either dose reduction or discontinuation of bevacizumab. </p

Η ποιητική του νεοελληνικού λαϊκού παραμυθιού. Παραμυθιακοί τύποι και μοτίβα σε κείμενα νεοελληνικής λογοτεχνίας

Η παρούσα εργασία επιχειρεί να πραγματευθεί την ποιητική του νεοελληνικού λαϊκού παραμυθιού ως είδους της λαϊκής λογοτεχνικής δημιουργίας, καθώς συνιστά αντικείμενο μελέτης λαογραφικών, φιλολογικών ανθρωπολογικών αλλά και ψυχολογικών και παιδαγωγικών ερευνών. Εκκινώντας από την προέλευση της παραμυθιακής αφήγησης και της σχέσης της με τον μύθο γίνεται αντιληπτή η παράλληλη πορεία τους μέχρι και σήμερα, καθώς μύθος και παραμύθι εξακολουθούν να αναπαράγονται ακολουθώντας τις εκάστοτε κοινωνικές μεταβολές. Μέσα σε αυτά τα πλαίσια, εξετάζεται η εξελικτική πορεία του στο χρόνο, οι ποιητολογικές αλλά και οι ειδολογικές συμβάσεις που το καθιστούν λογοτέχνημα. Γίνεται επίσης προσπάθεια να διερευνηθεί το ζήτημα της προφορικότητας και της εγγραμματοσύνης, της λογοτεχνικότητας και της αισθητικής του λαϊκού παραμυθιού, χωρίς να παραλείπουμε να αναφερθούμε τόσο σε θέματα που αφορούν στα δομικά στοιχεία του παραμυθιού όπως είναι το «θέμα» και το «μοτίβο», τα μορφολογικά του στοιχεία, η λειτουργία των δρώντων προσώπων, όσο και σε θέματα που αφορούν στα είδη και την ταξινόμηση του λαϊκού παραμυθιού. Η σχέση της λογοτεχνίας με τη λαογραφία, τον μύθο και την παράδοση προσεγγίζονται μέσα από τις διακειμενικές σχέσεις της προφορικότητας του λαϊκού παραμυθιού με συγγραφείς και κείμενα της νεοελληνικής λογοτεχνίας, όπου εγγράφονται τύποι και μοτίβα της παραμυθιακής αφήγησης. Σε αυτό το σημείο οφείλουμε να σημειώσουμε ότι η αναφορά σε συγκεκριμένους λογοτέχνες και είδη είναι ενδεικτικά και περιλαμβάνει διαφορετικές λογοτεχνικές γενιές και λογοτεχνικά είδη και δεν αποτελεί συστηματική διερεύνηση, μιας συγκεκριμένης περιόδου ή ενός λογοτέχνη, κάτι που θα μπορούσε να αποτελέσει πεδίο μελλοντικής έρευνας.The present dissertation attempts to deal with the poetics of the modern Greek folk tale as a kind of popular literary creation, since it constitutes the subject of study of folklore, philological, anthropological but also psychological and pedagogical research. Taking as starting point the origin of the fairy tale narration and its relationship with the myth, it is clearly understood that they have a parallel course until today, as myth and fairy tale continue to be reproduced following the respective social changes. In this context, its evolutionary course over time is examined, as well as the poetic and ideological conventions that make it a literary work. Efforts are also being made to explore the issue of orality and literacy of the literature and aesthetics of the folk tale, without failing to refer to issues related to the structural elements of the fairy tale such as the &quot;theme&quot; and the &quot;motif&quot;, its morphological elements, the function of the characters, as well as to issues concerning the species and the classification of the folk tale. The relation of literature with folklore, myth and tradition is approached through the intertextual relations of the orality of the folk tale with authors and texts of modern Greek literature, where types and motifs of the fairy tale narration are recorded. At this point we should note that the reference to specific writers and genres is indicative and includes different literary generations and literary genres and is not a systematic investigation of a particular period or author, which could be a field of future research