Book Chapters / Κεφάλαια Βιβλίου

The nature of barriers is first clarified and their effect on innovation is broadly outlined. The various taxonomies of barriers are presented and critically evaluated. Their impact and mechanisms of action are then developed. The pattern of barriers in different contexts is considered and various aspects of a theoretical explanation of barriers are discussed. Since barriers are especially important in small firm innovation and in difficult environments, e.g. in small countries, these special cases are studied in some depth. Finally, the empirical studies on barriers are reviewed. The chapter ends with suggestions to overcome barriers and a conclusions section.

Methods from game theory and mechanism design have been proven to be a powerful mathematical tool in order to understand, control, and efficiently design dynamic, complex networks, such as the Internet. Game theory provides a good starting point for computer scientists to understand selfish rational behavior of complex networks with many agents. Such a scenario is readily modeled using game theory techniques, in which players with potentially different goals participate under a common setting with well prescribed interactions. The Nash equilibrium stands out as the predominant concept of rationality in noncooperative settings. Thus, game theory and its notions of equilibria provide a rich framework for modeling the behavior of selfish agents in these kinds of distributed and networked environments and offering mechanisms to achieve efficient and desirable global outcomes despite selfish behavior. The most important algorithmic solutions and advances achieved through game theory are reviewed.

Introduction 1. EC Regulation No 885/2004 of 26 April 2004 extends to Cyprus the application of Council Regulation No 2157/2001 of 8 October 2001 on the Statute for a European company (the ‘Regulation’) and Council Directive 2001/86/EC of 8 October 2001 supplementing the Statue for a European company with regard to the involvement of employees (the ‘Directive’). The European Public Limited-Liability Company Regulations 2006 (the ‘EPLLC Regulations’) and Law 277(I)/2004 were introduced in order to harmonise Cypriot and Community law. Given that the European company (commonly referred to by its Latin name, Societas Europaea or SE) has only existed since mid-2006, there is as yet no Cypriot case law on the subject. As noted at no. 2 of the general report, the Regulation and the Directive apply throughout the European Economic Area (EEA), and references in this chapter to the European Union or to its Member States should be construed to include Norway, Iceland and Lichtenstein. Application 2. Cyprus came under an obligation to bring its legislation into line with the Regulation and the Directive when it acceded to the European Union on 1 May 2004. The EPLLC Regulations facilitate the application of the Regulation and were introduced via Section 387(1)(e) of the Cypriot Companies Law, Chapter 113 (the ‘CCL’).

This chapter examines the application of the concepts of social and cultural capital in empirical research seeking to provide explanations for educational processes relating to post-secondary school choice making in contemporary Cyprus and parents' aspirations in relation to their children's educational and occupational prospects in Greece. It argues that Bourdieu's work is a valuable source of ideas and concepts that provide the framework for quantitative investigations on a number of educational and sociological issues, particularly those that refer to social and cultural reproduction. Moreover, it addresses the criticism that is often associated with the limitations of quantification. This criticism asserts that quantitative techniques often do not explore with sufficient subtlety the social dynamics that are produced by the social contexts within which social action (i.e. educational choice making) occurs.

Introduction: 1. The Cross-border Merger Directive has been transposed into the Cypriot legal order by Law 186(I)/2007, which was published on 31 December 2007. That piece of legislation amended the Cypriot Companies Law, Chapter 113 (the ‘CCL’) by inserting a new section on cross-border mergers (Arts. 201I–201X CCL). Scope of the new rules: 2. The new section applies to cross-border mergers of limited liability companies under the conditions that (i) at least one of the merging limited liability companies is a Cypriot company or the limited liability company resulting from the cross-border merger is a Cypriot company (Art. 201J(1) CCL), and (ii) at least one of the rest of the participating companies is subject to the jurisdiction of another European Economic Area Member State (Art. 201I CCL). Cross-border mergers are only possible between types of limited liability companies which may merge under the national law of the relevant Member States. Every Cypriot company may take part in a cross-border merger except (i) the limited liability companies by guarantee, and (ii) the companies subject to liquidation. A Cypriot company participating in such a merger must comply with the provisions and formalities of the CCL (Art. 201K CCL). It is worth noting that the Cyprus legislature chose not to exercise the option given by Article 3(2) of the Cross-border Merger Directive and therefore the new rules are applicable to cooperative societies falling within the definition of ‘limited liability company’ as laid down in Article 201I of the CCL.

Cardiac arrest still remains a daunting medical emergency in Western societies and is the cause of approximately 250,000-600,000 deaths annually in the United States, with ventricular fibrillation being the initial rhythm in 20-38% of cases. Defibrillation is the only treatment available to terminate this life-threatening arrhythmia. This chapter deals initially with the mechanisms of defibrillation, the waveforms and the recommended energy levels of defibrillation. Furthermore, factors influencing transthoracic impedance, which is a major determinant of successful defibrillation, are analysed. Finally, this chapter discusses the use of automated external defibrillators and the early access to defibrillation by lay personnel in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.;

Cardiac arrest affects more than 250,000 people per year in the USA. Ventricular Fibrillation (VF) is the rhythm observed in up to 40% of the cases, when help arrives. Current guidelines recommend initiation of immediate bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), electrical defibrillation and epinephrine (adrenaline) administration. Since the restoration of threshold levels of coronary perfusion pressure (CPP) has been found to be the only independent determinant of return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC), the use of a vasopressor agent has been considered indispensable for successful CPR. Epinephrine holds a predominant role as the drug of choice for more than 100 years. However, recent studies have shown that eventhough the use of epinephrine increases the possibility of ROSC, it does not result in higher hospital discharge rates when compared to placebo in VF cardiac arrest setting. Epinephrine is an endogenous catecholamine which possesses both alpha and beta adrenergic actions. Its beneficial effects are assumed to be primarily due to its a2 action leading to peripheral arteriolar vasoconstriction, increasing thus the aortic pressure and consequently myocardial and cerebral perfusion. On the other hand, epinephrine's a1, β1 and β2 actions have serious arrhythmogenic effects originated from the resulting increase of oxygen demands in an already fasting myocardium, the increase of myocardial lactate levels and the decrease of myocardial ATP reserves, increasing thus the severity of post-resuscitation myocardial dysfunction. Furthermore, epinephrine is very sensitive to the effects of acidosis, which is the case in VF setting. Lastly, in cardiac arrest victims, endogenous catecholamine levels have been found to be in extremely elevated concentrations. Therefore, it is possible that almost all the catecholamine receptors have been already been stimulated and an epinephrine administration will not have the expected impact.The aforementioned data have oriented CPR research to the quest for alternative pharmacologic agents which will either replace epinephrine or attenuate its undesired effects.

Stavros Stavrou Karayanni challenges the Orientalist notion that belly dance was historically a female performance genre through an investigation of the 19th-century male dancers of Cairo. Analysis reveals the breathless hypocrisy of travelers who had an "imperial gaze" (Gustave Flaubert, Vivant Denon, Gerard de Nerval) and who lingered over the performances of highly popular male belly dance performances in 19th-century Egypt, at the same time pronouncing them obscene and indecent. Karayanni recuperates the art of these dancing bodies, which had been erased from history by scandalized colonial writers and postcolonial subalterns. Also considered are historical male dancers, as well as their contemporary counterparts whose choreographies continue to negotiate gender, sexuality, and imperial standards of masculinity.

Major trauma is associated with rapid blood loss, massive cellular damage, and disturbances to vital organ function. Responses include local wound changes, as well as system changes that are acute or gradual. The more severe the injury, the greater the response. The neuroendocrine stress response changes over time and is associated with altered immune function and decreased immunity. Psychological complications are persistent and adversely affect daily activities.

At a time when mathematics and science provide essential knowledge tools and the foundations for lifelong learning skills, cross-national studies of student achievement in Europe indicate lack of mathematical and scientific competence for a considerable proportion of the student population. Acknowledging the central role of parents in children's learning, the EU-funded project SMASH aims to raise the educational standards of European youth in mathematics and science by cultivating underlying home cultures as springboards for learning. The project consortium has developed an innovative intercultural parenttrainer training course and related resources for professionals involved in parent education initiatives. The course, which is delivered through combined use of e-learning and physical meetings, provides these professionals with current knowledge, techniques, and implementation tools for the provision of highquality, culturally differentiated training in mathematics and science education to parents of elementary and middle school children (ages 6-15) in their communities. Online multilingual resources support and promote the program's activities and objectives by offering open access to the parent-trainer training course content and tools.

In Cyprus the title ‘practising advocate‘ (δ ι κ η γ ό ρ ο ς που ασκεί την δικηγορία in Greek) is, in principle, accorded to legal professionals who (i) are members of the Bar, (ii) possess an annual licence from the Cyprus Bar Association and (iii) pay their contributions to the Advocates Pension Fund. Those professionals can be self-employed, partners or associates in a law firm. Their status and activities are basically regulated by the Advocates’ Law Cap. 2 (hereinafter the Law) and the Advocates’ Code of Conduct Regulations of 2002 (hereinafter the Code). There exist six local bar associations (Nicosia, Limassol, Famagusta, Larnaca, Paphos and Kerynia) and one centralised, national bar association, namely the Cyprus Bar Association. The duty of secrecy in dealings and communications with clients (commonly referred to as ‘attorney—client privilege’) is exclusively imposed upon practising advocates as defined above. It does not therefore extend to those professionals who are not entitled to pursue their activities under that professional title. In-house lawyers may not be members of the Bar in Cyprus and the legal privilege is not therefore recognised for them. They are, of course, bound to respect the confidentiality clauses contained in their contract of employment; however, it is questionable whether those contractual constraints can validly be invoked by the in-house lawyer in order to refuse disclosure of information in court proceedings.

This chapter discusses the insights developed for designing scheduling algorithms according to three design projects where algorithms have been developed. The choice of applications covers a broad spectrum. The methods used are from three different fields, namely combinatorial optimization, genetic (evolutionary) algorithms, and mathematical optimization. The application areas differ also in terms of the role of a human user of the algorithm. Some of these algorithms have been developed without detailed study of the competences of the perceived users. Others have examined humans when performing the scheduling tasks manually, but have not considered the change in cognitive load if the process of planning changes due to the new algorithm and computerized support. Although none of the design projects fulfils all criteria developed in the framework of Chap. 12, we show that the framework helps to assess the design projects and the resulting algorithms, and to identify the main weaknesses in these applications. Finally, we show how they can be addressed in future. The three application areas are: 1. Decision support for shunting yard scheduling using a network flow heuristic. 2. An evolutionary multi-objective decision tool for job-shop scheduling. 3. Group sequencing. A predictive-reactive scheduling method for job-shop scheduling.

The affordances offered by modern Internet technologies provide new opportunities for the pre-service and in-service training of teachers, making it possible to overcome the restrictions of shrinking resources and geographical locations and to offer high quality learning experiences to geographically dispersed teachers. The focus of this chapter is the question of how information and communication tools made available online could be effectively exploited to build and study network-based services with the aim of fostering online communities that promote teacher learning and development. The chapter presents an overview of the main experiences gained from a study which investigated the forms of collaboration and shared knowledge building undertaken by a multinational group of teachers participating in EarlyStatistics, an online professional development in statistics education targeting European elementary and middle school mathematics teachers. Findings from the study provide insights into the factors that may facilitate or hinder the successful implementation of an online community of teaching practitioners.

This chapter introduces communities of practice (CoPs) as a useful framework for the elucidation of the innovation process in organizations. It argues that CoPs contribute to innovation through being more efficient than formal organizational structures. Innovation, however, comes in different forms and types and internal CoPs are more relevant for incremental innovation, while inter-organizational communities are more important for radical innovation. Furthermore the chapter focuses on a critical evaluation of the concept of community of practice through the lens of the management fashion theory and an assessment of the role of CoPs in knowledge creation and exchange at the various stages of the innovation process. It aims to provide an assessment of the contribution of communities of practice to innovation success and organizational performance and to summarize the current trends and future developments especially in inter-organizational virtual innovation communities.

The accomplishment of a manufacturing company's objectives is strongly connected to the efficient solution of scheduling problems that are faced in the production environment. Numerous methods for the solution of these problems have been published. However, very few of them have been adopted by manufacturing companies. This chapter suggests that the basic reason behind this imbalance is the inadequate representation of the scheduling process when designing decision support systems. Hence, the algorithms that are designed and included in these systems might not reflect the problems that actually have to be solved. The relevance of algorithmic design can be improved by using a more complete representation of the scheduling process, which would be highly relevant for increasing the adoption rate of new support systems. The main contribution of the chapter concerns the development of a theoretical framework for the design of scheduling decision support systems. This framework is based on an interdisciplinary approach that integrates insights from cognitive psychology, computer science, and operations management. The use of this framework implies that the design of a decision support system should start with an examination of the human, organizational, and technical characteristics of the scheduling situation that has to be supported. This information can be obtained and analyzed using appropriate methodologies such as hierarchical task analysis, cognitive task analysis and cognitive work analysis as well as other methodologies, such as interviews, observations, context diagrams, and data flow diagrams. The designer of the decision support system can then match the results of the analysis to the guidelines of the theoretical framework and proceed accordingly.