Research on the vocal culture of Orcinus orca in the Loro Parque, Tenerife: a pilot study

This research is focussed on the study of Orcinus orca's communication system. The analysis of vocalizations emitted by marine mammals has started in the '80s and most studies have been carried out in the wild. In this regard the most studied animal has been common dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) as the numerous presence of captive individuals worldwide made researches easier to be carried out. Studies about Orcinus orca's vocalizations have mainly been carried out in the wild (most in British Columbia) because its maintenance in a controlled environment results to be very difficult, only 17 among parks and oceanaria worldwide have some Orcinus orca (45 overall among which 64% born in captivity). These researches showed that Orcinus orca emit three main different types of sounds, classified as: whistles, clicks and calls. Besides, it was discovered that different groups (pods) produce sounds belonging only to the relevant pod (dialects). It is rare to find two pods sharing some calls. The two pods usually live in adjacent areas and can form a clan. This study was carried out in a controlled environment in the Orca ocean structure (Loro Parque, Tenerife, Spain) where, at the moment (March 2012) 6 individuals are hosted. Here it was developed an automatic sound recording system. Thanks to the use of suitable mathematical algorithms that allow to isolate only "interesting" sound events that differ from the "background noise", it was possible to create a database. The visualization of the sound events collected in the database is carried out with the use of a software. By looking at this output and at the observation register we could match the animal to the sound produced. Three situations were detected and studied: 1) Chosen alone: the animal chooses to go to the recording pool but it is free to move to another pool with other individuals. 2) Put alone: the animal is put alone in the recording pool. 3) With other orcas: more animals are together in the recording pool. The statistic analysis show that animals emit more vocalizations when they are in the situation "Chosen alone". The research will continue in order to observe eventual differences in the individual repertoire of each Orcinus orca.

"Pásli ovce valasi": Proposta di adattamento in italiano di una serie televisiva slovacca per l'infanzia fra doppiaggio e sottotitolaggio

The main purpose of this thesis is to promote the Slovak culture in Italy through the adaptation of Pásli ovce valasi (The shepherd grazed the sheep), a TV series for children by director Ladislav Čapek. The series, which was released in Czechoslovakia in 1973, is divided into thirteen episodes and tells the story of Matko and Kubko, two shepherds who live in the mountains in central Slovakia. Pásli ovce valasi represented an interesting choice from the adaptation point of view, due to its deep cultural value and the peculiarities of the language used by the characters. The constraints of audiovisual translation were combined to the difficulty of rendering Slovak cultural-specific elements into Italian, together with the limits imposed by having children as a primary recipient. The importance of their role as a target has constrained not only our translation choices, but also the adaptation mode. For this reason, it was decided to realise subtitles in order to make the audiovisual product immediately available, together with an adaptation for dubbing, more suitable for a young audience. The opportunity to present two different forms of adaptation is closely linked to the specific characteristics of the cartoon language. The present study consists of four chapters. The first one provides a brief introduction to the series, its language and setting. The second chapter outlines the main characteristics of audiovisual translation, focusing on dubbing and subtitling in particular. It also presents an analysis of the role of children as a target and the consequent decision to realise an adaptation for dubbing. The two adaptation modes, together with the transcription of the original dialogues, are provided in the third chapter. The fourth and last chapter consists of a description and analysis of the translation process, focusing on morphosyntactic, lexical, rethorical, historical and cultural aspects. The last part of the chapter analyses the differences between the subtitles and the adaptation for dubbing.

Distribution of metals in several vineyards of North Italy: from soil to wine

Nowadays we live in densely populated regions and this leads to many environmental issues. Among all pollutants that human activities originate, metals are relevant because they can be potentially toxic for most of living beings. We studied the fate of Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn in a vineyard environment analysing samples of plant, wine and soil. Sites were chosen considering the type of wine produced, the type of cultivation (both organic and conventional agriculture) and the geographic location. We took vineyards that cultivate the same grape variety, the Trebbiano). We investigated 5 vineyards located in the Ravenna district (Italy): two on the Lamone Valley slopes, one in the area of river-bank deposits near Ravenna city, then a farm near Lugo and one near Bagnacavallo in interfluve regions. We carried out a very detailed characterization of soils in the sites, including the analysis of: pH, electric conductivity, texture, total carbonate and extimated content of dolomite, active carbonate, iron from ammonium oxalate, Iron Deficiency Chlorosis Index (IDCI), total nitrogen and organic carbon, available phosphorous, available potassium and Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC). Then we made the analysis of the bulk chemical composition and a DTPA extraction to determine the available fraction of elements in soils. All the sites have proper ground to cultivate, with already a good amount of nutrients, such as not needing strong fertilisations, but a vineyard on hills suffers from iron deficiency chlorosis due to the high level of active carbonate. We found some soils with much silica and little calcium oxide that confirm the marly sandstone substratum, while other soils have more calcium oxide and more aluminium oxide that confirm the argillaceous marlstone substratum. We found some critical situations, such as high concentrations of Chromium, especially in the farm near Lugo, and we noticed differences between organic vineyards and conventional ones: the conventional ones have a higher enrichment in soils of some metals (Copper and Zinc). Each metal accumulates differently in every single part of grapevines. We found differences between hill plants and lowland ones: behaviors of plants in metal accumulations seems to have patterns. Metals are more abundant in barks, then in leaves or sometimes in roots. Plants seem trying to remove excesses of metal storing them in bark. Two wines have excess of acetic acid and one conventional farm produces wine with content of Zinc over the Italian law limit. We already found evidence of high values relating them with uncontaminated environments, but more investigations are suggested to link those values to their anthropogenic supplies.