Measurement of efficiency in Greek banking industries in the light of the financial crisis

The main purpose of the present paper is to investigate the impact of the global financial crisis on the efficiency of Greek banks during the period 2008-2010. The DEA model is applied according to input oriented approach in order to measure the technical and the scale efficiency scores of 20 Greek banks. Generally, the results indicate that the global financial crisis did not affect adversely the efficiency of Greek banks during the examined period. The findings suggest a slight increase in technical and scale efficiency scores in 2009 and a decline in technical and scale efficiency scores in 2010.peer-reviewe

Designing Successful Business Strategies for Public Private Partnerships. An ontological approach

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative approach for the strategic design of Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) based on ontology. Design/methodology/approach Adopting a historic approach, it introduces a posteriori knowledge, deriving from the scheme’s stakeholders at the construction and implementation phase of PPPs. Continuous failures of these collaboration schemes and initiatives underline the necessity for a novel project structure. The conceptual argument is based both on empirical and epistemological approach. It integrates the value added of the ontological theory in the PPP/PFI business strategy. Findings The research emphasises contemporary design gaps of their current structure and proposes an ontological redesign. The proposed redesign produces a conceptually innovative scheme, which enhances the value added business strategies and their objectives to the structure of these collaborating schemes. Practical implications The ontological design of this paper is useful for academics and business consultants around the world and especially in Europe for the successful growth and development of such dynamic collaborations. Originality/value Enterprise ontology bridges conceptual and structural gaps of strategic objectives, which are primarily responsible for the failures of PPP collaboration

The Sharing Economy in a Digital Society: Youth Consumer Behavior in Italy

This paper explores sharing economy in Italy, focusing on key socioeconomic characteristics. Adopting an exploratory approach, it analyzes the answers of a questionnaire, created using Google Forms and administered via social networks and emails. To analyze the answers statistical tests and descriptive statistics were used. The survey reveals potential behavioral factors, which influence the participation propensity to sharing economic practices. Results exhibit that the age of the consumer is an impactful participating factor of sharing economy and therefore it seems to be a discriminant. On the contrary, gender and annual income are insignificant determinants. The sample is unbalanced, the majority of the answers were provided by young people. The paper can give a picture of the role and the importance of the sharing economy in Italy. Motivated by its global economic growth that could reach in 2025 the value of 570 billion euros, it contextualizes what drives people to collaborate and share tangible and intangible assets It aims to discover how this digital trend shapes the social fabric of the global economy, providing a broader reflection in terms of future sustainability developments. Ongoing dynamic changes on digital consumer preferences towards sharing products and services provide valuable evidence on their future commercial behavior

Entrepreneurial Behaviour and Organisational Propensity to Innovate in a Public Sector Context

The importance of innovation, in both private and public entrepreneurial fields, is the basis of all companies’ strategic choices. This study examines entrepreneurship and innovation, as well as their dynamic interface in value creation, in the public sector. It explores entrepreneurial determinants for public sector innovation, as collected from managers and employees involved in the water supply and sewage industries in Ukraine. The data, related to a sample of firms, were obtained from a twofold self-administered survey. Adopting an ordered logistic regression model to analyse the data obtained from a survey, it is discovered that the entrepreneurial determinants of self-awareness, knowledge-enabling and entrepreneurial orientation positively correlate with fostering innovation process. The findings reveal that entrepreneurial leadership and intrapreneurial self-efficacy are mediating determinants. Finally, the results demonstrate that intrapreneurial self-efficacy has more potential than entrepreneurial leadership to stimulate innovation at the individual level, which has both theoretical and practical implications

Epidemiologic trends in lung cancer over two decades in Northern Greece: an analysis of bronchoscopic data

Background and Aim. The relative frequency of histological subtypes of lung cancer in Europe has changed dramatically during the 20th century. The aim of this study was to explore the changing epidemiology of lung cancer in Northern Greece over the last two decades. Methods. From the extensive database of the Bronchoscopy Unit of the G. Papanicolaou General Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece, we identified all patients with a histologic and/or cytologic report positive for lung cancer over two consecutive decades. Results. Between 1/1/1986 and 31/12/2005 we identified 9981 patients with specimens positive for lung cancer. A significant increase in mean patient age was observed during the second decade (64.8±9.4 vs. 62.1±8.9, p=0.001). Men developed lung cancer ten times more often than women. The predominant histological type was squamous cell cancer in males (4203 cases, 45.7%) and adenocarcinoma (418 cases, 52.6%) in females. The number of lung cancer cases was significantly higher during the second decade compared to the first decade (5766 cases [57.8%] vs. 4215 cases [42.2%], respectively, p<0.001). There was a significant decrease in the percentage of squamous cell carcinoma in males in the second decade (2317 cases [44.1%] vs. 1886 cases [48.0%], p<0.001), and an increase in adenocarcinoma (1021 cases [19.4%] vs. 609 [11.6%], p<0.001). In females, the relative incidence of adenocarcinoma was decreased and that of squamous cell carcinoma was increased, but not significantly. There was no obvious change in the incidence of small cell lung cancer. Neoplastic lesions were most often located in the upper lobes. Conclusion. The number of lung cancer cases has increased in the last decade. Squamous lung cancer appears to be decreasing in men and increasing in women. Adenocarcinoma appears to be increasing in men and decreasing in women. There appears to be no change in small cell lung cancer. During the second decade there has been a significant decrease in the male: female ratio

A Semi-Distributed Electric Demand-Side Management System with PV Generation for Self-Consumption Enhancement

This paper presents the operation of an Electrical Demand-Side Management (EDSM) system in a real solar house. The use of EDSM is one of the most important action lines to improve the grid electrical efficiency. The combination between the EDSM and the PV generation performs a new control level in the local electric behavior and allows new energy possibilities. The solar house used as test-bed for the EDSM system owns a PV generator, a lead-acid battery storage system and a grid connection. The electrical appliances are controllable from an embedded computer. The EDSM is implemented by a control system which schedules the tasks commanded by the user. By using the control system, we define the house energy policy and improve the energy behavior with regard to a selected energy criterion, self-consumption. The EDSM system favors self-consumption with regard to a standard user behavior and reduces the energy load from the grid

PV self-consumption optimization with storage and Active DSM for the residential sector

With the rising prices of the retail electricity and the decreasing cost of the PV technology, grid parity with commercial electricity will soon become a reality in Europe. This fact, together with less attractive PV feed-in-tariffs in the near future and incentives to promote self-consumption suggest, that new operation modes for the PV Distributed Generation should be explored; differently from the traditional approach which is only based on maximizing the exported electricity to the grid. The smart metering is experiencing a growth in Europe and the United States but the possibilities of its use are still uncertain, in our system we propose their use to manage the storage and to allow the user to know their electrical power and energy balances. The ADSM has many benefits studied previously but also it has important challenges, in this paper we can observe and ADSM implementation example where we propose a solution to these challenges. In this paper we study the effects of the Active Demand-Side Management (ADSM) and storage systems in the amount of consumed local electrical energy. It has been developed on a prototype of a self-sufficient solar house called “MagicBox” equipped with grid connection, PV generation, lead–acid batteries, controllable appliances and smart metering. We carried out simulations for long-time experiments (yearly studies) and real measures for short and mid-time experiments (daily and weekly studies). Results show the relationship between the electricity flows and the storage capacity, which is not linear and becomes an important design criterion

Neural network controller for active demand side management with PV energy in the residential sector

In this paper, we describe the development of a control system for Demand-Side Management in the residential sector with Distributed Generation. The electrical system under study incorporates local PV energy generation, an electricity storage system, connection to the grid and a home automation system. The distributed control system is composed of two modules: a scheduler and a coordinator, both implemented with neural networks. The control system enhances the local energy performance, scheduling the tasks demanded by the user and maximizing the use of local generation

Integrating Multiple Biomarkers of Fish Health: A Case Study of Fish Health in Ports

Biomarkers of fish health are recognised as valuable biomonitoring tools that inform on the impact of pollution on biota. The integration of a suite of biomarkers in a statistical analysis that better illustrates the effects of exposure to xenobiotics on living organisms is most informative; however, most published ecotoxicological studies base the interpretation of results on individual biomarkers rather than on the information they carry as a set. To compare the interpretation of results from individual biomarkers with an interpretation based on multivariate analysis, a case study was selected where fish health was examined in two species of fish captured in two ports located in Western Australia. The suite of variables selected included chemical analysis of white muscle, body condition index, liver somatic index (LSI), hepatic ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity, serum sorbitol dehydrogenase activity, biliary polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites, oxidative DNA damage as measured by serum 8-oxo-dG, and stress protein HSP70 measured on gill tissue. Statistical analysis of individual biomarkers suggested little consistent evidence of the effects of contaminants on fish health. However, when biomarkers were integrated as a set by principal component analysis, there was evidence that the health status of fish in Fremantle port was compromised mainly due to increased LSI and greater oxidative DNA damage in fish captured within the port area relative to fish captured at a remote site. The conclusions achieved using the integrated set of biomarkers show the importance of viewing biomarkers of fish health as a set of variables rather than as isolated biomarkers of fish health

The breakthrough listen search for intelligent life: 1.1–1.9 GHz observations of 692 nearby stars

We report on a search for engineered signals from a sample of 692 nearby stars using the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope, undertaken as part of the Breakthrough Listen Initiative search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Observations were made over 1.1−1.9 GHz (L band), with three sets of five-minute observations of the 692 primary targets, interspersed with five-minute observations of secondary targets. By comparing the “ON” and “OFF” observations we are able to identify terrestrial interference and place limits on the presence of engineered signals from putative extraterrestrial civilizations inhabiting the environs of the target stars. During the analysis, eleven events passed our thresholding algorithm, but a detailed analysis of their properties indicates they are consistent with known examples of anthropogenic radio frequency interference. We conclude that, at the time of our observations, none of the observed systems host high-duty-cycle radio transmitters emitting between 1.1 and 1.9 GHz with an Equivalent Isotropic Radiated Power of ∼ 1013 W, which is readily achievable by our own civilization. Our results suggest that fewer than ∼ 0.1% of the stellar systems within 50 pc possess the type of transmitters searched in this survey