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Trade fairs have crucial socio-economic, cultural and political impacts. This paper aims to explore these multi-faceted effects at the local level from a citizens' perspective.

The economic, social, environmental and socio-cultural effects of trade fair activity are studied by employing the case study of Thessaloniki International Fair. These impacts are examined based on the views of people in the local community of the host area, conducting a fieldwork survey with questionnaires.

The analysis, based on descriptive statistics, factor analysis and induction statistics, indicates that the economic, environmental and socio-cultural effects of trade fair activity on the city are largely viewed positively by residents of Thessaloniki. Differences in representations of fair's impacts are evident in what specific groups, according to age, educational level and occupation, expect from trade fair activity.

While fairs' effects have been examined by studies in economics, sociology and politics, providing useful insights about the inter-linkages between trade fairs and host cities, they tend to pay little attention to citizens' perceptions on fairs' socio-economic implications. This paper enriches the literature on trade fairs' effects by adopting a citizens' perspective, being among the first studies to focus on representations, perceptions and views of residents of the host city to examine fairs' socio-economic implications.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the three types of ethical consumption (positive, negative and discursive) simultaneously in three different geographical areas, namely, Hebron (PL), Sofia (BG) and Thessaloniki (GR).

Personal interviews were conducted in the three cities during autumn 2016 with the use of a structured questionnaire. Large enough samples were selected with the one-stage area sampling. The sampling unit was one adult person of all households in each randomly selected city block.

The consumers of all cities were not found frequently engaged in any ethical consumption type. Demographic analysis revealed extensive differences across each one of the behaviours in each one of the cities. Attitudinal and psychographic analyses indicated that consumers, who are less ethically disinterested and more generous, were found to be more frequently engaged in ethical purchase in all the three cities. Evidence was found that less ethically disinterested and more generous consumers are more likely to get engaged in boycotting calls, in Hebron and in Thessaloniki. Less ethically disinterested consumers were also found more active in discursive activities in Sofia and Thessaloniki.

Certain amendments of the behavioural and attitudinal scales could be essential to ensure the same level of measurement accuracy in different geographical areas. Larger and more representative of the overall population samples are needed to facilitate the generalisation of the results. Examination of cultural and political perspectives might add to the understanding of consumers’ ethical consumption in different contexts.

Firms interested in adopting ethical strategies or consumer groups that would like to call a boycotting or a consumer activism campaign should address their communication strategies towards targets that are described by the results in regard to each geographical area.

This study added to the limited so far relevant knowledge about the simultaneous examination of the three types of the overall ethical consumption in three different cities; interesting differences and similarities were revealed.

Access to culture is a fundamental right of people with disabilities and a significant aspect in the development of accessible tourism. A visit to a monument provides an authentic experience which cannot be substituted by any representation. However, any interventions to improve accessibility should be made carefully, so as not to alter the monument’s character, or damage it visually or structurally. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

A theoretical approach model was defined in the PROSPELASIS project for the improvement of accessibility in monuments which was applied in Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki. This approach contains the following steps: evaluation of existing accessibility level; definition of alternative solutions; creation of final studies, approval by archaeological authorities and implementation of interventions.

In six major Byzantine monuments significant improvements were realized which include: installation of two lifts and creation of a new staircase at Acheiropoietos; creation of a metal bridge, a new staircase and installation of a lift at Rotunda; opening of the secondary gate and creation of a ramp at the Heptapyrgion fortress; creation of an accessible toilet at the Saint Demetrios church; installation in the six monuments of a WiFi system providing text and audible information as well as information in Greek and International Sign Language; creation of two tactile models; creation of a “cultural route” connecting three major Byzantine monuments.

For the first time, to the knowledge, a set of interventions has been realized in Byzantine monuments focusing on various categories of people with disabilities, i.e. motor, visual, hearing and cognitive.

Archaeological sites and monuments, by their nature, do not allow major interventions to their structure, in order to abolish the obstacles that make them inaccessible. Any interventions should be made sensitively and carefully, so as not to alter the monument’s character or damage it, either visually or structurally. The project “PROSPELASIS” focused on creating a methodology for facing monuments’ accessibility and perceptibility problems for people with disabilities and testing its application at Byzantine monuments of Thessaloniki. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The creation of the proposed methodology was based on both research in relevant bibliography and the application of a form of “Delphi method” among involved actors. In this process persons specialized in accessibility and disability issues, persons with disability themselves, as well as employees of the 9th Ephorate of Byzantine Antiquities, archaeologists and experts in monuments’ restoration, participated.

The possible sites of interest for visitors with disabilities examined amount to 20 monuments which document the evolution of Byzantine architecture and are included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. In six major monuments (Acheiropoietos, Saint Demetrios, Saint Nicholaos Orphanos, Hagia Sofia, Rotunda, Heptapyrgion Fortress) significant accessibility improvements were realized in order to verify the methodology proposed.

A practical tool for improving monuments’ accessibility has been developed, open for use by any interested body.

The application of the methodology developed is beneficial for the promotion of the equality and non-discrimination principles.

The successful implementation of the proposed methodology and the importance that accessibility improvement of monumental sites has in the attraction of visitors with restricted mobility and perceptibility and the development of accessible tourism, constitute the results of this project not only pertinent to Thessaloniki or Greece, but worthy of a wider application.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the importance of specific local development policies and partnerships for SME enterprises in Thessaloniki one of the metropolis of south Europe. The two main research questions are: first, what are the most important development policies for firms’ development? and second, in what level these policies receive different significance from firms belonging in different production sectors?

In order to achieve the aims of the paper and answer the research questions, the study uses an extensive use of bibliography, and field research that has been implemented by administering questionnaires on a representative sample of 227 enterprises. The study comes up to valuable conclusions for the firms and the city through the use of exploratory factor analysis, reliability analysis and clustering.

The present research brings on important issues and questions about local economic development because it presents directly the estimations and views of a large number of local enterprises that reflect the image of local economy. Finally, this research gives a satisfactory overview of the inner growth of Thessaloniki and further the results could lead to an evaluation, planning, implementation, rejection or reconstruction of specific actions and policies locally.

The analysis is constrained by weakness since the sample of enterprises is rather small and the results concern only the enterprises located in Thessaloniki. Based on this fact, general conclusions can be drawed for other regions as well as for the whole Greece. This is subjected to more analysis.

The added value of this research is essential since there are only few similar researches in South-East Europe and in Greece. Especially, the relationship between local development policies and firms’ development competitiveness has not been studied enough in the area under consideration.

Enterprises understand and designate the importance of specific policies that affect their development while at the same time through their evaluations they outline the character and dynamics of these policies in a unique dynamic, geographical and productive city like this of Thessaloniki.

The analysis showed that enterprises recognize as positive factor the effort of the local authorities to set the area as a business pole in favour of enterprises and the broader area but policy problems of organization and planning arise that concern mainly the operation and support of local enterprises and specific those from the tourist and service sector. This image raises issues of competence on planning and organization of development polices by the local authorities focusing on specific productive sectors so as the effect of these policies to be effective with positive results for enterprises.

The aim of this article is to investigate the organization of water cooperatives in Greece for the first time, as promoted by a spontaneous social mobilization called Initiative 136. The above attempt appears as an alternative proposition as opposed to the state-driven full privatization of EYATH S.A.

This article presents previous work on water cooperatives and the negative effects of water privatization worldwide, relating it to water privatization in Greek reality through the prism of the current recession.

While full privatization under the pressure of the economic crisis is very likely to yield significantly negative results, a transformation into a water cooperative might provide a viable solution.

Water cooperatives provide a solution for water distribution that is friendly for the consumer, the society and the environment.

Application of a cooperative method of water provision in Greece could be a springboard for the use of the model in other areas.

The article evaluates the privatization and cooperativization attempt of EYATH S.A. based on previous related research and considering Greece ' s current conditions.

Important statistical variations are likely to appear in the propagation of surface plasmon polariton waves atop the surface of graphene sheets, degrading the expected performance of real-life THz applications. This paper aims to introduce an efficient numerical algorithm that is able to accurately and rapidly predict the influence of material-based uncertainties for diverse graphene configurations.

Initially, the surface conductivity of graphene is described at the far infrared spectrum and the uncertainties of its main parameters, namely, the chemical potential and the relaxation time, on the propagation properties of the surface waves are investigated, unveiling a considerable impact. Furthermore, the demanding two-dimensional material is numerically modeled as a surface boundary through a frequency-dependent finite-difference time-domain scheme, while a robust stochastic realization is accordingly developed.

The mean value and standard deviation of the propagating surface waves are extracted through a single-pass simulation in contrast to the laborious Monte Carlo technique, proving the accomplished high efficiency. Moreover, numerical results, including graphene’s surface current density and electric field distribution, indicate the notable precision, stability and convergence of the new graphene-based stochastic time-domain method in terms of the mean value and the order of magnitude of the standard deviation.

The combined uncertainties of the main parameters in graphene layers are modeled through a high-performance stochastic numerical algorithm, based on the finite-difference time-domain method. The significant accuracy of the numerical results, compared to the cumbersome Monte Carlo analysis, renders the featured technique a flexible computational tool that is able to enhance the design of graphene THz devices due to the uncertainty prediction.

A class of robust and efficient beamforming methods is developed in this paper for the optimised design of realistic microstrip antennas on arbitrarily curved substrates. More specifically, this paper aims to focus on the formulation of an effective and computationally light beamforming algorithm and its implementation on a novel realistic cylindrical-substrate microstrip array antenna with significantly decreased size, wideband operation and enhanced radiation characteristics.

The proposed multi-parametric schemes introduce an efficient null-steering concept, which drastically annihilates the undesired beamformer waveform artefacts, while retaining the real output signal undistorted. In particular, the key objective is the accurate calculation of the appropriate complex feeding weights, required to set nulls along the propagation directions of the unwanted signals and a maximum towards the propagation direction of the desired incoming signal. The featured technique, combined with a modified finite element method, is applied to the design of a new family of cylindrical-substrate microstrip array antennas.

Numerical results, mainly concerning customisable three-dimensional radiation patterns and attributes, certify the merits of the algorithm and its limited system demands. The introduced beamforming algorithms are applied to a variety of different inputs (desired radiation patterns), which indicate that the designed cylindrical-substrate antenna overwhelms existing designs in terms of computational cost for the beamforming algorithm, while retaining acceptable values for radiation characteristics, such as gain, directivity and side-lobe suppression. In this manner, the effectiveness of the prior methodology and the benefits of this newly shaped array antenna are comprehensively revealed and substantiated.

Rigorous beamforming techniques in conjunction with a class of contemporary array antennas are developed for potential use in high-end communication systems, such as 5G configurations. The proposed cylindrical-shaped structures are systematically designed, with an emphasis on space efficiency and wideband radiation effectiveness to offer fully adjustable setups. To this aim, the cylindrical-substrate microstrip antenna, because of its inherent azimuthal symmetry and confined overall dimensions, provides reliable operation and promising performance.

Increasing awareness of functional foods would have many health benefits such as reducing the incidence of non communicable diseases. The aim of this study is to investigate consumer awareness and consumption of functional foods in the city of Thessaloniki, Greece.

A sample population of consumers was randomly selected outside popular supermarkets in the city of Thessaloniki (n=154). Trained interviewers conducted interviews and a questionnaire was completed by each participant. Socio‐demographic information and details of knowledge and consumption of functional foods were obtained. Data were analyzed using Stata.

The analysis of the data showed that only 33 per cent of the consumers were aware of the term “functional foods”. Interestingly, the proportion of the sample population that knew about foods with health promoting factors was over 95 per cent. The term “functional food” was unfamiliar to the sample population. Over 70 per cent of the consumers surveyed consumed such foods, unaware of the terminology.

This appears to be the first Greek study to examine consumer awareness and consumption of functional foods.

It is commonly asserted that a lot of people may gain about 2.5 kg of weight or more over holiday periods, however data are limited. The purpose of this paper is to assess potential changes that may occur in body weight, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference during Easter holidays.

A total of 138 college students participate in the study in the morning after a 12 h fasting. Body weight is assessed using an electronic scale (Seca ± 0.1 g), wearing minimal clothing. Paired t‐test is used to assess changes in body weight before and after a holiday period.

The mean (±SD) weight increases significantly during the holiday period (+1.5 ± 2.4 kg, p < 0.001) and (+1.7 ± 1.3 kg, p < 0.001) for both males and females, respectively. When subjects are classified by BMI as normal or overweight (OW)/obese, a significant 2.6 ± 3.5 kg gain is found (p < 0.05) in the OW/obese group (≥25 kg/m²). The average holiday gain is less than what is commonly asserted. This gain is not usually reversed and may contribute to the increase of body weight that frequently occurs during adulthood.

A convenience sample (college students), rather than a population‐based sample is used; also the activity level of the subjects is not measured, which might influence the body weight gain.

The paper should be of value to nutritionists and clinical dietetics.