Public Awareness Concerning the Multifunctionality of Cypriot Agriculture

AbstractAgriculture's multifunctionality constitutes a core dimension in the design of rural development policies of the European Union, recently reformed through the introduction of Reg. EC/1305/2013. Within a generalized rural development context, agriculture plays numerous roles; in Cyprus three sectors other than the production of food and fiber are particularly affected: the environment, including the management of water reserves as water is the scarcest resource on the island and irrigation accounts for more than 70% of the total water consumption, rural amenities, through the protection of the agricultural cultural heritage and the livelihood of rural areas, and the continuation of the farming profession, which is endowed with non-use values. This study presents the findings of a survey regarding the degree to which Cypriots are interested in the aspects of life on the island which are affected by the multifunctional character of agriculture. Using Likert-scale questions, 300 respondents were interviewed concerning their opinions and attitudes towards four of these aspects: environmental quality, management of water resources, rural amenities and the maintenance of the farming profession. The analysis indicates that Cypriots are aware of the roles that agriculture plays. Then, in order to examine the validity of this conceptual framework of multifunctionality, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was employed. The results of the CFA revealed that Cypriots incorporate these four aspects within the same framework, thus understanding the distinct effects of multifunctionality on their everyday life. The results of this study can be used in the implementation of Reg. EC/1305/2013, as they reflect public preferences concerning the orientation of agriculture

Dairy Farmers’ Strategies against the Crisis and the Economic Performance of Farms

AbstractDairy farming in Greece constitutes a particular case of livestock farming, because of its highly entrepreneurial nature. The modern Greek dairy cattle farming is predominantly based in Northern Greece, where more than 80% of Greek cow milk is produced. Since the 2000's the dairy cattle sector is characterized by a rapid increase in the mean size of farms, which permits them to undertake investments in machinery and buildings and to have access to improved genetic material for the achievement of higher productivity. Nevertheless, this development renders dairy farms vulnerable to volatile economic conditions, as they are heavily dependent on capital endowments. The main purpose of this study is to examine the consequences of the economic crisis on the dairy cattle sector and the strategies undertaken by farmers to cope with it. The analysis is based on data from a questionnaire survey of farmers in Northern Greece. Strategies undertaken by dairy farmers in order to face the crisis and to ensure the survival of their businesses are recorded through a set of Likert-scale questions. Technical and economic data are also analyzed in order to examine the economic performance of farms, revealing that the sampled dairy farms are viable, with satisfactory economic results, with capital returns of 6.2% annually. Based on the Likert-scale data, dairy farmers adopt active strategies to face the crisis, by undertaking investments and augmenting their farm sizes, while they deem that the crisis does not have catastrophic results on the profitability of their farms. On the other hand, strategies which entail less expenses and/or diminished productivity are unpopular among dairy farmers. Finally, the vast majority of respondents claim to have seen negative consequences on their farms from the recent measures concerning the prolongation of the duration of fresh milk in retail markets: lower quality, increased vulnerability to international competition, shrinking dairy sector

Analysis of the volatile organic compound fingerprint of Greek grape marc spirits of various origins and traditional production styles

The most well-known traditional Greek grape marc distillate made from winemaking pomace is called “Tsipouro”. Its production involves various grape pomace cultivars, preparation protocols, and anise-flavoring or not, and it should be a colorless liquid with intense organoleptic properties due to the raw materials used in its production and have a minimum alcoholic strength of 37.5% by volume. This study aimed to characterize the volatilome of tsipouro products by covering as many geographical areas and production styles as possible, as there is a lack of characterization of the aromatic composition of this Greek traditional alcoholic beverage. A Headspace Solid Phase Microextraction Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC-MS) method was applied in 60 samples, resulting in the identification and semi-quantification of over 90 volatile compounds. The statistical analysis pointed out the metabolites that characterized each traditional product group and underlined the influence of the geographical origin and the production protocol. Aniseed spirits from Northern Greece, Macedonia, Limnos Island, and Thessaly, produced from Muscat pomaces, were found to be richer in terpenes, terpenoids, and flavored compounds, attributing to product aroma and quality; different terpenoids were found to be dominant in Muscat distillates from different regions, showing the importance of geographical origin and production process. In conclusion, the results demonstrated the high aroma variability of the Greek Tsipouro, explained that this diversity is caused mainly by the raw material, and could be helpful in the better protection of the origin of this traditional product and the improvement of its qualit

Sustainability assessment of goat and sheep farms: a comparison between European countries

European sheep and goat farming faces diverse challenges at global or local scales and constitutes an important sector for many countries, playing important sociocultural, economic and environmental roles. A closer examination of the overall sustainability of the sector is necessary to assess the performance of different farm types in various geographical settings. This comparative study evaluates the use of a common sustainability assessment (SA) tool for the major European countries in the sheep and goat sector. In particular, the study reports the results of a SA using the Public Goods (PG) Tool, adapted within the Innovation for Sustainable Sheep and Goat Production in Europe (iSAGE) Horizon 2020 project, which includes questions accounting for 13 dimensions of a sheep and goat farm sustainability. In total, 206 farmers from Greece, Italy, Spain, Finland, United Kingdom, France and Turkey were interviewed, all of which were typical of specific types of a pan-European sheep and goat farm typologies elaborated within iSAGE. The study resulted in composite indicators of performance in each dimension for each country. Finland, Italy and the United Kingdom performed better than other countries, while Turkey and Greece performed below average in most categories. The results highlight challenges for each country but also at the European level, the latter mainly relating to generational renewal and an unwillingness to invest in the adoption of a more sustainable approach with long-term results.</jats:p

Modulation der Migration dendritischer Zellen durch Herpes simplex Virus Typ 1

Rapid migration of leukocytes as well as their spatial and temporal coordinated interactions within distinct environments is pivotal for the initiation of both, innate and adaptive immune responses. Because dendritic cells (DCs) are uniquely able to activate naïve T cells they play a key role in the induction and orchestration of adaptive immunity. By sampling antigens in all tissues and transporting them to secondary lymphoid organs, DCs project the immunological status of the periphery to areas of high lymphocyte density and provide highly efficient activation of T and B cells. To fulfill this task, maturing DCs migrate chemotactically from peripheral tissues to draining lymph nodes where they present the processed antigens together with co-stimulatory signals. Accordingly, their migration from the sites of infection to the sites of effector cell activation is a prerequisite for the induction of adaptive immune responses. Cells migrating in an amoeboid manner such as DCs normally form only short-lived contacts to the substrate, thereby allowing rapid locomotion. Contrarily, strong adhesion inversely correlates with cell motility. This study describes a new viral immune-evasion mechanism targeting DC migration: herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) increases the adhesion of infected DCs to integrin ligands through the constitutive activation of LFA-1 and thus impairs their motility. This is performed by the activation of phosphoinositid 3-kinase (PI3K) together with the concomitant degradation of the cytohesin-interacting protein (CYTIP). PI3K activity leads to the augmented production of membrane-bound phosphatidylinositol trisphosphate, which recruits cytohesin-1 to the plasmamembrane where it interacts with CD18 and activates it. Moreover, the degradation of CYTIP withdraws the negative regulator of this cytohesin-1-mediated beta 2 integrin activation. Without CYTIP the PI3K-induced membrane localization of cytohesin-1 could not be reverted, thus resulting in permanent beta 2 integrin activation and ultimately adhesive arrest that immobilizes DCs. By the inhibition of migration HSV-1 interferes with the hallmark of DC biology, i.e. the ability to activate T cells in secondary lymphoid organs. Additionally, HSV-1 might directly impair T cell activation through prolonged DC/T cell contact and defective T cell detachment.Sowohl die schnelle Migration von Leukozyten als auch ihre räumlich und zeitlich koordinierten Interaktionen innerhalb verschiedener Umgebungen sind entscheidend für die Auslösung angeborener und adaptiver Immunantworten. Da dendritische Zellen (DZ) die einzigartige Fähigkeit besitzen naive T Zellen aktivieren zu können, spielen sie eine Schlüsselrolle bei der Induktion und Steuerung der adaptiven Immunität. Durch die Aufnahme von Antigenen in allen Geweben und deren Transport in sekundäre lymphatische Organe übermitteln DZ den immunologischen Status der Peripherie in Bereiche hoher Lymphozytendichte und ermöglichen somit die effiziente Aktivierung von T und B Zellen. Dazu migrieren reifende DZ chemotaktisch aus peripheren Geweben in drainierende Lymphknoten, wo sie die prozessierten Antigene gemeinsam mit kostimulatorischen Molekülen präsentieren. Demzufolge ist ihre Migration von den Orten der Infektion zu den Orten der Effektorzell-Aktivierung eine Grundvoraussetzung für die Induktion adaptiver Immunantworten. Amöboid migrierende Zellen, wie z.B. DZ, bilden normalerweise nur kurzlebige Kontakte zum Substrat aus, was eine schnelle Migration ermöglicht. Im Gegensatz dazu korreliert eine starke Adhäsion negativ mit der Zellbeweglichkeit. Diese Arbeit beschreibt einen neuen viralen Mechanismus, welcher auf die DZ Migration abzielt: Herpes simplex Virus Typ 1 (HSV-1) steigert die Adhäsion infizierter DZ an Integrin-Liganden durch die konstitutive Aktivierung von LFA-1 und behindert damit ihre Beweglichkeit. Dies wird durch die Aktivierung der Phosphoinositid 3-Kinase (PI3K) gemeinsam mit der gleichzeitigen Degradation des cytohesin-interacting protein (CYTIP) erreicht. Die PI3K-Aktivität führt zur vermehrten Produktion von membrangebundenen Phosphatidylinositol- trisphosphaten, welche cytohesin-1 an die Plasmamembran rekrutieren wo es mit CD18 interagiert und selbiges aktiviert. Überdies entzieht die Degradation von CYTIP den negativen Regulator dieser beta 2 Integrin Aktivierung. Ohne CYTIP kann die PI3K-induzierte Membranlokalisation von cytohesin-1 nicht rückgängig gemacht werden, was in der permanenten beta 2 Integrin Aktivierung und letztlich dem adhäsiven Arrest und der Immobilisierung der DZ resultiert. Durch die Inhibition der Migration beeinträchtigt HSV-1 eine zentrale Funktion der DZ, d.h. die Fähigkeit T Zellen in sekundären lymphatischen Organen zu aktivieren. Durch die Verlängerung des DZ/T Zell Kontakts und ein gestörtes Ablösen der T Zellen könnte HSV-1 möglicherweise auch direkt die T Zell Aktivierung verringern

Effects of the common agricultural policy on dairy sector

Dairy sector is an important sector of agriculture and national economy in general. The agricultural policy in force, with intense elements of protectionism and interventionism in the dairy market, affects decisively the structure as well as the technical and economic characteristics of the sector. With the establishment of the “superlevy” regime, best known as the milk quota regime and especially after the 1992 policy reform, essential changes have been occurred in the structure and the organization of the dairy sector. With the 2003 reform the milk quota regime remained, while most of the direct payments have been replaced by the single farm payment regime. The results of the policy in force are evaluated through an extensive economic analysis, by applying both parametric and non parametric methods on a sample of 165 dairy farms. Based on primary data the existing structure of the sector is described, indicating the impact of the policy in force after 1992. The impact of the new reformed policy on the main technical and economic indices of the sector and the structural adjustments that are expected to result is investigated using mathematical programming. Within this framework the divergence of the structure of the sector from the structure that utilizes optimal the existing technology of production is investigated, while simultaneously, the level of technical efficiency of the dairy farms and its contribution to the improvement of productivity is estimated using SFA and DEA methods. The main results indicate that mainly the medium and large size farms are favored with the adjustment of the sector to the regulations of the new policy, while the small farms are decreased. The weaknesses that exist in the organization of the sector and particularly in the organization of the capital are indicated, while it results that the productivity of the sector is improved by the increase of the number of the cows per farm and the yield per cow. Positive relation is occurred between technical efficiency and farm size.Η γαλακτοπαραγωγός αγελαδοτροφία αποτελεί σημαντικό κλάδο της γεωργίας και γενικότερα της εθνικής οικονομίας της χώρας. Η ασκούμενη αγροτική πολιτική, με έντονα στοιχεία προστασίας και παρεμβατισμού στην αγορά των γαλακτοκομικών προϊόντων, επηρεάζει καθοριστικά τη διάρθρωση και τα τεχνικοοικονομικά χαρακτηριστικά του κλάδου. Με τη θέσπιση του καθεστώτος της ?υπερεισφοράς? το 1984, γνωστό ως καθεστώς των ποσοστώσεων, αλλά κυρίως με την αναθεώρηση της πολιτικής το 1992, σημειώθηκαν ουσιαστικές αλλαγές στη διάρθρωση και στην οργάνωση του κλάδου της γαλακτοπαραγωγού αγελαδοτροφίας. Με την ενδιάμεση αναθεώρηση του 2003 το καθεστώς των ποσοστώσεων γάλακτος διατηρείται, ενώ οι περισσότερες από τις άμεσες ενισχύσεις αντικαθίστανται από ένα καθεστώς ενιαίας ενίσχυσης. Τα αποτελέσματα της ασκούμενης πολιτικής στη γαλακτοπαραγωγό αγελαδοτροφία αξιολογούνται μέσα από μία εκτεταμένη οικονομική ανάλυση, με την εφαρμογή παραμετρικών και μη παραμετρικών μεθόδων. Με βάση πρωτογενή δεδομένα 165 εκμεταλλεύσεων περιγράφεται η υφιστάμενη διάρθρωση του κλάδου υποδεικνύοντας έμμεσα τα αποτελέσματα της πολιτικής που ασκήθηκε μετά το 1992. Με την εφαρμογή μαθηματικού προγραμματισμού διερευνώνται τα αποτελέσματα των ρυθμίσεων της νέας αναθεωρημένης πολιτικήςστα κύρια τεχνικά και οικονομικά μεγέθη του κλάδου και οι διαρθρωτικές προσαρμογές που αναμένεται ότι θα προκύψουν. Στα πλαίσια αυτά, διερευνάται η απόκλιση της διάρθρωσης του κλάδου από τη διάρθρωση της πλήρους αξιοποίησης της υφιστάμενης τεχνολογίας παραγωγής, ενώ συγχρόνως με τη χρήση των μεθόδων SFA και DEA εκτιμάται το επίπεδο τεχνικής αποτελεσματικότητας των αγελαδοτροφικών εκμεταλλεύσεων και προσδιορίζεται η σχετική συνεισφορά αυτής στη βελτίωση της παραγωγικότητάς τους. Από τα κύρια αποτελέσματα προκύπτει ότι με την προσαρμογή του κλάδου στις ρυθμίσεις της νέας πολιτικής ενισχύονται κυρίως οι μεσαίου και μεγάλου μεγέθους εκμεταλλεύσεις και μειώνονται οι μικρές. Υποδεικνύονται οι αδυναμίες που υπάρχουν στην οργάνωση του κλάδου και ιδιαίτερα στην οργάνωση του κεφαλαίου, ενώ προκύπτει βελτίωση της οικονομικότητας του κλάδου με αύξηση του αριθμού των αγελάδων ανά εκμετάλλευση και των αποδόσεων σε γάλα. Θετική σχέση διαπιστώνεται ότι υπάρχει μεταξύ μεγέθους και τεχνικής αποτελεσματικότητας

Efficiency and Productivity Change in the Greek Dairy Industry

The objective of this paper is to measure the efficiency and the productivity change of Greek dairy firms, using non parametric approaches. This assessment is being achieved by the computation of the CRS and the VRS DEA models, the context dependent DEA approach and finally, the evolution of the Malmquist productivity index. These empirical analyses are based on data from 29 Greek dairy firms. This implementation provided helpful information regarding the efficiency ranking of the firms that operate in the Greek dairy industry. Findings that inefficient firms are over-invested and overexposed to high risk operation practices provide suggestions for future reparative actions in order to improve efficiency. This goal does not require radial effort from firms to achieve intermediate targets. Finally, stagnated mean efficiency change does not imply stagnated efficiency change for individual firms, but it is the outcome of a large variance of efficiency change scores being achieved by dairy firms from period to period

Modelling of Cerebral Aneurysm

109 σ.Τα τελευταία δέκα χρόνια, η πρόοδος των τεχνολογιών της ιατρικής απεικόνισης εγκεφαλικών ανευρυσμάτων συνέπεσε με εκείνη των τεχνικών υπολογιστικής ρευστοδυναμικής. Η δημιουργία υπολογιστικών μοντέλων με ακριβή γεωμετρικά και μηχανοβιολογικά χαρακτηριστικά είναι μια φθηνή και αποτελεσματική μέθοδος μελέτης των ανευρυσμάτων, με πολλά υποσχόμενες εφαρμο- γές στην κλινική πράξη. Στη συγκεκριμένη εργασία έγινε μια ανασκόπηση των σύγχρονων μεθό- δων μοντελοποίησης των ανευρυσμάτων που εντοπίζονται στη σύγχρονη βιβλιογραφία. Οι μέθοδοι παρουσιάζονται σε κατηγορίες βάσει του αντικειμένου μελέτης τους και των τεχνικών που χρησι- μοποιούνται σε αυτές. Επιπλέον, εφαρμόστηκαν τεχνικές υπολογιστικής μηχανικής ρευστών για την μοντελοποίηση ενός ανευρύσματος πρόσθιας αναστομωτικής αρτηρίας με σκοπό την ανάδειξη των αιμοδυναμι- κών χαρακτηριστικών ενός ανευρύσματος στη συγκεκριμένη περιοχή. Έγινε επίσης σύγκριση των αιμοδυναμικών παραμέτρων για δύο τύπους ροής εισόδου: της μεταβαλλόμενης, χρησιμοποιώ- ντας δεδομένα από Διακρανιακό Υπέρηχο στην πρόσθια εγκεφαλική αρτηρία, και της σταθερής χρησιμοποιώντας τη μέση ταχύτητα για ένα καρδιακό κύκλο. Στη συνέχεια συγκρίθηκαν τα απο- τελέσματα των δύο μεθόδων και διερευνήθηκε η πιθανότητα χρήσης του μοντέλου της σταθερής ροής εισόδου, ως μια πιο απλή και γρήγορη μέθοδο μελέτης των ανευρυσμάτων.During the last decade, there has been a convergence of the aneurysm imaging technologies and the computational fluid dynamics techniques. The creation of computational models with precise geometrical and biomechanical characteristics has been proven to be a cost effective and efficient method for the study of cerebral aneurysms, having, at the same time, very promising applications in the medical field. A review of the current CFD modeling methods for cerebral aneurysms has been made in this thesis, and presented to the reader in categories, with respect to the techniques applied and the purpose of each method. Furthermore, a model of an aneurysm of the anterior cerebral artery was created and studied using CFD. The study used two types of inflow boundary condition, a transient flow using data from a transcranial Doppler sonography at the anterior cerebral artery and a steady flow, using the time-averaged value of the previous data, during the cardiac cycle. Then the results of the two studies are compared and the possibility of using the steady flow model as a simpler and faster study method was discussed.Αλέξανδρος Μ. Θεοδωρίδη

A gaussian groundplan projection area model for evolving probabilistic classifiers

In this paper, an investigation of evolvable probabilistic classifiers is conducted, along with a thorough comparison between a classical Gaussian distance model, and the induction of Gaussian-to-circle projection model. The newly introduced model refers to a distance fitness measure, based on the projection of Gaussian distributions with geometric circles. The projection architecture aims to model and classify physical aggressive behaviours, by using biomechanical primitives. The primitives are being used to model the dynamics of the aggressive activities, by evolving biome-chanical classifiers, which can discriminate between three behaviours and six actions. Both evolutionary models have shown strong discrimination performances on recognising the individual actions of each behaviour. From the comparison, the proposed model outperformed the classical one with three ensemble programs. Copyright 2011 ACM

Alternative Approaches of Summer Milk Sales from Transhumant Sheep and Goat Farms: A Case Study from Northern Greece

Sheep and goat transhumance provides a wide range of ecosystem services (ES). Transhumance-specific dairy products could function as a nexus between the system and the public, incorporating ES which are not remunerated in markets, but in Greece, there are actually no such dairy products. Within this context, the objective of this paper was to present a case study regarding a comparative assessment of three different approaches (supply chains) in milk sales from transhumant farms. The first involved production of cheese on-farm and direct sales to consumers. In the second approach, farmers sold their milk to the same industry throughout the year, where it was mixed with milk from non-transhumant farms. The third approach concerned cheese produced solely from milk of transhumant flocks in a small dairy in the highlands. An assessment framework was developed examining the perceived quality; economic performance of farms; compatibility and; representativeness and contribution of each approach. Based on five in-depth interviews with farmers and dairies, it was found that a combination of the three approaches would be beneficial for farms&mdash;to decrease risks&mdash;and for the system as a whole, in order to convey the &lsquo;agro-pastoral message&rsquo; to wider audiences and to increase the recognisability of transhumance. In addition, the analysis showed that the economic performance of each approach was related more to managerial issues and organizational requirements rather than to the achievement of higher prices and more added value in the first and third approach