Public-sector reform: Lessons from the privatisation experiment in Greece

This paper explores the process of public sector reform in Greece through the lens of privatisation. It is suggested that the transformation of the domestic post-war interventionist state into the current market-oriented paradigm has been disrupted and dependent on changing reform rationales. Along with the effect of historical dynamics on the direction and scale of change, the explanatory power of external determinants of reform is stressed. Findings reflect a direct linkage between the intensity of external pressure and the pace of reforms. The sustainability of gradual privatisation reforms seems more certain than the outcomes of fast-track privatisations under policy conditionality.     

CO2 emissions in Greece for 1990–2002: A decomposition analysis and comparison of results using the Arithmetic Mean Divisia Index and Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index techniques

This paper deals with the decomposition analysis of energy-related CO₂ emissions in Greece from 1990 to 2002. The Arithmetic Mean Divisia Index (AMDI) and the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) techniques are applied and changes in CO₂ emissions are decomposed into four factors: income effect, energy intensity effect, fuel share effect and population effect. The period-wise and time series analyses show that the biggest contributor to the rise in CO₂ emissions in Greece is the income effect; on the contrary, the energy intensity effect is mainly responsible for the decrease in CO₂ emissions. A comparison of the results of the two techniques gave an insight in the intricacies of energy decomposition. Finally, conclusions and future areas of research are presented.     

Spatial Water Use efficiency Index towards resource sustainability: application in the island of Crete,Greece

This paper introduces a new index to test water resource sustainability in regions where groundwater is the main source of water supply. The Spatial Water Use efficiency Index (SWUI) is a geographical information system (GIS) environment index which expresses the ratio of potential available water volume (groundwater recharge minus water needs) to the respective water needs. Its low and/or negative values indicate water stress. SWUI is applied in the island of Crete, Greece, where water needs are mainly covered by groundwater abstractions. The annual water mass balance is estimated using the RIBASIM (River Basin Simulation) model. The total freshwater needs in the Cretan region reach 535 hm³ annually according to the model's simulation. SWUI with values ranging from ? 0.8 to 214.3 has proved to be an important visual tool towards depicting the low efficiency of the east part of the island to cover water demand and a useful decision-making tool in the sustainability evaluation of groundwater aquifers.     

Examining Patterns of Information Behavior Among Healthcare Professionals: A Case Study on Health Psychologists

Psychologists are an understudied population in terms of information needs and information seeking behavior. This article provides theoretical analysis accompanied with some empirical evidence drawn from a nationwide survey of psychologists working in the Greek National Healthcare System (GNHS). The empirical study was conducted during the spring of 2011, through a specially designed questionnaire distributed to all psychologists within GNHS. Psychologists seek information for patient consultation purposes and for knowledge updating; they prefer using their personal library, internet search engines, and their colleagues as information sources, while the main obstacles they face include the lack of hospital libraries. This research identified the need to more strongly link hospital library services to health psychologists on the grounds of their information needs and behaviors.     

Seasonal variation of columnar aerosol optical properties over Athens, Greece, based on MODIS data

A long-term (2000–2005) data set of aerosol optical properties obtained from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) is analyzed focusing on the Greater Athens Area in the Eastern Mediterranean region. The MODIS aerosol optical depth standard product (AOD at 550 nm) and its respective ratio attributed to fine-mode particles (FM) are employed to evaluate the inter-annual and seasonal variability of the aerosol properties over Athens. Based on AOD₅₅₀ and FM values three specific aerosol types are discriminated corresponding to different aerosol load and optical properties. The aerosol types considered correspond to urban/industrial aerosols, coarse-mode particles and clean maritime conditions. This study focuses on the seasonal and year-to-year fluctuation of the number of occurrences as well as the AOD₅₅₀ and FM values of each aerosol type. The coarse-mode particles are observed mainly in the summer, while spring is the most favorable season for the occurrence of urban/industrial aerosols. On the other hand, clean maritime conditions occur mainly in the winter. The AOD₅₅₀ values for the coarse-mode particles are higher in spring, while the urban/industrial and clean maritime aerosols exhibit slightly higher values in the summer. The seasonal distribution of the aerosol properties is related to anthropogenic and dust emissions in the spring/summer period, but is modified by atmospheric dispersion and precipitation in late autumn/winter. The main conclusion of the study is that the coarse-mode particles exhibit much stronger inter-annual and seasonal variability compared to the urban/industrial aerosols. Finally, three cases corresponding to each aerosol type are analyzed with the aid of synoptic weather maps, air mass trajectories and MODIS data.     

Online political marketing in Greece: An evaluation of the 2007 national elections and two case studies

This paper presents findings on the use of Web sites as a political marketing tool in the context of the 2007 Greek national elections. The questions guiding this research are how popular were online campaigns in terms of candidate use of Web sites and which trust and credibility-building Web site design cues were leveraged by candidates. This study also explored differences in online campaign practices both between Greek political parties and between the 2007 national Greek elections and the 2002 federal US elections.     

Estimation of the Water Resources Potential in the Island System of the Aegean Archipelago,Greece

Abstract

The present paper tries to estimate the surface water resources potential in some of the major Aegean islands in an effort to provide a means for the continuous development of the region, and, by extension, for similar areas around the world. The islands have to confront the challenge of surviving in a semiarid environment under the constraints of uneven water resources distribution both in space and time. In addition to these, tourism development, industrialization and highly water consumptive life styles have exacerbated perennial problems in water resources and water resources management. The framework of the present effort has a two-prong emphasis. In the first part, a simulation model is presented, which tries to estimate the potential surface runoff under physical, structural organizational, and institutional constraints. The methodology and the premises of the simulation process are delineated. In the second part, the results of the model's application in distinct cases are demarcated. The final product, namely the model and the resulting runoff coefficients, are presented in the form of a standard, which may provide practitioners in the field as well as decisionmakers the means for an initial reference in pertinent developmental efforts. Finally, the conclusions and recommendations raise the question of ecosystem resilience and point towards the urgent and continuous need for the application of integrated water resources management principles.     

Do websites influence the nature of voting intentions? The case of two national elections in Greece

This paper aims to contribute to the growing body of research on online political marketing by investigating the use of websites as a marketing tool in the 2007 and 2009 general elections in Greece. The two main research objectives are firstly to establish the key factors affecting voters’ trust when it comes to using politicians’ websites and secondly to examine whether and to what extent the influence of trust-building factors changes over-time, as the online environment matures. The key findings of this research are that users tend to visit the websites of favoured candidates, which reinforces their positive perceptions of them, while as far as the websites themselves and their content and the services provided are concerned there is still room for improvement.     

A comparative organic geochemical study of oils seeps in Western Greece

Samples from three oil shows in Western Greece were studied following a suite of analytical geochemical procedures, aiming to reveal the origin of the organic matter and characterize its depositional environment. The authors’ findings were compared, and confirmed to a great extent, to geochemical results from previously published studies. Certain compositional differences exist between the three oil shows, reflecting different source rock and/or different facies. The influence of different analytical methodologies commonly used to separate compound groups (saturates, aromatics, resins, asphaltenes) on the obtained geochemical indices was also examined. The results demonstrate that bulk composition of maltenes, as well as most biomarker indices, are not affected significantly by the employed group-type separation procedures.     

Mapping and classification of direct flood impacts in the complex conditions of an urban environment. The case study of the 2014 flood in Athens,Greece

Urban flooding is a gradually increasing problem as the urban population expands into floodplains. In urban environments, flood vulnerability is significantly increased as a more concentrated population and assets makes flooding costly and challenging, in terms of impact estimation. This work focuses on mapping and classifying impacts after the catastrophic 2014 flood in Athens, Greece. The study proposes a method for classifying flood effects into four categories including: the natural and built environment, mobile objects and human population, organized in five classes of increasing severity, i.e. minor, weak, moderate, strong and extreme. Flood effects are grouped based on the qualitative nature of the recorded effects, allowing the development of an impact-severity map. Mapping of the 2014 flood effects indicated specific locations where the severity of impacts was distinctively higher than others, providing a holistic overview of the flood’s effects and highlighting the usefulness of the approach in future flood protection planning.