The Demographic Problem in Greece:Consequences and Solutions

Globally,population dynamics are shifting towards increased life expectancy,and many countries,including Greece,face significant demographic challenges.Greece is particularly impacted by one of the lowest birth rates in the world and a rapidly aging population.This demographic shift places unprecedented pressure on the nation’s pension systems and economic stability,as more people retire than enter the workforce.This study aims to explore the historical factors contributing to Greece’s demographic situation,analyze the consequences of current trends,and propose strategic solutions.The research utilizes a literature review approach and the case study of Greece to understand the depth and breadth of the demographic crisis.Key areas of focus include the declining birth rate,the economic implications of an aging population,and the potential of migration and policy reform to rejuvenate demographic dynamics.The study evaluates various policy interventions from other countries to propose a tailored,multi-faceted strategy for Greece.These strategies emphasize economic incentives for young families,improved childcare and parental support,healthcare investment,and inclusive migration policies to enhance workforce numbers.This comprehensive approach seeks to provide actionable insights that can help Greece mitigate the effects of demographic decline and foster a more sustainable future,aligning policy interventions with socio-economic and cultural realities.

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.

Adaptive load forecasting of the Hellenic electric grid

Designers are required to plan for future expansion and also to estimate the grid's future utilization. This means that an effective modeling and forecasting technique, which will use efficiently the information contained in the available data, is required, so that important data properties can be extracted and projected into the future. This study proposes an adaptive method based on the multi-model partitioning algorithm (MMPA), for short-term electricity load forecasting using real data. The grid's utilization is initially modeled using a multiplicative seasonal ARIMA (autoregressive integrated moving average) model. The proposed method uses past data to learn and model the normal periodic behavior of the electric grid. Either ARMA (autoregressive moving average) or state-space models can be used for the load pattern modeling. Load anomalies such as unexpected peaks that may appear during the summer or unexpected faults (blackouts) are also modeled. If the load pattern does not match the normal be-havior of the load, an anomaly is detected and, furthermore, when the pattern matches a known case of anomaly, the type of anomaly is identified. Real data were used and real cases were tested based on the measurement loads of the Hellenic Public Power Cooperation S.A., Athens, Greece. The applied adaptive multi-model filtering algorithm identifies successfully both normal periodic behavior and any unusual activity of the electric grid. The performance of the proposed method is also compared to that produced by the ARIMA model.

Development of an Ontology-Based Knowledge Network by Interconnecting Soil/Water Concepts/Properties, Derived from Standards Methods and Published Scientific References Outlining Infiltration/Percolation Process of Contaminated Water

The present work deals with the development of an Ontology-Based Knowledge Network of soil/water physicochemical & biological properties (soil/water concepts), derived from ASTM Standard Methods (ASTMi,n) and relevant scientific/applicable references (published papers—PPi,n) to fill up/bridge the gap of the information science between cited Standards and infiltration discipline conceptual vocabulary providing accordingly a dedicated/internal Knowledge Base (KB). This attempt constitutes an innovative approach, since it is based on externalizing domain knowledge in the form of Ontology-Based Knowledge Networks, incorporating standardized methodology in soil engineering. The ontology soil/water concepts (semantics) of the developed network correspond to soil/water physicochemical & biological properties, classified in seven different generations that are distinguished/located in infiltration/percolation process of contaminated water through soil porous media. The interconnections with arcs between corresponding concepts/properties among the consecutive generations are defined by the relationship of dependent and independent variables. All these interconnections are documented according to the below three ways: 1) dependent and independent variables interconnected by using the logical operator “depends on” quoting existent explicit functions and equations;2) dependent and independent variables interconnected by using the logical operator “depends on” quoting produced implicit functions, according to Rayleigh’s method of indices;3) dependent and independent variables interconnected by using the logical operator “related to” based on a logical dependence among the examined nodes-concepts-variables. The aforementioned approach provides significant advantages to semantic web developers and web users by means of prompt knowledge navigation, tracking, retrieval and usage.

Evaluation of Environmental Impact Assessment Factors in Maritime Industry

The environmental impact of shipping sector includes the pollution caused by vessels to air and water environment.The water pollution is primarily caused by ship accidents and by untreated ballast water.To avoid maritime accidents,a complex system of regulations and safety management measures has been initiated to minimize and possibly avoid similar maritime disasters in the future.On the other hand,untreated ballast water,despite the ease of management by shipping companies,is regarded as one of the major maritime threats internationally and arguably a severe threat to biodiversity.The International Convention on the Control and Management of Ballast of Ships and Sediments,entered into force in September 2017,focusing on the prevention of the risk of importation and the proliferation of foreign species after the discharge of untreated ballast water from vessels.An option to reduce this risk is to install water treatment systems on the ballast tanks.Air pollution deriving from vessels is an additional issue that has great significance and impact on public health and the environment in general.Ships emit large amounts of air pollutants,mainly in the form of SO_(x)(Sulfur O_(x)ide),NO_(x)(Nitrogen O_(x)ide)and particulate matter,which are constantly growing and affecting humans.Vessels also produce nearly 3%of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions,leading to rampant weather conditions.From 1 January 2020,the IMO(International Maritime Organization)imposed a new global sulfur emission ceiling of 0.5%on fuels,a reduction from the current limit of 3.5%,aiming at a gradual extinction of sulfur emissions in the near future.Pursuant to the previous analysis,three systems/indicators that are applied to vessels are going to be assessed,based on UNCTAD(United Nations Conference on Trade and Development)Report Data,to evaluate their impact in correlation to the measure of compliance to the relevant regulations so far:(i)the ship must have an equipped and installed ballast treatment system;(ii)the ship must be equipped and fitted with a special filter to eliminate sulfur emissions;(iii)the ship must comply with Tier III regulations to successfully reduce NO_(x)emissions.

On an Application of the Improved Maximum Product Criterion to Inverse Acoustic Scattering in a Layered Medium

In this paper, we consider the numerical treatment of an inverse acoustic scattering problem that involves an impenetrable obstacle embedded in a layered medium. We begin by employing a modified version of the well known factorization method, in which a computationally effective numerical scheme for the reconstruction of the shape of the scatterer is presented. This is possible, due to a mixed reciprocity principle, which renders the computation of the Green function at the background medium unnecessary. Moreover, to further refine our inversion algorithm, an efficient Tikhonov parameter choice technique, called Improved Maximum Product Criterion (IMPC) is exploited. Our regularization parameter is computed via a fast iterative algorithm which requires no a priori knowledge of the noise level in the far-field data. Finally, the effectiveness of IMPC is illustrated with various numerical examples.

Bankruptcy Probability and Stock Prices： The Effect of Altman Z-Score Information on Stock Prices Through Panel Data

There is an extensive branch of literature that examines the success of Altman＇s Z-score in predicting bankruptcy or financial distress. The goal of this research paper is to investigate the stock price performance of firms that exhibit a large probability of bankruptcy according to the model of Airman. Regardless of the validity of Airman＇s Z-score, we utilize a new empirical design that relates stock price movements to Altman＇s Z-score. We focus and examine, through the methodology of panel data, whether stocks that have a high probability of bankruptcy underperform stocks with a low probability of bankruptcy or if there are differences in the way the markets react to the financial health of the sample firms.

The Constrained Mean-Semivariance Portfolio Optimization Problem with the Support of a Novel Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm

The paper addresses the constrained mean-semivariance portfolio optimization problem with the support of a novel multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (n-MOEA). The use of semivariance as the risk quantification measure and the real world constraints imposed to the model make the problem difficult to be solved with exact methods. Thanks to the exploratory mechanism, n-MOEA concentrates the search effort where is needed more and provides a well formed efficient frontier with the solutions spread across the whole frontier. We also provide evidence for the robustness of the produced non-dominated solutions by carrying out, out-of-sample testing during both bull and bear market conditions on FTSE-100.

Immigrants’ Satisfaction from the National Health System in Greece: In the Quest of the Contributing Factors

Immigrants deserve special attention as they constitute a very sensitive social group, facing an increasing risk of social exclusion. The access of immigrants to health services is one of the most important factors, which contributes to their integration into the society of induction. The purpose of this study is to track and assess the immigrants’ satisfaction from the health services provided by the Greek National Health System (NHS). The satisfaction level assessment is examined in conjunction with demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the study participants, as well as with the characteristics that are related to their personal experience with the National Health System in Greece. The research was conducted from March 2012 to May 2013. The sample of the research comprises of 126 “first-generation” immigrants on legal permit of residence in Greece, who lived in the prefecture of Attica. It is panel study based on “snowball sampling” and the statistical analysis was conducted with the use of the Stata (ver. 11), while the statistical analysis used probit estimation techniques. The demographic and social variables—particularly the variables of gender, “understanding the Greek language”, “education”, “participation in the community of origin” and “insurance”—the variables of “health” and specifically “long-term diseases” and the variable of “trust” are found to be highly related with immigrants’ satisfaction degree from the Greek health system. Our research concludes that health is a fundamental, human right and immigrants’ access to health services is essential not only for their instant and effective treatment of their health problems and the improvement of their lives but also for ensuring the public health in Greece. In order to properly incorporate immigrants in Greece in particular, the health policy decision-makers have to pay attention to the contributing factors.

Transfer of Global Measures of Dependence into Cumulative Local

We explore an idea of transferring some classic measures of global dependence between random variables Χ1, Χ2, L, Χn into cumulative measures of dependence relative at any point?(χ1, χ2, L, χn)?in the sample space. It allows studying the behavior of these measures throughout the sample space, and better understanding and use of dependence. Some examples on popular copula distributions are also provided.

Community Pharmacists’ Strategies in Greece: An Assessment of the Policy Environment and the Mapping of Key Players

The aim of the study was to form and assess the pharmacists’ strategies in Greece, by analyzing the policy environment and identifying the role of the key players-stakeholders. For collecting and organizing important information about the pharmacists’ policy, the PolicyMaker’s computerized version of political mapping was used, serving as a database for assessments of the policy’s content, the major players, the power and policy positions of key players, the interests of different players, and the networks and coalitions that connect the players. As the research findings show, the initially expected impact of the pharmacists’ policy proved to be very optimistic in most of the implemented strategies, as the majority of the strategies have worsened or minimized their success ratio throughout the time in study. Concluding, either the initially set strategies were at the wrong direction or the actions taken to implement them were inappropriate. Moreover, one can suggest that the shifting ability in both the position and the power of the most key players were over-estimated, while they under-estimated the impact of troika-constitutions meddling in the pharmaceutical policymaking and in the health sector cost-containment measures imposing.

Evaluation of Industrial Pollution by Means of Experimental Economics

In this work,a methodological framework under the form of an algorithmic procedure,including 28 activity stages and 6 decision nodes,has been developed for evaluating environmental impact caused by industrial activities.The main part of this procedure is a modification of the CVM(Contingent Valuation Method),which is heavily relied on survey-based estimation of WTP-WTA(Willingness To Pay/Accept,respectively).The survey may take place either under a strictly controlled environment or in situ and as-is(“laboratory conditions”or“field conditions”,respectively,in the terminology of experimental economics).Implementation of this methodology is presented,referring to three cases of industrial pollution(in three different sites)caused by:(i)a cement producing unit,(ii)an oil refinery complex,and(iii)an industrialized small city with an intensively polluted port,where several industrial units co-exist,all of them located in the vicinity of Athens,Greece.The results are interpreted/discussed and conclusions are drawn.

The Analysis of Dimensionless Magnitudes in Economic Science

An economy consists of the economic system of a country or other unit of human society.It includes labor,capital,natural resources,production,trade,distribution and consumption of goods and services in the area where human society is active.These factors give context,content,and determine the conditions and parameters with which the economy operates.When searching with data mining techniques to identify or find out dimensionless groups(DGs)in technical literature,it is possible to meet errors/faults/omissions concerning both,the form and the content of such groups.In the present study,a methodological framework has been developed in terms of a logical flow chart,including 11 activity stages and seven decision nodes,to acquire/process/store/retrieve knowledge for reconstruction and identification of these groups.Case Based Reasoning(CBR),especially modified to meet the needs of this work,has been used for tracing causality paths by similarity and making correction suggestions.Two case examples are presented to prove the functionality of the proposed methodology.Non-dimensional groups are used in engineering but can also be used in economic science.Through this analysis,we can calculate the scale of industrial processes from laboratory to pilot and then factory scale.Still through the study of non-dimensional groups,it is easy to calculate economies of scale embedded in the production process.Synergy savings and target economies cause economies of scale in a production process and reduce the cost of production per unit of output when production is increased.Non-dimensional groups can be a quantitative and measurable indicator for calculating and predicting economies of scale in an industrial unit.The same can happen in an economic unit providing services,that is,intangible products.

Comparison of the ＂Global Levy Scheme＂ with the ＂Emissions Trading Scheme＂ to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Shipping Emissions

Climate change is widely recognized as the major environmental problem facing the globe today. One of the most urgent environmental problems facing shipping industry is the reduction of GHG （greenhouse gas） emissions from its operations. Given the growing concern of the international community on ＂the deep reduction of global GHG emissions＂, it cannot be expected that the non-regulation of maritime GHG emissions can further continue. This paper investigates the main challenges and threats of the development of two MBMs （market-based measures） for the reduction of GHG emissions from international shipping, i.e., the ＂global levy scheme on maritime GHG emissions＂ and the ＂maritime emission trading scheme＂. A SWOT （strengths weaknesses opportunities threat） analysis is used, in this survey, to evaluate the environmental effectiveness as well as the easiness of implementation of the two policy options. Moreover, we make apparent their strengths and weaknesses concerning abatement of maritime GHG emissions. Given the fact that the discussion regarding the implementation of some MBMs with maritime GHG-emission reduction potential is still carried out with the exception of EEDI （energy efficiency design index） and SEEMP （ship energy efficiency management plan）, this paper＇s results present special significance, as they could be further analyzed and taken into account during the adoption of any future MBM for the reduction of maritime GHG emissions.

Batch Studies for Methylene Blue Removal and Recovery by Untreated Coffee Residues

This paper reports the practicability of using coffee residues to remove widely used basic dyes like MB （Methylene Blue） from wastewaters. The effect of different batch system parameters, namely stirring speed, pH, initial dye concentration and contact time were studied. Moreover, in continuous fixed-bed column systems, the effects of parameters such as bed-depth, flow rate and initial dye concentration were examined. The experimental batch systems data were simulated using （a） Freundlich, Langmuir and Sips isotherm models and （b） 1st order, 2nd order, and intra-particle kinetic models. The results revealed that the MB is fairly adsorbed on coffee residues. This process could be a low cost technique for the removal of basic dyes from aqueous systems.

The Opportunity Cost as a Critical Determinant Factor of the Cultural Heritage Monuments＇ Valuation： A Modified Contingent Valuation Method

The subject of this study, which involves two surveys, is to estimate externalities created round a cultural heritage preservation site by means of a CVM （Contingent Valuation Method）. The first survey was conducted for the ruins of ancient ＂Diolkos＂ located in Isthmus of Corinth, Greece using a sample of 200 soldiers. The second survey was conducted for the ancient theater of Lefkada, using a sample of 100 tourists mad locals. The results have been analyzed with Logit model regression. The findings show that willingness to pay （or participate） is strongly affected by opportunity cost and awareness of the site＇s history. Further, income level and education level play a critical role in developing volunteering activity.

The WTP Method as an Index of Taxation for Environmental Restoration in the City of Thessaloniki in Greece

The purpose of this study is to provide an evaluation of the possible criteria used by the people of Thessaloniki for the evaluation of public goods and the investigation of the benefits of the conservation and restoration of city structures affected by carbon monoxide.These benefits are expressed in monetary units by using the CVM(Contingent Valuation Method).The maintenance of the urban environment often entails excessive costs paid by the people through taxation.A city free of aesthetic pollution results in an increase in tourism.A portion of taxation paid by the citizens is allocated to cleaning the city.An increase in tourism provides the government with additional revenue through VAT(Value Added Taxes).The increase in the money supply is not significant enough to affect the inflation rate,but gives the government additional revenue for the maintenance of the city and additional resources to service the national debt.The evaluation of these public goods cannot be expressed in the private sector,so authors applied a modified version of the CVM which is a survey-based technique used in experimental economics.The study sample was 100 citizens of Thessaloniki.The objective of this study was to determine the citizens’of Thessaloniki WTP(Willingness To Pay)for this public goods.Furthermore,the objective of this study was to investigate the willingness of the citizens to pay more taxes for the conservation/restoration of building facades in the historic sectors of Thessaloniki.The main findings show that in a large proportion,28%of the interviewees are willing to pay,but those that are willing to pay significant amounts tend to prefer mild interventions to the buildings,while those(42%)that agree with minimal to null amount demand radical intervention.The latter group,also,considers any contribution of theirs to restoration as unfair,judging that this expenditure should be covered exclusively by the State.Last but not least,from a sociopsychological point of view,this attitude could be attributed to extreme personalities which tend to prefer more holistic and direct solutions(i.e.,no mixed strategy involving people and the State is acceptable by interviewees who considered themselves as having no further obligations after regular tax-paying);as a result,they think that the State is exclusively responsible to resolve the situation.

Execution of Measurements for Determining the Parameters Affecting the Thermochemical Treatment of Brine Treated Biomass and the Adsorption of Dyes

Brine is a solution of salt （usually sodium chloride） in water. In different contexts, brine may refer to salt solutions ranging from about 3.5% （a typical concentration of seawater, or the lower end of solutions used for brining foods） up to about 26% （a typical saturated solution, depending on temperature）. Adsorption onto activated carbon is the most widespread technology for the removal of pollutants from water and wastewaters. In this study, continuous fixed-bed-column systems were investigated. The adsorbents which authors use are： spruce （Picea abies） untreated, spruce modified by autohydrolysis. The column systems were filed with biomass at various initial dye concentrations, flow rates and bed-depths. The column kinetics of MB （Methylene Blue） adsorption on spruce （Picea abies） untreated, spruce modified by autohydrolysis was simulated. Economies arise when the facility that can use such adsorption materials is near a source of a lignocellulosic waste as agricultural residues, thus saving transportation cost and contributing to industrial ecology at local level.

Developing a Methodology to Evaluate Various Parameters of the General Interest as Defined in Political Philosophy of J. J. Rousseau

The“social contract”is the most famous philosophical text of Zac Jacques Roussos,which was to influence the intellectual and political movement of the 18th century.By publishing the“social contract”or“Civil Law Principles”in 1762,Rousseau,presenting his theory of the state and seeking the foundation of civil society,attempts to expose the conditions of a stable and just state by putting freedom as a precondition for law and the common good must be lawful.A central place in its political theory is the concept of general will,which is in the general interest(otherwise the common good)and on which the idea of a favored constitutional state is based.We estimate approximately the size of the external economy by the method of the Contingent Valuation Method(CVM).The Contingent Valuation Method(CVM)is a survey-based technique,frequently used in Experimental Economics,especially useful for the valuation of non-market resources/goods/services,and cultural heritage objects(of aesthetic,historic,scientific,or social value),such as conservation of monumental remains and preservation of the physical and anthropogenic environment.

Fixed-bed-column Studies for Methylene Blue Removal and Recovery by Untreated Coffee Residues

This paper contributes to the Industrial Ecology Concept by using a common urban solid waste, i.e., coffee residues, to clean industrial wastewaters polluted by basic dyes, e.g., Methylene Blue. For the data from the continuous fixed-bed column system, two common models, namely （a） Bohart and Adams and （b） Clark were implemented. The Bohart and Adams capacity was up to N = 46,166 mg.L-1 or q0 = 104.5 mg.g-1 for bed-depth 15 cm, initial dye concentration 800 mg.g-1 and flow rate 20 mL.min-1. The results revealed that the Methylene Blue is fairly adsorbed on coffee residues. Consequently, this process can be applied as a low cost technique for cleaning basic dyes from the aquatic environment.