1. Clinical, Biochemical, and Genetic Factors of Cognitive Dysfunction in Schizophrenia.

Coordinator: Kontis Dimitrios, Institution: Psychiatric Hospital of Attica 

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder, which is accompanied by cognitive dysfunction that hinders its treatment and defines patient prognosis as regards functionality. An investigation of the factors of this dysfunction could play a major role in the remedial treatment of schizophrenia. At the pathogenetic level, it appears that the substances dopamine and homocysteine play an important role. Although the relationship of these two substances to the disruption of cognitive function in schizophrenia has yet to be elucidated, it is stressed by many researchers. In the current research project, a large number of patients will undergo special trials that quantitatively express the degree of cognitive reduction and the results will be associated with the presence of specific polymorphisms in genes that affect the metabolism of dopamine and homocysteine, and, consequently, may be involved in the pathogenesis of the above disorders. Their plasma homocysteine levels will also be measured. The fact that the metabolism of the above substances is linked to the metabolism of vitamin Β₁₂ and folic acid also has obvious remedial implications; therefore, this proposal, apart from its investigative nature, may also prove to be directly beneficial for patients with schizophrenia who may be administered these vitamins.

2.   Corruption and Tax Evasion in Economies with Public and Private Education

Coordinator: Palivos Theodoros, Institution: University of Macedonia 

This project proposes to develop and calibrate an economic (mathematical) model of the relationship between corruption and public/private spending on education. Corruption refers to abuse of power by the government, which then determines people’s trust to the government, which then determines tax evasion. The representative welfare maximizing agent will evade taxes in order to invest the evaded money in private education, or pay taxes and use public education. The framework is game theoretic (i.e. permits interaction and reaction between representative agents) and the time horizon is long enough to allow for overlapping generations (i.e. allowing interaction between consecutive generations).  Τhe project will examine how people decide between public and private education, in relation to the level of corruption. The results, in terms of policy implications will be timely for Greece (and other countries as well), as the relationship between government trust, corruption, public spending, private and public education, are central in the political and social agenda.

3. The Clandestine Press 1936-1974: Digitization and theoretical study

Coordinator: Papathanasiou Ioanna, Institution: Scientific Society «Contemporary Social History Archives»

The "Contemporary Social History Archives" Society holds a vast collection of archival material concerning the history of Greece from after the First World War. The project aims at the cataloguing and digitization of the clandestine press (newspapers, magazines and leaflets) from 1936 to 1974. This particular collection is unique, and among the final products of the project there would be an analytical text about this particular material. This study would augment a number of similar studies that are being currently pursued and are related to the history of the press in Greece. Furthermore, the database with the relevant entries as well as the study will be attached to a website with free access to all who want to use it.

4. Documentation of Urum, the language of a Greek population in the Caucasus

Coordinator: Skopeteas Stavros, Institutions: University of Potsdam / National & Kapodistrian University of Athens / University of Bremen

The Urum language is spoken by an Anatolian Greek population in the district of Trialeti, Georgia (Small Caucasus). This language evinces a long history of language contact, with a strong impact from Anatolian Turkish, Pontic Greek, Russian, and Georgian. The Urum language is very poorly documented and nowadays strongly endangered, since most speakers leave the region with main destination Greece or other countries of the European Union (the current Greek population in the Trialeti district is estimated to 1 500 speakers). The project aims at a systematic documentation of the language. It will complete a lexicon, collect sentence and text samples. All these will be available in the web for the use of interested scholars and the language community itself.

5. Non-material Cultural Heritage and Biodiversity: Ethnobiological study in the region of Kissamos in Crete

Coordinator: Skoula Melpomeni, Institutions: Park for the Protection of the Flora and Fauna, Technical University of Crete/Natural History Museum of Crete, University of Crete

The project will study the complex relationship between plants, animals and humans in the fields of ethnoecology, of the traditional uses of plants and animals, of traditional farming, of traditional handicrafts, of archaiobotany and archaiozoology. These methods comprise some of the most dominant aspects of the newly arising studies of the non-material cultural heritage. The final product will be a database which will include the totality of the information that will be selected. Furthermore, there will be a number of activities in schools and various other locales for making people aware of these aspects of their history.

6. The transformation of the Centre of Athens: What could be the contribution of the Arts?

Coordinator: Girgilaki Helen, Institution: Network Nomadic Architecture

This project focuses on the analysis of the co-existence and co-evolution of immigrants’ communities that reside in the historical centre of Athens, with the cultural and tourist development of this area. The central question is whether ‘the architecture’ and ‘the arts’ can contribute to the upgrading of this historical centre, while respecting the needs of the sensitive populations that live there. The adopted methodology is based on analyzing data collected via field work (mapping different land uses, surveys of involved stakeholders) in order to suggest a socially equitable and environment-friendly restructuring of this area through cultural and architectural interventions.

7. Urban Collective Memory through Time and Space

Coordinator: Hristopoulou Helen, Institution: Ionian University

Urban memory is a form of collective memory developed about a place through time. Generations pass memories about their birthplaces to one another mainly through verbal narrations and testimonials of significant events occurred in the past, usually pertaining to a restricted audience of family members or members of similar small social groups. As a result, such valuable memories are isolated, not interacting with each other to designate collective memories, eventually fading away as time goes by. The project will provide a database for documenting and preserving collections of memories. Such a database will be then utilized to issue representations of Corfu memories, offering an educational environment for children and pupils. Finally, the project will offer a web-based application environment to disseminate recorded Corfu memories in terms of interactive 3D Maps, in a web context employing various semantic tags and subject descriptors to facilitate end-users to browse urban collective memory through time and space dimensions.