Julia Tapali - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Julia Tapali

The principal aim of the WorkAbility project was to apply a holistic approach concerning underemp... more The principal aim of the WorkAbility project was to apply a holistic approach concerning underemployment and unemployment in the case of people with disabilities in Greece. A questionnaire survey was undertaken in the framework of WorkAbility to investigate the employment status of people with disabilities in the Region of Central Macedonia. A total of 306 persons with disabilities participated in the survey, of which 101 persons were deaf or hard-of-hearing, 100 persons vision-impaired and 105 persons were hemiplegics, paraplegics or tetraplegics. A statistical analysis of data collected was performed and interesting results have been drawn for the total sample as a whole and for each disability group separately. A set of different variables has been examined and the statistical significance between them has been also determined. Survey results are available online and can be exploited towards the establishment of accessible employment and entrepreneurship in Greece.

WorkAbility- Project financed by the countries of the European Economic Area –EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) in the frame of the Programme “Diversity, Inequalities and Social Inclusion” and by the Greek National Programme of Public Investments, 2016

The subject of the present survey, conducted in the frame of WorkAbility project, is the employme... more The subject of the present survey, conducted in the frame of WorkAbility
project, is the employment status of persons with disability in the region
of Central Macedonia.
The present report consists of descriptive statistics, crosstabs with chi-
square tests, and a multinomial logistic regression. Regarding the term
“statistical significance”, in simple words it means that the spread of the
answers between groups is significantly not equal.
In statistical hypothesis testing, statistical significance (or a statistically
significant result) is attained when a p-value is less than the significance
level (as a matter of good scientific practice, a significance level is chosen before data collection, herein when the p-value is less than 5%). The p-value is the probability of obtaining at least as extreme results given that the null hypothesis is true whereas the significance level is the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis given that it is true. Herein almost always, the null hypothesis is that the spread of the answers is equal across all groups, thus when we have statistical significance in this data it means that the spread of the answers is not equal across groups.
The aim of this survey was to record the experiences and points of view of the people who are being studied, concerning employment of persons with disability in Central Macedonia, in order to highlight and improve the
current state of their employment, through improvements of accessibility
infrastructures and services.
The questionnaire was formed by members of the Transport Systems
Research Group of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (TSRG/AUTh) in cooperation with social scientists and groups of persons with disability (hearing impaired, visually impaired, paraplegic), after specific
bibliographical study.
The disability associations that participated in this survey were the
following:
 Panhellenic Association of the Blind - District Union of Central
Macedonia.
 Panhellenic Association of Paraplegics - District Union of Macedonia
and Thrace.
 Association of the Deaf of Northern Greece.
The first phase of the survey was conducted from March 2016 to April
2016. In this phase questionnaires were gathered by interviews in person
and by telephone. After the collection of the questionnaires was
concluded, the second phase of the survey started. In this phase, the
questionnaires were coded into meaningful data through data
manipulation, in order to be ready for the statistical analysis which
followed.
The questionnaire consisted of two parts, the first part with demographics and the second part with more targeted questions. More specifically:
Questions 1-13 were general questions common for all the interviewees.
They consisted of demographic questions, type of disability, level of
education, allowance and income questions.
At the following fields, the interviewees had to answer to the questions
below, choosing one of the three categories that represented them.
Which employment state currently describes you:
- Employed
- Unemployed or/and retired
- Never worked
Depending on one’s answer, the questionnaire referred the interviewee to
a specific field with more specific questions about his employment state
and status.

Work involves human activity with a useful result as the implementation of a project with the spe... more Work involves human activity with a useful result as the implementation of a project with the specific framework of an organized society. It is the
total activity in relation to an object or a work unit and it involves the
daily work, tasks for financial reasons, the body of employees, production of the work and the production process.
In modern societies employment is a key reference point in the life of a
citizen. The concept of employment in them is no longer limited as a
source of income, but is inextricably intertwined with the personal identity as this can achieve personal development and growth, security and emotional pleasure. For many people with disabilities, the right to work is a key element of the struggle for equal rights.
According to statistics of the United Nations, it is estimated that about
15% of the world's population has some form of disability and at least 785 million of them are of working age between (15-59 years). In the
European Union (EU 28), according to a Eurostat survey (2011), it is
estimated that there are about 44 million people who say they have
reported a disability and encounter obstacles to their full participation in
social and economic life. (GED & EMPLAB & Menze, J. 2015)
People with disabilities have in general higher unemployment rates and,
when they are employed, they are most likely to be paid less compared to
people without disabilities. In the Europe of 28, the employment rate of
people without disabilities is 66.9% while that of people with disabilities at 47.3%. Great variation occurs and the percentages for education and
lifelong learning.

Construction and Building Materials

h i g h l i g h t s Evaluation of biomass ashes as SCMs, for concrete strength and chloride penet... more h i g h l i g h t s Evaluation of biomass ashes as SCMs, for concrete strength and chloride penetration. High SiO 2 content of biomass ash does not imply a pozzolanic material with a high efficiency factor. Concentration of other compounds, even for high SiO 2 content is responsible for low k-values. Biomass ash from agro-industrial by-products can be used as pozzolanic material in concrete.

The building sector in Greece occupies prime position within the industrial / technical activitie... more The building sector in Greece occupies prime position within the industrial / technical activities. However, given the fact that the construction sector produces more than 35% of all the greenhouse emissions, on European level, emphasis is given on adaptation of energy and emissions reducing solutions by the construction industry. Utilization of supplementary cementitious materials (SCM) in concrete design, for example, is a very promising first step in reducing considerably the fixed environmental footprint. On this note, the aim of this study is twofold. To evaluate the environmental contribution of each concrete component and to provide the best possible mix design configuration, by using analytical models developed by the authors, in terms of low environmental cost, concrete compressive strength and service life estimation under harsh environments. It is hoped that the outcomes of this study will provide the basis for the establishment of an optimum, balanced approach, between sustainability and durability. It was proved that such a balance can be achieved through extended use of industrial by-products and their various mixtures in the concrete mix, reducing in this way the fixed environmental emissions without minimizing the long-term safety and durability of the structure.

Construction and Building Materials