Technological Educational Institute of Western Macedonia

About: Technological Educational Institute of Western Macedonia is a based out in . It is known for research contribution in the topics: Catalysis & Symplectic geometry. The organization has 291 authors who have published 522 publications receiving 7682 citations. The organization is also known as: TEI of West Macedonia & TEI of Western Macedonia.

Gold Gilding and Pigment Identification on a Post-Byzantine Icon from Kastoria, Northern Greece

Abstract: The investigation of gilded gold, black and red pigments from the Byzantine icon of Panagia from the church of Agioi Anargyroi Gymnasiou in Kastoria, northern Greece is the aim of this study. Small fragments, having a gold leaf finish, were detached from the icon and were analyzed by Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled to Energy Dispersive System (ESEM-EDS) and Raman microscopy. The chemical (EDS) composition of the gilding material revealed a high gold content alloy (Au 81.34 wt%) with trace amounts of silver (Ag 1.66 wt%), copper (Cu 0.62 wt%) and iron (Fe 0.58 wt%). The Raman spectrum of the gold leaf showed characteristic bands at 236, 369, and 468 cm−1. The red pigment on the surface comprises of Hg, S, and minor amounts of Pb and is attributed to the minerals cinnabar (HgS) and minium (Pb3O4). The black pigment has high carbon content, attributed to organic material (black carbon). The micro-Raman spectroscopy provided a more detailed determination of the composition of the red and bl...

The Role of Agriculture in Economic Growth: A Comparison of Mediterranean and Northern Views in Europe

Abstract: The main objective of this paper is to identify the causal relationship that exists between agricultural value added per worker and Gross Domestic Product per capita in Europe. More specifically, the role of agriculture in economic growth is examined with special emphasis to the differences and similarities among Mediterranean and Northern countries. In order to examine short-run and long-run relationships, recent methods of linear co-integration are employed while the role of agricultural value added in economic growth is also examined by Granger causality tests. Results show a bi-directional relationship between agricultural value added and economic growth in the northern EU countries and only in one Mediterranean country. From a policy point of view, this relationship is of crucial importance since it can facilitate successful economic decisions. Taking into consideration that the role of agriculture in economic growth is an issue that always attracts the interest of scholars, this research could be prove extremely interesting and useful. Especially for this period of economic crisis, when the whole growth approach is reexamined and reevaluated, the research findings provide evidence that agriculture can lead as an engine of growth in several EU countries and can play stabilizer's role in the whole EU economy.

The impact of Photovoltaic Self-Consumption Rate on voltage levels in LV distribution grids

Abstract: Photovoltaic systems are increasingly integrated into the low voltage (LV) distribution grid and are particularly installed on buildings. This trend is expected to continue in the following years as new buildings should be Nearly Zero Energy ones that will necessarily incorporate renewables. This situation has already started to produce significant challenges to distribution system operators, such as overvoltages, reverse power flows, etc. There are several methods proposed in the literature to mitigate the overvoltage issues caused by high Photovoltaics (PV) integration and Renewable Energy Sources (RES) intermittency. In this work, we contribute to the existing literature by investigating the impact of the Self-Consumption Rate (SCR) on the voltage quality of LV radial networks. The SCR is an indicator of the amount of energy produced which is directly consumed on-site. This paper uses a benchmark IEEE LV feeder and randomized load profiles, and performs various simulations to find out how the SCR of the prosumers affect the voltage quality in a LV feeder. Results show that there is a marginal SCR value for a certain feeder, above which no overvoltages are observed. However, this is feeder-sensitive and strongly depends on feeder parameters.

Tourism Consumer Behavior and Alternative Tourism: The Case of Agrotourism in Greece

Abstract: The alternative tourism has a lot of segments according to the specific requirements of the customers, always in order to provide a designed customized leisure. (Ros Derrett, Cultural tourism, Paper presented to Momento, Queensland Merchandise Awards, Brisbane, Qld., 24 July, 2002) More and more travelers are being attracted by these types of tourism, and consequently this creates the development of new potential types of tourists. During the past years there has been a shift from mass tourism into special interest tourism. The reason behind this shift is related with changes on customers’ patterns. According to (Alebaki and Iakovidou in Enometrica 3:15–24, 2010 ; Iakovidou, Vlahou and Partalidou, 2001. Quality directions in rural tourism in Greece, Proceedings of the International Conference on “New Directions In Managing Rural Tourism And Leisure”, Euro Scotland, 5–8/9/2001) tourists seek to focus on turning away from mass tourism since they feel that this mode of tourism does not satisfy their needs for quality driven tourist activities. (Alebaki and Iakovidou in Enometrica 3:15–24, 2010) have also identified other factors which have to do with local communities. On many cases, (Alebaki and Iakovidou in Enometrica 3:15–24, 2010) have examined the case of agro-tourism in Greece where communities need to develop their economies in a way where tourism will not disrupt their natural resources. On many cases tourism has been accused of damaging the natural environment and social cohesion. For example, a visitor can go to an agrotourist unit which produced organic food. He will stay in the hotel found within the premises of the farm while he will have the chance to eat dinners made from organic products. He can also go for hiking, mountain biking, rafting or any other activity near the unit. This means that the consumers who are choosing this type of tourism have their own distinctive behavior. The aim of this paper is to examine this difference. According to (Tsartas, Sustainable tourism, Kritiki, Athens, 2010) this is a special interest group which was developed during last years. It is made from middle age and high or medium income consumers. For many years those consumers constituted the core of mass tourism but now they feel that tourism on overcrowded destinations does not satisfy them anymore. They seek for more quality driven solutions such as spa tourism, sea tourism, etc. On the other hand they will like to visit a sustainable destination, such as an agrotourist unit but they seek to spend their days in a quality driven agrotourist unit and not the average one. They can afford to pay a considerable amount of money for their holidays and if they are satisfy they will not hesitate to suggest the destination on their friends. It is a growing segment and on many countries it has become they segment of special interest tourism. Their key motive is that they can find in those destinations the tranquility and quality that they are looking for. The expected outcome is that consumers who select agrotourist activities also tend to have their own distinctive characteristics, which is vital for the development of Tourism in Greece to examine them.