Christie Siettou

The Atlantean debate is as old as the story itself. This article develops the hypothesis that Plato was describing a true geographical location and presents a new approach in attempting to establish a plausible geolocation of the legendary ancient city of Atlantis. Central to the investigation is the hypothesis that the seamount of Bermuda could be a viable candidate for the location of Atlantis’s legendary plain. The research delves into Plato’s descriptions and extracts the geological features within his narrative, which is then compared to Bermuda’s topography to investigate if a potential match can be established. This investigation has aimed to ground conclusions in tangible evidence rather than conjecture. By taking Plato’s descriptions at face value and directly following the ancient Greek text, this research engages in a literal interpretation and unlike existing theories, refrains from relying on speculative interpretations or metaphoric readings of Plato’s text. This research takes a strictly evidence-based approach, utilising existing literature in geology, environmental science, and classical studies.

A critical aspect of addressing the stray dog population issue in Greece involves the investigation of the likelihood of dog adoptions based on morphological traits. Recent statistics indicate that 43% of Greek households own at least one companion animal. This study aimed to explore some of the factors influencing the decision to adopt a stray and the morphological traits that are preferred by the adopters. To undertake this research, data spanning four years (2019-2022) were used; the data comprised information on 858 adoptions from a Greek animal welfare organization on the Island of Lesvos in the Aegean Sea. The analysis revealed that younger age, smaller size, and tan or tricolor coats were associated with faster adoption rates. In addition, when comparing the data of all four years (2019-2022), the year of adoption was found to be a statistically significant variable, which confirms that Greeks also followed the international trend of increased adoptions during the Covid-19 pandemic.

This study provides an overview of the new Greek legislative framework and highlights its progressive nature in tackling one of the most populous stray animal populations in the world. We present the newly established law and discuss its provisions, aims, and challenges. We also examine the reception of the law by key stakeholders such as veterinary practitioners, animal welfare organisations, and the Hellenic Kennel Club. With the post-implementation review scheduled for 2026, its evaluation has yet to be conducted.

Purpose: This study investigates UK consumers’ perception and willingness to pay (WTP) for egg attributes associated with laying hen welfare, namely with beak-trimming practices and injurious feather pecking (IP). The aim is to examine any change in WTP after improved consumer awareness.Design/methodology/approach: Building upon existing literature, the authors designed an online survey in which the method of discrete choice experiment (DCE) was employed. The study includes two identical DCEs with the second being introduced after respondents were presented with an educational excerpt about beak-trimming practices, on farm IP occurrence and the docile nature of white egg laying hens – reducing IP.Findings: The mixed logit regression model demonstrated that consumers' WTP for egg attributes associated with beak trimming and IP decreased in the second DCE (12.6% for organic and 2.55% for free-range). For eggshell colour, the analysis revealed a shift from a preference to brown eggs to indifference between eggshell colours.Originality/value: Overall, UK consumers have a preference in higher hen welfare resulting in a decrease in WTP once they are aware of welfare losses in current systems; however, more insights are required in terms of the promotion of white shelled eggs as a means of reducing IP on UK farms.

This study examined which characteristics of dogs available at a large rehoming organization in the United Kingdom influenced prospective adopters' choices. The revealed preference data used to model “consumer” choice were from the Dogs Trust rehoming web pages. The analysis of the probability of adoption involved a logistic regression model with multiple imputation. The factors that had a significant impact on the adopters' choices were age, size, pedigree status, coat length, behavior (e.g., fearfulness, adjustment issues), friendliness (toward children, dogs, and other pets), and training. This study offers a quantitative analysis of adopters' preferences that could prove to be useful for shelter personnel and researchers interested in the analysis of companion animal markets.