International Law in Greek

There has been a continuous presence and contribution of Greek jurists in the discipline of international law ever since the interwar years. Undoubtedly, Nicholas Politis and Stylianos Seferiades were the most prominent Greek international lawyers of the interwar period; the former a government lawyer and diplomat with substantial contribution in almost every aspect of the development of international law both in and out of the institutional context of the League of Nations and the latter an academic who held the first Chair of Public International Law at the Faculty of Law of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. They were followed in the 1950s to 1970s by Jean Spyropoulos, professor of international law (Thessaloniki and Athens, member of the International Law Commission, and International Court of Justice (ICJ) judge; Konstantin Eustathiades, professor of international law (Thessaloniki and Athens), member of the International Law Commission, and member of the European Commission of Human Rights; and George Tenekides, professor of international law at the Panteion School of Political Science, member of the European Commission of Human Rights, and member of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. Following the restoration of democracy in 1974 a new cohort of international lawyers has dominated the discipline of international law to the present day: Argyrios Fatouros, Christos Rozakis, Konstantin Economides, Emmanuel Roukounas, and Krateros Ioannou. They have each in their own capacity inspired a large number of their students to specialize in international law, a lot of which succeeded them as faculty teaching this subject, and have pursued and are still pursuing distinguished careers in international law both in Greece and abroad. Most of the Greek international lawyers are prolific authors of books and articles and even though the tendency among a growing number of them is to publish their research in English or French an equally large number publish in Greek. They tend to publish textbooks and monographs. As far as the latter are concerned, they cover areas of the law of particular interest for Greece, such as the law of the sea, international environmental law, and human rights law as well as classical subjects, such as the settlement of disputes, international institutions, and the law of armed conflict.

The oldest known record of a ground sloth (Mammalia, Xenarthra, Folivora) from Hispaniola: evolutionary and paleobiogeographical implications

Sloths were among the most diverse groups of land vertebrates that inhabited the Greater Antilles until their extinction in the middle-late Holocene following the arrival of humans to the islands. Although the fossil record of the group is well known from Quaternary deposits in Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, remains from older units are scarce, limiting our understanding of their evolution and biogeographic history. Here we report the oldest known fossil ground sloth from Hispaniola, represented by an unassociated partial tibia and scapula that are recognized as a single taxon from the late Miocene-early Pliocene of the Dominican Republic. The combination of characters observed on the tibia suggests a close relationship with Megalocnus, otherwise only known from the Pleistocene–Holocene of Cuba. These fossils fill a temporal gap between those previously known from the early Miocene of Cuba and those from Pleistocene–Holocene deposits in the region and provide additional support for a continuous presence of the group in the Greater Antilles since the Oligocene.

First Ever Gas Simops Implementation In Abu Dhabi Offshore: A Success Story

Gas SIMOPS is a concurrent execution of two or more activities at same time, i.e., Drilling Operation, Oil Production & Gas Injection on an offshore wellhead tower thereby ensuring uninterrupted oil production and continuous reservoir pressure management from gas injection. The alternative to gas injection in this scenario was gas flaring, which has major environmental and financial impact. Considering continuous presence of personnel on drilling rig working over wellhead tower with high pressure gas injection; extensive Risk Analysis were conducted, and additional control/Mitigation measures were implemented. This initiative also contributed to the zero Gas flaring vision of the company by achieving a huge quantity of CO2 emission reduction. This successful Gas SIMOPS model is already being extended to other fields. To achieve this objective and keeping with 100% HSE, an in-house multi-disciplinary team collaborated and successfully executed Gas SIMOPS for the first time in UAE Offshore. Execution of Gas SIMOPS has brought major economic benefits to the company with additional Gas savings incurred.

Soft Power and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar: Learning from Experiences of Past Mega-Sporting Event Hosts

The experiences of past hosts to mega sporting events like the Olympics, or FIFA World Cup games show that there are numerous ways in which countries can be both empowered or disempowered through their pursuit of soft power. Through a selective literature review, this paper uses the relevant soft power experiences of six countries who have hosted either the World Cup or Olympic Games from 2008. The cases include China (Beijing 2008 Olympics), South Africa (2010 World Cup), United Kingdom (London 2012 Olympics), Brazil (2014 World Cup and Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics), Russia (Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, and 2018 World Cup), and Japan (Tokyo 2020 Olympics). The paper then considers Qatar’s 2022 World Cup with an angle on applying and adapting the experiences of past hosts to understand the soft empowerment or disempowerment that Qatar will likely face as a result of hosting the games. The numerous international concerns over the situation with migrant workers in Qatar, and the Islamic and cultural norms that are alien to Western audiences, will continue to challenge Qatar’s image management and branding measures. Nevertheless, the commitment to holding the most eco-friendly event, continuous presence on international soccer fields through sponsorships, ownerships, and winning championships, in addition to actively seeking to enhance and alleviate the status of the country on the global stage will help Doha in its soft empowerment endeavors in the period before and during the event. Its pledge and dedication to keeping a long-lasting legacy after December 2022 will also help the State in the post-event phase of soft empowerment.

Skeleton binding protein-1-mediated parasite sequestration inhibits spontaneous resolution of malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome

Malaria is a hazardous disease caused by Plasmodium parasites and often results in lethal complications, including malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (MA-ARDS). Parasite sequestration in the microvasculature is often observed, but its role in malaria pathogenesis and complications is still incompletely understood. We used skeleton binding protein-1 (SBP-1) KO parasites to study the role of sequestration in experimental MA-ARDS. The sequestration-deficiency of these SBP-1 KO parasites was confirmed with bioluminescence imaging and by measuring parasite accumulation in the lungs with RT-qPCR. The SBP-1 KO parasites induced similar lung pathology in the early stage of experimental MA-ARDS compared to wildtype (WT) parasites. Strikingly, the lung pathology resolved subsequently in more than 60% of the SBP-1 KO infected mice, resulting in prolonged survival despite the continuous presence of the parasite. This spontaneous disease resolution was associated with decreased inflammatory cytokine expression measured by RT-qPCR and lower expression of cytotoxic markers in pathogenic CD8+ T cells in the lungs of SBP-1 KO infected mice. These data suggest that SBP-1-mediated parasite sequestration and subsequent high parasite load are not essential for the development of experimental MA-ARDS but inhibit the resolution of the disease.

Application of Bacteriophages on Shiga Toxin-Producing Escherichia coli (STEC) Biofilm

Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli are pathogenic bacteria able to form biofilms both on abiotic surfaces and on food, thus increasing risks for food consumers. Moreover, biofilms are difficult to remove and more resistant to antimicrobial agents compared to planktonic cells. Bacteriophages, natural predators of bacteria, can be used as an alternative to prevent biofilm formation or to remove pre-formed biofilm. In this work, four STEC able to produce biofilm were selected among 31 different strains and tested against single bacteriophages and two-phage cocktails. Results showed that our phages were able to reduce biofilm formation by 43.46% both when used as single phage preparation and as a cocktail formulation. Since one of the two cocktails had a slightly better performance, it was used to remove pre-existing biofilms. In this case, the phages were unable to destroy the biofilms and reduce the number of bacterial cells. Our data confirm that preventing biofilm formation in a food plant is better than trying to remove a preformed biofilm and the continuous presence of bacteriophages in the process environment could reduce the number of bacteria able to form biofilms and therefore improve the food safety.

Regime and Sociology: A Comparative History of Sociology in Postwar Europe with Qualitative Comparative Analysis

Using Qualitative Comparative Analysis, this article presents a systematic comparison of differences in the institutional success of sociology in 25 European countries during the academic expansion from 1945 until the late 1960s. Combining context-sensitive national histories of sociology, concept formation, and formal analyses of necessary and sufficient conditions, the article searches for historical explanations for both successful and inhibited processes of the institutionalization of sociology. Concretely, it assesses the interplay of political regime types, the continuous presence of sociological prewar traditions, political Catholicism, and the effects of sociological communities in neighboring countries and how their various combinations are related to more or less well-established sociologies. The results can help explain adversary effects under democratic conditions as well as supportive factors under nondemocratic conditions.

Long-Term Monitoring and Research in the Clarion-Clipperton Zone

The widely recognized need for large-scale transition from fossil to renewable energy sources has led to renewed effort to obtain metals needed for battery-based electric transportation and other functions. A potential source of some of these metals is the deposits of polymetallic nodules on the deep seafloor. If mining of these deposits proceeds in the coming decade, the enterprise creates an opportunity for extensive, long-term oceanographic research in the mining locations. The need to monitor environmental effects of mining activity can best be met with a near-continuous presence of a research platform in the vicinity. The platform could be a ship or potentially a semi-submersible platform like those used in the offshore oil industry. Such a facility might be supported by a consortium of mining companies and also provide opportunities for academic research in ocean and climate science.

The Pacific Wing-Oyster, Pteria sterna, off San Diego, California

Pteria sterna is an eastern Pacific pearl oyster of commercial value from Peru to central Baja California, Mexico. The continuous presence of this species in San Diego for a decade is unique as it is approximately 600 km north of the expected range for the species. A minimum of three generations are present in Mission Bay at any point in time and the preferred substrate for attachment are gorgonian corals. The species is also found off shore in cooler water. The continued presence of this oyster raises the question as to the status of this population; is it a permanent range extension or simply a transient population and what has changed that allowed its continued presence?