Crepis pusilla (Asteraceae, Cichorieae) is “Critically Endangered” in the Maltese Islands, being restricted to a 60 metre country path. This study is the first to quantify the population and to ...precisely determine its distribution. Field surveys between February and May 2023 indicated a total of 27 confirmed individuals or close clusters of Crepis pusilla with a diameter ranging between 0.9 cm to 4.8 cm (mean 2.5 cm ± 0.9 cm). Flowering was observed during April and early May 2023, with each plant producing c. 150 achenes.
This book examines the English-speaking branch, or langue, of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem, a military order devoted to the care of the sick and defence of the Latin East and based ...successively, in this period, in Rhodes and Malta. The order's houses in Britain and Ireland, governed from priories at Clerkenwell and Kilmainham, supported these activities with men and money, and also provided spiritual and other services to the local population. This work examines the recruitment of British and Irish members of the order and their family ties and career structure as well as their relationship with society at large, mediated through their provision of spiritual services outside the parish network as well as through their offer of vicarious participation in the defence of the faith through the offer of confraternity. The administration of the order's estates by its members and their servants and families is analysed, and its despatch of resources to the east investigated. The support of the governing authorities of Britain and Ireland was crucial to the latter, and the Hospital was a significant component of the later medieval political order, so there is extended discussion of the order's relationship with the English and Scots' crowns and the Irish nobility. Finally, the activities of the langue in the Mediterranean are examined, attention being given to the careers of its members in the east, its role in the defence of Rhodes and Malta, and the position and functions of its chief officer, the turcopolier.
A novel transmitarray element consisting of only two layers of modified Malta crosses printed on a dielectric substrate is proposed, and vias are employed to augment the transmission magnitude and ...enhance its phase shift range. A prototype transmitarray with a circular aperture of 338 mm in diameter is then designed, fabricated, and tested to validate the proposed design. The simulation and measurement results show good radiation characteristics with measured gain of 33.0 dBi at 20 GHz and aperture efficiency of 40%. The proposed element considerably simplifies the complexity of a transmitarray, reducing its thickness, mass, and cost.
The authors looked at changes in the audit expectation gap (AEG) within the Maltese central government over six years (2012 to 2018). Some important discrepancies in expectations were found and this ...paper makes recommendations for change. The findings will be of value to public sector auditors, government departments and politicians and policy-makers in Malta, as well as in a number of other countries. For instance, the findings emphasise the importance of more education and awareness about the auditor's role and responsibilities in order to remove any over-expectations which the users might have.
ABSTRACT
This paper analyses the audit expectation gap (AEG) in the Maltese central government. Interviews were conducted with NAO Malta auditors and with users, while questionnaires were distributed to additional NAO Malta auditors and to members of parliament. The authors found some important gaps between NAO Malta and the users of its reports in terms of auditor's responsibility, materiality, fraud detection, audit reports and audit judgement. This paper contributes to the literature by identifying successful practices that have been implemented to reduce the AEG and proposing recommendations on how to further diminish the gap.
The epidemiology of CHD in Malta Grech, Victor; Gatt, Miriam; Calleja, Neville
Cardiology in the young
34, Številka:
3
Journal Article
Recenzirano
CHD refers to structural cardiac abnormalities which comprise the commonest group of congenital malformations. Malta is a small island in the central Mediterranean with excellent diagnostic and ...therapeutic facilities. It is unique in the European population as termination of pregnancy is illegal. This study was carried out to ascertain patterns in CHD prevalence in comparison with EUROCAT data (European Surveillance of Congenital Anomalies).
Anonymised data were obtained from the EUROCAT website for 1993-2020.
There were a total of 22,833,032 births from all EUROCAT Registries, of which 121,697 were from Malta. The prevalence rate for Malta CHD was 32.38/10,000 births (at the higher end of the range). Malta had a significant excess of commoner, comparatively non-severe CHDs. For most of the severe lesions analysed rates reported were higher than EUROCAT average, however, apart from Ebstein's anomaly, they all fell within the ranges reported from the different registries.
Wide variations in reported CHD prevalence are known, and the Malta rates may be higher for milder defects due to quicker pickup prior to spontaneous resolution. There may also be a higher pickup of milder forms of more severe conditions. For the more severe conditions, lack of termination may be the explanation. These factors may result in the higher neonatal mortality observed in Malta.
•Support practices (P-factor) consider contour farming, stone walls and grass margins.•P-factor is estimated to be 0.97 in European Union and 0.95 in arable lands.•Highest impact of support practices ...found in Mediterranean, Belgium, The Netherlands and UK.•The P-factor model is a useful tool for policy makers to simulate scenarios.•A scenario of contour farming in slopes steeper than 5% will result in P-factor=0.949.
The USLE/RUSLE support practice factor (P-factor) is rarely taken into account in soil erosion risk modelling at sub-continental scale, as it is difficult to estimate for large areas. This study attempts to model the P-factor in the European Union. For this, it considers the latest policy developments in the Common Agricultural Policy, and applies the rules set by Member States for contour farming over a certain slope. The impact of stone walls and grass margins is also modelled using the more than 226,000 observations from the Land use/cover area frame statistical survey (LUCAS) carried out in 2012 in the European Union.
The mean P-factor considering contour farming, stone walls and grass margins in the European Union is estimated at 0.9702. The support practices accounted for in the P-factor reduce the risk of soil erosion by 3%, with grass margins having the largest impact (57% of the total erosion risk reduction) followed by stone walls (38%). Contour farming contributes very little to the P-factor given its limited application; it is only used as a support practice in eight countries and only on very steep slopes. Support practices have the highest impact in Malta, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece, Belgium, The Netherlands and United Kingdom where they reduce soil erosion risk by at least 5%. The P-factor modelling tool can potentially be used by policy makers to run soil-erosion risk scenarios for a wider application of contour farming in areas with slope gradients less than 10%, maintaining stone walls and increasing the number of grass margins under the forthcoming reform of the Common Agricultural Policy.
Euxoa capsensis Chrétien, 1911 is reported for the first time from Europe and the Maltese Islands. Notes on the distribution and habitat of the adult are included. A Maltese name is proposed for this ...new record.
A review of 917 relative sea-level (RSL) data-points has resulted in the first quality-controlled database constraining the Holocene sea-level histories of the western Mediterranean Sea (Spain, ...France, Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Malta and Tunisia). We reviewed and standardized the geological RSL data-points using a new multi-proxy methodology based on: (1) modern taxa assemblages in Mediterranean lagoons and marshes; (2) beachrock characteristics (cement fabric and chemistry, sedimentary structures); and (3) the modern distribution of Mediterranean fixed biological indicators. These RSL data-points were coupled with the large number of archaeological RSL indicators available for the western Mediterranean. We assessed the spatial variability of RSL histories for 22 regions and compared these with the ICE-5G (VM2) GIA model. In the western Mediterranean, RSL rose continuously for the whole Holocene with a sudden slowdown at ~7.5kaBP and a further deceleration during the last ~4.0kaBP, after which time observed RSL changes are mainly related to variability in isostatic adjustment. The sole exception is southern Tunisia, where data show evidence of a mid-Holocene high-stand compatible with the isostatic impacts of the melting history of the remote Antarctic ice sheet.
Our results indicate that late-Holocene sea-level rise was significantly slower than the current one. First estimates of GIA contribution indicate that, at least in the northwestern sector, it accounts at least for the 25–30% of the ongoing sea-level rise recorded by Mediterranean tidal gauges. Such contribution is less constrained at lower latitudes due to the lower quality of the late Holocene index points. Future applications of spatio-temporal statistical techniques are required to better quantify the gradient of the isostatic contribution and to provide improved context for the assessment of 20th century acceleration of Mediterranean sea-level rise.
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