Investigation of the terms and regulations, under which the competitions of Gymnastics were held from 1920 to 1930

The lack of common rules and credible judgement created particular problems in gymnastics competitions, organized by the two international sports institutions (IOC, EG), until the beginning of the World War I. After the end of the war, these institutions began to cooperate, to widen and to put under their aegis all the existing Gymnastics Federations. In the decades of 1920 and 1930 totally five International Gymnastics competitions were organized by the IGF and five Olympic Games by the IOC. Despite the considerable efforts of the two institutions for commonly accepted regulations, reliable judgment and uniform apparatuses, no solution was found. So, there were a lot of problems, since several federations were introspective and followed their own regulations and principles. This fact affected negatively the general development of gymnastics. The purpose of this study is to research and show off the structures and characteristics of the regulations of gymnastics in the decades of 1920 and 1930 as well as the reasons that caused the lack of common rules and their effects in the development of gymnastics

ESTIMATION OF SOIL EROSION IN MOUNTAINOUS WATERSHEDS WITH THE COMBINED USE OF RUSLE MODEL AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Στην παρούσα εργασία εφαρμόστηκε η μέθοδος RUSLE για την εκτίμηση της μέσης ετήσιας εδαφικής διάβρωσης στη λεκάνη απορροής του χειμάρρου Κλεινοβίτικου του Νομού Τρικάλων χρησιμοποιώντας τα Γεωγραφικά Συστήματα Πληροφοριών. Για τον ακριβέστερο και ταχύτερο υπολογισμό της μεθόδου αναπτύχθηκε εργαλείο στο περιβάλλον Model Builder, μία εφαρμογή του ArcGIS που επιτρέπει τη δημιουργία, επεξεργασία και διαχείριση μαθηματικών μοντέλων. Τα κυριότερα πλεονεκτήματα από τη χρήση του Model Builder για την εφαρμογή του μοντέλου της RUSLE είναι ότι επιταχύνονται οι υπολογισμοί, μειώνεται ο χρόνος και το κόστος εργασίας.This paper deals with the implementation of RUSLE method for the estimation of the mean annual soil erosion in Klinovitikos watershed at Trikala Prefecture using Geographical Information Systems. For more accurate and faster results, a GIS tool was developed in Model Builder environment, an application that allows the creation, editing and management of mathematical models. The main advantages of using Model Builder so as to estimate erosion with the RUSLE method is that accelerates calculation and reduces cost and time

Machine learning and case-based reasoning for real-time onboard prediction of the survivability of ships

The subject of damaged stability has greatly profited from the development of new tools and techniques in recent history. Specifically, the increased computational power and the probabilistic approach have transformed the subject, increasing accuracy and fidelity, hence allowing for a universal application and the inclusion of the most probable scenarios. Currently, all ships are evaluated for their stability and are expected to survive the dangers they will most likely face. However, further advancements in simulations have made it possible to further increase the fidelity and accuracy of simulated casualties. Multiple time domain and, to a lesser extent, Computational Fluid dynamins (CFD) solutions have been suggested as the next “evolutionary” step for damage stability. However, while those techniques are demonstrably more accurate, the computational power to utilize them for the task of probabilistic evaluation is not there yet. In this paper, the authors present a novel approach that aims to serve as a stopgap measure for introducing the time domain simulations in the existing framework. Specifically, the methodology presented serves the purpose of a fast decision support tool which is able to provide information regarding the ongoing casualty utilizing prior knowledge gained from simulations. This work was needed and developed for the purposes of the EU-funded project SafePASS

SafePASS : a new chapter for passenger ship evacuation and marine emergency response

Despite the current high level of safety and the efforts to make passenger ships resilient to most fire and flooding scenarios, there are still gaps and challenges in the marine emergency response and ship evacuation processes. Those challenges arise from the fact that both processes are complex, multi-variable problems that rely on parameters involving not only people and technology but also procedural and managerial issues. SafePASS Project, funded under EU's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, is set to radically redefine the evacuation processes by introducing new equipment, expanding the capabilities of legacy systems on-board, proposing new Life-Saving Appliances and ship layouts, and challenging the current international regulations, hence reducing the uncertainty, and increasing the efficiency in all the stages of ship evacuation and abandonment process

"hCG priming" effect in controlled ovarian stimulation through a long protocol

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Recently, it has been demonstrated that, in patients down-regulated by GnRH analogues (GnRHa), a short-term pre-treatment with recombinant LH (rLH), prior to recombinant FSH (rFSH) administration, increases the number of small antral follicle prior to FSH stimulation and the yield of normally fertilized embryos. However, no data exist in the literature regarding the potential beneficial effect of "hCG priming" in controlled ovarian hyperstimulation (COH) through a long GnRH-a protocol, which binds the same receptor (LH/hCGR), though it is a much more potent compared to LH. The primary aims of this study were to assess the effect of short-term pre-rFSH administration of hCG in women entering an ICSI treatment cycle on follicular development, quality of oocytes and early embryo development. The secondary endpoints were to record the effects on endometrial quality and pregnancy rate.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patients with a history of at least one previous unsuccessful ICSI cycle were randomly assigned into two groups to receive treatment with either a long protocol with rFSH (control group) or a long protocol with rFSH and pre-treatment with hCG (hCG group). In particular, in the latter group, a fixed 7 days course of 200 IU/day hCG was administered as soon as pituitary desensitization was confirmed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean number of oocytes retrieved was not significantly different between the two treatment groups, although the percentage of mature oocytes tended to be higher but not significantly different in hCG-treated patients. The percentage of patients with more than one grade 3 embryos was higher in the pre-treatment group, which also showed a higher pregnancy rate.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>All the above clinical observations, in conjunction with previous data, suggest a point towards a beneficial "hCG priming" effect in controlled ovarian hyperstimulation through a long GnRH-a down-regulation protocol, particularly in patients with previous ART failures.</p