Hasil untuk "History of Greece"

Emanuele Bottazzi, Mikhail G. Katz

We apply Nancy Cartwright's distinction between theories and basic models to explore the history of rival approaches to modeling a notion of chance for an ideal uniform physical process known as a fair spinner. This process admits both Archimedean and non-Archimedean models. Advocates of Archimedean models maintain that the fair spinner should satisfy hypotheses such as invariance with respect to rotations by an arbitrary real angle, and assume that the optimal mathematical tool in this context is the Lebesgue measure. Others argue that invariance with respect to all real rotations does not constitute an essential feature of the underlying physical process, and could be relaxed in favor of regularity. We show that, working in ZFC, no subset of the commonly assumed hypotheses determines a unique model, suggesting that physically based intuitions alone are insufficient to pin down a unique mathematical model. We provide a rebuttal of recent criticisms of non-Archimedean models by Parker and Pruss.

Viviana Schisa, Matteo Farnè

Climate change is increasingly recognized as a driver of health-related outcomes, yet its impact on pharmaceutical demand remains largely understudied. As environmental conditions evolve and extreme weather events intensify, anticipating their influence on medical needs is essential for designing resilient healthcare systems. This study examines the relationship between climate variability and the weekly demand for respiratory prescription pharmaceuticals in Greece, based on a dataset spanning seven and a half years (390 weeks). Granger causality spectra are employed to explore potential causal relationships. Following variable selection, four forecasting models are implemented: Prophet, a Vector Autoregressive model with exogenous variables (VARX), Random Forest with Moving Block Bootstrap (MBB-RF), and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks. The MBB-RF model achieves the best performance in relative error metrics while providing robust insights through variable importance rankings. The LSTM model outperforms most metrics, highlighting its ability to capture nonlinear dependencies. The VARX model, which includes Prophet-based exogenous inputs, balances interpretability and accuracy, although it is slightly less competitive in overall predictive performance. These findings underscore the added value of climate-sensitive variables in modeling pharmaceutical demand and provide a data-driven foundation for adaptive strategies in healthcare planning under changing environmental conditions.

Andreas N. Angelakis, Andrea G. Capodaglio, Rohitashw Kumar et al.

At the beginning of human history, surface water, especially from rivers and springs, was the most frequent water supply source. Groundwater was used in arid and semi-arid regions, e.g., eastern Crete (Greece). As the population increased, periodic water shortages occurred, which led to the development of sophisticated hydraulic structures for water transfer and for the collection and storage of rainwater, as seen, for example, in Early Minoan times (ca 3200–2100 BC). Water supply and urban planning had always been essentially related: the urban water supply systems that existed in Greece since the Bronze Age (ca 3200–1100 BC) were notably advanced, well organized, and operable. Water supply systems evolved considerably during the Classical and Hellenistic periods (ca 480–31 BC) and during the Roman period (ca 31 BC–480 AD). Also, early Indian society was an amazing vanguard of technology, planning, and vision, which significantly impacted India’s architectural and cultural heritage, thus laying the foundation for sustainable urban living and water resource management. In ancient Egypt, the main source of freshwater was the Nile River; Nile water was conveyed by open and closed canals to supply water to cities, temples, and fields. Underground stone-built aqueducts supplied Nile water to so-called Nile chambers in temples. The evolution of water supply and urban planning approaches from ancient simple systems to complex modern networks demonstrates the ingenuity and resilience of human communities. Many lessons can be learned from studying traditional water supply systems, which could be re-considered for today’s urban sustainable development. By digging into history, measures for overcoming modern problems can be found. Rainwater harvesting, establishing settlements in proximity of water sources to facilitate access to water, planning, and adequate drainage facilities were the characteristics of ancient civilizations since the ancient Egyptian, Minoan, Mohenjo-Daro, Mesopotamian, and Roman eras, which can still be adopted for sustainability. This paper presents significant lessons on water supply around the world from ancient times to the present. This diachronic survey attempts to provide hydro-technology governance for the present and future.

Arturo J. Brugger Aubán

The use of poisons spans human history, serving as tools for war, execution, assassination, revenge, and political control. Ancient texts like the "Rig Veda" mention poisoned weapons, and many civilizations used natural toxins—such as frog skin, snake venom, and plant extracts—for lethal purposes. Mythology reflects deep knowledge of poisons. Medea attempted to poison Theseus with aconite to protect her son’s claim to the throne. Hercules used Hydra’s venom to create deadly arrows. In historical contexts, figures like Socrates were executed with poison—hemlock in his case—which was reserved for elite criminals due to its cost. Classical toxicology began in Ancient Greece and continued through the Roman Empire. During Rome’s imperial era, poisons were commonly used in power struggles. Tiberius’ reign saw suspected poisonings of his potential successors, including Germanicus and Drusus. Caligula ultimately rose to power through such intrigue, killing his rivals. Notable toxicologists include Mateo Orfila, who advanced forensic detection techniques in the 19th century, and Juan Bautista Peset Aleixandre, who developed early devices to detect toxic gases in the blood. Natural poisons were also studied in modern science. Cobra venom contains dozens of toxic proteins, many of which disrupt nerve and muscle function. Aconitine, found in "Aconitum napellus", binds to sodium channels in nerves, keeping them open and causing fatal disruptions in cell signaling. Another plant-based toxin, protoanemonin from buttercups, causes painful spasms and ulcers, giving rise to the term "sardonic smile". In Renaissance and Baroque Europe, poisoners like Locusta in Nero’s Rome and La Voisin in Louis XV’s court gained notoriety for their lethal skills. They supplied aristocrats with toxic mixtures to remove rivals or secure inheritances. One infamous potion, “Aqua Tofana”, was linked to hundreds of deaths, possibly including that of Mozart. Venice’s secretive Council of Ten used poison for state security, relying on anonymous citizen reports and aconite-based poisons. In France, women like the Marquise de Brinvilliers and La Voisin were executed for mass poisonings. These individuals often disguised their poisons as medicine or spiritual remedies, exploiting trust and social status. Through myth, science, and scandal, poisons have left an indelible mark on human history, both as instruments of death and as subjects of fascination and fear.

Federico Laudisa

The Bohr and von Neumann views on the measurement process in quantum mechanics have been interpreted for a long time in somewhat controversial terms, often leading to misconceptions. On the basis of some textual analysis, I would like to show that, contrary to a widespread opinion, their views should be taken less inconsistent, and much closer to each other, than usually thought. As a consequence, I claim that Bohr and von Neumann are conceptually on the same side on the issue of the universality of quantum mechanics: hopefully, this might contribute to a more accurate history of the measurement problem in quantum mechanics.

Emily F. Kerrison, Ron D. Ekers, John Morgan et al.

Recent observations of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) at radio frequencies have proved to be a powerful tool for probing the solar environment from the ground. But how far back does this tradition really extend? Our survey of the literature to date has revealed a long history of scintillating observations, beginning with the oral traditions of Indigenous peoples from around the globe, encompassing the works of the Ancient Greeks and Renaissance scholars, and continuing right through into modern optics, astronomy and space science. We outline here the major steps that humanity has taken along this journey, using scintillation as a tool for predicting first terrestrial, and then space weather without ever having to leave the ground.

Bienvenido Martínez-Navarro, Joan Madurell-Malapeira, Sergio Ros-Montoya et al.

On 2015, after the direct study of the most important Late Villafranchian fossil collections of Europe and Western Asia, including Orce (Spain), Pirro Nord and Upper Valdarno (Italy), Appollonia (Greece), Dmanisi (Georgia) and ‘Ubeidiya (Israel), among others, our team proposed the hypothesis that suids disappeared from Europe during the time span between 1.8 and 1.2 Ma. The implications of our conclusions were significant, the arrival of Early <i>Homo</i> into Western Europe, dated to 1.4 Ma at the site of Barranco León in Orce (Spain), preceded the return of pigs into the continent at 1.2 Ma. This hypothesis has been recently challenged because of the finding of an incomplete metatarsal ascribed to <i>Sus</i> sp., with no clear stratigraphic origin, found in the XIX Century Croizet collection of Peyrolles (France), which is housed in the Natural History Museum, London, together with other weak arguments based on the absence of reliable dating for many Early Pleistocene European sites, and other hypothetical records of pigs, with no real fossil support. We answer all these questions and defend that our 2015 hypothesis is correct.

Lagiou Efstathia, Laios Konstantinos, Tsoucalas Gregory et al.

Georg Bartisch, a 16th century barber surgeon, published in 1583 his treatise entitled "Ophthalmodouleia" (Greek term meaning eye service), a work in German to promote ophthalmology for his countrymen barber surgeons. He did not have an academic education nor knew classical languages, he had used a triplet in terminology by using German, Hellenic and Latin nomination in his anatomical descriptions. Various accurate illustrations and a peculiar system of presentation with flap to liken an in-depth presentation were demonstrated to add prestige in his work. This raises concerns for another medical surgeon to have helped for this publication. Bartisch innovative approaches introduced various surgical tools. Cataract surgery was the epitome of his work. Anatomy of both the eye and the eyelids was there for only to serve the operation. Religion, magic and Galenic views presented barriers for Bartisch's scientific development. However, he is considered as the patron of German School of Ophthalmology.

Olival Freire Junior

Alain Aspect's three experiments on Bell's theorem, published in the early 1980s, were a turning point in the history of the research on the foundations of quantum mechanics not only because they corroborated entanglement as the distinctive quantum signature but also because these experiments brought wider recognition to this field of research and Aspect himself. These experiments may be considered the most direct precursors of the research on quantum information, which would blossom a decade later.

Benoît Rittaud, Laurent Vivier

We reconsider the classical equality 0.999. .. = 1 with the tool of circular words, that is: finite words whose last letter is assumed to be followed by the first one. Such circular words are naturally embedded with algebraic structures that enlight this problematic equality, allowing it to be considered in Q rather than in R. We comment early history of such structures, that involves English teachers and accountants of the first part of the xviii th century, who appear to be the firsts to assert the equality 0.999. .. = 1. Their level of understanding show links with Dubinsky et al.'s apos theory in mathematics education. Eventually, we rebuilt the field Q from circular words, and provide an original proof of the fact that an algebraic integer is either an integer or an irrational number.

Liam C. D. Dickson, Stuart R. B. Negus, Christophe Eizaguirre et al.

Quantifying the capacity of protected area networks to shield multiple marine megafauna with diverse life histories is complicated, as many species are wide-ranging, requiring varied monitoring approaches. Yet, such information is needed to identify and assess the potential use of umbrella species and to plan how best to enhance conservation strategies. Here, we evaluated the effectiveness of part of the European Natura 2000 protected area network (western Greece) for marine megafauna and whether loggerhead sea turtles are viable umbrella species in this coastal region. We systematically surveyed inside and outside coastal marine protected areas (MPAs) at a regional scale using aerial drones (18,505 animal records) and combined them with distribution data from published datasets (tracking, sightings, strandings) of sea turtles, elasmobranchs, cetaceans and pinnipeds. MPAs covered 56% of the surveyed coastline (~1500 km). There was just a 22% overlap in the distributions of the four groups from aerial drone and other datasets, demonstrating the value of combining different approaches to improve records of coastal area use for effective management. All four taxonomic groups were more likely to be detected inside coastal MPAs than outside, confirming sufficient habitat diversity despite varied life history traits. Coastal habitats frequented by loggerhead turtles during breeding/non-breeding periods combined overlapped with 76% of areas used by the other three groups, supporting their potential use as an umbrella species. In conclusion, this study showed that aerial drones can be readily combined with other monitoring approaches in coastal areas to enhance the management of marine megafauna in protected area networks and to identify the efficacy of umbrella species.

Argyrios Vartholomaios, Stamatis Karlos, Eleftherios Kouloumpris et al.

Energy production using renewable sources exhibits inherent uncertainties due to their intermittent nature. Nevertheless, the unified European energy market promotes the increasing penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) by the regional energy system operators. Consequently, RES forecasting can assist in the integration of these volatile energy sources, since it leads to higher reliability and reduced ancillary operational costs for power systems. This paper presents a new dataset for solar and wind energy generation forecast in Greece and introduces a feature engineering pipeline that enriches the dimensional space of the dataset. In addition, we propose a novel method that utilizes the innovative Prophet model, an end-to-end forecasting tool that considers several kinds of nonlinear trends in decomposing the energy time series before a tree-based ensemble provides short-term predictions. The performance of the system is measured through representative evaluation metrics, and by estimating the model's generalization under an industryprovided scheme of absolute error thresholds. The proposed hybrid model competes with baseline persistence models, tree-based regression ensembles, and the Prophet model, managing to outperform them, presenting both lower error rates and more favorable error distribution.

Antonino Drago

A new mathematics, the constructive one, characterizes a singular limit as undecidable. Hence, a singular limit between two theories actually represents a difference between two different kinds of mathematics. This particular situation suggests a mathematical definition of the notion of incommensurability. As a consequence of the resulting incommensurabilities among many couples of theories the foundations of physical theories are pluralist, not only in both epistemological and ontological senses, but also in mathematical sense. Hence since longtime the history of physics is developing along a plurilinear path.

Jason Garver

"Rigor" is an often sought after but ill-defined concept in education. This work reviews several models of rigor from current literature before proposing a tool which is used to analyze science education throughout history. The 20\textsuperscript{th} century science education in the United States was subject to changing sociopolitical motivations about the use of science both in general and for students. These factors as well as developments in theory of learning and broad education reforms had changing affects on the level of rigor in science education. This work analyzes the theoretical level of rigor of science education in the US based on two main motivating factors for science education; science as a social endeavor and science as a discipline, throughout the 20\textsuperscript{th} century.

Despo Ierodiakonou, Maria Kampouraki, Ioannis Poulonirakis et al.

Abstract Background Frailty is a state of increased vulnerability that has a significant risk of unfavorable outcomes such as increased dependency and/or death, but little is known about frailty in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Method We aimed to determine the prevalence of frailty in COPD patients and to identify the associated risk factors. Two hundred fifty-seven COPD patients enrolled from primary care in Greece between 2015 and 2016. Physicians used structured interviews to collect cross-sectional data including demographics, medical history, symptoms and COPD Assessment Tool (CAT) or modified Medical Research Council Dyspnea scale (mMRC) score. Patients were classified into severity groups according to GOLD 2017 guidelines. Participants completed the The Frail Non-Disabled (FiND) questionnaire, exploring the frailty and disability domains. In the present analyses, frail patients with and without mobility disability were pooled and were compared to non-frail patients. Factors associated with frailty were analyzed using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results Mean (SD) age was 65 (12.3) with 79% males. The majority of patients suffered with frailty (82%) of which 76.8% had mobility disability. 84.2% were married/with partner and 55.4% retired. 55.6% were current smokers. Uncontrolled disease (≥10 CAT score) was reported in 91.1% and 37.2% of patients had ≥2 exacerbations in the past year. Dyspnea (38%) and cough (53.4%) were the main symptoms. Main comorbidities were hypertension (72.9%), hyperlipidaemia (24.6%) and diabetes (11%). Risk of frailty was significantly increased with age (OR; 95%CI: 1.05; 1.02–1.08), hypertension (2.25; 1.14–4.45), uncontrolled disease (≥10 CAT score 4.65; 1.86–11.63, ≥2 mMRC score 5.75 (2.79–11.85) or ≥ 2 exacerbations 1.73; 1.07–2.78), smoking cessation (ex compared to current smokers: 2.37; 1.10–5.28) and GOLD status (B&D compared to A&C groups: CAT-based 4.65; 1.86–11.63; mMRC-based: 5.75; 2.79–11.85). In multivariate regression smoking cessation and GOLD status remained significant. Gender, body mass index, occupational or marital status, symptoms and other comorbidities were not significant. Conclusions Frailty with mobility disability is common in COPD patients and severity of disease increases the risk. It is possible that frail patients are more likely to quit smoking perhaps because of their disability and uncontolled disease. Routine assessment of frailty in addition to COPD control may allow early interventions for preventing or delaying progression of frailty and improvement in COPD disease.

Katelyn Horstman, Virginia Trimble

We created and analyzed a citation history of papers covering measurements of Newtons constant of gravity from 1686 to 2016. Interest concerning the true value of the gravitational constant was most intense in the late 90s to early 2000s and is gaining traction again in the present. Another network consisting of the same papers was created using citations from databases to display the prominence of papers on Newtons constant in the wider scientific community. In general, papers that were important in one network remained important in the other while papers that had little importance in one network remained unimportant in the other. The US contributes the most to literature on the topic both in where journals were published and where the work was done; however, many other countries, such as China, Russia, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the UK also provide many papers on Newtons G. Work done within certain countries tends to be considered more important and cited more often within that country. Recent efforts promoting international collaboration may have an impact on this trend.

B. Lee Roberts

I discuss the history of the muon $(g-2)$ measurements, beginning with the Columbia-Nevis measurement that observed parity violation in muon decay, and also measured the muon $g$-factor for the first time, finding $g_μ=2$. The theoretical (Standard Model) value contains contributions from quantum electrodynamics, the strong interaction through hadronic vacuum polarization and hadronic light-by-light loops, as well as the electroweak contributions from the $W$, $Z$ and Higgs bosons. The subsequent experiments, first at Nevis and then with increasing precision at CERN, measured the muon anomaly $a_μ= (g_μ-2)/2$ down to a precision of 7.3 parts per million (ppm) The Brookhaven National Laboratory experiment E821 increased the precision to 0.54 ppm, and observed for the first time the electroweak contributions. Interestingly, the value of $a_μ$ measured at Brookhaven appears to be larger than the Standard Model value by greater than three standard deviations. A new experiment, Fermilab E989, aims to improve on the precision by a factor of four, to clarify whether this result is a harbinger of new physics entering through loops, or from some experimental, statistical or systematic issue.

Tatiana Borisovna Gvozdeva

The works of the Greek playwrights of the classical period are an interesting source on the history of the panatheniac festival. The tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and the comedies of Aristophanes contain information about both the sacred part of the Great Panathenaia and agones the Panathenaic games. Of the elements of the sacral part of the Panathenaic festival were most often mentioned holiday peplos for Athena, the participants of the Panathenaic procession, the night procession, sacrifi ce. Part of the Panathenaic games were both in agony, which is characteristic for the Panhellenic games available for the citizens of Greece and local competitions, participation in which was limited only to the citizens of Athens. The mention of agones inherent in the Panhellenic games can be found in many works of Greek playwrights, but nowhere is there a clarifi cation that we are talking about the Panathenaic games. But it is interesting to note that more mentioned in the tragedies, and especially in the comedies of Aristophanes local competitions, which were sacred.

Ferenc Báthori, Walter P. Pfliegler, Carl-Ulrich Zimmerman et al.

Public awareness has been raised on the importance of natural history and academic collections for science and society in a time when reduced financial support and staff cuts are prevalent. In the field of biology, new species and new interspecies associations are constantly discovered by making use of museum collections, digitalised materials or citizen science programs. In our study, the Myrmica Latreille, 1804 image collection of AntWeb.org was screened for fungal ectoparasites. A total of 397 imaged specimens from 133 species were visually investigated. A single specimen of M. hellenica Finzi, 1926, collected in Greece by U. Sahlberg, showed a conspicuous fungal infection. The parasite was identified using microscopic methods as Rickia wasmannii Cavara, an ectoparasitic fungal species specialised to Myrmica ants. This finding represents a new country record and a new Myrmica species for the host spectrum of R. wasmannii. According to our results, online entomological databases can be screened relatively easily for ectoparasitic fungal infections from new hosts and new regions. However, depending on quality of the insect voucher photos, additional investigation of the material could be needed to confirm the identity of the parasite.

Peter Garik, Yann Benétreau-Dupin

This is an editorial report on the outcomes of an international conference sponsored by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) (REESE-1205273) to the School of Education at Boston University and the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University for a conference titled: How Can the History and Philosophy of Science Contribute to Contemporary U.S. Science Teaching? The presentations of the conference speakers and the reports of the working groups are reviewed. Multiple themes emerged for K-16 education from the perspective of the history and philosophy of science. Key ones were that: students need to understand that central to science is argumentation, criticism, and analysis; students should be educated to appreciate science as part of our culture; students should be educated to be science literate; what is meant by the nature of science as discussed in much of the science education literature must be broadened to accommodate a science literacy that includes preparation for socioscientific issues; teaching for science literacy requires the development of new assessment tools; and, it is difficult to change what science teachers do in their classrooms. The principal conclusions drawn by the editors are that: to prepare students to be citizens in a participatory democracy, science education must be embedded in a liberal arts education; science teachers alone cannot be expected to prepare students to be scientifically literate; and, to educate students for scientific literacy will require a new curriculum that is coordinated across the humanities, history/social studies, and science classrooms.