Studies on table grape germplasm grown in Northern Greece. 2. Seedlessness, berry and must characteristics

From 1991 to 1993 nine quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the grape berry and its must were evaluated using local and introduced table grape cultivars of the grapevine collection of the Greek Gene Bank. The data indicate a distinct variation in the grape germplasm in all characters and demonstrate the usefulness of the genetic material as a donor of important genes for grapevine improvement. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) produced 2 factors representing 68.1% of the total variation. PC1, explaining 43.6% of the total variance, is highly correlated with berry size parameters and characteristics of the berry structure. By Cluster Analysis the assessed cultivars were separated into distinct groups; while seedlessness, was associated with small berry detachment force from the pedicel, late maturity was combined with high acid and low sugar content and a large number of seeds per berry was accompanied by low sugar content

Studies on table grape germplasm grown in Northern Greece. I. Maturity time, bunch characteristics and yield

41 local and introduced table grape cultivars of the Greek Gene Bank in Thessaloniki were evaluated and documented with regard to 10 important morphological and viticultural characteristics, e.g. maturity time, bunch form and crop yield from 1991 tb 1993. The data indicate great variation within the grape germplasm in all characters and stress the importance of the genetic material as a donor of valuable genes for further grapevine improvement. Among the earliest cultivars is the Greek newbred Attiki (harvest time: end of July), while the local traditional Sideritis was shown to be the latest maturing cultivar (end of October). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) showed 3 factors representing 69.6% of the total variation. PC1, explaining 40.6% of the total variance, is highly correlated with time of maturity and crop yield. PC2, may be considered as the bunch size factor. The assessed cultivars were classified by cluster analysis into distinct groups, 2 of which contained all early and most of the late season cultivars

Représentations du 11-Septembre dans quatre journaux grecs

Aux États-Unis, les attaques terroristes du 11-Septembre ont conduit au développement du cadre principal de « guerre contre le terrorisme ». En Grèce, ces événements sont passés par le filtre du cadre principal de l’anti-américanisme, développé par les médias comme réaction au bombardement du Kosovo. Dans cet article, nous analyserons le cadrage du 11-Septembre dans l’éditorial de quatre journaux grecs. L’anti-américanisme y est visible par le biais de la représentation négative des États-Unis. Contrairement au cadre principal de « guerre contre le terrorisme » qui enlève tout contexte aux actes des terroristes et se focalise sur le terrorisme, les victimes, le danger ultérieur et les actes punitifs, le cadre principal de l’anti-américanisme place les attaques terroristes dans leur contexte et se concentre sur les conditions environnantes. C’est d’abord aux États-Unis qu’on attribue la responsabilité d’avoir créé les conditions qui ont permis les attaques. Les réactions des Américains aux attaques du 11-Septembre et leur présence en Afghanistan sont présentées dans un cadre de domination plutôt que de défense. Mais, celles-ci sont plus envisagées comme des actes que comme des réactions, et présentées dans un cadre stratégique, plus spécifiquement géostratégique.In the USA, the terrorist attack on the 9/11 led to the development of the « war of terrorism » master frame. In Greece, these events were filtered by the Anti-Americanism master frame that was formulated by the media in response to the Kosovo bombing. This paper examines the framing of the 9/11 in the editorial columns of four Greek newspapers. Anti Americanism is evident in throughout the negative presentation of the USA. Contrary to the war on terrorism master frame which decontextualizes the terrorist activity from its conditions and focuses on the terrorists, the victims, future dangers and punitive actions, the Anti-Americanism master frame contextualizes the terrorist attack, focuses on the wider conditions. The responsibility for 9/11 is directed mainly at the USA for creating the conditions that resulted in the terrorist attack. The reactions of the USA to the 9/11 and the USA attack on Afghanistan are framed in terms of dominance rather than defence. The USA is presented predominantly as acting rather than reacting while its acts are largely framed by the strategic frame and more specifically the geo-strategic frame

A new non-monotonic infeasible simplex-type algorithm for Linear Programming

This paper presents a new simplex-type algorithm for Linear Programming with the following two main characteristics: (i) the algorithm computes basic solutions which are neither primal or dual feasible, nor monotonically improving and (ii) the sequence of these basic solutions is connected with a sequence of monotonically improving interior points to construct a feasible direction at each iteration. We compare the proposed algorithm with the state-of-the-art commercial CPLEX and Gurobi Primal-Simplex optimizers on a collection of 93 well known benchmarks. The results are promising, showing that the new algorithm competes versus the state-of-the-art solvers in the total number of iterations required to converge

Transtelephonic Electrocardiographic Transmission in the Preparticipation Screening of Athletes

Transtelephonic electrocardiographic transmission (TET) is the most widespread form of telecardiology since it enables clinicians to assess patients at a distance. The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and effectiveness of TET either by fixed telephone line (POTS) or by mobile phone in the preparticipation screening of young athletes. A total of 506 players, aged 20.5 ± 6.2 years, from 23 soccer clubs in the prefecture of Thessaloniki, Greece, were physically examined in their playfields by a general practitioner (GP) and had their ECG recorded. In 142 cases, and on the judgment of the GP, the ECG was transmitted via POTS and/or global system for mobile communications (GSM) to a specialised medical centre where it was evaluated by a cardiologist. The mean total time for recording, storing, and transmitting the ECG was four minutes per subject. It was found that the success rate for transmission at first attempt was similar for both fixed and mobile networks, that is, 93% and 91%, respectively. The failure rate in the GSM network was correlated to the reception level at the site of transmission. Only in about half (n = 74) of the transmitted ECGs did the cardiologist confirm “abnormal” findings, although in 16, they were considered to be clinically insignificant. Consequently, 58 athletes were referred for further medical examination. Our results indicate that TET (either by fixed telephone line or by mobile phone) can ensure valid, reliable, and objective measurements, and significantly contribute to the application of medical screening in a great number of athletes. Therefore, it is recommended as an alternative diagnostic tool for the preparticipation screening of athletes living in remote areas

Lung Function in Gypsies in Greece

The relationship between lung function and smoking and dietary habits was examined in 121 Gypsies (62 males, 59 females) who were 14-70 y of age and who lived in Greece. All were examined clinically, after which they all participated in spirometry tests. Half of the study group had abnormal (< 80% of predicted) forced vital capacity, 36.4% had abnormal (< 80% of predicted) forced expiratory volume in 1 sec, and 5% had serious lung function disturbances (forced vital capacity < 50% of predicted). Approximately 70% of subjects were smokers, and their diets were rich in alcohol and meat; they ate very few salads and oranges. Consequently, decreased lung function might be a major health problem in Gypsies in Greece. Organization of preventive health strategies should improve the overall health of this study group

Kek, Cucks, and God Emperor Trump: A Measurement Study of 4chan's Politically Incorrect Forum and its Effects on the Web

The discussion-board site 4chan has been part of the Internet's dark underbelly since its inception, and recent political events have put it increasingly in the spotlight. In particular, /pol/, the “Politically Incorrect'” board, has been a central figure in the outlandish 2016 US election season, as it has often been linked to the alt-right movement and its rhetoric of hate and racism. However, 4chan remains relatively unstudied by the scientific community: little is known about its user base, the content it generates, and how it affects other parts of the Web. In this paper, we start addressing this gap by analyzing /pol/ along several axes, using a dataset of over 8M posts we collected over two and a half months. First, we perform a general characterization, showing that /pol/ users are well distributed around the world and that 4chan's unique features encourage fresh discussions. We also analyze content, finding, for instance, that YouTube links and hate speech are predominant on /pol/. Overall, our analysis not only provides the first measurement study of /pol/, but also insight into online harassment and hate speech trends in social media

Hodgkin's lymphoma in remission after first-line therapy: which patients need FDG-PET/CT for follow-up?

Background: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the impact of 2-[fluorine-18]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET)/computed tomography (CT) during follow-up of patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma. Patients and methods: Patients in complete remission or an unconfirmed complete remission after first-line therapy who received FDG-PET/CT during their follow-up were analyzed retrospectively. Confirmatory biopsy was mandatory in case of recurrence. Results: Overall, 134 patients were analyzed. Forty-two (31.3%) patients had a recurrence. The positive predictive value of FDG-PET/CT was 0.98. Single-factor analysis identified morphological residual mass [P = 0.0005, hazard ratio (HR) 3.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7-6.6] and symptoms (P 24 months). Conclusions: Asymptomatic patients without morphological residues and an early stage of disease do not need a routine FDG-PET/CT for follow-up. Asymptomatic patients with morphological residues should receive routine follow-up FDG-PET/CT for the first 24 months. Only patients with advanced initial stage do need a routine follow-up FDG-PET/CT beyond 24 month