Europe 2020 Strategy, Cohesion Policy and Greek Regions: Are we “smart†enough?

Since the beginning of 2010, European Commission has launched the new strategic framework for Europe, which is now known as the “Europe 2020 Strategyâ€. This new strategy has been set as the successor of the so called “Lisbon-Gothenburg Strategy†which was set in early ’00 as the strategy for Europe in the 21st century. Actually the two strategies have a lot in common. The main driving forces of Europe still remain the same and some rearrangement in the EU-wide strategic targets has been made. Of course the economic crisis that has emerged forced for a new priority that was set in the “EU 2020†strategy, but the main targeting still encompasses the three corners of the well known sustainability triangle, namely economy, environment and society. The setting of a new strategy arises some questions. Why does Europe need a new development strategy? Was the old strategy successful or not? Was every country in Europe adapted in the old strategy properly? Where there any problems in the implementation of the old strategy? What was the overall outcome of the old strategy in EU Level, in each Member State and in the regions of Europe? Is the new strategy better adjusted to cope with the development problems in European, national and regional level? Furthermore, European Commission has already asked MS to comply with the specifications of the “Europe 2020 Strategy†in the planning and implementation of the Cohesion Policy’s programs in the following years (for the remaining of the 2007 – 2013 period and especially for the 2014-2020 period). This article discusses the above questions and tries to find answers on the rationale and prospects of the new strategy. Also, in a second step we give more emphasis in Greece and Greek Regions that have been not well adapted in the “Lisbon Strategy†as shown in the recent 5th Cohesion Report and other studies. Finally, the article closes with policy recommendations regarding the consistency and interaction between the “Europe 2020 Strategy†and Cohesion Policy, and also some policy recommendations for Greek regional policy and Greek regions.

São Paulo cavern-shaft collapse viewed as a trap-door problem.

Στο παρόν άρθρο εξετάζονται με τη βοήθεια αριθμητικού μοντέλου οι συνθήκες που οδήγησαν στην κατάρρευση του συνδεδεμένου συστήματος φρέατος-θαλάμου στην μεγαλούπολη Sao Paulo της Βραζιλίας το 2007. Οι δύο θάλαμοι αντιδιαμετρικά του φρέατος εξορύχθηκαν με τη Νέα Αυστριακή ή Τμηματική Μέθοδο. Ο σταθμός Pinheiros όπου εκδηλώθηκε το περιστατικό αυτό βρίσκεται εντός γεωλογικής ζώνης γνωστής ως Caucaia Shear Zone. Εντός της ζώνης αυτής ο βιοτιτικός και γρανιτικός γνεύσιος είναι έντονα κατακερματισμένος που διασχίζεται από τέσσερεις οικογένειες ασυνεχειών (οι δύο εξ αυτών είναι παρακατακόρυφες και οι άλλες δύο με κλίσεις προς τις αντίθετες παρυφές των θαλάμων). Σύμφωνα με το σύστημα ταξινόμησης RMR του Bieniawski oι θάλαμοι εξορύχθηκαν σε βραχόμαζα κλάσης II,III,IV (η τελευταία αναφέρεται σε σαπρόλιθο), με υπερκείμενα σαπρόλιθο και εδάφη αποσάρθρωσης κλάσης V. Η προσομοίωση της κατασκευής του συστήματος φρέατος-θαλάμου έγινε με τον τρι-διάστατο κώδικα πεπερασμένων διαφορών FLAC3D™. Δόθηκε ιδιαίτερη προσοχή στην ποσοτική περιγραφή των επί τόπου γεωλογικών συνθηκών. Λόγω του έντονου κατακερματισμού της βραχομάζας αυτή προσομοιώθηκε με ένα κινηματικό μοντέλο χαλάρωσης της συνοχής και της γωνίας τριβής. Από τις προσομοιώσεις βρέθηκε ότι σε κάοια στιγμή της εκσκαφής του θαλάμου σχηματίζεται συζυγές σύστημα ζωνών διατμήσεως που εκκινούν από τις γωνίες της προπορευόμενης σήραγγας το οποίο ενώνεται με μια κυλινδρική ζώνη διάτμησης που σχηματίζεται γύρω από το φρέαρ. Καταυτόν τον τρόπο σχηματίζεται σφήνα βραχομάζας η οποία και καταρρέει ως μηχανισμός θυροπαγίδας.This paper refers to the numerical simulation of the conditions that have lead to the collapse of the shaft-cavern collapse in São Paulo, Brazil (2007) constructed with the Conventional Tunnelling Method (CTM) or the New Austrian Tunneling Technique (NATM). The Pinheiros station where the incident has occurred, is located in an area known as the Caucaia Shear Zone, resulting in a highly fractured medium (four main families of discontinuities, i.e. two subvertical and two dipping towards the tunnel walls).The main observed lithologies were biotite gneiss and granite gneiss. According to the Bieniawski classification, the following rock mass classes were observed: II,III,IV (partially corresponding to saprolite), and V (partially corresponding to residual soils). The shaft-tunnel construction is simulated by virtue of the 3D finite differences code FLAC3D™. Special emphasis is given on the appropriate quantitative description of the geological conditions. A kinematic cohesion-friction softening model of the discontinuous rock mass is used. It was found that failure is manifested with the evolution of shear bands starting from the corners of the cavern periphery as this approaches the shaft while retreating. Before this, another cylindrical shear band initiates from the bottom of the shaft and also propagates upwards to connect with the former and hence producing the final collapse

The optimization potential of floor-plan typologies in early design energy modeling

Based on a consensus in the field that energy modeling should be applied as early as possible in the design process to maximize its impact on important design decisions, multi-zone thermal simulations are now used with increasing frequency in the earliest design stages. In the massing model phase, when the interior subdivision of a building is yet unknown, zoning standards such as ASHRAE 90.1 Appendix G assist modelers by prescribing a subdivision scheme with core and consistently deep perimeter regions along the facade. This scheme, however, hardly ever resembles actual interior space subdivisions and thus raises the question of accuracy and usefulness of such simulations. This manuscript hence analyzes the significance of interior subdivisions on simulation results by thoroughly comparing the energy use intensity [EUI] levels for a representative set of floorplans against the ASHRAE-prescribed zoning scheme. A sample set of 1200 simulations reveal a RMSE of 15% for total EUI but also RMSE of 175% and 105% for predicted heating and cooling loads are reported. This suggests that the ASHRAE zoning scheme has only limited applicability for early design energy optimization

Everyone benefits when children play

Early Childhood Australia (ECA), advocates for the rights of all young children during the critical early years (from birth to the age of eight), to thrive and learn through play at home, in the community, within early learning and care settings and through the early years of school

Play Matters

Play is a natural life enhancing daily occurrence

A tangible interface for collaborative urban design for energy efficiency, daylighting, and walkability

An increasingly urbanizing human population presents new challenges for urban planners and designers. While the applicability of urban design tools for simulation experts is constantly improving, urban development scenarios require the input of multiple stakeholders, each with different outlooks, expertise, requirements, and preconceptions, and good urban design requires communication and compromise as much as it requires effective use of tools. The best tools will facilitate this communication while remaining evidence-based, allowing diverse planning teams to develop high quality, healthy, sustainable urban proposals. Presented in this paper is a new such tool, implemented as a tangible user interface, that allows varied stakeholders to quickly collaborate on creation and exploration of new urban design solutions. The tool provides performance feedback for a neighborhood’s operational energy costs, daylight availability, and walkability. Fast interaction is attained through a novel precalculation method that is also presented and validated. Details of the tool’s deployment as part of a case study that was conducted with members of the planning commission of Riyadh, SA, in March 2015 are given

The genetic basis for the selection of dairy goats with enhanced resistance to gastrointestinal nematodes

Gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) severely affect small ruminant production worldwide. Increasing problems of anthelmintic resistance have given strong impetus to the search for alternative strategies to control GIN. Selection of animals with an enhanced resistance to GIN has been shown to be successful in sheep. In goats, the corresponding information is comparatively poor. Therefore, the present study was designed to provide reliable data on heritabilities of and genetic correlations between phenotypic traits linked to GIN and milk yield in two major dairy goat breeds (Alpine and Saanen). In all, 20 herds totalling 1303 goats were enrolled in the study. All herds had (i) a history of gastrointestinal nematode infection, (ii) uniform GIN exposure on pasture and (iii) regular milk recordings. For all goats, individual recordings of faecal egg counts (FEC), FAMACHA© eye score, packed cell volume (PCV) and milk yield were performed twice a year with an anthelmintic treatment in between. The collected phenotypic data were multivariately modelled using animal as a random effect with its covariance structure inferred from the pedigree, enabling estimation of the heritabilities of the respective traits and the genetic correlation between them. The heritabilities of FEC, FAMACHA© and PCV were 0.07, 0.22 and 0.22, respectively. The genetic correlation between FEC and FAMACHA© was close to zero and -0.41 between FEC and PCV. The phenotypic correlation between FEC and milk yield was close to zero, whereas the genetic correlation was 0.49. Our data suggest low heritability of FEC in Saanen and Alpine goats and an unfavourable genetic correlation of FEC with milk yield

WA Play Charter

The WA Play Charter, drafted by the Play Matters Collective, is a declaration of the importance of play in children’s lives. By endorsing the WA Play Charter you are signalling your shared belief in the fundamental value of play to children’s health, happiness and development, and putting up your hand to support a more playful world for the children in your care and in your community