The Inevitability of Corruption in Greek Football

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Soccer & Society on 14th March 2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14660970.2017.1302936.From the late 1990s corrupt practices in Greek football have been considered to pose a serious threat to the integrity of the sport, with a number of schemes and measures being introduced as a response. The aim of this article is to show why corruption in Greek football is inevitable by offering a detailed account of three football-related corrupt practices and highlighting their contextual parameters, as well as juxtaposing them against the set of measures that have been implemented. By placing corruption in football in the wider landscape of the country and of global football, and examining the political, structural and economic factors that contribute to the overall managerial and financial implications of corruption, we present the reader with the new norm which, in reality, makes corruption the ‘only game in town’

‘The only game in town?’: football match-fixing in Greece

Football match-fixing in Greece has a relatively long history, however, from the late 1990s it has been considered as a serious problem for the sport in the country. Despite the history of the phenomenon in the country, Greece has only relatively recently been identified as one of the hotspots for football match-fixing on an international level. Following the recent scandal exposure of fixed matches in Greece in 2011, also known as Koriopolis (a pun name on the Italian scandal Calciopolis and the Greek word ‘korios’ or phone-tap), detailed information about numerous matches played in the 2008/09, 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons that attracted UEFA’s attention were brought into the public eye. Soon after, legal action was taken against individuals involved in the process, with a number of club officials facing lifelong bans from any footballrelated activity, and football clubs either relegated or excluded from European competitions and the Super League itself for their involvement in the scandal. In May 2013, the number of people facing charges exceeded 200, with some of them having already been imprisoned for their involvement in the scandal. Following the aforementioned scandal exposure, a vast amount of information regarding football match-fixing was made available to the public. The aim of the current article is to provide an account of the social organisation of football match-fixing in Greece. Our account is based on three main sources of data: the telephone conversations that were the result of wiretapping by the National Intelligence Agency in relation to the latest football match-fixing scandal (of 2011), published media sources, and interviews with informed actors from the realm of Greek football

Direct Observation of Quantum Coherence in Single-Molecule Magnets

Direct evidence of quantum coherence in a single-molecule magnet in frozen solution is reported with coherence times as long as T2 = 630 ns. We can strongly increase the coherence time by modifying the matrix in which the single-molecule magnets are embedded. The electron spins are coupled to the proton nuclear spins of both the molecule itself and interestingly, also to those of the solvent. The clear observation of Rabi oscillations indicates that we can manipulate the spin coherently, an essential prerequisite for performing quantum computations.Comment: 5 Pages, 4 Figures, final version published in PR

Unpicking match-fixing; a two-country analysis

Unpicking match-fixing; a two-country analysi

Nitrate affects transcriptional regulation of UPBEAT1 and ROS localisation in roots of Zea mays L.

Nitrogen is an indispensable nutrient for crops but its availability in agricultural soils is subject to considerable fluctuation. Plants have developed plastic responses to external N fluctuations in order to optimise their development. The coordinated action of nitric oxide and auxin seems to allow the cells of the transition zone (TZ) of the root apex of N-deprived maize to rapidly sense nitrate. Preliminary results support the hypothesis that reactive oxygen species (ROS) signalling might also have a role in this pathway, probably through a putative maize orthologue of UPBEAT1 (UPB1). To expand on this hypothesis and better understand the different roles played by different root portions, we investigated the dynamics of ROS production, and the molecular and biochemical regulation of the main components of ROS production and scavenging in tissues of the Meristem, Transition Zone, Elongation Zone and Maturation Zone of maize roots. The results suggest that the inverse regulation of ZmUPB1 and ZmPRX112 transcription observed in cells of the TZ in response to nitrogen depletion or nitrate supply affects the balance between H2O2 and O2 12 in the root apex and consequently triggers differential root growth. This explanation is supported by additional results on the overall metabolic and transcriptional regulation of ROS homeostasis

Assessment of gold bio-functionalization for wide-interface biosensing platforms

The continuous improvement of the technical potential of bioelectronic devices for biosensing applications will provide clinicians with a reliable tool for biomarker quantification down to the single molecule. Eventually, physicians will be able to identify the very moment at which the illness state begins, with a terrific impact on the quality of life along with a reduction of health care expenses. However, in clinical practice, to gather enough information to formulate a diagnosis, multiple biomarkers are normally quantified from the same biological sample simultaneously. Therefore, it is critically important to translate lab-based bioelectronic devices based on electrolyte gated thin-film transistor technology into a cost-effective portable multiplexing array prototype. In this perspective, the assessment of cost-effective manufacturability represents a crucial step, with specific regard to the optimization of the bio-functionalization protocol of the transistor gate module. Hence, we have assessed, using surface plasmon resonance technique, a sustainable and reliable cost-effective process to successfully bio-functionalize a gold surface, suitable as gate electrode for wide-field bioelectronic sensors. The bio-functionalization process herein investigated allows to reduce the biorecognition element concentration to one-tenth, drastically impacting the manufacturing costs while retaining high analytical performance

The Control Of Zealactone Biosynthesis And Exudation Is Involved In The Response To Nitrogen In Maize Root.

Nitrate acts as a signal in regulating plant development in response to environment. In particular nitric oxide (NO), auxin and strigolactones (SLs) were supposed to cooperate to regulate the maize root response to this anion. In this study, a combined approach based on LC-MS/MS and on physiological and molecular analyses was adopted to specify the involvement of SLs in the maize response to N. Our results showed that N deficiency strongly induces SL exudation, likely through stimulating their biosynthesis. Nitrate provision early counteracts and also ammonium lowers SL exudation, but less markedly. Exudates obtained from N-starved and ammonium-provided seedlings stimulated Phelipanche germination, whereas when seeds were treated with exudates harvested from nitrate-provided plants no germination was observed. Furthermore, our findings support the idea that the inhibition of SL production observed in response to nitrate and ammonium would contribute to the regulation of lateral root development. Moreover, the transcriptional regulation of a gene encoding a putative maize WBC transporter, in response to various nitrogen supplies, together with its mRNA tissue localization, supported its role in SL allocation. Our results highlight the dual role of SLs as molecules able to signal outwards a nutritional need and as endogenous regulators of root architecture adjustments to N, thus synchronizing plant growth with nitrogen acquisitio