Epsilon International (Greece)

The course of the past decade in the field of privately operated university education in Greece reflects several types of drastic change, first of all due to the transformative socio-economic circumstances, policy changes, and alterations in world trends in higher learning. Although public universities have long prevailed in the Greek higher education environment, the contribution of the private institutions has increased with the ability to provide diversified frameworks of academic courses, spreading internationalization, and adapting to the demands of the labor market. This paper gives an in-depth analysis of the trends and changes that took place in the Greek private universities between the year 2015 to 2025, combining the use of statistical data, policy publications, and academic literature. The examination involved how provision was changing, enrollment patterns, quality assurance processes, and the wider regulatory environment. The results show that privatized institutions have been undergoing continued growth in terms of student numbers, especially in specific and professionally inclined sectors, aided by specific marketing campaigns and the establishment of English-based programs. Nevertheless, there are still problems, such as the legal limit in recognition of degrees, competition with state institutions, and inequities of access related to socio-economic status. The research paper also explains the correlation between the limitations of national policy and the international tendency in the process of higher education liberalization. It has a final section that gives policy recommendations to help increase the contribution of the private universities in the Greek knowledge economy, maintain quality assurance, and increase equity of access to the various student groups.

Background/aimsTo evaluate the predictive performance of various predictors, including non-cycloplegic refractive error, for risk of myopia onset under pragmatic settings.MethodsThe Wenzhou Medical University Essilor Progression and Onset of Myopia Study is a prospective cohort study of schoolchildren aged 6–10 years from two elementary schools in Wenzhou, China. Non-cycloplegic refraction, ocular biometry and accommodation measurements were performed. Myopia was defined as spherical equivalent (SE) ≤−0.5 diopter (D). ORs using multivariable logistic regression were determined. Area under the curve (AUC) evaluation for predictors was performed.ResultsSchoolchildren who attended both baseline and 2-year follow-up were analysed (N=1022). Of 830 non-myopic children at baseline, the 2-year incidence of myopia was 27.6% (95% CI, 24.2% to 31.3%). Female gender (OR=2.2), more advanced study grades (OR=1.5), less hyperopic SE (OR=11.5 per D), longer axial length (AL; OR=2.3 per mm), worse presenting visual acuity (OR=2.3 per decimal), longer near work time (OR=1.1 per hour/day) and lower magnitude of positive relative accommodation (PRA; OR=1.4 per D) were associated with myopia onset. PRA (AUC=0.66), SE (AUC=0.64) and AL (AUC=0.62) had the highest AUC values. The combination of age, gender, parental myopia, SE, AL and PRA achieved an AUC of 0.74.ConclusionApproximately one in four schoolchildren had myopia onset over a 2-year period. The predictors of myopia onset include lower magnitude of PRA, less hyperopic SE, longer AL and female gender. Of these, non-cycloplegic SE and PRA were the top single predictors, which can facilitate risk profiling for myopia onset.

With the launch of the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S-5P, lifted-off on 13 October 2017), Sentinel-4 (S-4) and Sentinel-5 (S-5)(from 2021 and 2023 onwards, respectively) operational missions of the ESA/EU Copernicus program, a massive amount of atmospheric composition data with unprecedented quality will become available from geostationary (GEO) and low Earth orbit (LEO) observations. Enhanced observational capabilities are expected to foster deeper insight than ever before on key issues relevant for air quality, stratospheric ozone, solar radiation, and climate. A major potential strength of the Sentinel observations lies in the exploitation of complementary information that originates from simultaneous and independent satellite measurements of the same air mass. The core purpose of the AURORA (Advanced Ultraviolet Radiation and Ozone Retrieval for Applications) project is to investigate this exploitation from a novel approach for merging data acquired in different spectral regions from on board the GEO and LEO platforms. A data processing chain is implemented and tested on synthetic observations. A new data algorithm combines the ultraviolet, visible and thermal infrared ozone products into S-4 and S-5(P) fused profiles. These fused products are then ingested into state-of-the-art data assimilation systems to obtain a unique ozone profile in analyses and forecasts mode. A comparative evaluation and validation of fused products assimilation versus the assimilation of the operational products will seek to demonstrate the improvements achieved by the proposed approach. This contribution provides a first general overview of the project, and discusses both the challenges of developing a technological infrastructure for implementing the AURORA concept, and the potential for applications of AURORA derived products, such as tropospheric ozone and UV surface radiation, in sectors such as air quality monitoring and health.

ArcFUEL [1] is a LIFE+ Project that involves six European Partners with the objective of producing updated fuel maps to be used in forest fire management operations and geoplatforms. The ArcFUEL project delivers a complete, up-to-date, methodology for Fuel Classification Mapping (FCM on a Web-Geodatabase) based on "readily available" data, harmonized, accessible and interoperable according to INSPIRE principles, for the Mediterranean Region. This paper outlines the: (i) history of the Fuel Classification Maps (FCMs), (ii) the problem targeted in fuel mapping, (iv) the significance of FCMs for Forest Fire (FF) Management, (v) the exnovo ArcFUEL methodology developed within the project, (vi) two case studies applied in Spain and Portugal, (vii) the field validation process and (viii) the final results derived from the project.

Worldwide, ESSILOR International provides customers with Progressive Addition Lenses (PAL), which replace bifocal lenses. Thermal replication is one process to produce glass moulds for PAL, using sagged glass on a ceramic slumping block. In this paper, thermal replication for producing PAL glass moulds is developed through 3D modelling and experimentation. Our numerical approach is validated by comparing it with experimentation on the global 3D topology of the sagged glass. It is also validated by using more severe optical comparison criteria, developed by ESSILOR International to analyze the conformity of their products. Through modelling, the thermal replication is analyzed by studying the evolving contact between the sagged glass and the ceramic slumping block during the thermal cycle and the glass flow on the upper side of the sagged glass.