Counting joints with multiplicities

Let $\mathfrak{L}$ be a collection of $L$ lines in $\R^3$ and $J$ the set of joints formed by $\mathfrak{L}$, i.e. the set of points each of which lies in at least 3 non-coplanar lines of $\mathfrak{L}$. It is known that $|J| \lesssim L^{3/2}$ (first proved by Guth and Katz). For each joint $x \in J$, let the multiplicity $N(x)$ of $x$ be the number of triples of non-coplanar lines through $x$. We prove here that $\sum_{x \in J}N(x)^{1/2} \lesssim L^{3/2}$, while in the last section we extend this result to real algebraic curves of uniformly bounded degree in $\R^3$, as well as to curves in $\R^3$ parametrised by real polynomials of uniformly bounded degree.Comment: More details in section 4. Typos corrected. The main results are unchange

Counting joints in vector spaces over arbitrary fields

We give a proof of the "folklore" theorem that the Kaplan--Sharir--Shustin/Quilodr\'an result on counting joints associated to a family of lines holds in vector spaces over arbitrary fields, not just the reals. We also discuss a distributional estimate on the multiplicities of the joints in the case that the family of lines is sufficiently generic.Comment: Not intended for publication. References added and other minor edits in this versio

Aspects of Rural Development in Greece: Indicators, Policies and New Opportunities

Rural development has attracted the interest of European regional and agricultural policies in the last two decades. This is more evident after the late 1990’s when rural development became the second pillar of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In Greece, traditional agricultural programs have given their place to rural development programs. This shift of emphasis in European agricultural policy reflects the change in the way rural development is perceived at an international level. Rural development is no more synonymous to agricultural development and the role of other factors such as alternative employment opportunities and accessibility to urban centers is widely recognized. Greece has a large agricultural sector compared to the European average, although employment in the primary sector has decreased significantly in the last three decades. In terms of rural development great differences are observed among regions which can be attributed to differences in agricultural potential and accessibility to the markets as well as to a differentiated degree of incorporation to international markets. The prospects of the agricultural sector in Greece would not be considered as favorable, especially after the latest CAP reform. Therefore rural development has to be promoted through non-agricultural activities or through some innovative agricultural activities. In this paper a series of indices describing the agricultural potential in the NUTSIII regions in Greece as well as several aspects of rural development will be presented. Statistical analysis, mostly classification techniques, will be employed in order to explore the factors contributing to rural development in Greece. Special attention will be given to the introduction of organic farming in Greece and its potential contribution to rural development. Organic farming is considered as an innovative agricultural activity and it can be a viable alternative for declining rural regions. Finally, rural development policies in Greece, through regional policy programs and the current Rural Development Program, will be presented, with emphasis on the shift from measures for the agricultural sector to measures for rural development. Special consideration will be given to the measures addressed to organic farming and their effectiveness in the development of the sector will be discussed.

Transformation of Rural Patterns in Greece in a European Regional Development Perspective (The Case of Crete)

Rural space in Greece is experiencing a significant transformation. During the last four decades the traditional urban-rural dichotomy has given its place to complex spatial patterns which are in a process of continuous change. This change is the result of a variety of factors such as the international economic environment, the emergence of new economic activities in rural areas, mainly the service sector and tourism, the changing urban-rural relations as well as the implementation of national and European policies for the agricultural sector and for rural development. In addition, rural development is not any longer dependent solely on the agricultural sector but also on the rural- urban relationships and the presence of a large variety of economic activities in rural areas. In this paper data concerning demographic, economic and infrastructure characteristics of rural areas are analyzed for the last five population Censuses, describing the transformation of rural space in Greece. A number of typologies of rural areas in Greece are presented for different time periods which demonstrate the significant changes of rural patterns in the last two decades. These typologies are employed in order to suggest policy guidelines for rural development in Greece. The results will be presented in a GIS environment and when appropriate will be compared to similar studies in Europe. Finally policies for agricultural and rural development, in the context of European regional and spatial development, will be examined in relation to rural patterns in Greece and the development perspectives of rural areas.

Harmonic Gradience in Greek Rap Rhymes

This study investigates the gradience in mismatch acceptability in Greek rap Imperfect Rhyme. We consider that the rhyme domains of a rhyming pair are in a Base-Reduplicant correspondence relationship, requiring segmental identity in Place of Articulation, Manner of Articulation and voicing, and manifesting a gradient acceptability of featural mismatches. Analysis shows that voicing mismatches are highly marked in Greek rap rhyme, implying a high perceptual salience, which seems to be language-specific. Mismatches only in Place of Articulation seem to be the most harmonic and frequent mismatch pattern, while Harmony and similarity decrease in inverse proportion to the number of mismatching features. Mismatches in Greek rap rhyme are, in principle, accepted between unmarked corresponding consonants. Obstruents, mainly Stops mismatch in Place of Articulation, and Coronals mismatch in Manner of Articulation. In general, mainly Coronal Obstruents and, to a lesser extent, Nasals are involved in mismatches. Due to the attested high avoidance of voicing mismatches, which are acoustically non-salient, we propose that, in Standard Modern Greek, perceptual salience is not purely phonetic, as it seems to be also based on the language-specific phonological grammar

UrbanDig Project: sport practices and artistic interventions for co-creating urban space

The 'UrbanDig Project' has been created by the non-for-profit organisation Ohi Paizoume, based in Athens, Greece. Behind the project lies the motivation to tackle the need for civic engagement and interaction with the urban space (either open/public spaces or private buildings), while suggesting that this cannot be a sterilized process but an ongoing, continuously unfinished “reporting from the front” of the (un-)measurable, the (in-)visible, the (un-)real. The organisation puts at the heart of its work the creation of site-specific content that forms the foundation of community programs researching the cultural capital of a neighbourhood, bringing people from various ages, backgrounds and disciplines (including arts and sport) together. Although primarily an arts-based practice, sport is among the key methodological tools used in the research and civic engagement process, while there is a strong sports-related component in the site specific performances that take place at the end of each project as a means of celebration of the collective effort and the creation of new/ enhanced narratives for each neighbourhood’s storytelling. In this paper we aim to elaborate how sport and arts can sharply intervene and contribute to co-producing urban space and wellbeing. To illustrate these points, we are using the example of Urban Dig Project, Xouthou Street, an intervention in the urban space of Greece

Because of You

Second-person storytelling is a continually present and diverse technique in the history of literature that appears only once in the oeuvre of an author. Based on key narratives of the post-war period, Evgenia Iliopoulou approaches the phenomenon in an inductive way, starting out from the essentials of grammar and rhetoric, and aims to improve the general understanding of second-person narrative within literature. In its various forms and typologies, the second person amplifies and expands the limits of representation, thus remaining a narrative enigma: a small narrative gesture – with major narrative impact

Spatial analysis of housing prices in the Athens Region, Greece

In this paper the housing prices in the Greater Athens region are analyzed employing data for the structural and locational characteristics of dwellings. The sample is derived from the total housing supply in 2017 and includes several thousand dwellings for sale available by online real estate agencies. However only houses for which the approximate location, in terms of geographic coordinates, is available are included in the sample.At first a description of the houses is provided, in terms of their structural characteristics, such as type of the dwelling, size, floor, number of bedrooms, parking etc. In addition several characteristics relative to the location of dwellings, such as distance from the closest metro station or distance from the city center are calculated in a GIS environment.Second, the influence of several factors on housing prices, for example the provision of parking or the type of the dwelling are examined, through statistical testing.Finally, regression analysis is used in order to estimate housing prices in the Greater Athens region. The explanatory factors are structural as well as locational characteristics.  Due to the spatial dependency of the residuals in Ordinary Least Squares method, a spatial regression model (Geographically Weighted Regression) is also presented, which improves the accuracy of the prediction.A general conclusion is that most locational characteristics did not contribute significantly to the explanatory power of a regression model when compared to structural characteristics. However, the importance of locational factors was more evident when some critical distances were incorporated in statistical testing