Anastasios Mavrakis - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Anastasios Mavrakis
16th International Conference on Meteorology, Climatology and Atmospheric Physics—COMECAP 2023
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Humanities and Social Science Research, 2018
In this paper, a project of the local sustainability network of schools in the area of Western At... more In this paper, a project of the local sustainability network of schools in the area of Western Attica (Greece) is described. The subject of this project is “Road Safety”, and it was addressed to third grade pupils of junior high-schools. It has been planned as the result of collaboration between the local Secondary Education Directorate, a few voluntary organizations, some private Vehicle Technical Inspection Centers and the local traffic-police department. This educational activity had been mainly implemented through the teaching and learning method of “experiential learning”. The pupils were divided into groups and attended six workshops that were designed accordingly. The entire process aims at establishing educational activities that in long-term will deal effectively with the acute problem of road safety.
Multilingual Academic Journal of Education and Social Sciences
Τhis paper refers to Environmental Education in schools of Secondary Education of Western Attica.... more Τhis paper refers to Environmental Education in schools of Secondary Education of Western Attica. From the statistical processing of all the programmes implemented in the Secondary Education of Western Attica, it appears that only 6% of them concern the pollution of the Gulf of Elefsina, Lake Koumoundourou and the Bourkari habitat. It also appears that the number of programmes that have taken place in recent years is decreasing. To this end, it is proposed to
A case of nighttime high ozone concentration over the greater
Journal of Research Initiatives, 2019
He is a member of the academic staff of the University of West Attica (Greece). He is the author ... more He is a member of the academic staff of the University of West Attica (Greece). He is the author of 114 articles published in scientific journals, conferences or book chapters and 27 monographies and other studies.
Journal of Arid Environments, 2015
The present study investigates long-term changes in climate aridity in association with urbanizat... more The present study investigates long-term changes in climate aridity in association with urbanization, industrial development and the use of land in Thriasio plain, Greece. Resident population and established activities increased rapidly in Thriasio although with a growth rate varying among municipalities. Nonlinear regressions were run to estimate the growth of economic activities on a local scale. Meteorological indexes showed a trend towards warmer and drier climate consistent with the intense process of urbanization and industrialization observed on a local scale. Our results indicate the urgent need for measures mitigating climate aridity in mixed urban-rural landscapes surrounding large Mediterranean cities.
Subjective thermal sensation of late teenagers was examined aiming to reveal potential discrepanc... more Subjective thermal sensation of late teenagers was examined aiming to reveal potential discrepancies in its estimation compared to adults. Since teenagers have different clothing habits and preferences from adults, it is important to know whether the conclusions reached by studies on thermal sensation, usually involving adults, can be also applied to teenagers. A group of late teenagers was interviewed, based on a structured questionnaire, in an outdoor environment during two winter days and under an unexpected Saharan dust transport event during the second day, while meteorological measurements were obtained by the closest to the interview site weather station. Moreover, the performance of the bioclimatic index Cooling Power in simulating subjects’ thermal sensation was evaluated. Although differences in clothing thermal insulation of late teenagers compared to that suggested by similar studies were recognized, generally the results of this study were in agreement with the findings...
Urban and peri-urban agriculture is a pivotal issue in the debate on sustainable management of co... more Urban and peri-urban agriculture is a pivotal issue in the debate on sustainable management of contemporary metropolitan areas. A multitude of projects are investing large Mediterranean cities such as Rome, Barcelona and Athens. Multiple solutions proposed in social, economic and environmental terms by the new models tested by urban agriculture are playing an important role in the planning's practices of the open spaces. The investigated cities seem to reflect processes of redevelopment of the agricultural practices, through which new landscapes are cultivated, and new relations are created between farmers, communities and territories within peri-urban areas.
International Journal of Environmental Research, 2015
Greece has experienced particularly severe and frequent forest fires during Summer 2007 together ... more Greece has experienced particularly severe and frequent forest fires during Summer 2007 together with exceptionally dry meteorological conditions culminated in distinct heat waves. The present study analyzes the time pattern of daily values of two fire risk indices (Nesterov and Angstrom) based on meteorological data made available for a number of gauging stations between 1 June and 31 August over the 1998-2013 time interval. Weather data were supplemented with meteorological re-analysis profiles with the aim to validate the daily outputs of the two fire risk indices in extreme climatic conditions. Nesterov and Angstrom indices classified Summer 2007 meteorological conditions as exceptional with high probability of fire occurrence during the whole dry season in the majority of Greek regions. Meteorological re-analysis indicates a high deviation of selected upper atmospheric variables from the climatic average since early July 2007 representing persistent and widespread meteorologica...
Since urban growth is strictly connected to the morphological, environmental, political, social, ... more Since urban growth is strictly connected to the morphological, environmental, political, social, cultural and economic characteristics of the territory over which the phenomenon is acting, the importance of adopting an ad hoc analysis for studying patterns and processes of sprawl according to the investigated region has been stressed. In a context of particularly high land demand, dynamics and spatial effects of urban sprawl in Mediterranean Europe have been quantified extensively, concluding that nature and spatial outcomes of sprawl reflect geo-economic and socio-cultural characteristics of the territory and its settlements, especially along peri-urban areas, sea coastlines and internal lowlands, considered areas with the highest potential to population growth. Results derived from empirical studies may stimulate the adoption of more specific, scale-dependent policies aimed at containing urban-rural disparities. In this line of thinking, the present study proposes a specific analy...
The present work investigates the increase of confirmed cases of West Nile virus and the relation... more The present work investigates the increase of confirmed cases of West Nile virus and the relationship between weather-related patterns and the geographical expansion of West Nile virus in Greece, with a special focus on West Attica, Central Greece, a semi-arid, ecologically fragile Mediterranean area. Using data from the European Environment Agency, European Drought Observatory of Joint Research Centre, the pairwise relationship between surface air temperature anomalies, precipitation anomalies, soil moisture index anomalies, and the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation anomalies (fAPAR) was evaluated during summer time of 2018, a particularly intense virus outbreak. The empirical results of this study indicate that total precipitation during 2018 was extremely high, nearly 500% above the average. These conditions contributed to the increase of soil moisture index anomaly and fAPAR, creating an ideal microenvironment (wet soils and green pastures) for mosquito br...
Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration, 2021
Biological disasters endanger the lives of teachers and students, causing serious disturbances to... more Biological disasters endanger the lives of teachers and students, causing serious disturbances to schools, and forcing them to shut down for a short or long period of time. Over the last few decades, the Greater Athens area and Attica Prefecture in Greece have experienced several natural disasters. These events have highlighted problems and weaknesses in emergency planning for school communities at both local and regional level, and have shown the need for new precautionary measures and effective risk management for modern society and school communities. The present study reports an investigation of the perception of the risk posed by biological hazards to teacher safety. The investigation utilized a questionnaire survey of teachers working in the secondary education directorate in Western Attica, which was carried out between May and December 2019. The teachers' perceptions of the extent to which their safety was affected by biohazards (i.e., infectious diseases and weather-related diseases) were investigated using a 5-point scale ranging from affected a lot (− 2) to not affected at all (+ 2). A multivariate statistical technique-principal component analysis-was used to explore the results of the survey. The results showed that the teachers' feelings of safety were affected a lot (− 2) or affected enough (− 1) by biohazards. 61.5% (n = 72) of the participants reported that their feelings of safety were affected a lot or enough by infectious diseases, and 55.6% (n = 65) of the participants noted that their feelings of safety were affected a lot or enough by weather-related diseases. Compared to other natural, technological, or social hazards, biological hazards seem to have a greater impact on teachers' feelings of safety. These results could have implications for the design of risk management plans for school communities.
Bioregional Planning and Design: Volume II, 2020
A new spatial relationship among cities, territories, and landscapes has emerged in the last half... more A new spatial relationship among cities, territories, and landscapes has emerged in the last half century, shading progressively the role of urban–rural gradients in regional studies. Addressing complex realities and increasingly debated regional issues, bioregional approaches have acquired a strong interest in recent years. The present study has focused on a case study in Greece (Thriasio Plain) representative of complex socio-ecological systems with a long industrial tradition and transforming relationships between urban and rural areas. Industrialization of the area and the related land-use changes were realized through a sequence of official revisions of zoning plans. Thriasio Plain has been characterized by spontaneous development of different activities with increasing impact on a fragile environment dominated by Mediterranean-type vegetation, poor soils, and arid climate. By defining a consistent set of environmental indicators (Ecosystems and Air Quality Stress Indices), the present work aims at investigating recent dynamics typical of Mediterranean agro-urban outskirts, discussing suitable practices and projects for a bioregional recovery of degraded areas.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2018
Shifts in government priorities in response to the 2007 global recession have affected wildfire m... more Shifts in government priorities in response to the 2007 global recession have affected wildfire management and natural disaster funding arrangements, leading to a reduced effectiveness of fire suppression actions and increasing fire vulnerability. Our study investigates the role of local socioeconomic contexts on fire suppression effectiveness under economic expansion and recession in a Mediterranean region (Attica, Greece) strongly affected by 2007 crisis and displaying a persistently high density of peri-urban wildfires. Basic characteristics of wildfires (spatial distribution, intensity, and land use preferences) were investigated in the study area over two consecutive 8-year time intervals characterized by economic expansion (2000-2007) and recession (2008-2015). An integrated approach based on multivariate statistics and artificial neural networks was implemented to evaluate latent relationships between fire suppression time, wildfire characteristics, and socioeconomic dynamics. Controlling for wildfires' characteristics over the two time intervals, fire time length increased under crisis-mainly for small and medium-sized fires-possibly as an indirect response to reduced effectiveness of forest land management. Local contexts and political decisions influenced by economic downturns are relevant factors shaping wildfires' severity in the Mediterranean region. With recession, local contexts vulnerable to wildfires require more effective fire prevention measures, sustainable forest management, and regional planning.
Journal of Arid Environments
ABSTRACT
16th International Conference on Meteorology, Climatology and Atmospheric Physics—COMECAP 2023
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Humanities and Social Science Research, 2018
In this paper, a project of the local sustainability network of schools in the area of Western At... more In this paper, a project of the local sustainability network of schools in the area of Western Attica (Greece) is described. The subject of this project is “Road Safety”, and it was addressed to third grade pupils of junior high-schools. It has been planned as the result of collaboration between the local Secondary Education Directorate, a few voluntary organizations, some private Vehicle Technical Inspection Centers and the local traffic-police department. This educational activity had been mainly implemented through the teaching and learning method of “experiential learning”. The pupils were divided into groups and attended six workshops that were designed accordingly. The entire process aims at establishing educational activities that in long-term will deal effectively with the acute problem of road safety.
Multilingual Academic Journal of Education and Social Sciences
Τhis paper refers to Environmental Education in schools of Secondary Education of Western Attica.... more Τhis paper refers to Environmental Education in schools of Secondary Education of Western Attica. From the statistical processing of all the programmes implemented in the Secondary Education of Western Attica, it appears that only 6% of them concern the pollution of the Gulf of Elefsina, Lake Koumoundourou and the Bourkari habitat. It also appears that the number of programmes that have taken place in recent years is decreasing. To this end, it is proposed to
A case of nighttime high ozone concentration over the greater
Journal of Research Initiatives, 2019
He is a member of the academic staff of the University of West Attica (Greece). He is the author ... more He is a member of the academic staff of the University of West Attica (Greece). He is the author of 114 articles published in scientific journals, conferences or book chapters and 27 monographies and other studies.
Journal of Arid Environments, 2015
The present study investigates long-term changes in climate aridity in association with urbanizat... more The present study investigates long-term changes in climate aridity in association with urbanization, industrial development and the use of land in Thriasio plain, Greece. Resident population and established activities increased rapidly in Thriasio although with a growth rate varying among municipalities. Nonlinear regressions were run to estimate the growth of economic activities on a local scale. Meteorological indexes showed a trend towards warmer and drier climate consistent with the intense process of urbanization and industrialization observed on a local scale. Our results indicate the urgent need for measures mitigating climate aridity in mixed urban-rural landscapes surrounding large Mediterranean cities.
Subjective thermal sensation of late teenagers was examined aiming to reveal potential discrepanc... more Subjective thermal sensation of late teenagers was examined aiming to reveal potential discrepancies in its estimation compared to adults. Since teenagers have different clothing habits and preferences from adults, it is important to know whether the conclusions reached by studies on thermal sensation, usually involving adults, can be also applied to teenagers. A group of late teenagers was interviewed, based on a structured questionnaire, in an outdoor environment during two winter days and under an unexpected Saharan dust transport event during the second day, while meteorological measurements were obtained by the closest to the interview site weather station. Moreover, the performance of the bioclimatic index Cooling Power in simulating subjects’ thermal sensation was evaluated. Although differences in clothing thermal insulation of late teenagers compared to that suggested by similar studies were recognized, generally the results of this study were in agreement with the findings...
Urban and peri-urban agriculture is a pivotal issue in the debate on sustainable management of co... more Urban and peri-urban agriculture is a pivotal issue in the debate on sustainable management of contemporary metropolitan areas. A multitude of projects are investing large Mediterranean cities such as Rome, Barcelona and Athens. Multiple solutions proposed in social, economic and environmental terms by the new models tested by urban agriculture are playing an important role in the planning's practices of the open spaces. The investigated cities seem to reflect processes of redevelopment of the agricultural practices, through which new landscapes are cultivated, and new relations are created between farmers, communities and territories within peri-urban areas.
International Journal of Environmental Research, 2015
Greece has experienced particularly severe and frequent forest fires during Summer 2007 together ... more Greece has experienced particularly severe and frequent forest fires during Summer 2007 together with exceptionally dry meteorological conditions culminated in distinct heat waves. The present study analyzes the time pattern of daily values of two fire risk indices (Nesterov and Angstrom) based on meteorological data made available for a number of gauging stations between 1 June and 31 August over the 1998-2013 time interval. Weather data were supplemented with meteorological re-analysis profiles with the aim to validate the daily outputs of the two fire risk indices in extreme climatic conditions. Nesterov and Angstrom indices classified Summer 2007 meteorological conditions as exceptional with high probability of fire occurrence during the whole dry season in the majority of Greek regions. Meteorological re-analysis indicates a high deviation of selected upper atmospheric variables from the climatic average since early July 2007 representing persistent and widespread meteorologica...
Since urban growth is strictly connected to the morphological, environmental, political, social, ... more Since urban growth is strictly connected to the morphological, environmental, political, social, cultural and economic characteristics of the territory over which the phenomenon is acting, the importance of adopting an ad hoc analysis for studying patterns and processes of sprawl according to the investigated region has been stressed. In a context of particularly high land demand, dynamics and spatial effects of urban sprawl in Mediterranean Europe have been quantified extensively, concluding that nature and spatial outcomes of sprawl reflect geo-economic and socio-cultural characteristics of the territory and its settlements, especially along peri-urban areas, sea coastlines and internal lowlands, considered areas with the highest potential to population growth. Results derived from empirical studies may stimulate the adoption of more specific, scale-dependent policies aimed at containing urban-rural disparities. In this line of thinking, the present study proposes a specific analy...
The present work investigates the increase of confirmed cases of West Nile virus and the relation... more The present work investigates the increase of confirmed cases of West Nile virus and the relationship between weather-related patterns and the geographical expansion of West Nile virus in Greece, with a special focus on West Attica, Central Greece, a semi-arid, ecologically fragile Mediterranean area. Using data from the European Environment Agency, European Drought Observatory of Joint Research Centre, the pairwise relationship between surface air temperature anomalies, precipitation anomalies, soil moisture index anomalies, and the fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation anomalies (fAPAR) was evaluated during summer time of 2018, a particularly intense virus outbreak. The empirical results of this study indicate that total precipitation during 2018 was extremely high, nearly 500% above the average. These conditions contributed to the increase of soil moisture index anomaly and fAPAR, creating an ideal microenvironment (wet soils and green pastures) for mosquito br...
Euro-Mediterranean Journal for Environmental Integration, 2021
Biological disasters endanger the lives of teachers and students, causing serious disturbances to... more Biological disasters endanger the lives of teachers and students, causing serious disturbances to schools, and forcing them to shut down for a short or long period of time. Over the last few decades, the Greater Athens area and Attica Prefecture in Greece have experienced several natural disasters. These events have highlighted problems and weaknesses in emergency planning for school communities at both local and regional level, and have shown the need for new precautionary measures and effective risk management for modern society and school communities. The present study reports an investigation of the perception of the risk posed by biological hazards to teacher safety. The investigation utilized a questionnaire survey of teachers working in the secondary education directorate in Western Attica, which was carried out between May and December 2019. The teachers' perceptions of the extent to which their safety was affected by biohazards (i.e., infectious diseases and weather-related diseases) were investigated using a 5-point scale ranging from affected a lot (− 2) to not affected at all (+ 2). A multivariate statistical technique-principal component analysis-was used to explore the results of the survey. The results showed that the teachers' feelings of safety were affected a lot (− 2) or affected enough (− 1) by biohazards. 61.5% (n = 72) of the participants reported that their feelings of safety were affected a lot or enough by infectious diseases, and 55.6% (n = 65) of the participants noted that their feelings of safety were affected a lot or enough by weather-related diseases. Compared to other natural, technological, or social hazards, biological hazards seem to have a greater impact on teachers' feelings of safety. These results could have implications for the design of risk management plans for school communities.
Bioregional Planning and Design: Volume II, 2020
A new spatial relationship among cities, territories, and landscapes has emerged in the last half... more A new spatial relationship among cities, territories, and landscapes has emerged in the last half century, shading progressively the role of urban–rural gradients in regional studies. Addressing complex realities and increasingly debated regional issues, bioregional approaches have acquired a strong interest in recent years. The present study has focused on a case study in Greece (Thriasio Plain) representative of complex socio-ecological systems with a long industrial tradition and transforming relationships between urban and rural areas. Industrialization of the area and the related land-use changes were realized through a sequence of official revisions of zoning plans. Thriasio Plain has been characterized by spontaneous development of different activities with increasing impact on a fragile environment dominated by Mediterranean-type vegetation, poor soils, and arid climate. By defining a consistent set of environmental indicators (Ecosystems and Air Quality Stress Indices), the present work aims at investigating recent dynamics typical of Mediterranean agro-urban outskirts, discussing suitable practices and projects for a bioregional recovery of degraded areas.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 2018
Shifts in government priorities in response to the 2007 global recession have affected wildfire m... more Shifts in government priorities in response to the 2007 global recession have affected wildfire management and natural disaster funding arrangements, leading to a reduced effectiveness of fire suppression actions and increasing fire vulnerability. Our study investigates the role of local socioeconomic contexts on fire suppression effectiveness under economic expansion and recession in a Mediterranean region (Attica, Greece) strongly affected by 2007 crisis and displaying a persistently high density of peri-urban wildfires. Basic characteristics of wildfires (spatial distribution, intensity, and land use preferences) were investigated in the study area over two consecutive 8-year time intervals characterized by economic expansion (2000-2007) and recession (2008-2015). An integrated approach based on multivariate statistics and artificial neural networks was implemented to evaluate latent relationships between fire suppression time, wildfire characteristics, and socioeconomic dynamics. Controlling for wildfires' characteristics over the two time intervals, fire time length increased under crisis-mainly for small and medium-sized fires-possibly as an indirect response to reduced effectiveness of forest land management. Local contexts and political decisions influenced by economic downturns are relevant factors shaping wildfires' severity in the Mediterranean region. With recession, local contexts vulnerable to wildfires require more effective fire prevention measures, sustainable forest management, and regional planning.
Journal of Arid Environments
ABSTRACT
Please find attached a new updated version of “Κατάλογος Επιστημονικών Εργασιών για το Θριάσιο Π... more Please find attached a new updated version of
“Κατάλογος Επιστημονικών Εργασιών για το Θριάσιο Πεδίο και τον Κόλπο της Ελευσίνας – Catalogue of Scientific Papers for Thriasio Plain and Elefsis Gulf”
that you might find interesting.
Κατάλογος Επιστημονικών Εργασιών για το Θριάσιο Πεδίο και τον Κόλπο της Ελευσίνας
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Catalogue of Scientific Papers for Thriasio Plain and Elefsis Gulf
Επιμέλεια Καταλόγου – Catalogue’s Editing:
Δρ Αναστάσιος Φ. Μαυράκης – Dr Anastasios F. Mavrakis
Τελευταία Ενημέρωση: 1 Μαρτίου 2020
Last Update: March 1, 2020
DOI: 10.13140/2.1.1465.0245 – (generated from ResearchGate)