Economic crisis and youth unemployment: The Greek case

Young people have been hard hit by the crisis and the austerity measures implemented in Greece since 2010. After six years of significant changes in the Greek employment and social system young people face burgeoning difficulties to find quality and well-paid jobs while the proliferation of flexible and insecure jobs has taken an epidemic form. This article presents the labour market reforms implemented in Greece and shows that these reforms have shifted the bargaining power in favor of employers as labour power has become rather cheap, flexible and adaptable. The narrative that flexibilization will assist economic growth and generate quality jobs seems to be fading away since most newly created jobs are temporary, part-time and low-paid. The dismantling of collective agreements and labour laws through which young employees used to guarantee some protection has meant that poverty, insecurity and deprivation have become persistent features of their social existence.

Economic crisis and youth unemployment: The Greek case

Young people have been hard hit by the crisis and the austerity measures implemented in Greece since 2010. After six years of significant changes in the Greek employment and social system young people face burgeoning difficulties to find quality and well-paid jobs while the proliferation of flexible and insecure jobs has taken an epidemic form. This article presents the labour market reforms implemented in Greece and shows that these reforms have shifted the bargaining power in favor of employers as labour power has become rather cheap, flexible and adaptable. The narrative that flexibilization will assist economic growth and generate quality jobs seems to be fading away since most newly created jobs are temporary, part-time and low-paid. The dismantling of collective agreements and labour laws through which young employees used to guarantee some protection has meant that poverty, insecurity and deprivation have become persistent features of their social existence.

Learning liminality : a case of continuing education in Greece

This article addresses the issue of liminality in the making, as manifested by traineeships in the Greek tourism sector. Drawing from ethnographic data collected between 2016 and 2017, we examine the experiences of young trainees in tourism-related enterprises in a national context of mild economic recovery. Our primary focus is on the impact of the selected training scheme as regards both the trainees’ self-image and their perceptions of work, occupation and careers in the tourism sector, the so-called heavy industry of the Greek economy. Our findings suggest that instead of concluding with a meaningful and inspiring career path, the actors learn to live in an inbetween and transient state for long periods of time as they prepare themselves for navigating a deregulated labour market. Through the lens of liminality, we aim at a more complex understanding of the unsettling and disruptive condition that pertains to the threshold position of our informants, of the transient spatio-temporal characteristics of Continuing Education itself, but also aspects of the transformations and transitions that shook up Greek society and economy during the last decad

Report 3: Student Perspectives On RISE Digital Activities (OFS Local Challenge Fund Project)

This report contributes to an evaluation of the sustained impact of the RISE digital projects at Manchester Metropolitan University that focus on developing students’ digital skills, awareness and confidence (part of the OFS funded ‘Graduates for a Greater Manchester’ project). It draws on focus groups and interviews conducted (in March 2021) with students who participated (in summer 2020) in a selection of the development opportunities that were offered as part of the project

Graph Theoretical Analysis of local ultraluminous infrared galaxies and quasars

We present a methodological framework for studying galaxy evolution by utilizing Graph Theory and network analysis tools. We study the evolutionary processes of local ultraluminous infrared galaxies (ULIRGs) and quasars and the underlying physical processes, such as star formation and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity, through the application of Graph Theoretical analysis tools. We extract, process and analyse mid-infrared spectra of local (z < 0.4) ULIRGs and quasars between 5-38 microns through internally developed Python routines, in order to generate similarity graphs, with the nodes representing ULIRGs being grouped together based on the similarity of their spectra. Additionally, we extract and compare physical features from the mid-IR spectra, such as the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) emission and silicate depth absorption features, as indicators of the presence of star-forming regions and obscuring dust, in order to understand the underlying physical mechanisms of each evolutionary stage of ULIRGs. Our analysis identifies five groups of local ULIRGs based on their mid-IR spectra, which is quite consistent with the well established fork classification diagram by providing a higher level classification. We demonstrate how graph clustering algorithms and network analysis tools can be utilized as unsupervised learning techniques for revealing direct or indirect relations between various galaxy properties and evolutionary stages, which provides an alternative methodology to previous works for classification in galaxy evolution. Additionally, our methodology compares the output of several graph clustering algorithms in order to demonstrate the best-performing Graph Theoretical tools for studying galaxy evolution.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Computin

Report 5: Final Evaluation And Assessment – Graduates For A Greater Manchester (OfS Local Challenge Fund Project)

Graduates for a Greater Manchester (GfGM) was a three-year project led by Manchester Metropolitan University Careers Service (in partnership with University of Manchester Careers Service) - one of sixteen funded by the OfS Local Challenge Fund to tackle employability support for ‘local’ students. It sought to develop tech and creative digital skills amongst student participants, and opportunities for them to apply skills and gain recognition for their development, with a view to enhanced employment outcomes. It also sought to develop greater connectivity between participating Universities and local tech and creative digital SME networks and industry/sector bodies in the city region. This final report is the fifth report written by the Decent Work and Productivity Research team and weaves data from a range of sources to make a final assessment and evaluation of the project. It aims to create a summary of value to the Steering group members and the communities they represent. It is written for a wider public audience too who are unfamiliar with project details but are interested in learning from how the project was delivered and what it achieved

PALANTIR demo: leveraging SecaaS model for managing threats in industrial environments

PALANTIR, an EU-funded Innovation Action project, delivers tailored and pervasive resource protection through the Security-as-a-Service paradigm. This demo presents the architecture and validates the prototype against three threat scenarios with botnet, data breach and tampering attacks

Economic crisis and youth unemployment: Comparing Greece and Ireland

Both Greece and Ireland have long suffered high youth unemployment rates and have been pressured to restructure their employment and social systems under the European Employment Strategy. Problems were aggravated by the harsh conditions imposed by the Troika following bail-outs. Yet there was significant divergence in youth employment outcomes between Greece and Ireland despite a convergence of policies. In Ireland, tighter conditionality of benefits and stronger ‘activation’ were already on the agenda of the social actors, so their implementation was not forcefully contested. In Greece, the lack of effective social protection made it difficult for successive governments to build support for flexibilization, and the escalating insecurity of young Greeks and their families gave rise to social unrest and political instability. This contrast leads to a reappraisal of the convergence–divergence debat

Correction to: Two years later: Is the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic still having an impact on emergency surgery? An international cross-sectional survey among WSES members

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is still ongoing and a major challenge for health care services worldwide. In the first WSES COVID-19 emergency surgery survey, a strong negative impact on emergency surgery (ES) had been described already early in the pandemic situation. However, the knowledge is limited about current effects of the pandemic on patient flow through emergency rooms, daily routine and decision making in ES as well as their changes over time during the last two pandemic years. This second WSES COVID-19 emergency surgery survey investigates the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on ES during the course of the pandemic. Methods: A web survey had been distributed to medical specialists in ES during a four-week period from January 2022, investigating the impact of the pandemic on patients and septic diseases both requiring ES, structural problems due to the pandemic and time-to-intervention in ES routine. Results: 367 collaborators from 59 countries responded to the survey. The majority indicated that the pandemic still significantly impacts on treatment and outcome of surgical emergency patients (83.1% and 78.5%, respectively). As reasons, the collaborators reported decreased case load in ES (44.7%), but patients presenting with more prolonged and severe diseases, especially concerning perforated appendicitis (62.1%) and diverticulitis (57.5%). Otherwise, approximately 50% of the participants still observe a delay in time-to-intervention in ES compared with the situation before the pandemic. Relevant causes leading to enlarged time-to-intervention in ES during the pandemic are persistent problems with in-hospital logistics, lacks in medical staff as well as operating room and intensive care capacities during the pandemic. This leads not only to the need for triage or transferring of ES patients to other hospitals, reported by 64.0% and 48.8% of the collaborators, respectively, but also to paradigm shifts in treatment modalities to non-operative approaches reported by 67.3% of the participants, especially in uncomplicated appendicitis, cholecystitis and multiple-recurrent diverticulitis. Conclusions: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic still significantly impacts on care and outcome of patients in ES. Well-known problems with in-hospital logistics are not sufficiently resolved by now; however, medical staff shortages and reduced capacities have been dramatically aggravated over last two pandemic years

Evolving trends in the management of acute appendicitis during COVID-19 waves. The ACIE appy II study

Background: In 2020, ACIE Appy study showed that COVID-19 pandemic heavily affected the management of patients with acute appendicitis (AA) worldwide, with an increased rate of non-operative management (NOM) strategies and a trend toward open surgery due to concern of virus transmission by laparoscopy and controversial recommendations on this issue. The aim of this study was to survey again the same group of surgeons to assess if any difference in management attitudes of AA had occurred in the later stages of the outbreak. Methods: From August 15 to September 30, 2021, an online questionnaire was sent to all 709 participants of the ACIE Appy study. The questionnaire included questions on personal protective equipment (PPE), local policies and screening for SARS-CoV-2 infection, NOM, surgical approach and disease presentations in 2021. The results were compared with the results from the previous study. Results: A total of 476 answers were collected (response rate 67.1%). Screening policies were significatively improved with most patients screened regardless of symptoms (89.5% vs. 37.4%) with PCR and antigenic test as the preferred test (74.1% vs. 26.3%). More patients tested positive before surgery and commercial systems were the preferred ones to filter smoke plumes during laparoscopy. Laparoscopic appendicectomy was the first option in the treatment of AA, with a declined use of NOM. Conclusion: Management of AA has improved in the last waves of pandemic. Increased evidence regarding SARS-COV-2 infection along with a timely healthcare systems response has been translated into tailored attitudes and a better care for patients with AA worldwide