City Of Athens Research Articles

Improving the disaggregation of MODIS land surface temperatures in an urban environment: a statistical downscaling approach using high-resolution emissivity

ABSTRACTSpatially and temporally dense land surface temperature (LST) data are necessary to capture the high variability of the urban thermal environment. Sensors on board satellites with high revisit time cannot provide adequately detailed spatial information; thus, the downscaling of LST is recognized as being an important and inevitable intermediate process. In this paper, improvement in the downscaled LST accuracy is investigated, employing the statistical downscaling methodology in an urban setting. A new approach is proposed, where thermal radiances are disaggregated using multiple regression analysis and are then combined with emissivity values derived from a high-resolution image classification. Predictors include reflectance values, built-up and vegetation indices, and topographic data. Surface classification is performed utilizing machine learning techniques and fusing Sentinel-2 imagery with ancillary data. Thermal data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor are downscaled from their original resolution to 100 m in the city of Athens, Greece. Validation of sharpened temperatures is performed using the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) surface temperature product and in-situ measurements. It is demonstrated that the proposed downscaling framework using ridge regression has the potential to produce reliable, high temporal LST estimates with an average error of fewer than 2 K, while consistently having a better accuracy than the reference, single-predictor downscaling of the MODIS LST product.

An investigation of the fraud risk and fraud scheme methods in Greek commercial banks

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine types of fraud risk and fraud scheme methods in Greek commercial banks.Design/methodology/approachData used for this study were obtained from primary source through questionnaires. This method of data collection was followed and was considered appropriate because the information sought is not publicly available and middle management and internal auditors are in a good position to know the answers to the questions asked. Questionnaires were sent to a sample of 230 persons, all bank branch employees (internal auditors were excluded), in the city of Athens (capital city of Greece), in five banks, National Bank of Greece, Piraeus Bank, Alpha Bank, Eurobank and Postal Bank, during February 2017-March 2017. Finally, of the 230 questionnaires distributed, 225 completed and returned but only 203 of them were usable questionnaires. Cronbach’s alpha was used to test the reliability of variables.FindingsResults showed that forgeries, bribery and money laundering are the most important types of fraud risk, and the best fraud scheme methods are using dormant accounts and checks. Based on the empirical findings, the study recommends that there is a need for banks to implement a code of conduct and a code of ethics for staff, staff training, signature verification, control over dormant accounts, asking employees about their opinions and the way they feel about their bank, conducting surprise audits and using a hot line for whistleblowing.Practical implicationsThe study will help banks in fraud risk management and in the development of policies to reduce risk within the banking sector. Also, will be useful to all categories of potential bank clients and users of financial services including shareholders, creditors, debtors and fund providers.Originality/valueTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study examining middle management and staff opinions about fraud risk and fraud scheme methods in Greek commercial banks.

Application of Artificial Neuron Networks as energy consumption forecasting tool in the building of Regulatory Authority of Energy, Athens, Greece

The liberation of the Greek electricity market by the law 4426/2015 started a new area for the producers and the consumers of electricity, in order to improve energy efficiency and saving, promotes competitiveness and finally leads to the protection of the environment.The main objective of this work is the development of a forecasting tool with the use of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), in order to forecast the energy consumption in the building of Regulation Authority of Energy (RAE) in Athens city, Greece. More specifically, nine different scenarios and artificial neural networks respectively developed and trained in order give a sufficient prediction for the consumption of electricity, the consumption of natural gas during the cold period of the year and finally the chilling loads during the warm period of the year, 24hours ahead in hourly basis.For this purpose, hourly meteorological data from the nearest meteorological station belonging to the National Observatory of Athens as well as energy consumption data from the specific building in hourly bases were used.Results showed that ANNs present a remarkable forecasting ability to predict the energy consumption of the specific building 24hours ahead.

Focus IBBY

Focus IBBY Liz Page (bio) Hans Christian Andersen 2018 Award Ceremony at the 36th IBBY Congress 2018 Jury President Patricia Aldana introduced the evening and presided over the bestowing of the Andersen medals and diplomas. IBBY President Wally De Doncker helped in this task. Patricia Aldana’s Speech Welcome to this beautiful building in this most magnificent city of Athens for the very special evening when the 2018 winners of the Hans Christian Andersen Award will be honored, as they deserve. I would like to welcome not only all the Congress participants, but also His Excellency Mr. Yasuhiro Shimizu, the Japanese Ambassador to Greece, and his wife, Mrs. Yoshimi Shimizu; and Mr. Vladimir Grigoriev, the Deputy Head for the Russian Federal Agency for Press and Mass Communications. I also want to take this opportunity to warmly thank Vassiliki Nika and her organizing committee for this fantastic Congress and especially for this impressive venue for this award evening. Before I do anything else, I would like to once again thank our generous and wonderful sponsors, Nami Island Inc., the Minn family, and Mr. Kang. I would like to invite Mrs. Lee Kye Young to the stage to say a few words on behalf of our generous and engaged sponsor of the most prestigious international award for children’s literature. I would also like to welcome five Andersen nominees that are with us today. Please come to the stage to receive your diplomas as I call your name: Vagelis Iliopoulos, author from Greece; Jeannie Baker, illustrator from Australia; Andreas Konstantinides, author from Cyprus; Farhad Hassanzadeh, author from Iran; and Gundega Muzikante, illustrator from Latvia. I would also like to invite Sunji Jamba from Mongolia to come to the stage to receive her brother’s diploma. Sadly Dashdondog passed away after he was nominated. It was an honor to chair this remarkable group of jurors from all over the world. They came from such diverse professional backgrounds and from very different countries and cultures. Yet the meetings and discussions were extremely harmonious and the process of selection remarkably consensual. It has been an honor to chair such a diverse jury and to see how people from around the world can respect, talk, listen, change, learn, [End Page 69] and even come to love one another. If only the rest of the world operated as IBBY does. The jurors in alphabetical order by country; please stand if you are here with us: Lola Rubio, Argentina, an editor and librarian (present) Yasmine Motawy, Egypt, a professor of children’s literature (present) Eva Kaliskami, Greece, a teacher (present) Yasuko Doi, Japan, an international children’s librarian in Osaka (present) Shereen Kreidieh, Lebanon, a children’s publisher (present) Dennis Beznosov, Russia, an international children’s librarian (present) Andrej Ilc, Slovenia, a publisher of adult and children’s books Reina Duarte, Spain, a children’s publisher María Beatriz Medina, Venezuela, the director of the Banco del Libro and a professor (present) Junko Yokota, USA, a children’s literature specialist (present) We met for four days in Basel, Switzerland, in January. The short list was selected there, as were the winners. The jury would like to emphasize the high quality of many of the submissions, especially those on the short list. The first criteria for the selection of the short list and the winners was the artistic excellence of the writing and of the art. Of great importance to the jury was the author’s or illustrator’s ability to connect to children—the use of voice; the credibility of the child’s world; the ability of children worldwide to connect to the work, even if it was very culturally specific and authentic to the creator and her or his culture. The jurors were also interested to explore the creators’ willingness to take creative risks. But ultimately, the selection of these short-listed authors and illustrators, the winners, and the fifteen books that the jurors recommend for worldwide translation was the belief that these works should be read by children all over the world, be accessible and meaningful to them, and enrich their lives and understanding—in IBBY language—build bridges in a time when so many are...

Socrates's Last Words to the Physician God Asklepios: An Ancient Call for a Healing Ethos in Civic Life.

Socrates’s last words have remained enigmatic despite over two millennia of philosophical, literary, and historical interpretations. This paper suggests that Socrates was executed for questioning the imperialistic actions of Athens in the Peloponnesian War by elevating the emerging cult of Asklepios and advocating for Asklepian ideals. Plato’s dialogues show that Socrates saw Asklepios as more worthy of emulation than the warlike gods of the state-supported Greek pantheon. While dying from the executioner’s hemlock, Socrates asks his friend Crito to pay the traditional thank offering given to the physician-god: a cock symbolizing rebirth. He looks to the only god then known to revive the dead to help his ideas and spirit live on. Socrates’s last words thwart Athenian authorities’ attempts to silence him, issue a call for Asklepian ideals to prevail in the city of Athens, and identify the selfless caring for others exemplified by Asklepios as the highest duty for all humans. Socrates calls us from the past to remember timeless Asklepian physician duties to self, patients, and community. Socrates reminds modern physicians of their personal duty to make their own spiritual health their first priority, their professional duty to comfort the sick and alleviate suffering, and their societal duty to advocate for the vulnerable, sick, and suffering and the health of the public.

Pharmacotherapy of chronic vein diseases. New European guidelines

The 19th Annual Meeting of the European Venous Forum held in the city of Athens in 28-30 June 2018 presented the long-awaited updated guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic venous diseases (CVD), the full text of which can be found in the June issue of International Angiology Journal. This publication aims at acquainting practitioners with one of the key sections of the new European guidelines devoted to the pharmacotherapy of CVD.

Perceived air quality and particulate matter pollution based on field survey data during a winter period.

Outdoor air pollution and especially particulate matter pollution is a major environmental health issue that raises concerns of scientists and policy makers. This study focuses on air quality perception in relation to particulate matter in order to find potential patterns. Field questionnaire-based surveys were conducted among pedestrians on two central sites in the city of Athens, Greece, during the winter period while particulate matter of 10μm or less in diameter (PM10) were concurrently measured on-site at 1-min resolution. The participants were asked to evaluate the dust and the overall pollution-related air quality based on 5-point bipolar scales. Air quality perception patterns were explored considering PM10 concentration, meteorological and thermal conditions, and subjective variables including gender, age, smoking status, and health status. An effect of PM10 on dust perception was identified, suggesting that dusty air quality conditions are reported more frequently when particulate concentration increases. Health status, exposure time, smoking status, and gender were found to affect air quality perception. Participants experiencing health symptoms, exposed to outdoor conditions for more than 30min, smokers, and females were more likely to report unfavorable air quality conditions. The comparison with the results of a previous study obtained using air pollution station data confirmed the dependence of air quality perception on participants' characteristics and particularly on their health status. Ordinal logistic regression models showed that for pedestrians who were neither smokers nor experiencing health symptoms and were exposed to outdoor conditions for more than 30min, a PM10 concentration around 64μg·m-3 could be a threshold, to perceive dusty air quality conditions.

Spatial segregation and migration in the city of Athens: Investigating the evolution of urban socio‐spatial immigrant structures

AbstractMigration has long had an impact on spatial segregation within the metropolitan area of Athens. This process has also been affected by local economic restructuring mechanisms, which, in recent years, have evolved within the context of the 2008 economic crisis. This study attempts to shed light on the evolution of the spatial segregation of immigrants within the metropolitan area of Athens, during a period of a rapid urban transformation, using data from the last two census waves (2001 and 2011). Given that previous evidence indicates both vertical segregation in the immigrant labour market structure and diffused immigrant settlements, the work presented here investigates the ways in which urban migrant structures have evolved through local economic restructuring processes, as well as throughout space. The study presents a set of quantitative urban segregation indicators, covering the aspects of evenness, exposure, concentration, and centralisation. It also captures the most significant occupational changes between different migrant‐status groups (non‐EU and EU immigrants), during a crucial period for Athens. Evidence indicates that there has been an overall raise in immigrant settlement segregation, accompanied by an increased centralisation trend. Moreover, the urban transformation through economic restructuring that took place in Athens, following the general EU trend towards a knowledge‐based economic model, has altered the immigrant labour market structure, leading to vertical segregation patterns, driven by professionalisation.

Energy use and saving in residential sector and occupant behavior: A case study in Athens

In Greece, energy use in the residential sector corresponds to 24.4% of the total energy use in 2014, showing an increase of 13.8% in the period 1995–2014. Although the technical characteristics of a building have a significant impact on residential energy use, the behavior of the occupant is also crucial. Our aim is to investigate the interrelationships between the energy use behavior of occupants and their socio-demographic characteristics.The data used for this study were collected through a structured questionnaire. The survey was conducted during the spring of 2016 in the city of Athens. 451 people responded. The questionnaire comprised three parts: (a) building characteristics, (b) occupants' behavior, and (c) socio-demographic profile of occupants. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to identify the behavioral patterns (components) of occupants.Six energy behavioral patterns are identified: (a) environmentally aware, (b) environmentally friendly, (c) adopting energy saving practices, (d) having economic motivation behind energy saving practices, (e) environmentally uninvolved, and (f) environmentally unaware. These types are correlated with the socio-demographic profile of occupants highlighting the importance of gender, age, educational level, number of members per household and income in energy use and saving. In conclusion, energy behavior is quite complex and it is strongly associated with the socio-demographic characteristics. Within this context, policies regarding the improvement of energy use in residential sector should be tailored to specific needs of the target population groups. The three main axes are the increase of education level, the increase of environmental awareness of young people and the provision of financial incentives for the retrofit of energy saving devices for the citizens with lower income.

New Finds of Terracottas from the Sanctuary of the Nymphs and Demos on the Hill of the Nymphs in Athens

The archaeological area encompassing the hills to the west of the Athenian Acropolis, namely the Hill of the Muses (Philopappos Hill), the Pnyx, and the Hill of the Nymphs, (Asteroskopeion Hill), comprises a rocky formation of some 700 acres. Because of their key geographic location these hills played a crucial role in the history of the city of ancient Athens. Archaeological exploration at the summit of the Hill of the Nymphs revealed a sanctuary dedicated to the Nymphs that can be traced back to the late seventh century B.C.E.; by the mid-fifth century this had become known as the sanctuary of the Nymphs and Demos. A large number of handmade terracotta figurines belonging to the typical Attic repertoire of the sixth century B.C.E. found in many sanctuaries of female deities in Attica were unearthed from repositories in this sanctuary. Their presence reinforces the Nymphs’ reputation as protectors of fertility and marriage, as these figurines were popular offerings at the sanctuary for a period of a century and a half.

Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) and synoptic circulation patterns over the metropolitan city of Athens, Greece

<p>The present study aims to investigate the human thermal stress with respect to the synoptic scale circulation over the metropolitan city of Athens in Greece. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was applied in order to assess the levels of thermal stress employing three-hour meteorological data for four stations of the urban complex for a ten-year period (2006-2015). The patterns of the synoptic atmospheric circulation were classified in eight distinct categories based on a clustering scheme. The obtained results in summer reveal low UTCI values on days that are associated with a cyclonic pattern or a cold advection from the northwest or north. On the contrary, the days with an anticyclonic pattern show high UTCI values. During winter, low UTCI values are observed on days that are associated with a pure cyclonic pattern, a prevailing northern flow and a strong cold air advection from the northwest or north. During nighttime, high UTCI values are noted on days with south-westerly flow. However, this is not observed during daytime and especially around midday. The analysis also shows that the position of the station affects the levels of thermal stress for the same synoptic category.</p>

Numerical Investigation of the Failure Mechanism of Articulated Aqueduct

AbstractThe total water needs of the city of Athens are supplied through the Mornos aqueduct. The Mornos aqueduct includes series of tunnels, siphons, and open R/C (reinforced concrete) canal segme...

Assessment of Advanced Natural Ventilation Space Cooling Potential across Southern European Coastal Region

Analyzing the Köppen–Geiger climate classification and available climate data for the southern European Mediterranean coast, eight reference geolocations were selected for this analysis: the cities of Valencia, Barcelona, Marseille, Rome, Koper, Split, Athens and Nicosia. The first part of the research applies the climate potential for natural ventilation (CPNV) methodology that evaluates the theoretical availability of natural ventilation (NV) for each city location corresponding to human hygrothermal conditions. The second part of the article evaluates possible cooling energy savings (ES) applying the advanced natural ventilation (ANV) space-cooling strategy. A hypothetical four-story atrium office building model is designed for the building performance simulation (BPS) using mixed-mode (or hybrid-mode) and night-time natural ventilation (NNV) approaches. The objective is to present a comparison overview of possible space cooling ES between chosen geolocations. In the context of the current European Union’s (EU) energy transition (ET) process, the article displays ANV possibilities, as a renewable energy source (RES), in the reduction of building space cooling energy demands (ED) on the electricity grid.

Integrating parametric and non-parametric multivariate analysis of urban growth and commuting patterns in a European metropolitan area

Mono-centric regions have experienced a progressive transformation towards polycentric structures. Transition to discontinuous and dispersed spatial configurations was particularly evident in formerly compact and dense European cities, as a result of increasingly complex commuting patterns. Under the hypothesis that central locations have a balanced rate of resident population to internal workers and attract workers from neighbouring places, a multivariate analysis of commuting patterns may reveal latent transformations of compact, mono-centric cities towards polycentrism and settlement scattering. A more comprehensive understanding of the intimate nature and implications of urban transitions taking place in the last decades in Athens (Greece), a representative metropolitan region in southern Europe, was carried out using census data analyzed through a framework integrating descriptive statistics and mapping, multivariate exploratory data analysis, non-parametric inference and regression models. The analytical framework was proposed with the aim to assess commuting patterns vis a vis urban hierarchy in a context of (more or less) de-centralized growth. Empirical results for the study area indicate the persistence of a bi-centric spatial structure gravitating on the central cities of Athens and Piraeus, with early formation of employment sub-centres and local-scale alterations of the mono-centric scheme as a result of discontinuous urban expansion. Exurban development was associated with the formation of self-contained sub-centres with an increasing proportion of workers in total resident population.

The philosophy of paediatric teaching: An interview with Dr Nikolaos Myriokefalitakis, former Clinical Director of the 'Penteli' Children's Hospital in Athens (Greece).

Dr Nikolaos Myriokefalitakis, one of the most experienced paediatricians in the city of Athens, Greece, has worked as a consultant paediatrician at the ‘P. & A. Kyriakou’ Children's Hospital for more than 25 years, while during the 2004–2011 period, he was the clinical director of the 1st Paediatric Department of the ‘Penteli’ Children's Hospital. Under his leadership, in 2008, his department was renovated by ‘Stavros Niarchos Foundation’ and was organised as one of the most modern and exemplary national paediatric departments in Greece. Having the title of the ‘teacher in paediatrics’ by his junior Greek colleagues, he supports that clinical experience obtained through ward-based bedside teaching is the fundamental principle of paediatric teaching. He notes that paediatric diagnosis is performed thorough medical history and detailed physical examination of the patient and it is rarely established with the help of laboratory, common or specialised, investigations. According to Dr Myriokefalitakis, a modern paediatric department cannot function ‘in a vacuum’, but requires technological support, adequate medical and nursing personnel and team-working between paediatricians and experts on paediatric subspecialties and other basic specialties. He accepts that the current financial crisis in Greece has clearly affected negatively the clinical practice of primary as well as hospital-based paediatric care, while he regrets to note that as the years go by, physicians become more obsessed with defense medicine and technology. He suggests that it is necessary to distinguish paediatric virology from virology and he ends up encouraging the improvement of paediatric training in Greece highlighting the basic need to ‘train the trainers’ in medical education.

The Museum of Our Discoveries: Empowering Young Refugees in an Urban Context

This article describes an initiative to connect a small refugee community with the city of Athens using cultural sightseeing as a medium for creating meaningful socio‐cultural experiences and the sharing and exchange of past memories. The sightseeing experience led to an impromptu exhibition in a refugee camp in the outskirts of Athens that was co‐created by a group of teenagers from Iraq, Syria and Kurdistan. The article reports on the context and process of this undertaking and the challenges this experience entailed. The project proved an empowering experience for all those involved and a learning experience for future initiatives of this kind.

Bathy-morphological setting of the Submarine Pausanias Volcanic Field, South Aegean Active Volcanic Arc

ABSTRACTHigh-resolution swath-bathymetry has been acquired during recent surveys in Saronikos Gulf, near the densely populated city of Athens. This paper presents the first detailed bathymetric map, at a scale of 1:12,000, of the active Submarine Pausanias Volcanic Field located offshore NW Methana Peninsula in Saronikos Gulf, Aegean Sea (Main Map). Rugged morphology characterizes the volcanic field that includes mainly cone-shaped features. Six volcanic outcrops, covering an area of about 12 km2, have been morpho-bathymetrically outlined, and their sub-bottom character has been described by the integration of 2D seismic reflection profiles. Two groups of outcrops have been distinguished. An older group comprising more complex, erosional-shaped outcrops, and a younger group consisting of sub-conical outcrops. Both groups have been morphologically correlated to their onshore equivalents in the adjacent peninsula of Methana. Despite the active tectonic regime of the region, no evidence of mass transport-related features have been observed.

The EC hotspot approach in Greece: creating liminal EU territory

ABSTRACTThis article makes a theoretical argument stemming from our study of the European Commission’s hotspot approach to the management of migrant populations. It draws on empirical research findings from field research which took place on the island of Lesbos and in the city of Athens over the course of 20 months and links these to emerging critical studies of the new EU border regime. No clear definition exists of what comprises a hotspot: instead, the European Commission describes this as an integrated ‘approach’ for the enhancement of the capacity of member states to deal with crises resulting from pressures at the Union’s external borders. Effective in its ambiguity, the ‘hotspot approach’ therefore constitutes, as we argue, an integral part of the Europeanisation and institutionalisation of border management: a powerfully ambiguous dispositif in the EU’s emerging border regime. The article unpacks the notion of the hotspot from a historical perspective and explores the ways in which the hotspot contributes toward the culmination of European integration, paving the way for the flexible governance of mobility and asylum. We situate the hotspot within the historical shift of migration and mobility control from the border to the territory as a whole and conclude by arguing that the hotspot plays the role of a territorial incubator for the liminal EU territory: a paradigmatic space for a new form of governance that further disentangles territory from rights.

‘These people should not rest’: mobilities and frictions of the homeless geographies in Athens city centre

The paper relates homelessness to the ‘new mobilities paradigm’ by highlighting mobility’s constitutive character in homeless geographies, and the politics involved in the making of mobile homeless subjectivities in central Athens. Ethnographic material demonstrates that, within the city’s institutional and material context, a specific sense of mobility prevails, which may reflect broader mentalities of managing the poor in times of austerity. The case of a night shelter exemplifies how this institutional sense materialises, whereas crucial frictions are involved in the city’s homeless geographies. Yet it is the homeless subjects that embody, experience and make these mobilities and frictions meaningful and political.

Optimum external wall insulation thickness considering the annual CO2 emissions

Increasing the insulation thickness in residential buildings leads to the reduction of operational CO2 emissions but simultaneously increases the embodied CO2 due to the insulation material. The environmentally optimum insulation thickness exists at a point where the total CO2 emissions are minimum. This work presents the optimum insulation thickness for external walls of different composition and orientation, for both the heating and the cooling period. Three different wall types and insulation materials are being presented. The dynamic thermal behavior of the external walls simulation is based on the heat conduction transfer functions method and using the hourly climatic data available for the city of Athens, Greece. The optimization methodology uses a single objective function approach, combining the simulation of the thermal behavior of external walls with an optimization algorithm. The results indicate that the optimum insulation thickness varies from 11.2 to 23.4 cm and is different for each orientation, wall type, and insulation material. In addition, the total annual CO2 emissions per unit area of the wall can be reduced by 63.2%–72.2%, depending on the insulation material and its position on the wall.