Technological Educational Institute of Western Greece

Mass production of Aedes albopictus for Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) requires cost-effective and nutritionally balanced larval diets to ensure high survival, optimal development and competitive adult fitness. This study evaluates the potential of insect-derived meals and dead autoclaved bacteria as the main protein sources in mosquito larval diets. Four isoproteinic diets were studied, each one incorporating different protein sources: Brewer’s yeast (CAA), Tenebrio molitor meal (UTH-YM), Hermetia illucens meal (UTH-BSF) and Enterobacter spp. dry biomass (UTH-ENT). Results demonstrated immature survival higher than 78% for all diets. Developmental duration varied significantly across diets. The UTH-ENT diet extended larval development and conferred greater wing length. The highest protandry percentage was observed in the CAA diet, facilitating sex separation for SIT implementation. Adult survival over 20 days varied significantly among diets but not sexes. Males from the UTH-BSF diet exhibited the highest survival rate, while females from UTH-ENT diet showed the shortest lifespan. Given the rising costs and the variability in the quality of brewer’s yeast, our findings support the integration of insect-based diets as sustainable protein source alternatives for Ae. albopictus mass-rearing. Further research should refine larval diet formulations considering that combining different protein sources may enhance rearing success, to facilitate SIT efficiency and sustainable mosquito suppression.

Cercis siliquastrum L. is considered an important medicinal herb. To provide knowledge that can contribute to scientific literature, the present study focuses on the identification of bioactive compounds of different Cercis siliquastrum L. extracts using GC-MS. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity of Cercis siliquastrum L. extracts against the gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) was examined. Moreover, a safety evaluation against human cells was performed. A combination of maceration and percolation was used for the extraction of leaves. Additionally, the reuse of the biomass was evaluated through sequential extractions using organic solvents of different polarity to obtain a wide range of secondary metabolites. In total, fourteen bioactive compounds were detected using GC-MS. However, some differences, especially in the compounds identified in each extract as well as in their abundance were observed. The major components of the extracts obtained from the hydroethanolic and methanolic extracts were γ-sitosterol, α-tocopherol and phytol. In the case of the hexane extract octacosane, γ-sitosterol and α-tocopherol were the most abundant constituents. The hydroethanolic extract possessed the most significant antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli , as well as the highest antioxidant activity. Regarding the cytogenotoxic potential of the hydroethanolic extract, none of the tested concentrations led to cytotoxic effects. Although the highest tested concentration (1.50 % v/v) induced micronucleus (MN) formation compared to the control cultures, the difference was not statistically significant, confirming the absence of genotoxic effects. The reuse of the secondary biomass also led to extracts consisting of compounds with beneficial properties and aligns with the circular economy concept. • A combination of low-cost methods was used for the extraction of leaves of Cercis siliquastrum L. • Reuse of the biomass in sequential extractions was also evaluated. • The major components were γ-sitosterol, a-tocopherol and phytol. • The hydroethanolic extract possessed the most significant antibacterial activity. • The safety profile of the hydroethanolic extract was evaluated.

Abstract Environmental performance of food and beverages is inextricably linked to the sustainable management of water resources. Water consumption is thoroughly analysed by calculating direct and indirect water usage through the water footprint model, particularly for products that are meant for export. Whilst the water-intensive grape growing industry has been extensively studied for wine production, the water use for grapes intended for drying has not been evaluated. PDO Vostizza Corinthian currants primarily export raisins that are derived from grape varieties in SW Greece that have a long history of economic, cultural, and social importance. Despite studies on the water consumption of grapevines for wine production, there is a gap in research for raisin vineyards. The water footprint model was utilised to comprehensively calculate the water usage in food production, considering direct and indirect consumption through blue, green, and grey components. This study specifically focussed on assessing the water footprint in 1 kg of currants produced on semi-mountainous and mountainous fields over a 3-year period with varying precipitation patterns. The study uses precision agriculture techniques with field-level data and modelling a site-specific water footprint estimation. Actual local and field data were used to calculate the reference evapotranspiration (ETo) using CROPWAT 8.0. The water footprints of five scenarios were calculated to encompass common practises and soil-climatic differences in the cultivation area. The Water Footprints (WFs) of vineyards under water stress ranged from 567 to 1,182 m3tn−1 for dry grapes and from 178 to 346 m3tn−1 for fresh grapes depending on the scenario and year of production due to fluctuations in yield and precipitation. The significant climatic adaptation of Vitis vinifera L. sp. black Corinth, var. Apyrena resulted in low WFs in consistent with its overall environmental performance.

Unmittelbar nach dem 24. Februar 2022, dem Tag des Überfalls der Russischen Föderation auf die Ukraine, war das Wort vom Westen wieder in aller Munde: als Synonym für Liberalität, Rechtsstaatlichkeit, Demokratie, aber auch militärische Potenz und geopolitischen Machtanspruch. Bemerkenswert war und ist dies insofern, als die Rede vom Westen vor jenem historischen Tag zumindest unter kritischen Intellektuellen ausschließlich im Modus der postkolonialen, identitätspolitischen, rassismuskritischen usw. Infragestellung statthaft erschien -oder aber unter dezidierter Betonung des Krisenhaften: Der Niedergang des Westens wurde seit dem Brexit und der Wahl Donald Trumps in der internationalen Publizistik schließlich so konsequent beschworen, dass man fast den Eindruck gewinnen konnte, die Leitartikel in den großen Zeitungen verstärkten unwillkürlich genau das, was sie eigentlich nur beschreiben und bezeichnen wollten. Davon, dass sich die gestern noch hitzig geführten Debatten von einem auf den anderen Tag als nichtig erwiesen hätten, ist aber nicht auszugehen, zumal sie Kritikpunkte aufgreifen, die seit jeher, wenn auch in wechselndem begrifflichem Gewand und mit divergierendem politischen Akzent, gegen den Westen vorgebracht worden sind. Angesichts der gegenwärtigen Situation, der gewaltsamen Umgestaltung der politischen Weltordnung durch eine imperiale, autokratische und zu allem Übel mit Atomwaffen ausgerüstete Großmacht, die ausdrücklich die westliche Moderne und die offene Gesellschaft zu ihrem Feind erklärt hat -angesichts dieser Lage scheint den Bewohnerinnen und Bewohnern der liberalen Demokratien vielmehr bewusst zu werden, dass allein diese die Bedingungen gewährleisten, die ihre kritische Infragestellung allererst ermöglicht. Das neu aufkommende diskursive Spannungsverhältnis zwischen Westen und Osten auszuloten, das Zusammenwirken von Abwehr und Annäherung in unterschiedlichen historischen Konstellationen seit 1945 zu vermessen -darin bestand die Aufgabe einer kleinen Tagung an der Universität Münster im Dezember 2022. Für diese Ausgabe von andererseits wurden einige der Beiträge ausgewählt und zu einem Schwerpunkt zusammengestellt. So geht zunächst Anna Artwińska (Leipzig) auf die Sonderrolle der Staaten Polen, Ungarn und der Ukraine vor und nach dem 1 Vgl. https://rethinkingthewest.de.

This study illustrates presents a set of the Long – Term Geoelectric Potential (LTGP) measurements that are collected for experimental investigation in Western Greece during a five–year period (1993 – 1997). During this period, many major destructive earthquake events occurred that caused human casualties and extended material damages. The collection and processing of geoelectric measurements was done by an automated data acquisition system at the Seismological Laboratory of the University of Patras, Greece. This novel study considers seismic activity of this area as a typical linear dynamic system and the dynamic relationship between the magnitude of earthquakes and Long – Term Geoelectric Potential signals is inferred by the Recursive Least Square algorithm. The results are encouraging and show that linear dynamic systems, which are widely used in modern control theory, can describe efficiently the dynamic behavior of seismic activity and become a useful interpretative tool of seismic phenomenon.

Soft and neutrosophic sets are used in this chapter as tools for introducing a multi-valued logic for ethics. The introduction of a multi-valued logic in ethics is not a new idea, but there is not any integrated proposal about this reported in the literature until now. The target is not to add another theory about ethics, but instead to create a new basis enabling a modern approach to the subject. The chapter starts by examining the role of human logic and statistical thinking for the creation and evolution of ethics. A brief historical account of the development of ethics follows with emphasis to the moral dilemmas, the existence of which motivates the application of a multi-valued logic. The basic information about fuzzy sets, fuzzy logic, soft sets, and neutrosophic sets, needed for the understanding of the rest of the chapter, are also presented before using soft and neutrosophic sets for a mathematical representation of the ethical rules and in extension of the moral theories.

The present study aims to investigate personality traits and emotional intelligence in young adults’ consumers who use social networks to make shopping. Consumer behavior has long been of interest to researchers. Contemporary research on Consumer Behavior considers a wide range of factors influencing the consumer,and acknowledges a broad range of consumption activities beyond purchasing. Νowadays, since online purchases is a daily practice, it is useful to study the behavior of online consumers who are social network users and make shopping via social media. Two basic components that influence consumer behavior are personality and emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is both characteristic of personality and intellectual capacity, which a person inherits from the genetic material of its parents and evolves - develops throughout lifetime. Personality’ refers to the pattern of thoughts, feelings and behavior that makes each individual separate from others. These affect the way of think, feeling and behaving towards itself and others. The data were collected by completion of the self-report questionnaire Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEIQue), as far as emotional intelligence concerned, and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) as far as personality traits of personality disorders concerned. Specifically, for the collection of data electronic questionnaire TEIQue and EPQ were being created through Google Forms service and posted through the website “http://www.cicos.gr/iccmi2017/aptei”. Then the collected data were selected for analysis, with relevant transformations in order to have a suitable form for the implementation of the respective machine learning algorithms included in the software package R. Furthermore, the parameters of the corresponding set of algorithms were determined depending on the case of application to produce inference rules. Some of the algorithms implemented according to specific research questions that were applied, were the classification algorithms for the production of decision trees, regarding the four more general factors (welfare, self-control, emotionality and sociability) of emotional intelligence and also personality traits of social network consumers. The results obtained, after weighing and criteria basis, present consumers' rates, which in turn analyze the degree of emotional intelligence and personality traits. Personality and emotional intelligence index can play a crucial role in clarifying consumer behavior of social network users.

In this research paper presents the Evaluation of burnout Index professionals working in both the private and public sector, amid the economic recession in Greece. Data were collected by filling working adults aged 18 years and above through a questionnaire which is designed to measure burnout at work (Maslach Burnout Inventory - MBI). This questionnaire measures three dimensions of burnout: (1) Emotional Exhaustion, (2) Depersonalization, (3) Personal Accomplishment. The questionnaires were created through Google Forms service and posted on the website http://www.cicos.gr. Subsequently, selected data for analysis by adding additional parameters such as gender, age, education, occupation and birth / residence. Then an appropriate pretreatment provided as input to a special software and Machine Learning Data Mining (R) to generate patterns and inference rules. In conclusion, the results obtained by weighting and criteria basis, evaluate and present adult rates, which in turn analyze the degree of burnout.

The present paper comes across the main steps that were laid from Zadeh’s fuzziness and Atanassov’s intuitionistic fuzzy sets to Smarandache’s indeterminacy and to Molodstov’s soft sets. Two hybrid methods for assessment and decision making, respectively, under fuzzy conditions are also presented using suitable examples that use soft sets and real intervals as tools. The decision making method improves on an earlier method of Maji et al. Further, it is described how the concept of topological space, the most general category of mathematical spaces, can be extended to fuzzy structures and how to generalize the fundamental mathematical concepts of limit, continuity compactness and Hausdorff space within such kinds of structures. In particular, fuzzy and soft topological spaces are defined and examples are given to illustrate these generalizations.