Filming Bronte's Moorish soundscape : an aural analysis of five Wuthering Heights film adaptations

This paper dissects the sound-effects codes of the Wuthering Heights film versions directed by Wyler, Bunuel, Fuest, Yoshida and Kosminsky in order to determine to what extent these film adaptors succeed in echoing thematically the novel's essential 'wuthering'. What such an analysis reveals is that, while Kosminsky 's soundtrack is more consistently analogous to Bronte's moorish soundscape in its recreation of such crucial aural motifs as canine baying, avian trilling and gusty wind, even the soundtracks devised by Wyer, Yoshida, Fuest and Bunuel have their enviable moments of undoubted Brontean significance.peer-reviewe

Notes on two interesting specimens of Hippotion celerio (Linnaeus) (Lepidoptera, Sphingidae)

Moths of the genus Hippotion Hübner, 1822 (Family: Sphingidae) are distributed in Africa, Central and southern Asia and as migrants in southern Europe and Australia. Currently, around 30 species are accommodated in this genus. Hippotion celerio is a regular migrant to the Maltese Islands. On the onset of warmer weather conditions, colonies establish themselves in North Africa and Europe. It is a resident species in the Azores and the Atlantic coast of Morocco and most probably also in the Levant, the Arabian Peninsula and Egyptpeer-reviewe

The prevalence of trunk asymmetries in the small island state of Malta

Background: Malta, the smallest member state of the European Union is constituted of two inhabited islands Malta and Gozo. In the Maltese islands there has not been any large population size definitive study concerning the incidence of trunk asymmetries that may indicate Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis (AIS) amongst the general population. Scoliosis is one of the most deforming orthopaedic conditions confronting children. To confirm the orthopaedic condition of scoliosis one has to carry out a visual examination that usually consists of the Adam’s Forward Bend test, this is followed by the measurement of trunk rotation with the use of a Bunnell Scoliometer. Should the angle of trunk rotation be more than five degrees then the positively screened student be referred for x-Rays and a 10 degree Cobb angle taken as being required to confirm the diagnosis of Scoliosis. The lack of a full scale study together with the apparent lack of awareness regarding the condition has prompted the authors to research the situation on all Gozitan children aged between 13 and 15 years of age. It was decided to measure Trunk Asymmetry and the aim of the study was to obtain statistical data on the occurrence of trunk asymmetries amongst the Gozitan population, to further analyse the ratio of distribution of trunk asymmetries between female and male students and finally to refer the positively screened students to the relevant medical authorities for x-ray to confirm a scoliosis diagnosis. Methods: This quantitative study design was carried out on all children aged between 13 to 15 years old over a five-month period. An Adam’s forward bend test and Scoliometer reading were taken for each participant consenting to this study. To minimse bias a qualified full time Physiotherapist graduated with a Bachelor of Science Honours degree in Physiotherapy since 2012, carried out these tests in the selected schools. Results: The results of the study concluded that 5.3% of the adolescent population in Gozo suffer from trunk asymmetries (13 out of 245). Prevalence of trunk asymmetry was calculated using the 95% confidence interval and the Chi square tests had a significant p-value. Further analysis showed that 69% of these were female and 31% were male. These results demonstrate that the prevalence of trunk asymmetries in Gozitan adolescents is comparable to that stated within the current literature. Conclusions: Results from the study confirms that trunk asymmetry is relatively common within the Maltese population. This might be indicative that a significant portion of the Maltese adolescent population might suffer from Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis. The intention of this research is to increase the general public’s awareness of the condition AIS, to make this condition more prominent to members of the allied professions, to reinforce the need for school screening projects and finally to ensure that the condition Trunk Asymmetry and Scoliosis is given the importance that it requires in the curriculum of study for physiotherapists.peer-reviewe

Tuta absoluta (Povolny, 1994), an important agricultural pest in Malta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae)

Tuta absoluta appeared for the first time in the Maltese Islands in April 2009. Details of the morphology and biology of this agricultural pest are provided. The damage caused on tomatoes and the possible impact on Maltese agriculture is discussed.peer-reviewe

Dynamic Model Averaging for Practitioners in Economics and Finance: The eDMA Package

Raftery, Karny, and Ettler (2010) introduce an estimation technique, which they refer to as Dynamic Model Averaging (DMA). In their application, DMA is used to predict the output strip thickness for a cold rolling mill, where the output is measured with a time delay. Recently, DMA has also shown to be useful in macroeconomic and financial applications. In this paper, we present the eDMA package for DMA estimation implemented in R. The eDMA package is especially suited for practitioners in economics and finance, where typically a large number of predictors are available. Our implementation is up to 133 times faster then a standard implementation using a single-core CPU. Thus, with the help of this package, practitioners are able to perform DMA on a standard PC without resorting to large clusters, which are not easily available to all researchers. We demonstrate the usefulness of this package through simulation experiments and an empirical application using quarterly U.S. inflation data.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Blow Up for the Semilinear Wave Equation in Schwarzschild Metric

We study the semilinear wave equation in Schwarzschild metric (3+1 dimensional space--time). First, we establish that the problem is locally well--posed in \cs H^\sigma for any $\sigma \geq 1$; then we prove the blow up of the solution for every real $p \in ]1,1+\sqrt{2}[$ and non--negative non--trivial initial data.Comment: some typos are corrected and some references are adde