Inertial oscillation of a vertical rotating draft with application to a supercell storm

An analytic model (vertical rotating draft) which includes the gross features of a supercell storm on an f-plane, undergoes an inertial oscillation that appears to have been overlooked in previous analytic and numerical models. The oscillation is nonlinear and consists of a long quiescent phase and a short intense phase. During the intense phase, the rotating draft has the following features of a supercell: the diameter of the core contracts as it spins up and expands as it spins down; if vertical wind shear is included, the track of the rotating draft turns to the right (an anticyclonic rotating draft turns to the left); this turning point is followed by a predominantly upward flow; and the horizontal pressure gradient is very small (a property of most tornadoless supercells). The rapid spin-up during the intense phase and the high Rossby numbers obtainable establish the ability of the Coriolis force to spin up single cyclonic or anticyclonic supercells by means of this inertial oscillation. This surprising result has implications for numerical supercell simulations, which generally do not rely on the Coriolis force as a source of rotation. The physics and mathematics of the inertial oscillation are given, and the solution is applied to a documented supercell

Postcolonial Testimony and the Ruins of Empire

This contribution explores the multi-faceted relations of postcolonial testimony and architectural remains by focusing on Os hóspedes da noite (2007, dir. Licínio de Azevedo). The film stages a visit to the Grande Hotel in Beira and ambivalently highlights its significance for the Mozambican-Portuguese decolonization process. It engages the experiences of two former employees of the hotel and the daily life of the actual residents, mostly refugees of the civil war. The analysis concentrates on how filmic practices, colonial ruins and testimony intersect in this production. I argue that Os hóspedes da noite might be understood as a way of ‘thinking with the ruins of empire’ which is “to emphasize less the artefacts of empire as dead matter or remnants of a defunct regime than to attend to their re-appropriations […] within the politics of the present” (Stoler 2008: 196).Peer Reviewe

Translations of Blind Perception in the Films Monika (2012) and Antoine (2008)

Against the backdrop of these works (Mitchell/Snyder and others), we propose an analysis of films with and about blind or visually disabled individuals that aims at exploring different modes of world perception. In our view, such an examination should not only discuss the question of “giving voice” and visibility to those who were formerly only represented in or by the media, or the fact that films belonging to what might be considered a “new disability documentary cinema” are dedicated to the experience of disability from the point of view of those who deal with it. Rather, we examine films that do not restrict their field of vision to institutional context as cultural productions. These films allow the viewer to get to know different practices of seeing in the daily life of both blind or visually disabled and sighted people. In approaching these productions, we are interested in focusing on how the audio-visual regimes produce and structure our visual experience, translate it into a filmic grammar and thus not only create filmic patterns of blind perception but, at the same time, the cinematographic aesthetic of a so-called normal sightedness

Do you hear what I hear? : inferring voice in celebrity translation in the theatre

The phenomenon of celebrity translation in the British theatrical system raises many hitherto unanswered questions about how we evaluate theatre translation using existing theories of translation. It also invites an exploration using a theoretical framework based on Relevance Theory, which examines the effects that a text potentially has on the receiver’s cognitive state in the light of the contextual background of the text, its author and its receivers. With the support of analysis of the source and target texts, audience data, reviews, blogs and social media posts, I explore the extent to which audiences are likely to infer the celebrity translator’s own voice from their translations because of the way in which the celebrity translator’s contextual background (i.e. their assumed style, values, agenda, personality, and so on) influences the reception of his or her text. I then question the implications of celebrity translation for the marketing of translated theatre in the UK, and argue that we should celebrate the way in which celebrity translators increase the visibility of the act of translation and showcase the genre of plays in translation. My assessment of the likely cognitive state of spectators attracted to a play because of the pull of a celebrity translator sheds new light on some of the existing ideas within translation studies regarding the role and responsibilities of the translator. It also adds to our growing understanding of the role played by the receiver’s cognitive context in his or her evaluation of translation and the relationships between source-text author and translator, and between source and target text. As well as adding to scholarly debate about the practice of theatre translation, my research is designed to encourage stakeholders in the UK’s theatrical system to further question the way in which translated play texts are commissioned, funded, marketed and critically evaluated

Stochastic Trends and Economic Fluctuations

Recent developments in macroeconomic theory emphasize that transient economic fluctuations can arise as responses to changes in long run factors -- in particular, technological improvements -- rather than short run factors. This contrasts with the view that short run fluctuations and shifts in long run trends are largely unrelated. We examine empirically the effect of shifts in stochastic trends that are common to several macroeconomic series. Using a linear time series model related to a VAR, we consider first a system with GNP, consumption and investment with a single common stochastic trend; we then examine this system augmented by money and prices and an additional stochastic trend. Our results suggest that movements in the "real" stochastic trend account for one-half to two-thirds of the variation in postwar U.S. GNP.

Filmische Zeugenschaft im Abseits: Kulturelle Dekolonisierungsprozesse und Dokumentarfilme zwischen Mosambik und Portugal

The first fundamental analysis of a cinematic testimony of the cultural decolonization processes between Mozambique and Portugal.Wie wird koloniale Gewalt historisch thematisiert? Wie gehen dokumentarische Filme und geschichtspolitische Diskurse mit ihr um? Robert Stock nähert sich diesen Fragen mit kritischem Blick auf den Kolonialkrieg Portugals in Afrika und den nationalen Befreiungskampf Mosambiks. Dabei fokussiert er seine Untersuchung auf die Gestaltung, Funktion und Reflexion historischer Zeugenschaft. Am Material von bislang wenig beachteten Filmproduktionen über die Dekolonisierungsprozesse zwischen Mosambik und Portugal seit den 1970er Jahren analysiert er die sich verändernden Deutungsweisen der kolonialen Vergangenheit

Observations of remotely triggered seismicity in Salton Sea and Coso geothermal regions, Southern California, USA, after big (M_W>7.8) teleseismic earthquakes

A relocated catalog was used to search for changes in seismicity rate in the Salton Sea and the Coso geothermal regions, southern California, USA, during and after large (M_W>7.8) teleseismic earthquakes. Seismicity in these two regions was analyzed within 30- day windows before and after the occurrence of five major earthquakes: the 2002 Denali fault, Alaska (M_W 7.9); the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman (M_W 9.2); the 2010 Central Chile (M_W 8.8); the 2011 Tohoku-Oki, Japan (M_W 9.1); and the 2012 Offshore Northern Sumatra (M_W 8.6) earthquakes. The Denali (M_W 7.9) earthquake coincided with an increase in seismicity in the Salton Sea region the day when this remote event occurred, indicating that instantaneous triggered seismicity was likely related with the passage of its surface waves. However, in the Coso region the seismicity rate remained approximately constant during the 30-day observation period. The seismicity after the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman (M_W 9.2) earthquake increased in both regions 9 days after the mega-earthquake. The seismicity after the 2010 Chile (M_W 8.8) earthquake increased in both regions approximately 14 days after the remote event. The seismicity in Salton Sea and Coso regions increased 17 and 14 days, respectively, after the 2011 Japan (M_W 9.1) earthquake, suggesting that delayed triggered seismicity was induced after the passage of the surface waves in both regions. Similarly, 6 and 16 days after the 2012 northern Sumatra (M_W 8.6) earthquake the seismicity also increased in Salton Sea and Coso regions, respectively. These observations can be interpreted as evidence of instantaneous and delayed dynamic triggering induced by large remote earthquakes. The maximum magnitude of the delayed triggered swarm increased with the strength (M_0/D) of the mega-earthquake and, the stronger the remote earthquake, the longer the delay time