Athens Research Articles

Diversification in urban functions as a measure of metropolitan complexity

Newly emerging relationships between form and function reveal the increasingly complex nature of metropolitan regions. The present study investigates spatial diversification in settlement forms and socioeconomic functions in metropolitan Attica (the administrative region including Athens, the capital of Greece), with the aim of implementing a holistic framework assessing urban complexity in contemporary cities. Taken as key components of urban complexity, morphological and functional diversity have been analysed using multi-domain indicators that describe settlement characteristics (land-use, soil sealing, building use, vertical profile of buildings, building age, construction materials) and socioeconomic functions (economic base, working classes, education levels, population age structure, composition of non-native population by citizenship, distribution of personal incomes), thus providing a comprehensive description of local-scale diversification in urban structures. A correlation analysis was used to verify the spatial coherency between individual dimensions of urban diversification. Analysis of global Moran’s spatial autocorrelation index reveals specific gradients of urban diversification that discriminate morphological attributes from socioeconomic functions. Municipalities were profiled on the basis of Pielou’s evenness indexes for each urban dimension: a factor analysis indicates latent patterns characterizing areas with high and low diversification in metropolitan functions. Urban and rural municipalities were, respectively, characterized as the most and least diversified in the study area, with peri-urban municipalities ranking in-between, evidencing a diversification gradient correlated with the distance from downtown Athens. A multidimensional analysis of the most relevant dimensions of metropolitan complexity has proved to be a promising tool for monitoring urban gradients, polycentric development and (latent) socioeconomic transformations in contemporary cities.

Emergency inguinal hernioplasties in a tertiary public Hospital in Athens Greece, during the economic crisis

BackgroundAlthough the effect of the recent Greek economic crisis and austerity on the population’s health and the health system effectiveness have been discussed a lot recently, data on common surgical conditions affecting large part of the population are missing. Using inguinal hernia as a model we investigated possible changes of citizens’ attitude regarding the time of referral, the perioperative details and the intraoperative findings of the emergency hernioplasties.MethodsThe present retrospective study was conducted by a Department of Surgery in a tertiary public hospital of the Greek capital. We reviewed the records of all hernioplasties performed during two 5-year periods: 2005–2009 and 2012–2016, i.e. before and during the crisis focusing on the emergency ones (either incarcerated or strangulated).ResultsAn equal number of hernioplasties was performed in both periods. During the crisis however, an emergency hernioplasty was significantly more probable (HR 1.269, 95% CI 1.108–1.1454, p = 0.001), at a younger age (p = 0.04), mainly in patients younger than 75 years old (p = 0.0013). More patients presented with intestinal ischemia (7 vs 18, p = 0.002), requiring longer hospitalization (5.2 vs 9.6 days, p = 0.04), with higher cost (560 ± 262.4€ vs 2125 ± 1180.8€ p < 0.001). In contrast the percentage of patients with intestinal resection, their hospitalization length and treatment-cost remained unchanged. During the crisis there was a non-significant increase of emergency patients requiring ICU postoperatively (0 vs 4, p = 0.07) and a non-significant 60% increase of emergency operations in migrants/refugees population (3.5% vs 5.8%, p = 0.28). Epidural anesthesia was significantly more frequent during the crisis.ConclusionDuring the crisis: (i) the emergency hernioplasties increased significantly, (ii) more patients (exclusively Greek) presented with intestinal ischemia requiring longer hospitalization and higher treatment cost, (iii) the mean age of the urgently treated patients decreased significantly (iv) regional (epidural) anesthesia was more frequent. Although a direct causal relation could not be proven by the present study most observations can be explained by an increase of the patients who delayed the elective treatment of their hernia, and by a redistribution of the surgical workload towards big central hospitals. This can be prevented by adequately supporting the small district hospitals.

Struggles against exclusion in Exarcheia Square, Athens

Struggles against exclusion in Exarcheia Square, Athens

A Christian Approach to the North Korean Residents of Materialism: Centered on Paul's Athenian contact

A Christian Approach to the North Korean Residents of Materialism: Centered on Paul's Athenian contact

A conversation with American Maverick Sociologist and Criminologist, Lonnie Athens

A conversation with American Maverick Sociologist and Criminologist, Lonnie Athens

The Athenian Piraeus and Its Inhabitants

The Athenian Piraeus and Its Inhabitants

Brain drain: The impact on taxation and measures to combat the brain drain

During the debt crisis the number of highly specialized Greek scientists who had migrated abroad surpassed 250,000. The reasons that led to this result include the mismatch of supply and demand for skilled human capital in Greece, the high rates of unemployment, as well as underemployment, and the increased in the tax burden and social security contributions. In order to tackle brain drain, a number of measures have been announced, focusing on reducing the individual income and corporate tax, lowering VAT rates and streamlining tax incentives for investors. Tax-related measures must take into account the new environment that has been shaped after the implementation of the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project. In addition to that, they also must respect the fundamental freedoms and general principles of European Union law in general.

Report on the 2018 ieee international conference on high voltage engineering and application (ICHVE 2018)

The 2018 IEEE International Conference on High Voltage Engineering and Application (ICHVE 2018) was organized by the National Technical University of Athens–Greece and endorsed by the IEEE Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation Society. The conference, chaired by Ioannis Gonos and cochaired by Ioannis Stathopulos, Jian Li, and Nicolas Younan, was held in Athens, Greece, September 10 to 13, 2018, and was the fifth of a series of successful conferences (Chongqing, China: 2008, New Orleans, USA: 2010, Shanghai, China: 2012, Poznan, Poland: 2014, and Chengdu, China: 2016).

Dedication by Alexander the Great in the Temple of Atena Polias in Priene

The inscription, dated 334 or later and placed on Athena Polias’ temple in Priene, testifies to Alexander’s pity for the Goddess, but also his desire to show himself as champion of freedom and avenger of the Greek against the Persians.

Dedication by Alexander the Great in the Temple of Atena Polias in Priene

The inscription, dated 334 or later and placed on Athena Polias’ temple in Priene, testifies to Alexander’s pity for the Goddess, but also his desire to show himself as champion of freedom and avenger of the Greek against the Persians.

Work-related musculoskeletal disorders among Greek hospital nursing professionals: A cross-sectional observational study.

The serious shortages of nurses are related to increased risk for musculoskeletal disorders during work. The complexity of patient care places nurses at high-risk for injury and high in the list of occupations with risk for work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD). The current study evaluated the association of personal, professional and health factors with the development of WMSD in the nursing staff of hospitals in the capital of Greece. The study was conducted online with 394 nurses (age: 37.85±7.48 years (mean±SD), 19.54% male and 80.46% female) using a questionnaire based on the Nordic Musculoskeletal Questionnaire, and comparatively examined WMSD across nurses. The prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in general was 98%, with symptoms reported for the waist (85.3%), neck (71.2%) and back (70.7%). The risk for WMSD was higher for specific RN groups: female nurses had higher risk than males (p-value = 0.000 to 0.022), RNs with 11-20 years of work experience (p-value = 0.008) had higher risk than their younger colleagues, RNs that strain their waist, lift loads, etc faced higher risks (p-value = 0.000 to 0.043). Shift work, age and the body mass index also lead to increased risk. Our study indicated that Greek nurses suffer more frequently from WMSD in comparison to their colleagues internationally and this must alert hospital managers and the Greek National Health System to develop a prevention policy for WMSD in Greek hospitals.

Alle radici dell’eloquenza shakespeariana. La retorica tra antichità classica ed età cristiana

Abstract – The first part of the chapter introduces a short history of classical rhetoric, focusing in particular on the theories of Isocrates and Aristotle in the Greek context, and Cicero and Quintilian in the Latin context. The second part stresses that Christianity revitalizes rhetoric, which was condemned to sterility and decadence due to the lack of parrhesia within the empire. Putting Logos at the center of his reflection and proposing to spread the message of salvation among all men, Christianity recovers the fruitful link between words and life that had characterized the great seasons of Athens democracy and of the Roman republic. The last part analyzes a particular rhetorical technique, the metric clause.

Documenta 14: Learning from Athens

<i>documenta 14: Learning from Athens</i>

Documenta 14: Learning from Athens

<i>documenta 14: Learning from Athens</i>

Urban dispersion and economic crisis: empirical evidence from a Mediterranean region

Economic expansions and recessions have had a relevant influence on urbanization patterns, altering building cycles and depressing local housing markets. In regions with declining employment and wealth, the 2007 economic crisis has resulted in urban containment and inherent transformations in metropolitan structures and socioeconomic functions. This study aims at verifying whether urban growth spatial direction and intensity have changed during the 2007 economic crisis in Athens, the capital of Greece, based on a diachronic analysis (1990–2016) of indicators assessing population dynamics, building characteristics and land-use change. Urban growth rate in the study area was the highest over a period of economic expansion spanning from 1990 to 2006, decreasing largely in the subsequent decade, characterized by economic recession. Conversely, dispersed development as a proportion of total urban growth was the lowest during economic expansion, rising after 2007. With economic expansion, discontinuous urban growth concentrated in peri-urban districts. During recession, the same districts experienced a trend towards settlement re-densification, with new sprawled settlements expanding in marginal areas. Taken together, the empirical results of this study suggest that economic recession has promoted a moderate change in spatial direction and intensity of Athens’ expansion, with distinct patterns of urban densification and dispersion depending on the specific local context. Our findings bring insights on the debate over post-crisis development of Mediterranean cities, suggesting that – without policy interventions – dispersed settlements will remain the dominant urbanization pattern in heterogeneous and fragmented metropolitan regions.

From Manufacturing to Advanced Services: The (Uneven) Rise and Decline of Mediterranean City-Regions

Uneven changes in the global urban hierarchy have given way to new forms of relationships between urban and rural areas based on complementarities, cooperative and specialized exchange of services and goods, abandoning the additive processes of growth guided by industrialization and urbanization. Representing a distant notion from traditional concepts in regional studies such as 'compact cities' or 'suburbs', 'gravitation' or 'hierarchy', the 'city-region' paradigm has stimulated different visions to be recomposed within the 'sustainability' framework. With global changes, the 'mega-city region' model has starting to take the lead in the development of contemporary urban agglomeration. In this study, considerations over the emergence of this urban model in the Mediterranean region will be presented to investigate the relationship between dispersed urbanization and consolidating southern European city-regions. While Mediterranean cities have been considered for long time as ‘ordinary’ cities, rather distant from the 'globalized' northern urban models, most of these cities are characterized by distinctive socioeconomic traits possibly open to competition and globalization. The present contribution describes the emergence of a Mediterranean urban area, Athens, as a new 'city-region' in the context of urbanization processes in Greece and in the Mediterranean basin as a whole. One of the clearest indications of urban competitiveness amongst emerging and established large city-regions is the fight for hosting mega-events. The final objective of the study is to understand how the efforts for increasing urban competitiveness are impacting new forms of city-regions, mainly based on low-density settlements reflecting discontinuous urbanization.

Modeling regional routes with Greek airlines for flight operations to AOE airport

PurposeResearch carried out within the scope of the present new emerging optimum market to Greek regional airlines. This study (based on interconnected flight network) aims to provide an optimal alternative for flights to be carried out by small Greek airlines to Eskisehir Airport in Turkey. The airlines seek to sustainable demand base to improve themselves in a profitable way.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, the analytical network process method was used. In the construction of network models, specific criteria have been considered, and the analysis has been accomplished as multi-criteria decision-making problem because of the relationship and interaction between them. A number of professionals with high knowledge of the Greek and Turkish aviation market were participated in the study.FindingsBoth Greek and Turkish experts think that the scenarios should include more airports (multi leg flights) to benefit from the increased traffic from all these destinations. Although, the model showed that more sustainable and effective routes are the simplest ones (single leg flights). Thus, the experts suggested the following five routes: Athens (ATH)-Antalya (AYT)-Eskisehir (AOE)-ATH; Heraklion (HER)-AOE-ATH; ATH-Istanbul (IST)-AOE-Thessaloniki (SKG); ATH-AOE-Cologne (CGN)-ATH and ATH-AOE-Izmir (ADB)-CGN-ATH. In addition, the experts pointed out the routes Eskisehir (AOE)-Brussel (BRU) and AOE-Cologne (CGN), as the passenger demand for them is high. These are considerable suggestions and should be examined by airlines’ managers, while aviation authorities should take these under consideration.Research limitations/implicationsThere are some factors that limit the potential extension of the small Greek regional airlines to Eskisehir airport. Istanbul’s Atatürk International Airport is the most used airport for international connected flight in Turkey, and the most airlines prefer this as a destination airport, although it has slots limitations and intense traffic. According to a previous project, sustainable flight network may include Istanbul and Izmir. Also, the bilateral agreement between Greece and Turkey according to Memorandum of Understanding between the Aeronautical Authorities of the Republic of Turkey and Hellenic Republic consists the main limitation of the traffic increase.Practical implicationsConnected flight network model suggestions developed in this research may provide contribution to airlines’ research and development activities. Also this kind of studies may contribute to the increase of the passengers’ traffic between the two countries with mutual benefits.Social implicationsBased on the current study, with determined the grid network flights, new flights can be scheduled that are offering significant benefits. Also passengers will have the ability to travel to an attractive destination. In particular, the study may positively contribute to the further development of AOE and to the region around the city. On the other side, the Greek regional airlines can find an important market. Anadolu University’s entrepreneurship ability will be improved and also AOE’s business will be increased. This study will enforce the stronger links between both Greek [Hellenic (Greek) Civil Aviation Authority] and Turkish (General Directorate of Civil Aviation) aviation authorities. In addition, this study may contribute to the improvement of the economic relations between Greece and Turkey with mutual benefits.Originality/valueIt is thought that this research shows Greek and Turkish airports feasibility to cooperate providing benefits to passengers, airlines and the countries’ economies. The study includes current social, economic and cultural dynamics of the countries making significant contribution to academic literature. The capacity and demand analysis is useful for the management of the specific Greek carriers. Expert opinions are consulted over the course of taking strategic decisions. The analysis has been conducted, based on expert opinions and referred to for these pairwise comparisons. Airlines and airport managers based on the suggested methodology may examine potential flights, although more numerical data are necessary.

26th Panhellenic Rheumatology Congress, 6-9 December 2018, Athens, Greece.

26th Panhellenic Rheumatology Congress, 6-9 December 2018, Athens, Greece.

На пути к возрождению метафизики: С.Л. Франк и Э. Корет

На пути к возрождению метафизики: С.Л. Франк и Э. Корет

Преподобный Эгидий – уроженец Афин и святой Франции

Преподобный Эгидий – уроженец Афин и святой Франции