Η ευρωπαϊκή πορεία της Τουρκίας

Ο εξευρωπαϊσμός της τουρκικής κοινωνίας και πολιτικής, σε συνδυασμό με τις στρατηγικές στοχεύσεις της περιόδου του Ψυχρού Πολέμου, ώθησαν την Τουρκία στην εφαρμογή πολιτικής σύνδεσης με την ΕΟΚ, με τη συμφωνία των δύο πλευρών να υπογράφεται στην Άγκυρα το 1964. Η σχέση των δύο πλευρών εμβαθύνεται σε οικονομικό επίπεδο με την υπογραφή της Τελωνειακής Ένωσης το 1995, ενώ η επιδίωξη της Τουρκίας για είσοδο στο ενοποιητικό εγχείρημα συναντά την άρνηση των Ευρωπαίων εταίρων, έως την αναγνώριση της Τουρκίας ως υποψήφιο μέλος στο Ευρωπαϊκό Συμβούλιο του Ελσίνκι το 1999. Μετά από εκτεταμένες θεσμικές μεταρρυθμίσεις με σκοπό την τήρηση των προϋποθέσεων προστασίας των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων και των μειονοτήτων στη χώρα, το 2004 το Ευρωπαϊκό Συμβούλιο των Βρυξελλών αποδέχεται την έναρξη ενταξιακών συνομιλιών μεταξύ ΕΕ και Τουρκίας, οι οποίες καταρρέουν το 2016 μετά τη λόγω της υποβάθμισης του κράτους δικαίου και της προστασίας των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων που από το 2015 σημειώνονται στη χώρα.The Europeanization of Turkish society and politics, alongside with Cold War strategic visions, led Turkish Government to create ties with EC, establishing the Ankara Agreement in 1964. In financial aspects, European- Turkish relations strengthened after Customs Union treaty in 1995, but before Helsinki European Council in 1999, Turkish aspirations into joining in European Integration Process faced disapproval between various European member states. After intensive structural reforms in order to ensure the protection of human and minority rights, in 2004 Brussels European Council accepted Turkish candidacy and the opening of accession talks between Turkey and EU. Accession talks collapsed in 2016 after the continued downgrading of human rights and rule of law in Turkey

Exploring multilingual requirements of the community of a learning portal: the case of Organic.Edunet

This paper presents an analytical framework for introducing multilingualism into web portals, aiming to facilitate bringing down the language barriers, bridging the current language divide between potentially interested users and the multimedia resources from around the world that are made available through such portals. The general problem addressed is the design affordances that shall allow multilingual web portals to meet different linguistic profiles, needs and user expectations. The paper describes the methodology used for the analysis of user requirements of the existing user community of Organic.Edunet, by focusing to the registered members (totalling around 2,500 at the time of the study, doubled already by today). Organic.Edunet, being a thematic web portal aiming to promote the discovery and best use of the wealth of educational resources on Organic and Sustainable Agriculture in a European and international scale, forms a typical example for understanding the language barriers between people of diverse linguistic profiles, and the affordances needed in such a “Learning portal” that will help bringing down those barriers. The paper concludes with some initial results and discussion of the findings and suggestions for future work.This paper includes research results from work that has been funded with support of the European Commission, and more specifically the project CIP-ICT-PSP-270999 “Organic.Lingua: Demonstrating the potential of a multilingual Web portal for Sustainable Agricultural & Environmental Education” of the ICT Policy Support Programme (ICT PSP)

Promoting Self-Management and Independent Living of Older Individuals with Chronic Diseases through Technology: A Study of Self-Reported Needs, Priorities, and Preferences

Background and Objectives: Older patients’ needs are rarely examined beforehand, and thus, although technology-based tools can enhance self-management, acceptability rates are still low. This study aimed to examine and compare self-reported needs, priorities, and preferences of older patients with heart failure (HF), diabetes mellitus type II (DM2), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) toward technology use to enhance self-management. Materials and Methods: A convenience sample of 473 participants over 60 s (60.5% females), diagnosed with HF (n= 156), DM2 (n = 164), or COPD (n = 153) was recruited. They were administered a questionnaire about the usefulness of technology in general and in specific areas of disease management. Results: Most participants (84.7%) admitted that technology is needed for better disease management. This was equally recognized across the three groups both for the overall and specific areas of disease management (in order of priority: “Information”, “Communication with Physicians and Caregivers”, and “Quality of Life and Wellbeing”). Sociodemographic differences were found. Cell phones and PCs were the devices of preference. The four common features prioritized by all three groups were related to ‘information about disease management’ (i.e., monitoring symptoms, reminders for medication intake, management and prevention of complications), whereas the fifth one was related to ‘communication with physicians and caregivers (i.e., in case of abnormal or critical signs). The top disease-specific feature was also monitoring systems (of respiratory rate or blood sugar or blood pressure, and oxygen), whereas other disease-specific features followed (i.e., maintaining normal weight for HF patients, adjusting insulin dose for DM2 patients, and training on breathing exercises for COPD patients). Conclusions: Older individuals in these three groups seem receptive to technology in disease management. mHealth tools, incorporating both common and disease-specific features and addressing different chronic patients, and also being personalized at the same time, could be cost-saving and useful adjuncts in routine clinical care to improve self-management