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Byline: Kostas I. Sombolos (1), Aristea I. Papachillea (1), Taisir M. Natse (1), Kostas I. Gogos (1), Georgios O. Pavlidis (1), Kostas A. Barboutis (1), Kostas S. Mavromatidis (1) Keywords: KeywordsaEnd-stage renal disease; Hemodialysis; Lymphangiectasia; Lymphedema Abstract: Congenital lymphangiectasia with lymphedema is a disorder constituting the main defect in many different genetic syndromes. Herein we describe a 23-year-old male patient with congenital lymphangiectasia and severe lymphedema of the right leg, scrotum, and abdominal wall, who presented with end-stage renal disease, presumably due to cystic renal lymphangiectasia, and is undergoing chronic hemodialysis treatment. Author Affiliation: (1) Renal Unit G.H. "G. Papanikolaou," Thessaloniki, Greece, GR (2) Vas. Olgas 82, 546 43, Thessaloniki, Greece e-mail: sobolos@spark.net.gr Fax: +30-31-829963, GR Article note: Received: 19 April 2000 / Revised: 4 October 2000 / Accepted: 5 October 2000

Byline: Konstantinos Nikolopoulos, Kostas S. Metaxiotis, Vassilis Assimakopoulos The major advantage of electronic markets over nonelectronic traditional market places is that trading partners use more sophisticated methods, rules and systems of information exchange. The internet has inevitably boosted this advantage over the last decade, making electronic markets the dominant 'playing field' for various industrial and business activities. Forecasting is one of them; it is important to firms because it can help ensure that resources are used effectively. In the market there are a number of off-the-self system products that provide forecasts. The new trend of moving traditional software packages to web services has pushed forecasting to a new dimension o e-forecasting, as called by the authors. In this paper we explore the challenges and opportunities arising from e-forecasting. Two very fertile e-areas for possible application are discussed in detail: e-government and forecasting community portals.

In this paper we address the adaptive and nonadaptive model reference control problem for a class of multivariable linear time-varying plants, namely index-invariant ones. We show that, under appropriate controllability and observability conditions, this class of plants admits a fractional description in terms of polynomial differential operators and, as such, allows for a polynomial equation-based controller design. We also show that, for a model reference control objective, the controller can be designed by solving a set of algebraic equations. Further, when the plant parameters are only partially known, we employ a gradient-based adaptive law with projection and normalization to update the controller parameters and establish the stability and tracking properties of adaptive closed-loop plant. Finally, we present a simple example to illustrate the design and realization of both the adaptive and nonadaptive control laws. Index Terms--Differential operators, Diophantine equations, model reference adaptive control, multivariable, time-varying systems.

This paper seeks to investigate the relative subsistence potential of Late Minoan I households in Crete on the basis of the archaeological evidence. It aspires to develop a methodological framework for the examination of the subsistence economy based on storage containers (pithoi) and installations recovered in seventy houses. By identifying different storage strategies and converting capacity estimates into calorific values we infer differences in households' subsistence potential. Ordinary households had low subsistence potential and only a few of the elite households had a markedly higher subsistence potential. While this ensured for these elite households high self-sufficiency and participation in conspicuous consumption, it could not have served in alleviating the community's food shortages, should these have occurred. The emerging Late Minoan IB picture attests to the highly centralized and hierarchical organization of the subsistence economy, in keeping with the centralizing trend manifested from Middle Minoan III onwards. Keywords: Minoan Crete; pithoi; storage facilities; domestic food storage; subsistence potential; central and peripheral storage.