Security Risk Assessment in Container Terminals:Empirical Evidence from Greece

The most prominent risk assessment techniques are founded on the values of measuring and controlling the frequency and the consequences of risks in order to assure an“acceptable level”of“safeness”mainly in the lines of environmental,health and hygiene and port product issues.This paper examines security risk assessment approaches within the emerging role of ports.This paper contributes to the current literature by considering the ports of Greece as a case in point and by measuring the degree of its security risk orientation based on certain valid risk factors drawn from the current literature.Moreover,it presents a security risk assessment methodology into the domain of port container terminals.Their potential for ports were quantitatively and qualitatively assessed by discussing issues of security approaches within the maritime industry,in order to facilitate improvement strategies.A two-dimension empirical study was conducted,in a time range of ten years(2010-2020)in order to provide evidence regarding security risk assessment in the port container terminal of Thessaloniki,in Greece.The findings of this study have significant strategic policy implications and shed more light on the role of security risks in the overall risk orientation of container terminals in practice.Finally,further research directions in security risk in ports are proposed.

An Analysis of Formal Risk Assessments for Safety and Security in Ports： Empirical Evidence from Container Terminals in Greece

Nowadays, the most prominent risk assessment techniques are founded on the values of measuring and controlling the frequency and the consequences of risks in order to assure an ＂acceptable level＂ of ＂safeness＂ mainly in the lines of environmental, health and hygiene and port product issues. This paper initially introduces risk assessment approaches within the emerging role of ports Thereafter, it qualitatively assesses their potential for ports by discussing issues challenging every safety and security approach within the maritime industry such as proactiveness, organization, transparency, cost-effectiveness and, when possible, calibration to specific experiences. Moreover, an empirical study was conducted in order to provide evidence for formal risk assessment for safety and security in the main Greek port container terminals of Piraeus and Thessaloniki. The empirical research is based on in-depth semi-structured interviews with the administrations of container terminals. The results include important findings, regarding the likelihood of appearance of certain risks and their perceived severity in Greek container terminals. The collected answers and their analysis are also important for confirming the suggested theoretical formal risk assessment framework for ports.

Empirical Evidence for a Descriptive Model of Principles of Information Security Course

The purpose of this study is to examine the nature and content of the rapidly evolving undergraduate Principles of Information/Cybersecurity course which has been attracting an ever-growing attention in the computing discipline, for the past decade. More specifically, it is to provide an impetus for the design of standardized principles of Information/Cybersecurity course. To achieve this, a survey of colleges and universities that offer the course was conducted. Several schools of engineering and business, in universities and colleges across several countries were surveyed to generate necessary data. Effort was made to direct the questionnaire only to Computer Information System (CIS), Computer Science (CS), Management Information System (MIS), Information System (IS) and other computer-related departments. The study instrument consisted of two main parts: one part addressed the institutional demographic information, while the other focused on the relevant elements of the course. There are sixty-two (62) questionnaire items covering areas such as demographics, perception of the course, course content and coverage, teaching preferences, method of delivery and course technology deployed, assigned textbooks and associated resources, learner support, course assessments, as well as the licensure-based certifications. Several themes emerged from the data analysis: (a) the principles course is an integral part of most cybersecurity programs;(b) majority of the courses examined, stress both strong technical and hands-on skills;(c) encourage vendor-neutral certifications as a course exit characteristic;and (d) an end-of-course class project, remains a standard requirement for successful course completion. Overall, the study makes it clear that cybersecurity is a multilateral discipline, and refuses to be confined by context and content. It is envisaged that the results of this study would turn out to be instructive for all practical purposes. We expect it to be one of the most definitive descriptive models of such a cardinal course, and help to guide and actually, shape the decisions of universities and academic programs focusing on information/cyber security in the updating and upgrading their curricula, most especially, the foundational principles course in light of new findings that are herein articulated.

Calculating the Future:The Historical Assemblage of Empirical Evidence,Benchmarks&PISA

Purpose-Prominent at the intersections of national educational agencies,higher education,and international educational performance assessments are two reform standards:“benchmarks”determining optimal student performance,and“empirical evidence”for determining the quality of reform practices.These two notions are often taken as connecting policy and research to effective changes in many countries.The article examines the historical and cultural principles about educational change and its sciences embedded in these standards through examining OECD’s PISA and the McKinsey&Company reports that draw on PISA’s data.Findings/Originality/Value-First,the reports express salvation themes associated with modernity;that is,the promise of a better future through governing the present.The promise is to provide nations with data and models to achieve social equality,economic prosperity,and a participatory democracy.Second,the promise of the future is not descriptive of some present reality but to fabricate the universal characteristics about society and individuals.The numbers embody social and psychological categories about a desired unity of all students.Third,the“empirical evidence”of the international assessment entails a particular notion of science and“evidence”;one that paradoxically uses the universals in comparing and creating divisions.

Research on Early Warning of Banking Crises from the Perspective of Credit Structures

The relationship between credit expansion and banking crises is complex and cannot be fully explained by total credit alone.A systematic analysis of the relationship between the amount and structure of total credit and banking crises is important for an objective prediction of the influence of potential financial risks.This paper,drawing on data from 15 selected countries,delves into the power of credit indicators in the early warning of banking crises from the perspectives of industrial structure,sector structure,and term structure of credit.Various machine learning methods were used,including Logistic Regression,Random Forest,Decision Tree,Support Vector Machine(SVM),Bagging,and Boosting models.The empirical findings indicate that credit expansion plays a crucial role in triggering banking crises.However,total credit is better suited for the early warning of short-term banking crises,whereas credit structure is more useful for the early warning of long-term banking crises.Moreover,in an early warning system,identifying key early warning indicators is more meaningful than merely increasing the number of indicators.Machine learning can somewhat enhance the early warning power,but it may not always be robust.Therefore,more attention should be paid to potential systemic banking crises resulting from an imbalance in credit structure while regulating the total credit threshold.

The Impact of Earnouts in M&A Agreement: An Overview of Empirical Findings

From a theoretical perspective,the use of earnouts should mitigate valuation risk of the acquirer involved in mergers and acquisitions(M&A)transaction.Earnouts contracts should reduce information asymmetries and moral hazard issues.By contrast,the definition of the terms of such contracts can be difficult and they provide several implementation issues to be faced.Based on these premises,this study aims to examine if the inclusion of earnouts is convenient and who benefits from their use.To this aim,I scrutinize academic literature examining the impact of earnouts.I perform a systematic review of studies in both accounting and financial domains that provide empirical evidence of main consequences due to the use of earnouts in M&A.Findings generally highlight a positive impact on the stock market performance of the acquirer in earnout-financed deals.Nevertheless,the positive reaction of acquirers’investors is influenced by specific features to be managed.Several issues are still uncovered and need further examination.

Academic Freedom,Feminism and the Probabilistic Conception of Evidence

There is a current debate about the extent to which Academic Freedom should be permitted in our universities.On the one hand,we have traditionalists who maintain that Academic Freedom should be unrestricted:people who have the appropriate qualifications and accomplishments should be allowed to develop theories about how the world is,or ought to be,as they see fit.On the other hand,we have post-traditional philosophers who argue against this degree of Academic Freedom.I consider a conservative version of post-traditional philosophy that permits restrictions on Academic Freedom only if the following conditions are met,Condition 1:The dissemination of the results of a given research project R must cause significant harm to some people,especially to people from oppressed groups.Condition 2:Condition 1 must possess strong empirical support,and which accepts the following assumptions:(1)there is a world of objective facts that is,in principle,discoverable,(2)rational means are the means of discovering it and,(3)rational means requires strong empirical support.I define strong empirical support for an hypothesis h on evidence e in probabilistic terms,as a ratio of posterior to prior probabilities substantially exceeding 1.I now argue in favour of a research policy that accepts unrestricted Academic Freedom.My argument is that there is a formal and general quandary that arises within the standard theory of probability when we apply this account of empirical support to a set of possible causal hypotheses framed in such a way that the“reverse probabilities”,pr(e/h)are 1.I consider various possible ways to escape this quandary,none of which are without difficulties,concluding that a research policy allowing for unrestricted Academic Freedom is probably the best that we can hope for.

Effects of using headset-delivered virtual reality in road safety research:A systematic review of empirical studies

To reduce serious crashes,contemporary research leverages opportunities provided by technology.A potentially higher added value to reduce road trauma may be hidden in utilising emerging technologies,such as headset-delivered virtual reality(VR).However,there is no study to analyse the application of such VR in road safety research systematically.Using the PRISMA protocol,our study identified 39 papers presented at conferences or published in scholarly journals.In those sources,we found evidence of VR's applicability in studies involving different road users(drivers,pedestrians,cyclists and passengers).A number of articles were concerned with providing evidence around the potential adverse effects of VR,such as simulator sickness.Other work compared VR with conventional simulators.VR was also contributing to the emerging field of autonomous vehicles.However,few studies leveraged the opportunities that VR presents to positively influence the involved road users'behaviour.Based on our findings,we identified pathways for future research.

Corruption and economic growth:an absolute obstacle or some efficient grease?

The relationship between bureaucratic corruption and economic growth has been a much debated topic in the studies of economics and political science in the past decades.However,no theoretical consensus has been reached in this field.Corresponding to the divergence in theoretical perspectives,empirical evidence is mixed as well.As a fundamental step to examine the correlation between corruption and economic growth,this review provides a systematic review of the existing theoretical and empirical research on corruption’s growth effects.Meanwhile,the definition and statistical measurement of corruption is also discussed.This review makes new contributions to the extant corruption literature since it not only incorporates the latest scholarship on the topic but highlights corruption’s differential growth effects in different organisational,institutional and geographical contexts.