THE ITALIAN CINEMA DISTRIBUTED IN THE UK DURING THE POST-WAR PERIOD:A DIACHRONIC STUDY OF FILM SUBTITLING

In order to try to fill a gap in the existing literature on audiovisual translation, the general aim of this interdisciplinary project is to offer a diachronic study of film subtitling, mainly focusing on the Italian cinema distributed in the UK during the post-war period. More specifically, after having introduced in Chapter 1 the background as well as the disciplinary motivations for the proposed research, which will be further discussed in Chapter 2, this work may be divided into two main sections. The first one starts in Chapter 3, which traces the evolution of subtitling as translation practice, with a special focus on changing conventions at technical and linguistic level (punctuation and other conventions), from the silent era to the arrival of sound, thus creating a bridge between AVTS and Film Studies in a diachronic perspective. This link will be further strengthen in Chapter 4, which explores Italian cinema during the post-war period, contextualising the titles produced in those years within the social, cultural, political and economic context. The distribution of Italian films produced after the Second World War within the UK market will then be explored, with special emphasis on the choice of audiovisual translation modality adopted to distribute them within the British market, and on the preference of subtitling over dubbing for the so-called Italian art films. This first section, in addition to having explored film subtitling and Italian 12 cinema in a diachronic perspective, drawing on both Audiovisual Translation Studies and Film Studies, has also served as basis for the second section of the present work: the construction and analysis of a corpus of Italian films distributed in the UK, comprising three different subtitled versions for each title, with a 46-year time span, on average: Il Miracolo (Roberto Rossellini 1949), Ladri di Biciclette (Vittorio De Sica 1949); La Strada (Federico Fellini 1952), and L’Avventura (Michelangelo Antonioni 1960). Chapter 5 illustrates then the film corpus: the criteria for the collection of filmic materials, the selected source of data, the procedure for data collection, as well as the process of data transcription and extraction; the films under scrutiny will be illustrated in full details. Chapter 6 presents a descriptive and mainly qualitative analyses of the four films, and corresponding different versions, focusing on three main ‘dimensions’: technical (layout and spatial constraints), linguistic (punctuation marks and other conventions), and translation dimensions (the analysis of cultural elements). The decision to focus on these aspects precisely stems from the study carried out in the first section of the work, and specifically: the changing practices and conventions which have affected film subtitling from the silent cinema era to modern times (Chapter 3); the context in which these titles have been conceived and produced, determining their strict bound with the geographical, ethnographic, and socio-political national context (see Chapter 4); the context in which these titles have been distributed and consumed, 13 determining and influencing British viewer’s habits and expectations (see Chapter 5). Chapter 7 will finally provide with general and preliminary conclusions stemming from the studies carried out in the two main sections of the present work, also proposing further possibilities to expand the proposed research. Finally, after having listed the bibliographical and filmic references, the thesis concludes with the appendices, which contain the transcription of the film corpus: appendix I includes the transcription of the dialogues of the four films; and appendix II comprises the transcription of the subtitles from the 16 mm and 35 mm film prints, the VHS tapes, and the DVDs

La valutazione dell’esperienza del pubblico. Accessibilità e studi di ricezione al Macerata Opera Festival

This essay discusses an audience reception study carried out in the framework of media accessibility in order to evaluate the experience of blind/partially sighted patrons and their (sighted) accompanying persons in the context of Macerata Opera Festival (MOF), 2018 edition. Adopting a qualitative analytical approach, in which the main interest is on individuals (i.e. the samples under investigation), and relying on post-hoc self-report questionnaires, three interdependent variables were measured: (1) comprehension and recall, (2) cognitive load, and (3) psychological immersion. This analytical approach was then combined with a descriptive approach including the collection of attitudinal data for the evaluation of appreciation and preferences. Results reveal that there was no substantial divergence in the levels of the variables under investigation between the two samples: blind/partially sighted and sighted (accompanying) patrons. Additionally, audio description and tactile tours did not provoke cognitive overloading and they even increased psychological immersion. Furthermore, it is possible to find a correspondence between the high levels of appreciation and preferences and the results related to comprehension and recall, cognitive load, and psychological immersion. This confirms the effectiveness of audio descriptions and tactile tours in enhancing audience’s experience and increasing blind/partially sighted users’ empowerment

Introduzione: Traduzione è accessibilità

Introduction to the volum

Traduzione è accessibilità. Tradurre le immagini in suono e il suono in segno

Questo numero speciale di Lingue & Linguaggi raccoglie gli interventi di studiose e studiosi, professionisti e studenti, che hanno preso parte alle attività incluse nel progetto Traduzione audiovisiva, saperi interdisciplinari e nuove professionalità, portato avanti presso il Dipartimento di Scienze della Formazione, Psicologia e Comunicazione dell’Università degli Studi di Bari grazie al cofinanziamento del Fondo di Sviluppo e Coesione 2007/2013-APQ Ricerca Regione Puglia Programma regionale a sostegno della specializzazione intelligente e della sostenibilità sociale e ambientale-Future in Research. Il numero è suddiviso in due parti, saggi e testimonianze. I saggi si dividono a loro volta in due tipologie: alcuni di essi hanno come scopo la descrizione dello stato dell’arte in determinati ambiti di intervento legati al tema della traduzione audiovisiva e dell’accessibilità dei prodotti audiovisivi per persone cieche, ipovedenti, sorde e ipoudenti e si concentrano su determinate figure professionali; altri rappresentano casi studio specifici e testimoniano le numerose possibilità di ricerca nell’ambito della traduzione audiovisiva e dell’accessibilità. Le testimonianze raccolgono le voci di coloro i quali hanno preso parte al progetto in maniera attiva o hanno contribuito alla diffusione della cultura dell’accessibilità nei suoi diversi ambiti d’intervento e fruizione

Long-term reproductive performance after surgery for ovarian endometrioma

ObjectiveTo determine the long-term impact of different types of endometrioma surgery on reproductive performance and on age of menopause.Study designThis was a longitudinal observational cohort study of 68 women with previous endometrioma surgery and 68 age- and weight-matched healthy controls. All participants’ hospital records were reviewed and each woman completed a questionnaire and attended an interview. Pregnancy rates were compared between the study and control groups. In the study group, pregnancy rates were compared before and after surgery.ResultsAmongst the 38 women desiring pregnancy after endometrioma surgery, 19 (50%) achieved a spontaneous pregnancy during the follow-up period. This was not significantly different from a pre-operative pregnancy rate of 48% (22/46). Of these 19 patients, four achieved another pregnancy with fertility treatment. An additional eight patients conceived only with the help of fertility treatment, giving an overall long-term post-operative pregnancy rate of 71% (27/38). These results were significantly lower (p = 0.0001) than the 98% (57/58) long-term natural pregnancy rate in the control group. Pregnancy rates in patients receiving fertility treatment significantly (p = 0.001) increased from 7% (1/15) before surgery to 63% (12/19) post-operatively. In post-menopausal women, the median (quartile) age at menopause was similar in the study (n = 9) and control groups (n = 6) [48 (45–52) versus 49 (44–52) years, respectively].ConclusionEndometriomas per se appear to be the main cause of the reduced long-term reproductive performance of the affected patients, with little or no contribution from surgery. Furthermore, endometrioma surgery seems to improve the success rates of fertility treatment

Astrochronology of the Miocene Climatic Optimum record from Ocean Drilling Program Site 959 in the eastern equatorial Atlantic

The Miocene Climatic Optimum (MCO; ~16.9–14.7 Ma) was a relatively warm interval which interrupted the Cenozoic cooling trend and bears analogies with projected near-future climate change. Evidence for MCO warming and climatic variability is dominantly based on studies from mid- to high-latitude regions and deep ocean benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotope reconstructions, whereas studies from tropical latitudes are needed to resolve latitudinal temperature gradients and ocean nutrient cycling. Sedimentary cores retrieved at Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Site 959 (Leg 159) in the eastern equatorial Atlantic Ocean offer a near-continuous, low-latitude record spanning the Early to Middle Miocene, but age constraints were limited. To achieve an orbitally resolved age model, we generated new calcareous nannofossil and diatom biostratigraphy as well as high-resolution bulk carbonate stable carbon (δ13C) and oxygen isotope (δ18O) ratios, magnetic susceptibility (MS), weight percent CaCO3 and mean greyscale records. We record several diagnostic biostratigraphic markers and identify the well-dated onset of the MCO, Monterey Excursion (ME), Carbon Maxima (CM) events and peak warming in the bulk carbonate isotope records. An orbital age model is realized by tuning the bulk carbonate δ13C record to eccentricity extracted from the Laskar et al. (2004) astronomical solution that is consistent with the bio- and chemostratigraphic constraints. We conclude that the studied sediment record spans the Early to Middle Miocene interval between ~18.2 and 15 Ma and includes a hiatus directly prior to the onset of MCO of maximally ~700 kyr. All records reveal dominant eccentricity-paced variability, while prominent precession and obliquity paced variability is observed between ~16.9–16.1 Ma; this interval corresponds to a node in the long ~2.4 Myr eccentricity cycle. Moreover, a major shift from bio-siliceous-dominated to carbonate-rich sediments is found across the onset of the MCO (~16.9 Ma). Both lithologies represent intervals of relatively high productivity, likely associated with upwelling. Ultimately, our high-resolution record from Site 959 can provide an important opportunity for reconstructing a tropical paleoclimate record at precession-to-eccentricity resolution during the MCO

Coccolithophores as proxy of seawater changes at orbital-to-millennial scale during middle Pleistocene Marine Isotope Stages 14-9 in North Atlantic core MD01-2446

midlatitude North Atlantic, to reconstruct climatically induced sea surface water conditions throughout Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 14–9. The data are compared to new and available paleoenvironmental proxies from the same site as well as other nearby North Atlantic records that support the coccolithophore signature at glacial‐interglacial to millennial climate scale. Total coccolithophore absolute abundance increases during interglacials but abruptly drops during the colder glacial phases and deglaciations. Coccolithophore warm water taxa (wwt) indicate that MIS11c and MIS9e experienced warmer and more stable conditions throughout the whole photic zone compared to MIS13. MIS11 was a long‐lasting warmer and stable interglacial characterized by a climate optimum during MIS11c when a more prominent influence of the subtropical front at the site is inferred. The wwt pattern also suggests distinct interstadial and stadial events lasting about 4–10 kyr. The glacial increases of Gephyrocapsa margereli‐G. muellerae 3–4 µm along with higher values of Corg, additionally supported by the total alkenone abundance at Site U1313, indicate more productive surface waters, likely reflecting the migration of the polar front into the midlatitude North Atlantic. Distinctive peaks of G. margereli‐muellerae (>4 µm), C. pelagicus pelagicus , Neogloboquadrina pachyderma left coiling, and reworked nannofossils, combined with minima in total nannofossil accumulation rate, are tracers of Heinrich‐type events during MIS12 and MIS10. Additional Heinrich‐type events are suggested during MIS12 and MIS14 based on biotic proxies, and we discuss possible iceberg sources at these times. Our results improve the understanding of mid‐Brunhes paleoclimate and the impact on phytoplankton diversity in the midlatitude North Atlantic region.Provided by PTCRIS: 58282, C2007-FCT/319/2006info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Vaccine breakthrough hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia in patients with auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs

Life-threatening `breakthrough' cases of critical COVID-19 are attributed to poor or waning antibody response to the SARS- CoV-2 vaccine in individuals already at risk. Pre-existing autoantibodies (auto-Abs) neutralizing type I IFNs underlie at least 15% of critical COVID-19 pneumonia cases in unvaccinated individuals; however, their contribution to hypoxemic breakthrough cases in vaccinated people remains unknown. Here, we studied a cohort of 48 individuals ( age 20-86 years) who received 2 doses of an mRNA vaccine and developed a breakthrough infection with hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia 2 weeks to 4 months later. Antibody levels to the vaccine, neutralization of the virus, and auto- Abs to type I IFNs were measured in the plasma. Forty-two individuals had no known deficiency of B cell immunity and a normal antibody response to the vaccine. Among them, ten (24%) had auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs (aged 43-86 years). Eight of these ten patients had auto-Abs neutralizing both IFN-a2 and IFN-., while two neutralized IFN-omega only. No patient neutralized IFN-ss. Seven neutralized 10 ng/mL of type I IFNs, and three 100 pg/mL only. Seven patients neutralized SARS-CoV-2 D614G and the Delta variant (B.1.617.2) efficiently, while one patient neutralized Delta slightly less efficiently. Two of the three patients neutralizing only 100 pg/mL of type I IFNs neutralized both D61G and Delta less efficiently. Despite two mRNA vaccine inoculations and the presence of circulating antibodies capable of neutralizing SARS-CoV-2, auto-Abs neutralizing type I IFNs may underlie a significant proportion of hypoxemic COVID-19 pneumonia cases, highlighting the importance of this particularly vulnerable population