Tkarwit

Din il-poeżija bl-isem `Tkarwit’ ta’ Rita Saliba dehret fil-ġurnal Il-Malti : Rivista tal-Akkademja tal-Malti ħarġa letterarja, 93.peer-reviewe

Bla kulur

Din in-novella bl-isem `Bla kulur’ ta’ Rita Saliba dehret fil-ġurnal Il-Malti : Rivista tal-Akkademja tal-Malti ħarġa letterarja, 93.peer-reviewe

L-ilsien Malti għal qalbi

“Bonġu!” “L-għodwa t-tajba!” “Kif int?” Ħafna drabi dawn il-frażijiet ngħiduhom mingħajr ma naħsbu meta nsellmu lil xulxin imma żgur juru li aħna Maltin. Bosta nies importanti jħaddmu l-lingwa Maltija fix-xogħol u l-ħajja tagħhom ta’ kuljum. Fost dawn hemm il-President George Vella li saħaq fuq il-ħtieġa li nħarsu u ngħożżu l-ilsien Malti.peer-reviewe

Agent-based simulation of pedestrians' earthquake evacuation; application to Beirut, Lebanon

Most seismic risk assessment methods focus on estimating the damages to the built environment and the consequent socioeconomic losses without fully taking into account the social aspect of risk. Yet, human behaviour is a key element in predicting the human impact of an earthquake, therefore, it is important to include it in quantitative risk assessment studies. In this study, an interdisciplinary approach simulating pedestrians' evacuation during earthquakes at the city scale is developed using an agent-based model. The model integrates the seismic hazard, the physical vulnerability as well as individuals' behaviours and mobility. The simulator is applied to the case of Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanon is at the heart of the Levant fault system that has generated several Mw>7 earthquakes, the latest being in 1759. It is one of the countries with the highest seismic risk in the Mediterranean region. This is due to the high seismic vulnerability of the buildings due to the absence of mandatory seismic regulation until 2012, the high level of urbanization, and the lack of adequate spatial planning and risk prevention policies. Beirut as the main residential, economic and institutional hub of Lebanon is densely populated. To accommodate the growing need for urban development, constructions have almost taken over all of the green areas of the city; squares and gardens are disappearing to give place to skyscrapers. However, open spaces are safe places to shelter, away from debris, and therefore play an essential role in earthquake evacuation. Despite the massive urbanization, there are a few open spaces but locked gates and other types of anthropogenic barriers often limit their access. To simulate this complex context, pedestrians' evacuation simulations are run in a highly realistic spatial environment implemented in GAMA [1]. Previous data concerning soil and buildings in Beirut [2, 3] are complemented by new geographic data extracted from high-resolution Pleiades satellite images. The seismic loading is defined as a peak ground acceleration of 0.3g, as stated in Lebanese seismic regulations. Building damages are estimated using an artificial neural network trained to predict the mean damage [4] based on the seismic loading as well as the soil and building vibrational properties [5]. Moreover, the quantity and the footprint of the generated debris around each building are also estimated and included in the model. We simulate how topography, buildings, debris, and access to open spaces, affect individuals' mobility. Two city configurations are implemented: 1. Open spaces are accessible without any barriers; 2. Access to some open spaces is blocked. The first simulation results show that while 52% of the population is able to arrive to an open space within 5 minutes after an earthquake, this number is reduced to 39% when one of the open spaces is locked. These results show that the presence of accessible open spaces in a city and their proximity to the residential buildings is a crucial factor for ensuring people's safety when an earthquake occurs

Іншомовні аспекти фахової між культурної комунікації в сучасній вітчизняній і зарубіжній науковій літературі

У статті розглядаються основні напрямки сучасних вітчизняних і зарубіжних наукових досліджень з іншомовної фахової міжкультурної комунікації. Aspects of the professional foreign language of intercultural communication in modern domestic and foreign scientific literature. The paper discusses the main directions of current domestic and foreign scientific research in the field of professional foreign language intercultural communication

Giant rafted pumice blocks from the most recent eruption of Taupo volcano, New Zealand: Insights from palaeomagnetic and textural data

Giant blocks of pumice lie strewn along a former shoreline of intracaldera Lake Taupo, New Zealand, and are the sole subaerial evidence of the most recent volcanism at the Taupo supervolcano. Geochemically they are identical to material erupted during the complex and multiphase 1.8 ka Taupo eruption, which they post-date by one to two decades. The blocks, some of which are >10 m long, show complex jointing patterns indicative of both surface chilling and continued interior expansion, as well as heterogeneous vesicularity, with dense rims (mean density 917 kg/m3) grading via an intervening transition zone (mean density 844 kg/m3) into a more highly vesicular interior (mean density 815 kg/m3). Analysis of thermal demagnetisation data indicates significant reorientation of the blocks as they cooled through a series of blocking temperatures. Some parts of block rims cooled to below 580 °C well before emplacement on the shore, whereas other parts in the interior and transition zones, which cooled more slowly, acquired different orientations before stranding. Some block interiors cooled after blocks were finally deposited, and record the direction of the 1.8 ka field. The blocks are believed to be derived from one or both of a pair of rhyolitic lava domes that developed on the bed of Lake Taupo several decades after the climactic Taupo eruption over the inferred vent area.These, and similar giant rafted pumice blocks in other marine and lacustrine settings raise a number of questions about how volatile-rich felsic magma can be erupted underwater with only limited thermal fragmentation. Furthermore, the prolonged flotation of out-sized fragments of vesiculated magma formed during subaqueous dome-growth contrasts with the rapid sinking of smaller pieces of hot plinian pumice under laboratory conditions. The genesis of pumice forming the blocks is not entirely clear. Most simply the blocks may represent part of a vesiculated carapace of a growing lava dome, broken loose as the dome grew and deformed then rising buoyantly to the surface. Parts of the carapace could also be released by local magma-water explosions. Some textures of the pumice, however, suggest fresher magma released from beneath the carapace. This may suggest that silicic dikes and pillows/pods intruded into a growing mound of silicic hyaloclastite, itself formed by quench fragmentation and thermal granulation of the dike margins. This fragmental cover would have inhibited cooling of a still-hot and actively vesiculating interior, which was then released to float to the surface by gravitational destabilisation and collapse of the growing pile. Following their formation, the large fragments of pumice floated to the lake's surface, where they were blown ashore to become embedded in accumulating transgressive shoreface sediments and continue cooling

Nikteb...

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: L-iben il-ħali ta’ David Agius Muscat – Kaptan ta’ Kit Azzopardi – Il-lanterna ta’ Charles Bezzina – Li kelli mmur lura ta’ Ġorġ Borg – Firda ta’ Ġorġ Borg – Garden fairy ta’ Charles Briffa – Sejf jinfidlek ruħek ta’ Charles Briffa – Waqt ta’ Joseph Buttigieg – Vjaġġ ta’ John Caruana – Ċaqlembuta ta’ Antoine Cassar – Ħaġa tqila ta’ Carmel G. Cauchi – F’tarf il-blat ta’ Leanne Ellul – Int ta’ Victor Fenech – Pippin u l-bojja ta’ Charles Flores – L-arloġġ ta’ Joe Friggieri – Il-fjur tal-ġakaranda ta’ Joe Friggieri – Fjur tal-kaktus ta’ Joel Galea – Biss is-skiet ta’ Joel Galea – Għalissa ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Ilsna ta’ Maria Grech Ganado – Is-sried ixoqqna fin fin ta’ Adrian Grima – Ħsieb ħalliel... ta’ Patrick Sammut – Lament lil ommi ta’ Salv Sammut – Hekk kif tinħass ġol-arja x-xitwa ta’ Lillian Sciberras – F’għajnejha, il-ħarsa siekta ta’ Clare Azzopardi – Għad jagħdab l-irdum ta’ Paul P. Borg – Forsi...xi darba ta’ Charles Casha – Faxxa ngħas ta’ Sergio Grech – Il-mejda tal-mogħdija ta’ Pierre J. Mejlak – Min jaf bi Stojan Kurepa? ta’ Immanuel Mifsud – L-eħrex jum tal-gwerra ta’ Maurice Mifsud Bonnici – Il-vażett tal-bewsiet ta’ Rita Saliba – Pjanu ta’ Trevor Żahra – Il-ħalliel ta’ Guy de Maupassant, traduzzjoni ta’ Toni Aquilina – Salvu tal-pasturi ta’ Francis Ebejer, traduzzjoni ta’ Steve Borg – Sunetti ta’ William Shakespeare, traduzzjoni ta’ Oliver Friggieri – Nikteb... ta’ Nizar Qabbani, traduzzjoni ta’ Kevin Saliba.peer-reviewe

PREDICT identifies precipitating events associated with the clinical course of acutely decompensated cirrhosis

Background & Aims: Acute decompensation (AD) of cirrhosis may present without acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) (ADNo ACLF), or with ACLF (AD-ACLF), defined by organ failure(s). Herein, we aimed to analyze and characterize the precipitants leading to both of these AD phenotypes. Methods: The multicenter, prospective, observational PREDICT study (NCT03056612) included 1,273 non-electively hospitalized patients with AD (No ACLF = 1,071; ACLF = 202). Medical history, clinical data and laboratory data were collected at enrolment and during 90-day follow-up, with particular attention given to the following characteristics of precipitants: induction of organ dysfunction or failure, systemic inflammation, chronology, intensity, and relationship to outcome. Results: Among various clinical events, 4 distinct events were precipitants consistently related to AD: proven bacterial infections, severe alcoholic hepatitis, gastrointestinal bleeding with shock and toxic encephalopathy. Among patients with precipitants in the AD-No ACLF cohort and the AD-ACLF cohort (38% and 71%, respectively), almost all (96% and 97%, respectively) showed proven bacterial infection and severe alcoholic hepatitis, either alone or in combination with other events. Survival was similar in patients with proven bacterial infections or severe alcoholic hepatitis in both AD phenotypes. The number of precipitants was associated with significantly increased 90day mortality and was paralleled by increasing levels of surrogates for systemic inflammation. Importantly, adequate first-line antibiotic treatment of proven bacterial infections was associated with a lower ACLF development rate and lower 90-day mortality. Conclusions: This study identified precipitants that are significantly associated with a distinct clinical course and prognosis in patients with AD. Specific preventive and therapeutic strategies targeting these events may improve outcomes in patients with decompensated cirrhosis. Lay summary: Acute decompensation (AD) of cirrhosis is characterized by a rapid deterioration in patient health. Herein, we aimed to analyze the precipitating events that cause AD in patients with cirrhosis. Proven bacterial infections and severe alcoholic hepatitis, either alone or in combination, accounted for almost all (96-97%) cases of AD and acute-on-chronic liver failure. Whilst the type of precipitant was not associated with mortality, the number of precipitant(s) was. This study identified precipitants that are significantly associated with a distinct clinical course and prognosis of patients with AD. Specific preventive and therapeutic strategies targeting these events may improve patient outcomes. (c) 2020 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

The PREDICT study uncovers three clinical courses of acutely decompensated cirrhosis that have distinct pathophysiology

Acute decompensation (AD) of cirrhosis is defined as the acute development of ascites, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, hepatic encephalopathy, infection or any combination thereof, requiring hospitalization. The presence of organ failure(s) in patients with AD defines acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF). The PREDICT study is a European, prospective, observational study, designed to characterize the clinical course of AD and to identify predictors of ACLF. A total of 1,071 patients with AD were enrolled. We collected detailed pre-specified information on the 3-month period prior to enrollment, and clinical and laboratory data at enrollment. Patients were then closely followed up for 3 months. Outcomes (liver transplantation and death) at 1 year were also recorded. Three groups of patients were identified. Pre-ACLF patients (n = 218) developed ACLF and had 3-month and 1-year mortality rates of 53.7% and 67.4%, respectively. Unstable decompensated cirrhosis (UDC) patients (n = 233) required ≥1 readmission but did not develop ACLF and had mortality rates of 21.0% and 35.6%, respectively. Stable decompensated cirrhosis (SDC) patients (n = 620) were not readmitted, did not develop ACLF and had a 1-year mortality rate of only 9.5%. The 3 groups differed significantly regarding the grade and course of systemic inflammation (high-grade at enrollment with aggravation during follow-up in pre-ACLF; low-grade at enrollment with subsequent steady-course in UDC; and low-grade at enrollment with subsequent improvement in SDC) and the prevalence of surrogates of severe portal hypertension throughout the study (high in UDC vs. low in pre-ACLF and SDC). Acute decompensation without ACLF is a heterogeneous condition with 3 different clinical courses and 2 major pathophysiological mechanisms: systemic inflammation and portal hypertension. Predicting the development of ACLF remains a major future challenge. ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT03056612. Lay summary: Herein, we describe, for the first time, 3 different clinical courses of acute decompensation (AD) of cirrhosis after hospital admission. The first clinical course includes patients who develop acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) and have a high short-term risk of death - termed pre-ACLF. The second clinical course (unstable decompensated cirrhosis) includes patients requiring frequent hospitalizations unrelated to ACLF and is associated with a lower mortality risk than pre-ACLF. Finally, the third clinical course (stable decompensated cirrhosis), includes two-thirds of all patients admitted to hospital with AD - patients in this group rarely require hospital admission and have a much lower 1-year mortality risk