Fisheries policies impacts consideration towards the development of rural coastal areas

The current study aims to examine the effectiveness of fisheries policies and specifically of the Greek Operational Programme for Fisheries, 2007-13. In specific, aims to examine and assess possible impacts generated, in the regional economy of Voreio and Notio Aigaio from its four axis, with particularity to the forth one. For this a regional Input-Output model was built in order to capture direct and indirect impacts in terms of output, employment and income. Results indicate that the dynamics of the fisheries sector in the regional economy are very weak and along with the continuous shrinking of the sector, leads to the necessity of supporting alternative vocational activities for the development of coastal rural areas. Though, results indicate that the funds attributed to such policies are very small, resulting in very weak generated impacts in the regional economy. And thus it is not expected current policies to seriously affect the development of such regions through the promotion of alternative to fishing activities.rural coastal areas, operational fisheries programme, impact analysis, regional analysis, Community/Rural/Urban Development, R11, R15, R58, Q22,

Exploring the Relations, Bargaining Forms and Dynamics of the EU Food Supply Chain under the Perspective of the Key Actors: Evidence from Greece and Denmark

 The objective of this paper is to offer qualitative and quantitative insights on the perceptions of the actors in the EU food supply chain on a broad spectrum of topics that characterise its operation and conduct, highlighting also potential differences in North and South European countries. Issues explored pertained to actors’ relations with up- and downstream partners, the future dynamic and challenges of the food sector, the influence of policy intervention and attitudes towards genetically modified products (GMPs) and organic production. For this purpose, a total of 34 food supply chain actors in Denmark and Greece were interviewed using a semi-structured interview process. A comparative analysis of the interviews pinpointed many similarities in the behaviour and the perceptions of the Greek and Danish farmers, cooperatives, processors and retailers alike. Still, while it is evident that companies and farmers of both countries struggle with a lot of the same problems, several differences in perceptions are also identified. These refer mainly to attitudes towards mergers and acquisitions, innovations, GMPs and the effects and limitations of EU policy intervention

Agricultural productivity growth in the Mediterranean and tests of convergence among countries

This paper measures agricultural productivity among a set of thirteen Mediterranean countries which includes two EU- 15 countries (Greece and Spain), another two EU- 25 (Cyprus and Malta) one country under accession negotiations (Turkey) and eight Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries (Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia) from 1961 to 2002. The objective of the paper is twofold: Firstly, to analyse agricultural productivity growth in the Mediterranean countries by means of the sequential Malmquist Total Factor Productivity (TFP) index and secondly, to investigate whether this measure is converging among these countries. In terms of the first objective, TFP indices are decomposed into efficiency changes and technical changes, in an attempt to identify the best - practise countries and the overall effect of technological improvements. In terms of the second, both cross- section and time series tests of convergence are applied. The former include the conventional β- and σ- convergence tests, while for the latter, a new method proposed by Nahar and Inder (2002) that allows for country - specific estimates is used. Neither test finds evidence for unconditional convergence, but two distinctive periods, one prior and one after 1980 are recognized. The time series approach identifies four countries to be converging to the mean and another two to be diverging.Productivity growth, sequential Malmquist TFP, convergence., Productivity Analysis,

The floods in Greece: the case of Mandra in Attica

Οι πλημμύρες είναι από τις συνηθέστερες φυσικές καταστροφές και εξαιρετικά επικίνδυνες σε παγκόσμια κλίμακα καθώς μπορούν να προκαλέσουν εκτεταμένες ζημιές σε περιουσίες και σε απώλεια ανθρώπινων ζωών. Σύμφωνα με πολλούς ειδικούς επιστήμονες, η αλλαγή του κλίματος έχει οδηγήσει στην αύξηση των πλημμυρικών φαινομένων τα τελευταία χρόνια παγκοσμίως, όπως και στην Ελλάδα. Στόχος της παρούσας εργασίας είναι να εξετάσει το πλημμυρικό γεγονός που έλαβε χώρα στις 14-15 Νοεμβρίου του 2017 στην περιοχή της Μάνδρας, Αττική (Ελλάδα). Η μέγιστη πλημμυρική παροχή των ρεμάτων Αγίας Αικατερίνης και Σούρες υπολογίσθηκε με τη χρήση της ορθολογικής μεθόδου (Giandotti) για περιόδους επαναφοράς ίσων με 10, 100 και 1000 έτη. Μελετήθηκαν τα χαρακτηριστικά των ρεμάτων και ερευνήθηκε η συμπεριφορά τους κατά τη διάρκεια της πλημμύρας. Αποδόθηκαν πολλές από τις συνέπειες στην ανθρώπινη παρέμβαση στις κοίτες των ρεμάτων.Floods are one of the most common natural disasters and are extremely dangerous in a global range since they can cause extensive damage to properties or losses in human lives. According to the opinion of many expert scientists, climate change has led to the increase of flooding phenomena over the last years worldwide, as well as in Greece. The aim of this paper is to examine the flooding event that occurred in Mandra area, Attica (Greece) on 14-15 November of 2017. The peak discharge of the Agia Ekaterini and Soures streams was calculated using the rational method (Giandotti) for return periods equal to 10, 100 and 1000 years. The stream characteristics were studied and their behavior during the flood was investigated. Many of the impacts were attributed to the human intervention in the streambeds

openACC. An open database of car-following experiments to study the properties of commercial ACC systems

Commercial Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) systems are increasingly available as standard options in modern vehicles. At the same time, still little information is openly available on how these systems actually operate and how different is their behavior, depending on the vehicle manufacturer or model.T o reduce this gap, the present paper summarizes the main features of the openACC, an open-access database of different car-following experiments involving a total of 16 vehicles, 11 of which equipped with state-of-the-art commercial ACC systems. As more test campaigns will be carried out by the authors, OpenACC will evolve accordingly. The activity is performed within the framework of the openData policy of the European Commission Joint Research Centre with the objective to engage the whole scientific community towards a better understanding of the properties of ACC vehicles in view of anticipating their possible impacts on traffic flow and prevent possible problems connected to their widespread. A first preliminary analysis on the properties of the 11 ACC systems is conducted in order to showcase the different research topics that can be studied within this open science initiative

Characterization of drivers heterogeneity and its integration within traffic simulation

Drivers heterogeneity and the broad range of vehicle characteristics are considered primarily responsible for the stochasticity observed in road traffic dynamics. Assessing the differences in driving style and incorporating individual driving behaviour in microsimulation has attracted significant attention lately. The first topic is studied extensively in the literature. The second one, on the contrary, remains an open issue. The present study proposes a methodology to characterise driving style in the free-flow regime and to incorporate drivers heterogeneity within a microsimulation framework. The methodology uses explicit and simplified modelling of the vehicle powertrain to separate the drivers behavior from the vehicle characteristics. Results show that inter and intra-driver heterogeneity can be captured by log-normal distributions of well-designed metric.Drivers are classified into three different groups (dynamic, ordinary and timid drivers)

2nd Symposium on Management of Future motorway and urban Traffic Systems (MFTS 2018): Booklet of abstracts: Ispra, 11-12 June 2018

The Symposium focuses on future traffic management systems, covering the subjects of traffic control, estimation, and modelling of motorway and urban networks, with particular emphasis on the presence of advanced vehicle communication and automation technologies. As connectivity and automation are being progressively introduced in our transport and mobility systems, there is indeed a growing need to understand the implications and opportunities for an enhanced traffic management as well as to identify innovative ways and tools to optimise traffic efficiency. In particular the debate on centralised versus decentralised traffic management in the presence of connected and automated vehicles has started attracting the attention of the research community. In this context, the Symposium provides a remarkable opportunity to share novel ideas and discuss future research directions.JRC.C.4-Sustainable Transpor

The future of road transport

A perfect storm of new technologies and new business models is transforming not only our vehicles, but everything about how we get around, and how we live our lives. The JRC report “The future of road transport - Implications of automated, connected, low-carbon and shared mobility” looks at some main enablers of the transformation of road transport, such as data governance, infrastructures, communication technologies and cybersecurity, and legislation. It discusses the potential impacts on the economy, employment and skills, energy use and emissions, the sustainability of raw materials, democracy, privacy and social fairness, as well as on the urban context. It shows how the massive changes on the horizon represent an opportunity to move towards a transport system that is more efficient, safer, less polluting and more accessible to larger parts of society than the current one centred on car ownership. However, new transport technologies, on their own, won't spontaneously make our lives better without upgrading our transport systems and policies to the 21st century. The improvement of governance and the development of innovative mobility solutions will be crucial to ensure that the future of transport is cleaner and more equitable than its car-centred present.JRC.C.4-Sustainable Transpor

Μοντελοποίηση της ασφάλειας και αποδοτικότητας αυτοματοποιημένων οχημάτων με χρήση ασαφούς λογικής

In recent years, there is a rapid evolution of automation and vehicle connectivity technologies. There are industry estimates that fully automated driving will be a reality in the coming years. Even for low levels of automation, these systems can have a significant impact on the state of road transport networks. Road safety is an important factor, as several accidents are due to human error, which can be avoided thanks to automated driving systems. In addition, traffic problems are very common in today's road networks, because of the growing demand for transportation and the inability of networks to provide adequate levels of service. Especially for urban networks, the effects of congestion are significant both in terms of fuel consumption and environmental impact, as well as in terms of the time that the average person loses in such a situation. Increasing the capacity of these networks can be very costly or even impossible with the current infrastructure. However, this can change with the advent of automation and vehicle connectivity. The driving behavior of automated vehicles can be designed to be more efficient, safer, and to make better use of network capacity. Developing systems that can be as secure and efficient as an experienced driver involve intricate problems and are by no means easy. Fuzzy logic can have several applications in these issues. The main research questions are: What is the current state of automated driving technology? What impacts can these technologies have on road networks? How can we have systems of guaranteed safety that do not lead to aggravation of traffic problems? Based on the results of the research of the above questions, we propose applications of fuzzy logic: Quantify the level of safety of a system of two vehicles car-following. Design a fuzzy automated longitudinal motion control system of a vehicle, which is safe and contributes to more efficient traffic flow. Develop fuzzy logic tools for more efficient vehicle routing. Simulation experiments were performed to assess the impact on road networks. Data were used to model the road network of the Antwerp ring road, a city in Belgium that is home to one of Europe's largest ports, resulting in major traffic problems. Major findings include that very conservative AV behavior can severely deteriorate the traffic condition, and connectivity may be necessary to improve congestion. Moreover, even for CAVs, if the demand increases, the potential benefits may not be realized, especially regarding environmental impacts. The behavior and capabilities of the existing systems were also analyzed. Using trajectory data from a real-world experiment, some important characteristics and capabilities of the systems are investigated. They are shown to be string unstable, increasing the magnitude of traffic shockwaves, which can be detrimental to traffic networks. In the context of the doctoral dissertation, mathematical models for recognizing unsafe driving behavior were researched in the literature. Their shortcomings in analyzing the level of safety of advanced technology systems were identified. Based on these, Surrogate Safety Metrics (SSMs) are developed based on definitions of fuzzy logic. The usefulness of the proposed SSMs and their advantages over traditional indicators have been investigated both by simulation experiments and on experimental data. The next step in the research is to investigate the usefulness of the proposed fuzzy SSMs for vehicle control. A fuzzy inference system was designed to identify potential hazards and react appropriately, depending on the level of danger. The proposed controllers are shown to be string stable and keep such distances that would facilitate the traffic flow.Another observation is concerning traffic demand. For increased demand, even if the vehicles form efficient platoons, congestion problems may worsen. Thus, prospects for optimal distribution of traffic demand may prove necessary. The problem of routing one or more vehicles often requires solving the well-known Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). TSP is an NP-hard (Non-deterministic polynomial time hard) problem. Heuristic algorithms are often used to solve it. A fuzzy approach to compare the cost of each edge with all alternatives is developed, quantifying the suitability of each individual choice to be made. This approach is presented to improve the quality of solutions for a number of heuristic algorithms.Τα τελευταία χρόνια, παρατηρείται ραγδαία εξέλιξη των τεχνολογιών αυτοματισμού και συνδεσιμότητας οχημάτων. Υπάρχουν εκτιμήσεις της βιομηχανίας ότι η πλήρως αυτοματοποιημένη οδήγηση θα είναι πραγματικότητα τα επόμενα χρόνια. Ακόμη και για χαμηλά επίπεδα αυτοματισμού, αυτά τα συστήματα μπορούν να έχουν σημαντικό αντίκτυπο στην κατάσταση των δικτύων οδικών μεταφορών. Η οδική ασφάλεια είναι ένας σημαντικός παράγοντας, καθώς πολλά ατυχήματα οφείλονται σε ανθρώπινα λάθη, τα οποία μπορούν να αποφευχθούν από αυτοματοποιημένα συστήματα οδήγησης. Επιπλέον, τα προβλήματα κυκλοφορίας είναι πολύ κοινά στα σημερινά οδικά δίκτυα, λόγω της αυξανόμενης ζήτησης για μεταφορά και της αδυναμίας των δικτύων να παρέχουν επαρκή επίπεδα εξυπηρέτησης. Ειδικά για τα αστικά δίκτυα, οι επιπτώσεις της συμφόρησης είναι σημαντικές τόσο όσον αφορά την κατανάλωση καυσίμων όσο και τις περιβαλλοντικές επιπτώσεις, καθώς και όσον αφορά το χρόνο που ο μέσος άνθρωπος χάνει. Η αύξηση της χωρητικότητας αυτών των δικτύων μπορεί να είναι πολύ δαπανηρή ή ακόμη και αδύνατη με την τρέχουσα υποδομή. Ωστόσο, αυτό μπορεί να αλλάξει χάρη σε τεχνολογίες αυτοματισμού και της διασυνδεσιμότητας. Η οδηγική συμπεριφορά των αυτοματοποιημένων οχημάτων μπορεί να σχεδιαστεί για να είναι πιο αποτελεσματική, πιο ασφαλής, με καλύτερη χρήση της ικανότητας του δικτύου. Η ανάπτυξη συστημάτων που μπορούν να είναι τόσο ασφαλή και αποτελεσματικά όσο ένας έμπειρος οδηγός συνεπάγεται περίπλοκα προβλήματα. Η ασαφής λογική μπορεί να έχει πολλές εφαρμογές σε αυτά τα ζητήματα. Τα κύρια ερευνητικά ερωτήματα είναι: Ποια είναι η τρέχουσα κατάσταση των τεχνολογιών αυτοματοποιημένης οδήγησης; Ποιες επιπτώσεις μπορούν να έχουν αυτές οι τεχνολογίες στα οδικά δίκτυα; Πώς μπορούμε να έχουμε συστήματα εγγυημένης ασφάλειας που δεν οδηγούν σε επιδείνωση των προβλημάτων κυκλοφορίας; Με βάση τα αποτελέσματα της έρευνας των παραπάνω ερωτήσεων, προτείνουμε εφαρμογές ασαφούς λογικής: Ποσοτικοποίηση του επιπέδου ασφάλειας με χρήση ασαφούς λογικής. Σχεδιασμός ενός ασαφούς αυτοματοποιημένου συστήματος ελέγχου κίνησης ενός οχήματος, που να εγγυείται ασφάλεια και συμβάλλει στην αποτελεσματικότερη ροή κυκλοφορίας. Ανάπτυξη εργαλείων ασαφούς λογικής για αποτελεσματικότερη δρομολόγηση οχημάτων. Πραγματοποιήθηκαν πειράματα προσομοίωσης για την εκτίμηση των συνεπειών στα οδικά δίκτυα. Χρησιμοποιήθηκαν πραγματικά δεδομένα για τη μοντελοποίηση του οδικού δικτύου της περιφερειακής οδού της Αμβέρσας, πόλης του Βελγίου που φιλοξενεί ένα από τα μεγαλύτερα λιμάνια της Ευρώπης. Τα σημαντικότερα ευρήματα περιλαμβάνουν ότι η πολύ συντηρητική συμπεριφορά αυτοματοποιημένων οχημάτων μπορεί να επιδεινώσει σοβαρά την κατάσταση κυκλοφορίας και η συνδεσιμότητα μπορεί να είναι απαραίτητη για τη μείωση της συμφόρησης. Επιπλέον, ακόμη και για διασυνδεδεμένα αυτοματοποιημένα οχήματα, εάν ο φόρτος αυξηθεί, ενδέχεται να μην πραγματοποιηθούν η κατάσταση να επιδεινωθεί. Αναλύθηκε επίσης η συμπεριφορά και οι δυνατότητες των σημερινών συστημάτων. Χρησιμοποιώντας δεδομένα από ένα πραγματικό πείραμα, διερευνώνται ορισμένα σημαντικά χαρακτηριστικά και δυνατότητες των συστημάτων. Αποδεικνύεται ότι παρουσιάζουν μορφές αστάθειας που είναι επιζήμιες για τα δίκτυα κυκλοφορίας. Στο πλαίσιο της διδακτορικής διατριβής, στη βιβλιογραφία ερευνήθηκαν μαθηματικά μοντέλα για την αναγνώριση της μη ασφαλούς συμπεριφοράς οδήγησης. Εντοπίστηκαν οι αδυναμίες τους στην ανάλυση του επιπέδου ασφάλειας των προηγμένων τεχνολογικών συστημάτων. Με βάση αυτά, αντιπροσωπευτικοί δείκτες ασφαλείας (Surrogate Safety Metrics, SSM) αναπτύσσονται με της χρήση ασαφούς λογικής. Η χρησιμότητα των προτεινόμενων SSM και τα πλεονεκτήματά τους έναντι των παραδοσιακών δεικτών διερευνώνται τόσο από πειράματα προσομοίωσης όσο και από πειραματικά δεδομένα.Το επόμενο βήμα στην έρευνα είναι ή διερεύνηση της χρησιμότητας των ασαφών SSM για τον έλεγχο του οχήματος. Ένα ασαφές συμπερασματικό σύστημα σχεδιάστηκε που εντοπίζει πιθανούς κινδύνους και αντιδρά κατάλληλα, ανάλογα με το επίπεδο κινδύνου. Τα προτεινόμενα συστήματα αυτόματου ελέγχου παρουσιάζουν ευστάθεια και ωφελούν τη ροή της κυκλοφορίας. Μια άλλη παρατήρηση αφορά τον κυκλοφοριακό φόρτο. Για αυξημένη ζήτηση, ακόμη και αν τα οχήματα σχηματίζουν αποτελεσματικούς σχηματισμούς, τα προβλήματα συμφόρησης θα επιδεινωθούν. Έτσι, η βέλτιστη κατανομή της ζήτησης μπορεί να αποδειχθεί απαραίτητη. Το πρόβλημα της δρομολόγησης ενός ή περισσοτέρων οχημάτων απαιτεί συχνά την επίλυση του γνωστού προβλήματος του περιπλανώμενου πωλητή (Traveling Salesman Problem,TSP). Η πολυπλοκότητά του προβλήματος κάνει αναγκαία την χρήση ευρετικών αλγορίθμων για την επίλυσή του. Αναπτύσσεται μια ασαφής προσέγγιση για τη σύγκριση του κόστους κάθε σύνδεσης με όλες τις εναλλακτικές, ποσοτικοποιώντας την καταλληλόλητα κάθε μεμονωμένης επιλογής που πρέπει να γίνει. Η χρήση των παραγόμενων ασαφών συνόλων παρουσιάζεται να βελτιώνει την ποιότητα των λύσεων υφιστάμενων ευρετικών αλγορίθμων