Thermo-Poro-Mechanical Properties of Clayey Gouge and Application to Rapid Fault Shearing

In this paper, the mechanism of fault pressurization in rapid slip events is analyzed on the basis of a complete characterization of the thermo-poro-mechanical behavior of a clayey gouge extracted at 760m depth in Aigion fault in the active seismic zone of the Gulf of Corinth, Greece. It is shown that the thermally collapsible character of this clayey gouge can be responsible for a dramatic reduction of effective stress and a full fluidization of the material. The thickness of the 'ultra localized' zone of highly strained material is a key parameter that controls the competing phenomena of pore pressure increase leading to fluidization of the fault gouge and temperature increase leading to pore fluid vaporization

Anarchic Utopia in Aris Alexandrou's 'The Mission Box'

This paper shows that there are two notions of utopia operating in Aris Alexandrou’s novel The Mission Box (Το κιβώτιο). The first is the autarchic utopia espoused by the Communist Party and represented in the novel by the rational, chronologically organised narrative. The second is the anarchic utopia that disrupts the certainty of the rational narrative as well as the belief in a teleology that will lead to the Party’s victory. I argue that the anarchic interruption avoids a politics of oppression by extrapolating a notion of freedom whose definition does not rely on a negation of imprisonment

Reading Chapter One, Part Two of Papadiamantes's "The Merchant of the Nations".

This article examines one chapter in Alexandros Papadiamantes’s novel "The Merchants of the Nations" (1882-83) under the rubric of a logic of confession

Between Divine and Human Justice: A Reading of Papadiamantes's 'The Murderess'

Papadiamantes’s novella "The Murderess" has been read either as a moral tale exhibiting its author’s Orthodox beliefs, or as a critique of the gender positions and class structure of Greece at the end of the nineteenth century. Despite the seeming divergence, both approaches share a common foundation, namely that the author is conceived of as the bearer of the truth of the novella. Whereas the issue of truth in narration is presupposed, it remains unexamined. I argue that a conception of “truth” in "The Murderess" is to be gleaned, first, in a series of irresolvable tensions such as inside and outside, narrator and character, and even the very fact of Hadoula’s guilt, and, second, in the site of Hadoula’s death which takes place “between divine and human justice”. The ultimate purpose of this article is to offer the conditions of possible interpretations of "The Murderess" beyond the hold of either religion or sociology

Freedom as Overcoming the Fear of Death: Epicureanism in the Subtitle of Spinoza’s Theological Political Treatise

It is often put forward that the entire political project of epicureanism consists in the overcoming of fear, whereby its scope is deemed to be very narrow. I argue that the overcoming of the fear of death should actually be linked to a conception of freedom in epicureanism. This idea is further developed by Spinoza, who defines the free man as one who thinks of death least of all in the Ethics, and who develops this idea more in the Theological Political Treatise

Agonistic Equality in Rancière and Spinoza

Jacques Rancière’s conception of equality as an axiomatic presupposition of the political is important, because it bypasses the tradition which defines equality in terms of Aristotle’s conception of geometric equality. In this paper, I show that Rancière’s theory both espouses a monism, according to which inequality implies equality, and relies on a concept of the free will, which is incompatible with monism. I highlight this tension by bringing Rancière’s theory into conversation with the great monist of the philosophical tradition, Baruch Spinoza

The Play of Logos and Pathos: Longinus' Philosophical Presuppositions

Longinus' treatise, the first monograph on the sublime, is neither a rhetorical manual, nor a straight-forward philosophical work

An operational method for assessing traffic-related air pollution in urban streets

Urban air quality has been a topic of major public concern and scientific research in recent years. Several theoretical and experimental studies have focused on the assessment of air quality within street canyons and other microenvironments (intersections, motorways, parking spaces, etc.), where population exposure to traffic-related pollutants is relatively high. The aim of this study was to develop a practical methodology for assessing traffic-related air pollution in urban streets, after testing available monitoring and modelling techniques. To meet this objective, a large amount of original air quality, meteorological and traffic data were collected during four intensive short-term and one long-term monitoring campaigns carried out in the region of Paris from December 1998 to December 2001. These campaigns covered three representative street canyon sites (Bd. Voltaire, Rue de Rennes, Av. Leclerc - PI. Basch) as well as a motorway service station (RN10 petrol station). Passive and active monitoring techniques were used to sample a wide range of inorganic (CO, NO X and Os) and organic gases (benzene, toluene, xylene, ethylbenzene, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, etc.) at different heights and distances from the kerb. Indicative background measurements were also taken during the same sampling periods. Furthermore, relevant meteorological (synoptic and local) and traffic information was obtained on each site. The analysis of the data gave insights into the dispersion and transformation processes taking place within the streets. Channelling effects induced by parallel to the road axis winds gave rise to relatively high kerbside pollution levels. On the other hand, perpendicular synoptic winds generated air vortices within the canyons, which resulted in steep crossroad concentration gradients. In that case, higher pollution levels were observed on the leeward than on the windward side of the streets. A significant reduction of concentrations with height above the ground was also observed within two of the street canyons (Bd. Voltaire and Av. Leclerc). In all cases, roadside concentrations were several times higher than the corresponding urban background values. This spatial variability indicates a strong transport effect on the pollutant distribution within urban canyons, caused by the synoptic wind and influenced by the geometry of the street. That may have serious implications in terms of population exposure and compliance with air quality legislation. In this context, the siting of permanent monitoring equipment becomes crucial. A relationship between CO and benzene as well as an exponential expression linking pollutant concentrations at different heights within the canyons were empirically deduced. Five dispersion models of different levels of complexity (STREET-SRI, OSPM, AEOLIUS, CAR-International, and CALINE4) were used to calculate CO and benzene concentrations at the campaign sites. The Computational Fluid Dynamic code PHOENICS was also tested for one location. The comparison between observed and predicted values revealed the advantages and drawbacks of each model in association with the configuration of the street and the meteorological conditions. Furthermore, a sensitivity and uncertainty analysis involving three of the available models (STREET-SRI, OSPM and AEOLIUS) was carried out. OSPM was slightly modified in order to allow user access to certain internally coded parameters. An operational method combining multi-site sampling and dispersion modelling was finally proposed for assessing air quality in urban streets, taking into account the pronounced spatial and temporal variability of traffic-related air pollution, the modelling uncertainty, the practical constraints related to measurements and models, and the needs of decision makers. This methodology may find wider application in air quality management, urban and transport planning, and population exposure studies

Modeling a Housing and Mortgage Crisis

The purpose of this paper is to explore financial instability in this case due to a housing crisis and defaults on mortgages. The model incorporates heterogeneous banks and households. Mortgages are secured by collateral, which is equal to the amount of housing which agents purchase. Individual default is spread through the economy via the interbank market. Several comparative statistics illustrate the directional effects of a variety of shocks in the economy.