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In the midst of the Greek economic and financial crisis, food and beverage firms constitute one of the most dynamic parts of the Greek economy proved resilient in conditions of economic turbulence. The purpose of this paper is to assess the competitiveness of the Greek food and beverage firms within the context of turbulent economic conditions and draw the relevant entailed agricultural policy viewpoints.

The analysis is based on competitiveness measures such as profitability and market share utilizing a sample of 550 firms which published their annual balance sheets the 2008–2012 period. The analysis takes place with the use of a simultaneous equations tobit model.

The main results show that market share, profitability and capital intensity affect positively both on market share and profitability, while operating costs have a negative and statistically significant effect on profitability. The rate of growth affects positively and statistically significant on profitability while the index of loans does not affect on market share. As the results indicate, food and beverages industry has proven resilient in conditions of economic turbulence without direct policy measures or subsidies.

Among other factors, the evolution of agricultural policy is affecting decisively the competitiveness of agro-food sector (Chaddad and Jank, 2006; Banse et al., 1999). Nevertheless, food competitiveness is significantly shaped and influenced within the broad economic climate of a country, region or the whole world. Thus, the present study tries to assess the competitiveness of Greek food and beverages sector in conditions of macroeconomic turbulence and draw the relevant entailed agricultural policy viewpoints.

Greece during and after World War II successively tried to rid itself from foreign (Italian and German) and communist influence. In its fight for independence, it was aided by the United Kingdom and the United States, but after World War II the communist threat, Greece being on the border to the communist sphere of influence, remained eminent. Therefore, Greece had to demonstrate solidarity and had to militarily participate in the alliance against communism around the world, that is, in North Korea. Greece formed a “Special Expeditionary Force” (GEF), involving ground and air forces. A special branch of high commanding officers, under a senior officer, was formed to play the role of liaison officer to the UN General Command Headquarters (GCHQs) for the Far East based in Tokyo-Japan. The Greek participation in the Korean War was highly recognized by the South Koreans as well as by the allied forces and the United Nations. Participating allies acknowledge and appreciate the valor, bravery, self-sacrifice, and resourcefulness of the Greek soldiers and officers.

The dismissal of the ordinary and the embrace of chaos are characteristics of the thriller which has, over the last decade, accounted for nearly 25 percent of the best‐seller market. In spite of its existential overtones, the thriller, with rare exceptions, is seldom viewed as quality fiction, yet is not generally classified as genre fiction with attendant categorization by libraries and bookstores. Readers of thrillers in pursuit of authors must either search through the general fiction or “mystery” shelves where thrillers are sometimes placed. However, the latter solution offends both mystery and thriller readers.

I first met Charles C. Moskos back in 1983, at the first international conference in which I had the fortune to participate, and, since my history of relations with him parallels those of many colleagues and friends who study the military and who, like me, remember him, it seems worthwhile to introduce these studies in his honour with a personal recollection.

I first met Charles C. Moskos back in 1983, at the first international conference in which I had the fortune to participate, and, since my history of relations with him parallels those of many colleagues and friends who study the military and who, like me, remember him, it seems worthwhile to introduce these studies in his honour with a personal recollection.

The applications of artificial intelligence (AI) in different sectors have become agendas for discussions in the highest circle of experts. The applications of AI can help society and can harm society even by jeopardizing human rights. The purpose of this study is to examine the evolution of AI and its impacts on human rights from social and legal perspectives.

With the help of studies of literature and different other AI and human rights-related reports, this study has taken an attempt to provide a comprehensive and executable framework to address these challenges contemplated to occur due to the increase in usage of different AI applications in the context of human rights.

This study finds out how different AI applications could help society and harm society. It also highlighted different legal issues and associated complexity arising due to the advancement of AI technology. Finally, the study also provided few recommendations to the governments, private enterprises and non-governmental organizations on the usage of different AI applications in their organizations.

This study mostly deals with the legal, social and business-related issues arising due to the advancement of AI technology. The study does not penetrate the technological aspects and algorithms used in AI applications. Policymakers, government agencies and private entities, as well as practitioners could take the help of the recommendations provided in this study to formulate appropriate regulations to control the usage of AI technology and its applications.

This study provides a comprehensive view of the emergence of AI technology and its implication on human rights. There are only a few studies that examine AI and related human rights issues from social, legal and business perspectives. Thus, this study is claimed to be a unique study. Also, this study provides valuable inputs to the government agencies, policymakers and practitioners about the need to formulate a comprehensive regulation to control the usage of AI technology which is also another unique contribution of this study.

The empirical analysis dealt in this paper emphasizes on the impact of military expenditures on out of pocket (OOP) healthcare payments. A sizeable body of defence economics literature has investigated the trade-off between military and public health expenditure, by testing the crowding-out or growth-stimulating hypothesis; does military expenditure scaling up crowd-out or promote governmental resources for social and welfare programs, including also state health financing?

In this study, panel data from 2000 to 2018 for 129 countries is used to examine the impact of military expenditure on OOP healthcare payments. The dataset of countries is categorized into four income-groups based on World Bank's income-group classification. Dynamic panel data methodology is applied to meet study objectives.

The findings of this study indicate that military expenditure positively affects OOP payments in all the selected groups of countries, strongly supporting in this way the crowding-out hypothesis whereby increased military expenditure reduces the public financing on health. Study econometric results are robust since different and alternative changes in specifications and samples are applied in our analysis.

Under the economic downturn backdrop for several economies in the previous decade and on the foreground of a potential limited governmental fiscal space related to the Covid-19 pandemic adverse economic effects, this study provides evidence that policy-makers have to adjust their government policy initiatives and prioritize Universal Health Coverage objectives. Consequently, the findings of this study reflect the necessity of governments as far as possible to moderate military expenditures and increase public financing on health in order to strengthen health care systems efficiency against households OOP spending for necessary healthcare utilization.

Despite the fact that a sizeable body of defence economics literature has extensively examined the impact of military spending on total and public health expenditures, nevertheless to the best of our knowledge there is no empirical evidence of any direct effect of national defence spending on the main private financing component of health systems globally; the OOP healthcare payments.