The usage and perception of pedestrian and cycling streets on residents’ well-being in Kalamaria, Greece

Pedestrian zones are public spaces intended for the continued and safe mobility of pedestrians and people with disabilities, and they provide multiple benefits to urban areas. They counterbalance the densely built-up areas, decrease atmospheric pollution, increase available green or social space, increase walking and cycling rates, and facilitate active play for children. Done properly, pedestrianization may also increase local business sales. Greece boasts open public spaces and the pedestrianization of common roads. The economic crisis that Greece has been experiencing since 2008 has led people to give up their vehicles and use the pedestrian streets more frequently. The purpose of this paper was to investigate residents’ perceptions and satisfaction rates concerning the pedestrian streets of Kalamaria, Greece, and evaluate their importance for residents’ well-being. Following a random sampling method, 400 residents were interviewed. A two-step cluster analysis was conducted. The survey showed that the urban residents visited pedestrian zones in Kalamaria at least once a week, and the visits lasted 46–60 min. The improvement of urban landscape aesthetics and people’s health and well-being were evaluated as important functions of pedestrian zones. The results also indicate that residents were not satisfied with their quality of life and the existing green infrastructures of the pedestrian streets, even though they have a positive disposition toward the construction or transformation of pedestrian streets. The residents expressed their unwillingness to pay more public taxes for the construction and maintenance of pedestrian and cycling streets. The safety and convenience of the mobility of residents were the most important advantages of the pedestrian streets. Meanwhile, overspill parking and difficulties with finding parking spaces were the main disadvantages for the residents. Local authorities can use the results of the present survey to manage the city’s green infrastructure and use this information in the urban planning framework.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Effect of visual attention and horizontal vergence in three-dimensional space on occurrence of optokinetic nystagmus

OKN corresponding to the motion of the fixating area occurs when a stimulus has two areas separated in depth containing motion in different directions. However, when attention and vergence are separately directed to areas with different motions and depths, it remains unclear which property of attention and vergence is prioritized to initiate OKN. In this study, we investigated whether OKN corresponding to motion in the attending or fixating area occurred when two motions with different directions were presented in the central and peripheral visual fields separated in depth. Results show that OKN corresponding to attended motion occurred when observers maintained vergence on the peripheral stimulus and attended to the central stimulus. However, OKN corresponding to each motion in the attending area and in the fixating area occurred when observers maintained vergence on the central stimulus and attended to the peripheral stimulus. The accuracy rate of the attentional task was the lowest in this condition. These results support the idea that motion in the attended area is essential for occurrence of OKN, and vergence and retinal position affect the strength of attention

EDUCATION OF CHILDREN WITH DISABILITIES IN NONFORMAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS: A CROSS-DISCIPLINARY APPROACH OF STEAM EDUCATION IN A TECHNOLOGICAL MUSEUM IN GREECE

In recent years there is an increasing interest about STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics) model in education. STEAM is a cross-disciplinary approach which breaks down the barriers among disciplines, offers a dynamic character in teaching and sheds light on various aspects of the aforementioned parts of STEAM equation with multiple benefits for all children including those with disabilities. Furthermore, the increasing interest and the development of museum educational programs for school groups provide unique opportunities in STEAM education that are not available in schools. The museum as nonformal learning environment and its exhibits, the qualitative characteristics of learning and the wide range of the expected learning outcomes enrich the design and implementation of STEAM educational programs providing meaningful learning experiences for all children. The present paper refers to a cross-disciplinary approach which connects STEAM education, Museum Education and Special Education for the design and implementation of an educational program for a school group of children with disabilities. The educational program “Making mosaics with bricks and colors” was based on a. the STEAM approach, b. the characteristics of learning in the museum, c. the principles of Differentiated Instruction (DI) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL), and d. the unique characteristics of a thematic technological museum for the industrial heritage in Greece where the educational program took place. Based on the experience of the implementation of the educational program and the qualitative data of the evaluation of the program, it is argued that STEAM education as well as collaborations between different specialists and between schools and museums provides meaningful learning experiences to all children including those with disabilities.  Article visualizations

“I FELT LIKE ALL THESE OBJECTS WERE IN MY OWN HOUSE…”: LEARNING THROUGH SENSES IN THE MUSEUM

The benefits of multisensory learning are recognized both in the field of formal education, informal and non-formal learning environments and activities. In the case of museums and museum pedagogy learning through the senses is a key element. Furthermore, the idea of a multisensory museum is steadily gaining ground within museums and among museum professionals with the ultimate aim to enrich all visitors’ museum experiences. The present paper focuses on touch in the museum. It aims to investigate primary school students’ perceptions of touch in museums as well as their experience with regard to the use of permanent display cases with touchable authentic objects during an educational program in an archaeological museum in Greece. The data were obtained via: a. evaluation questionnaires filled in by the primary school students after the visit to the museum, b. semi-structured interviews by the teachers, and c. participant observation and field notes. The results revealed how the students understand and perceive the prohibition of touch in the museum in relation to aspects of cultural heritage and exhibits’ protection. Furthermore, issues related to the appropriate approach of permanently accessible exhibition display cases and facilitations in the museum space were observed. Students’ views about their own experience confirmed the significance of touch and multisensory activities as well as the value of the combination of sensory activities, object-based learning, play and other creative and experiential methods and activities that can lead to meaningful and memorable museum experiences.  Article visualizations

Neuronal morphologies: the shapes of thoughts

The mammalian brain, one of the most fascinating systems in nature, is a complex biological structure that has kept scientists busy for over a century. Many of the brain's mysteries have been unraveled due to the enormous efforts of the scientific community, but yet many questions remain unsolved. The detailed drawings of Ramon y Cajal revealed the hidden structure of the brain, identifying the neurons as its fundamental structural and functional units. Although a significant amount of experimental reconstructions have been gathered over the past years, neuronal morphologies still remain one of the unsolved riddles of the brain. Why is neuronal diversity important for the functionality of the brain and how do neuronal morphologies ''shape'' our thoughts? To address these questions one needs to characterize the various shapes of neuronal morphologies. Traditionally, this task has been performed by using a set of morphological features, such as total length, branch orders and asymmetry. However, these features focus on a specific morphological aspect thereby causing a significant information loss from the original structure. Inspired by algebraic topology, I have conceived a topological descriptor of neuronal trees that couples the topology of a tree with the geometric features of its structure, retaining more details of the original morphology than traditional morphometrics. This descriptor has proved to be very powerful in discriminating several neuronal types into concrete groups based on morphological grounds, and has lead to the discovery of two distinct classes of pyramidal cells in the human cortex. In addition, the Topological Morphology Descriptor is important for the generation of artificial cells whose morphologies remain faithful to the biological ones. Neurons of the same morphological type have similar topological and geometric characteristics, therefore appearing to be highly structured. However, it is still unknown to what extent the complex neuronal morphology is shaped by the genetic information of an organism and to what extent it arises from stochastic processes. To study the impact of randomness and structure of neuronal morphologies on the connectivity of the network they form, I compared the properties of networks that arise from different artificially generated morphologies, ranging from random walks to constrained branching structures, against those of biological networks and computational reconstructions built from biological morphologies. Surprisingly, networks that are generated from almost random morphologies share a lot of common properties with biological networks, such as the spatial clustering of connections and the common neighbor effect, indicating that stochastic processes that take place during development, contribute significantly to the observed neuronal shapes. This thesis resolves a number of the mysteries of neuronal morphologies and questions our beliefs about the role of randomness in the formation of the brain. Thus, it brings us closer to understanding the fundamental differences among morphologies, and how randomness and structure are combined together to generate one of the most complex biological systems

Epoxy Adhesives

Epoxy adhesives are primarily composed of epoxy resin and curing agent. Epoxy adhesives are supplied in both one-component package and two-component package depending on curing agent used and curing method applied. Two-component epoxy adhesives are prepared by packing epoxy composition and curing agent composition separately. They cure soon after mixing the two components together. Almost all room temperature cure epoxy adhesives are supplied in two-component package. One-component epoxy adhesives are prepared and supplied by mixing all formulated components in advance including epoxy resin and curing agent. One-component epoxy adhesives usually need cure at elevated temperature and store at low temperature in a refrigerator or even freezer. Epoxy adhesives have been widely used as typical reactive adhesives for various applications ranging from general industry, construction, electronics assembly, automobile production to aerospace market. Typical room temperature cure epoxy adhesives, thermal cure epoxy adhesives and UV cure epoxy adhesives are introduced in detail

Corporate value creation for Japan's construction firms in the shrinking and changing domestic market

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2003.Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-153).As Japan's bubble economy collapsed, the time when the economy was surely growing was finished. In this high economic growth period, the social system such as Keiretsu (a network of Japan's firms organized around main bank), the seniority system, and lifetime employment, had formed centering on harmony. But now this system is disappearing. In addition, the introduction of International Accounting Standards (IAS) ruthlessly discloses the real financial conditions of Japan's firms and drives the firms to adverse circumstances. The firms have to sustain these changes and compete to survive in the shrinking market. It is the time also for Japan's construction firms to change their business policy. The time when keeping a constant share always brought promised profits and the all firms coexisted in harmony has ended. The firms now have to pay attention to their profit rates and promote shareholders' interests as a top priority. At last, the firms have started to take serious approach to create their corporate value. The main purpose of this thesis is to find ways for the construction firms to create corporate value in Japan's shrinking construction market. To accomplish this purpose, the thesis studies the following three points: (1) the profit structure of Japan's construction firms, (2) the effect of introduction of IAS, especially introduction of cash flow statements, and (3) valuation methods. These three points lead the following three factors to value firms: (1) Invested capital, (2) Free cash flows, and (3) Weighted average cost of capital. The discounted cash flow model including EVA and MVA uses these three factors to value firms. Moreover, the real option method can add the value of the firms' management flexibilities. Real options are becoming crucial for corporate valuation in this uncertain market. In the end of the thesis, it verifies these valuation methods by using the financial data of Japan's construction firms in fiscal 2001. These valuation methods allow the firms to find right directions in which they should follow in order to create their value in the changing and shrinking construction market.by Masahiko Kanari.S.M

UV and Thermal Cure Epoxy Adhesives

Typical commercial UV and thermal cure epoxy adhesives have been reviewed and compared. UV cure cationic epoxy adhesives are primarily composed of cycloaliphatic epoxy resin and cationic photoinitiator. UV cationic epoxy adhesives have no surface cure issue and possess low cure shrinkage and good adhesion performance but need post-thermal cure to achieve full adhesion performance in use. Hybrid UV acrylate and thermal cure epoxy adhesives are primarily composed of acrylate monomer, free radical photoinitiator, epoxy resin and curing agent. The hybrid epoxy adhesives combine fast UV curability of acrylate composition and high adhesion performance of thermal cure epoxy composition. A new type initiator free hybrid one-component UV and thermal cure adhesive has been also introduced. It is mainly composed of maleimide compound, acrylic monomer, partially acrylated epoxy resin, epoxy resin and latent curing agent. Its UV cure and thermal cure behaviour have been studied by FT-IR spectroscopy measurement