Technical evaluation of the mEducator 3.0 linked data-based environment for sharing medical educational resources

mEducator 3.0 is a content sharing approach for medical education, based on Linked Data principles. Through standardization, it enables sharing and discovery of medical information. Overall the mEducator project seeks to address the following two different approaches, mEducator 2.0, based on web 2.0 and ad-hoc Application Programmers Interfaces (APIs), and mEducator 3.0, which builds upon a collection of Semantic Web Services that federate existing sources of medical and Technology Enhanced Learning (TEL) data. The semantic mEducator 3.0 approach It has a number of different instantiations, allowing flexibility and choice. At present these comprise of a standalone social web-based instantiation (MetaMorphosis+) and instantiations integrated with Drupal, Moodle and OpenLabyrinth systems. This paper presents the evaluation results of the mEducator 3.0 Linked Data based environment for sharing medical educational resources and focuses on metadata enrichment, conformance to the requirements and technical performance (of the MetaMorphosis+ and Drupal instantiations)

Implementation of an Interactive Crowd-Enhanced Content Management System for Tourism Development

This paper investigated the role of interactive tourist mobile apps in tourism development. The researchers presented the e-Tracer application, which was developed taking into consideration the recent advantages in mobile computing, the importance of user-generated content and the needs of northern Greece and the lower Balkan countries. Apart from crowd-based content creation, a new generation of apps for tourism development may include additional components like serious games for tourists, map-based navigation systems and augmented/virtual reality applications, in order to offer memorable user experiences for tourists. An agile content management system design methodology was followed by taking into account the needs of alternative tourist destinations, small to medium sized real-world museums and driver rest areas located around highways which connect cross-country destinations in the lower Balkan countries and Turkey. This work positioned the role of interactive crowd-enhanced platforms for content management of tourist-related information in tourism development, economic growth and sustainability of the Egnatia motorway surrounding areas in Greece. Keywords: mobile computing, content management systems, recommender systems, serious games, virtual/augmented reality, tourism developmen

Photocatalytic Hydrogen Evolution by tris-dithiolene tungsten complexes

Herein, we report on the homogeneous photocatalytic evolution of hydrogen by using as reductive catalysts the prismatic symmetric tris-dithiolene complexes of the tungsten, namely [WS2C2(Ph)23] (1) and its monoanion [WS2C2(Ph)23](TBA) (2). Complex 2 is fully characterized by elemental analysis, ESI-MS, IR, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectrophotometry as well as cyclic voltammetry. The photocatalytic system consists of [ReBr(CO)3(bpy)] as a photosensitizer, triethanolamine as a sacrificial electron donor and acetic acid as the proton source. Although the activity of the photocatalytic system is rather small (TON=18), it indicates that the homoleptic tris dithiolene complexes can act as proton reductive catalysts with their monoanion form to be more active in accordance with the findings for the bis-dithiolene complexes. © 2016 Eugenia Koutsouri, Christiana A. Mitsopoulou

La risposta sismica di edifici con fondazioni impermeabilizzate

Viene discusso il comportamento sismico di edifici con fondazioni a platea su manto impermeabile, che agisce come superficie di scorrimento durante lo scuotimento del terreno. La ricerca è analitica e sperimentale

Dithiolenes: A cheap alternative to platinum for catalytic dihydrogen formation. The case of tris-[1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2-phenyl-1,2-ethylenodithiolenic-S,S′] tungsten

The monoanion of the title compound acts as a catalyst in the production of H2 from water. The reaction was studied using the free radical derived from methyl viologen as the source of the required electrons, in mixed water-acetone solutions. The kinetics are first order in the concentration of the free radical, and in the concentration of the catalyst. The dependence on hydrogen ion concentration, and on the water content of the solvent is complex. This, and the activation parameters indicate parallel paths. The proposed catalytic cycle involves the sequence: (1) Electron transfer, (2) Proton transfer, (3) Electron transfer, (4) Proton transfer. It is postulated that the rate-determining step is the transfer of the second electron or a concerted combination of this and of the transfer of the second proton. © 1991

Photocatalytic splitting of water: increase in conversion and energy storage efficiency

The yield of the photocatalytic splitting of water using tris-[1-(4-methoxyphenyl)-2-phenyl-1,2-ethylenodithiolenic-S,S′] tungsten as a photocatalyst-catalyst increases by more than threefold on going from 20 to 70°C, and there is no indication that the effect levels off at this temperature. The intensity of light (within the error limits of our experiments) does not have appreciable effect. The nature of the reversible electron acceptor also influences the energy storage efficiency, e.g. 1,1-dibenzyl-4,4′-bipyridiniumdichloride gives an energy storage efficiency approximately 10% higher than methylviologen. The energy storage efficiency also depends on the presence of electron donors; if Ph3N is added, the energy storage efficiency increases by 20%. With ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) the results are even more spectacular; there is a twofold increase, but only initially. At longer times the system is unstable. Overall light energy storage efficiencies can be as high as 7%, and the expectations for further improvement are very good. © 1994

‘Lemonato’ peach: A series of cultivated clones with high fruit quality

The ‘Lemonato’ peach is a series of clones cultivated in Magnesia, central Greece. These clones were selected locally from seedling populations characterized by different time of ripening and different fruit quality traits. The fruit are phenotypically discriminated from the other peach cultivars, as they have typical yellow skin colour when ripe, very little red hue and unique flavor and taste. The scope of the present work was the description of this series of clones based on morphological and agronomic characteristics, and fruit quality traits. Five trees of each ‘Lemonato’ clone in different locations throughout the cultivation area were selected based on ripening time. Presence of major stone fruit viruses was tested for each tree. For the morphological description of each clone, flowering time, shoot and fruit growth were followed in the field and shoots and fruit were described by UPOV. Specific leaf weight and leaf chlorophyll concentration were measured in late August. Fruit quality traits were also studied including fruit mass, skin colour, fruit firmness, soluble solids content, titratable acidity, total phenols and antioxidant activity. The results showed significant variation per clone and orchard for physiological leaf characteristics, shoot development, blooming and maturation time and fruit quality. We were able to separate trees with the best characteristics from each clone to initiate organized propagation, and, in the near future, to establish virus-free basic propagation material for each selection with different ripening times, to set up experimental farms and to exploit useful genetic traits through breeding programmes. These data will help spread the cultivation of this indigenous fruit clone series. © 2019 International Society for Horticultural Science. All rights reserved

Changes in health perceptions after exposure to human suffering: Using discrete emotions to understand underlying processes

Background: The aim of this study was to examine whether exposure to human suffering is associated with negative changes in perceptions about personal health. We further examined the relation of possible health perception changes, to changes in five discrete emotions (i.e., fear, guilt, hostility/anger, and joviality), as a guide to understand the processes underlying health perception changes, provided that each emotion conveys information regarding triggering conditions. Methodology/Findings: An experimental group (N = 47) was exposed to images of human affliction, whereas a control group (N = 47) was exposed to relaxing images. Participants in the experimental group reported more health anxiety and health value, as well as lower health-related optimism and internal health locus of control, in comparison to participants exposed to relaxing images. They also reported more fear, guilt, hostility and sadness, as well as less joviality. Changes in each health perception were related to changes in particular emotions. Conclusion: These findings imply that health perceptions are shaped in a constant dialogue with the representations about the broader world. Furthermore, it seems that the core of health perception changes lies in the acceptance that personal well-being is subject to several potential threats, as well as that people cannot fully control many of the factors the determine their own well-being. © 2012 Paschali et al