SUMMER 2013 • ISSUE 6
I D E A S
•
M A LTA
•
R E S E A RC H
•
P E O P L E
•
U N I V E R S I TY
ISSN 2306-0735
GOING BIONIC
the future human
DIGITAL
EDITION
CARVING A BETTER FUTURE.
TOGETHER.
YOU ARE THE CUTTING EDGE.
YOUR RESEARCH SHOULD REFLECT THAT.
32.78%
INCREASE
88.16%
INCREASE
24.57%
SMS...
INCREASE
48.75%
ROAMING
ACTIVITY
MINUTES
INCREASE
28.19%
INCREASE
OUTGOING
TEXT MESSAGES
OUTGOING MOBILE
VOICE MINUTES
OUTGOING MOBILE
VOICE CALLS
ACTIVE MOBILE
SUBSCRIPTIONS
AVERAGE SPEND
PER USER ON
MOBILE SERVICES
22.68%
DECREASE
2009
2010
2011
We live in an increasingly connected world and Malta is a unique microcosm that outpaces
most other countries where communications and internet use are concerned. If you are
planning to undertake research related to the latest developments in communication or
technology, we would love to hear from you. At the Malta Communications Authority we
have lots of information and resources, which we are happy to share with those who are
dedicating their research to this rapidly evolving sector.
CONTACT US TODAY TO FIND OUT HOW WE CAN COLLABORATE FOR A SMARTER,
BETTER CONNECTED FUTURE.
2012
TEL: +356 21 336 840
INFO@MCA.ORG.MT
WWW.MCA.ORG.MT
HELLO
CONTENTS
ISSUE
18
SUMMER
6 2013
COVER STORY
The Bionic Human
Reloading humanity
Research for Tomorrow
Y
ou're in for a whopper of an issue. Eight new pages and
we could hardly fit in everything we wanted. We put so
much blood, sweat, and tears into this issue that the
team had to plan a holiday.
Our front cover symbolises humanity reimagined through
research. Again, I'm sensationalising. Our The Bionic Human
catches your attention, while Ing. Emmanuel Francalanza
gathered all the research happening at the Faculty of Engineering to try and answer the question: how will today's research
help humanity? Better limbs, teeth, and free-thinking robotic
assistants await.
Apart from over 20 pages celebrating 50 years of the Engineering Degree, I recently went to the UoM's Gozo campus. A
research station has detected how the volcano Etna can effect
Malta. Ash plumes can reach Malta annoying citizens, but also
capable of covering plane engines with a thin glass covering
shutting down their engines.
We even snuck in a world first. We've featured and reviewed
the world's first game based on a song. Will love tear us apart, a
question that touches us all.
Our special feature shines a bright, obvious light on why we
need to support research in Malta. Finland invests nearly 4% of
its GDP into research, Malta 0.68%. Finland gave birth to Nokia,
a mobile phone company whose inventions changed our planet. How would Malta change if we seriously started investing
in research?
This issue opened the doors to advertising. Please let us know
your thoughts by sending me an email or tweet, see below.
34
EDITOR
edward.duca@um.edu.mt
@DwardD
Transport 2025
How would Malta's ships,
planes, and cars look in 2025?
40
FEATURE
Etna
How does one of the most active
volcanoes of the world affect Malta?
51
Edward Duca
SPECIAL FEATURE
FEATURE
Through the
Looking Glass
World first: love and games
CONTENTS
CONTRIBUTORS
Ben McClure
Prof. Ing. Jonathan C.
Borg
ISSUE
13
Dr Ing. John C. Betts
Ing. Emmanuel
Francalanza
Ing. Francelle
Azzopardi
Prof. Raymond Ellul
Prof. Ing. Carl Debono
Sedeer El-Showk
Prof. Gordon Calleja
Prof. Isabel Stabile
SUMMER
6 2013
OPINION
Incubator Helps
Start-ups Take off
Ben McClure talks about
kickstarting new companies
15
SPECIAL FEATURE
25
SPECIAL FEATURE
50 Years
Engineering Degree
A Greener Malta
Malta cleaner, more
pleasant, better health
Dr Krista Bonello
Rutter Giappone
Noel Tanti
Graziella Vella
The Faculty of
Engineering
55
ALUMNI
Alumni Talk
What can you do with a maths
degree? How do you enter pharma
patent law?
FEATURED ARTIST
62
Sonya Hallett
CULTURE
Mapping Cultural Space
Where are Malta's cultural hotspots?
Illustrator, graphic designer, and naturalist
based between London and China. My interests are zoology, visual communication, and
engaging people in interesting ideas through
pictures. I am now focusing on conservation
and science communication through art and
public engagement.
bit.ly/SonyaHallett
Are you a student, staff, or researcher at the University of Malta? Would you like
to contribute to THINK magazine? If interested, please get in touch to discuss
your article on think@um.edu.mt or call +356 2340 3451
66
CULTURE GENES
Meme
CONTENTS
COVER
STUDENTS
Students' thinking
6
About: the stars, underwater
Malta, diabetes, and 3D paintings
OPINION
Should Malta Be
The Next China?
The Bionic Man, playfully
nicknamed Dante, was patiently
sculpted in 3D by Jean Claude
Vancell and featured in one of the
magazine's articles.
14
Prof. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg shares
his thoughts on Maltese products
THINK
I D E A S
•
M A LTA
•
R E S E A RC H
•
P E O P L E
•
U N I V E R S I TY
SUMMER 2013 - ISSUE 6
EDITORIAL
Edward Duca EDITOR
DESIGN
46
Immersive 3D experience
A new 3D technology is being
developed. How do you transmit it?
Jean Claude Vancell
THINK is a quarterly research magazine published by the Communications & Alumni Relations Office at the University of Malta.
FEATURE
COPY-EDITING
Daphne Pia Deguara, Patricia Ellul-Micallef
PRINTING
Print It Printing Services, Malta
ISSN 2306-0735
Copyright © University of Malta, 2013
The right of the University of Malta to be identified as Publisher of this
work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright Act, 2001.
University of Malta, Msida, Malta
Tel: (356) 2340 2340
Fax: (356) 2340 2342
www.um.edu.mt
FUN
Two Films.
Two Reviewers.
61
This month's horror film review
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the
purpose of research and review, no part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.
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for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live
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Every effort has been made to trace all copyright holders, but if any
have been inadvertently overlooked, the publishers will be pleased to
include any necessary credits in any subsequent issues.
FIND US ONLINE
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RESEARCH
65
Racing into the Future
The UOMR is building
a new racing car
www.twitter.com/thinkuom
www.youtube.com/user/ThinkUni
www.issuu.com/thinkuni
5
STUDENT
students’
THINKing
Conserving Maltese culture, saving
bats, refining materials and new
molecules, all by UoM students
The Universe is Strange and Beautiful
SUPER DENSE STARS
shooting jets of radiation, black holes
swallowing up stars, supernovae,
and unexplained bursts of gamma
rays. These are all examples of a ‘transient event’, an incident that lasts at
most a few days. They are amongst
the most powerful and mysterious
phenomena in the universe, but from
Earth they appear as ‘blips’ on our
telescopes, making them very difficult
to study.
Byron Magri (from the Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology
Research Programme (AACRP) and
supervised by Dr Kris Zarb Adami) is
shedding light on how to detect these
fleeting wonders. His work is focused
on fast transients that only last a few
seconds.
Earth-based radio telescopes (aka
antennae) are as big as they can get.
The problem is that astronomers need
bigger telescopes to produce higher
resolution images to reveal finer de-
6
tails about these objects and find new
discoveries. The solution is to use arrays of smaller radio antennae that
are linked together. Interferometry is
used to combine the data.
The technique uses enormous computing power to measure the radio
waves phase delays being gathered by
the individual antennae. Interferometry then overlaps and superimposes
them to produce a stronger signal and
an image with a much higher resolution.
For this technique to work, it must
carry out all the calculations as the
event is happening. The computer algorithm interpreting the data must
also filter out all the noise due to the
Earth’s atmosphere. To top it all off,
the transient events need to be singled
out.
To meet these challenges Magri used
GPUs (Graphic Processing Units),
which are usually used by hardcore
gamers to power the most advanced
graphics. The design of GPUs lends
itself well to heavy numerical processing. Magri wrote an algorithm that
acts as an inferometer on a GPU and
he is testing it on data from the BEST2 radio telescope array in Medicina,
Italy.
Developing these algorithms is important to make future arrays larger.
The next generation interferometer,
the Square Kilometer Array, will
have hundreds of antennae, meaning
that information extraction will need
to be extremely efficient and rapid.
These algortithms are a keystone to
maximise the potential of a €1.5 billion telescope to find more amazing
phenomena in our universe.
•
This research was performed as part
of an M.Phil. (Melit.) in Physics at
the Faculty of Science. For more about
Malta’s role in the Square Kilometre
Array see pg. 14, Issue 02 of THINK
magazine (http://bit.ly/SKATHINK).
THINK STUDENT
Deep Sea Malta
THE DEEP SEA covers 70% of
the Mediterranean seabed, with Malta
on the boundary of the Sea’s two main
biogeographical sectors. Despite its importance in detecting changes in biodiversity, research on what lives in this
habitat lags behind. Kimberly Terribile
(supervised by Prof. Patrick J. Schembri) characterised the marine life on the
seabed in deeper waters around Malta
as a first step to find out what lives far
beneath our waves.
Terribile studied species by-catch
samples that were caught from depths
of 72 to 201m during deep sea trawls
from 2009–2011. These were part of
the Mediterranean International Trawl
Surveys (MEDITS), which is meant to
assess the state of fish stocks around the
Mediterranean. Over 100 samples were
analysed, which showed that light and
the grain size of the sea bottom great-
ly influence the species that can live
there. The type and number of species
found were different from distributions
seen in the western Mediterranean. She
also mapped which species groups were
found where.
Taken together, these results show
that the assemblages of species in the
western Mediterranean are different
from those in the central and eastern areas. The knowledge of these ecosystems
is essential to properly manage these areas to maintain the health of fish stocks
and for the management of the marine
environment around Malta.
Mapping the deep sea holds strong
commercial importance. By knowing
where important feeding, spawning,
and nursery areas may occur, fish stocks
and other commercially important species can be properly managed to maximise the catch
from the Mediterranean without causing the populations to collapse.
The study attempted to start understanding the deeper seas around Malta.
Fish do not exist individually, they need
to breed, shelter and feed on other organisms. To maintain commercial fish
you need to understand how all species
affect each other. The study is a first step
in maintaining our seas for tomorrow.
•
This research was performed as part of an
M.Sc. (Melit.) in Biology at the Faculty
of Science. This project forms part of a
collaboration between the Department of
Biology and the Maltese Government’s
Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
Clockwise: Nemertesia sp,
a Sphaerodiscus placenta, Dardanus calidus
7
STUDENT
Haemoglobin
Haemoglobin A1C
N
NH2
NH
CHO
H
C
H
C
OH
H
C
OH
HO
C
H
HO
C
H
H
C
OH
H
C
H
C
OH
H
C
CH2OH
Glucose
H
C
H
H
C
O
HO
C
H
OH
H
C
OH
OH
H
C
OH
CH2OH
(Schiff base)
CH2OH
(Amadori product)
Diabetes: from genes to blood
TYPE 2 DIABETES mellitus is
a disease that affects over 250 million
people worldwide. Many in Malta suffer from the disease because of our high
carbohydrate diet and lack of physical
activity. Type 2 diabetes arises when
levels of the sugar glucose remain very
high in the blood. Testing normally
involves frequent finger pricks to determine blood sugar levels, or otherwise a
patient can take a sugary drink followed
by regular urine/blood testing over 2 or
more hours.
Alexandra Fiott (supervised by Prof.
A. Felice) studied whether the absolute
HbA1c levels (the haemoglobin fraction
with sugar attached multiplied by the
haemoglobin concentration) would
provide a better method to describe the
link between one’s genetics and diabetic
condition. She attempted to reduce the
frequency of the testing needed while
using a relatively non-invasive test —
the withdrawing of one tube of blood,
8
while investigating the genetics of diabetes.
Haemoglobin (Hb) transports oxygen throughout the blood through red
blood cells. The HbA1c forms when glucose binds to haemoglobin. This can be
used as an indirect measure of average
blood sugar concentrations. Measuring
HbA1c levels is rapid, but unfortunately the results are influenced by factors
that affect red blood cells. With around
5% of Maltese having red blood cell
disorders, an alternative measurement
would help reduce inaccurate results
and unnecessary worry for patients.
The absolute HbA1c was used for this
study.
The genetics and blood profile of five
different patient groups were determined using genetic and biochemical
methods: adults with a normal blood
profile, anaemics, beta-thalassaemics,
pregnant women, and type 2 diabetics
(on limited treatment). Statistical anal-
ysis did not reveal an improved link, but
the absolute HbA1c did help distinguish
between the different patient groups.
To improve the reliability of these
results, a separate set of experiments
was carried out to see whether a known
Maltese variation in haemoglobin, with
a prevalence of around 1.8% in the Maltese population, has an effect on the
amount of sugar that binds to the haemoglobin. This variant was found not
to influence the blood glucose levels
and therefore the HbA1c.
Taken together these results showed
that the absolute HbA1c does not improve the link between the genetics and
blood profile of the patients. However,
it could distinguish between different
groups of patients.
•
This research was performed as part of an
M.Sc. (Melit.) in Biomedical Sciences at
the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery at
the University of Malta.
Think ahead
Our vision statement:
Be the recognized software leader for small to mid-sized businesses.
For more information visit: www.gfisoftware.com
STUDENT
You have to see
the real thing!
BUT WHAT DOES real really
mean? Is there only one reality or are
there multiple realities? These questions have been asked over and over
again ad nauseum throughout humanity’s history only to end up with
the same paraphrased answer: ‘Dear
Sir, we can’t give you a definite answer
since up to now we are not sure enough
of what we are really speaking about.’
Socrates said reality is One, The Matrix says that the reality we experience
is an illusion, while Stephen Hawking
argues that reality is made up of distinct sets of laws of physics interwoven
together into what he — plus a few
other scientists — calls M-Theory.
Indeed the digital era has not improved the situation. What was once
the domain of the tangible and spiritual world ended up expanding exponentially into virtual worlds entirly
created by humans — a hyperreality!
Indeed the hyperreal has found its way
in the visual arts. In the 60’s Photorealist painters created paintings indistinguishable from photographs. Their
succesors, the Hyperrealists, depicted
photoreal realities that never actually
happened.
How can a painting feel more real
and tangible than reality? Up to the
beginings of the last century mimesis
(roughly means to imitate) was one
of the main preocupations of western art. Artists made use of various
visual tricks such as perception, oc-
10
clusion, and chiaroscuro to fool the
eye and give life to their works. But
no matter how hard they tried they
were doomed to failure because in an
instant the brain would discover the
illusion and reveal the flatness of the
painted surface. The reason is simple, painted surfaces are monoscopic, from one point of view, whereas
the brain builds a picture from what
two eyes see to understand space and
depth, a binocular system.
For this reason, Darren Tanti harnessed binocular vision to his advantage and implemented stereoscopic
principles into his paintings to create
3D images. 3D images form in our
brains when two images (a left and
a right image) are set slightly apart.
Our brain fuses the two images together giving the illusion of depth and
form. The trick is to recreate the two
images onto the same canvas with two
different paints, to align them slightly
apart as precisely as possible, and to
calibrate colours to match the colour
filters of 3D glasses. The right combination of all three creates a fully functioning 3D painting.
At first glance, 3D artwork might
seem simple but there is a lot of work
behind it. This technique cannot be
used for its own sake. By combining it
with other drawing or painting methods then there is a good chance to
break ‘through the looking glass’ and
enter a whole new world.
•
Artworks by Darren Tanti exhibited at the MFA in
Digital Arts Exhibition 2013
THINK STUDENT
give it a Try
Below is a simple method to create an anaglyph 3D image. Words by Darren Tanti
1/ Get hold of a high resolution digital
camera.
2/ Build a simple camera
slider (www.youtube.com/
watch?v=W9BrPCVuqCo). It is
important that it allows smooth
horizontal movements, which do
not lead to vertical variations.
3/ Set a simple object as a model and
put it within 1 to 2 meters from
the camera (for the first attempt
use a white plain background).
4/ Take the first picture and drag the
camera smoothly on the slider
about 2.5–4cm to the right and
take the second shot (keep steady
and avoid tilting, changing the
angle of the camera, or zooming,
at least for the first trials).
5/ Once you have the two pictures
(referred to as chips) you have
your stereo pair that can be
viewed by a stereoviewer to make
3D images.
6/ The images are ready to be turned
into a type of 3D image called
an anaglyph. For this step, you
need to edit them in Photoshop
or software like StereoPhoto
Maker (http://stereo.jpn.org/
eng/stphmkr). Do not overdo
the 3D effect because it will look
unpleasant.
‘ghosting’ problems that will ruin
your 3D image.
7/ For your first experience I
recommend StereoPhoto Maker.
It’s free, easy to use, and spares
you the technicalities of converting
a stereo pair into an anaglyph
image.
10/When the filters are swapped,
the red paint will be seen as black
through the cyan filter and the
same for the cyan paint through
a black filter. The luminosity of
the two painted colours should be
equal when viewed through the
coloured filters. If not, the effect
won’t work.
8/ There you go, you have your
first anaglyph image. You need
to view it from 3D red/cyan
glasses which are cheap to buy
(www.3dglassesonline.com) or
make.
11/Now paint the outline of your
painting using ‘the grid’ technique,
a very mechanical (and tedious)
method but my favourite for
precision drawing. As long as you
are precise any method will do.
9/ Now paint it! There are different
ways how to turn a 3D anaglyph
image into a painting. It really
depends on your artistic skills.
The trick is precision. Initially, you
have to find the correct paints that
match the 3D glass filters that are
going to be used. The red paint
has to be perceived as white when
viewed through the red filter and
the cyan paint has to be perceived
as white when viewed through
the cyan filter. If not, you will have
12/Try to replicate as accurately as
possible the anaglyph (red/cyan)
picture. Remember any distortions
will make it extremely difficult for
your brain to fuse the anaglyph
image into a 3D image.
Above: The resulting images as described in step 4
Right: Painting the image as described in step 9
13/If you succeeded, remember
that this is only the beginning.
Art is about self expression and
creativity; give this technique your
own twist and context to develop
it into something authentic.
11
ADVERT
SmartCity
Malta’s ICT
Infrastructure:
Malta’s most
capable host for
digital operations
M
odeled on the business parks of Dubai
Internet City, Media
City and Knowledge
Village, and forming part of a global network of business
townships, SmartCity Malta is designed
to act like a hub for the ICT-enabled
knowledge economy of Malta and surrounding region. SmartCity Malta is
implementing the most advanced and
reliable ICT infrastructure available today. Through a progressive integration of
technology and services, it has developed
an ICT Infrastructure to meet the technical demands of mission critical digital
operations. Such ICT infrastructure
forms the blueprint of all current and
future SmartCities. It incorporates five
crucial elements, a built-in core telecom
IP network, a multi-homed fiber network to doorstep, Malta’s most secure
power supply, a unified central campus
and building management, and on-site
technical support.
SmartCity Malta is connected to the
rest of the world through two separately routed fiber-optic cables. These cables
are connected to a network distribution
centre on the SmartCity Malta campus.
This centre is the main aggregation point
of the entire network within SmartCity
Malta. Each building in the campus will
be interconnected through this centre.
12
This is a paid editorial
Any business tenant can have up to a massive 1 GB Internet connection. Even if a
connection fails, this multiple network
connection will ensure seamless online
operations. With such a strong backbone
infrastructure, SmartCity Malta is an
ideal location for mission-critical ICT
operations such as data centres, disaster
recovery centres, satellite teleports and
similar activities, but also business process outsourcing, eMoney institutions,
electronic payment gateways, online
trading platforms, and so on.
ICT infrastructure cannot function
without reliable power. SmartCity Malta has its own large-scale power distribution centre that is fed with a 33KV
power from two sources through a protected tunnel. This provides both high
capacity and redundancy for use during
peak periods and unforeseen power cuts.
At building level a full-power generator
provides a third redundancy level.
SmartCity Malta has a fully unified
campus management system. Its single
access card systems recognise individual
companies and people to offer a personalised service. Access to company information over the phone, use of one phone
number over multiple devices, voice interaction with emails, and video communication are all a way of life at SmartCity
Malta — all made possible through a fully supported ready-built platform.
SmartCity Malta’s heavy investment
in reliable infrastructure offers business partners significant cost savings.
The ready-made infrastructure at
SmartCity Malta eliminates setup costs
of a Metro Ethernet and dramatically reduces telecom expenses. Business
partners can run their office automation
system from the central campus system,
eliminating setup and operation overheads.
On the basis of this robust IP backbone, a fully integrated building management system is being implemented.
Integrated with SmartCity Malta’s central campus system, lights and ACs are
centrally monitored and controlled,
ensuring that no power is wasted. The
fire detection system, linked to the
elevators and sprinklers, is activated
throughout every building and linked
with the access control system. Employee access is controlled through
identity authentication.
SmartCity Malta is designed to be
more than an international work-liveplay business township concept, with
localised practices. The investment
made in SmartCity Malta is spurred
from a vision to make it the latest destination on Malta. Just pay a visit to
SmartCity Malta, look at the master plan, and see how the city is being
planned and developed.
•
THINK OPINION
Incubator
Helps
Start-ups
Take off
Ben McClure
“Tucked away in
their laboratories,
garages, and
workshops,
Malta’s
innovators are
not networking”
T
he old saying goes: it takes
a village to raise a child. In
other words, to get it right a
community effort is needed,
shared by family and friends
who pass on their experience and
knowledge to the youngster.
The same saying applies to building
technology companies. Budding technology entrepreneurs in Malta need
plenty of nurturing and guidance to get
their innovations off the ground and
into the marketplace. A supportive and
well-connected entrepreneurial community is what is needed to transform
Malta’s innovations into start-up ventures that will expand the economy.
The good news for Malta is that the
basic components of a technology
start-up community already exist. The
University of Malta is a hothouse of
world-class scientific, engineering, and
creative research that holds the potential to spin out exciting commercial
ventures. A new generation of bright,
technically-skilled graduates is starting
to pursue entrepreneurship as a career
path. Malta lacks a professional venture capital investment industry, but
does have high net worth entrepreneurs
and private ‘angel’ investors. Many of
these have valuable experience gained
abroad and are hungry to find and fund
high-potential technology companies.
The government is exploring ways of encouraging early-stage investment by way
of tax incentives and seed fund development. Ideas, entrepreneurial energy, and
money — the key ingredients for raising
technology start-ups — are all here on
the island.
So, what is holding us back? I recently
spoke to Steve Blank, a highly successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor. I asked him what he thought was
missing. His reply: ‘much of the Valley’s
alchemy lies in connectivity’.
Innovators, entrepreneurs, investors –
Malta has got them all. Unfortunately,
they are not finding each other. Tucked
away in their laboratories, garages, and
workshops, Malta’s innovators are not
networking. They need skilled and experienced business people to push their
technologies past the idea stage. Wealthy
angel investors are here in Malta, but
they frequently operate ‘under the radar’
and can be hard to access. In the absence
of connections, both investors and innovators miss out on potentially rewarding
opportunities. Promising young ventures, which might takeoff with a little
support and funding, consequently get
left to struggle on their own.
The University of Malta Business Incubator will start operations this year
and create a platform for new start-ups.
Opening its doors to researchers, students, and aspiring technology entrepreneurs, the incubator will provide them
with space to plan, launch, and grow
businesses. There, a network of seasoned
entrepreneurs, business mentors, and
angel investors will join them. These
‘parents and village elders’ will be mobilised to concentrate efforts to guide startups to create a company, raise capital,
and reach the marketplace. We aim to
make the incubator a lively hub to create
businesses.
Building a company, like raising a
child, is a lot of hard work. Bringing the
community together under one roof,
where it can do the job right, will ease
the labour of start-up development, and
improve the odds of scoring triumphs.
•
Ben McClure is Manager at the
University of Malta Business Incubator
benjamin.mcclure@um.edu.mt
13
OPINION
Should Malta Be The
Next China?
A
fter repeatedly visiting
Asia, I totally disagree
with comments occasionally made that China’s industrial success is wholly
attributed to its ability to replicate low
quality versions of branded products at
rock-bottom prices. In China there are
many good examples of good quality
products and brands being produced
such as Audi, Airbus, and Armani.
Based on these facts, what Maltese industry and policy makers should focus
on is making our industry more competitive by improving the current situation and analyzing products being
developed elsewhere.
The Maltese industry is not really dying. Our industry has indeed changed,
for example from textiles to pharmaceuticals. Overall, the number of employees has declined. However, this is either
due to industry becoming more efficient hence able to produce more with
less, or due to the way statistical data is
being collected.
Malta’s industrial sector can become
more competitive. However, what does
it mean to ‘be competitive’? Goods
should be produced with shorter delivery periods, better costs and quality
compared to competitors. Since we
lack raw materials cost is very challenging to compete on. On the other hand,
improving quality provides much more
opportunity. Quality can be improved
by increasing the external quality of the
products manufactured, the product’s
functionality, the interactions that take
place with clients during product development, the quality of support and
after sales services, management of op-
14
Prof. Ing. Jonathan C. Borg
erations, and how operators work. Core
to adopting this quality-based approach
is the need to focus on shifting from just
manufacturing products to designing
and manufacturing products in Malta.
To design their own products, Maltese manufacturing firms need to set up
an internal Research & Development
unit. At the same time, industry needs
support through government policies
and incentives. In their publication ‘Vision 2015’ American consultants clearly
specify product design as an enabler to
higher value added manufacturing. The
Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise & Industry has also recommended
starting a Malta Business Research &
Innovation Body. These recommendations need urgent implementation to
shift Malta’s manufacturing industry
towards becoming ‘design driven’.
“Goods should
be produced with
shorter delivery
periods, better
costs, and quality
compared to
competitors”
The UoM’s Faculty of Engineering
has been actively contributing towards a design driven approach. Our
undergraduate engineers are purposely trained in this design-centric ap-
proach. Additionally, some final year
student projects focusing on design
are sponsored by industry: an excellent win-win mechanism. A number
of both mechanical and electrical engineers have also benefited through an
evening M.Sc. in Integrated Product
Development. The Faculty also collaborates with industry through MCST
funded Research & Innovation projects. More financial support to University would help every academic
active in research to regularly receive
decent research funds.
Considering the above, Malta does
not and should not aim to be the
next China. On the other hand, Malta should nurture its unique strengths
such as a highly educated, flexible English-speaking workforce. We should
aim to address weaknesses related to
Malta’s manufacturing sector. This
requires short-term and long-term
commitments from our policy makers.
Business leaders can also proactively embrace change by aiming to offer
quality and innovative solutions, rather than aiming for higher production
rates of existing products. The Maltese
industry should support continuous
training and collaborate on research
activities with University. The UoM
can help them become more innovative. Like Airbus, Armani, and Audi,
Maltese business leaders should exploit, rather than fear, Asian industry.
Some Malta based entities, such as
Toly Products Ltd, are already going
down these routes and are reaping the
rewards of growth during a recession.
Clearly others should aim to do the
same to keep Malta competitive.
•
THINK ENGINEERING
SPECIAL
S
SP E C I A L F E AT U R E
Maltese government
requests assistance
from UN to teach
Engineering
1958
1960
Marsa Power Station
Commissioned
1963
mart phones, supersonic
planes, Formula 1 cars, green
cities, the Internet; engineers
built them all. Engineers are
everywhere. The world needs them
and so do you.
The University of Malta is celebrating 50 years of teaching the engineering degree (to mould tomorrow’s
engineers). THINK magazine collaborated with Ing. Emmanuel Francalanza to peek into the future. The
cutting edge of research is always
trying to solve new problems, manufacture better artificial limbs, cheaper electric cars, an endless power
source, or even an exoskeleton. We
took Malta’s latest findings and went
a step further: five, 10, 30 years into
the future. Where will this research
end up? »
First six undergrads
graduate
1966
Polytechnic Institute
starts teaching
Engineering Degree
1978
First two female
Electrical Engineers
graduate
First two female
Mechanical
Engineers graduate
1983
1989
Polytechnic
incorporated into
University as the
Faculty of Engineering
and Architecture
1987
Faculty of Mechanical
and Electrical
Engineering
established
15
ENGINEERING
SPECIAL
The late Charles Bezzina (left) and Daniel Mallia (who emigrated to Australia)
at the University Workshop. Both were apprentices at the time.
The first of three articles, The Bionic Human (pg. 18)
sees how this research can improve human abilities. In
the years to come we will be able to integrate ourselves
with a robotic arm capable of gently holding a baby or of
crushing metal. We might even be able to control that arm
just by thinking about it, then glance at a curtain and smile
as it opens. Tomorrow’s new and improved human would
even have man’s new best friend: a robotic assistant.
A Greener Malta (pg. 25) sees how research can help
us clean up our act. During Malta’s post war rebuilding
and subsequent economic boom, the environment was
neglected. The latest technology and more research can
help turn back the hands of time. With the right support
Malta could be one of the cleanest islands in the Mediterranean that we’d all enjoy a lot more.
Following up on reducing pollution, car traffic is a big
reason for Malta’s air pollution problems. In Transport
2025 (pg. 34), Francalanza takes the latest research in
car, ship, and plane improvement, and sees how it could
change the country. Our cars could be cleaner, ships
lighter and stronger, planes made safer by reimagining
them from the inside out. The future looks bright.
•
Faculty of
Engineering founded
First two postgrads
graduate
101 students graduate
1992
111 students graduate
due to new policies at
UoM
1996/7
1998
1999
2012
Combined cycle plant
installed in Delimara
Over €7 million EU ERDF funds
invested in the Faculty
16
Celebrating 50 years of the Engineering degree at UoM
Dr Ing. John C. Betts
I
f there is one constant in engineering, it is change,
and the very nature of the profession demands a
belief in research-driven change which is powered
by creativity and the competitive desire for innovation. The students of the first year of entry, 1963, are
greatly outnumbered by the present day cohort but
postgraduate student research is the greater cultural
change within our Faculty. In 1988, the unmarked 25th
anniversary, practically no engineering research was
performed, and the Faculty focused on teaching undergraduates only. The situation has changed beyond
anyone’s expectations. Research lab facilities are of an
international standard, and Faculty members regularly
take part in multi-million euro projects. Last November, these collaborations helped the Faculty present
a compilation of over 122 peer-reviewed papers from
the last 21 months to President George Abela.
In the coming years we plan to exceed this output as
our research projects mature and develop. New fields
are being explored, and collaborations with industry,
with foreign institutions, and perhaps most important-
ly, with other professions are being cemented – our
endeavours in bioengineering (check The Bionic Human
pg. 18) are particularly noteworthy.
University needs more funding to achieve operational
sustainability and attain a critical mass of researchers,
a requirement which has not matched the dedication
of researchers, which in some cases is of lifetimes, and
which has received little recognition outside of University. Frequently it is seen as an individual choice or sacrifice rather than a national or public decision.
Over its 50 years, the degree has consistently and
successfully provided engineers with the skills to drive
the technological infrastructure of society. From aeroplanes to mobile phones engineers are essential, but
apart from these infrastructures technology needs to
be driven forward. Progress can only come through
research, and teaching research skills to our students.
A successful degree is not attained by the stagnant
memorising, compiling, and delivering of facts, but by
dynamically questioning them and that is what research is all about.
•
First engineer
elected to
parliament
President of Malta
visits Faculty
2013
Sharp increase to 120
international research
publications over the
last two years
Oldest undergraduate
student ever
celebrates birthday
Thanks for the assistance of Prof. Michael Saliba, Dr Claire De Marco, Michael Spiteri and Enemalta. Special thanks to Rev. Prof. Saviour Chircop
and the staff of the Faculty of Media and Knowledge Sciences for their assistance during the staff photoshoot for the Faculty of Engineering
17
Faster, fitter, and flawless? What would it
take to build a Bionic Human? Emmanuel
Francalanza delved into research at the Faculty
of Engineering to see how Malta could contribute.
3D Art by Jean Claude Vancell
18
ENGINEERING
THINK SPECIAL
F
rom the ‘Bionic Woman’
and ‘Cyborgs’ to the ‘Six
Million Dollar Man’ and
‘Robocop’, science fiction
has fired our imagination
of augmenting humans with man made
prosthetics. An upgraded human would
prevent, even correct, the errors of evolution. Although a wonderful machine,
its complexity makes it fragile and easily
harmed.
Our bodies also suffer from disease.
As the population ages and obesity rates
increase, a swell in the need for hip and
knee replacements is inevitable. This is
when medicine turns towards engineering. Biomedical engineering combines
engineering with medicine to build the
bionic human. »
19
ENGINEERING
SPECIAL
Upgraded Teeth
First of all to construct the Bionic Human we need the right materials. The
human body naturally attacks implanted foreign materials. Transplanting organs needs heavy drug use to knock-out
the immune system and prevent the
immune system attacking the organ.
These drugs lead to many complications
but are our current best tool. A cleverer
approach would be to deceive the human body into accepting these foreign
elements system.
Biocompatible materials can trick the
body into thinking they are one. Biomaterials can be used for simple dental
material to complex bone replacements.
These materials have two main characteristics, their bulk material properties
and surface composition. The bulk material properties take care of toughness,
rigidity, integrity, while surface composition defines how the implant interacts
with other materials and the surrounding tissue.
Memories of toothache: sleepless
nights, stress, and waiting in a dentist’s
chair for a dreaded tooth filling. These
memories can become a footnote in
history. Materials scientist Prof. Josette
Camilleri and materials engineer Dr
Bertram Mallia (University of Malta)
are collaborating to develop a material
that can replace current dental sealer
to reduce the number of visits at the
dentist, make them more pleasant, and
help healing after surgery. This material is composed of the same compounds
that hold our houses together, Portland
cement. The cement reacts to other naturally occurring minerals in our bones
to trick the body into believing that the
material is normal bone. It is then prepared into a resin-based mixture which
sets when exposed to a dental light.
These scientists are experimenting with
different compositions to try and find
the best mixtures to reduce surgery time
while optimising bio-compatibility and
20
strength, to ensure your teeth won’t
break when eating a tough bread crust!
Replacement limbs
Worldwide about 10% of men and 18%
of women suffer from arthritis. Many
will need hip and knee replacements
which last on average 10 to 15 years.
They deteriorate due to high stresses
imposed by the human body, and wear
and tear; we are constantly using these
dynamic joints. Metal materials are
commonly used since they complement
good mechanical properties with reasonable costs.
Yet even metal cannot take the stress
our legs regularly take. Leg implants frequently fail. The implants loosen, dislo-
“Worldwide about
10% of men and
18% of women
suffer from
arthritis. Many
will need hip and
knee replacements
which last on
average 10 to 15
years”
cate, or wear down. Survival rates are
extremely unsatisfactory and there are
better materials like ceramic-on-ceramic implants, but these are much more
expensive. Dr J. Buhagiar and a team of
engineers and medical researchers are
developing new surface treatments for
metal-on-metal implants to make them
last longer. The main problem is that the
two metal surfaces between the moving
joint parts wear each other down.
To improve wear resistance they are
infusing the metal (cobalt-chromium-molybdenum alloy) with carbon
using a patented method called Kolsterising®. The researchers infuse the
metal with different amounts of carbon.
Each material is then tested to check
its properties. Material surfaces are
analyzed with high-end microscopes
to see the surface nano-structure, biocompatibility is tested to see if the body
accepts it. A host of other experiments
figure out wear resistance. Ultimately,
this will find which material has the
best improvements.
Better hip implants will help humans
live longer and more comfortably. By
extending implant life expectancy the
need for revision surgery is reduced.
This leads to two main benefits: avoiding the pain and hassle of redoing a total hip replacement, and reducing the
A robotic hand at the laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering.
Photo by Edward Duca
THINK SPECIAL
ENGINEERING
financial burden on national health
institutions.
Repairing the bionic human
If we are to try to replicate human
body parts to make a bionic human, we
have to first understand how the human body works. The human skeleton
bears the body’s weight, while muscles,
ligaments, and joints allow us to walk,
talk, and play football. Understanding
these systems from a mechanical engineering perspective is called biomechanics.
There are two ways we could study
the human body: use human guinea
pigs to test every engineering dream, or
create a computer model of a human.
For obvious ethical issues scientists
prefer computer models. Engineers can
use the same know how and techniques
used to model bridges when analysing
the human body.
In one of their studies mechanical
engineer Dr Ing. Zdenka Sant and her
research team simulated the human
breastbone and sternum. This computer model is very useful for heart surgeons, a mechanical simulation model
of the sternum allows them to plan the
best path to access the heart and nearby
vessels. Planning the best route to the
problematic area reduces a patient’s
complications and reduces the risk of
things going wrong. By only passing
through the minimal tissue patients recover more quickly.
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Our bodies are so well designed that
each organ efficiently occupies the least
space possible. Sounds great but constitutes a problem for implanted devices,
where can they fit? Enter biomedical devices. These implants sustain or replicate
bodily functions, take pace makers and
artificial heart valves. Miniaturisation
needs micro and nano manufactured
parts. Parts so small that they are impossible to view with the naked eye. This
brings many challenges and requires precise manufacturing techniques. Dr Ing.
Philip Farrugia together with a team of
manufacturing engineers and researchers are currently developing technologies
capable of mass-producing such micro
components. The EX-MMIM project
has brought together researchers and »
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21
ENGINEERING
SPECIAL
Teeth
Hip
KNEE
a number of Maltese manufacturing companies to develop
microinjection molding processes. This type of research partnership ensures that knowledge generated in the research
labs is efficiently transferred to industry.
Other types of biomedical devices help doctors during
complex operations on the human body. Minimally invasive surgery uses a small incision to the body and the
surgeon directs surgical tools to operate through these
cuts. Prof. Ing. Jonathan Borg lead a research team
that developed a new tool used for minimally
invasive surgery. Laparoscopic surgery, a specialized form of minimally invasive surgery,
uses tools that have to pass through small incisions the size of a one-cent coin. The
problem is that each part of an operation needs a tool to do a different job
from grasping to cutting. By studying
operating procedures and how surgeons use these tools the research
team developed a tool that combined
different functions. The tools did not
need changing during the operation,
minimising the operating time which
keeps the surgeon relaxed and the pahand
tient healthier. The minimal impact
these tiny tools leave means the patient
usually spends days in hospital instead
of weeks.
A hand please
And what if our Bionic Human needed an artificial hand? Then
we would need to design and construct a robotic hand with a
controller able to reproduce the intricate movements of the
human hand. Over the last fifteen years, Prof. Ing. Michael A.
Saliba has been developing robotic hands that can grasp, and
manipulate fine objects. His team have also developed gloves
to control robotic hands remotely. Replicating the dexterity
of the human hand is no mean feat! The human hand can execute 21 different joint motions (not including wrist and arm
motions). Their combination lets us pick delicate crystal glasses or climb sheer cliff faces. Research on the measurement of
dexterity in human hands has led to artificial hands design
guidelines that achieve a fair balance between dexterity
and simplicity. Nine carefully selected and designed
joint motions would be all we need for our Bionic
Human. »
22
THINK SPECIAL
ENGINEERING
23
ENGINEERING
SPECIAL
Apart from finger movement, robots also need to control the force with
which they grasp objects. No one likes
bone-crushing handshakes. The force
needs to be carefully monitored and adjusted. Imagine you want to pick up a
fragile test tube with your robotic hand.
Pressing too much would shatter it to
pieces, not pressing enough would drop
it to the floor. Local roboticists have developed sensors that can sense an object
slip from a robotic hand before it starts
to fall. Prevention is better than cure.
Your personal assistant
Our Bionic Human might need an assistant on their quest. But not just any
robot, an intelligent robot like Marvin
from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
(the cleverest robot ever built). Cleverness needs the design and implementation of intelligent controllers. And
what better way is there to think cleverly like us, but to replicate our brains?
Neural networks do such a job. These
software programs are configured to
learn from specific behaviors and associate a particular output to a triggered
input. When we slip or lose balance (input) our body intelligently reconfigures
our muscles (output) to avoid us falling
on our backsides. This approach allows
a robot to continuously adapt itself on
its own to changes it observes around it.
By doing so, the robot can move around
on its own reliably. In Malta, Prof. Ing
Simon Fabri and his team at the Control Systems Engineering Laboratory
are helping build the future’s intelligent
robots. They are designing control systems to allow robots to move around
and behave with little human help.
Science Fiction becoming
reality
In Star Wars, the force is used to move
objects just by using thought. Jedi
Knights need years of training to har-
24
ness this force. The ability to move
objects just by thought is possible, not
through a mystical force but through a
computer.
Our Bionic Human will be able to
communicate with and control machines with the power of his or her
brain. Today we have already taken the
first steps to make this Sci Fi dream a
reality. Electrodes can be attached to a
person’s scalp to read the electrical signals from a person’s brain. These brain
signals are called Electroencephalgraphic (EEG) recordings and since
they need to pass from our brain to the
surface of the skin, the readings become
noisy and fuzzy. To extract useful information the signals are fed into a sophisticated computer program (signal
processing techniques) to tease apart
the confusion. The computer can then
interpret our thoughts into commands.
For example, ‘I want to move my arm
left’, and a robotic arm or wheelchair
moves, the same command could even
be used to switch on a TV if eye tracking software detecting ‘I’m looking at
my flat-screen monitor’.
“Does this all mean
that on our next
call to the police
we should expect
Robocop to come to
the rescue?”
muscles have time to respond. Not only
can they give mobility to everyone, but
also save lives.
Locally, Prof. Ing Kenneth Camilleri
and his team have been experimenting
with the use of brain signals to communicate with the environment. Their
work has helped tease apart these signals
to help computers understand them
better and faster. A major limitation in
current technology is the time and computer power you need to decipher these
signals. Their computer algorithms are
aiming for brain signals to be read and
interpreted as they form.
Does this all mean that on our next
call to the police we should expect
Robocop to come to the rescue? And,
this Robocop will be shooting and arresting criminals with his augmented
body, while controlling robotic helpers
through his thoughts. Well definitely
not. Whilst there have been large advances in engineering in the past 50
years, we are still a long way from the
dreams of science fiction authors and
movie directors.
But some of this technology is already finding its way into our daily lives.
The next time you visit the dentist, keep
in mind the engineers who have worked
relentlessly to make your experience less
terrifying and perhaps the next video
game console may work just by thinking about it.
•
This is the world of brain to computer interface devices. These devices
open up the possibility to patients suffering from reduced muscular control
to obtain a degree of interaction with
the physical world. Applied to everyday
circumstances they could help us drive a
car by thinking about it, or more importantly avoid a car crash when your brain
registers an accident ahead before our
A robotic hand mixes liquids at the laboratory of
the Faculty of Engineering.
Photo by Elisa von Brockdorff
ENGINEERING
THINK SPECIAL
A Greener Malta
Sweden generates nearly 50% of
their electricity from renewables,
Germany is trying to achieve
80% supply by 2050, while Malta
currently generates less than 1%
from renewables.
Malta is the second
highest generator
of greenhouse gas
emissions amongst all
the European states per
capita.
Finland annually produces 20,000 m3
of renewable freshwater (collected
rainfall, rivers, etc.) per capita.
Malta generates 121 m3 per capita,
nearly 160 times less than Finland
and 25 times less than Italy. We live
in absolute water scarcity and few
people know it.
T
he facts are clear: Malta has
a challenge. It needs to build
up a 10% electricity generation from renewables by
2020. Beyond that, it needs
cleaner air, cleverer homes, and a consistent power source for its people and
economy.
The big question is how can we enjoy
Malta’s newly won benefits of the developing world without compromising our
environment? This challenge motivates
researchers worldwide. Malta is doing
its bit in environmental engineering:
developing green skies, green energy,
green homes, and the opportunity for a
green Malta.
Greener Skies
Nearly 100,000 commercial flights take
off every day worldwide causing 2% of
man-made carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per year. In Malta, over one million
tourists visit each year and flights are critical in connecting an island to the outside world. How can we address Malta’s
economic needs with a growing public
concern on airplane pollution, noise, and
contribution towards climate change?
A €1.6 billion Clean Sky project
funded by the European Commission
is trying to make this apparent conflict
work. It brings together major European
industrial partners, research establishments, and academia to develop breakthrough technologies for the air transport industry. In Malta, the Department
of Electronic Systems Engineering is »
25
ENGINEERING
SPECIAL
optimising flight paths known as trajectories.
The idea: reduce a plane’s flight path,
reduce the time it is airborne, lower CO2
release. Computer algorithms can find a
plane’s best trajectory and minimise air
pollutants and noise. Malta is handling a
part of the software development to optimise flight paths. The purpose of the
software platform being developed by
the Maltese team is to allow partners to
bring together their optimisation models and tools. This will allow the international consortium to solve the complex
algorithms that come with flight trajectory problems.
Another project called Clean Flight
is tackling local airplane flight paths.
Current flight trajectory calculations are
based on lowering costs. This does not
necessarily mean that these trajectories
provide the least pollution for our skies.
Clean Flight’s approach is to lower flight
costs by being green. Usually these two
qualities match: burn less fuel, spend
less, pollute less. Commercial aircrafts
should have new flight paths for Malta.
Harnessing the winds
Every time we switch on an appliance at home or at our workplace we
are consuming energy. And energy
means money and pollution. Pollution
can be nullified by using renewables.
Denmark, famous for windmills, has
invested heavily in wind energy. By
2011 it generated around 26% of the
total electricity demand through wind
farms. Denmark also has one of the
lowest electricity prices in the EU.
Wind energy’s success has come
with a backlash. The rapid increase in
land use has caused public outcry on
despoiling views, animal activists are
worried about bird deaths, and increased pressure on limited land avail-
ENGINEERING
THINK SPECIAL
ability. In Malta land is of premium
value. Green and open spaces are limited. Out at sea these problems could
disappear and floating offshore wind
structures may provide accessibility to
deeper waters.
Deeper seas have other plusses. Out
there, the wind speeds are higher and
more consistent, which makes electricity generation more realistic. The flipside
is the expense in sending the precious
electrical energy back to shore to power
homes.
Floating wind turbines may be the
key to fulfil Malta’s renewable energy
targets. Malta has agreed to a 10% electricity generation from renewables by
2020 with the EU. If the country fails to
meet its target it will be smacked with a
huge fine.
To give more opportunities for the
government to reach this target the
Faculty of Engineering is pushing new
research into wind energy. There are
major differences between floating and
fixed offshore structures. Waves cause
ever changing stresses on the turbine’s
structure and bobbing movement could
change the turbine blades’ aerodynamics that reduces power output.
The researchers at the Faculty’s Fluids
Lab are testing a model floating wind
turbine. Till now, the experiments have
examined the change in power experienced by a wind turbine’s rotors when
bobbing up and down on waves. The
“Floating wind
turbines may be
the key to fulfill
Malta’s renewable
energy targets”
data has been inputted into a computer
model to simulate large-scale floating
wind farms. By simulating the air flow
the drop in generation can be better
understood. The simulations are based
on the application of free-wake vortex
methods. Since the air flow changes
with the oscillation of the platform and
therefore with time, these methods are
capable of capturing the changes in the
wake formed by the rotor.
Large wind farms face the problem
of having generators and gearboxes
mounted on each turbine at great cost.
Instead the energy generation could be
centralised, with individual turbines
pumping seawater towards a central station which makes use of a positive displacement pump. This concept would
mean that a centralised hydroelectric
power station could be located on our
shores.
Replacing every wind turbine’s gearbox and generator with a hydraulic
pump offers many advantages. It reduces expense, by minimising the number
of moving parts’ maintenance costs, and
make a lighter turbine. Wind farms that
pump water could also be easier to combine with wave energy, energy storage
systems, and reverse osmosis plants that
use up a big chunk of Malta’s electricity
to make drinking water from the Mediterranean. »
27
ENGINEERING
SPECIAL
The only way is up
Normally we think of wind turbines as
a tall central structure with a generator
on top and propeller-style blades powering everything. But this is not the
only possibility. Blades can spin around
the turbines’ central structure doing
away with expensive maintenance costs
and complex gears to turn the blades
into the wind. These Vertical Axis
Wind Turbines (VAWTs) do not need
to be oriented into a specific wind direction. Their problem is a requirement for
higher wind speeds before they start to
spin.
Dr Ing. Pierluigi Mollicone is coordinating a project that is coming up
with new design concepts for this type
of wind turbine. By working with both
local academics and industrial players, a
state-of-the-art design has to improve
both the starting speed and the capability of controlling the turbine at varying
wind speeds. Starting off from a con-
28
ceptual idea, the design is then detailed
and developed in the first step to make
a wind turbine. The computer design
then needs to be tested for aerodynamics and structural integrity—does it
spin well and can it take a beating? The
computational model then needs to be
translated into a real world structure
and tested in a wind tunnel, with further experiments back and forth needed
to come up with a new wind turbine.
Malta’s very own windmill:
restarted
The Raddiena or Chicago windmill is a
well-known sight in rural Malta. These
windmills harness the winds to draw
water from the water table and irrigate
fields. In 2001, 300 windmills were
listed across Malta and Gozo. Unfortunately, the introduction of electricity
has led farmers to abandon this clean
source. Many windmills are gradually
deteriorating. »
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FUN
Dr Ing. Tonio Sant (Department of Mechanical Engineering) and his team are developing a new wind turbine
concept to replace these badly damaged Chicago windmills. Together with the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs they are upgrading the rotor design structure’s
aerodynamics to improve water-pumping efficiency. At
the same time, the researchers want to maintain the original visual appeal of a multi-bladed rotor. The turbine will
also produce electricity and be grid-connected. It won’t
just pump up water but also provide clean energy.
Green Homes
Malta is covered in houses. Covering their roofs with PV
(photovoltaic) panels is a way we could all help by making
renewable energy. In the past five years, Malta has seen a
drastic increase in PV panel use. Electricity generation is
shifting from a centralised power station to our homes.
Distributed generation is characterised by small-scale
electricity generation, deployed near the point of use: our
homes.
Currently our national grid cannot handle large PV installations. The stability of the grid may be compromised
leading to power outages. And we all know what being
in the dark for a few hours means. No Internet, no TV,
no cold drinks in summer. The storage of electric energy
can be used to balance the generation and consumption
demands for a single household or company. Excess energy generated during periods of high generation can be
stored. This stored energy can then be used when supply
cannot meet demand, perhaps when using several heaters
on a cloudy day.
Microgrids can solve these challenges. These grids are
low voltage (electrical distribution within a home) or
medium voltage (electrical distribution within a neighborhood) electrical distribution networks designed to
supply small electrical loads. They are needed to hook
up PV panels to a small community like a housing estate,
university, schools, shopping mall, or industrial area. They
ENGINEERING
THINK SPECIAL
consist of three major components. The
homes equipped with PV or wind turbine installations, systems to store the
energy generated, and other electricity
users connected to the grid.
Microgrids generate energy near
where it will be used. This increases reliability and reduces losses due to long
transmission lines. Microgrids can also
be used to provide electricity in remote
locations unconnected to a main grid.
Researchers are developing new methods to reliably operate and control microgrids across an island. They want to
implement a low voltage microgrid capable of reliable operation that is connected to the national grid.
Many households have PV panels
and solar water heaters. Local researchers are combining the two systems. For
a sunny country like Malta, such a system makes perfect sense. One major
advantage of a combined system is efficient conversion of concentrated solar
energy to heat energy. The homeowner
can then flip a switch to either generate
electricity or heat water.
A parabolic trough, a curved surface,
is used to focus the sun’s rays onto a fluid. The heated fluid can reach temperatures of up to 300°C. Hot enough to
power a stirling engine used to generate
electricity or pump water.
Greener Seas
The Mediterranean has over 150 million people living on its coast. A quarter
of a million fishermen live off its fish.
Even closer to home, the sea around
Malta sees one third of the world’s shipping. The only way this sea can survive is
by knowing how much we are polluting
The Malta Freeport
and exploiting it by monitoring it. Then
the effect needs to be evaluated and the
situation managed by administrators
around the Sea to balance development
and environmental health.
A study that will help gather information about maritime traffic across the
Straits of Sicily is being carried out by
the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the University of Catania.
By quantifying the emissions produced,
they will find out the consequences of
these emissions on the local plant and
animal life. The project aims at supporting the monitoring of pollution at sea in
the Straits of Sicily and so contributing
to future legislation at national and European level.
Engineers designed a towfish that
will be used to monitor a number of
pollutants in the Mediterranean Sea. A
towfish is an underwater platform that
is towed behind a surface boat and can
reach a depth of 50m. The towfish will
be equipped with an HD camera that
can take images of zooplankton and
phytoplankton in order to study colonies that exist in the Straits of Sicily.
Another HD camera will be used to
monitor swarms of jellyfish and their
location.
A Green Malta
Pollution bothers everyone with dirty
atmospheres and smelly odours. Pollution also makes us sick and causes
many health problems including birth
defects, and burdens health institutes.
We all have a role to play to protect and
safeguard our environment. Whether
it is our skies, seas, or our homes we all
have to do our part. A greener Malta
means a greener future for all of us.
In 30 years’ time the electric energy we
use in our homes and at the workplace
will come mainly from renewable energy sources. We will all be driving electric vehicles. The familiar black clouds
of smoke from dirty engines will be a
thing of the past. But these advances in
technology will not be possible without
government funding, industrial collaboration, and the sweat of engineers and
researchers to find exciting solutions to
power nations and our green homes.
•
31
ENGINE
F A C U L T Y
32
O F
THINK SPECIAL
ENGINEERING
EERING
33
Emmanuel Francalanza
imagines how Malta’s transport
system might look in 2025.
Illustrations by Sonya Hallett
TRANSPORT
2025
I
’m writing this article at 30,000
feet as I am flying back home. At
a mere 316 km2, Malta is one of
the smallest countries in the world
and everywhere is ‘close’. But it still
takes a long time to reach work. Reaching University is only the start of the
problem, that’s when the parking nightmares begin. These issues apply to everyone, not just University academics.
Don’t we all wish that we could call out
‘beam me up Scotty’ and be teleported
to our destinations, especially if you’re
caught in a traffic jam in Marsa on the
way to catch a flight?
Traffic and parking issues are not our
only problems. Being an island nation
causes major logistical headaches for
construction, retailing, and manufacturing companies. Sustaining Maltese
companies and attracting foreign investment is a challenge. Let alone for
Gozo.
34
As I sit here thinking, I ask myself
the question: What can transportation
in Malta look like in 2025? But as an
engineer I know that I must first ask
myself: what will Malta’s transportation
requirements be in 17 years time? How
will cars change? How can ships be
more efficient? And, how can we make
planes safer?
Cars of Tomorrow
In the close future we will be seeing
smaller, greener vehicles. Many car
manufacturers are downsizing engines
— nothing new. Cars like the Beetle,
Cinquecento, and Mini have always
been around encouraging smaller, more
economical vehicles. Today, a different
approach is coming into play. Engine
downsizing is being managed by introducing turbocharging. Turbocharging
works by forcing air and increasing the
pressure in the engine’s combustion
chamber. By doing so the energy is released when the fuel is ignited, pumping more power. Increased energy leads
to a greater torque to turn the car’s
wheels. Having a turbocharged engine
means that you can still achieve a higher
brake horse power (bhp) for a smaller
engine. A smaller engine uses less fuel
and pins the car to a less expensive license. Consumers gain cheaper running
costs at lower emissions helping out the
environment.
Turbocharging has been around since
1885, used to power fighter plane engines in WWII and supercharge Formula 1 cars. In cars it was first used to
increase the power for smaller diesel
engines. Now, it is being used to turbocharge small petrol engines.
Turbocharging sounds powerful,
but it does add some problems. Turbocharging places a compressor at the air
THINK SPECIAL
ENGINEERING
inlet of an engine. The turbocharger
increases the air pressure and temperature. Hotter gases can cause the fuel-air
mixture in the compression chamber
to ignite before the peak of the combustion cycle. When this happens the
car engine knocks. Knocking can be
avoided by cooling the charged air with
a bulky inter-cooler which cools the
compressed air before being forced into
the combustion chamber. Knock is elusive to study since it is irregular making
mathematical and physical modelling
tricky.
Dr Ing. Mario Farrugia is trying to
model knock and get the timing right.
He is testing turbochargers on motor
bikes and a standard Ford engine. Pressure measurements in the combustion
cylinder are taken to try and better understand the conditions where knocking is caused. By preventing knock,
turbocharged engines will continue en-
tering the mass automotive market and
become more common.
“In the late 90s it used
to take 48 months
for a vehicle to make
it from the drawing
board to our garages.
In 2013, it takes 18
months”
3D everything
The time it takes to design a car, from
concept to our roads, has plummeted
over the past decades. In the late 90s it
used to take 48 months for a vehicle to
make it from the drawing board to our
garages. In 2013, it takes 18 months. By
decreasing product development time,
companies are under added pressure to
quickly translate ideas into cars. Companies use 3D CAD (Computer Aided
Design) programs to build car models.
However, 2D sketches are faster and
more intuitive than 3D models. Sketching communicates ideas to others. One
might, for example, sketch a map to explain to someone how to get to a place.
An architect will sketch the plan of a
building to illustrate his design ideas. An
engineer might sketch circuit diagrams,
models of 3D prototypes, or machine
parts. A picture can say a thousand
words.
Humans easily interpret sketches.
Machines don’t have it so easy. Industrial designers need their sketches quickly
turned into 3D models. A local team is
developing software that turns a sketch
into a 3D model. »
35
ENGINEERING
SPECIAL
First they developed a sketching
language, with certain symbols giving
commands to the programme. Then
they created a programme that could
interpret the objects drawn. The researchers could sketch a new kettle or
make-up case and it turned into a 3D
image ready to be popped into a CAD
programme for further development
and refinement.
The number of drawings the programme can interpret is limited, so Alexandra Bonnici is developing a more
advanced version. She plans to let designers draw normal shaded drawings,
which means that the programme needs
to do more legwork. It uses a much more
sophisticated algorithm to interpret
shadowing, curves, and other cues in the
sketch. Designers might soon be able to
draw whatever they want, send the information to a computer, and out comes
a 3D model they can turn into reality.
Cars (and other products) might start
popping out of factories much faster.
Factories of the Future
Future factories look nothing like the
dirty, smelly, and menacing environ-
36
ments we normally associate with manufacturing. Future factories will provide
clean, safe, and highly automated environments. Most car companies use vast
automations in their assembly lines.
Computer controlled robots cut, slice,
piece together, and weld, with a few engineers playing puppet master.
“stronger, lighter,
longer-lasting boats,
definitely by 2025”
To be competitive, the local manufacturing industry needs to go down
the same line. Prof. Ing. Michael Saliba
has led a research team that surveyed
automation use in Maltese companies.
Local manufacturers face particular
problems automating their factory. Our
geographic isolation combined with a
general shortage of local suppliers and
expertise. Perceptions seem to link automation with expensive big foreign
manufacturers but this research found
that recent automation approaches
could be very beneficial. They allow a
plug and play approach to manufacturing. Different modules can be added or
removed to a production line depending on the manufacturing requirements.
Its versatility is its attraction.
Boats: sleeker, stronger,
smarter
As summer sets in we all look forward
to spending more time at the beach,
enjoying water sports, or just cruising
around Malta. As a group of islands,
boats are part of our culture. But how
will they look, drive, and feel in 2025?
What will they be made up of ?
Most of our boats right now are made
of fiberglass. Fiberglass is a composite
material made up of two components:
an epoxy resin that bulks the material
and glass fibres that reinforce everything. Boats are produced by layering
several layers of fiberglass sheets. Polyester resin is then added manually using
a brush or roller. The resin combined
with the fiberglass is called a single skin
laminate. Later, wood reinforcements
are added to stiffen the hull, which
makes everything much heavier.
THINK SPECIAL
ENGINEERING
A more advanced technique of manufacturing fibreglass structures uses
sandwich construction. Sandwich construction is widely used for wind turbine blades and in the aerospace industry, but locally it has not been adapted
to make boats. Marine engineer Dr
Claire De Marco is leading a project
to introduce these advanced fibreglass
manufacturing techniques to the local
boat building industry. By 2025 this
research will help make boats in Malta
lighter saving fuel and reducing costs.
De Marco’s project will also make
boats stronger. By making use of a
new process for fabricating fiberglass
laminates called ‘vacuum bagging’ the
final structure will have more fibres in
it, strengthening it. Vacuum bagging
works by sucking out the air when the
resin is being applied, creating a thinner, more even layer. The reduction in
resin content reduces thickness making
the material less stiff. To withstand the
high forces that boats find in rough
seas, a lightweight foam core is added
between the two thin skins of fiberglass.
This project will help boat designers to easily choose the appropriate fiberglass sandwich laminate for a boat
design. These laminates produce boats
which are lighter and stronger than
today’s single-skinned boats. Combine
this with vacuum bagging manufacturing and we will have stronger, lighter,
longer-lasting boats, definitely by 2025.
common cause of accidents. Bad weather
and unfamiliarity with airports normally
lead to these accidents. Automatic taxiing could help prevent these accidents.
“With these advances,
by 2025 gone might
be those missed
holiday celebrations
due to bad weather”
A new cockpit design that will help
airplanes taxi on the ground is being
developed in part by the Department
of Electronic Systems Engineering.
Sensors communicate to an airplane’s
cockpit and raise an alarm if a crash
might happen. The system tells the pilot to stop or continue and where to
turn. With this system pilots can quickly respond to possible collisions. At the
University of Malta, the concept was
first tested in a mock-up simulator. The
system was also tested all over Europe.
Airplanes’ systems cannot really fail
after all. Commercial airlines were also
involved in assessing the performance
and value of the cockpit. The system
passed with flying colours.
Snow, thunderstorms, and other extreme weather can ground an airplane.
Another project, ALICIA, is trying to
develop new cockpit applications that
would help pilots operate under any
weather conditions. Preventing flight
cancellations or delays would save millions and keep many customers happy.
‘Simple is better’ is the design concept behind this new cockpit. Complex
solutions would only distract the flight
crew. Too much information is overwhelming. The cockpit streamlines the
workload helping to interpret some of
the data gathered by the plane. Faster
responses to emergencies help prevent
catastrophe.
New systems are also being developed to help guide pilots while taxiing.
Instead of raising alarms, synthethic
vision is being developed. Synthetic
vision uses inputs from on-board sensors to provide a location on a 3D map
(similar to Google Maps) of the surroundings. Hangars, terminal building, control towers are all in crisp 3D
guiding the pilot. The system can also
be overlaid with other layers of info.
Air traffic signals, pressure, temperature can all be added as needed, letting
the pilots modify the system to their
needs.
With these advances, by 2025 gone
might be those missed holiday celebrations due to bad weather. Pilots might
also have better planes that alert them
to collisions and use 3D maps to guide
them around airports. »
Not falling to pieces
While at 30,000 feet above the ground,
it dawned on me that we must all have
some fear of flying. After all, we didn’t
evolve to fly, let alone in a thin, long
cylinder. Spectacular airplane crashes in
the news do not help. Engineers need to
keep airplanes safe. How much safer can
they be by 2025?
Ground collisions cause injury and are
costly for companies. Research shows
that aircraft taxiing is the second most
37
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ENGINEERING
Touching the future
The future will see captains and flight
crew interacting with their airplane
commands in a way we would have not
imagined up to a decade ago. Touchscreen cockpits are being developed
that would show a single display, instead of the myriad controllers we see
today. On this screen the pilot could
see altitude, direction, destination, and
interact with it by a swipe of the hand.
A team of local researchers led by Prof.
Ing. David Zammit-Mangion is working on this next step in airplane control
by participating in a number of
research projects funded by both
national and EU funds.
The project Touch Flight might
change how commercial airplane
pilots interact with their aircraft.
Currently pilots input data, and programme flight management and guidance systems through a keyboard and
buttons, while using knobs to set speed,
altitude and navigation. This could
change by applying touch-screen technologies. In cars the technology made
car satellite navigation systems
much more intuitive and convenient to use. The same could
soon be coming to planes.
Zammit-Mangion is finding
solutions to display all of this information on a touch screen display. He is focusing on mission
management and flight navigation
information. Touch screen cockpits
would revolutionise aircraft displays
representing the future in cockpit displays.
The upgrade will not come easily.
Major challenges exist since airplanes
fly under stringent safety requirements
and harsh operational conditions. The
pilot needs to be able to input data
correctly on the touch screen in turbulent, stressful, and emergency conditions. Dreaded blue screens and system crashes cannot happen mid-flight.
While revolutionary the system could
take longer than 2025 to see it in most
planes.
Single cockpit displays are another
concept the Department is working on
as part of a big European project. New
projection technologies employing
multiple projectors can project a seamless image over a wide area. Touch-sen-
sitive technologies were coupled to the
projectors to allow touch inputs on this
single screen. The concept was developed and tested on different simulators.
Common cockpit uses (primary flight
display, navigation display and others)
were developed for the screen making
the first ever single, end-to-end interactive cockpit. The mock-up has already
attracted strong interest from industrial stakeholders, which means that we
might see this technology by 2025.
Maltese Transport 2025
“Touch screen
cockpits would
revolutionise
aircraft displays
representing the
future in cockpit
displays”
2025 is just 12 years away; can research
change Malta so quickly? The potential is huge. Our engineers could make
boats which are faster, lighter, and harder to sink. From the outside the boats
would not look very different, but
the way they are made would be
radically improved. The problem
of making boats powered by renewable energy is still up for grabs.
Cars would also get an upgrade. Car engines would be
smaller and more powerful. They
would use less fuel, be more environmentally friendly and relatively
cheaper to run. Unfortunately, this
doesn’t solve the problem of having
one of the highest car densities in the
world, which clogs our roads every
day.
By 2025 planes could guide the
pilot to avoid mistakes. The cockpit
would be radically redesigned and if
you manage to land a jump seat your
experience would be revolutionised.
Planes have other problems and questions to overcome. Will they be smaller or bigger to increase efficiency and
reduce the burden on our planet? Will
they become personal and enter Blade
Runner’s world of flying cars? Will we
take humans out of the equation to
make them safer? In the hands of engineers, the future will surely be an interesting place to live in.
•
39
ETNA
Etna erupting on 13 January 2011. Photo: Cirimbillo, Wikimedia Commons
40
THINK FEATURE
The ancients saw volcanoes as the wrath of
their mighty gods. Volcanoes have been blamed
for clearing whole towns, even planet-wide
extinctions. A local team based in Gozo has just
found out if Etna affects the Maltese Islands.
Words by The Editor
Prof. Raymond Ellul
Ing. Francelle Azzopardi
41
FEATURE
I
n the year 1329, a Sicilian exile
saw a blackish cloud coming from
the north. Fine dust swept over
his fields and the whole island. A
few days later news arrived with a
merchant vessel. Monks from Sicily recounted how the largest active volcano
in the Mediterranean, Etna, had spewed
hell and erupted from its eastern flank.
The details are imagined but the
date is not. Since 1329 Etna’s volcanic
plumes have been known to reach Malta. Ash arrived again in 1694, 1787,
three times in the 19th century, and even
as recently as 2013, with irregular covering this year. Unfortunately, we do
not know what damage it does to our
Islands, if any. Volcanic ash can stop aircraft in mid-flight, damage infrastructure, contaminate crops and water, and
harm humans and animals.
Etna is a decade volcano. These are
a set of 16 volcanoes from around the
world chosen for special monitoring
because of their ferocity, destructive-
ness, and proximity to populated areas.
Etna is around 200 km away from the
Maltese Islands. Ash plumes can travel
much further. Despite these facts, most
Maltese are unaware of Etna’s potential
effect on Malta.
“most Maltese are
unaware of Etna’s
potential effect
on Malta”
nic ash 14 kilometres high in 1989 and
caused damages worth $160 million.
PUFF can forecast how volcanic eruption plumes will spread, how dense they
will be, and how much ash they will deposit. To get an idea how Etna would affect Malta, the team input local weather
data into the model and ran it on three
different eruption scenarios.
Volcanoes can erupt in many different ways. They discharge either through
build up of hot gases, superheated
Etna’s effect on Malta has never been
seriously studied. To change this Prof.
Raymond Ellul, Ing. Francelle Azzopardi and a team of Italian volcanologists adapted a computer model called
PUFF to see what happens when the
volcano becomes over active.
PUFF was developed to study the
Redoubt Volcano after it shot volcaA possible scenario modelled using PUFF software
42
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steam, or contact between hot magma and cool
water. The researchers chose to model three recent
eruptions of Etna, which were the most relevant for
Malta. The first is from 2001 and 2002 when Etna
erupted with a violent strombolian eruption (due to
gas build up) that shot up ash 5 km high. The second
happened in 1998 and was much more violent but
short lived, a sub-plinian (also due to gas pressures)
eruption formed a 12 km column. Sub-plinians are
among the strongest eruption types, named after the
description of Pliny the Younger who witnessed the
death of his father when Mount Vesuvius erupted in
79ad burying Pompeii. Lava fountains are the third
eruption type they modelled. In 2011 and 2012, 25
lava fountains occurred — some formed ash columns 9 km high.
‘Over a period of two years we ran a simulation
[of each eruption type] at midday and midnight
and we saw whether it [the plume] affected Malta or
not. We drew a circle around Malta and if the plume
went over this circle then [we noted] that Malta was
affected,’ said Azzopardi. On the whole they predicted that Etna’s eruptions covered Malta with ash
13% of the time. They compared this value to the
25 lava fountains that happened a few years ago. »
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43
FEATURE
An aerial shot of Etna’s eruption in 2002. Malta can be seen to the right of Sicily. Photo: Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Catania
The lava fountain ash plumes passed over
Malta 16% of the time — remarkably accurate, proving the model powerful.
The reason for the low frequency of
Etna’s ash reaching Malta depends on
wind speed and direction rather than
the eruption type. For ash to reach
Malta it needs a strong wind from the
north-northeast. Most of Malta’s wind
comes from the northwest.
Eruption type influences the time it
takes for ash to reach Malta. The more
explosive sub-plinian eruptions reach
Gozo within four hours, but do not cover the Islands for very long because of
the eruption’s short duration. The weaker strombolian eruptions take the longest at 6 hours to reach Gozo but cover
Malta for the longest time, which might
make them the most problematic.
‘In 2001 and 2002 there was a warning for people who suffer from respiratory problems,’ said Azzopardi. This
warning is really as bad as it gets for
Malta. ‘Till now Etna has not done any
damage to vegetation or animals.’ Their
model predicted ash deposition of
0.1 g/m2–0.01 g/m2, while damage
threshold is set at 10 kg/m2 for vegetation. There is no reason to sound any
alarms.
44
While humans are safe at these levels, planes are a different issue. ‘[Ash]
mostly affects airplanes when they are
flying,’ explained Azzopardi. ‘The damage: it forms a glassy surface on all the
nozzles and the combustion chamber
switching the engine off. One 747 engine costs 20 million US dollars, the
airbus engines we have cost less but are
not that cheap,’ interjected Ellul. In
“Till now Etna
has not done
any damage to
vegetation or
animals”
1989, KLM Flight 867 passed straight
through an ash plume killing its four
engines. Remarkably, no one died as
it plummeted more than 14,000 feet
since its pilots managed to restart the
engines in time to land safely. It cost the
company $80 million.
The threshold ash levels which
planes can fly through are unknown.
The potential expense and loss of life
if an airplane shuts down mid-flight
is grim. The researchers’ primary goal
was to extend the forecasting model of
the Osservatorio Etneo in Catania from
28,900 km2 to 99,000 km2. The increase widens the model from just
northeast Sicily to include all of Sicily and Malta to protect local aviation
flight paths.
The Italians now model the new larger area to give early warning systems
to airplanes. Unfortunately, a rigorous
procedure isn’t in place and the Italian
team do not alert the Maltese metrological office directly. Malta’s Met. office
needs to find out from the web-based
model.
The lack of flight levels is another
problem of the model. ‘On the 19th
April 2013 we [Air Malta] had a very
close shave where the aerosols passed
over Malta and fell over Żejtun. An
Air Malta craft saw this plume and
they contacted us to see if there was the
possibility of damage,’ explained Ellul.
Thankfully, the ash plume was mostly
water and contained levels of ash that
left the plane unharmed. The local
THINK FEATURE
team would like to work on and solve
these problems.
The Maltese public are strangely unaware of what Etna is capable of. Using
an online questionnaire, Azzopardi collected data from 442 University of Malta students to try and figure out what
the Maltese public knew about volcanoes. Although 69% said that Malta
is affected by Etna, ‘they themselves
admitted that they had never thought
about this topic and were answering on
the basis of the proximity of Sicily and
Malta,’ said Azzopardi. Many of these
thought that Etna affects human health,
water, plants, and animals — it doesn’t.
Azzopardi continued, ‘In 2001–
2002, [Etna’s] coverage was much
greater and affected both Islands.’ She
then explained how the ‘black soot’
was misinterpreted as pollution from
the Marsa ‘power station, hospital,
or even a passing plane that dropped
something’. The conspiracy theories
were endless. Volcanologists need
to launch a strong campaign to raise
awareness about Etna. Somewhat ironically the survey itself ‘ended up raising
awareness about Etna’.
The next step
Apart from the problems mentioned
above, there are some unanswered questions. Volcanoes are known to spew out
lots of sulfur dioxide, nitrous gases, and
other pollutants. ‘We expect sulfur dioxide to remain high up in the air, not
like particulates [ash] that fall quickly,’
said Azzopardi. Modeling gases requires
tweaks to PUFF. Despite this issue, she
does notice some gas peak levels on their
air pollution monitoring devices at the
Giordan Lighthouse in Gozo. ‘If we verify this, it would be new.’
Malta’s air is pretty polluted. Traffic
and other sources have resulted in Malta’s bad air quality that affects all of our
health. Malta has a high percentage of
respiratory problems. ‘We are analysing
the extent of sulfur dioxide levels,’ explained Azzopardi. This would need to
be compared with man-made sources.
Then we’d know which is responsible
for Malta’s problems. However, it is unlikely that Etna’s intermittent eruptions
affect our health so much. After all Malta’s air is always polluted rather than
only when Etna erupts.
Right now Etna seems to have
calmed down after the lava fountains
of 2011–2013; though Azzopardi
does not ‘exclude that Etna might have
other [bigger] eruptions’. Yet, ‘these
[eruptions] will mostly be important for airplane traffic, some ash does
land on Malta and it does cause hassle
for the residents, but it mostly affects
airplanes when they’re flying.’ This research has a happy ending: we’re safe,
we’re sound, don’t panic.
•
FURTHER READING
• Vamos Seguro project now
monitoring ash plumes over Malta
— http://bit.ly/VamosSeguro
• Azzopardi, F., Ellul, R., Prestifilippo,
M., Scollo, S. & Coltelli, M. The
effect of Etna volcanic ash clouds
on the Maltese Islands. Journal
of Volcanology and Geothermal
Research 260, 13-26, (2013). Doi:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
jvolgeores.2013.04.019
• Local group website
www.um.edu.mt/science/
physics/apr/staff
Etna volcano erupts on 12 January 2011. View from the
East side. Photo: gnuckx, Flickr
Inset: Satellite image of an ash plume reaching Malta
45
46
THINK FEATURE
Prof. Ing. Carl Debono
IMMERSIVE
3D
C
omfortably sitting in seat 3F,
John is watching one of his
favourite operas. This close
he can see all the details of
the set, costumes, and the
movements of the music director as
he skilfully conducts the orchestra by
careful gestures of his baton. He is immersed in the scene, capturing all the
details. Then all of a sudden, the doorbell rings. Annoyed, John has to stop
the video to see who it is. This could be
the mainstream TV experience of the
future.
This scene is called free-viewpoint
technology that is part of my research
at the University of Malta (UoM).
Free-viewpoint television allows the
EXPERIENCE
user to select a view from which to
watch the scene projected on a 3D
television. The technology will allow
the audience to change their viewpoint
when they want, to where they want
to be. By moving a slider or by a hand
gesture, the user can change perspective,
which is an experience currently used in
games with their synthetically generated content ­— synthetically generated
by a computer game’s graphics engine.
Today we are used to seeing a single
viewpoint. If there are multiple perspectives we usually don’t have any control
over them. Free-viewpoint technology
will turn this idea on top of its head.
The technology is expected to hit the
market in the near future, with some
companies and universities already experimenting with content and displays.
New autostereoscopic displays do not
need glasses (pictured next page), these
displays ‘automatically’ generate a 3D
image depending on which angle you
view them. A clear example was the
promise made by Japan to deliver 3D
free-viewpoint coverage of all football
games as part of their bid to host the
FIFA World Cup in 2022. The bid was
unsuccessful, which might delay the
technology by a few years.
Locally, my research (and that of my
team) deals with the transmission side
of the story (pictured). For free-viewpoint to work, a scene needs to be captured using many cameras. The more »
47
The autostereoscopic display technique without glasses. Depending
on the position of the viewer, the filter directs the left image to the left
eye and the right image to the right eye
Left Eye
Right Eye
Display
{
Filter
L
R
L
R
L
R
L
R
L
R
L
R
L
R
L
R
L
R
L
R
cameras there are, the more freedom the user has to select
the desired view. So many cameras create a lot of data.
All the data captured by the cameras has to be transmitted to a 3D device into people’s homes, smartphones,
laptops and so on. This transmission needs to pass over
a channel, and whether it is fibre cable or wireless, it will
always have a limited capacity. Data transmission also
costs money. High costs would keep the technology out
of our devices for decades.
My job is to make a large amount of data fit in smaller
packages. To fit video in a channel we need to compress
it. Current transmission of single view video also uses
compression to save space on the channel so that more
data can be transmitted and save on price. Note that,
for example for high definition we have 24 bits per pixel and an image contains 1280 by 720 pixels (720p HD
standard), that’s nearly 100,000 pixels for every frame.
Since video is around 24-30 frames per second the
amount of data being transmitted every minute starts
escalating to unfeasible amounts.
Free-viewpoint technology would be another big
leap in size. Each camera would be sending their own
video, which is the same amount of data as we are
now getting. If there are ten cameras, you would need
to increase channel size by a factor of ten. This makes
it highly expensive and unfeasible. For the example
above, the network operator needs ten times more
space on the network to get the service to your house,
making it ten times more expensive than single view.
Therefore, research is needed to drastically reduce the
amount of data that needs to be transmitted while still
keeping high quality images. These advances will make
THINK FEATURE
the technology feasible, cheaper, and
available for all.
So the golden question is, how are we
going to do that? Research, research,
and more research. The first attempts
by the video research community to
solve this problem were to use its vast
knowledge of single view transmission
and extend it to the new paradigm. Basic single view algorithms (an algorithm
is computer code that can perform a
specific function, like Google’s search
engine) compress video by searching
through the picture and finding similarities in space and in time. Then the
algorithms send the change, or the error
vector, instead of the actual data. The
error vector is a measure of imperfections and how it is used by computer scientists to compress
data is explained below.
First let us look at the
space component. When
looking at a picture, it is
quite clear that some areas
are very similar. The similar areas can be linked and
the data grouped together
into one reference point. The reference point has to be transmitted with
a mathematical representation (vector)
that explains to the computer which
areas are similar to each other. This reduces the amount of data that needs to
be sent.
Secondly, let us analyse the time aspect. Video is a set of images placed
one after another and run at 25 or 30
“For freeviewpoint to
work, a scene
needs to be
captured
using many
cameras”
frames per second that gives the illusion of movement and action. To make
a video flow seamlessly images that are
right after each other are very similar. If
we have two images the second one will
be very similar to the first, with only a
small movement of some parts of the
image. Like we do for space, a mathematical relationship can be calculated
for the similar areas from one image to
the next. The first image can be used as
a reference point and for the second we
transmit only the vector that explains
which pixels have moved and by how
much. This greatly reduces the data that
needs to be transmitted.
The above techniques are used in
single view transmission, with freeviewpoint technology we have a new
dimension. We also need to include the
space between cameras shooting the
same scene. Since the scene is the same
there is a lot of similarity between the
videos of each camera. The main difference is that of angle and the problem that some objects might be visible
from one camera and not from another.
Keeping this in mind, »
From the pixel information in the picture captured by Camera A and that of
Camera B, we can construct an image in between the two cameras
CAMERA A
VIRTUAL VIEW
CAMERA B
ALGORITHM
49
FEATURE
a mathematical equation can be constructed that explains which parts of
the scene are the same and which are
new. A single camera’s video is used as
a reference point while its neighbouring
cameras only transmit the ‘extra’ information. The other camera can compress
their content drastically. In this way the
current standard can be extended to
free-viewpoint TV.
Compressing free-viewpoint transmissions is complex work. Its complexity is a drawback, mobile devices
simply aren’t fast enough to run computer power intensive algorithms. Our
research focuses on reducing the complexity of the algorithms. We modify
them so that they are faster to run, need
less computing power, and still keep the
same quality of video, or with minimal
losses.
We have also explored new ways of
reconstructing high quality 3D views in
minimum time, using graphical processing units (GPUs). GPUs are commonly
used by high-end video games. Video
must be reconstructed with a speed of at
least 25 pictures per second. This speed
must be maintained if we want to build
a smooth continuous video in between
two real camera positions (picture). A
single computer process cannot handle
algrothims that can achieve this feat;
instead parallel processing (multiple simultaneous computations) is essential.
To remove the strain off a main processing unit in a computer processing
can be offloaded to a GPU. Algorithms
need to be built that use these alternative processing powers. Ours show that
we can obtain the necessary speeds to
process free-viewpoint 3D video even
on mobile devices.
Since free-viewpoint takes up a large
bandwidth on networks, we researched
“The road ahead is
steep and a lot of
work is needed to
bring this technology
to homes”
whether these systems can feasibly
handle so much data. We considered
the use of next generation mobile telephony networks (4G). Naturally they
offer more channel space, we wanted
to see how many users they can handle at different screen resolutions. We
showed that the technology can be
used only using a limited number of
cameras. The number of users is directly related to the resolution used, with a
lower resolution needing less data and
allowing more views or users. This research came up with design solutions
for the network’s architecture and
broadcasting techniques needed to minimise delays.
The road ahead is steep and a lot of
work is needed to bring this technology to homes. My vision is that in the
near future we will be consuming 3D
content and free-viewpoint technology
in a seamless and immersive way in our
homes and mobile devices. So for now
sit back and imagine what watching an
opera or football match on TV would
look like in a few years’ time.
•
The transmission chain in free-viewpoint
technology showing four cameras. The
encoder is where our algorithms are
being implemented
Set-top
box
Encoder
4X
4X
3D Display
50
THINK FEATURE
Through the
looking glass
What’s your favourite game? Pacman? Doom? World of
Warcraft? Most of us have spent hours immersed in video
games, many still do. Prof. Gordon Calleja studies
why and how we get so involved in games. Science writer
Sedeer El-Showk found out about Calleja’s latest book
and game that are gaining worldwide fame
Sedeer El-Showk
51
A screenshot from Will Love Tear Us Apart
FEATURE
G
ordon Calleja has a
dream job: he studies video games. It may sound
like frivolous fun, but his
work is serious research.
He examines how people perceive
the world around them and interact
with it. His research blends aspects of
philosophy, neuropsychology, and literary theory with futuristic concepts
like cybernetics and post-humanism;
his papers are peppered with references to Wittgenstein and Borges alongside quotes from avid gamers. In his
book In-Game: From Immersion to
Incorporation, published last year by
MIT Press, Professor Calleja tackles
the question of how we experience
games – how the barrier created by the
screen and the controls dissolves into a
sense of really being there. ‘Ultimately,’ he says, ‘studying presence in games
is asking how we are conscious here in
the physical world.’
A revolution in gaming
Professor Calleja didn’t start out in
game studies — a field which didn’t
even exist in his youth. As a student
at the University of Malta (UoM),
he studied literary theory and media communications before finding
work as a teacher and auditor. Still,
his involvement with games and
game design dates back to his earliest
52
years. ‘My dad used to set me up with
hex paper, some dice, and a bunch of
figurines,’ he recalls. ‘It was his idea of
babysitting.’ The young Calleja grew
up playing and designing games, and
even won the New Zealand Blood
Bowl (tabletop game) championship
as a teenager. Despite this strong start,
games became a smaller part of his life
as an adult, giving way to work and
other commitments.
Video games underwent a major transformation during Professor
Calleja’s hiatus. The proliferation of
broadband led to the development and
growth of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs) like World of
Warcraft and Second Life, persistent
online virtual worlds populated by
people from across the globe. Through
their avatar, players of MMOGs interact with one another and with the
virtual world, exploring, completing
quests, and even getting married. ‘I
got a bit glassy-eyed with amazement
at the realisation that there were other people actually connected to the
same world,’ said Professor Calleja,
describing his first experience in an
MMOG. He became fascinated with
understanding how players relate
to these game worlds. As he learned
more about the subject, he realised
that there were significant gaps in our
understanding which he could address thanks to his background. He
switched his Ph.D. to game studies,
launching a research career that led to
him heading ITU Copenhagen’s Center for Computer Game Research at
the age of 31. Five years later, he became director of the Institute of Digital Games at the UoM.
Bringing in a new perspective
One of the problems Calleja faced
was the description of how players
become involved in a game’s virtual
world. Despite the question’s importance, researchers had been using
terms like ‘presence’ and ‘immersion’
without a precise definition, leading
to confusion. Calleja described how
the same terms were being used for
two different experiences: a sense of
absorption and of being present in another place. Language from older me-
“When intention and action flow seamlessly
from each other in a rich virtual environment, the
line between player and avatar fades away and
the world of the game becomes real”
THINK FEATURE
dia was being used to describe games,
a new kind of medium. Unlike films
or books, games offer a sense of agency by acknowledging the existence
of the player in the virtual world and
responding to their actions. While
it’s perfectly possible to be deeply
absorbed by a book or film, only the
agency and feedback loops afforded
by games can deliver the sense of inhabiting another world.
Professor Calleja took a new approach to the question. Rather than
getting bogged down in the vague terminological issues of presence/immersion, he stepped back to analyse the
experience of playing a game, breaking
it down into six different aspects of involvement. The player involvement
model, which he developed in his
doctoral thesis and wrote about in InGame, was received extremely well by
the research community. It provides a
general framework for understanding
how games can make players feel as
though they’ve been transported to a
different world, offering a solid foundation for future research in the field.
The model describes six aspects of
involvement: mastery of the control
system, an awareness of space, planning and achieving goals, following
and creating a storyline, feeling emotions in response to the story and our
actions, and sharing an experience and
space with others. Unlike other media,
games bring these aspects together to
give us the sensation of inhabiting
a different world. Each aspect can
engage us on the micro-scale of moment-to-moment involvement while
playing a game or on the macro-scale
of involvement between sessions,
when players make plans, revise strategies, or reflect on their experiences.
Calleja also points out that the six
aspects aren’t independent, but are experienced together and in relation to
each other; he likens them to stacked
transparencies.
According to Professor Calleja,
when the different aspects of involvement act in concert, our attention
slips away from them and we stop being conscious of the game itself. When
action and intention flow seamlessly
from each other in a rich virtual environment, the line between player and
avatar fades away and the world of the
game becomes real. Professor Calleja
uses the word ‘incorporation’ as a metaphor for the twin dynamic at work:
internalising the environment and
controls of the game while becoming
embodied (made corporal) within
that environment.
The sense of embodiment and the
reality of games is clear in the language
players use to describe their experience.
In his interviews Professor Calleja
found that they consistently say ‘I’ instead of ‘my character’ and recount »
A screenshot from PlanetSide
53
FEATURE
events as though they were real. ‘I just
stopped, and stared at [the cathedral].
I worked my way around it as much as I
could to see if from all angles and ended
up on a rise a little above it, just watching it. I don’t remember the time of day,
but it might have been [around] sunset
and I swore, I could practically feel the
breeze on my face and hear the wildlife.’
In many ways, we experience virtual
worlds the same way we interact with
this one: through our senses. ‘How
we’re aware of physical reality and virtual worlds is not different at all,’ said
Professor Calleja. ‘I don’t see any difference between the real and the virtual
whatsoever aside from the physicality
and haptic feedback of one. Whether
you can give the right feedback to the
brain is [just] a technological question.’
A different kind of game
Having designed games and game systems ever since his father used to entertain him with dice and figurines,
Professor Calleja finally decided to try
his hand at making a video game. Unsurprisingly, his goal was something
that hadn’t been done before: making
a game based on a song. Will Love Tear
Us Apart is a free browser-based game
(review pg. 57) based on Joy Division’s
cult hit Love Will Tear Us Apart; the
game consists of three stages, one for
each verse of the song. It’s a unique game
which takes advantage of our expectations in order to explore the challenges
and emotions of a troubled relationship.
I asked Professor Calleja about his goals
in adapting the song. ‘I wanted to design
a game that was true to the essence of the
song,’ he said, ‘not just to the story or the
atmosphere.’
Will Love Tear Us Apart focuses on
emotional responses at the expense of
other aspects of involvement; it lacks
the spatial involvement and other aspects that create a strong sense of in-
54
A screenshot from Will Love Tear Us Apart
“‘Humans have
always been storytellers and created
worlds, but now we
can inhabit each
other’s imagined
worlds and create
things together”
corporation in games like World of
Warcraft or Planetside. Calleja’s design
breaks with one of the traditional goals
of games; rather than trying to entertain players, Will Love Tear Us Apart
aims to provoke a response from them.
The resulting experience feels different
from traditional games — it’s more like
an emotional journey than a game.
‘I wanted to turn it around and look
at how games control us,’ said Professor Calleja. Games are loaded with
a range of implicit assumptions, from
the effects of our actions to the idea
of ‘winning’; Calleja skillfuly subverts
these in order to create emotional
impact. ‘It was very hard to get the
difficulty just right; we had to tweak
it a lot,’ he said. ‘You have to believe
you could have succeeded in order to
feel cheated. You have to feel like you
had a chance. Hopefully the player will
reflect about that experience afterwards.’
Can we expect to see more games
from Professor Calleja? ‘Definitely,’
he replied instantly. Assuming there’s
enough funding, he’d like to explore the
range of possibilities for games inspired
by songs or poems, as well as a follow up
on a few other ideas. Given his record to
date, it will be exciting to see what the
future brings.
Understanding a changing
world
For the moment, Professor Calleja is
turning his attention to understanding
how players construct and relate to the
narratives of games. Traditional media
convey a designed, structured narrative to the reader or viewer, but games
bring an additional layer to this as players create their own stories individually
and together. ‘All of a sudden you have
elements of the theatrical as our actions
become part of the narrative,’ observed
Calleja. Narrative theory, which has
been based on an analysis of traditional
media, will have to be updated to take
these aspects into account.
Professor Calleja spoke eloquently about the importance of researching games and virtual worlds. ‘Virtual
worlds are here to stay,’ he said. ‘Humans have always been story-tellers and
created worlds, but now we can inhabit
each other’s imagined worlds and create
things together. I think it’s important to
critically examine this and understand
how it happens, so we can better understand ourselves and our experiences.’ As
we march into a future where the virtual
and physical overlap ever more heavily,
the science of games may prove essential
in understanding the world around us,
a world we both inhabit and create.
•
Sedeer El-Showk is a freelance writer based in Finland who blogs at
http://inspiringscience.wordpress.com
and tweets as @inspiringsci
THINK ALUMNI
ALUMNI talk
All in a days job: airplane safety, patents, and financial mathematics
Natural Hazards, Maths, and
the Financial World
MICHELA DEGAETANO lets us peek
into the insurance sector
IN JUNE 2007, I completed a
B.Sc. in Maths and Physics (University of Malta). I was always interested in
studying natural hazards so I pursued an
M.Sc. in the Science of Natural Hazards
(University of Bristol). During my degree, I researched the mechanics behind
landslides and returned to Malta in 2009
after completing my degree.
Due to limited opportunities, I did
not read for a Ph.D. After some thought,
I gave the financial sector a try since I
wanted to apply my mathematics degree
to the business world. I sat for two exams,
one in financial mathematics and another in statistics. Then I started working for
PSA Insurance, a subsidiary of Peugeot
Citroën Bank whose headquarters are in
Paris.
Initially, my role was unclear, as I had
no experience in insurance. Though the
challenge was great, I strove to learn and
improve. I represent the Actuarial Function of PSA and my role is to increase
the predictability of future financial performance of existing insurance products
by analysing quantitative data to reduce
financial uncertainty. I work with Actuarial consultants in France and the UK.
My responsibility for new products is to
establish their price and create a business
plan. I carry out detailed quantitative
analysis and monitor their performance.
My biggest responsibility is the implementation of Solvency II within
the company. Solvency II is a new set
of regulatory requirements, which will
become mandatory by 2016 for insurance firms that operate in the European
Union. The system is not only about
capital investments but covers corporate governance, supervisory reporting,
and public disclosure; it re-enforces the
need for insurance companies to build a
solid risk management structure which
will help protect the insurance company and customers against financial loss.
Implementing this project has given
me the opportunity to work with new
departments and areas of the business,
and coordinate team members to meet
deadlines. Taking charge of the project’s
quantitative requirements enabled me to
use thinking skills I gained through my
maths degree.
By being exposed to many company departments, in the last three years
I gained substantial work experience.
By shifting my career into the financial
sector with PSA Insurance I managed
to build a career that I would not have
imagined possible during my undergraduate years.
•
This is a paid editorial
55
ALUMNI
Taking Einstein’s job
DR ALAIN CAMILLERI talks to us
about his life journey from Malta to
patent examiner in Munich
IN 1996 MY JOURNEY began with my
undergraduate studies in Biology and Chemistry
(University of Malta). Science was my natural
choice as it constantly peaked my curiosity. It was
my method to find out how machines, technology, and nature work. My undergraduate thesis was
on plant biotechnology and I studied ways to
grow endemic Maltese tree species in vitro in
the lab.
After graduating in 2000 I moved to
Basel, Switzerland, for an IAESTE traineeship. I worked at a big pharmaceutical
company in nervous system pharmacology research. My research focused on
testing molecules that enhanced or inhibited two brain neurotransmitter receptors,
NMDA receptor and GABA-B receptor.
The NMDA receptor is important in controlling synaptic plasticity and memory. The
GABA-B receptor is implicated in a number of
neurologic and psychiatric disorders.
Basel was a great experience both professionally and personally. As my first experience living
abroad, I met trainees from all over the world and
learnt about a new culture. It also sparked off my
curiosity to study the brain and nervous system.
Invaluably, I worked in the pharmaceutical industry, researched, and learnt about drug development.
Following my traineeship to continue working in nervous system research, I moved north to
the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden).
I worked in a molecular neurobiology lab for
8 months, gaining further research experience
making mice that lacked certain genes, staining
tissues with antibodies to identify proteins, and
more.
56
THINK ALUMNI
My journey then brought me to the
University of Zurich in 2002. I began
my Ph.D. in Prof. Christian Fuhrer’s
lab. I used the neuromuscular junction,
which is the connection between nerves
and muscles, as a model to learn how
the connections between neurons develop. Within this system, my research
focused on studying the balancing act
between two protein families: tyrosine
kinases and phosphatases. My research
revealed the importance played by the
fine equilibrium between these two
protein groups to form and stabilise
neuromuscular synapses. I concluded
my Ph.D. in 2006 and stayed on in the
lab one year longer as a postdoctorate.
Then I moved into the patent
field. I needed a new challenge but
wanted to maintain a connection
with science. Since 2007 I worked as
a patent examiner at the European
Patent Office in Munich, examining
patents in the field of biopharmaceuticals.
I love the mix between science and
patent law. The legal side needed a
little getting used to, but being a patent examiner has proven challenging
and satisfying. I work with employees from 38 different countries using
the three official languages English,
French, and German. My job allows
me a good work-life balance, allowing
me time to enjoy sports, leisure activities, and time with my family, which I
find essential to a balanced and happy
life.
•
Flying Safely
Every Time
AIR MALTA TAKES safety
very seriously. Many people are involved in ensuring aircraft safety. This
is of paramount importance to our
airline. Our aircraft are fit to fly at any
time since they have satisfied all legal
requirements. The Engineering Department’s role is to keep our aircraft
airworthy.
The Engineering Department within Air Malta is certified in accordance
with two Implementing Rules by the
European Aviation Safety Agency:
Part M (CAMO) and Part 145. Part
M deals with the management continuing airworthiness. Part 145 deals
with performing maintenance on
aircraft. Various sections with appro-
This is a paid editorial
priately qualified Engineers run these
processes.
The Engineering Section closely
monitors aircraft reliability, studies
and carry out manufacturers’ recommendations. It also implements airworthiness directives, service bulletins
and any alterations or improvements to
Air Malta airplanes.
The Aircraft Maintenance Section
performs these procedures in accordance with a maintenance plan based
on an approved maintenance programme issued by the Planning Section. Technical records related to aircraft maintenance, registration, and
certification are kept in accordance
with legal requirements.
The Aircraft Maintenance Section
carries out unscheduled maintenance
and structural damage repairs. The
Workshops section supports maintenance by providing component repairs,
minor fabrications of aircraft parts as
well as the calibration of tools and Non
Destructive Testing. The Materials and
Purchasing Section source the provision and logistics of all parts, materials,
tools, and ground support equipment.
The Quality Department ensures
that all work is carried out in accordance to legal requirements by monitoring the other departments. An
in-house training school performs
continuous training for all employees
within the Engineering Department.
•
57
FUN
BOOK REVIEW
by The Editor
. 99.
100
6. 4
7. 4
. 51. 50. 49. 4 8. 4
4
5. 4
41. 40. 3
42.
9.
3.
.4
98
.9
. 93. 92 1. 90. 8
. 94
9.
. 95
8
96
7.
9
.
. 76. 75. 74. 73. 7
. 77
2.
7
78
1
.7
9.
0.
69 .
6 8. 67,
66
65, 64. 63. 6
2.
38. 37
9
. 36
61
.
1.
. 25
.6
. 34. 33. 32. 31. 30
.
. 83. 82.
5. 84
81.
6. 8
80
.8
.7
87
8.
52
.2
28. 27. 26. 2 5
, .
4 . 23. 22. 2
.
56. 55. 54.
53.
2
20. 19. 1 8. 1 7
. 16
. 1 5. 14. 13
Physics of
the Future
. 11. 10. 9.
12
8
. 7 . 6. 5. 4
0. 59. 58
.5
2. 1
7.
3.
100
WORD
ideas to
change
MALTA
Replace
Summertime with
Flexitime
by
PROF. ISABEL STABILE
Imagine the possibilities... parents can look after their sick
children, assist ailing relatives,
run errands or even just relax. In return, our government
offices, institutions of higher learning, etc. are open for
business 8–5 Monday to Friday,
year round. It’s a win-win situation. But, I hear you say… it’s
too hot to work in the summer
afternoons (air conditioning?),
I want to go to the beach (it’s
too hot to go out between 2
and 4), I worked 8 extra hours
each week in the winter, so now
I deserve this... Give and take.
Wake up! It’s just a dream.
•
58
Michio Kaku
SPACE ELEVATORS, internet-enabled contact lenses, magnetically levitating driverless cars, limitless
energy, Jedi-like powers, the future has
it all. Michio Kaku paints a bright,
beautiful picture of our future in Physics of the Future: How Science Will
Shape Human Destiny and Our Daily
Lives by the Year 2100.
Kaku is one of the founders of
string theory. For this book he interviewed over 300 leading scientists and
engineers, which make up its scientific backbone. Married to scientific
rigour Kaku brings a well written and
beautiful turn of phrase to scientific
principles clearly explained. Reading
it will teach you new things. At the
same time, you’ll experience the world
through a writer who clearly sees everything through a different lens — a
true visionary.
He doesn’t hold back his punches,
‘by 2100, our destiny is to become
like the gods we once worshipped
and feared.’ After that statement you
would imagine his predictions would
be pretty out of this world. Some are,
but this is where those interviews come
in handy; he backs them up with solid
science explaining why they will happen. Rivetting.
He starts off the book with a lengthy
explanation on why his predictions
are right and why many others failed.
The reason? Simple: evolution, ‘whenever there is a conflict between modern technology and the desires of our
primitive ancestors,’ writes Kaku, instinct wins every time. It is ‘the Cave
Man Principle’. While making sense
this discussion makes for a somewhat
dragging read, we really just want to
know about the cool inventions of tomorrow.
He tackles the upcoming years topic
by topic, mind over matter, rise of the
machines, energy from the stars and in
each section he takes that idea apart
giving its background and some great
discussions such as: will robots take
over the world or who is best: man or
machine? Then he goes into his predictions, Near Future (present to 2030),
Midcentury (2030 to 2070), Far Future
(2070 to 2100). Nicely structured, but
again makes for a slightly repetitive
and somewhat dragging book.
If you’re a researcher you might notice that he will miss a few ideas in your
field. Considering the book’s breadth, I
find the research and knowledge of the
author to be remarkable. The amount
of information he packs into its pages
is astounding.
It is probably one of the better prediction books out there, a nice read.
However, you might be pretty familiar
with its ideas if science magazines, case
in point, are your cup of tea.
•
THINK FUN
GAME REVIEW
by Sedeer El-Showk
Will Love Tear
Us Apart
Production:
Mighty Box
Platform:
Windows, Mac
(web-based, no Chrome support)
DON’T BE FOOLED by its
brevity or the fact that it’s a free, browser-based game: Will Love Tear Us Apart
is anything but a ‘casual’ game. Based on
Joy Division’s cult hit Love Will Tear Us
Apart, the game consists of three sparse
but beautifully portrayed levels that
guide the player through the emotional
journey of a relationship on the brink of
collapse.
Developed by Mighty Box Games
with support from the Malta Arts Fund,
Will Love Tear Us Apart is a unique
game. Game designer Gordon Calleja
(featured pg. 51) eschews conventions,
using the game’s mechanics in the service of the emotional and thematic
content. In general, it works remarkably
well, creating a rich and rewarding (if
mildly depressing) experience. Breaks
while the next level loads can be an unfortunate disruption, but the excellent
second level more than makes up for it.
FACT or FICTION?
?
Does
It’s incredible that a relatively short
and simple game manages to provoke
such a strong emotional response. If
you allow yourself to be absorbed by it
(use headphones!), you’ll probably find
yourself reflecting on the experience as
it lingers in your mind. In fact, playing
Will Love Tear Us Apart even taught me
something about myself — now that’s a
gaming first!
•
http://willlovetearusapart.com
Send your questions to think@um.edu.mt
and we’ll find out if it’s the truth or just a fib!
ALCOHOL
kill brain cells?
Have there been any studies to modify the
domestic refrigerator into part fridge and part
air conditioning unit? Asked by Tony Bugeja
«» This myth is HUGE! Urban leg-
«»
end says that drinking kills cells, some
even say: ‘three beers kill 10,000 brain
cells.’ Thankfully, they are wrong.
In microbiology labs, a 70% alcohol
30% water mix is used to clean surfaces
pretty efficiently. It seems our neurons
are made of sturdier stuff.
Alcohol does affect brain cells. Everyone knows that and it isn’t pretty.
Alcohol can damage dendrites, which
are delicate neural extensions that usually convey signals to other neurons.
Damaging them prevents information
travelling from one neuron to another
— a problem. Luckily, the damage isn’t
permanent.
Not sure if it has been studied.
What we’re pretty certain about is that
it probably won’t work.
Refrigerators work by transferring
heat from the inside of the fridge to the
outside. As thermodynamics dictate, if
you left the fridge door open this would
basically end up making your room
hotter unless you stayed right in front
of the fridge.
The idea might work if the fridge
transferred the heat outside the room.
The problem is that food has to be kept
at around 4–5oC, rooms at a nice 22–
25oC, it would be a tough engineering
challenge to maintain both temperatures.
59
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12/07/2013 11:45
FILM REVIEW
THINK FUN
by Noel Tanti and
Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone
Film: Maniac (1980)
«««««
Director: William Lustig
Certification: Restricted
Gore rating: SSSSS
Noel: I recently saw William Lustig’s
Maniac (1980) and Franck Khalfoun’s
2012 remake back-to-back. The latter
is rather faithful to the original’s spirit.
Frank Zito (played by Joe Spinell [1980]
and Elijah Wood [2012]) is more of a
textbook psychopath, and more brutal in Khalfoun’s film; but still remains
faithful to its source.
Two
films.
Two
reviewers.
comfort zone — rather than just being
‘naturalised’.
Krista: I thought the first’s ‘rawness’ was
more brutal. The second had a polished
style despite the first person perspective.
The 1980 film was grittier.
N: The subjective point of view didn’t
help me to get closer to the killer. I only
saw this technique being used effectively
in Enter the Void (2009). I find it a bit
distracting because it can turn into a
weird game (Spot the reflection in the
mirror!). That said, in Maniac they were
well aware of this and tried to have fun
with it. The moments when the film
veers away from the first person perspective, it sort of clicks into another gear.
N: True. The remake looks slicker. For
instance, the murder scenes are meticulously choreographed, operatic even.
Lustig’s film is truer to life, scarier too,
because in his lucid moments the killer
acts normal.
K: Good point about the first person
perspective being the default here, and
the veering away from it becoming a
‘moment’ in itself. It calls to mind Bret
Easton Ellis’ book American Psycho
(1991).
K: The first person perspective didn’t
convince me. Eventually I even forgot
about it till it suddenly jumped to the
fore again. It was inconsistent and uneasy without being very unsettling. It
reminded me of Peeping Tom (1960),
which made better use of the first person
perspective.
N: I liked the fact that the remake created a deeper relationship between Frank
and the mannequins. They are more
than just a manifestation of his childhood trauma — a dysfunctional, promiscuous mother. The restoration of the
mannequins is a genuine labour of love
which underscores the affection that
he nurtures towards the photographer
(Anna, played by Nora Arnezeder). She
is a mediocre artist unable to hold her
camera properly. Frank is the real deal,
getting his hands dirty.
N: Agree, but it didn’t distract me.
K: I hoped it would be more ‘distracting’. It would have been preferable if the
first person perspective had been more
defamiliarising, puncturing the viewer’s
K: That’s a well-noted criticism of the
Film: Maniac (2012)
«««««
Director: Franck Khalfoun
Certification: Restricted
Gore rating: SSSSS
photographer. In the first movie, I
couldn’t really ‘judge’ whether she was
a good artist or not — there wasn’t a
focus on her art, instead they showed
the world she moves around in, which
made me think she was a budding artist.
In the second one she’s portrayed as an
underwhelming artist. She tries to use
the mannequins to underpin her art and
to somehow appropriate his by projecting an image of her face onto their blank
heads.
N: Besides Anna, two other victims
in Khalfoun’s film are a dancer and an
agent. In both murders the director
abandons the first person perspective,
suggesting that either Frank is seeing his
actions as a form of art, or that we, the
audience, should see Frank himself as a
work of art.
K: Yes, perhaps even perverting the sublime into the brutally grotesque. Yet ‘getting his hands dirty’ is counterpoised by
the film’s stylishness.
N: So which is better?
K: Both films ultimately do different
things. This is down to stylistic differences, enjoyably the remake doesn’t try
to ‘replace’ Lustig’s film.
N: Totally agree. They’re like brothers
sharing one (hell of a disturbed) mother,
similar yet so different.
•
61
CULTURE
Mapping
Cultural
Space
Graziella Vella from the
Valletta 2018 Foundation
C
ulture is expressed through
using spaces, which depend on the nature of the
celebration, event, or performance. Maltese people
make innovative use of many outdoor
public spaces, in line with our climate
and assets.
The cultural sector lacks information of where and how the cultural
spaces are used. To fill this need a cultural map was commissioned in 2011
by the Inter-Ministerial Commission
for the European Capital of Culture
(IMC_ECoC), one of the Governors
within the Valletta 2018 Foundation.
These spaces were interpreted in a wide
sense, from spaces used for community
or national celebrations, to others for
niche audiences, and included both the
general public and minority groups.
This exercise focused on classifying
cultural infrastructure projects in seven different categories: (1) Strategic,
(2) Accessibility, (3) Creative Clusters,
(4) Cultural Heritage, (5) Culture &
the Arts, (6) Regeneration, and (7)
Restoration. This exercise resulted in 2
main outcomes. The first is that in 2011
62
cultural infrastructure projects were
mainly focussed around Valletta and
the Greater Valletta area (see map) with
a few exceptions in northern Malta and
Gozo. The second outcome showed
how government and EU funding focused on regeneration and cultural heritage, with minimal funding on culture,
the arts, or creative clusters.
“It will be accessible
to all citizens and
part of the process to
enable the long-term
social, economic and
cultural development
of Valletta”
A Cultural Mapping project by Valletta 2018 Foundation and the Parliamentary Secretariat for Culture
followed this exercise. The Cultural
Mapping project is the first research
collaboration by the Valletta 2018
Foundation and University of Malta (UoM). Over a two-year period, a
number of University academics will
be involved in this project. The aim of
the project is to analyse the cultural
use and practices in public and publicly-accessible spaces, venues, and sites
in Malta and Gozo.
Its output will result in better data
to formulate and plan V.18’s cultural
programme. The data can be used to
strategise venues and allow for the implementation of an important part of
the V.18 research programme.
The project is structured into two
parallel phases and is aimed at producing two types of outputs. One output
is a series of maps, of public spaces and
venues, combined with who makes
use of them. Data will be sorted into
three main categories, cultural infrastcrurture, sports infrastructure and
educational facilities. These maps will
be interactive, updatable, and freely
available online. Findings will also be
published for all interested users. GIS
(Geographic Information System)
technology will be used to map the areas through the Institute for Climate
Change and Sustainable Development. The second phase and output of
THINK CULTURE
the project will analyse contemporary
cultural activity and how space and
community practices interact, focusing
on seven thematic areas. These are the
built environment, sociology, culture,
education, anthropology, public policy and economics. Each thematic area
is linked to a UoM academic, who will
focus on different localities, including
Valletta and the Three Cities. By encouraging a multi-disciplinary analysis, the Valletta 2018 Foundation will
encourage inter-faculty and inter-disciplinary collaboration to achieve better results. In line with the project’s
philosophy, a final conference open to
the public will communicate all findings. The organisations involved will
be looking for direct ways to communicate the project to local communities to help make sure that the Maltese
population is aware of the maps and
research to enhance their use.
Similar projects have already been
developed in Europe. The Aarhus mapping project was carried out by the
Danish ECoC for 2017. This ECoC
culturally mapped the city of Aarhus
in the spring of 2010 to understand its
weaknesses. It also mapped the city’s
strengths, the city’s external and internal image, the city as viewed by minority groups, children, and young people.
They analysed Aarhus as a creative and
democratic city, and assessed its cultural resources.
Another cultural mapping project
was undertaken outside of Europe in
Latin America and the Caribbean. The
Inter-American Foundation for Culture and Development (FICD) completed an intensive regional analysis.
This Foundation will create an Atlas
Cultural Infrastructure of the Americas, an information platform for the
cultural resources of the region to generate reliable statistical indicators and
sector comparable culture.
The V.18 Cultural Mapping project
will provide a visual and deep analysis
of the use of space for cultural purposes. Maps will be available online
for everyone. It will be accessible to
all citizens and part of the process to
enable the long-term social, economic
and cultural development of Valletta.
The project will help make the most of
Malta’s climate and space.
•
WORKING GROUP
Dr Mark Aloisio
Dr Jean-Paul Baldacchino
Prof. Carmel Borg
Colin Borg
Perit Ruben Paul Borg
Marie Briguglio
Dr Josann Cutajar
Dr Maria Attard
Prof. Vicki Ann Cremona, Ed.
Dr George Cassar, Ed. advisor
Prof. Greg Richards, Ed. advisor
FURTHER READING
• Aarhus 2017, www.aarhus2017.dk
• Lin, J. & Mele, C. (eds.), 2013. The
Urban Sociology Reader. London:
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
• Ministerio de Cultura, Peru
www.mcultura.gob.pe/atlas
• National Statistics Office, 2012.
Culture Participation Survey 2011.
Valletta: National Statistics Office.
• Valletta 2018 Foundation,
www.valletta2018.org
63
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THINK RESEARCH
Racing into
the Future
W
ay back in 2007, a
dedicated
group
of six people put
together a formula-style race car in
just six months to compete in a prestigious international competition called
FSAE. Since then no other team has
participated. Students were always interested to build a racing car but found
it too hard to actually carry out — the
underlying logistics were simply too
much.
In December 2012, a group of motivated university students founded the
University of Malta Racing (UoMR)
team. Their mission statement: ‘To
encourage and facilitate students of the
University of Malta to unite together
as a team in the planning, design and
construction of a Formula-style race car
and to participate in the Formula SAE,
or similar competitions.” They were
brought together by a love of cars, engines, speed and a competitive spirit.
The 2007 team placed 17th out of 20
teams. The new team has stiff competition and huge challenges to overcome
for the upcoming competition in July
2014. Foreign universities compete every year and build a database of knowledge and experience which students use
to continue improving their cars. For
the UoM to compete effectively with
top-class international universities,
there must be a strong framework which
supports and encourages students from
every faculty, especially the Faculty of
Engineering. To overcome this challenge the team extensively researched
the parts, materials needed and procedure to build a competitive vehicle. The
PR and Finance team of the UoMR also
drew up a sponsorship proposal, which
was used to attract sponsors and collaborators. Without them the project
would not be possible.
The team is currently working on the
car’s design. At the same time they are
fabricating some parts and structures
inside their workshop at University.
They are looking for financial or in kind
assistance from driving enthusiasts and
organisations.
•
For more information on UoMR and
contact details visit: uomracing.com.
The University of Malta’s research trust,
RIDT, fully supports the UoM racing
team initiative. The trust aims to sustain
and grow the UoM’s research activity.
Please consider making a contribution at
www.ridt.eu
65
MEME
culture genes
MEME
THINK
66