Effects on surface atmospheric photo-oxidants over Greece during the total solar eclipse event of 29 March 2006

International audienceThis study investigates the effects of the total solar eclipse of 29 March 2006 on surface air-quality levels over Greece based on observations at a number of sites in conjunction with chemical box modelling and 3-D air-quality modelling. Emphasis is given on surface ozone and other photooxidants at four Greek sites Kastelorizo, Finokalia (Crete), Pallini (Athens) and Thessaloniki, which are located at gradually increasing distances from the path of the eclipse totality and are characterized by different air pollution levels. The eclipse offered the opportunity to test our understanding of air pollution build-up and the response of the gas-phase chemistry of photo-oxidants during a photolytical perturbation using both a photochemical box model and a regional air-quality offline model based on the modeling system WRF/CAMx. At the relatively unpolluted sites of Kastelorizo and Finokalia no clear impact of the solar eclipse on surface O3, NO2 and NO concentrations can be deduced from the observations and model simulations as the calculated changes in net ozone production rates between eclipse and non eclipse conditions are rather small compared to the ozone variability and hence the solar eclipse effects on ozone can be easily masked by transport. At the polluted sites of Thessaloniki and Pallini, the solar eclipse effects on O3, NO2 and NO concentrations are clearly revealed from both the measurements and 3-D air-quality modeling with the net effect being a decrease in O3 and NO and an increase in NO2 as NO2 formed from the reaction of O3 with NO while at the same time NO2 is not efficiently photolysed. It is evident from the 3-D air quality modeling over Greece that the maximum effects of the eclipse on O3, NO2 and NO are reflected at the large urban agglomerations of Athens, and Thessaloniki where the maximum of the emissions occur

Sophrosyne in Aeschylus

This is a study on the semantics of sophrosyne, and the importance of this culturally significant term for the political vocabulary of Aeschylus. The author argues that the core of the semantics of sophrosyne is the status-based behavioral propriety within a hierarchy. By examining all the occurrences of the term’s cognates in the Aeschylean corpus, the author concludes that Aeschylus used sophrosyne as a tool in a pro-democratic rhetoric. Given that the deviance from status-based propriety in Aeschylean tragedy results in socio-political catastrophes, the monarchic societies of Greek myth and Persia are presented as political environments that endanger sophrosyne, whereas democratic processes as its bulwark

From below – within the walls

Το άρθρο εστιάζει στην πρόσφατη ιστορία της εντός των τειχών Λευκωσίας, μιας ιδιαίτερης αστικήςπεριοχής της πρωτεύουσας της Κύπρου, που ενώ βρίσκεται στο γεωγραφικό κέντρο της ευρύτερηςΛευκωσίας και του νησιού ολόκληρου, καθορίζεται από τη μία πλευρά από τα στρογγυλά ενετικά τηςτείχη και, από την άλλη, από τη συν-οριακότητα ως αποτέλεσμα της διαχωριστικής γραμμής που τηδιαπερνά. Συγκεκριμένα, εστιάζω στην αλλαγή που ακολούθησε το άνοιγμα των σημείων διέλευσηςτης διαχωριστικής γραμμής το 2003 και είχε ως αποτέλεσμα την μετατροπή της παραμελημένης,προσφυγικής και μεταναστευτικής εντός των τειχών Λευκωσίας. Η αποκατάσταση της κυκλοφορίαςμεταξύ των δύο πλευρών, για πρώτη φορά μετά το 1974, οδήγησε στην αναβίωση της μέχρι τότεπαραμελημένης σε πολιτικό και πολιτιστικό επίπεδο περιοχής, και προσέφερε τον ενδιάμεσο χώρογια την ανάπτυξη αδιαμεσολάβητων πρακτικών που αμφισβητούσαν τα προκαθορισμένα συμβολικάκαι υλικά όρια του κυπριακού διαχωρισμού. Το άρθρο εξετάζει τις συγκρούσεις, τις διαφωνίες και τιςδιαπραγματεύσεις που αναδυθήκαν όταν νέοι δρώντες συγκεντρώθηκαν στην περιοχή διεκδικώνταςορατότητα με την παρουσία και την πολιτική και πολιτιστική δράση τους.The article focuses on the recent history of walled Nicosia, a particular urban area of the capitalof Cyprus, which, while located at the geographical centre of Greater Nicosia and the island as awhole, is defined on the one hand by its round Venetian walls and, on the other hand, by itscharacter as a border area resulting from the dividing line that runs through it. Specifically, Ifocus on the change that followed the opening of the crossing points of the dividing line in 2003and resulted in the transformation of the neglected, old city of Nicosia. The restoration ofmoving between the two sides, for the first time since 1974, led to the revival of the hithertopolitically and culturally neglected area, and provided the in-between space for the developmentof unmediated practices that challenged the predetermined symbolic and material boundaries ofCypriot separation. The article examines the conflicts, disagreements and negotiations thatemerged when new actors gathered in the region claiming visibility through their presence andthrough their political and cultural action

Potassium Mineralogy of Kentucky Soils

Feldspars and mica minerals are the two primary natural sources of potassium for most agricultural soils in Kentucky. Potassium feldspars are common mineral constituents of loess deposits in western Kentucky. Mica minerals, although dominant in shales, are also found in variable quantities in siltstone, sandstone and limestone parent materials of soils in the other regions of Kentucky. Because most of the soils in the western Coalfields and western Pennyroyal, and to a lesser extent in eastern Pennyroyal and Bluegrass, are covered by a loess cap of variable thickness, their surface mineralogy has been influenced by the feldspar-rich mineralogy of the loess mantle