Čemu pisati priče o prošlosti?

The article focuses on three representative literary works for children between 9 and 12 by Christos Boulotis, a renowned contemporary Greek writer of children’s literature. His works which are exemplary of a broader tendency of contemporary Greek historical literature for children revolve around the concepts of the personal and public past and of personal and collective memory. We show that the specific works by Boulotis tend not only to make the concepts of the personal and public/historical past an issue but also to stress the importance of these concepts for the lives of contemporary people. At the same time, we show that because literature for children is inevitably ideological, the concepts of the personal and public historical past are used by Boulotis as a resource for the promotion of specific contemporary ideologies which are at the forefront of the public debate in contemporary Greek society, such as the universality of the experience of being a refugee, anti-racism, and pacifism.Članak je usmjeren na tri reprezentativna književna djela za djecu od 9 do 12 godina Christosa Boulotisa, poznatoga suvremenoga grčkoga dječjega pisca. Njegove se knjige, koje predstavljaju općeprihvaćena stremljenja grčke suvremene povijesne dječje književnosti, zanimaju za pojmove osobne i javne prošlosti te osobnoga i kolektivnoga sjećanja. Pokazuje se da pojedina Boulotisova djela ne samo da problematiziraju pojam osobne i javne (povijesne) prošlosti, nego i da naglašavaju važnost koju ti pojmovi imaju za živote suvremenih ljudi. Budući da dječja književnost neizbježno uključuje ideologiju, Boulotis se navedenim pojmovima služi u promicanju ideološki bremenitih tema o kojima se raspravlja u suvremenoj grčkoj javnosti, poput univerzalnosti iskustva izbjeglica, antirasizma i pacifizma

The effect of administrative actions on satisfaction of primary and secondary public school principals

Purpose: The aim of this study is to record the perceptions of school principals, in order to improve the quality of the provided services. The administrative factors under investigation are the mode of administration, the efficiency of procedures, ICT skill enhancement and employees' performance, technological modernization efforts, and customer participation in decision-making. The study examines how these variables, affect the level of satisfaction of school principals. Methods: Regression analysis and the maximum frequency of answers within the rating range of the six-level Likert scale are used. Pprimary data was obtained by using an electronic questionnaire which allows for the use of econometric techniques. The school principals of the Primary and Secondary Directorates of Education in Eastern Thessaloniki comprise the survey population. Results: Results of the analysis show that administrative factors have a major impact and summatively affect customer satisfaction. Current demands render the function of education more complex since it is asked to move beyond the simple experiential approach of administrative action that was based on the experience of older members of staff and to combine it withenhanced knowledge and skills. Implications: A management system that valorizes technology and human resources, develops mechanisms for open communication and dialogue and examines the views of the users of services in an organized manner is considered to be essential

3D printed Microneedles for Transdermal Drug Delivery

3D printing is a revolutionary manufacturing and prototyping technology that has altered the outlooks of numerous industrial and scientific fields since its introduction. Recently, it has attracted attention for its potential as a manufacturing tool for transdermal microneedles for drug delivery. In the present thesis, the 3D printability of solid and hollow microneedles via photopolymerisation-based 3D printing was investigated, aiming at establishing robust manufacturing strategies for reproducible, mechanically strong and versatile microneedles. The developed microneedles were employed as drug delivery systems for the treatment of diabetes via insulin administration. Solid microneedles featuring different geometries were designed and 3D printed. It was demonstrated that the printing and post-printing parameters affected the printed quality, a finding that was employed to optimise the manufacturing strategy. Microneedle geometry was also found to have an impact on the piercing and fracture behaviour; however all microneedle designs were found to be mechanically safe upon application. The solid microneedles were subsequently coated with insulin-polymer films, using a 2D inkjet printing technology. The coating process achieved spatial control of the drug deposition, with quantitative accuracy. The microneedle geometry was shown to influence the morphology of the coating film, an effect that was pronounced during in the in vitro delivery studies of insulin to porcine skin. Furthermore, hollow microneedles were designed and 3D printed, featuring different heights. Two photopolymerisation-based technologies were studied, and their performance was compared. The key influential parameters of the printing outcome and microneedle quality were identified to be the printing angle and the size of the microneedle opening. The hollow microneedles were found to be effective in piercing porcine skin without structural damaging. The hollow microneedles were incorporated into complex patches with internal microfluidic structures for the provision and distribution of drug-containing solutions. The developed complex hollow microneedle patches were coupled with a microelectromechanical system to create a novel platform device for controlled, personalised transdermal drug delivery. Advanced imaging techniques revealed that the device achieved distribution of the liquid within porcine skin tissue without the creation of depots that would delay absorption. The device was evaluated for its efficacy to transdermally deliver a model dye and insulin in vitro. In vivo trials were also conducted using diabetic rodents, with the device achieving faster onset of insulin action and sustained glycemic control, in comparison to subcutaneous injections. Overall, the findings of the present research are anticipated to elucidate key problematic areas associated with the application of 3D printing for microneedle manufacturing and propose feasible solutions. The outermost goal of this work is to contribute to the advancement of knowledge in the field of 3D printed transdermal drug delivery systems, in order to bring them one step closer to their adoption in the clinical setting

Τα παρθεναγωγεία των Ουρσουλινών αδελφών στη Νάξο και την Τήνο (1670-1945).

Ιστορικό, λειτουργία, πολιτικές, εκπαιδευτικές και κοινωνικές πτυχές των παρθεναγωγείων των Ουρσουλινών στη Νάξο και στην Τήνο. Εδώ και τρεις αιώνες, τα σχολεία των αδελφών Ουρσουλινών προσφέρουν το εκπαιδευτικό τους έργο ακατάπαυστα, συμβάλλοντας στην εκπαίδευση των κοριτσιών στην Ελλάδα.Les internats des soeurs Ursulines à Naxos et à Tinos (1670-1945). Transitions historiques, fonctionnement, aspects politiques, éducatifs et sociaux; contribution à la formation des jeunes filles. Pendant trois siècles, les établissements scolaires des soeurs Ursulines dispensent leur oeuvre éducative sans arrêt en Grèce

Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy for dyspepsia: Εxploratory study of factors influencing patient compliance in Greece

BACKGROUND: Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy is the most preferable diagnostic examination for patients over fifty when upper gastrointestinal symptoms appear. However, limited knowledge exists in concerns to the compliance of primary care patients' to the doctors' recommendations for endoscopy. METHODS: Patients who visited primary care practices in Greece and experienced upper gastrointestinal symptoms within a 10 days screening study, were referred for an upper endoscopy exam. The patients which refused to complete the endoscopy exam, were interviewed by the use of an open- ended translated and validated questionnaire, the Identification of Dyspepsia in General Population (IDGP) questionnaire. A qualitative thematic analysis grounded on the theory of planned behavior was performed to reveal the reasons for patients' refusal, while socio-demographic predictors were also assessed. RESULTS: Nine hundred and ninety two patients were recorded, 159 of them (16%) were found positive for dyspepsia and gastro-esophageal reflux disease according to the IDGP questionnaire. Out of the above, 131 (83.6%) patients refused further investigation with endoscopy. Patients who refused upper endoscopy were predominantly female (87.8%) (p = 0.036) and over the age of 50. The lack of severe symptoms, fear of pain, concerns of sedation, comorbidity and competing life demands were reported by patients as barriers to performing an endoscopic investigation. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with dyspepsia in rural Greece tend to avoid upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, with two major axons considered to be the causes of patients' refusal: their beliefs towards endoscopy and their personal capability to cope with it. Future research examining reasons of low compliance should be carried out in combination with modern behavioral theories so as to investigate into the above

Discovery and classification of Twitter bots

A very large number of people use Online Social Networks daily. Such platforms thus become attractive targets for agents that seek to gain access to the attention of large audiences, and influence perceptions or opinions. Botnets, collections of automated accounts controlled by a single agent, are a common mechanism for exerting maximum influence. Botnets may be used to better infiltrate the social graph over time and to create an illusion of community behavior, amplifying their message and increasing persuasion. This paper investigates Twitter botnets, their behavior, their interaction with user communities and their evolution over time. We analyzed a dense crawl of a subset of Twitter traffic, amounting to nearly all interactions by Greek-speaking Twitter users for a period of 36 months. We detected over a million events where seemingly unrelated accounts tweeted nearly identical content at nearly the same time. We filtered these concurrent content injection events and detected a set of 1,850 accounts that repeatedly exhibit this pattern of behavior, suggesting that they are fully or in part controlled and orchestrated by the same software. We found botnets that appear for brief intervals and disappear, as well as botnets that evolve and grow, spanning the duration of our dataset. We analyze statistical differences between bot accounts and human users, as well as botnet interaction with user communities and Twitter trending topics