INVESTIGATION OF THE QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE STATUS OF COASTAL AQUIFER IN KALLIKRATIA-FLOGITA, CHALKIDIKI, GREECE

Σκοπός της παρούσας εργασίας αποτελεί η διερεύνηση της ποσοτικής και ποιοτικής κατάστασης του παράκτιου υδροφορέα στην περιοχή Καλλικράτειας–Φλογητών. Για την υλοποίηση της, αξιοποιήθηκαν υδροχημικά και κλιματικά δεδομένα, καθώς και μετρήσεις στάθμης του υπόγειου νερού. Η συνεχής πτώση της στάθμης του υπόγειου νερού, με ρυθμό 0,76 m/έτος, στην περιοχή έρευνας έχει συντελέσει στην υφαλμύριση αφενός εξαιτίας της διείσδυσης του θαλασσινού νερού, αφετέρου στην ανάμειξη γεωθερμικών ρευστών με τους ψυχρότερους επιφανειακούς υδροφορείς. Επιπλέον πίεση μπορεί να θεωρηθεί η νιτρορύπανση του υπόγειου νερού λόγω της εντατικής χρήσης λιπασμάτων. Συμπερασματικά, διαπιστώνεται πως η κακή διαχείριση του υπόγειου νερού αποτελεί τη σημαντικότερη αιτία για την ποσοτική μείωση και ποιοτική υποβάθμιση του υπόγειου νερού έναντι των αναφερόμενων κλιματικών μεταβολών/αλλαγών. Η ποσοτικοποίηση της συνεισφοράς των δύο κυρίαρχων αιτιών της υποβάθμισης του υπόγειου νερού χρήζει περαιτέρω έρευνας. The aim of this study was the determination of quantitative and qualitative status of the coastal aquifer in Kallikratia-Flogita area (Chalkidiki, North Greece). Hence, the hydrochemical data, water level measurements and climatic data were elaborated and evaluated. Groundwater decline occur with a mean rate up to 0.76 m/year which has led to salinization of the aquifer due to seawater intrusion and mixing of geothermal fluids with the upper fresh aquifers. Nitrate pollution is a further stressor that is attributed to fertilizers. Mismanagement of groundwater is the dominant cause of groundwater deterioration, while the referred climate changes follows. Quantification of the two stressors requires further and deeper analysis

The European language technology landscape in 2020 : language-centric and human-centric AI for cross-cultural communication in multilingual Europe

Multilingualism is a cultural cornerstone of Europe and firmly anchored in the European treaties including full language equality. However, language barriers impacting business, cross-lingual and cross-cultural communication are still omnipresent. Language Technologies (LTs) are a powerful means to break down these barriers. While the last decade has seen various initiatives that created a multitude of approaches and technologies tailored to Europe’s specific needs, there is still an immense level of fragmentation. At the same time, AI has become an increasingly important concept in the European Information and Communication Technology area. For a few years now, AI – including many opportunities, synergies but also misconceptions – has been overshadowing every other topic. We present an overview of the European LT landscape, describing funding programmes, activities, actions and challenges in the different countries with regard to LT, including the current state of play in industry and the LT market. We present a brief overview of the main LT-related activities on the EU level in the last ten years and develop strategic guidance with regard to four key dimensions

MIBiG 3.0 : a community-driven effort to annotate experimentally validated biosynthetic gene clusters

With an ever-increasing amount of (meta)genomic data being deposited in sequence databases, (meta)genome mining for natural product biosynthetic pathways occupies a critical role in the discovery of novel pharmaceutical drugs, crop protection agents and biomaterials. The genes that encode these pathways are often organised into biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs). In 2015, we defined the Minimum Information about a Biosynthetic Gene cluster (MIBiG): a standardised data format that describes the minimally required information to uniquely characterise a BGC. We simultaneously constructed an accompanying online database of BGCs, which has since been widely used by the community as a reference dataset for BGCs and was expanded to 2021 entries in 2019 (MIBiG 2.0). Here, we describe MIBiG 3.0, a database update comprising large-scale validation and re-annotation of existing entries and 661 new entries. Particular attention was paid to the annotation of compound structures and biological activities, as well as protein domain selectivities. Together, these new features keep the database up-to-date, and will provide new opportunities for the scientific community to use its freely available data, e.g. for the training of new machine learning models to predict sequence-structure-function relationships for diverse natural products. MIBiG 3.0 is accessible online at https://mibig.secondarymetabolites.org/

MIBiG 3.0: a community-driven effort to annotate experimentally validated biosynthetic gene clusters

Microbial Biotechnolog

The Western Aphasia Battery – Revised (WAB – R): Pilot study and validation in normal Greek Population. [Abstract]

14th Congress of the European Federation of Neurological Societies, Geneva – Switzerland, 25 – 28 September 2010. <br

Native mass spectrometry gives insight into the allosteric binding mechanism of M2 pyruvate kinase to fructose-1,6-bisphosphate

ISSN:0006-2960ISSN:1520-499

Dictionnaire des Francophones: A New Paradigm in Francophone Lexicography

Dictionnaire des francophones (DDF) is a general francophone dictionary, the result of an institutional-collaborative project, the goal of which is to provide a new online resource. It aims to cover all varieties of the French lexicon from a descriptive point of view and to highlight the plurality of linguistic norms while endeavouring to treat different linguistic varieties equally. The paper focuses on the dictionary-making process and lexicography technologies used in the project. Some particularly innovative aspects of the DDF are discussed, such as the institutional support and the scientific background in which the project is grounded; the hybrid nature of the dictionary, combining imported resources in a relational database, enriched by a complex speaker-based collaborative input; inclusivity of linguistic variation and the modes of its representation. Taking into account these characteristics as well as some other features of the dictionary lead us to the conclusion that the DDF is a unique object in comparison to existing traditional and collaborative resources, providing a new paradigm in francophone lexicography

Native Mass Spectrometry Gives Insight into the Allosteric Binding Mechanism of M2 Pyruvate Kinase to Fructose-1,6-Bisphosphate

The various oligomeric states of the M2 isoform of pyruvate kinase (PKM2) were distinguished using native mass spectrometry. The effect of PKM2 concentration on its dimer–tetramer equilibrium was monitored, and a value for the dissociation constant (<i>K</i>_d) of the two species was estimated to be 0.95 μM. Results of binding of fructose-1,6-bisphosphate (FBP) to PKM2 are shown and provide insight into the allosteric mechanism and changes in the oligomerization status of PKM2. The average <i>K</i>_d for binding of FBP to the PKM2 tetramer was estimated to be 7.5 μM. It is concluded that four molecules of FBP bind to the active PKM2 tetramer whereas binding of FBP to the PKM2 dimer was not observed. It is suggested that either FBP potentiates rapid tetramer formation after binding to apo PKM2 dimers or FBP binds to PKM2 apo tetramers, thus driving the dimer–tetramer equilibrium in the direction of fully FBP-bound tetramer. The binding occurs in a highly positively cooperative manner with a Hill coefficient (<i>n</i>) of 3