Physical libration of a deformable moon theory I Semiannual progress report, Aug. 29, 1966 - Feb. 28, 1967

Lunar gravity field and physical librations of moo

Ο θρήνος στο δημοτικό τραγούδι

This thesis examines the influence of the Greek funeral songs in Greek folklore and how death has been portrayed on the Greek folklore. Different songs like funeral songs, love songs, songs about emigration, wedding songs and songs for the Greek heroes who died in the war against the Turks, have been compared. This comparison resulted to the conclusion that the songs have many similarities on how they portray death issue

Understanding the experiences of heavy smokers after exercise

There is now strong evidence that exercise has an acute effect on the urge to smoke and the accompanying withdrawal symptoms. However, the perceptions by heavy smokers of exercise and its relationship to the urge to smoke have not been well documented. The aim of the present study is to understand the experiences of heavy smokers with regard to exercise and its effect on their urge to smoke. Five physically inactive, heavy smokers are asked to abstain from smoking the night before exercising on a cycle ergometer under two conditions (one at medium and one at vigorous intensity done a week apart). Semi-structured, in-depth interviews are conducted after the second exercise session. Thematic analysis reveals six themes describing the participants’ experience of exercise, urge to smoke, exercise preferences, exercise and smoking relationship, exercise as an aid to quit smoking, and the effects of the experimental procedure. Overall, the participants’ experiences support the existing literature, which has posited affective, biological, and cognitive mechanisms contributing to a delay in the urge to smoke after exercise. The main findings pertain to: (1) the “feel-good” effect after exercise as a relief from the “feel-bad” effect during exercise; (2) the decreased urge to smoke after exercise, stated by all participants regardless of reported positive and negative feelings; and (3) exercise as a “clearing the mind” mechanism rather than an attention-distracting mechanism

Ratsnake: A Versatile Image Annotation Tool with Application to Computer-Aided Diagnosis

Image segmentation and annotation are key components of image-based medical computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems. In this paper we present Ratsnake, a publicly available generic image annotation tool providing annotation efficiency, semantic awareness, versatility, and extensibility, features that can be exploited to transform it into an effective CAD system. In order to demonstrate this unique capability, we present its novel application for the evaluation and quantification of salient objects and structures of interest in kidney biopsy images. Accurate annotation identifying and quantifying such structures in microscopy images can provide an estimation of pathogenesis in obstructive nephropathy, which is a rather common disease with severe implication in children and infants. However a tool for detecting and quantifying the disease is not yet available. A machine learning-based approach, which utilizes prior domain knowledge and textural image features, is considered for the generation of an image force field customizing the presented tool for automatic evaluation of kidney biopsy images. The experimental evaluation of the proposed application of Ratsnake demonstrates its efficiency and effectiveness and promises its wide applicability across a variety of medical imaging domains

Natural and sail-displaced doubly-symmetric Lagrange point orbits for polar coverage

This paper proposes the use of doubly-symmetric, eight-shaped orbits in the circular restricted three-body problem for continuous coverage of the high-latitude regions of the Earth. These orbits, for a range of amplitudes, spend a large fraction of their period above either pole of the Earth. It is shown that they complement Sun-synchronous polar and highly eccentric Molniya orbits, and present a possible alternative to low thrust pole-sitter orbits. Both natural and solar-sail displaced orbits are considered. Continuation methods are described and used to generate families of these orbits. Starting from ballistic orbits, other families are created either by increasing the sail lightness number, varying the period or changing the sail attitude. Some representative orbits are then chosen to demonstrate the visibility of high-latitude regions throughout the year. A stability analysis is also performed, revealing that the orbits are unstable: it is found that for particular orbits, a solar sail can reduce their instability. A preliminary design of a linear quadratic regulator is presented as a solution to stabilize the system by using the solar sail only. Finally, invariant manifolds are exploited to identify orbits that present the opportunity of a ballistic transfer directly from low Earth orbit

TRAINING SPORT COACHES FOR ATHLETES WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES: THE TEAMUP PROJECT

This paper presents the Erasmus + TeamUp project which aimed to provide basic skills and knowledge to sport coaches in order to enable them to work with individuals with intellectual disability (ID) and act as facilitators in their own country and local community transmitting this knowledge and values. The rationale for conducting the program is analyzed and its aims and objectives are described, with emphasis given on all relative educational material developed for application in sport and physical education settings. In particular, one of the main activities of the program was the development of the educational package by the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Thessaly, aiming to increase knowledge and skills of sport coaches in three different chapters concerning ID, Special Olympics and Paralympic Games, individualized education programming and physical activity adaptations and inclusion strategies for athletes with ID, respectively. Dissemination of this educational package and results of sport coaches’ responses from Greece, Croatia, Romania and Spain to three online questionnaires relative to the three topics created, are also presented and analyzed. Finally, practical implications and suggestions for further development are discussed. Article visualizations