TeV Neutrinos in a dense medium

The dispersion relation of energetic (few TeV) neutrinos traversing a medium is studied. We use the real time formalism of thermal field theory and we include the effects from the propagator of the W gauge boson. We consider then the MSW oscillations for cosmic neutrinos traversing the Earth, adopting for the neutrino parameters values suggested by the LSND results. It is found that the $\nu_\mu$ flux, for neutrinos passing through the center of the Earth, will appear reduced by 15% for energies around 10 TeV.Comment: 12 pages, latex, 2 figure

Anomalous Weak Boson Couplings: Suggestions from Unitarity and Dynamics

Taking into account the constraints from LEP1 and lower energy experiments, we identify the seven $SU(2)\times U(1)$ gauge invariant purely bosonic $dim=6$ operators which provide a quite general description of how New Physics could reflect in the bosonic world, if it happens that all new degrees of freedom are too heavy to be directly produced in the future colliders. Five of these operators are CP conserving and the remaining ones are CP violating. We derive the unitarity constraints for the CP violating operators and compare them with the already known constraints for the CP conserving ones. Dynamical renormalizable models are also presented, which partly elucidate what the appearance of each of these operators can teach us on the mechanism of spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking.Comment: LaTex, 11 pages, no figure

Refugee/migration flows in the North Aegean: The EU- Turkey Statement and its implementation in Greece

Αυτή η διατριβή εξετάζει το φαινόμενο της μετανάστευσης στο Βόρειο Αιγαίο υπό το πρίσμα του ευρωπαϊκού συστήματος Δουβλίνου και της Κοινής Δήλωσης ΕΕ-Τουρκίας και τις Ελληνικές πολιτικές χρησιμοποιώντας το μακρο-χωρικό γεωπολιτικό πλαίσιο. Έχει τρεις βασικούς στόχους: α) τον εντοπισμό και την εκτίμηση των δυνατοτήτων και των ευκαιριών της ανταπόκρισης της Ευρώπης στην κρίση της μετανάστευσης που ξεκίνησε το 2011, λαμβάνοντας υπόψη τους κανονισμούς Δουβλίνο I και II και τη Κοινή Δήλωση ΕΕ-Τουρκίας, β) τον εντοπισμό και την αξιολόγηση των απειλών και αδυναμιών που προκύπτουν από την ανταπόκριση της Ευρώπης στην κρίση της μετανάστευσης που ξεκίνησε το 2011 λαμβάνοντας υπόψη τους κανονισμούς Δουβλίνο Ι και ΙΙ και τη δήλωση ΕΕ-Τουρκίας και γ) την υποβολή προτάσεων για το πώς η Ευρώπη και η Ελλάδα πρέπει να συνεργαστούν στο μέλλον για την αντιμετώπιση της μεταναστευτικής κρίσης.This dissertation examines the migration phenomenon in the North Aegean in the light of the European (Dublin system and EU-Turkey Statement) and Greek policies by using the macro-spatial geopolitical context. This dissertation has three main objectives: a) to identify and asses the strengths and opportunities of Europe’s response to the migration crisis that began in 2011 considering the Dublin I and II Regulations and the EU-Turkey Statement, b) to identify and asses the main threats and weaknesses arising from Europe’s response to the migration crisis that began in 2011 considering the Dublin I and II Regulations and the EU-Turkey Statement and c) to make suggestions on how Europe and Greece should cooperate in the future in order to address the migration crisis

Cytoskeleton organisation during the infection of three brown algal species, Ectocarpus siliculosus, Ectocarpus crouaniorum and Pylaiella littoralis, by the intracellular marine oomycete Eurychasma dicksonii

Funded by •University of Athens •TOTAL Foundation •European Commission •ASSEMBLE. Grant Number: 227788 •MASTS •Scottish Funding Council. Grant Number: HR09011 •UK NERC. Grant Number: NE/J00460X/1Peer reviewedPostprintPostprin

Application of error-prone PCR to functionally probe the morbillivirus Haemagglutinin protein.

The enveloped morbilliviruses utilise conserved proteinaceous receptors to enter host cells: SLAMF1 or Nectin-4. Receptor binding is initiated by the viral attachment protein Haemagglutinin (H), with the viral Fusion protein (F) driving membrane fusion. Crystal structures of the prototypic morbillivirus measles virus H with either SLAMF1 or Nectin-4 are available and have served as the basis for improved understanding of this interaction. However, whether these interactions remain conserved throughout the morbillivirus genus requires further characterisation. Using a random mutagenesis approach, based on error-prone PCR, we targeted the putative receptor binding site for SLAMF1 interaction on peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) H, identifying mutations that inhibited virus-induced cell-cell fusion. These data, combined with structural modelling of the PPRV H and ovine SLAMF1 interaction, indicate this region is functionally conserved across all morbilliviruses. Error-prone PCR provides a powerful tool for functionally characterising functional domains within viral proteins

New record and phylogenetic affinities of the oomycete Olpidiopsis feldmanni infecting Asparagopsis sp. (Rhodophyta)

Date of Acceptance: 14/09/2015 Acknowledgements. We are grateful to the Total Foundation (Paris) for its funding support to this study, to the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) for a doctoral fellowship to K.F. and to the MASTS pooling initiative (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland, funded by the Scottish Funding Council and contributing institutions; grant reference HR09011).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Infection of the brown alga Ectocarpus siliculosus by the oomycete Eurychasma dicksonii induces oxidative stress and halogen metabolism

Acknowledgments We would like to thank the Aberdeen Proteome Facility, especially Phil Cash, David Stead and Evelyn Argo for assistance with 2D electrophoresis and mass spectrometry. M.S. gratefully acknowledges a Marie Curie PhD fellowship from the European Commission (ECOSUMMER, MEST-CT-2005-20501), a joint FEMS/ESCMID Research Fellowship and the Genomia Fund. C.M.M.G. is supported by a Marie Curie postdoctoral fellowship (MEIF-CT-2006-022837), a Marie Curie Re-Integration Grant (PERG03-GA-2008-230865) and a New Investigator grant from the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC, grant NE/J00460X/1). F.C.K. would like to thank NERC for funding (grants NE/D521522/1, NE/F012705/1 and Oceans 2025 / WP 4.5). L.J.G.-B., C.M.M.G., F.C.K. and P.W. would like to acknowledge funding from NERC for a Strategic Ocean Funding Initiative award (NE/F012578/1). Funding from the MASTS pooling initiative (Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland, funded by the Scottish Funding Council and contributing institutions; grant reference HR09011) and from the TOTAL Foundation (Paris) to F.C.K. is gratefully acknowledged. Finally, we would like to thank the two anonymous referees for constructive suggestions to improve our manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD