A second-order slip model for arbitrary accomodation at the wall

This paper was presented at the 3rd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2011), which was held at the Makedonia Palace Hotel, Thessaloniki in Greece. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Thessaly, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute.We present a kinetic-theory derivation of second-order slip boundary conditions for a plane isothermal pressure driven gas owing through a microchannel. In the proposed approach, the distribution function is expanded in terms of orthogonal polynomials and the system of moment equations in the expansion coefficients is analytically solved. The velocity slip coefficients, as well as their Knudsen layer corrections, are obtained by evaluating the solution in the near continuum limit. In comparison with other methods, the present approach is accurate and easy to implement. The results are presented for the Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook-Welander (BGKW) kinetic model equation and Maxwell's boundary conditions, but can be extended to more general collision integral and different scattering kernels.Fondazione Cariplo within the framework of the project Surface interactions in micro/nano device

Exploiting timescale separation in micro and nano flows

This paper was presented at the 3rd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2011), which was held at the Makedonia Palace Hotel, Thessaloniki in Greece. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Thessaly, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute.In this paper we describe how timescale separation in micro/nano flows can be exploited for computational acceleration. A modified version of the seamless heterogenous multiscale method (SHMM) is proposed: a multi-step SHMM. This maintains the main advantages of SHMM (e.g., re-initialisation of micro data is not required; temporal gearing (computational speed-up) is easily controlled; and it is applicable to full and intermediate degrees of timescale separation) while improving on accuracy and greatly reducing the number of macroscopic computations and micro/macro coupling instances required. The improved accuracy of the multi-step SHMM is demonstrated for two canonical one-dimensional transient flows (oscillatory Poiseuille and oscillatory Couette flow) and for rarefied-gas oscillatory Poiseuille flow.This research is financially supported by the EPSRC Programme Grant EP/I011927/1

Exploiting timescale separation in micro and nano flows

In this paper we describe how timescale separation in micro/nano flows can be exploited for computational acceleration. A modified version of the seamless heterogenous multiscale method (SHMM) is proposed: a multi-step SHMM. This maintains the main advantages of SHMM (e.g., re-initialisation of micro data is not required; temporal gearing (computational speed-up) is easily controlled; and it is applicable to full and intermediate degrees of timescale separation) while improving on accuracy and greatly reducing the number of macroscopic computations and micro/macro coupling instances required. The improved accuracy of the multi-step SHMM is demonstrated for two canonical one-dimensional transient flows (oscillatory Poiseuille and oscillatory Couette flow) and for rarefied-gas oscillatory Poiseuille flow

MORMED: towards a multilingual social networking platform facilitating medicine 2.0

The broad adoption of Web 2.0 tools has signalled a new era of "Medicine 2.0" in the field of medical informatics. The support for collaboration within online communities and the sharing of information in social networks offers the opportunity for new communication channels among patients, medical experts, and researchers. This paper introduces MORMED, a novel multilingual social networking and content management platform that exemplifies the Medicine 2.0 paradigm, and aims to achieve knowledge commonality by promoting sociality, while also transcending language barriers through automated translation. The MORMED platform will be piloted in a community interested in the treatment of rare diseases (Lupus or Antiphospholipid Syndrome)

A Conversation with George G. Roussas

George G. Roussas was born in the city of Marmara in central Greece, on June 29, 1933. He received a B.A. with high honors in Mathematics from the University of Athens in 1956, and a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1964. In 1964--1966, he served as Assistant Professor of Mathematics at the California State University, San Jose, and he was a faculty member of the Department of Statistics at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1966--1976, starting as an Assistant Professor in 1966, becoming a Professor in 1972. He was a Professor of Applied Mathematics and Director of the Laboratory of Applied Mathematics at the University of Patras, Greece, in 1972--1984. He was elected Dean of the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at the University of Patras in 1978, and Chancellor of the university in 1981. He served for about three years as Vice President-Academic Affairs of the then new University of Crete, Greece, in 1981--1985. In 1984, he was a Visiting Professor in the Intercollege Division of Statistics at the University of California, Davis, and he was appointed Professor, Associate Dean and Chair of the Graduate Group in Statistics in the same university in 1985; he served in the two administrative capacities in 1985--1999. He is an elected member of the International Statistical Institute since 1974, a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society since 1975, a Fellow of the Institute of Mathematical Statistics since 1983, and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association since 1986. He served as a member of the Council of the Hellenic Mathematical Society, and as President of the Balkan Union of Mathematicians.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/09-STS299A the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

The determinants of Greek household indebtedness and financial stress

The paper uses data from the household survey conducted by the Bank of Greece in 2007 and investigates how various socioeconomic characteristics of households, such as income and wealth, household size, the age, education level and tenure of employment of the household head, are related with the probability of having a loan, the distribution of the financial stress as is measured by the debt service cost to income ratio, and also with the proper or not servicing of their loans. Most of the characteristics examined were found to be associated with the household’s probability of having a loan. Financial stress tends to decline as household income and net wealth increase, while certain household characteristics were also found to affect households’ capacity to service properly their debt obligations.household indebtedness; debt service

New solar axion search in CAST with 4^4He filling

The CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST) searches for $a\to\gamma$ conversion in the 9 T magnetic field of a refurbished LHC test magnet that can be directed toward the Sun. Two parallel magnet bores can be filled with helium of adjustable pressure to match the X-ray refractive mass $m_\gamma$ to the axion search mass $m_a$. After the vacuum phase (2003--2004), which is optimal for $m_a\lesssim0.02$ eV, we used $^4$He in 2005--2007 to cover the mass range of 0.02--0.39 eV and $^3$He in 2009--2011 to scan from 0.39--1.17 eV. After improving the detectors and shielding, we returned to $^4$He in 2012 to investigate a narrow $m_a$ range around 0.2 eV ("candidate setting" of our earlier search) and 0.39--0.42 eV, the upper axion mass range reachable with $^4$He, to "cross the axion line" for the KSVZ model. We have improved the limit on the axion-photon coupling to $g_{a\gamma}< 1.47\times10^{-10} {\rm GeV}^{-1}$ (95% C.L.), depending on the pressure settings. Since 2013, we have returned to vacuum and aim for a significant increase in sensitivity.Comment: CAST Collaboration 6 pages 3 figure

The Creation of Historical Cultural Heritage in Greece During The Ottoman Period

[No Abstract Available

Building the Nation at the Crossroads of ‘East’ and ‘West’: Ernest Hébrard and Henri Prost in the Near East

The transition of the Ottoman Empire into nation-states was manifested through significant state-led changes in the fabric of its urban centres, especially in cities that had a multi-cultural character and lay in debated territories. Their urban transformation was the result of practical reasons such as need for post-war reconstruction, as well as ideological factors that stemmed from a commitment to modernization and a desire to enhance and underline their national identity. Many European architects were invited to participate in the re-design of such cities. This paper explores the cases of Thessaloniki and Izmir, which after ten years of conflict found themselves on the opposite sides of the Greco-Turkish border and were destroyed by fire in 1917 and 1922 respectively. Ernest Hébrard in the first case and Henri Prost in the second, belonging to the same network of architects and coming from the same educational background, were the main architects who left their imprint on the new plans of these two cities. This paper examines the background of their involvement and their role in the design of the two cities and aims to highlight the complexity of this cultural exchange, in which the ‘local’ and the ‘West’ cannot be reduced to single definitions, and whose negotiated product became the new urban space of each city