This paper considers the presence of political budget cycles in Greece's municipalities. We construct a new dataset from primary sources and we find strong evidence of pre-electoral manipulation through increased expenditures and excessive borrowing. We use a dynamic panel data approach producing evidence of opportunistic behavior in local government finances. Our results are robust in the face of a series of controls including mayors running for reelection, their political alignment with the central government, and prolonged terms. Moreover, the results are robust to the exclusion of small sized municipalities and to the restriction of the time range of our investigation to the post-Maastricht period. We also consider whether opportunistic policies influence incumbents' reelection prospects finding that increased expenditures and election year opportunistic excesses are electorally rewarding. Our findings provide a characterization of opportunistic public finances management in Greek municipalities where electorally motivated budgetary decisions appear impervious to the various municipal reform attempts.

The proliferation and growing variety of climate-economy models and what are known as integrated assessment models (IAMs) can make it difficult for someone interested in following the debate to place any specific model, or the discussion about the merits of one or another, into a broader context. The literature related to climate-economy modelling is already vast: apart from a very large number of models and an even larger number of applications, there already exist many good surveys comparing-inter alia-modelling frameworks, model assumptions and model results. The objective of this chapter is to provide a simple overview and organising scheme of this modelling world by delving into the characteristics of more than 60 individual IAMs towards describing the main ways in which certain classes or groups of climate-economy models differ from one another. In contrast to other more detailed or narrowly focused "overviews" and literature reviews, this analysis takes less for granted and aims at providing an initial understanding of generic model structures. After briefly discussing some principles of classification that can help organise this often daunting modelling world, the chapter offers descriptions and comparisons of the main classes of models.

1The contribution illustrates an integrated assessment framework aimed at evaluating the relationships 2 among multiple stressors and water body status for the purposes of river basin management. 3The framework includes the following steps. (1) understanding how the different stressors, hence pressures, 4 affect the status of water bodies. This entails the characterization of biophysical state variables and the 5 definition of a causal relationship between pressures and status. Therefore this step involves interaction 6 between experts bearing ecological understanding and experts providing models to represent the effect of 7 pressures. (2) Identifying the relevant pressures to be addressed through appropriate measures in order to 8 improve the status of water bodies. Although in principle pressures should be addressed altogether in order 9to seize the benefits of synergies, we propose to consider their reduction one category at a time. (3) 10 Evaluating reduction targets for the relevant pressures identified in a river basin, on the basis of a proposed, 11 simple multicriteria optimization approach requiring a qualitative weighting of the effort associated to 12 reducing individual sources of pressure and the assessment of potential benefits in terms of water body 13 status. This method produces frontiers of optimal trade-offs between effort spent on measures and 14 achievements. (4) Designing management measures through a creative process and political discussion of 15 alternative options balancing costs, benefits and effectiveness based on engineering and economic analysis. 16 (5) Simulating scenarios of implementation of a programme of measures in order to check their effectiveness 17 and robustness against climate and land use change. 18We discuss the different steps by highlighting how the interaction between science and policy unrolls at the 19 different steps, we review the assessment tools required at each step and we propose, for step 3, a simplified 20 approach to setting optimal pressure reduction targets based on semi-quantitative assessment of the 21 entailed efforts. 22

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Objectives To evaluate the influence of lightness difference of a single anterior maxillary tooth on difference smile attractiveness. Methods A frontal view full‐portrait image of a smiling male Caucasian, was digitally modified altering a single tooth, creating a series of images with varying lightness (ΔL) for the maxillary central, lateral and canine. A total of 160 participants (80 dentists, 80 laypersons) were asked to fill out a Visual Analog Scale questionnaire for every image recording smile attractiveness. Results For central incisors ΔL≥1 negatively affected attractiveness. There was a higher tolerance for lightness mismatch when one lateral incisor is lighter and the same applies when the canine was darker. Difference in lightness affected smile attractiveness both for dentists and laypersons. No difference between males and females was observed for the dentists. For laypersons, females perceived smiles with lightness difference as significantly less attractive compared to males. Dentist's age did not affect smile attractiveness perception. Younger laypersons perceived darker color, as less attractive. Conclusions Changes in lightness of a single anterior tooth significantly affected smile attractiveness in a different way for the central vs lateral vs canine. For the dentists, age and gender did not significantly affect smile perception, in contrast to laypeople. Clinical significance Lightness differences of a single anterior tooth affects smile attractiveness.

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Fairness, Equity, Mediterranean, Multilateral environmental agreements, Burden sharing, Common but differentiated responsibilities, Barcelona Convention, Management of marine resources,