Taxonomic and functional plant diversity of the Santorini-Christiana island group (Aegean Sea, Greece)

This is the first attempt to analyse vascular plant diversity patterns regarding the seven vegetated islands of the Santorini archipelago (Aegean Sea, Greece) as a whole. Hitherto unpublished floristic records, combined with critical use of taxonomic and chorological information from previous and most recent literature, resulted in a total of 696 infrageneric taxa (species and subspecies) occurring in the area. Detailed qualitative and quantitative phytodiversity spectra per individual island are presented, and floristic dissimilarity (beta-diversity) between islands is considered. Spatial distribution of 28 chorological, ecological, vegetative and reproductive traits for each recorded taxon have been calculated in order to detect regional and fundamental patterns in functional biogeography beyond traditional species-based approaches, based on both taxonomic and functional components of diversity. Mediterranean species constitute the most abundant chorological element and therophytes the most abundant life-form element in the region. Surface area is the most influential variable contributing to species richness; very strong relationships in (1) species per area, (2) functional richness per area and (3) functional richness per species richness are revealed for the Santorini archipelago. Floristic cross-correlations revealed an overall high floristic heterogeneity among the individual islands. The phytodiversity assessment presented is undoubtedly of documentary value in consideration of expected future eruptive events in the area which may damage the plant cover at least on some of the involved islands to a yet unpredictable extent

An artificial intelligence algorithm analyzing 30 years of research in mass appraisals

The research papers issued in scientific journals, for a variety of thematic areas, are not only increasing, nonetheless exhibit an exponential growth over the last years. Accordingly, the researchers, struggle to retrieve information apropos of novel knowledge and get informed in their field, while the rigor and at the same time, the extensive composition of surveys, reviews, and overviews of research works, has become difficult or even impossible, as the number of the available research studies is enormous. However, such reviews, contain vital information regarding the evolution of a scientific subject, the trends of the literature, the most significant concepts, and the concealed associations among research papers, their references, as well as authors’ clusters. In this work, a scientometric study of the relevant to Mass Appraisals literature is for a first time accomplished, regarding the numerical models, computational procedures, and automated methods, utilized in the Mass Appraisals and Property Valuations literature. The study is based on an adequate pool of papers, constituted in Scopus database, utilizing a machine learning algorithm developed from one of the authors, for multidimensional scaling and clustering of the keywords found in the papers’ database, the authors and their cooperation and the co-occurrences of the references in the papers studied. The time-series of the most frequent keywords are also computed, demonstrating the evolution of the mass appraisals research and identifying future trends

Southern Orientation and Natural Cross Ventilation: Mind the Gap(s) What Clients, Valuers, Realtors and Architects Believe

Sun, Air and Water are the most powerful sources of life on earth. Southern Orientation (SO) and Natural Cross Ventilation (NCV) are the best expressions of our relationship to those eternal forces. SO and NCV are behind any successful Passive Solar Design. Health, comfort, air quality, natural lighting, residential satisfaction, good micro-climatic conditions, green spaces, vegetation, energy-saving, and psychological well-being rely on these two archetypal determinants. Architectural practice is constantly accentuating the fact that our homes and cities need solar access and ventilation. Research in the Health and environmental sector reveals an urgent need for SO and NCV. Research from the real estate field is segmented and not conclusive on these values. People are buying apartments overlooking the importance of SO and NCV. Developers are building in a bulk manner, unaware of any benefits. Realtors are underestimating these qualities. Most importantly, valuers estimate all other factors, except these two. There is confusion on what has a real value for our life and to what extend this can be measured and quantified. Survey-based economic techniques will have to be employed for the valuation of SO and NCV as for now, according to research, they do not seem to have a market value (or price). We might have to rely more on “stated preference” models, in contrast to a price-based “revealed preference” model. The contribution of this work is intended to be the trigger to all, for attention on SO and NCV as archetypal determinants of value

Mesino - Antimesino Oscillations

The phenomenological implications of supersymmetric theories with low scale supersymmetry breaking and a squark as the lightest standard model superpartner are investigated. Such squarks hadronize with light quarks, forming sbaryons and mesinos before decaying. Production of these supersymmetric bound states at a high energy collider can lead to displaced jets with large negative impact parameter. Neutral mesino - antimesino oscillations are not forbidden by any symmetry and can occur at observable rates with distinctive signatures. Stop mesino - antimesino oscillations would give a sensitive probe of up-type sflavor violation in the squark sector, and can provide a discovery channel for supersymmetry through events with a same-sign top-top topology.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, LaTe

Implications of Low Energy Supersymmetry Breaking at the Tevatron

The signatures for low energy supersymmetry breaking at the Tevatron are investigated. It is natural that the lightest standard model superpartner is an electroweak neutralino, which decays to an essentially massless Goldstino and photon, possibly within the detector. In the simplest models of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking, the production of right-handed sleptons, neutralinos, and charginos leads to a pair of hard photons accompanied by leptons and/or jets with missing transverse energy. The relatively hard leptons and softer photons of the single e^+e^- \gamma \gamma + \EmissT event observed by CDF implies this event is best interpreted as arising from left-handed slepton pair production. In this case the rates for l^{\pm} \gamma \gamma + \EmissT and \gamma \gamma + \EmissT are comparable to that for l^+l^- \gamma \gamma + \EmissT.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, tables correcte

New Constraints on Chiral Gauge Theories

Recently, a new constraint on the structure of a wide class of strongly coupled field theories has been proposed. It takes the form of an inequality limiting the number of degrees of freedom in the infrared description of a theory to be no larger than the number of underlying, ultraviolet degrees of freedom. Here we apply this inequality to chiral gauge theories. For some models we find that it is always satisfied, while for others we find that the assumption of the validity of the inequality implies a strong additional restriction on the spectrum of massless composite particles.Comment: 11 pages, Revte

Experimental signatures of low energy gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking

The experimental signatures for gauge mediated supersymmetry breaking are presented. The phenomenology associated with this class of models is distinctive since the gravitino is naturally the LSP. The next lightest supersymmetric particle (NLSP) can be a gaugino, Higgsino, or right handed slepton. Decay of the NLSP to its partner plus the LSP proceeds through the Goldstino component of the gravitino. For a significant range of parameters this decay can take place within the detector, and can be measured as a displaced vertex or kink in a charged particle track. In the case that the NLSP is mostly gaugino, we identify the discovery modes as e^+e^- \rightarrow \gamma \gamma + \Emiss, and p \bar{p} \rightarrow l^+ l^- \gamma \gamma + \EmissT. If the NLSP is a right handed slepton the discovery modes are e^+ e^- \rightarrow l^+ l^- + \Emiss and p \bar{p} \rightarrow l^+ l^- + \EmissT. An NLSP which is mostly Higgsino is also considered. Finally, these theories can contain scalar particles which mediate sub-millimeter range coherent forces of gravitational strength

Phenomenological Implications of Low Energy Supersymmetry Breaking

The experimental signatures for low energy supersymmetry breaking are presented. The lightest standard model superpartner is unstable and decays to its partner plus a Goldstino, $G$. For a supersymmetry breaking scale below a few 1000 TeV this decay can take place within a detector, leading to very distinctive signatures. If a neutralino is the lightest standard model superpartner it decays by $\chi_1^0 \to \gamma + G$, and if kinematically accessible by $\chi_1^0 \to (Z^0, h^0, H^0, A^0) + G$. These decays can give rise to displaced vertices. Alternately, if a slepton is the lightest standard model superpartner it decays by $\tilde{l} \to l + G$. This can be seen as a greater than minimum ionizing charged particle track, possibly with a kink to a minimum ionizing track.Comment: 5 pages, Latex, requires espcrc2.sty, to appear in the proceedings of SUSY9

Sparticle Spectroscopy and Electroweak Symmetry Breaking with Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry Breaking

The phenomenology associated with gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking is presented. A renormalization group analysis of the minimal model is performed in which the constraints of radiative electroweak symmetry breaking are imposed. The resulting superpartner and Higgs boson spectra are highly correlated and depend on only a few parameters. Superpartner mass ratios and sum rules are identified which can be tested at future colliders. Some of these relations are logarithmically sensitive to the messenger scale, while others allow gauge-mediation to be distinguished from other schemes for tansmitting supersymmetry breaking. Deviations from the minimal model, such as larger messenger representations and additional contributions to Higgs sector masses, can in some circumstances dramatically modify the low energy spectrum. These modifications include a slepton or Higgsino as the lightest standard model superpartner, or exotic mass relations among the scalars and gauginos. The contribution to $b \to s \gamma$ and resulting bound on superpartner masses are also presented for the minimal model. Finally, the unique collider signatures of heavy charged particle production, or decay to the Goldstino within a detector are discussed.Comment: 59 pages, Latex, published versio

Is There a Peccei-Quinn Phase Transition?

The nature of axion cosmology is usually said to depend on whether the Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry breaks before or after inflation. The PQ symmetry itself is believed to be an accident, so there is not necessarily a symmetry during inflation at all. We explore these issues in some simple models, which provide examples of symmetry breaking before and after inflation, or in which there is no symmetry during inflation and no phase transition at all. One effect of these observations is to relax the constraints from isocurvature fluctuations due to the axion during inflation. We also observe new possibilities for evading the constraints due to cosmic strings and domain walls, but they seem less generic.Comment: 14 pages. Several references adde