Publications

The discrimination of enantiomers is crucial in biochemistry. However, chiral sensing faces significant limitations due to inherently weak chiroptical signals. Nanophotonics is a promising solution to enhance sensitivity thanks to increased optical chirality maximized by strong electric and magnetic fields. Metallic and dielectric nanoparticles can separately provide electric and magnetic resonances. Here we propose their synergistic combination in hybrid metal–dielectric nanostructures to exploit their dual character for superchiral fields beyond the limits of single particles. For optimal optical chirality, in addition to maximization of the resonance strength, the resonances must spectrally coincide. Simultaneously, their electric and magnetic fields must be parallel and π/2 out of phase and spatially overlap. We demonstrate that the interplay between the strength of the resonances and these optimal conditions constrains the attainable optical chirality in resonant systems. Starting from a simple symmetric nanodimer, we derive closed-form expressions elucidating its fundamental limits of optical chirality. Building on the trade-offs of different classes of dimers, we then suggest an asymmetric dual dimer based on realistic materials. These dual nanoresonators provide strong and decoupled electric and magnetic resonances together with optimal conditions for chiral fields. Finally, we introduce more complex dual building blocks for a metasurface with a record 300-fold enhancement of local optical chirality in nanoscale gaps, enabling circular dichroism enhancement by a factor of 20. By combining analytical insight and practical designs, our results put forward hybrid resonators to increase chiral sensitivity, particularly for small molecular quantities.

This paper provides some new insights into the dual function of expressive speech acts discussed in pragmatic theory as either expressions of genuine emotions or conventionalised acts of courtesy. Drawing on the framework of interpersonal pragmatics, it analyses signs displayed on the doors of closed businesses in Athens and London during the first lockdown of the Covid-19 pandemic. These closure signs are characterised by a heavy use of relational features, including four expressive speech acts, namely greetings, apologies, thanks and wishes, which form the focus of the analysis. The relational work performed by these speech acts reflects the social changes brought about by the pandemic as well as the business owners’ attempts to retain their customers. The expressive speech acts featured on the signs are evaluated against the norms set out by the genre of closure signs. The comparative angle of the study, on the other hand, links the discussion to norms related to the display of emotions and to the use of conventionalised formulae in the two countries under study, thus revealing culture-specific perspectives on the dual function of expressive speech acts.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pandemic presented an unexpected challenge for the surgical community in general and Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) specialists in particular. This document aims to summarize recent evidence and experts' opinion and formulate recommendations to guide the surgical community on how to best organize the recovery plan for surgical activity across different sub-specialities after the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Recommendations were developed through a Delphi process for establishment of expert consensus. Domain topics were formulated and subsequently subdivided into questions pertinent to different surgical specialities following the COVID-19 crisis. Sixty-five experts from 24 countries, representing the entire EAES board, were invited. Fifty clinicians and six engineers accepted the invitation and drafted statements based on specific key questions. Anonymous voting on the statements was performed until consensus was achieved, defined by at least 70% agreement. RESULTS: A total of 92 consensus statements were formulated with regard to safe resumption of surgery across eight domains, addressing general surgery, upper GI, lower GI, bariatrics, endocrine, HPB, abdominal wall and technology/research. The statements addressed elective and emergency services across all subspecialties with specific attention to the role of MIS during the recovery plan. Eighty-four of the statements were approved during the first round of Delphi voting (91.3%) and another 8 during the following round after substantial modification, resulting in a 100% consensus. CONCLUSION: The recommendations formulated by the EAES board establish a framework for resumption of surgery following COVID-19 pandemic with particular focus on the role of MIS across surgical specialities. The statements have the potential for wide application in the clinical setting, education activities and research work across different healthcare systems.

Climate change education (CCE) fosters the skills and behavioral patterns of students in regards to climate-related challenges and risks. Despite its importance, the integration of CCE in schools is challenging due to the interdisciplinary nature of climate science and the obstacles and demands of everyday school reality. Here, we examine the case of satellite Remote Sensing (RS) for Earth Observation (EO) as an innovative tool for facilitating CCE. We focus on Greece, a country that, despite being a hot spot for climate change, shows a low level of CCE integration in schools and awareness for EO-based educational resources. Based on interviews with in-service teachers, our research reveals the following: (a) there is a high interest in how satellites depict environmental phenomena; (b) EO is considered an efficient vehicle for promoting CCE in schools because it illustrates climate change impacts most effectively; (c) local natural disasters, such as intense forest fires and floods, are more familiar to students and, thus, preferable for teaching when compared to global issues, such as the greenhouse effect and sea level rise; and (d) educators are in favor of short, hands-on, EO-based activities (also known as “activity-shots”), as the most useful material format for integrating climate change topics in their everyday teaching practice.

Climate change education (CCE) fosters the skills and behavioral patterns of students in regards to climate-related challenges and risks. Despite its importance, the integration of CCE in schools is challenging due to the interdisciplinary nature of climate science and the obstacles and demands of everyday school reality. Here, we examine the case of satellite Remote Sensing (RS) for Earth Observation (EO) as an innovative tool for facilitating CCE. We focus on Greece, a country that, despite being a hot spot for climate change, shows a low level of CCE integration in schools and awareness for EO-based educational resources. Based on interviews with in-service teachers, our research reveals the following: (a) there is a high interest in how satellites depict environmental phenomena; (b) EO is considered an efficient vehicle for promoting CCE in schools because it illustrates climate change impacts most effectively; (c) local natural disasters, such as intense forest fires and floods, are more familiar to students and, thus, preferable for teaching when compared to global issues, such as the greenhouse effect and sea level rise; and (d) educators are in favor of short, hands-on, EO-based activities (also known as “activity-shots”), as the most useful material format for integrating climate change topics in their everyday teaching practice.

We employ the extended boundary condition method (EBCM) that we properly extend so as to describe gyroelectric and gyromagnetic (i.e., gyrotropic) anisotropy and report on the electromagnetic (EM) complex resonances of magnetooptic (i.e., gyroelectric) bodies of revolution (BoRs), as well as on the complex magnetic plasmon resonances (MPRs) of ferrite (i.e., gyromagnetic) BoRs. The proposed extension is based on an alternative scheme for the expansion of the EM field inside a gyrotropic medium, namely, a discrete eigenfunction (DE) expansion in terms of spherical vector wave functions (SVWFs). This approach provides the transition matrix (namely, T-matrix) that allows not only for the direct computation of the scattered field from the incident one, but also for the determination of the complex resonances of open (i.e., situated in free space) gyrotropic BoR resonators. The EBCM is validated on two levels: first, by calculating the EM scattering from various BoRs, including anisotropic spheroids, cylinders, and rods, and comparing with HFSS commercial software; second, by computing the complex eigenfrequency spectrum of gyroelectric spheroidal resonators and comparing with a recently developed rigorous technique for the EM modeling of anisotropic spheroids.

This paper examines the impact of the European Central Bank’s unconventional monetary policy (UMP) on bank lending supply and performance in the euro area, through comparing the evolution of bank-specific variables before and after the UMP implementation. By using a dynamic panel data analysis on banks across discrete country groups (euro zone, core, peripheral) and by controlling for bank-specific and country-level variables, we provide evidence that the bank lending decisions and performance of euro zone banks are not UMP driven, implying the limited ability of the ECB to enhance the effectiveness of banks’ lending channel and to affect banks’ profitability during the crisis. Our findings also suggest that different criteria determine banks’ lending strategy before the UMP period, bank credit strategies vary across the country samples, while the weaker economies’ banks seem to underestimate the impact of liquidity risk on their lending activity.

BACKGROUND: The driving behavior of patients with mild Alzheimer's disease dementia (ADD) and patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is frequently characterized by errors. A genetic factor affecting cognition is apolipoprotein E4 (APOE4), with carriers of APOE4 showing greater episodic memory impairment than non-carriers. However, differences in the driving performance of the two groups have not been investigated. OBJECTIVE: To compare driving performance in APOE4 carriers and matched non-carriers. METHODS: Fourteen APOE4 carriers and 14 non-carriers with amnestic MCI or mild ADD underwent detailed medical and neuropsychological assessment and participated in a driving simulation experiment, involving driving in moderate and high traffic volume in a rural environment. Driving measures were speed, lateral position, headway distance and their SDs, and reaction time. APOE was genotyped through plasma samples. RESULTS: Mixed two-way ANOVAs examining traffic volume and APOE4 status showed a significant effect of traffic volume on all driving variables, but a significant effect of APOE4 on speed variability only. APOE4 carriers were less variable in their speed than non-carriers; this remained significant after a Bonferroni correction. To further examine variability in the driving performance, coefficients of variation (COV) were computed. Larger headway distance COV and smaller lateral position COV were observed in high compared to moderate traffic. APOE4 carriers had smaller speed COV compared to non-carriers. CONCLUSION: The lower speed variability of APOE4 carriers in the absence of neuropsychological test differences indicates reduced speed adaptations, possibly as a compensatory strategy. Simulated driving may be a sensitive method for detecting performance differences in the absence of cognitive differences

Performance in a volleyball match is the result of a dynamic and interactive process between two teams. The current study aimed to investigate the influence of the quality of opposition on skill performance indicators. A total of 550 teams’ performances (N¼550) from 275 sets of men’s European Championship 2019 was recorded and the effectiveness of 12 parameters from 5 basic volleyball skills was analyzed. A two-step cluster analysis was performed to divide 24 teams into three quality groups (upper, middle, lower) and 6 types of match status were created according to the quality of the opponents. Binomial logistic regression showed that for each type of match, the key performance factors that discrim- inate win and loss are differentiated, while the efficacy of attack win is associated with the success almost with all contexts studied. Other significant parameters were serve aces for matches between upper-quality teams, opponent’s errors for matches between teams of different quality and avoidance of blocked attacks for balanced matches. The findings emphasize the need for coaches to plan strategies that allow players with special serving abilities to risk for an ace, to enhance the side-out skills of their team and to work detailed on attack coverage systems

It is perhaps a truism to note that ancient religion and rhetoric were closely intertwined in Greek and Roman antiquity. Religion is embedded in socio-political, legal and cultural institutions and structures, while also being influenced, or even determined, by them. Rhetoric is used to address the divine, to invoke the gods, to talk about the sacred, to express piety and to articulate, refer to, recite or explain the meaning of hymns, oaths, prayers, oracles and other religious matters and processes. The 13 contributions to this volume explore themes and topics that most succinctly describe the firm interrelation between religion and rhetoric mostly in, but not exclusively focused on, Greek and Roman antiquity, offering new, interdisciplinary insights into a great variety of aspects, from identity construction and performance to legal/political practices and a broad analytical approach to transcultural ritualistic customs. The volume also offers perceptive insights into oriental (i.e. Egyptian magic) texts and Christian literature.

Objective The current study aimed to develop a novel milk-based formulation of docetaxel, a sparingly soluble antineoplastic agent, administered so far exclusively by the intravenous route and evaluate its oral bioavailability. Methods Pre-formulation studies included the determination of docetaxel solubility in water-alcohol mixtures as well as short-term content uniformity experiments of the final formulation. The pharmacokinetic (PK) performance of the developed milk-based formulations was further evaluated in vivo in mice using ritonavir, a potent P-glycoprotein inhibitor, as an absorption enhancer of docetaxel and the marketed intravenous docetaxel formulation, Taxotere (R), as a control. Results In vivo PK results in mice showed that all the administered oral docetaxel formulations had limited absorption in the absence of ritonavir. On the contrary, ritonavir co-administration given as pre-treatment significantly enhanced oral bioavailability of both the marketed and milk-based docetaxel formulations; an even more marked increase in drug exposure was observed when ritonavir was incorporated within the docetaxel milk-based formulation. The fixed-dose combination also showed a more prolonged absorption of the drug compared to separate administrations. Conclusions The current study provides insights for the discovery of a novel milk-based formulation that could potentially serve as an alternative, non-toxic and patient-friendly carrier for an acceptable docetaxel oral chemotherapy.

Le « professeur femme » est inventé en 1881 par la toute jeune IIIe République dans le cadre d’une entreprise de large envergure visant à la laïcisation du système scolaire français. Soucieux de ne point nuire au succès d’une oeuvre si importante pour la stabilité du régime même, les républicains s’emploient à faire intégrer cet être « hermaphrodite » tenant autant du masculin que du féminin à la norme. Ainsi est façonnée une nouvelle identité féminine aussi paradoxale que complexe dans la mesure où elle concilie deux extrêmes : celui de la nonne laïque entièrement vouée à ses élèves et, par ailleurs, celui de la savante, usurpatrice d’une profession définie au masculin, indépendante certes, mais au prix du sacrifice de sa féminité.The "professeur femme" was invented in France by the Third Republic in 1881 as part of a large-scale enterprise aimed at secularizing the French school system. Anxious not to harm the success of such an important project for the stability of the regime itself, the Republicans tried to integrate to the feminine norms this "hermaphrodite" human being, which takes as much from the female as it does from the male (Madame le Professeur): first, by taking care to give it specific training as to its scientific and moral content and, in this regard, adequate to the limited knowledge that it must transmit to the future French wives and mothers entrusted to it; then, by endowing it with the qualities of chastity, dedication and self-denial that characterize a female model, "the nun", whom it is called to replace. Thus, was shaped at the end of the 19th century a new feminine identity, as paradoxical as it was complex, since it reconciled two extremes: that of the “lay nun” and, that, complementarily opposed, of a scholar, independent certainly but at the cost of denial and sacrifice of her femininity. At the crossroads of culture and gender, this study based on legislative and administrative texts, archives and French female secondary teachers’ testimonies explores the construction of a particular sexual, gender and professional identity.

The aim of this paper is to highlight issues of scientific literacy that characterize the Greek society in environmental and health issues, and the need to integrate the Teaching of Science and Biology with Health and Environmental Education. This is accomplished by the means of presentation of previous examples from the literature and through the presentation of studies of my own, as well. Thus, it is indicated that this and of course, other societies are characterized by a significant deficit in the familiarity with these matters. Next, I make a historical and personal appraisal on the evolution of the field of environmental health and genetics and try to make some review on its history, due to having the privilege of experiencing close correlation with it almost on its birth. Lastly, it is presented, a proposal for a university course adapted to the needs of present and future teachers combined to its evaluation. The latter was made through a questionnaire and the response of 153 students of education that highly rated the course as it was shown on the Likert scale. All this reveals emphatically the need for integrating the field of Environmental Health Education to Science and Biology teaching. Keywords: course, environmental health, health education, scientific literacy

During the third all-sky survey (eRASS3), the eROSITA instrument (Predehl et al. 2021) aboard the Russian/German Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission (Sunyaev et al. 2021) discovered a new X-ray transient, designated as eRASSt J040515.6-745202, and located in the Magellanic Bridge at: RA(J2000)= 04:05:15.30 (61.31456 deg) DEC(J2000)= -74:51:58.1 (-74.86683 deg) with an estimated positional uncertainty of ~5" radius (incl.

eRASSU J050810.4-660653 is a new Be/X-ray binary in the LMC, which was discovered during the beginning of the first all-sky survey of the eROSITA instrument on board the Russian/German Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission (ATel#13609).

Rapid advances in next-generation sequencing technology, particularly whole exome sequencing andwhole genome sequencing, have greatly affected our understanding of genetic variation underlying raregenetic diseases. Herein, we describe ethical principles of guiding consent and sharing of genomics researchdata. We also discuss ethical dilemmas in rare diseases research and patient recruitment policiesand address bioethical and societal aspects influencing the ethical framework for genetic testing. Moreover,we focus on addressing ethical issues surrounding research in low- and middle-income countries.Overall, this perspective aims to address key aspects and issues for building proper ethical frameworks,when conducting research involving genomics data with a particular emphasis on rare diseases and geneticstesting.

The anhydrosugars levoglucosan, mannosan and galactosan have been regarded a suitable molecular indicator of natural biomass combustion. Here we evaluate the summed anhydrosugars (SAS) as paleofire indicator in a 6000 year-long fossil core from Agios Floros fen, Peloponnese, Greece, by analyzing charcoal fragments in parallel throughout the sediment sequence. Modern surface soil samples from the same region were analysed for presence of SAS, confirming the biomarker as an indicator of recent fire activity. The highest SAS concentrations in the fossil core were found in sections representing periods of wet conditions both on local and regional scale, and regionally widespread arboreal vegetation. Low or absence of SAS in the fossil core is associated with periods of dryness, regional dominance of non-arboreal vegetation and a fen rather than lake ecosystem at the site. Micro-charcoal fragments were generally more abundant under these conditions. This suggests that SAS yield and deposition may vary with fuel availability and fire behavior which in turn is affected by climate, local moisture and vegetation type. Forest fires result in more SAS compared to grass fires. SAS yield is also favored by low-temperature fires sustained under wet climate conditions. Preservation of SAS is likely to be compromised in the only seasonally wet fen ecosystem under the dry and warm Mediterranean climate conditions. The moist and shallow conditions in the wetland during hot summer months are probably promoting oxidation and biodegradation of the labile SAS molecules compared to the more robust charcoal fragments. Thus, a multiproxy approach - using several proxies, both for fire, hydroclimate and vegetation change - is preferred when aiming to reconstruct past biomass burning from wetland ecosystems in a Mediterranean environment. The micro-charcoal record from Agios Floros reveals significant fire activity between 4400-2800 cal yr BP. This partly overlaps the Bronze Age period, associated with intense human environmental interaction and climate change in this area of Peloponnese, Greece.

Landslides are a critical geological phenomenon with devastating and catastrophic consequences. With the recent advancements in the geoinformation domain, landslide documentation and inventorization can be achieved with automated workflows using aerial platforms such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). As a result, ultra-high-resolution datasets are available for analysis at low operational costs. In this study, different segmentation and classification approaches were utilized for object-based landslide mapping. An integrated object-based image analysis (OBIA) workflow is presented incorporating orthophotomosaics and digital surface models (DSMs) with expert-based and machine learning (ML) algorithms. For segmentation, trial and errors tests and the Estimation of Scale Parameter 2 (ESP 2) tool were implemented for the evaluation of different scale parameters. For classification, machine learning algorithms (K- Nearest Neighbor, Decision Tree and Random Forest) were assessed with the inclusion of spectral, spatial, and contextual characteristics. For the ML classification of landslide zones 60% of the reference segments have been used for training and 40% for validation of the models. The quality metrics of Precision, Recall, and F1 were implemented to evaluate the models’ performance under the different segmentation configurations. Results highlight higher performances for landslide mapping when DSM information was integrated. Hence, the configuration of spectral and DSM layers with the RF classifier resulted in the highest classification agreement with an F1 value of 0.85.

This paper presents a joint analysis of instrumental and macroseismic data regarding the 19 July 2019, Greece Mw5.1 earthquake occurred west of Athens. This earthquake ruptured a blind, south-dipping normal fault, 23 km WNW of the center of Athens, while its relocated epicentre lies in close vicinity to the one of the 1999 Mw6.0 earthquake. The maximum macroseismic intensity of the 2019 mainshock reached IEMS98 = 7.5. Scarce damage and intensities up to 5–6 were reported in the epicentral area. Higher intensities were observed at larger distances, 12–15 km east and ESE of the epicentre, alongside the banks of Kifissos River, likely related to ground motion amplification due to soft alluvial formations. Similar selectivity of increased ground motions to the east of the epicentre with respect to other azimuths, also observed during the 1981 and 1999 earthquakes, supports eastward rupture directivity of the 2019 mainshock, an effect that is possibly common for the region’s fault system. Damping of seismic effects was observed east of Aegaleo Mountain, a structure suggested to impose a stopping phase in the time histories of the 1999 and 2019 earthquakes (Fig. A1).

Basal progenitors (BPs), including intermediate progenitors and basal radial glia, are generated from apical radial glia and are enriched in gyrencephalic species like humans, contributing to neuronal expansion. Shortly after generation, BPs delaminate towards the subventricular zone, where they further proliferate before differentiation. Gene expression alterations involved in BP delamination and function in humans are poorly understood. Here, we study the role of LGALS3BP, so far known as a cancer biomarker, which is a secreted protein enriched in human neural progenitors (NPCs). We show that individuals with LGALS3BP de novo variants exhibit altered local gyrification, sulcal depth, surface area and thickness in their cortex. Additionally, using cerebral organoids, human fetal tissues and mice, we show that LGALS3BP regulates the position of NPCs. Single-cell RNA-sequencing and proteomics reveal that LGALS3BP-mediated mechanisms involve the extracellular matrix in NPCs' anchoring and migration within the human brain. We propose that its temporal expression influences NPCs' delamination, corticogenesis and gyrification extrinsically.

Context. Supergiant fast X-ray transients (SFXTs) are a peculiar class of supergiant high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) systems characterised by extreme variability in the X-ray domain. In current models, this is mainly attributed to the clumpy nature of the stellar wind coupled with gating mechanisms involving the spin and magnetic field of the neutron star. Aims: We studied the X-ray properties of the supergiant HMXB XMMU J053108.3-690923 in the Large Magellanic Cloud to understand its nature. Methods: We performed a detailed temporal and spectral analysis of the eROSITA and XMM-Newton data of XMMU J053108.3-690923. Results: We confirm the putative pulsations previously reported for the source with high confidence, certifying its nature as a neutron star in orbit with a supergiant companion. We identify the extremely variable nature of the source in the form of flares seen in the eROSITA light curves. The source flux exhibits a total dynamic range of more than three orders of magnitude, which confirms its nature as an SFXT, and is the first such direct evidence from a HMXB outside our Galaxy exhibiting a very high dynamic range in luminosity as well as a fast flaring behaviour. We detect changes in the hardness ratio during the flaring intervals where the hardness ratio reaches its minimum during the peak of the flare and increases steeply shortly afterwards. This is also supported by the results of the spectral analysis carried out at the peak and off-flare intervals. This scenario is consistent with the presence of dense structures in the supergiant wind of XMMU J053108.3-690923 where the clumpy medium becomes photoionised at the peak of the flare leading to a drop in the photo-electric absorption. Further, we provide an estimate of the clumpiness of the medium and the magnetic field of the neutron star assuming a spin equilibrium condition.

BACKGROUND: Greece has a mean age of first motherhood at 31.5 years, higher than the European average age of 29.4. Delaying conception, however, may be an important non-reversible cause of infertility. The aim of this study was to identify possible knowledge deficits regarding fertility in young adults. METHODS: This was an online survey of young adults, regarding information on intention to parenthood and knowledge on issues affecting fertility. This study was conducted from February to December 2020, aiming for a representative sample of Greek men and women aged 18 and 26 years. The questionnaire was designed by a multidisciplinary group based on the Cardiff Fertility Knowledge Scale, which contained 22 multiple-choice or Likert-scale questions. RESULTS: We obtained responses from 1875 young adults, whose mean age was 22.1 years. About 91.8{%} of men and 94.0{%} of women declared an intention to have children, out of which 44.0{%} wanted to have two and 29.0{%} three children. About 52.0 and 50.8{%} men and women, respectively, aimed to start a family between 31 and 35 years. Residents of rural areas and those with a lower education level more likely aimed to have children before the age of 30. The most prevalent answers for age of ideal parenthood were between 26 and 30 years for a woman and 31-35 years for a man. Smoking, alcohol consumption and sexually transmitted infections were identified as factors affecting both female and male fertility. Half of men and women, respectively, overestimated general success rates of reproductive techniques. CONCLUSION: The knowledge of fertility, particularly with regards to assisted reproductive techniques' success rates, may be overestimated as more young adults plan for having children after the age of 30.

Invisibility cloaking devices constitute a unique and potentially disruptive technology, but only if they can work over broad bandwidths for electrically-large objects. So far, the only known scheme that allows for broadband scattering cancellation from an electrically-large object is based on an active implementation where electric and magnetic sources are deployed over a surface surrounding the object, but whose 'switching on' and other characteristics need to be known (determined) a priori, before the incident wave hits the surface. However, until now, the performance (and potentially surprising) characteristics of these devices have not been thoroughly analysed computationally, ideally directly in the time domain, owing mainly to numerical accuracy issues and the computational overhead associated with simulations of electrically-large objects. Here, on the basis of a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method that is combined with a perfect (for FDTD's discretized space) implementation of the total-field/scattered-field (TFSF) interface, we present detailed, time- and frequency-domain analyses of the performance and characteristics of active cloaking devices. The proposed technique guarantees the isolation between scattered- and total-field regions at the numerical noise level (around -300 dB), thereby also allowing for accurate evaluations of the scattering levels from imperfect (non-ideal) active cloaks. Our results reveal several key features, not pointed out previously, such as the suppression of scattering at certain frequencies even for imperfect (time-delayed) sources on the surface of the active cloak, the broadband suppression of back-scattering even for imperfect sources and insufficiently long predetermination times, but also the sensitivity of the scheme on the accurate switching on of the active sources and on the predetermination times if broadband scattering suppression from all angles is required for the electrically-large object. © 2021 Optical Society of America.

We investigate the impact of the recent COVID-19 pandemic on the time-varying correlation between stock and bond returns. Using daily data on bond and stock returns for ten countries, covering Europe, Asia, US and Australia regions, we identify flight-to-quality episodes during the COVID-19 global pandemic crisis employing both a panel data specification and a wavelet analysis. Our empirical results demonstrate that flights occur simultaneously across countries and are not country-specific events. This finding suggests that the two largest asset classes offered diversification to investors during the recent crisis, when they actually needed it the most.

The chapter is on how to analyse classroom situations and students’ evolving conceptualisation of function as covariation at upper secondary level in authentic modelling situations involving the use of digital tools. To address this aim we take a networking perspective to develop a framework by combining Connected Working Spaces and Abstraction in Context. We privilege authentic modelling tasks utilising the potential of different models and the use of digital environments offering integrated algebraic and geometrical representations of function. Another question is how the combination of the two frameworks can help to make sense of students’ evolutions in the path from physical context to algebra. The combined analyses based on the two frameworks allow a deeper look at students’ cognitive evolution as they experience functions in a plurality of settings: physical context, geometry, measures, algebra. Connected Working Spaces allows distinguishing these settings and their connections focusing on instrumental, semiotic and discursive dimensions and their coordination in students’ work. Abstraction in Context offers concepts and expected strategies and an account of knowledge construction within and between these settings allowing to make sense of students’ progress.

The purpose of this review is, initially, to emphasize the importance of geoenvironmental education for the promotion and preservation of geological heritage and geoethical values, and based on these, to present the current situation in Greece. Geoeducation is a broader component of environmental education which aims to promote the geological heritage of a place and its geoconservation. It is a key integral tool for tackling environmental issues and therefore further assisting in sustainable development. Greece is known for its exceptional and rare natural beauty, as well as for the abundance of natural resources and its remarkable geological features. For this reason, six global geoparks have already been established in this country. However, its nature protection is mainly considered as the protection of biodiversity, while the term “geodiversity” is almost absent in Greek law. The importance of establishing a legal framework for the protection of geotopes is underlined by the fact that their promotion and rational management create opportunities for sustainable development, as well as to become quality tourist destinations (geotourism) through nature protection and education. Geodiversity can gain public attention and have a positive impact on geotopes protection. Such initiatives can not only improve the protection of geological sites, but also play an important role in their sustainable development.

Cancer is one of the world’s leading causes of human mortality, and the most prevalent type is breast cancer. However, when diagnosed early, breast cancer may be treated. In this paper, a 5-layer feed-forward neuronet model, trained by a novel fuzzy WASD (weights-and-structure-determination) algorithm, called FUZWASD, is introduced and employed to predict whether the breast cancer is benign or malignant. In general, WASD-trained neuronets are known to overcome the limitations of traditional back-propagation neuronets, including slow training speed and local minimum; however, multi-input WASD-trained neuronets with no dimension explosion weakness are few. In this work, a novel FUZWASD algorithm for training neuronets is modeled by embedding a fuzzy logic controller (FLC) in a WASD algorithm, and a multi-input FUZWASD neuronet (MI-FUZWASDN) model for classification problems with no dimension explosion weakness is proposed. The FUZWASD algorithm uses a FLC to map the input data into a specific interval that enhances the accuracy of the weights-direct-determination (WDD) method. In this way, the FUZWASD algorithm detects the optimal weights and structure of the MI-FUZWASDN using a power softplus activation function and while handling the model fitting and validation. Applications on two diagnostic breast cancer datasets validate and demonstrate the MI-FUZWASDN model’s exceptional learning and predicting performance. In addition, for the intrigued user, we have created a MATLAB kit, which is freely accessible via GitHub, to promote and support the results of this work.

Recent advances in sequencing technologies have allowed the in-depth molecular study of tumors, even at the single cell level. Sequencing efforts have uncovered a previously unappreciated heterogeneity among tumor cells, which has been postulated to be the driving force of tumor evolution and to facilitate recurrence, metastasis, and drug resistance. In the current study, focused on early-stage operable non-small cell lung cancer, we used tumor growth in patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models in mice as a fast-forward tumor evolution process to investigate the molecular characteristics of tumor cells that grow in mice, as well as the parameters that affect the grafting efficiency. We found that squamous cell carcinomas grafted significantly more efficiently compared with adenocarcinomas. Advanced stage, patient age and primary tumor size were positively correlated with grafting. Additionally, we isolated and characterized circulating tumor cells (CTC) from patients' peripheral blood and found that the presence of CTCs expressing epithelial-to-mesenchymal (EMT) markers correlated with the grafting potential. Interestingly, exome sequencing of the PDX tumor identified genetic alterations in DNA repair and genome integrity genes that were under-represented in the human primary counterpart. In conclusion, through the generation of a PDX biobank of NSCLC, we identified the clinical and molecular properties of tumors that affected growth in mice.

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are part of the same pathophysiological spectrum and have common genetic and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers. Our aim here was to identify causative gene variants in a cohort of Greek patients with FTD, ALS and FTD-ALS, to measure levels of CSF biomarkers and to investigate genotype-phenotype/CSF biomarker associations. In this cohort of 130 patients (56 FTD, 58 ALS and 16 FTD-ALS), we performed C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion analysis, whole exome sequencing and measurement of "classical" (Abeta(42), total tau and phospho-tau) and novel (TDP-43) CSF biomarkers and plasma progranulin. Through these analyses, we identified 14 patients with C9orf72 repeat expansion and 11 patients with causative variants in other genes (three in TARDBP, three in GRN, three in VCP, one in FUS, one in SOD1). In ALS patients, we found that levels of phospho-tau were lower in C9orf72 repeat expansion and MAPT c.855C>T (p.Asp285Asp) carriers compared to non-carriers. Additionally, carriers of rare C9orf72 and APP variants had lower levels of total tau and Abeta(42), respectively. Plasma progranulin levels were decreased in patients carrying GRN pathogenic variants. This study expands the genotypic and phenotypic spectrum of FTD/ALS and offers insights in possible genotypic/CSF biomarker associations

SMC X-2 is one of the brightest pulsars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC).This transient Be/X-ray pulsar with a spin period of Pspin = 2:37 s and an orbital period of Porb = 18.62 +/-0.02 days last underwent a Type-II outburst in 2015. Following its detection by MAXI, simultaneous observations were carried out by Swift, XMM-Newton, and NuSTAR throughout the outburst phase extending for up to two months. The source is one of few SMC pulsars in which the propeller state was observed and a cyclotron resonance feature was detected at E ~ 27 keV. The onset of the propeller regime causes dramatic changes in the accretion state and the neutron-star magnetosphere. This serves as impetus for trying to model the observed pulse profiles in various accretion states in order to deduce the geometry of the emitting regions. For this analysis, we use the geometrical pulse-profile modeling code Polestar. This modeling effort will help us pinpoint the geometry of the emission and understand the energy and accretion changes as the source evolves past outburst and toward lower luminosity states.

PLEASE CITE AS:Kamberidou, Irene; Lagos, Katerina; Seirinidou, Vasso (2021). THE GLOBAL CONTEXT OF THE GREEK REVOLUTION: WOMEN AS AGENTS OF CHANGE. Webinar dedicated to the Bicentennial of the Greek Revolution (1821-2021). The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), in collaboration with California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) California, 26/11/2021.Presentations on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1p19Px3Nb6w Also in: Pergamos. https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/object/2967407     --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  This webinar is dedicated to the BICENTENNIAL OF THE GREEK REVOLUTION (1821-2021): The Sociology Studies Lab and the Theoretical and Social Studies Department at the School of Physical Education and Sport Science of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), in collaboration with the Hellenic Studies Program and History Department at California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) California, seek to initiate discussions and activities that include women’s contributions.           In thinking across disciplines, our first webinar seeks to explore, inspire, and promote interdisciplinary exchange, discussions, and collaborations on the unknown aspects of the Greek War of independence (including the pre and post revolution period), in addition to women’s firsthand accounts, revealing experiences hidden from history.    Live streaming–YouTube: https://youtu.be/1p19Px3Nb6w  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PROGRAM 18.30-19.00 Intro – overview: Professor Dr. Irene Kamberidou Official opening and welcoming address:  §  Professor Dr. Konstantinos Karteroliotis, Dean of the School of Physical Education and Sport Science (SPESS) of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA)§  Professor Dr. Nikolaos Patsantaras Director of the Theoretical and Social Studies Department at the SPESS of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA). Featured speakers: 19.00-19.20 Professor Dr. Katerina Lagos, Director and Coordinator of the Hellenic Studies Program, Department of History, California State University Sacramento (CSUS) California: “The Global Context of the Greek Revolution” 19.20-19.40 Professor Dr. Irene Kamberidou, Director of the Sociology Studies Lab at the SPESS (NKUA): “Les Hellenes through the eyes of women travelers of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries” 19.40-20.00 Asst. Professor Dr. Vaso Seirinidou, Department of History and Archaeology, at the School of Philosophy (NKUA):  Dealing with violence in revolutionary Greece. 20.00-21.00 Questions, discussion, collaboration proposals: Closing remarks

Extracellular matrix (ECM) is a dynamic 3-dimensional network of macromolecules that provides structural support for the cells and tissues. Accumulated knowledge clearly demonstrated over the last decade that ECM plays key regulatory roles since it orchestrates cell signaling, functions, properties and morphology. Extracellularly secreted as well as cell-bound factors are among the major members of the ECM family. Proteins/glycoproteins, such as collagens, elastin, laminins and tenascins, proteoglycans and glycosaminoglycans, hyaluronan, and their cell receptors such as CD44 and integrins, responsible for cell adhesion, comprise a well-organized functional network with significant roles in health and disease. On the other hand, enzymes such as matrix metalloproteinases and specific glycosidases including heparanase and hyaluronidases contribute to matrix remodeling and affect human health. Several cell processes and functions, among them cell proliferation and survival, migration, differentiation, autophagy, angiogenesis, and immunity regulation are affected by certain matrix components. Structural alterations have been also well associated with disease progression. This guide on the composition and functions of the ECM gives a broad overview of the matrisome, the major ECM macromolecules, and their interaction networks within the ECM and with the cell surface, summarizes their main structural features and their roles in tissue organization and cell functions, and emphasizes the importance of specific ECM constituents in disease development and progression as well as the advances in molecular targeting of ECM to design new therapeutic strategies.

Στο άρθρο διερευνώνται οι αντιλήψεις Υποψήφιων Εκπαιδευτικών (ΥΕ), φοιτητών/τριών του Τμ. Θεολογίας ΕΚΠΑ, για τους παράγοντες που επηρεάζουν την αυτο-αποτελεσματικότητά τους στη Πρακτική Άσκηση (ΠΑ) στο σχολείο, στο πλαίσιο της απόκτησης της Παιδαγωγικής και Διδακτικής Επάρκειας. Συμμετείχαν 83 ΥΕ, τη χρονιά 2019-20. Μελετήθηκαν ξεχωριστά τέσσερεις διαστάσεις της μεντορικής καθοδήγησης και συγκεκριμένα: α) η ποιότητα σχέσης Μέντορα και ΥΕ, β) η μεντορική υποστήριξη, γ) η διάρκεια και ο χαρακτήρας της ανατροφοδότησης, δ) η αυτονομία των ΥΕ στην επιλογή και δοκιμασία διδακτικών δραστηριοτήτων, σε συσχέτιση με τις αντιλήψεις των ΥΕ για την αποτελεσματικότητά τους στη διδασκαλία (διδακτική αυτο-αποτελεσματικότητα). Από την ανάλυση δεδομένων προκύπτει ότι η καλή σχέση και η υποστήριξη που δέχονται οι ΥΕ από τους/τις Μέντορες σχετίζεται σε ένα βαθμό θετικά με την αυτο-αποτελεσματικότητά τους στη διδασκαλία. Επίσης, όταν η ανατροφοδότηση λειτουργεί θετικά σε πρακτικό εκπαιδευτικό επίπεδο για τους/τις ΥΕ, αυτό σχετίζεται με την αυτο-αποτελεσματικότητά τους στη διδασκαλία, κάτι που δεν συμβαίνει αντίστοιχα με τη διάρκειά της. Τέλος, όσο μειώνεται η συνεισφορά των Μεντόρων Εκπαιδευτικών (ΜΕ) στην επιλογή και την εφαρμογή των διδακτικών δραστηριοτήτων των ΥΕ, τόσο περισσότερο οι ΥΕ αισθάνονται μεγαλύτερη αυτο-αποτελεσματικότητα στη διδασκαλία. Η έρευνα αναδεικνύει σημαντικά κριτήρια για τον μελλοντικό σχεδιασμό προγραμμάτων ΠΑ φοιτητών/τριών ή εκπαίδευσης Μεντόρων. 

Arguing that action research is an appropriate methodological framework in integration projects owing to the unpredictable challenges associated with the particular group of learners, this article focuses on the process ofdesigning, implementing, evaluating, and redesigning a Greek and English language program for the purposes of the“Curing the Limbo” project. It highlights crucial decisions that were made and tested with the involvement of relevantstakeholders in order to respond to the imminent communicative needs of adult refugees, leading to the goal of inclusiveintegration. The article also addresses the challenges faced during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns

The detection of a high-energy neutrino from the flaring blazar TXS 0506+056 and the subsequent discovery of a neutrino excess from the same direction have strengthened the hypothesis that blazars are cosmic neutrino sources. The lack, however, of γ-ray flaring activity during the latter period challenges the standard scenario of correlated γ-ray and high-energy neutrino emission in blazars. We propose instead that TeV-PeV neutrinos are produced in coincidence with X-ray flares that are powered by proton synchrotron radiation. In this case, neutrinos are produced by photomeson interactions of protons with their own synchrotron radiation, while MeV to GeV γ-rays are the result of synchrotron-dominated electromagnetic cascades developed in the source. Using a time-dependent approach, we find that this "pure hadronic flaring" hypothesis has several interesting consequences. The X-ray flux is a good proxy for the all-flavor neutrino flux, while certain neutrino-rich X-ray flares may be dark in GeV-TeV γ-rays. Lastly, hadronic X-ray flares are accompanied by an equally bright MeV component that is detectable by proposed missions like e-ASTROGAM and AMEGO. We applied this scenario to the extreme blazar 3HSP J095507.9+355101 which has been associated with IceCube-200107A while undergoing an X-ray flare. We showed that the number of muon and anti-muon neutrinos above 100 TeV during hadronic flares can be up to ∼3-10 times higher than the expected number in standard leptohadronic models. Still, frequent hadronic flaring activity is necessary for explaining the detected neutrino event IceCube-200107A.

The detection of a high-energy neutrino from the flaring blazar TXS 0506+056 and the subsequent discovery of a neutrino excess from the same direction have strengthened the hypothesis that blazars are cosmic neutrino sources. The lack, however, of γ-ray flaring activity during the latter period challenges the standard scenario of correlated γ-ray and high-energy neutrino emission in blazars. We propose instead that TeV-PeV neutrinos are produced in coincidence with X-ray flares that are powered by proton synchrotron radiation. In this case, neutrinos are produced by photomeson interactions of protons with their own synchrotron radiation, while MeV to GeV γ-rays are the result of synchrotron-dominated electromagnetic cascades developed in the source. Using a time-dependent approach, we find that this "pure hadronic flaring" hypothesis has several interesting consequences. The X-ray flux is a good proxy for the all-flavor neutrino flux, while certain neutrino-rich X-ray flares may be dark in GeV-TeV γ-rays. Lastly, hadronic X-ray flares are accompanied by an equally bright MeV component that is detectable by proposed missions like e-ASTROGAM and AMEGO. We applied this scenario to the extreme blazar 3HSP J095507.9+355101 which has been associated with IceCube-200107A while undergoing an X-ray flare. We showed that the number of muon and anti-muon neutrinos above 100 TeV during hadronic flares can be up to ˜3-10 times higher than the expected number in standard leptohadronic models. Still, frequent hadronic flaring activity is necessary for explaining the detected neutrino event IceCube-200107A.

The existence of a calendar anomaly in stock market returns, namely the Halloween Effect, was corroborated by Bouman & Jacobsen (2002). They claimed that returns during May to October are extremely affected by this phenomenon, and hence are lower in comparison with the respective of November to April. This paper investigates the existence of this anomaly in the field of mutual funds for the period 2008-2017. We provide evidence of a robust Halloween effect in the European equity mutual funds market. This effect still exists even after controlling for other seasonal anomalies and dividing our sample according to the size of the funds. Since this calendar anomaly is both statistically and economically significant, we show that an investment based on such seasonal anomaly can be more profitable and effective than the Buy & Hold Strategy without any risk increase. The significant higher returns in winter months are also resulting from close to zero or negative average returns during May to October as well as high positive returns during November to April. It is finally concluded that fund managers do not seem to believe in this anomaly, since they are not reducing their exposure to the equity markets during summer months.

If “the past is a foreign country”, then Greece’s classical past could be described – and it has been – as an ideal, as well as idyllic land, colonized by the West. This paper employs post-colonial theory combined with discussions of trauma as a historical agent in order to investigate ways in which contemporary Greek museums and archaeological sites strive to attract the colonial gaze by reclaiming ownership of the nation’s (neo)-classical past; at the same time, however, this exercise may be seen as an effort to alleviate the pains of modernity as experienced by a people who has never overcome the trauma of its separation from its famed antiquity. As a result, Greek archaeological spaces – both museums and sites – can be described as “sites of trauma”, as the placescapes where the unlived experiences of an imagined past become revived. A number of examples are discussed, including the Benaki and Acropolis Museums, as well as several clusters of antiquities preserved “in situ”, mostly within the urban grid or incorporated in buildings and other structures, such as Athenian metro stations. Such cases of incidental archaeology, the paper contends, are devised in order to suture, in the psychoanalytical sense of the term, Greek national imaginary onto the very sites where the nation experienced the trauma of its separation from its past.

Plasmonic metasurfaces are promising as enablers of nanoscale nonlinear optics and flat nonlinear optical components. Nonlinear optical responses of such metasurfaces are determined by the nonlinear optical properties of individual plasmonic meta-atoms. Unfortunately, no simple methods exist to determine the nonlinear optical properties (hyperpolarizabilities) of the meta-atoms hindering the design of nonlinear metasurfaces. Here, we develop the equivalent RLC circuit (resistor, inductor, capacitor) model of such meta-atoms to estimate their second-order nonlinear optical properties, that is, the first-order hyperpolarizability in the optical spectral range. In parallel, we extract from second-harmonic generation experiments the first-order hyperpolarizabilities of individual meta-atoms consisting of asymmetrically shaped (elongated) plasmonic nanoprisms, verified with detailed calculations using both nonlinear hydrodynamic-FDTD and nonlinear scattering theory. All three approaches, analytical, experimental, and computational, yield results that agree very well. Our empirical RLC model can thus be used as a simple tool to enable an efficient design of nonlinear plasmonic metasurfaces. © 2020 American Chemical Society.

In this paper we attempt a critical appraisal of the relation between history of science and philosophy of science in Ian Hacking’s styles of scientific reasoning project. In our analysis, we employ a distinction between “historical philosophy of science” and “philosophical history of science”: the former aims at addressing philosophical issues, while the latter aims at telling stories about the scientific past that are informed by philosophical considerations. We argue that Hacking practices historical philosophy of science; discuss how his approach is differentiated from the so-called confrontation model; and show that he opts for a strong integration between history and philosophy of science. Finally, we discuss the historiographical implications of his approach and suggest that his aim to maintain a middle position, on the one hand, between contingency and inevitabilism, and, on the other, between internalism and externalism in the explanation of the stability of scientific knowledge, is compromised by his philosophical commitments.

In Greece, the appreciation of industrial buildings is relatively recent, with the legal authorities having recognized their historical value by listing them as monuments. Nineteenth century industrial buildings can be identified as cultural monuments of the past, as well as assist in the reconstruction of urban landscapes. Additionally, individual initiatives, organized by volunteers, present the necessity for documentation through relevant research projects. The reuse of industrial buildings for cultural activities has lately become a common practice. In Athens, a large number of buildings dated to the industrial revolution and that present historical and architectural features worthy of being preserved have been recorded. Following the philosophy of smart cities, this paper presents a digital inventory of the industrial buildings located in the historical center of Athens; many of which have recently been adapted to host cultural activities. Τhe use of smart technology, by creating a digital application for smart phones, will provide access to a continuously enriched registry, via interactive maps. This initiative will promote the buildings’ past and present use and, moreover, the creative concept of their multiple functions. The suggested model of cultural management is applicable to every industrial building in Athens.

Radiolabeled magnetic nanoparticles are promising candidates as dual-modality-contrast-agents (DMCA) for diagnostic applications. The immunocompatibility of a new DMCA is a prerequisite for subsequent in vivo applications. Here, a new DMCA, namely Fe3O4 nanoparticles radiolabeled with Ga-68, is subjected to immunocompatibility tests both in vitro and in vivo. The in vitro immunocompatibility of the DMCA relied on incubation with donated human WBCs and PLTs (five healthy individuals). Optical microscopy (OM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were employed for the investigation of the morphological characteristics of WBCs and PLTs. A standard hematology analyzer (HA) provided information on complete blood count. The in vivo immunocompatibility of the DMCA was assessed through its biodistribution among the basic organs of the mononuclear phagocyte system in normal and immunodeficient mice (nine in each group). In addition, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data were acquired in normal mice (three). The combined OM, AFM and HA in vitro data showed that although the DMCA promoted noticeable activation of WBCs and PLTs, neither degradation nor clustering were observed. The in vivo data showed no difference of the DMCA biodistribution between the normal and immunodeficient mice, while the MRI data prove the efficacy of the particular DMCA when compared to the non-radiolabeled, parent CA. The combined in vitro and in vivo data prove that the particular DMCA is a promising candidate for future in vivo applications.

Purpose: Because of the 2008 global financial crisis aftermaths, economic downturn and prolonged recession, several OECD countries have adopted an austerity compound by significantly reducing public health expenditure (PHE) for dealing with their fiscal pressure and sovereign-debt challenges. Against this backdrop, this study aims to examine the responsiveness of PHE to macro-fiscal determinants, demography, as well to private health insurance (PHI) financing. Design/methodology/approach: The authors gather annual panel data from four international organizations databases for the total of OECD countries from a period lasting from 2000 to 2017. The authors apply static and dynamic econometric methodology to deal with panel data and assess the impact of several parameters on PHE. Findings: The authors’ findings indicate that gross domestic product, fiscal capacity, tax revenues and population aging have a positive effect on PHE. Further, the authors find that both unemployment rate and voluntary private health insurance financing present a negative statistically significant impact on our estimated outcome variable. Different specifications and sample periods applied in the regression models reveal how inseparably associated are PHE and OECD's economies compliance on macro-fiscal policies for offsetting public finances derailment. Practical implications: Providing more evidence on the responsiveness of PHE to several macro-fiscal drivers, it can be a helpful tool for governments to reconsider their persistence on fiscal adjustments measures and rank public health financing to the top of their political agenda. Health systems policies for meeting Universal Health Coverage (UHC) objectives, they should also take into consideration the voluntary PHI institution, especially for economies with insufficient fiscal capacity to raise public health financing. Originality/value: To the best of knowledge, the impact of unemployment and voluntary PHI funding on public health financing, apart from other macro-fiscal and demographical parameters effect, remains unnoticed in the existing published studies on the topic. © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited.

OBJECTIVE: To compare three-dimensional (3D) with standard two-dimensional (2D) laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) with respect to intra- and postoperative outcomes. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Data from 112 patients who underwent transperitoneal LPN from 2012 to 2014 by a single experienced surgeon were collected. Sixty patients (group 1) underwent conventional 2D LPN and 52 patients (group 2) 3D LPN. Perioperative patient, procedure, and tumor data were recorded. The follow-up period was 1-5 years. RESULTS: The two groups had similar patient age (p=0.834) and body mass index (p=0.141). The total laparoscopy time (LT) was shorter in group 2 (119.0 vs. 106.0 min; p=0.009). Warm ischemia times (WITs) were also shorter in group 2 (11.5 vs. 10.0 min; p=0.032). The estimated blood loss (EBL) (350.0 vs. 250.0 mL; p<0.001) and hemoglobin (Hb) decrease (1.55 vs. 1.35 g/dL; p=0.536) were lower in the 3D LPN group. Creatinine (0 vs. 0 g/dL; p=0.610) increase and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decrease (0 vs. 0 mL/min/1.73 m(2); p=0.553) did not demonstrate statistically significant differences. Duration of hospitalization (7 vs. 7 days; p=0.099) and complication rates (p=0.559) were similar between the two groups. CONCLUSION: The new-generation 3D laparoscope has a great impact on significant LPN intraoperative parameters, mainly LT, WIT, and EBL. Hb decrease is also in favor of 3D vision, although not dramatically altered. Therefore, 3D LPN appears to be superior to conventional 2D LPNs.

The inherited mutation (R14del) in the calcium regulatory protein phospholamban (PLN) is linked to malignant ventricular arrhythmia with poor prognosis starting at adolescence. However, the underlying early mechanisms that may serve as prognostic factors remain elusive. This study generated humanized mice in which the endogenous gene was replaced with either human wild type or R14del-PLN and addressed the early molecular and cellular pathogenic mechanisms. R14del-PLN mice exhibited stress-induced impairment of atrioventricular conduction, and prolongation of both ventricular activation and repolarization times in association with ventricular tachyarrhythmia, originating from the right ventricle (RV). Most of these distinct electrocardiographic features were remarkably similar to those in R14del-PLN patients. Studies in isolated cardiomyocytes revealed RV-specific calcium defects, including prolonged action potential duration, depressed calcium kinetics and contractile parameters, and elevated diastolic Ca-levels. Ca-sparks were also higher although SR Ca-load was reduced. Accordingly, stress conditions induced after contractions, and inclusion of the CaMKII inhibitor KN93 reversed this proarrhythmic parameter. Compensatory responses included altered expression of key genes associated with Ca-cycling. These data suggest that R14del-PLN cardiomyopathy originates with RV-specific impairment of Ca-cycling and point to the urgent need to improve risk stratification in asymptomatic carriers to prevent fatal arrhythmias and delay cardiomyopathy onset.

In this study, we developed highly sensitive substrates for Surface-Enhanced-Raman-Scattering (SERS) spectroscopy, consisting of silicon nanowires (SiNWs) decorated by silver nanostructures using single-step Metal Assisted Chemical Etching (MACE). One-step MACE was performed on p-type Si substrates by immersion in AgNO3/HF aqueous solutions resulting in the formation of SiNWs decorated by either silver aggregates or dendrites. Specifically, dendrites were formed during SiNWs’ growth in the etchant solution, whereas aggregates were grown after the removal of the dendrites from the SiNWs in HNO3 aqueous solution and subsequent re-immersion of the specimens in a AgNO3/HF aqueous solution by adjusting the growth time to achieve the desired density of silver nanostructures. The dendrites had much larger height than the aggregates. R6G was used as analyte to test the SERS activity of the substrates prepared by the two fabrication processes. The silver aggregates showed a considerably lower limit of detection (LOD) for SERS down to a R6G concentration of 10−13 M, and much better uniformity in terms of detection in comparison with the silver dendritic structures. Enhancement factors in the range 105–1010 were calculated, demonstrating very high SERS sensitivities for analytic applications.

The ISO 15189:2012 standard section 5.9.1 requires laboratories to review results before release, considering quality control, previous results, and clinical information, if any, and to issue documented procedures about it. While laboratory result reporting is generally regarded as part of the post-analytical phase, the result release process requires a general view of the total examination process. Reviewing test results may follow with troubleshooting and test repetition, including reanalyzing an individual sample or resampling. A systematic understanding of the result release may help laboratory professionals carry out appropriate test repetition and ensure the plausibility of laboratory results. In this paper, we addressed the crucial steps in the result release process, including evaluation of sample quality, critical result notification, result reporting, and recommendations for the management of the result release, considering quality control alerts, instrument flags, warning messages, and interference indexes. Error detection tools and plausibility checks mentioned in the present paper can support the daily practice of results release

 

Some decision-making problems, i.e., multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) problems, require taking into account the attitudes of a large number of decision-makers and/or respondents. Therefore, an approach to the transformation of crisp ratings, collected from respondents, in grey interval numbers form based on the median of collected scores, i.e., ratings, is considered in this article. In this way, the simplicity of collecting respondents’ attitudes using crisp values, i.e., by applying some form of Likert scale, is combined with the advantages that can be achieved by using grey interval numbers. In this way, a grey extension of MCDA methods is obtained. The application of the proposed approach was considered in the example of evaluating the websites of tourism organizations by using several MCDA methods. Additionally, an analysis of the application of the proposed approach in the case of a large number of respondents, done in Python, is presented. The advantages of the proposed method, as well as its possible limitations, are summarized.

Introduction: Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder affecting millions worldwide. However, available treatment options do not fully address the disease. Whereas current antipsychotics may control psychotic symptoms, they seem notoriously ineffective in improving negative and cognitive symptoms or in preventing functional decline. As the etiology of schizophrenia eludes us, the development of valid animal models for screening new drug targets appears to be a strenuous task.Areas covered: In this review, the authors present the key concepts that validate animal models of schizophrenia, as well as the different screening approaches for novel schizophrenia treatments. The models covered are either based on major neurotransmitter systems or neurodevelopmental, immune, and genetic approaches.Expert opinion: Sadly, due to inertia, research focuses on developing 'anti-psychotics', instead of 'anti-schizophrenia' drugs that would tackle the entire syndrome of schizophrenia. Whereas no perfect model may ever exist, combining different experimental designs may enhance validity, as the over-reliance on a single model is inappropriate. Multi-model approaches incorporating vulnerability, the 'two-hit' hypothesis, and endophenotypes offer a promise for developing new strategies for schizophrenia treatment. Forward and reverse translation between preclinical and clinical research will increase the probability of success and limit failures in drug development.

{Effectiveness in the volleyball players' ability to control their postural sway during the game's actions involving contact with the floor (i.e. passing, digging) contributes to the final score. The purpose of this study was to investigate the postural stability performance of female veteran volleyball players (VVP). Sixty nine top-level female VVP were assigned to an active (N=29) and a non-active group (N=40). Due to the age range (43.7-66.7 years) of participants, they were further assigned to a younger (<51 years) and older (≥51 years) age group (Active: Younger=14

Interleukin-1 beta (IL1β) is primarily produced by monocytes in the periphery and the brain. Yet, IL1β protein levels have to date been investigated in major depressive disorder (MDD) and antidepressant response using either plasma or serum assays although with contradictory results, while mononuclear cell assays are lacking despite their extensive use in other contexts. In this pilot study, we comparatively assessed IL1β in mononuclear lysates and plasma in depressed MDD patients over treatment and healthy controls (HC). We recruited 31 consecutive adult MDD inpatients and 25 HC matched on age, sex, and BMI. Twenty-six patients completed an 8-week follow-up under treatment. IL1β was measured in both lysates and plasma in patients at baseline (T0) and at study end (T1) as well as in HC. We calculated ΔIL1β(%) for both lysates and plasma as IL1β percent changes from T0 to T1. Seventeen patients (65.4% of completers) were responders at T1 and had lower baseline BMI than non-responders (p = 0.029). Baseline IL1β from either plasma or lysates could not efficiently discriminate between depressed patients and HC, or between responders and non-responders. However, the two response groups displayed contrasting IL1β trajectories in lysates but not in plasma assays (response group by time interactions, p = 0.005 and 0.96, respectively). ΔIL1β(%) in lysates predicted response (p = 0.025, AUC = 0.81; accuracy = 84.6%) outperforming ΔIL1β(%) in plasma (p = 0.77, AUC=0.52) and was robust to adjusting for BMI. In conclusion, ΔIL1β(%) in mononuclear lysates may be a longitudinal biomarker of antidepressant response, potentially helpful in avoiding untimely switching of antidepressants, thereby warranting further investigation.

We present a dynamical study of the intermediate polar and dwarf nova cataclysmic variable GK Persei (Nova Persei 1901) based on a multisite optical spectroscopy and R-band photometry campaign. The radial velocity curve of the evolved donor star has a semi-amplitude $K_2=126.4 \pm 0.9 \, \mathrm{km}\, \mathrm{s}^{-1}$ and an orbital period $P=1.996872 \pm 0.000009 \, \mathrm{d}$. We refine the projected rotational velocity of the donor star to $v_\mathrm{rot} \sin i = 52 \pm 2 \, \mathrm{km}\, \mathrm{s}^{-1}$ that, together with K2, provides a donor star to white dwarf mass ratio q = M2/M1 = 0.38 ± 0.03. We also determine the orbital inclination of the system by modelling the phase-folded ellipsoidal light curve and obtain i = 67° ± 5°. The resulting dynamical masses are $M_{1}=1.03^{+0.16}_{-0.11} \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ and $M_2 = 0.39^{+0.07}_{-0.06} \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ at 68 per cent confidence level. The white dwarf dynamical mass is compared with estimates obtained by modelling the decline light curve of the 1901 nova event and X-ray spectroscopy. The best matching mass estimates come from the nova light curve models and an X-ray data analysis that uses the ratio between the Alfvén radius in quiescence and during dwarf nova outburst.

BACKGROUND: Allogeneic cardiosphere-derived cells (CDCs) exert cardioprotective effects when administered intracoronarily after reperfusion in animal models of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The "no-reflow" phenomenon develops rapidly post-reperfusion and may undermine the efficacy of cell therapy, due to poor cell delivery in areas of microvascular obstruction (MVO). We hypothesized that CDC-induced cardioprotection would be enhanced by cell administration prior to reperfusion, when microvasculature is still relatively intact, to facilitate widespread cell delivery within the ischemic area. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied 81 farm pigs; 55 completed the specified protocols. A dose-optimization study in infarcted pigs demonstrated that the doses of 5 million and 10 million CDCs are the maximum safe doses that can be administered intracoronarily at 5 minutes prior to and at 5 minutes post-reperfusion, respectively, without aggravating MVO. Quantification of acute cell retention by polymerase chain reaction demonstrated that cell delivery prior to reperfusion resulted in higher cardiac cell retention compared to delivery post-reperfusion. We then performed a randomized, placebo-controlled study to assess the long-term efficacy of intracoronary infusion of 5 million allogeneic CDCs, delivered at 5 minutes prior to reperfusion, in a porcine model of AMI. The CDC therapy resulted in decreased scar size, improved regional systolic function, and attenuation of adverse cardiac remodeling (manifested as preserved global systolic function, preserved end-systolic volume, and decreased interstitial fibrosis) compared to placebo at 30 days post-MI. CONCLUSIONS: Dose-optimized intracoronary infusion of allogeneic CDCs prior to reperfusion in a porcine model of AMI is feasible, safe and confers long-term benefits.

Sr isotopes are a powerful tool used for provenancing in many disciplines, but their successful application requires the availability of robust Sr baselines of potential target areas. This study presents 87Sr/86Sr signatures and Sr concentrations of water, plants and soil leachates from the Peloponnese peninsula, Greece, to establish the first comprehensive bioavailable Sr isotope baseline for this region. Additionally, this study aims to evaluate which proxy is most suitable to characterise bioavailable Sr in a geologically complex area also exposed to foreign aeolian Sr sources. Our recorded bioavailable Sr isotope signatures correspond well with the surface lithologies characteristic of the Peloponnese. Unradiogenic 87Sr/86Sr ratios and a narrow isotope range (0.70779 - 0.70955) characterise the bioavailable Sr signatures of the sedimentary deposits and more radiogenic and isotopically variable values (0.70791 - 0.72370) were measured for metamorphic and igneous rock outcrops. The differences in 87Sr/86Sr values measured between proxies of one site are comparatively low for samples from the sedimentary and igneous deposits, while the overall spread in 87Sr/86Sr values is wider for samples from metamorphic deposits. We propose to define bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr baseline ranges as the average bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr ratio of all proxies of each lithology ± its double standard deviation (x̅ ± 2σ). This results in narrow baselines for the sedimentary outcrops of 0.70832 ± 0.00053 (n=58) for clastic sediments and 0.70835 ± 0.00089 (n=29) for chemical sediments. The metamorphic deposits are characterised by wider bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr baselines of 0.70906 ± 0.00116 (n=4) and 0.71429 ± 0.01133 (n=13) for marble and schist, respectively. The bioavailable Sr baseline for igneous rock outcrops is also characterised by a comparatively wide range with 0.70950 ± 0.00259 (n=7). The wide range in inter- and intra-site specific bioavailable 87Sr/86Sr variation observed in this study emphasise the need for comprehensive multi-proxy sampling strategies within geologically-complex areas.

Can controlled motivation contribute to desired educational outcomes such as academic achievement over and above autonomous motivation? No, According to Self-Determination Theory. Yet, some recent findings have shown that controlled motivation may not fully undermine motivated behavior when autonomous motivation remains high. In this study, we tested this possibility through two different samples of more than 3000 Turkish adolescent students. Through polynomial regression and response surface analyses we found only slim evidence that high controlled motivation can predict higher grades. Instead, a consistent finding that emerged was that higher grades were expected when high levels of autonomous motivation coincided with low levels of controlled motivation rather than high levels of controlled motivation. These findings highlight the usefulness of polynomial regressions and response surface analyses to examine pertinent questions which challenge the view that controlled motivation may not be as much detrimental as self-determination theory claims to be.

The island of Kalymnos, located in the Dodecanese island complex in the SE Aegean, is known for its sponge fishing but also for its world-famous climbing fields. Indeed, the island is considered the “Mecca” of climbers. Nevertheless, Kalymnos is characterized by moderate tourist traffic and lack of tourism infrastructure. The planning and development of geotourism can be a driving force for the economic sustainability of the island. In this study, the possibility of developing the innovative and alternative form of geotourism on the island of Kalymnos is explored. Kalymnos is characterized by numerous caves and steep slopes which can be geotopes attractive to visitors. Six caverns and two climbing fields were analyzed as part of our investigation. For the quantitative assessment of the geosites three factors are considered: the potential educational use (PEU), the potential touristic use (PTU), and the degradation risk (DR). The quantitative evaluation in combination with a SWOT analysis showed that there is indeed a possibility of promotion and development of geotourism in combination with the protection of the island’s geotopes. This will give additional impetus to the economy of Kalymnos. However, the lack of awareness from local authorities and residents is evident. The need for training in matters related to the geological heritage is necessary. In this way, there will be geotourism development, contributing positively to the economic prosperity and sustainability of the island.

El presente trabajo pretende demostrar que la distancia tipológica entre las lenguas extranjeras (LE) que conoce un estudiante y la LE que quiere aprender es un factor que determina el aprendizaje del léxico de esta última. Más concretamente, diversos estudios han mostrado que, cuando las lenguas en cuestión pertenecen a la misma familia, se hace más fácil el aprendizaje del léxico en la LE que se está aprendiendo. Esto sucede porque los estudiantes que conocen otras LE de la misma rama lingüística tienden a transferir vocabulario a la LE que están  estudiando, por lo que logran mejores resultados que los que no poseen tales conocimientos. Para comprobarlo, se requieren informantes cuya lengua materna no sea románica. Por eso, sometemos a dos grupos de estudiantes griegos del mismo nivel en español (B2), pero que conocen diferentes LE, a una prueba de disponibilidad léxica con el fin de medir su competencia en vocabulario. Más específicamente, analizamos las respuestas de un grupo de aprendices griegos de español que ya conoce otra LE que no es románica (en este caso inglés), en comparación con las de otro que ya conoce una LE románica (aquí, francés o italiano) además de una no románica (inglés). Asimismo, analizamos aspectos cuantitativos y cualitativos de las respuestas en seis centros de interés. Los resultados reflejan la relación positiva entre el conocimiento de otras LE románicas y la cantidad y la variedad de respuestas arrojadas.

In this paper, we discuss spectral properties of Laplacians associated with an arbitrary smooth distribution on a compact manifold. First, we give a survey of results on generalized smooth distributions on manifolds, Riemannian structures and associated Laplacians. Then, under the assumption that the singular foliation generated by the distribution is regular, we prove that the Laplacian associated with the distribution defines an unbounded multiplier on the foliation C*-algebra. To this end, we give the construction of a parametrix.

We develop ZnO/p-Si photodetectors by ALD deposition of ZnO thin films on laser- microstructured Si, which demonstrate high sensitivity and broadband operation (UV-Vis-NIR), due to increased specific surface area of the heterojunction and increased light absorption.

In the Aegean region (Cyclades–Greece), a large part of the Island of Anafi consists of exhumed high-grade metamorphic sequences (amphibolites, serpentinites and metasediments) that have been intruded by Late Cretaceous intermediate and felsic granitoids. These correspond to I-type arc-related rocks, displaying calc-alkaline geochemical affinities. Variability in their petrographic features, mineral composition and geochemistry is assigned to differentiation processes that mostly involved plagioclase and/or K-feldspar, and to a lesser extent amphibole and biotite. Mineral chemistry and geochemical results suggest that the Anafi granitoids are highly comparable with the Late Cretaceous granitoid intrusive rocks from East Crete and Donousa island. The amphibole and zircon saturation thermometry yields relatively moderate temperature crystallization conditions ($\sim$790°C) for the intermediate granitoids and lower for the felsic granitoids ($\sim$630°C). Geobarometric calculations based upon the chemistry of magnesiohornblende, as well as the normative (Qz), (Ab) and (Or) contents clearly point to shallow intrusion conditions ($\sim$2.0–6.5 kbar), corresponding to an estimated depth of crystallization of $\sim$12 ± 4 km. The thrust sheets that overly the Palaeogene flysch in Anafi (metasediments with serpentinized peridotites, amphibolites and metabasites), constitute a subducted and metamorphosed oceanic sequence. These metamorphic units likely represent a part of the Pindos–Cycladic Blueschist Unit domain that was subducted at an earlier pre-Campanian stage. In the hydrated mantle wedge, incorporation of shallow level granitoids within metamorphic units was likely facilitated via corner flow intrusion mechanisms. Following the intrusion, the granitoid rocks were exhumed in a syn-convergent setting, along with the metamorphic thrust sheets, by continuous underplating of more external units, thus, escaping penetrative ductile deformation.

The Lavrion area corresponds to the western part of the Attic-Cycladic metamorphic belt, in the back-arc region of the active Hellenic subduction zone. Between the Eocene and the Miocene, metamorphic rocks (mainly marbles and schists) underwent several stages of metamorphism and deformation due to collision and collapse of the Cycladic belt. Exhumation during the Miocene was accommodated by the movement of a large-scale detachment fault system, which also enhanced emplacement of magmatic rocks, leading to the formation of the famous Lavrion silver deposits. The area around the mines shows the stacking of nappes, with ore deposition mainly localized within the marbles, at marble-schist contacts, below, within, or above the detachment. The Lavrion deposit comprises five genetically-related but different styles of mineralization, a feature never observed in another ore deposit elsewhere, containing the highest number of different elements of any known mining district. The local geology, tectonic, and magmatic activity were fundamental factors in determining how and when the mineralization formed. Other key factors, such as the rise and the fall of sea level, which resulted from climate change over the last million years, were also of major importance for the subsequent surface oxidation at Lavrion that created an unmatched diversity of secondary minerals. As a result, the Lavrion deposit contains 638 minerals of which Lavrion is type-locality for 23 of them, which is nearly 12% of all known species. Apart from being famous for its silver exploitation, this mining district contains more minerals than any other district on Earth.

Lavrion was an important silver mining district in the ancient world, exploited almost continuously from the fourth millennium BC. Its mining history is central to understanding the availability of silver, lead and copper in Greece and the Aegean through the Bronze age. This history is also relevant to the phenomenal rise of Athens in the 5th century BC. Our reassessment of the mineralisation and ancient mining history at Lavrion provides a clearer understanding of its capacity to generate wealth and the scale of its impact on Athens. Integration of new geochemical and geological data with existing information has produced outcomes that help address these two issues. Foremost is the contrasting character of mineralisation at the upper 'first' and lower 'third' contacts and their marked differences in silver content, spatial distribution and supergene alteration. Discovery of the concealed, bonanza mineralisation of the third contact at Kamariza, possibly early in the 5th century BC, followed about 3000 years of mining, which appears to have been largely restricted to discontinuous, low-grade mineralisation at the first contact. Undoubtedly, this later discovery had enduring impacts on Lavrion and Athens, and it most likely funded the trireme fleet, which brought victory over the Persians at Salamis in 480 BC.

To describe the molecular electronic structure of nucleic acid bases and other heterocycles, we employ the Linear Combination of Atomic Orbitals (LCAO) method, considering the molecular wave function as a linear combination of all valence orbitals, i.e., 2s, 2px, 2py, 2pz orbitals for C, N, and O atoms and 1s orbital for H atoms. Regarding the diagonal matrix elements (also known as on-site energies), we introduce a novel parameterization. For the non-diagonal matrix elements referring to neighboring atoms, we employ the Slater–Koster two-center interaction transfer integrals. We use Harrison-type expressions with factors slightly modified relative to the original. We compare our LCAO predictions for the ionization and excitation energies of heterocycles with those obtained from Ionization Potential Equation of Motion Coupled Cluster with Singles and Doubles (IP-EOMCCSD)/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory and Completely Normalized Equation of Motion Coupled Cluster with Singles, Doubles, and non-iterative Triples (CR-EOMCCSD(T))/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory, respectively, (vertical values), as well as with available experimental data. Similarly, we calculate the transfer integrals between subsequent base pairs, to be used for a Tight-Binding (TB) wire model description of charge transfer and transport along ideal or deformed B-DNA. Taking into account all valence orbitals, we are in the position to treat deflection from the planar geometry, e.g., DNA structural variability, a task impossible for the plane Hückel approach (i.e., using only 2pz orbitals). We show the effects of structural deformations utilizing a 20mer evolved by Molecular Dynamics.

Entretien avec Angeliki Poulou réalisé par visioconférence le 05 juin 2020, mené par Estelle Baudou et Quentin Rioual

Cite as: Kamberidou, I. (2021). “Les Hellenes” through the eyes of women travelers of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In: The Global Context of the Greek Revolution: Women as Agents of Change: Webinar dedicated to the Bicentennial of the Greek Revolution (1821-2021). The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA), in collaboration with California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) California, 26/11/2021.  Presentation on YouTube: https://youtu.be/1p19Px3Nb6w  Μόνιμη διεύθυνση (Πέργαμος): https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/object/2967413

A rigorous time Floquet method for the calculation of scattering of electromagnetic waves by a homogeneous spherical object, characterized by a periodically varying-in-time isotropic permittivity, is presented. The method is applied to the study of Mie scattering by such a modulated dielectric particle. Our results are in excellent agreement with the quasistatic adiabatic approximation in the slow-modulation limit. At higher modulation frequencies, a remarkable spectral response, including resonant inelastic scattering and frequency conversion as well as energy transfer between the dynamic sphere and the electromagnetic field, is revealed and consistently explained.

We report the experimental realization of periodically perforated plasmonic metasurfaces capable of integrating several key functionalities, such as light-to-surface plasmon coupling, controllable beam-splitting, wavelength filtering and routing, high resolution differential wavelength measurement, and vectorial displacement sensing. The plasmonic metasurfaces operate at telecom wavelengths, at the vicinity of the eigenmode crossing points where zero group velocity is experienced, and their functionality parameters, such as sensitivity to misalignment, prong angular separation, power ratio, polarization, and bandwidth, can be adjusted by designing the boundary shape and by conveniently manipulating their alignment with the illuminating light beam. In the same context, a circular plasmonic metasurface could also serve as a vectorial displacement sensor capable of monitoring simultaneously the magnitude and direction of the displacement between its center and that of the illuminating beam. The compact, easily controllable, and all-in-one nature of our devices can enable on-chip integrated circuits with adaptable functionality for applications in sensing and optical signal processing. © 2020 American Chemical Society.

M51 ULX-7 is a an ultraluminous X-ray pulsar (ULXP) with a spin period of ~2.8 s, and orbital period of ~2 d, and a maximum luminosity that exceeds by more than 20 times the Eddington limit for a neutron star (NS). An open question about ULXPs, is if indeed the mass accretion rates are super-Eddington, or the emission is beamed due to the presence of strong optically thick outflows. Such outflows could originate from the disk and may form a narrow funnel allowing radiation to escape only towards the observer. We will discuss the temporal properties of the system based on the analysis of archival X-ray data collected by Swift/XRT and Chandra. We find that its X-ray flux modulates with a super-orbital period of ~40 d, while there appear to be epochs where the pulsar transitions to the propeller stage. Moreover, we report the discovery of periodic X-ray dips, with a period that matches the orbital period. The observable properties of M51 ULX-7 can be used to probe the mass accretion rate onto the NS and to constrain the orbital inclination of the binary. We conclude that the properties of the systems are evident of a small beaming factor and a wide funnel, thus demonstrating that strong beaming does not need to be invoked to explain the observed fluxes, and that super-Eddington accretion rates are possible for highly magnetized NSs.

Abstract Contrary to Keynes’ and Duesenberry’s consumption theories, absolute or relative income plays a minimal role in the life-cycle and in the permanent-income hypotheses. It plays an even lesser role in contemporary orthodox consumption functions which are extensions of these two theories in a rational-expectations framework. As a result, the theoretical effectiveness of fiscal policy for raising output is greatly diminished. The paper argues that Keynes’ and Duesenberry’s approaches were marginalised not because of their empirical or theoretical shortcomings, but because of emphasising the psychological and social influences on consumption patterns, and because of not employing the intertemporal utility maximising framework.

A small fraction of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) with available data down to soft X-rays (~0.5 keV) has been shown to feature a spectral break in the low-energy part (~1-10 keV) of their prompt emission spectrum. The overall spectral shape is consistent with optically thin synchrotron emission from a population of particles that have cooled on a time-scale comparable to the dynamic time to energies that are still much higher than their rest-mass energy (marginally fast cooling regime). We consider a hadronic scenario and investigate if the prompt emission of these GRBs can originate from relativistic protons that radiate synchrotron in the marginally fast cooling regime. Using semi-analytical methods, we derive the source parameters, such as magnetic field strength and proton luminosity, and calculate the high-energy neutrino emission expected in this scenario. We also investigate how the emission of secondary pairs produced by photopion interactions and γγ pair production affect the broad-band photon spectrum. We support our findings with detailed numerical calculations. Strong modification of the photon spectrum below the break energy due to the synchrotron emission of secondary pairs is found, unless the bulk Lorentz factor is very large (Γ ≳ 103). Moreover, this scenario predicts unreasonably high Poynting luminosities because of the strong magnetic fields (106-107 G) that are necessary for the incomplete proton cooling. Our results strongly disfavour marginally fast cooling protons as an explanation of the low-energy spectral break in the prompt GRB spectra.

The chapter focuses on the attempts of a group of mathematics teacher educators (MTEs) to support teachers in exploiting workplace situations in their mathematics teaching. We report on MTEs’ professional learning in the context of a European-funded project which brought together 18 partners from 13 countries. In Greece, 11 MTEs (academic researchers, teachers and mentors) with different research and teacher education experiences worked with thirteen groups of practising teachers who collaborated to plan, enact and reflect on lessons aligned to the aims of the project. The project provided substantial opportunities for challenging MTEs’ professional knowledge and teacher education practice. The analysis of the discussions during a series of meetings, where design and reflection on professional development activities took place, allowed for identifying and describing MTEs’ concerns and emerging tensions. Using the construct of boundary crossing we traced shifts in MTEs’ movements across different practices indicating an interplay of research, teacher education and mathematics teaching.

In the current paper we give a persistent effort to emphasize on the clear present threat posed by Turkey’s Neo-Ottoman Islamic and revisionist role for the Geopolitical Complex of (Middle-East / Balkans / Caucasus).Furthermore, we try and make it abundantly clear that any abandonment of the Greece-Cyprus dipole of Hellenism, which is staunchly protecting Western interests over and across three continents and with such interests firmly grounded on the principles of the civil, pluralistic, European Democracy and Civilization, will deliver the most significant blow to these very Western Interests. A blow, which in fact is using as its “stabbing knife” Islamist Turkey, which has submitted and succumbed to the Organization of the “Muslim Brotherhood”, as well as to the fascist Turkish group of the “Grey Wolves”, two groups which they are both off-springs of International Fascism, work in perfect harmony together.

BackgroundThe transgenerational transmission of affective disorders calls for integrating promotion of child development in the services offered to families with parental depression. The main objective of the present research was to examine the effectiveness and differences in the impact of two relevant interventions in Greece. Methods Thirty families of depressed patients were randomly assigned to the six-to-eight session Family Talk Intervention group and 32 families were included in the lower intensity parent-only two-to-three session Let's Talk about the Children group. Depressed parents and the eldest of their children were assessed prior to the interventions and 4, 10, and 18 months following baseline assessment. Results In both groups there were significant improvements in parent's depression, anxiety, perceived social support, parenting and family functioning, as well as improvements in child's depression, anxiety, and child emotional/behavioral problems. Child's prosocial behavior, perceived social support, and health-related quality of life were significantly improved in both groups. All positive effects were evident four months following baseline assessment and could be still documented at 1.5-year follow-up. Mixed linear models showed that family functioning and parenting to a lesser extent were associated with the greatest changes in children's psychosocial outcomes in both interventions.. Limitations The lack of data regarding parents that refused to receive the interventions may limit generalizability of results. A further limitation is the lack of a no-intervention control group. Conclusions The study offers a preliminary evidence base for integrating preventive interventions for child mental health in routine clinical practice with adult depressed patients.

BACKGROUND: Multiple myeloma bone disease (MMBD) constitutes a common and severe complication of multiple myeloma (MM), impacting the quality of life and survival. We evaluated the clinical value of a panel of 19 miRNAs associated with osteoporosis in MMBD. METHODS: miRNAs were isolated from the plasma of 62 newly diagnosed MM patients with or without MMBD. First-strand cDNA was synthesized, and relative quantification was performed using qPCR. Lastly, we carried out extensive biostatistical analysis. RESULTS: Circulating levels of let-7b-5p, miR-143-3p, miR-17-5p, miR-214-3p, and miR-335-5p were significantly higher in the blood plasma of MM patients with MMBD compared to those without. Receiver operating characteristic curve and logistic regression analyses showed that these miRNAs could accurately predict MMBD. Furthermore, a standalone multi-miRNA-based logistic regression model exhibited the best predictive potential regarding MMBD. Two of those miRNAs also have a prognostic role in MM since survival analysis indicated that lower circulating levels of both let-7b-5p and miR-335-5p were associated with significantly worse progression-free survival, independently of the established prognostic factors. CONCLUSIONS: Our study proposes a miRNA signature to facilitate MMBD diagnosis, especially in ambiguous cases. Moreover, we provide evidence of the prognostic role of let-7b-5p and miR-335-5p as non-invasive prognostic biomarkers in MM.

This work investigates and compares nominal expressive suffixes in Russian and Greek within the framework of Distributed Morphology. It shows that, although the suffixes under investigation share the same expressive meaning, they differ significantly in their syntactic structure, namely in the manner and place of attachment in the syntactic tree. More specifically, in both languages expressive suffixes can attach either as heads or as modifiers and, furthermore, they may occupy various syntactic positions. This illustrates that, despite their uniformity at semantic level, expressive suffixes exhibit variation with respect to their syntactic structuring both within and across languages.

We report the experimental realization of a multifunctional microscale plasmonic metasurface capable of sampling a light beam and performing five functionalities, while allowing high direct transmission and maintenance of the properties of the input light beam. The plasmonic metasurface integrates light-to-surface-plasmon coupling, two-channel wavelength demultiplexing with a channel spacing smaller than 44 nm, wavelength and polarization controllable beam splitting of a monochromatic, single polarization signal, and four-level polarization and wavelength-polarization demultiplexing in an all-in-one structure. Such a device can play a key role for on-chip adaptable integrated circuits for parallel signal processing, communications, and nondestructive sensing.

This paper introduces a 3-layer feed-forward neuronet model, trained by novel beetle antennae search weights-and-structure-determination (BASWASD) algorithm. On the one hand, the beetle antennae search (BAS) algorithm is a memetic meta-heuristic optimization algorithm capable of solving combinatorial optimization problems. On the other hand, neuronets trained by a weights-and-structure-determination (WASD) algorithm are known to resolve the shortcomings of traditional back-propagation neuronets, including slow speed of training and local minimum. Combining the BAS and WASD algorithms, a novel BASWASD algorithm is created for training neuronets, and a multi-input BASWASD neuronet (MI-BASWASDN) model is introduced. Using a power sigmoid activation function and while managing the model fitting and validation, the BASWASD algorithm finds the optimal weights and structure of the MI-BASWASDN. Four financial datasets, taken from the European Central Bank publications, validate and demonstrate the MI-BASWASDN model’s outstanding learning and predicting performance. Also included is a comparison of the MI-BASWASDN model to three other well-performing neural network models, as well as a MATLAB kit that is publicly available on GitHub to promote and support this research.

On July 30th, 2019 IceCube detected a high-energy astrophysical muon neutrino candidate, IC-190730A with a 67% probability of astrophysical origin. The flat spectrum radio quasar (FSRQ) PKS 1502 +106 is in the error circle of the neutrino. Motivated by this observation, we study PKS 1502+106 as a possible source of IC-190730A. PKS 1502+106 was in a quiet state in terms of UV/optical/X-ray/γ-ray flux at the time of the neutrino alert, we therefore model the expected neutrino emission from the source during its average long-term state, and investigate whether the emission of IC-190730A as a result of the quiet long-term emission of PKS 1502+106 is plausible. We analyse UV/optical and X-ray data and collect additional observations from the literature to construct the multi-wavelength spectral energy distribution of PKS 1502+106. We perform leptohadronic modelling of the multi-wavelength emission of the source and determine the most plausible emission scenarios and the maximum expected accompanying neutrino flux. A model in which the multi-wavelength emission of PKS 1502+106 originates beyond the broad-line region and inside the dust torus is most consistent with the observations. In this scenario, PKS 1502+106 can have produced up to of order one muon neutrino with energy exceeding 100 TeV in the lifetime of IceCube. An appealing feature of this model is that the required proton luminosity is consistent with the average required proton luminosity if blazars power the observed ultra-high-energy-cosmic-ray flux and well below the source's Eddington luminosity. If such a model is ubiquitous among FSRQs, additional neutrinos can be expected from other bright sources with energy ≳ 10 PeV.

In some islands of the Aegean, there is evidence of the occurrence of repeated rapid subsidences during the Late Holocene. In this paper, the shape of tidal notches that may be well-preserved underwater is recalled in order to reconstruct sequences of coseismic subsidences and other relative sea-level changes, which occurred during, at least, the last few millennia. A reanalysis of the published measurements of submerged tidal notches in several islands reveals that subsidence trends in many areas of the Aegean are not continuous with gradual movement but, also, are the result of repeated coseismic vertical subsidences of some decimetres at each time. The estimated average return times are of the order of approximately some centuries to one millennium. Although the results cannot be used for short-term predictions of earthquakes, they may provide useful indications on the long-term tectonic trends that are active in the Aegean region.

Cite as:  Kefi-Chatzichamperi, E., & Kamberidou, I. (2021). THE NATIONAL ACTION PLAN FOR GENDER EQUALITY: WOMEN, SPORTS AND MILITARY INSTITUTIONS. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science, 7(3). doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejpe.v7i3.3959

Long duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the least understood astrophysical transients powering the high-energy universe. To date, various mechanisms have been proposed to explain the observed electromagnetic GRB emission. In this work, we show that, although different jet models may be equally successful in fitting the observed electromagnetic spectral energy distributions, the neutrino production strongly depends on the adopted emission and dissipation model. To this purpose, we compute the neutrino production for a benchmark high-luminosity GRB in the internal shock model, including a dissipative photosphere as well as three emission components, in the jet model invoking internal-collision-induced magnetic reconnection and turbulence (ICMART), in the case of a magnetic jet with gradual dissipation, and in a jet with dominant proton synchrotron radiation. We find that the expected neutrino fluence can vary up to three orders of magnitude in amplitude and peak at energies ranging from 104 to 108 GeV. For our benchmark input parameters, none of the explored GRB models is excluded by the targeted searches carried out by the IceCube and ANTARES Collaborations. However, our work highlights the potential of high-energy neutrinos of pinpointing the underlying GRB emission mechanism and the importance of relying on different jet models for unbiased stacking searches.

The environment in which the decision-making process takes place is often characterized by uncertainty and vagueness and, because of that, sometimes it is very hard to express the criteria weights with crisp numbers. Therefore, the application of the Grey System Theory, i.e., grey numbers, in this case, is very convenient when it comes to determination of the criteria weights with partially known information. Besides, the criteria weights have a significant role in the multiple criteria decision-making process. Many ordinary multiple criteria decision-making methods are adapted for using grey numbers, and this is the case in this article as well. A new grey extension of the certain multiple criteria decision-making methods for the determination of the criteria weights is proposed. Therefore, the article aims to propose a new extension of the Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) and PIvot Pairwise Relative Criteria Importance Assessment (PIPRECIA) methods adapted for group decision-making. In the proposed approach, attitudes of decision-makers are transformed into grey group attitudes, which allows taking advantage of the benefit that grey numbers provide over crisp numbers. The main advantage of the proposed approach in relation to the use of crisp numbers is the ability to conduct different analyses, i.e., considering different scenarios, such as pessimistic, optimistic, and so on. By varying the value of the whitening coefficient, different weights of the criteria can be obtained, and it should be emphasized that this approach gives the same weights as in the case of crisp numbers when the whitening coefficient has a value of 0.5. In addition, in this approach, the grey number was formed based on the median value of collected responses because it better maintains the deviation from the normal distribution of the collected responses. The application of the proposed approach was considered through two numerical illustrations, based on which appropriate conclusions were drawn.

We study magnon-mediated optical transitions in micrometer-sized axially symmetric yttrium iron garnet (YIG) particles, which act as optomagnonic cavities, by means of electromagnetic calculations, treating the magneto-optical coupling to first order in perturbation theory, in the framework of a fully dynamic approach. Such particles with engineered shape anisotropy exhibit high-quality-factor Mie resonances in the infrared part of the spectrum, with a separation of few gigahertz, which matches the typical frequencies of magnons. This allows for optical transitions mediated by spin waves, while the micrometer volume favors stronger overlap between the optical modes and the precessing magnetization. Our results predict that photon-magnon coupling strengths of tens of kilohertz could be realized with cylindrical or spheroidal particles, since mainly the reduced volume, but also shape anisotropy, can lead to strong, up to four orders of magnitude, enhancement of the coupling strengths compared to submillimeter YIG spheres.

Abstract. This study discusses the problem of the incompatibility between ethnocentric tendencies within the national Orthodox churches and the New Testament teaching on nonviolence. The three main parts outline the relevant New Testament teaching (1) in the four Gospels and the book of Acts, (2) in the Pauline epistles, and (3) in John’s Revelation. The study concludes that in the New Testament texts, there is no room for the justification of violence on the part of Christ-followers against their opponents. Quite on the contrary, the New Testament views the world as having the potential to become ecclesia, and the “other” as a possible sister or brother in Christ. Unfortunately, this fundamental New Testament teaching is often forgotten in modern-day Orthodoxy, notwithstanding its claims for unbroken continuity with the apostolic tradition. As an example, the Greek-Orthodox church oftentimes emphasizes national identity and heroism over ecclesial faith and ethos. Although understandable, such ethnocentric tendencies clearly contradict the New Testament witness and should be abandoned.

Considering the lack of effective treatments against COVID-19, wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) is emerging as a cost-effective approach for real-time population-wide SARS-CoV-2 monitoring. Here, we report novel molecular assays for sensitive detection and mutational/variant analysis of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. Highly stable regions of SARS-CoV-2 RNA were identified by RNA stability analysis and targeted for the development of novel nested PCR assays. Targeted DNA sequencing (DNA-seq) was applied for the analysis and quantification of SARS-CoV-2 mutations/variants, following hexamers-based reverse transcription and nested PCR-based amplification of targeted regions. Three-dimensional (3D) structure models were generated to examine the predicted structural modification caused by genomic variants. WBE of SARS-CoV-2 revealed to be assay dependent, and significantly improved sensitivity achieved by assay combination (94%) vs. single-assay screening (30%-60%). Targeted DNA-seq allowed the quantification of SARS-CoV-2 mutations/variants in wastewater, which agreed with COVID-19 patients' sequencing data. A mutational analysis indicated the prevalence of D614G (S) and P323L (RdRP) variants, as well as of the Beta.1.1.7/alpha variant of concern, in agreement with the frequency of Beta.1.1.7/alpha variant in clinical samples of the same period of the third pandemic wave at the national level. Our assays provide an innovative cost-effective platform for real-time monitoring and early-identification of SARS-CoV-2 variants at community/population levels.

The hippocampus-prefrontal cortex circuit plays a major role in stress and in the neurobiology of depression and its treatment. Disruption of this circuit by lesioning the thalamic nucleus reuniens (RE) has been shown to prevent the detrimental effects of chronic mild stress on prefrontal cortex neuroplasticity indices in male rats. However, it remains unknown whether hippocampal neurostructural response to stress is modified by RE lesion. In the present study, adult male rats were subjected to the chronic mild stress model of depression and were treated with either vehicle or an antidepressant (i.e. sertraline). Moreover, a group of animals was subjected to RE lesion before stress exposure with or without sertraline treatment. We demonstrated that chronic mild stress induced hippocampal CA1 dendritic atrophy and this was prevented by pre-stress RE lesion to the same extent that antidepressant treatment reversed it. The present findings highlight the importance of hippocampal-prefrontal cortex communication in chronic stress effects on hippocampal neuroplasticity and contribute to the elucidation of the role of RE in neurostructural changes underlying stress-driven depression and its treatment.

Decade-long monitoring of blazars at optical and infrared (OIR) wavelengths with the Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS) in Chile and in γ-rays with the Fermi -Large Area Telescope (LAT) has enabled the systematic study of their multiwavelength long-term variability. In this work, we investigate, from a theoretical perspective, the long-term variability properties of blazar emission by introducing an observationally motivated time-dependence to four main parameters of the one-zone leptonic model: injection luminosity of relativistic electrons, strength of magnetic field, Doppler factor, and external photon field luminosity. For the first time, we use both the probability density function and the power spectral density of the 10-yr-long Fermi-LAT light curves to create variation patterns for the model parameters. Using as test beds two bright blazars from the SMARTS sample (PKS 2155-304 and 3C 273), we compute 10-yr-long OIR, X-ray, and γ-ray model light curves for different varying parameters. We compare the findings of our theoretical investigation with multiwavelength observations using various measures of variability. While no single-varying parameter simulation can explain all multiwavelength variability properties, changes in the electron luminosity and external radiation field in PKS 2155-304 and 3C 273, respectively, can account for most of them. Our results motivate future time-dependent studies with coupling between two or more physical parameters to describe the multiwavelength long-term blazar variability.

Blazars are the most extreme active galactic nuclei, having relativistic jets that are closely aligned to our line of sight. They are the most powerful persistent astrophysical sources of non-thermal electromagnetic radiation in the Universe, with spectral energy distributions (SEDs) spanning ~15 decades in energy, from radio frequencies up to high-energy γ-rays. Blazar SEDs vary both in terms of energy flux (i.e. flux variability) and spectral characteristics (i.e. color changes) on timescales ranging from minutes to years. Decade monitoring of blazars at optical and infrared (O/IR) wavelengths with the meter-class telescopes of the Small and Moderate Aperture Research Telescope System (SMARTS) in Chile and in γ-rays with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT) has enabled the systematic study of multi-wavelength long-term variability in blazars. In this study we investigate, from a theoretical perspective, the long-term variability properties of blazar emission by introducing an observationally motivated time-dependence to four main parameters of the one-zone leptonic model: electron injection luminosity, magnetic field strength, Doppler factor and external photon field luminosity. For the first time, we use both the probability density function (PDF) and the power spectrum density (PSD) of the observed 10 year-long Fermi-LAT light curves to create fake γ-ray light curves and variation patterns for the model parameters in order to simulate the long-term multi-wavelength flux variability for the full time-interval of 10 years. To quantify the latter, we use standard timing tools, such as discrete correlation functions (DCFs) and fractional variabilities (FVs). Our goal is to compare the findings of our theoretical investigation with observations of two bright blazars from the SMARTS sample (PKS 2155-304 and 3C 273), and to understand the cause of the observed time lags between O/IR wavelengths and γ-rays.

The exact mechanism for the production of fast γ-ray variability in blazars remains debated. Magnetic reconnection, in which plasmoids filled with relativistic particles and magnetic fields are formed, is a viable candidate to explain the broadband electromagnetic spectrum and variability of these objects. Using state-of-the-art magnetic reconnection simulations, we generate realistic γ-ray light curves that would be observed with the Fermi Large Area Telescope. A comparison with observed γ-ray flares from flat spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) reveals that magnetic reconnection events lead to comparable flux levels and variability patterns, in particular, when the reconnection layer is slightly misaligned with the line of sight. Emission from fast plasmoids moving close to the line of sight could explain the fast variability on the timescales of minutes for which evidence has been found in observations of FSRQs. Our results motivate improvements in existing radiative transfer simulations as well as dedicated searches for fast variability as evidence for magnetic reconnection events.

Depression emerges as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and it is thought that successful antidepressant treatment may reduce such a risk. Therefore, antidepressant treatment embodies a potential preventive measure to reduce cardiovascular events in patients with depression. Accumulating evidence indicates that antidepressants have off-target effects on vascular dysfunction and in the early stages of atherosclerosis, which form the basis for cardiovascular disease (CVD) pathogenesis. In this context, we performed a thorough review of the evidence pertaining to the effects of different classes of antidepressant medications on hemodynamic and early atherosclerosis markers. The preclinical and clinical evidence reviewed revealed a preponderance of studies assessing selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), whereas other classes of antidepressants are less well-studied. Sufficient evidence supports a beneficial effect of SSRIs on vascular inflammation, endothelial function, arterial stiffening, and possibly delaying carotid atherosclerosis. In clinical studies, dissecting the hypothesized direct beneficial antidepressant effect of SSRIs on endothelial health from the global improvement upon remission of depression has proven to be difficult. However, preclinical studies armed with appropriate control groups provide evidence of molecular mechanisms linked to endothelial function that are indeed modulated by antidepressants. This suggests at least a partial direct action on vascular integrity. Further research on endothelial markers should focus on the effect of antidepressants on treatment responders versus non-responders in order to better ascertain the possible beneficial vascular effects of antidepressants, irrespective of the underlying course of depression.

In this chapter several psychoanalytic views on the origins of beneficial solitude, its developmental course during the first years of life, and its implications for later development are discussed, evaluated, and organized around three dimensions: the solitary self, the ability to be alone, and the necessity of being alone, as well as the companionable nature of solitude. These views belong to different psychoanalytic models, such as the Freudian drive/structure and the object relations model. Conclusions are drawn and future directions are described, concerning the paradox of solitude, which is argued to be evident from the beginning of life.

Glucocorticoids (GCs) remain the cornerstone of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (chALL) therapy, exerting their cytotoxic effects through binding and activating of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR). GAS5 lncRNA acts as a potent riborepressor of GR transcriptional activity, and thus targeting GAS5 in GC-treated chALL could provide further insights into GC resistance and support personalized treatment decisions. Herein, to study the clinical utility of GAS5 in chALL prognosis and chemotherapy response, GAS5 expression was quantified by RT-qPCR in bone marrow samples of chB-ALL patients at diagnosis (n = 164) and at end-of-induction (n = 109), treated with ALL-BFM protocol. Patients' relapse and death were used as clinical end-points for survival analysis. Bootstrap analysis was performed for internal validation, and decision curve analysis assessed the clinical net benefit for chALL prognosis. Our findings demonstrated the elevated GAS5 levels in blasts of chALL patients compared to controls and the significantly higher risk for short-term relapse and poor treatment outcome of patients overexpressing GAS5, independently of their clinicopathological data. The unfavorable prognostic value of GAS5 overexpression was strongly validated in the high-risk/stem-cell transplantation subgroup. Finally, multivariate models incorporating GAS5 levels resulted in superior risk stratification and clinical benefit for chALL prognostication, supporting personalized prognosis and precision medicine decisions in chALL.

The paper examines how the environment and climate change issues were gradually upgraded within the policy-making framework of the Common Agricultural Policy and contributed to the formulation of the green architecture for European agriculture. The analysis is based on theories of policy change -mainly neo-institutionalism and historical institutionalism- within the multilevel governance framework. Also, the United Nation’s development goal for climate action (SDG-13) is presented to show the change in the policymaking at the international level, to adapt to the climate change challenge. From the analysis, it is recognized that policy change seems to be redefining the historical path of the previous period within the EU and the global context. KEY WORDS: CAP, UN, climate change, policy change, green architecture

This article proposes and describes an educational scenario for 4th, 7th and 10th grade school history. The main goal of this scenario is to help students understand the historical dimension of the phenomenon of the pandemic and to develop critical thinking towards it, in order to enhance their mental resilience. The main historical character of this scenario is Myrtis. The use of drama game techniques is proposed as the main teaching method for the scenario's implementation. The title of the educational scenario is the following: «Travelling with Myrtis from the plague of Ancient Athens to the pandemic of covid-19». In the scenario, students travel to the plague of Ancient Athens through an imaginary journey to the past with Myrtis. After traveling through the pandemics of different historical periods (plague, smallpox, cholera), they arrive at their experience of the pandemic in the present. The design was based on the theories of the educational scenario and theatre pedagogy.

The study of environmental changes in coastal areas provide useful information for past conditions and constitute a powerful tool for accurate palaeogeographic reconstructions. Several coastal landforms are present on the coastal zone, with different response to environmental change. Coastal wetlands and lagoons are particularly sensitive to local paleoenvironmental changes and provide an excellent opportunity to reconstruct the evolution of the coastal zone evolution and the sea level changes. In this context, the aim of this work is to elucidate the coastal evolution of Psatha bay, Alkyonides Gulf, Greece, through coastal drillings and geomorphological sea level markers. The study area is located at the eastern end of Corinth Gulf, in the Gulf of Alkyonides. Psatha is bounded by active neotectonic structures, which have been a determining factor in its development. In this work we adopt a multiproxy approach through the study of coastal drillings and beachrocks. We coupled detailed beachrock mapping, microstratigraphic analysis and luminescence dating to study beachrock outcrops found up to 1 m above the present sea-level. For the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, multiproxy analyses were undertaken, which included sedimentological analysis of the core, paleontological analysis of macrofauna and microfauna and radiocarbon dating. The results of this work will contribute to the better understanding of a coastal site in a tectonically active area and the relative sea level changes.

The study of environmental changes in coastal areas provide useful information for past conditions and constitute a powerful tool for accurate palaeogeographic reconstructions. Several coastal landforms are present on the coastal zone, with different response to environmental change. Coastal wetlands and lagoons are particularly sensitive to local paleoenvironmental changes and provide an excellent opportunity to reconstruct the evolution of the coastal zone evolution and the sea level changes. In this context, the aim of this work is to elucidate the coastal evolution of Psatha bay, Alkyonides Gulf, Greece, through coastal drillings and geomorphological sea level markers. The study area is located at the eastern end of Corinth Gulf, in the Gulf of Alkyonides. Psatha is bounded by active neotectonic structures, which have been a determining factor in its development. In this work we adopt a multiproxy approach through the study of coastal drillings and beachrocks. We coupled detailed beachrock mapping, microstratigraphic analysis and luminescence dating to study beachrock outcrops found up to 1 m above the present sea-level. For the palaeoenvironmental reconstruction, multiproxy analyses were undertaken, which included sedimentological analysis of the core, paleontological analysis of macrofauna and microfauna and radiocarbon dating. The results of this work will contribute to the better understanding of a coastal site in a tectonically active area and the relative sea level changes.

Thorough faunal (benthic foraminifera, ostracods, molluscs) and palynomorph analyses as well as magnetic susceptibility measurements performed on the Piraeus coastal plain sedimentary sequences have shed light on the paleoenvironmental evolution of the area since ca. 9000 cal BP. Benthic and palynomorph assemblages along with magnetic susceptibility suggest a typical lagoonal environment with significant freshwater inputs at the eastern part of the plain after 8700 cal BP. Between 7500 and 5400 cal BP, microfaunal assemblages, mollusc fauna and magnetic susceptibility suggest a shallow marine paleoenvironment, with Piraeus forming a tied island in the center of the bay. Since ca. 4800 cal BP a closed oligohaline lagoon is evidenced in the western part of the Piraeus plain further developed to a marsh after 2800 cal BP, while a coastal environment associated with the fluvio-deltaic system of Kifissos and Korydallos Rivers is continually developing to the west. Signs of cultivation and grazing activities in the area are evidenced since the Early Bronze Age, culminating during the Classical Period. A comparison with a well-dated marine record, recovered from the nearby shallow Elefsis Bay, provides a reasonable estimation of  5 mm/yr for the absolute sea level rise rate in the inner Saronikos Gulf during the Mid-Holocene.

Laboratory workflows and preclinical models have become increasingly diverse and complex. Confronted with the dilemma of a multitude of information with ambiguous relevance for their specific experiments, scientists run the risk of overlooking critical factors that can influence the planning, conduct and results of studies and that should have been considered a priori. To address this problem, we developed "PEERS" (Platform for the Exchange of Experimental Research Standards), an open-access online platform that is built to aid scientists in determining which experimental factors and variables are most likely to affect the outcome of a specific test, model or assay and therefore ought to be considered during the design, execution and reporting stages. The PEERS database is categorized into in vivo and in vitro experiments and provides lists of factors derived from scientific literature that have been deemed critical for experimentation. The platform is based on a structured and transparent system for rating the strength of evidence related to each identified factor and its relevance for a specific method/model. In this context, the rating procedure will not solely be limited to the PEERS working group but will also allow for a community-based grading of evidence. We here describe a working prototype using the Open Field paradigm in rodents and present the selection of factors specific to each experimental setup and the rating system. PEERS not only offers users the possibility to search for information to facilitate experimental rigor, but also draws on the engagement of the scientific community to actively expand the information contained within the platform. Collectively, by helping scientists search for specific factors relevant to their experiments, and to share experimental knowledge in a standardized manner, PEERS will serve as a collaborative exchange and analysis tool to enhance data validity and robustness as well as the reproducibility of preclinical research. PEERS offers a vetted, independent tool by which to judge the quality of information available on a certain test or model, identifies knowledge gaps and provides guidance on the key methodological considerations that should be prioritized to ensure that preclinical research is conducted to the highest standards and best practice.

The new coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has been accompanied by severe psychological pressure on the entire population. However, little is known about how this pandemic could affect the more vulnerable population with severe mental illness.

The present study aimed to analyze the attack effectiveness of top-level outside hitters regarding spatiotem- poral parameters, such as the volleyball complex, the position of the setter, the type of opponent block, the tempo and the zone of attack. A three-member team of experienced coaches recorded and assessed 1968 attacks of male (N=800) and female (N=1168) outside hitters from 20 volleyball matches (M=10; W=10) of the six top-ranked teams in Men and Women 2018 World Championships. The assessment was based on a five-level ordinal tactical scale. The test of independence for categorical variables was carried out using χ2 test and Fisher’s exact test. A follow- up correspondence analysis was applied to visualize the entries in the table of relative frequencies. The analysis revealed that male outside hitters were more effective than female in a) the complexes I and II, b) the offensive actions from zones 4 and 6, c) the 2nd fast attack tempo, d) either the setter was in the offensive or defensive line, e) when facing single or double block. Nevertheless, female outside hitters performed fewer unforced errors than male in a) the complex I, b) spikes from zone 4, c) 3rd attack tempo, d) when the setter was on the defensive line and d) the offensive actions facing double block. Finally, the male outside hitters who played according to line-up positions either near the setter (OH1), neither the away from the setter (OH2) were more effective than the female outside hitters but OH1 performed more frequent unforced errors. These findings can lead volleyball coaches to develop specified training plans to improve the performance of outside hitters of both genders.

The lack of utter efficacy and fast action of commonly used antidepressants that selectively target the monoaminergic neurotransmission has led to the exploration of ketamine's actions. Ketamine's antidepressant effect was firstly described in 1973 and nowadays its therapeutic value as a fast- and long- lasting antidepressant has been extensively established. Ketamine is an antagonist of the N-Methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) and its main mechanism of action via NMDAR inhibition expressed in GABAergic (gamma-Aminobutyric acid, GABA) interneurons may be relayed to its antidepressant effects. This review aims to describe the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic profile of ketamine when used for treatment-resistant depression. Moreover, ketamine is a racemic mixture consisting of two enantiomers, R- and S- ketamine. We describe the pharmacology of esketamine, along with the guidelines for effective and safe intranasal administration of esketamine. Lastly, this review presents sex differences in preclinical and clinical studies of ketamine and esketamine administration.

This paper presents the results of a combined spectroscopic and photometric study of 20 contact binary systems: HV Aqr, OO Aql, FI Boo, TX Cnc, OT Cnc, EE Cet, RW Com, KR Com, V401 Cyg, V345 Gem, AK Her, V502 Oph, V566 Oph, V2612 Oph, V1363 Ori, V351 Peg, V357 Peg, Y Sex, V1123 Tau, and W UMa, which was conducted in the frame of the W UMa Project. Together with 51 already covered by the project and an additional 67 in the existing literature, these systems bring the total number of contact binaries with known combined spectroscopic and photometric solutions to 138. It was found that mass, radius, and luminosity of the components follow certain relations along the MS and new empirical power relations are extracted. We found that 30 per cent of the systems in the current sample show extreme values in their parameters, expressed in their mass ratio or fill-out factor. This study shows that, among the contact binary systems studied, some have an extremely low mass ratio (q < 0.1) or an ultrashort orbital period (Porb < 0.25 d), which are expected to show evidence of mass transfer progress. The evolutionary status of these components is discussed with the aid of correlation diagrams and their physical and orbital parameters compared to those in the entire sample of known contact binaries. The existence of very short orbital periods confirms the very slow nature of the merging process, which seems to explain why their components still exist as MS stars in contact configurations even after several Gyr of evolution.

Trans-Neptunian Objects (TNOs) have had an increasing interest since the discovery of (15760) Albion in 1992. These objects are considered remnants of the Solar System formation, and can thus provide clues about its origin and evolution. One of the best techniques to study TNOs from ground-based telescopes are stellar occultations which, if combined with photometric data, permit to obtain physical properties of the TNO such as its size, shape, and albedo. With this in mind, we predicted, observed, and analyzed the stellar occultation of the Gaia source 3444789965847631104 caused by the cubewano (19521) Chaos on the 20th of November 2020. The prediction was part of the searching program carried out by the Lucky Star project collaboration. We observed the object with the 1.23-m telescope at Calar Alto Observatory (Almería, Spain) two days before the event to update the prediction. The occultation observing campaign involved 19 observing stations, both professional and amateur, and resulted in three positive detections and 11 negative detections. Five teams could not observe due to bad weather. We fitted the positive chords' extremities to an ellipse to derive Chaos' projected size and shape and determine its geometric albedo. The preliminary area-equivalent diameter obtained is slightly smaller than the one derived with Herschel thermal data. However, we are still analyzing photometric data to complement and improve these results.

This paper employs econometric techniques in order to examine the role of political risk on the capital structure decisions of European listed SMEs, during a period which fully captures the Euro zone debt crisis and aspects of political risk due to the recession and its over-indebtedness. We find that political risk decreases significantly SMEs leverage via different and significant transmission channels. Very small (micro) enterprises are decreasing more significantly their leverage at times of political risk. The strength of the creditor’s rights act as a proxy for the possible effects of the political risk. Political risk combined with corruption has a positive effect on firm leverage.

Minimizing portfolio insurance (PI) costs is an investment strategy of great importance. In this chapter, by converting the classical minimum-cost PI (MCPI) problem to a multi-period MCPI (MPMCPI) problem, we define and investigate the MPMCPI under transaction costs (MPMCPITC) problem as a nonlinear programming (NLP) problem. The problem of MCPI gets more genuine in this way. Given the fact that such NLP problems are widely handled by intelligent algorithms, we are introducing a well-tuned approach that can solve the challenging MPMCPITC problem. In our portfolios’ applications, we use real-world data and, along with some of the best memetic meta-heuristic and commercial methods, we provide a solution to the MPMCPITC problem, and we compare their solutions to each other.

The results of structure from motion photogrammetry and SAR interferometry as complementary techniques for measuring ground deformation induced by the massive open-pit landslide in Amyntaio, Greece (June 10, 2017), is presented in this paper. This unexpected slide damaged the entire westernmost marginal area of the pit, significant number of buildings, and infrastructures of the nearby village of Anargiri. The described methodology includes the generation of a multi-temporal dataset (from Sept. 2017 to Sept. 2018) of very high-resolution surface topography (at 10 cm), based on the analysis of imagery collected by Remotely Piloted Airborne Systems (RPASs). Satellite observations involved interferometric processing of TerraSAR-X data for a complementary estimation of ground displacement rates. Height differences from consecutive aerial photography campaigns as well as space-borne measurements provided valuable information on the evolution of the deformation and its spatial characteristics during the post-event period, an important aspect for future hazard and risk considerations.

{Effectiveness in the volleyball players' ability to control their postural sway during the game's actions involving contact with the floor (i.e. passing, digging) contributes to the final score. The purpose of this study was to investigate the postural stability performance of female veteran volleyball players (VVP). Sixty nine top-level female VVP were assigned to an active (N=29) and a non-active group (N=40). Due to the age range (43.7-66.7 years) of participants, they were further assigned to a younger (<51 years) and older (≥51 years) age group (Active: Younger=14

We investigate solutions to the system of linear equations (SoLE) in both the time-varying and time-invariant cases, using both gradient neural network (GNN) and Zhang neural network (ZNN) designs. Two major limitations should be overcome. The first limitation is the inapplicability of GNN models in time-varying environment, while the second constraint is the possibility of using the ZNN design only under the presence of invertible coefficient matrix. In this paper, by overcoming the possible limitations, we suggest, in all possible cases, a suitable solution for a consistent or inconsistent linear system. Convergence properties are investigated as well as exact solutions.

European Union (EU) Directive 2013/55/EC (The Recognition of Professional Qualifications) allows Member States to decide on a common set of minimum knowledge, skills and competences that are needed to pursue a given profession through a Common Training Framework. To be adopted the framework must combine the knowledge, skills and competences of at least one third of the Member States. Professionals who have gained their qualifications under a Common Training Framework will be able to have these recognised automatically within the Union. The backbone of the European Federation of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine's (EFLM) proposed Common Training Framework for non-medical Specialists in Laboratory Medicine is outlined here. It is based on an Equivalence of Standards in education, training, qualifications, knowledge, skills, competences and the professional conduct associated with specialist practice. In proposing the recognition of specialist practice EFLM has identified 15 EU Member States able to meet Equivalence and in whom the profession and/or its training is regulated (an additional EU Commission requirement). The framework supports and contributes to the Directive's enabling goals for increasing professional mobility, safeguarding consumers and ensuring a more equitable distribution of skills and expertise across the Member States. It represents EFLM's position statement and provides a template for professional societies and/or competent authorities to engage with the EU Commission

The article explores the reception of 1821 in Victorian popular culture, focusing on the representation of Greek women in stories published in contemporary periodicals. The two dominant tropes of Greek womanhood that emerge in popular fiction and poetry published from the 1830s to the 1890s the captive harem slave and the intrepid warrior arouse sympathy for the enslaved women but also evoke liberal ideas on womens national and social roles. These texts foreground the position of Greek women within a nineteenth-century social context and imbue in them virtues and conflicts such as radicalism, the enfranchisement of women and middle-class domesticity that concerned Britain as much as Greece. Greek women, as represented in these stories, construct a Victorian narrative of 1821 and of the Greek nation that oscillates between familiarity and strangeness, freedom and enslavement, real and imaginary. These largely neglected texts challenge traditional definitions of philhellenism, which depended on the legacy of ancient Greece as justification for the cause of the countrys liberation, and instead construct new myths about Greece, participating in the discursive production of its national fantasy. They also provide the opportunity of reconsidering the cultural position of Modern Greece in the Victorian period beyond the division between Hellenism and Orientalism.

This study investigated the problem of QR decomposition for time-varying matrices. We transform the original QR decomposition problem into an equation system using its constraints. Then, we propose a continuous-time QR decomposition (CTQRD) model by applying zeroing neural network method, equivalent transformations, Kronecker product, and vectorization techniques. Subsequently, a high-precision ten-instant Zhang et al discretization (ZeaD) formula is proposed. A ten-instant discrete-time QR decomposition model is also proposed by using the ten-instant ZeaD formula to discretize the CTQRD model. Moreover, three discrete-time QR decomposition models are proposed by applying three other ZeaD formulas, and three examples of QR decomposition are presented. The experimental results confirm the effectiveness and correctness of the proposed models for the QR decomposition of time-varying matrices.

In this paper recent advances in vascular ultrasound imaging technology are discussed, including three-dimensional ultrasound (3DUS), contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and strain- (SE) and shear-wave-elastography (SWE). 3DUS imaging allows visualisation of the actual 3D anatomy and more recently of flow, and assessment of geometrical, morphological and mechanical features in the carotid artery and the aorta. CEUS involves the use of microbubble contrast agents to estimate sensitive blood flow and neovascularisation (formation of new microvessels). Recent developments include the implementation of computerised tools for automated analysis and quantification of CEUS images, and the possibility to measure blood flow velocity in the aorta. SE, which yields anatomical maps of tissue strain, is increasingly being used to investigate the vulnerability of the carotid plaque, but is also promising for the coronary artery and the aorta. SWE relies on the generation of a shear wave by remote acoustic palpation and its acquisition by ultrafast imaging, and is useful for measuring arterial stiffness. Such advances in vascular ultrasound technology, with appropriate validation in clinical trials, could positively change current management of patients with vascular disease, and improve stratification of cardiovascular risk.

The multi-proxy investigation of the deep-marine Kottafi Hill section (KHS), a part of the carbonate system of the Miocene Pakhna Formation, Cyprus, involved such proxies as calcareous nannofossil analysis, measurements of the oxygen and carbon isotope composition of the planktonic foraminifer Orbulina universa, and determination of the pollen and palynomorph contents, revealed the importance of these sedimentary sequences in the assessment of the impact of major global events during the middle Miocene on the regional scale. The KHS spans the 20.89–11.6 Ma time interval, during which eighteen OC-rich siltstone intercalated laminae have been deposited under warm and humid climate at 15.5–11.6 Ma. These layers can be possibly considered as the precursors of sapropelic layers mostly developed in the eastern Mediterranean Basin during Pliocene–Holocene. The global glacial events Mi3a–Mi5, traced by δ18O planktonic foraminifera records in the KHS, represent the stepwise cooling phase during the middle Miocene Climate Transition.

On 30th October 2020, the eastern Aegean Sea was shaken by a Mw = 7.0 earthquake. The epicenter was located near the northern coasts of Samos island. This tectonic event produced an uplift of the whole island as well as several cases of infrastructure damage, while a small tsunami followed the mainshock. Underwater and coastal geological, geomorphological, biological observations and measurements were performed at the entire coast revealing a complex character for the uplift. At the northwestern part of the island, maximum vertical displacements of +35 ± 5 cm were recorded at the northwestern tip, at Agios Isidoros. Conversely, the southeastern part was known for its subsidence through submerged archaeological remains and former sea level standstills. The 2020 underwater survey unveiled uplifted but still drowned sea level indicators. The vertical displacement at the south and southeastern part ranges between +23 ± 5 and +8 ± 5 cm suggesting a gradual fading of the uplift towards the east. The crucial value of tidal notches, as markers of co-seismic events, was validated from the outcome of this study. The co-seismic response of Samos coastal zone to the 30th October earthquake provides a basis for understanding the complex tectonics of this area.

Purpose o explore the application of the parameters of the physiologically based finite time pharmacokinetic (PBFTPK) models subdivided in first-order (PBFTPK)(1) and zero-order (PBFTPK)(0) models to bioavailability and bioequivalence. To develop a methodology for the estimation of absolute bioavailability, F, from oral data exclusively. Methods Simulated concentration time data were generated from the Bateman equation and compared with data generated from the (PBFTPK)(1) and (PBFTPK)(0) models. The blood concentration C-b(tau) at the end of the absorption process tau, was compared to C-max; the utility of AUC(0)(tau) and (AUC)(t)(infinity) in bioequivalence assessment was also explored. Equations for the calculation of F from oral data were derived for the (PBFTPK)(1) and (PBFTPK)(0) models. An estimate for F was also derived from an areas proportionality using oral data exclusively. Results The simulated data of the (PBFTPK)(0) models exhibit rich dynamics encountered in complex drug absorption phenomena. Both (PBFTPK)(1) and (PBFTPK)(0) models result either in C-max = C-b(tau) or C-max > C-b(tau) for rapidly- and not rapidly-absorbed drugs, respectively; in the latter case, C-b(tau) and tau are meaningful parameters for drug's rate of exposure. For both (PBFTPK)(1) and (PBFTPK)(0) models, (AUC)(0)(tau) or portions of it cannot be used as early exposure rate indicators. (AUC)(tau)(infinity) is a useful parameter for the assessment of extent of absorption for very rapidly absorbed drugs. An estimate for F for theophylline formulations was found close to unity. Conclusion The (PBFTPK)(1) and (PBFTPK)(0) models are more akin to in vivo conditions. Estimates for F can be derived from oral data exclusively.

We show that any generalised smooth distribution on a smooth manifold, possibly of non-constant rank, admits a Riemannian metric. Using such a metric, we attach a Laplace operator to any smooth distribution as such. When the underlying manifold is compact, we show that it is essentially self-adjoint. Viewing this Laplacian in the longitudinal pseudodifferential calculus of the smallest singular foliation which includes the distribution, we prove hypoellipticity.

We report the results of eROSITA and NICER observations of the 2020 June outburst of the Be/X-ray binary pulsar RX J0529.8-6556 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, along with the analysis of archival X-ray and optical data from this source. We find two anomalous features in the system's behaviour. First, the pulse profile observed by NICER during maximum luminosity is similar to that observed by XMM-Newton in 2000, despite the fact that the X-ray luminosity was different by two orders of magnitude. In contrast, a modest decrease in luminosity in the 2020 observations generated a significant change in pulse profile. Secondly, we find that the historical optical outbursts are not strictly periodic, as would be expected if the outbursts were triggered by periastron passage, as is generally assumed. The optical peaks are also not coincident with the X-ray outbursts. We suggest that this behaviour may result from a misalignment of the Be star disc and the orbital plane, which might cause changes in the timing of the passage of the neutron star through the disc as it precesses. We conclude that the orbital period of the source remains unclear.

Plasmoids—magnetized quasi-circular structures formed self-consistently in reconnecting current sheets—were previously considered to be the graveyards of energetic particles. In this paper, we demonstrate the important role of plasmoids in shaping the particle energy spectrum in relativistic reconnection (i.e., with upstream magnetization σup ≫ 1). Using 2D particle-in-cell simulations in pair plasmas with σup = 10 and 100, we study a secondary particle energization process that takes place inside compressing plasmoids. We demonstrate that plasmoids grow in time, while their interiors compress, amplifying the internal magnetic field. The magnetic field felt by particles injected in an isolated plasmoid increases linearly with time, which leads to particle energization as a result of magnetic moment conservation. For particles injected with a power-law distribution function, this energization process acts in such a way that the shape of the injected power law is conserved, while producing an additional nonthermal tail f(E) ∝ E-3 at higher energies, followed by an exponential cutoff. The cutoff energy, which increases with time as ${E}_{\mathrm{cut}}\propto \sqrt{t}$ , can greatly exceed σupmec2. We analytically predict the secondary acceleration timescale and the shape of the emerging particle energy spectrum, which can be of major importance in certain astrophysical systems, such as blazar jets.

The purpose of the proposed research is the application of suitable indicators, which measure the state of democracy, to the university field. Initially, an in-depth analysis of the features presented in six international organizations measuring democracy worldwide was performed. This revealed a sizeable set of significant and complementary indicators that constructed a conceptual framework for democratic institutions. Then, a model of the ‘democratic’ university was established with respect to its mission, operations and interactions, comprising a set of democratic characteristics. Interviews with academics from several European countries helped select those primary democracy indicators that can be best associated with the university characteristics. Interviews were analyzed using a Text Network Analysis algorithm, which represents texts as network graphs. Results show that monitoring these associations can reveal discrepancies and flaws that may degrade the university’s democratic operation and, also, helps to resolve conflicting demands when interacting with societal actors and the state. The size and variety of the examined datasets overcomes data bias, and the novelty of our approach lies in the fact that the graphical representations of the texts does not impose external semantic structures, thus avoiding subjectivity. This can have significant implications in assisting the complex policy formation processes within the university.

BACKGROUND: Vaginal agenesis, most commonly referred as Mayer-Rokitansky-Küster-Hauser (MRKH) Syndrome, is mostly diagnosed as primary amenorrhea in teenage girls; although there is plenty of literature concerning the formation of a neovagina, limited research has focused on the psychological burden of this diagnosis to the girls. AIM: To enlighten health providers into the finer aspects of sexuality through the own words and experiences of girls with MRKH under our care. METHODS: Women currently undergoing vaginal dilation or who had completed vaginal dilation within the past year were recruited from February 2019 to January 2020. A gynecologist with training in Sexual Medicine conducted a semistructured interview, which was recorded and then transcribed to identify common themes among interviewees. OUTCOMES: The main outcome explored was the narrative experiences of women with MRKH. RESULTS: 7 women participated, with a mean age of 19.7 (range 17-22 years). None of the girls felt stigmatized, however one reported significant distress at diagnosis, stemming from the attitude of health care professionals and exacerbated by an earlier age at disclosure. All girls accepted that VDT was successful, when it was initiated after they had felt sexual interest and arousal. Exact quantification of the vaginal length at onset, worried 4 as they felt pressurized to achieve a specific length. A few girls reported anxiety over sharing the diagnosis with an intimate partner. All of them pretended at some point to have menses. Childbearing was an important issue for most of the interviewees, but it did not concern them for the time being. All girls had supporting families. However, 5 did not want to share information about VDT with them. One girl reported that openness in discussing genital anatomy, VDT and sexuality, helped her both in completing treatment and adapting in a sexual relationship. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: A multidisciplinary team should aim for age-appropriate disclosure and consultation and guide women through VDT and their sexual relations. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS: This is a thorough account of women's perceptions regarding VDT and sexuality in MRKH. However, our conclusions may be limited by the small number of participants. CONCLUSION: Gradual provision of information at disclosure and adjusted timing at VDT may reduce stress in girls with MRKH. Tsitoura A, Michala L. The Sexuality of Adolescents and Young Women With MRKH Syndrome: A Qualitative Study. J Sex Med 2021;18:2012-2019.

Rates of childhood trauma exposure are extremely high, with approximately 70% of children and adolescents experiencing at least one traumatic event. Among the most common non-specific consequences of stress and trauma are disruptions of sleep. Sleep problems, such as shorter sleep duration, difficulty falling asleep, frequent awakenings, nightmares, sleepless nights, and early-morning wakefulness appear to have a higher prevalence among children and adolescents following traumatic events. This review will illustrate the role of sleep problems in traumatized children and adolescents, and emphasize the need to consider a wide range of etiological mechanisms for these symptoms. However, the relationship of trauma exposure to sleep problems among children and adolescents needs further investigation in future research. Moreover, in view of the adverse consequences of long-term disrupted sleep on mental health outcomes following trauma, the need to effectively address sleep disturbances in traumatized children and adolescents is crucial.

Die Programmschrift Sola Scriptura Ökumenisch ist weltweit der erste Versuch, Ökumene konsequent aus dem gemeinsamen Bezug auf die Bibel als wegweisender Richtschnur für individuellen Glauben und institutionelle Gestaltung von Kirchen im Kontext offener gesellschaftlicher Konflikte der Gegenwart zu denken. Erstmals werden 10 Thesen zum Verständnis und zur Funktion einer Schriftauffassung im Zeichen von Sola Scriptura publiziert, die gemeinsam von einem evangelischen, einem römisch-katholischen und einem orthodoxen Bibelwissenschaftler formuliert wurden. Sie sind sich darin einig, dass allein die Schrift richtig verstanden eine frohe Botschaft für alle bezeugt und nur die gemeinsame, erwartungsvolle wie kritische Hinwendung zur Schrift tragfähige Ökumene ermöglicht. Diese ist die Basis dafür, biblische Einsichten in die Ermöglichungsbedingungen gemeinschaftlichen Lebens in die globalen und lokalen kirchlichen und gesellschaftlichen Konflikte der Gegenwart einzubringen.

Based on the results of a previous terrestrial gravity survey that was carried out in Athens basin (Greece) some indications of correlation between terrestrial gravity data and isoseismal maps of Athens earthquake (7/9/1999) had been revealed. In this paper, we will present a research for the same area based on a new approach, which investigates the possible correlation of the same isoseismal maps with only satellite gravity data from GOCE and GRACE but also with a combined gravity model of updated terrestrial, marine and satellite data. The combined gravity model of Greece was constructed based on the least-squares collocation. The previous correlation of isoseismal maps with the older terrestrial gravity data was quite obvious and clear since the areas with the lower gravity values were simultaneously the ones with the greatest damage distribution. On the other hand, from the satellite gravity data and the combined gravity model we could not identify a clear and obvious correlation, as was expected, due to the smaller resolution spacing of the satellite data.

he testimony of the French diplomat Félix de Beaujour in the late 18th century regarding the Turkish name of the celebrated Incantadas triggered a series of creative interpretations of the phrase sureth maleh. Besides the issue of the meaning of this name, the relation of the city’s Muslim community with the particular antiquities and their stories remains relatively unknown and understudied. Using as starting point the work of the poet Ahmet Meşhûrî (1783-1857), this study attempts a preliminary reading of 19th century Ottoman literary and historiographical sources about Thessaloniki. It aims to map the broader conceptual framework within which the perception and the way the Muslim community related to remnants of the past and to this particular monument can be placed. This corpus of texts is historically situated at the threshold of Ottoman modernity, which, among other factors, is defined by the construction of a primary archaeological conscience by the Ottoman state, but also of the conceptualization of the city’s heritage. The aim of this critical read- ing is to highlight the contradictions and ambiguities of this process.

This article explores aspects of the quotidian history of space in the Greek Revolution of 1821, using as a case study the transitional events of the siege of the Acropolis by the Ottoman army in 1826 and the recapturing of the city of Athens. Through a thorough study of space as embodied knowledge grounded in the dynamic interaction between humans and material culture, it identifies the shifts in the Athenian landscape during this period. Its findings are based on primary textual and visual sources pertaining to warfare, which are juxtaposed to the Greek and Ottoman emerging official perceptions of the significance of the city of Athens as a political and imaginary objective. The article deploys a phenomenological analysis of space that foregrounds the everyday experiential dimensions and is highly relevant in understanding the ideological and political complexities and implications of the shifting spatialities of the revolutionary period.

Η Δημόσια Βιβλιοθήκη για τις Παραστατικές Τέχνες της Νέας Υόρκης διαθέτει σπάνιες αρχειακές συλλογές στον τομέα του Ελληνικού Θεάτρου, οι οποίες αφορούν το αρχαίο θέατρο και την πρόσληψή του, τη δραματουργία της Ελληνικής Διασποράς στις ΗΠΑ, τη θεατρική πρακτική των Ελλήνων μεταναστών και την πορεία των υπερατλαντικών θεατρικών περιοδειών. Πέρα από τα βιβλία, υπάρχει η τεράστια no-book συλλογή, η οποία περιλαμβάνει χειρόγραφα, προγράμματα, παρτιτούρες, σπάνιες ηχογραφήσεις, αποκόμματα, αποδελτιωμένες κριτικές, αφίσες, φωτογραφίες κ.α. Παρουσιάζονται τα σπουδαιότερα τεκμήρια, δίνοντας προτεραιότητα σε εκείνα που δεν είναι ψηφιοποιημένα.

Τα «θεατρικά παιχνίδια» (theatre ή drama games) είναι διαδικασία ή και μέθοδος εκπαίδευσης των ηθοποιών κατά τη διάρκεια της πρόβας, τρόπος φυσικής προθέρμανσης, μέσο ανάπτυξης αυτοσχεδιασμών, προεργασία δημιουργίας σκηνικών δράσεων στην πρωτογενή τους μορφή, αλλά και θεραπεία του άγχους πριν την παράσταση. Στη νεοελληνική θεατρική πρακτική τα «theatre games» συγκέντρωσης, προθέρμανσης, αυτοσχεδιασμού, αφήγησης, ρόλων, δυναμικής ομάδας κ.ά. ενθαρρύνουν τη δημιουργικότητα και αξιοποιούνται από τους Έλληνες σκηνοθέτες ωφελώντας τόσο τους ηθοποιούς όσο και την παράσταση, δηλαδή το κοινό κατ’ επέκταση. Το παρόν ερευνητικό άρθρο μελετά τη λειτουργία των theatre games στο σύγχρονο ελληνικό θέατρο με έμφαση στη διαδικασία της πρόβας. Το υπό εξέταση θέμα υπήρξε terra incognita για τη μελέτη της πρακτικής του ελληνικού θεάτρου. Συλλέχθηκε πρωτογενές υλικό με τη σύμπραξη είκοσι πέντε (25) Ελλήνων σκηνοθετών. Τα theatre games ενεργοποιούν όλους τους «νευροδιαβιβαστές της ευτυχίας» και συμβάλλουν θετικά στη διεξαγωγή της πρόβας, προσφέροντας τα εξής οφέλη: α) χαρά, β) εξάλειψη του άγχους, γ) ενεργοποίηση της φαντασίας, δ) ενδυνάμωση του σώματος, ε) σύνδεση της ομάδας, στ) προσαρμογή, ζ) επίτευξη στόχου, η) ενίσχυση συμμετοχής. Στη δομημένη ρουτίνα της επαγγελματικής πρόβας κανείς από τους ερωτηθέντες σκηνοθέτες δεν απέρριψε τα theatre games ως ανώριμη ή μη παραγωγική διαδικασία. Τα theatre games αλλά και οι σκηνοθέτες καλούνται συχνά να εμψυχώσουν ομάδες εκτός του πλαισίου των παραστατικών τεχνών, και τα applied theatre games λειτουργούν αποτελεσματικά σε επιχειρήσεις ως τρόπος ενδυνάμωσης σχέσεων, βελτίωσης δεξιοτήτων επικοινωνίας, απόκτησης ικανοτήτων επίλυσης προβλημάτων. Επίσης, πολλοί σκηνοθέτες χρησιμοποιούν τα theatre games και στη διδασκαλία της υποκριτικής. Τέλος, αναφέρονται οι επιρροές των σκηνοθετών και οι διαδικασίες επινόησης - μετεξέλιξης νέων theatre games.

Η αιχμάλωτη Ελληνοπούλα ή Η άλωση της Αθήνας, το τρίπρακτο θεατρικό έργο του Αμερικανοεβραίου Μόρντεκαϊ Μανουέλ Νόε, γράφτηκε και παρουσιάστηκε στη Νέα Υόρκη μόλις το 1822. Ο συγγραφέας είχε προλογίσει τη νεοϋορκέζικη έκδοση του 1822: «Εμείς, οι πολίτες μιας ελεύθερης χώρας, δεν μπορούμε να παρακολουθούμε με αδιαφορία τον τρέχοντα αγώνα για ελευθερία στην Ελλάδα. Αν και μας χωρίζουν θάλασσες και ωκεανοί, είμαστε πολύ εξοικειωμένοι με το ιστορικό παρελθόν αυτής της χώρας, με εκείνα τα λαμπρά γεγονότα τα οποία σημάδεψαν τις σελίδες της ιστορίας της. Κατά συνέπεια, αισθανόμαστε βαθύ ενδιαφέρον για την επιτυχία αυτού του λαού και για την υπόθεση της ελευθερίας γενικότερα». Διακόσια χρόνια μετά τη συγγραφή και παγκόσμια θεατρική πρώτη, το έργο μεταφράζεται από την Κατερίνα Διακουμοπούλου (Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Θεατρικών Σπουδών, ΕΚΠΑ) και παρουσιάζεται στο ελληνικό κοινό συνοδευόμενο από την εισαγωγή της. Την έκδοση συμπληρώνουν το προλογικό σημείωμα της Μαρίας Γεωργοπούλου (Διευθύντριας της Γενναδείου Βιβλιοθήκης) και το επίμετρο της Ευγενίας (Τζένης) Αρσένη (Σκηνοθέτιδας-Θεατρολόγου).

Το άρθρο παρουσιάζει μέρος των πορισμάτων της ολοκληρωμένης έρευνας όπου εκπονήθηκε στο Τμήμα Θεατρικών Σπουδών του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών έπειτα από τη λήψη της υποτροφίας του Ι.Κ.Υ. για Μεταδιδακτορική Έρευνα στην Ελλάδα για το έτος 2009-2010. Παρουσιάζει την καλλιτεχνική πορεία ορισμένων Ελλήνων μεταναστών επαγγελματιών ηθοποιών οι οποίοι έδρασαν από το 1900 έως το 1922 σε εστίες του Ελληνισμού της Διασποράς. Το θέατρο αποτέλεσε ίσως τη σημαντικότερη καλλιτεχνική και κοινωνική έκφανση των εθνικών πνευματικών κέντρων όσο και των μεταναστευτικών κοινοτήτων του Ελληνισμού. Κάθε ελληνική κοινότητα του εξωτερικού διαμόρφωσε έναν «αυτόνομο» θεατρικό χαρακτήρα, αφού οι διαφορετικές κοινωνικές, πολιτικές και γεωγραφικές συνθήκες διαφοροποίησαν από τόπο σε τόπο τη γηγενή δραματουργία, το είδος των θιάσων καθώς και το ρεπερτόριο. Είναι παρακινδυνευμένο λοιπόν, να εξετάζεται το θέατρο της Διασποράς ως ένα ενιαίο θεατρικό είδος που εκτείνεται από τις ιστορικές παροικίες της Ανατολής έως τις μεταναστευτικές κοινότητες της Δύσης.

In this paper we investigate a specific case of face verification: Given some confirmed photos and video frames of Leonidas Arniotis, a Greek artist of late 1800’ and early 1900’s, we have examined two photos, of very low resolution, of an unknown person that could be Leonidas Arniotis. The widespread of deep learning and the availability of ResNet50 model, which was trained on VGGFace2 dataset, allowed us to apply transfer learning for face verification purposes. At the same time an alternative technique which is based on facial points matching was applied. The main aim of the paper is to show that despite the progress made in the fields of face recognition and face verification, actual systems that can be used by non-experts for examining real world cases, like the one we deal in the current paper, remain impractical. In the framework of the current work, we also examine and discuss, in a critical way, the effectiveness of transfer learning for real face verification cases through specific examples.

Hole transfer along the axis of duplex DNA has been the focus of physical chemistry research for decades, with implications in diversefields, from nanotechnology to cell oxidative damage. Computational approaches are particularly amenable for this problem,to complement experimental data for interpretation of transfer mechanisms. To be predictive, computational results need to account for the inherent mobility of biological molecules during the time frame of experimental measurements. Here, we address the structural variability of B-DNA and its effects on hole transfer in a combined molecular dynamics (MD) and real-time time-dependent density functional theory (RT-TDDFT) study. Our results show that quantities that characterize the charge transfer process, such as the time-dependent dipole moment and hole population at a specific site, are sensitive to structural changes that occur on the nanosecond time scale. We extend the range of physical properties for which such a correlation has been observed, further establishing the fact that quantitative computational data on charge transfer properties should include statistical averages.Furthermore, we use the RT-TDDFT results to assess an efficient tight-binding method suitable for high-throughput predictions. We demonstrate that charge transfer, although affected by structural variability, on average, remains strong in AA and GG dimers.

George Gissing's novel Sleeping Fires (1895) presents a late nineteenth-century Athens that is divided between its ancient and modern identities. As a reflection on the significance of Hellenism in Victorian culture, the novel narrates the random encounter between Edmund Langley, a self-exile with a classical education, and Louis Reed, a passionate and radical young man, who is revealed to be Langley's lost and unknown son. In the context of Gissing's diaries and letters recording his visit to Athens, Sleeping Fires portrays the city as an ambivalent space, both inspirational and deceptive. Gissing's juxtaposition of the ancient monuments' beauty with the bleakness of their modern surroundings emphasizes the distance between antiquity and modernity as well as Victorians' misinterpretations of Greece, revealing the period's conflicting discourses about Hellenism.

An optical analogue of magic-angle twisted graphene bilayer gives rise to rigorously stopped light, which coupled with gain allows for a new type of a nanolaser with remarkable figures of merit.

This volume acknowledges the centrality of comic invective in a range of oratorical institutions (especially forensic and symbouleutic), and aspires to enhance the knowledge and understanding of how this technique is used in such con-texts of both Greek and Roman oratory. Despite the important scholarly work that has been done in discussing the patterns of using invective in Greek and Roman texts and contexts, there are still notable gaps in our knowledge of the issue. The introduction to, and the twelve chapters of, this volume address some understudied multi-genre and interdisciplinary topics: first, the ways in which comic invective in oratory draws on, or has implications for, comedy and other genres, or how these literary genres are influenced by oratorical theory and practice, and by contemporary socio-political circumstances, in articulating comic invective and targeting prominent individuals; second, how comic invective sustains relationships and promotes persuasion through unity and division; third, how it connects with sexuality, the human body and male/female physiology; fourth, what impact generic dichotomies, as, for example, public-private and defence-prosecution, may have upon using comic invective; and fifth, what the limitations in its use are, depending on the codes of honour and decency in ancient Greece and Rome.

In the light of recent scholarly work on tragic patterns and allusions inFlavian epic, the publication of a volume exclusively dedicated to therelationship between Flavian epic and tragedy is timely. The volume,concentrating on the poetic works of Silius Italicus, Statius and ValeriusFlaccus, consists of eight original contributions, two by the editorsthemselves and a further six by experts on Flavian epic. The volume ispreceded by an introduction by the editors and it concludes with an‘Afterword’ by Carole E. Newlands.Among key themes analysed are narrative patterns, strategies or type-scenesthat appear to derive from tragedy, the Aristotelian notions of hamartia andanagnorisis, human and divine causation, the ‘transfer’ of individualcharacters from tragedy to epic, as well as instances of tragic language andimagery.The volume at hand showcases an array of methodological approaches to thequestion of the presence of tragic elements in epic. Hence, it will be ofinterest to scholars and students in the area of Classics or Literary Studiesfocusing on such intergeneric and intertextual connections; it will be also ofinterest to scholars working on Flavian epic or on the ancient reception ofGreek and Roman tragedy.

Naturally occurring point mutations in apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I), the major protein component of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), may affect plasma HDL-cholesterol levels and cardiovascular risk. Here, we evaluated the effect of human apoA-I mutations L144R (associated with low HDL-cholesterol), L178P (associated with low HDL-cholesterol and increased cardiovascular risk) and A164S (associated with increased cardiovascular risk and mortality without low HDL-cholesterol) on the structural integrity and functions of lipid-free and lipoprotein-associated apoA-I in an effort to explain the phenotypes of subjects carrying these mutations. All three mutants, in lipid-free form, presented structural and thermodynamic aberrations, with apoA-I[L178P] presenting the greatest thermodynamic destabilization. Additionally, apoA-I[L178P] displayed reduced ABCA1-mediated cholesterol efflux capacity. When in reconstituted HDL (rHDL), apoA-I[L144R] and apoA-I[L178P] were more thermodynamically destabilized compared to wild-type apoA-I, both displayed reduced SR-BI-mediated cholesterol efflux capacity and apoA-I[L144R] showed severe LCAT activation defect. ApoA-I[A164S] was thermodynamically unaffected when in rHDL, but exhibited a series of functional defects. Specifically, it had reduced ABCG1-mediated cholesterol and 7-ketocholesterol efflux capacity, failed to reduce ROS formation in endothelial cells and had reduced capacity to induce endothelial cell migration. Mechanistically, the latter was due to decreased capacity of rHDL-apoA-I[A164S] to activate Akt kinase possibly by interacting with endothelial LOX-1 receptor. The impaired capacity of rHDL-apoA-I[A164S] to preserve endothelial function may be related to the increased cardiovascular risk for this mutation. Overall, our structure-function analysis of L144R, A164S and L178P apoA-I mutants provides insights on how HDL-cholesterol levels and/or atheroprotective properties of apoA-I/HDL are impaired in carriers of these mutations.

Mitochondrial dysfunction and mitophagy are often hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases such as autosomal dominant optic atrophy (ADOA) caused by mutations in the key mitochondrial dynamics protein optic atrophy 1 (Opa1). However, the second messengers linking mitochondrial dysfunction to initiation of mitophagy remain poorly characterized. Here, we show in mammalian and nematode neurons that Opa1 mutations trigger Ca(2+)-dependent mitophagy. Deletion or expression of mutated Opa1 in mouse retinal ganglion cells and Caenorhabditis elegans motor neurons lead to mitochondrial dysfunction, increased cytosolic Ca(2+) levels, and decreased axonal mitochondrial density. Chelation of Ca(2+) restores mitochondrial density in neuronal processes, neuronal function, and viability. Mechanistically, sustained Ca(2+) levels activate calcineurin and AMPK, placed in the same genetic pathway regulating axonal mitochondrial density. Our data reveal that mitophagy in ADOA depends on Ca(2+)-calcineurin-AMPK signaling cascade.

This chapter first summarizes the fundamentals of classical electrodynamics in continuous media, placing emphasis on the optical response of gyrotropic materials. It, subsequently, develops in a concise but rigorous manner the scattering- and transfer-matrix methods for general stratified photonic media, based on a versatile six-vector formulation of Maxwell equations. Applications are reported for periodic and defect one-dimensional (1D) magnetophotonic structures in different configurations. A consistent interpretation of some remarkable phenomena, such as occurrence of photonic gaps and localized defect modes, enhanced magnetooptical effects, non-reciprocal optical response, etc., is provided through a thorough analysis of relevant dispersion diagrams in conjunction with transmission/reflection spectra. Finally, the concept of a dual optomagnonic cavity, formed in judiciously designed stratified magnetophotonic structures, for strong photon–magnon interaction is introduced. Methods for its theoretical description, namely the Green’s function-based perturbation expansion, the quasi-static adiabatic approximation, and a fully dynamic time-Floquet approach, are developed, and their accuracy and limits of validity are assessed. Proof-of-concept demonstrations are presented for enhanced interaction of light, trapped in optical defect modes, with perpendicular standing spin waves, in a dielectric magnetic film sandwiched between two dielectric Bragg mirrors.

BACKGROUND: A significant proportion of FTD (Frontotemporal Degeneration) cases can be attributed to mutations in major genes such as GRN, MAPT and C9orf72. Our previous report on a Greek FTD cohort revealed the presence of the single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) p.I383V (rs80356740) in the TARDBP gene in three unrelated patients. Our objective was to develop a novel, fast and accurate method for the detection of this particular SNP and evaluate the assay in a larger cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS: A real-time qPCR-melting curve analysis method was developed, validated and tested in 142 FTD patients and 111 healthy control subjects. The SNP was detected in another two patients raising its yield in FTD patients to 3.5% (5 out of 142 patients) while one in 111 healthy controls was found to be a carrier. However, its frequency in the general population has been reported extremely low in international SNP databases (0.002%). CONCLUSION: This fact along with the indicated pathogenicity of this SNP in some bioinformatics tools, suggest that TARDBP p.I383V is recurrent and likely pathogenic for the Greek FTD population. Our high-throughput method could be used for genotyping in other larger patient cohorts and in other populations. Additionally, functional in vitro studies are required for the final adjudication of this TARDBP alteration as a pathogenic alteration

This study explores teacher educators’ (TEs’) activity as they support mathematics and science teacher collaboration in co-designing and jointly implementing tasks. We view TEs’ activity through the lens of Activity Theory and expansive learning and draw evidence from data generated within the mascil project that linked mathematics and science teaching with workplace situations through inquiry-based teaching. We focus on five TEs’ actions and goals, use data from their professional development sessions with teachers and from the TEs’ interactions during their own meetings, and highlight the illuminating case of one teacher educator. We trace evidence indicating paths of actions followed by each Teacher Educator and look for indications of their professional learning. Our analysis reveals generic and content-focused actions. All TEs faced different kinds of contradictions and had difficulties handling them. In terms of professional learning, all TEs adapted their prior teacher education practices and appreciated the critical role of epistemological differences between the two disciplines.

The purpose of this article is to present the results of an environmental education program on “Storm-Tossed Sea Rocks in Pelion Seaside” designed for junior high school students and implemented as a synchronous online educational approach and with a main goal to empower students to the values of geoheritage. In order to examine the effectiveness of the program and in particular the achievement of the objectives that encourage the development of values, the research question was identified as to whether the implementation of the environmental program achieved the empowerment of students in geoheritage values. In order to answer this question, we implemented a rather unusual technique to evaluate the educational procedure, which was based on the qualitative research technique of thematic analysis. This technique was selected as the most appropriate in order to “mine” conceptual patterns, the analysis of which would, in a valid, reliable, and simultaneously easy to use and quick way, inform the teachers that the values of geoheritage were disseminated to the students through the program. Thus, four-question interviews were conducted with randomly selected students who participated in the program. The data were examined and conceptual patterns were identified which were classified in eighteen codes. The codes were divided into five categories, the analysis of which led to the answer to the research question. Thus, it was found that the implementation of the environmental program achieved the empowerment of students in geocultural heritage values. The development of feelings of environmental sensitivity has also been seen, which suggests further investigation is needed. It was concluded that for the students, the given educational approach was necessary as well as cognitively, pedagogically, and emotionally beneficial; therefore, the need to enrich the curricula of environmental education/education for sustainable development with issues of geodiversity and geocultural heritage is justified. Finally, what was ascertained is that the thematic-analysis-based evaluation technique of the educational procedure, which was implemented, provided the teachers with the requested information, and it is recommended as an evaluation technique of educational procedures which aim at empowering students on values—even for daily use in school.

We present the first analysis of Cepheid stars observed by the TESS space mission in Sectors 1-5. Our sample consists of 25 pulsators: ten fundamental mode, three overtone and two double-mode classical Cepheids, plus three type II and seven anomalous Cepheids. The targets were chosen from fields with different stellar densities, both from the Galactic field and from the Magellanic System. Three targets have 2 minutes cadence light curves available by the TESS Science Processing Operations Center: for the rest, we prepared custom light curves from the full-frame images with our own differential photometric FITSH pipeline. Our main goal was to explore the potential and the limitations of TESS concerning the various subtypes of Cepheids. We detected many low-amplitude features: weak modulation, period jitter, and timing variations due to light-time effect. We also report signs of nonradial modes and the first discovery of such a mode in an anomalous Cepheid, the overtone star XZ Cet, which we then confirmed with ground-based multicolor photometric measurements. We prepared a custom photometric solution to minimize saturation effects in the bright fundamental-mode classical Cepheid, β Dor with the lightkurve software, and we revealed strong evidence of cycle-to-cycle variations in the star. In several cases, however, fluctuations in the pulsation could not be distinguished from instrumental effects, such as contamination from nearby sources, which also varies between sectors. Finally, we discuss how precise light-curve shapes will be crucial not only for classification purposes but also to determine physical properties of these stars.

"That the physical virtues are also tools of the mental": The phenotypic distinction of physical and mental virtues in the context of Orthodox spirituality", in the Honorary Volume of the Theological School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens for the thirty-year ministry of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomaiou A´, Alter Ego SME SA, Athens 2021, p. 363-372

We report that the fundamental three-dimensional (3-D) scattering single-channel limit can be exceeded in magneto-optical assisted systems by inducing non-degenerate magnetoplasmonic modes. In addition, we propose a 3-D active (magnetically assisted) forward-superscattering to invisibility switch, functioning at the same operational wavelength. Our structure is composed of a high-index dielectric core coated by indium antimonide (InSb), a semiconductor whose permittivity tensorial elements may be actively manipulated by an external magnetic bias B0. In the absence of B0, InSb exhibits isotropic epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) and plasmonic behavior above and below its plasma frequency, respectively, a frequency band which can be utilized for attaining invisibility using cloaks with permittivity less than that of free space. With realistic B0 magnitudes as high as 0.17 T, the gyroelectric properties of InSb enable the lift of mode degeneracy, and the induction of Zeeman-split type magnetoplasmonic modes that beat the fundamental single-channel limit. Moreover, we show that chains of such particles, where each one operates in its superscattering regime, enable giant off-to-on enhancement in scattering efficiency, as well as unprecedentedly high forward scattering. These all-in-one designs allow for the implementation of functional and readily tunable optical devices.

We present the Hubble Catalog of Variables, the first, homogeneous catalog of variable sources created from the highly diverse, archival HST data. It is currently the deepest catalog of variables available and includes variable stars in our Galaxy and nearby galaxies, as well as transients and variable active galactic nuclei. The catalog is a valuable resource for time domain science. Possible uses include searches for new variable objects of a particular type for population analysis, detection of unique objects worthy of follow-up studies, identification of sources observed at other wavelengths, and photometric characterization of candidate progenitors of supernovae and other transients in nearby galaxies. Examples of such cases will be presented. The Hubble Catalog of Variables (HCV) is based on version 3 of the Hubble Source Catalog (HSC), which relies on publicly available images obtained with the WFPC2, ACS, and WFC3 instruments onboard the HST. It includes 84,428 candidate variable sources (out of 3.7 million HSC sources that were searched for variability) with V <= 27 mag; for 11,115 of them the variability is detected in more than one filter. The data points in the light curves of the variables in the HCV catalog range from five to 120 points (typically having less than ten points); the time baseline ranges from under a day to over 15 years; while ∼8% of all variables have amplitudes in excess of 1 mag. Visual inspection performed on a subset of the candidate variables suggests that at least 80% of the candidate variables that passed our automated quality control are true variable sources rather than spurious detections resulting from blending, residual cosmic rays, and calibration errors. The catalog is available to the community from the ESA Hubble Science Archive (eHST) at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) and the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST) at Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI).

The Black–Litterman model is a very important analytical tool for active portfolio management because it allows investment analysts to incorporate investor’s views into market equilibrium returns. In this paper, we define and study the time-varying Black–Litterman portfolio optimization under nonlinear constraints (TV-BLPONC) problem as a nonlinear programming (NLP) problem. More precisely, the nonlinear constraints refer to transaction costs and cardinality constraints. Furthermore, a speedy weights-and-structure-determination (WASD) algorithm for the power-activation feed-forward neuronet (PFN) is presented to solve time-series modeling and forecasting problems. Inhere, the investor’s views in the TV-BLPONC problem are considered as a forecasting problem and, thus, they are produced by the WASD-based PFN. In addition, using the beetle antennae search (BAS) algorithm a computational method is introduced to solve the TV-BLPONC problem. For all we know, this is an innovative approach that integrates modern neural network and meta-heuristic optimization methods to provide a solution to the TV-BLPONC problem in large portfolios. Our approach is tested on portfolios of up to 90 stocks with real-world data, and the results show that it is more than 30 times faster than other methods. Our technique’s speed and precision are verified in this way, showing that it is an outstanding alternative to ordinary methods. In order to support and promote the findings of this work, we have constructed two complete MATLAB packages for the interested user, which are freely available through GitHub.

The Markowitz mean-variance portfolio selection is widely acclaimed as a very important investment strategy. A popular option to solve the static mean-variance portfolio selection (MVPS) problem is based on the use of quadratic programming (QP) methods. On the other hand, the static portfolio selection under transaction costs (PSTC) problem is usually approached with nonlinear programming (NLP) methods. In this article, we define and study the time-varying mean-variance portfolio selection under transaction costs and cardinality constraint (TV-MVPSTC-CC) problem as a time-varying nonlinear programming (TVNLP) problem. The TV-MVPSTC-CC also comprises the properties of a moving average. These properties make the TV-MVPSTC-CC an even greater analysis tool suitable to evaluate investments and identify trading opportunities across a continuous-time period. Using the Beetle Antennae Search (BAS) algorithm, we also provide an online solution to the static NLP problem. To the best of our knowledge, this is an innovative approach that incorporates modern meta-heuristic optimization techniques to provide an online, thus more realistic, solution to the TV-MVPSTC-CC problem. In this way, we present an online solution to a time-varying financial problem while eliminating the restrictions of static methods. Our approach is also verified by numerical experiments and computer simulations as an excellent alternative to traditional approaches.

Topologically protected transport has recently emerged as an effective means to address a recurring problem hampering the field of slow light for the past two decades: its keen sensitivity to disorders and structural imperfections. With it, there has been renewed interest in efforts to overcome the delay-time-bandwidth limitation usually characterizing slow-light devices, on occasion thought to be a fundamental limit. What exactly is this limit, and what does it imply? Can it be overcome? If yes, how could topological slow light help, and in what systems? What applications might be expected by overcoming the limit? Our Perspective here attempts addressing these and other related questions while pointing to important new functionalities both for classical and quantum devices that overcoming the limit can enable.