Modeling and forecasting the covid-19 temporal spread in Greece: An exploratory approach based on complex network defined splines

Within the complex framework of anti-COVID-19 health management, where the criteria of diagnostic testing, the availability of public-health resources and services, and the applied anti-COVID-19 policies vary between countries, the reliability and accuracy in the modeling of temporal spread can prove to be effective in the worldwide fight against the disease. This paper applies an exploratory time-series analysis to the evolution of the disease in Greece, which currently suggests a success story of COVID-19 management. The proposed method builds on a recent conceptualization of detecting connective communities in a time-series and develops a novel spline regression model where the knot vector is determined by the community detection in the complex network. Overall, the study contributes to the COVID-19 research by proposing a free of disconnected past-data and reliable framework of forecasting, which can facilitate decision-making and management of the available health resources. © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Mapping the topology of the air transport network in Turkey

Recent technological and philosophical research has revealed that almost everything around us is heavily dependent on network-based complexities. Airport network topologies are complex networks and their analyses are crucial regarding the fact that the evolution of airport network topology influences the economic growth of regions and countries. An equal population cartogram is derived displaying the distortion of the air transport network of Turkey in accordance with the uneven distribution of passengers. The regions between İstanbul, Ankara, İzmir, and Antalya are shrunk by the force of higher population concentration. The shrinkage across the eastern regions is less than that in the western regions; still, the distortion of the regions is dominated by particular regional hubs. © The Author(s) 2019

Pandemic analytics by advanced machine learning for improved decision making of COVID-19 crisis

With the advent of the first pandemic wave of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), the question arises as to whether the spread of the virus will be controlled by the application of preventive measures or will follow a different course, regardless of the pattern of spread already recorded. These conditions caused by the unprecedented pandemic have highlighted the importance of reliable data from official sources, their complete recording and analysis, and accurate investigation of epidemiological indicators in almost real time. There is an ongoing research demand for reliable and effective modeling of the disease but also the formulation of substantiated views to make optimal decisions for the design of preventive or repressive measures by those responsible for the implementation of policy in favor of the protection of public health. The main objective of the study is to present an innovative data-analysis system of COVID-19 disease progression in Greece and her border countries by real-time statistics about the epidemiological indicators. This system utilizes visualized data produced by an automated information system developed during the study, which is based on the analysis of large pandemic-related datasets, making extensive use of advanced machine learning methods. Finally, the aim is to support with up-to-date technological means optimal decisions in almost real time as well as the development of medium-term forecast of disease progression, thus assisting the competent bodies in taking appropriate measures for the effective management of the available health resources. © 2021 by the authors

Tourism and Destination Branding: The Case of Greek Islands

Tourism is undoubtedly one of the most important areas of the Greek economy as Greece as a country has the chance to have many and special beauty tourism resources. The challenge for the future of Greek tourism is to understand the needs and wants of tourists and always with respect to the natural and social environment of the place to acquire competitive advantage. The key to success is the Greek tourism to focus in developing an effective brand strategy which will make Greece an attractive destination. Marketing is what makes tourists to buy a service and branding but also it is what it connects them with the destination, which creates confidence and security for them a promise of an unforgettable experience that brings to mind memories of her experience they have experienced. The purpose of this paper is to study marketing strategies, brand, branding initiate as part of the destination marketing and branding of Greek islands. Based on the results of the literature review made for the purpose of this paper, we see that while there have been some remarkable branding initiatives in Greek islands, they have already developed as key brands where they have their own identity and value standing for the quality of the services offered to their tourists. This means that one of the basic principles of tourism marketing and destination branding that is the knowledge and satisfaction of tourists’ needs in the case of Greek islands is overlooked. This is expected in the long run to reduce the level of experience experienced by tourists and consequently to reduce both the perceived brand quality of the tourists and their attachment to what are the elements of the value of the brand. Additionally, word-of-mouth advertising will decrease and consequently need more time to expose and promote the island in the long run. However, there is a need for more research on this field by using primary data. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG

Introducing a new centrality measure from the transportation network analysis in Greece

This paper introduces a new centrality measure, nominated by the authors as mobility centrality (C (m) ), which arose during the study of the interregional road network in Greece. The proposed measure is constructed by the use of the anagogic method considering the formula of the kinetic energy of a particle in Physics and adjusting its mathematical analogue to the case of the interregional road network. The new centrality measure is estimated to be useful for the operational analysis of a network (such as the analysis of network flows), since it characterizes as central these vertices that appear to have the greatest tendency to attract or expel network flows. The ability of the proposed centrality measure to illustrate flow tendencies was examined empirically by correlating and regressing mobility centrality to the commuting status of the Greek interregional network and to four of the most common existing centrality measures (betweenness, closeness, straightness and degree centrality) of the available data. The empirical analysis indicated that the proposed centrality measure (C (m) ) presents sufficient ability to describe the status of the Greek interregional commuting system and it is believed that it is able to describe the inner potential that produces flows in a network

Dairy products and risk of hepatocellular carcinoma: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

Intake of dairy products has been associated with risk of some cancers, but findings are often inconsistent and information on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) risk is limited, particularly from prospective settings. The aim of our study was to investigate the association between consumption of total and specific dairy products (milk/cheese/yogurt) and their components (calcium/vitamin D/fats/protein), with first incident HCC (N(cases) = 191) in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort, including a nested case-control subset (N(cases) = 122) with the assessment of hepatitis B virus/hepatitis C virus infections status, liver damage and circulating insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I levels. For cohort analyses, multivariable-adjusted Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). For nested case-control analyses, conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios and 95% CI. A total of 477,206 participants were followed-up for an average of 11 years (person-years follow-up = 5,415,385). In the cohort study, a significant positive HCC risk association was observed for total dairy products (highest vs. lowest tertile, HR = 1.66, 95% CI: 1.13-2.43; p(trend) = 0.012), milk (HR = 1.51, 95% CI: 1.02-2.24; p(trend) = 0.049), and cheese (HR = 1.56, 95% CI: 1.02-2.38; p(trend) = 0.101), but not yogurt (HR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.65-1.35). Dietary calcium, vitamin D, fat and protein from dairy sources were associated with increased HCC risk, whereas the same nutrients from nondairy sources showed inverse or null associations. In the nested case-control study, similar results were observed among hepatitis-free individuals. Results from this large prospective cohort study suggest that higher consumption of dairy products, particularly milk and cheese, may be associated with increased HCC risk. Validation of these findings in other populations is necessary. Potential biologic mechanisms require further exploration

Dietary patterns and their socio-demographic determinants in 10 European countries: Data from the DAFNE databank

Objective: To describe the dietary patterns of 10 European countries and their socio-demographic determinants, using the comparable between-countries DAFNE data. Design: Analysis of standardized and postharmonized data collected through the national household budget surveys. Setting: Nationally representative surveys undertaken in 10 European countries, generally in the second half of the 1990s. Results: The differences in the fruit and vegetable consumption previously identified between Mediterranean and Northern European countries seem to be leveling out, particularly in relation to fruit consumption. Pulses, however, still characterize the diet of the Mediterraneans. Straying from their traditional food choices, Mediterraneans recorded high availability of unprocessed red meat, while Central and Northern Europeans preferably consumed meat products. The household availability of beverages (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) is generally higher among Central and Northern European populations. Principal component (PC) analysis led to the identification of two dietary patterns in each of the 10 countries. The first was similar in all countries and indicated 'wide-range' food buyers. The second was slightly more varied and described 'beverage and convenience' food buyers. PC1 was common among households of retired and elderly members, while PC2 was common among households located in urban or semi-urban areas and among adult Scandinavians living alone. Conclusions: The dietary patterns identified point towards a progressive narrowing of dietary differences between North and South European countries. The comparable between-countries DAFNE data could prove useful in ecological studies, in the formulation of dietary guidelines and public health initiatives addressing specific population groups. © 2006 Nature Publishing Group All rights reserved