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DECEMBER 2015 • ISSUE 15

I D E A S • M A L T A • R E S E A R C H • P E O P L E • U N I V E R S I T Y

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Malta is the most built-up country in the EU. One third of the Islands are covered in buildings with little consideration for green spaces and urban design. The Faculty for the

Built Environment is celebrating 100 years since it was set up and recent graduates are now challenged with helping fix previous mistakes. Apart from this problem, in a special focus (pg. 8–10, 16–33) THINK looks into the research re-envisioning Malta.

A step in the right direction is a new document outlining the principles of good design and planning in Malta (pg. 10). Another step sees the University of Malta used as a test bed to solve the traffic and water problems of the whole country (pg. 24) with the debilitated port town of Marsa transformed by 2050 (pg. 23). However, the built environment is not simply concerned with buildings but also with welfare. A team of researchers are creating spaces to help dementia patients (pg. 19), while others are seeing how modern Maltese buildings would react to Earthquakes—an infrequent, but dangerous, possibility (pg. 29).

Apart from the focus, this issue talks about Prof. Rena Balzan’s life journey writing literature and using yeast to study many diseases including cancer (pg. 39). Dr David Vella writes about how literature can break hearts, but that is a good thing (pg. 57). Other research hints towards designing games to learn how to live a healthier lifestyle (pg. 44).

Student research looks into neurodegeneration, nicotine, visual impairment, facial recognition, and new transport (pg. 12–15). Our more lighthearted fun section is filled with quirky reviews (pg. 58–63). Flip through the pages and tell us what you think.

A CITY CALLED MALTAE D I T O R I A L

Edward DucaEDITOR

edward.duca@um.edu.mt @DwardD

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THINK is a quarterly research magazine published by the Communications & Alumni Relations Office at the University of Malta To subscribe to our blog log into www.um.edu.mt/think/subscribe and fill in your details. � For advertising opportunities, please call 2340 3475 or get in touch by email on think@um.edu.mt Advertising rates are available on www.um.edu.mt/think/advertise

OPINION ARTICLESDr Edward DucaDr Antoine ZammitDr André Xuereb

STUDENT ARTICLESRebecca BorgCaitlin DaviesJulia FarrugiaBrandon Spiteri

WITHOUT BORDERS ARTICLEGiuliana Barbaro-Sant

BUILT ENVIRONMENT FOCUSProf. Alex TorpianoDr Claude BajadaDr Marc BonelloDr Reuben BorgDr Rebecca Dalli GonziDr Kevin GattDr Odette LewisPerit Alexia MerciecaDr Daniel MicallefNatasha PadfieldPerit Petra SapianoDr Charles Scerri

FEATURE ARTICLESDr James CorbyAshley DavisDr Gianluca FarrugiaDr Stefano GualeniProf. Rena BalzanDr David Vella

RESEARCH ARTICLESarah Spiteri

CULTURE ARTICLEValletta 2018 Foundation

FUN ARTICLESRyan AbelaProf. Frank CamilleriDavid ChircopDr Edward DucaAlexander HiliCostantino OlivaCharlo Pisani

COMIC STRIPDr Ġorġ Mallia

PHOTOGRAPHYDr Edward DucaJean Claude VancellElisa von Brockdorff

ILLUSTRATIONSSonya HallettNO MAD

WEBSITETuovi MäkipereJean Claude VancellScott Wilcockson

COVER STORY

C O N T E N T S

The Faculty for the Built Environment celebrates its centenary

I S S U E 1 5 � D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5

Some cast sculpture houses of clay and plaster from the Diploma in Design Foundations Exhibition that highlights the yearlong visual and creative process of 80 students. See story on pg. 8. Photo by Mark Casha.

CONTRIBUTORS

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OPINION

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WITHOUT BORDERS

Sound, reading, and a fishing line

New designs for better streets 10What can Malta learn from Singapore? 11

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DESIGNCreative playground

TOOLKIT

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The Malta BioBank

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STUDENTS

Fly power for neurodegeneration 12Nicotine stresses you out! 13Do you recognise me? 14The future of transport 14

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EDITORIALEdward Duca EDITOR-IN-CHIEFNatasha Padfield FOCUS EDITOR

DESIGNJean Claude Vancell DESIGNER

COPYEDITINGVeronica Stivala

PROOF READINGDaphne Pia Deguara

PRINTINGGutenberg Press, Malta

THINKI D E A S • M A L T A • R E S E A R C H • P E O P L E • U N I V E R S I T Y

ISSN 2306-0735Copyright © University of Malta, 2015

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, MaltaTel: (356) 2340 2340Fax: (356) 2340 2342www.um.edu.mt

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.

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this magazine are correct and active at the time of going to press. However the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.

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.

DECEMBER 2015 - ISSUE 15

BUILT ENVIRONMENT FOCUS

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The powerstation will be regenerated as a creativity hub – The workshop will allow the manifestation of creativity. Such workshop can be integrated with an educational facility (i.e Conference halls) to facilitate the creativity in the adjoining workshop. Finally, an exhibition centre can showcase innovative creations which were conceived in the neighbouring facilities. This use will embrace the research and development sector and thus provide innovative ideas for the industry in the surrounding areas.

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FUNFly power for neurodegeneration 12Nicotine stresses you out! 13Do you recognise me? 14The future of transport 14

Reviews (Books, Film, Tech, Games) 58–63100 word idea: National Excellence 63Do plants feel pain? 63

RESEARCH

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The University's Research Trust (RIDT) teams up with the ALS Malta Foundation to help research into this childhood disease

The futsal challenge for ALS

FEATURE

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Is game design the next step in education?

Make games, make yourself

CULTURE

A cultural map for Malta

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Spaces & places

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The life-journey of Prof. Rena Balzan as writer and scientist studying a link between aspirin and cancer

FEATUREOf science and literature

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In search of catharsis

FEATURELiterature will break your heart

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A periti education 16I want to go home (Irrid immur id-dar) 19Marsa 2050 23

Time to evolve 24Rumble, rumble, toil and tumble 29Engineering modern life 33

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Photos by Elisa von Brockdorff

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In the early 1990s, the Malta BioBank was started with the collection and storing of samples from

all Maltese children who had been screened for rare blood disorders. Set up as a collaboration between the University of Malta and the Malta Department of Health, it was first launched using Italia-Malta project funds followed by EU pre-accession funds.

The BioBank is a research tool that provides high quality samples for human biological research which in turn allows Maltese researchers to collaborate as members of international consortia to investigate important diseases. The BioBank has helped studies in, to name a few, thalassemia (a locally prevalent blood disorder), Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Parkinson’s disease, and kidney disorders. It has also aided population-

wide studies that collect data on genomes, and clinical and health data, from large numbers of people.

In the spirit of citizen science and shared ownership, the BioBank is part of an FP7 project called RD-Connect and the BBMRI-ERIC network (founders of the EuroBioBank) whose members are developing IT tools to have a catalogue for medical research. A future project will allow research participants to become research partners. The idea is to create a cooperative of research subjects that would use smartphones and the Internet to exchange data and information with the research team. The Biobank provides an essential service to the Maltese Islands for biomedical research. It has grown to continue innovating local research solutions to worldwide health problems.

The Malta BioBank / BBMRI.mt

Various Sanyo, Ultra-Low Temperature Freezer Models: MDF-U54VQUICK SPECS

• Effective capacity: 728 Ɩ

• Housing: Painted steel

• Alarm: High and Low temperature, power failure, door, filter

• Insulation: Vacuum insulation panel and rigid polyurethane foamed-in place

• Temperature controller: Microcomputer system

• Weight: 346 kg

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Quintessence is best described as an immersive experience that wraps the audience in an

alluring world of sound, created through the use of sampling and live electronic manipulation, a large suspended metal sheet, a fishing line, vocal phrases, and a sculptural array of found objects and acoustic instruments.

This is Maltese experimental electronic artiste and performer Renzo Spiteri’s new solo performance Quintessence and which recently premiered at The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester (UK) in partnership with Future Everything Festival 2015.

Quintessence is at the forefront of artistic experiments in a digital age storytelling technique that brings audiences together to discover and experience the meeting point between live performer, sound art, story, music, and digital technology. It is a piece that challenges the audience to reconsider what sound can mean and how the boundaries of self and world, performer and spectator, organic and inorganic, sound and instrument are rendered fluid and all-encompassing.

In close collaboration with Spiteri, writer and researcher Giuliana Fenech drew upon studies of sound and auditory culture to complement what the visual can do, in certain instances superseding it, in order to challenge audience perceptions about a straightforward interpretation. In a performative reading that is delivered after the show, she provokes the audience to rethink the piece, revisiting the multiple journeys that are embedded within its story.

Quintessence traces its roots to an artistic collaboration with the Royal Conservatoire of Music of The Hague (The Netherlands) in September 2012, when Spiteri co-led workshops. Part of the output of these creative sessions resulted in the vocal phrases, featured in Quintessence, by Leah Uijterlinde and Egle Petrošiūtė, former students at the conservatoire.

Quintessence is presented by Open Works Lab and will be performed at Spazju Kreattiv, Valletta, between 29 and 31 January 2016. Tickets are available at: https://ticketengine.sjcav.org/?eventname=Quintessence

WITHOUTBORDERS

Sound, reading and a fishing lineWords by Giuliana Barbaro-Sant

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T he Diploma in Design Foundations Exhibition highlights the yearlong visual

and creative process of 80 students. It is a study in representation, composition, and perception of space. Pencil drawings, typographic prints, cast sculpture houses, and panoramic landscape photography fill the studio space.

Creative awakening is the undertone of the exhibition. Students are encouraged to harness their skills and to experiment freely with visual thinking within a structured environment.

The exhibition consists of projects completed throughout the year. Pencil sketches of chair designs and glass houses illustrate the design process followed by rich computer-generated 3D renders. The results are absorbing images of townscapes, landscapes, and alternative interpretations of mundane sights like pavements and road markings that are given new aesthetic meaning. Cast sculpture houses of clay and plaster are the students’ first experimentation with form in three-dimensional space and with mold making.

The Diploma Exhibition gathers together a range of diverse and original ideas using skills acquired through practice-based research.

For dates about the upcoming exhibition see www.um.edu.mt/ben/visualarts. The exhibition was curated by Anton Grech in collaboration with Mark Casha from the Department of Visual Arts (Faculty for the Built Environment).

Creative playground

Chair design by Clara Grech

Pavements by Daniel Lupi

A typeface poster by Inez Kristina Baldacchino

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New designs for better streetsDr Antoine Zammit

Urban development in Malta has undergone an exponential growth in the past decades. This is a growth that has often been imposed indiscriminately within

long-established and tightly knit streets, and worsened by a lack of urban design approaches by investors and politicians alike. The Maltese planning system has only reacted to economic and market conditions instead of trying to foresee them, and consecutive governments have simply sought to stimulate the construction industry further. In addition, none of the policies produced by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) have to date been urban design-oriented. The planning system has been overloaded with a plethora of policies that however fail to consider the street—arguably the most important spatial scale within the Maltese urban environment.

We experience the richness of any settlement through its streets. The human scale responds to building proportions within the street environment, the street’s enclosure, and activity. Instead, closed street-level garages line our streets, medium-rise blocks coexist erratically, with lower buildings exposing high stretches of blank walls which overshadow lower structures, and ‘template’-designed apartment blocks litter the edges of villages.

In order to improve urban environment quality, in 2013 MEPA entrusted me to review a key policy document called Development Control Policy and Design Guidance 2007. The authority set up a working group that included practising

architects (periti), decision-makers, and experts in sanitary law, transport, and conservation. Instead of simply refining the policy document, the working group saw this as an opportunity to formulate a new document altogether. The result is the Development Control Design Policy, Guidance and Standards 2015 that sets a new approach for Malta in urban design by departing from planning-and-architecture-focused policy-making. Its basic premise is that better urban environments must start from better streets. This is a simple principle with deeply rooted implications for design approach and assessment.

The document facilitates the understanding of important urban design principles for designers and assessors by focusing on qualitative performance criteria, which involves looking at how important values may perform in reality. For this reason, it contains a mix of design regulations/policies, good-practice guidance, and technical standards. The document is strategically structured to include more policies in the initial critical parts that form the basic streetscape structure and more guidance towards the end of the document that may result in multiple design solutions. The aim is to strike an important balance between homogenising the street structure and creating a nonetheless varied and interesting streetscape.

Arriving here has not been easy. It required challenging blinkered, insular attitudes towards design and construction, oscillating between varying public and private interests, political pressures and commitments. That, however, is another story altogether.

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Singapore is Asia’s success story. It has a landmass just over twice that of Malta but produces over 30 times its economic

output. Singapore has invested heavily in quantum technologies, turning itself into one of the world’s leading industrial economies. Though poor in natural resources, Singapore’s investment in knowledge has resulted in it becoming one of the world’s healthiest industrial economies.

Industrial innovation cannot support itself indefinitely: research forms the necessary backbone from which new ideas branch out. Research’s target is to increase humanity’s knowledge and prompt the development of everything

from minor innovations in industrial processes to entirely new technologies. It is humanity’s investment in the ideas and technologies of tomorrow. But just how far away is that tomorrow? Should we fund ideas that may (or may not) be made into a product 20 years from now?

Malta needs to rethink its science investment mechanisms. Public funding must be made available for projects that are too far from the market to be of interest to commercial entities, or in areas new to the country. Hand in hand, a culture of private scientific funding must be developed. Society needs to regard investment in science as an investment in the future; philanthropy and other donations towards scientific

research must be made the new norm. The University’s Research Trust (RIDT) is a first step in this direction, but new financial incentives and tax breaks should be deployed for individuals and companies investing in Maltese researchers.Singapore and Malta share a little-known link. In 1967, a delegation from the Singaporean government surveyed Malta as an example of a maritime economy—learning from our mistakes. Fast forward to the 21st century: Singaporean science has advanced in leaps and bounds, whereas Malta invests less than 1% of GDP into research. It is now our turn to learn from the Singaporean model or run the real risk of missing the boat.

What can Malta learn from Singapore?Dr André Xuereb and Dr Edward Duca

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In line with our strategic vision of growth, we are always scouting for talented dynamic individuals from all disciplines, to join our team to solidify and expand our markets, while venturing into new frontiers.

If you are ready to embark on a journey of success, with the opportunity to grow and experience new cultures through your work related travels, choose to work for a company that is prepared to nurture your talent. If you have that dream, passion and ambition we are ready to help you get there.

Visit careers.fosterclark.com/browse to view open vacancies.

A journey of a thousand milesbegins with the first step

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Fly power for neurodegenerationRebecca Borg

STUDENTS

Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) is a neurodegenerative disease that causes motor neurons to deteriorate.

These nerves are required for voluntary muscle activity control. Neuronal loss leads to progressive muscle weakness that makes it difficult for one to move and function normally. These devastating consequences make SMA the leading genetic killer of infants, who succumb to the effects of the condition within a few years.

The underlying cause of SMA is an error in the gene that produces the protein SMN (Survival of Motor Neuron). This fault leads to low levels of SMN, which is essential to assemble the building blocks required to form the spliceosome that edits molecules carrying the DNA code to generate proteins. Without significant levels of SMN, spliceosomes are not formed and inaccurate editing leads to malfunctioning proteins, in turn leading to cell death. Correct protein processing is necessary in all cells in the human body. However, the million-euro question is: if this process is so essential, why are only the motor system cells affected?

Attempting to resolve the mysterious puzzle revolving around SMA, Rebecca Borg (supervised by Dr Ruben J. Cauchi) used the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) as a model organism. Fruit flies share

more than 70% disease-related genes with humans, and they are easy to breed and manipulate making them ideal for researchers to study human disease.

Borg wanted to find out how the proteins that work with SMN operate to build the spliceosome. She used molecular techniques to remove or over produce these proteins. Then she observed what effect this had on the fruit fly’s motor system. She studied their behaviour and death rate. Borg’s results showed that abnormal amounts of these proteins led to more deaths, muscle defects, and abnormal movements. More studies are required to unravel the link between SMN, the spliceosome, and the neuromuscular defects observed in SMA, with the hope of bringing us closer to controlling or treating this devastating condition.

This research was performed as part of a Master of Science at the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery, University of Malta. It is partially funded by STEPS (the Strategic Educational Pathways Scholarship—Malta). This scholarship is also part-financed by the European Union—European Social Fund (ESF) under Operational Programme II—Cohesion Policy 2007–2013, ‘Empowering People for More Jobs and a Better Quality of Life’.

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Every day in Malta, one person will die from a smoking-related illness. People usually begin smoking tobacco

in their adolescence and addiction quickly follows. Quitting is hard and the majority are unsuccessful. Nicotine, with its crippling withdrawal symptoms, is to blame. Research suggests this component of tobacco can be more addictive than heroin. Smokers say that nicotine is pleasurable and enables them to concentrate and reduce their anxiety. Scientists think the opposite.

Research conducted by a team under the supervision of Prof. Giuseppe Di Giovanni demonstrated that nicotine in fact increases anxiety. Upon inhalation of tobacco smoke, nicotine creates a sense of relaxation due to the

Nicotine stresses you out!Caitlin Davies

release of the neurotransmitter dopamine in brain ‘reward’ centres. Smokers experience this whenever they light up. However, this temporary sensation soon gives way to withdrawal symptoms: craving and increased anxiety levels. The only way that these unpleasant symptoms can be reduced is by smoking another cigarette, perpetuating the addiction cycle. Smokers rarely link increased anxiety to their addiction. However, smoking increases stress and does not reduce anxiety but instead just covers the bad symptoms with a short-lived pleasant sensation.

Caitlin Davies (supervised by Prof. Giuseppe Di Giovanni) investigated the effect of nicotine on the rat brain. The lateral habenula is a small brain area involved in stress, anxiety, and depression. Davies investigated whether the lateral habenula was involved in nicotine-induced anxiety-like behaviour by conducting experiments on rodents with lesions of this brain region, which

essentially inactivate it. When the lateral habenula was not working, nicotine was unable to increase

anxiety-like behaviour. These results suggest that the lateral habenula plays a key role in

controlling nicotine-induced anxiety.More research is needed to understand

exactly what is responsible for these findings. Nevertheless, the study could help develop more effective therapies for people to stop smoking. These therapies would increase the unpleasant properties of nicotine so that the drug smokers once enjoyed would instead be undesirable.

This research was performed as part of a Professional Training Year

(PTY) at the Faculty of Medicine & Surgery, University of Malta and

a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science (Anatomy) at Cardiff University.

Davies received funding from the British Council and was awarded a best early-stage

researcher oral poster presenter at the 5th Mediterranean Conference in Sardinia, June, 2015.

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The future of transportBrandon Spiteri

The world has globalised. People and cargo need to get about in

cheaper, faster ways that use better transport technologies. Magnetic levitation is one way to achieve

higher speeds at a cheaper fuel cost whilst offering

a smoother ride. There is less

friction since the vehicle floats on electromagnetic waves that make this transport method very efficient.

Brandon Spiteri (supervised by Dr Ing. Maurice Apap and Prof. Joseph Cilia) designed and built a model in which a vehicle was moved at constant speed whilst levitating 1 cm above the track. Spiteri identified three levitation techniques. Firstly, the German approach eliminates needing wheels to initially move the train, but requires complex control methods. Secondly, the Japanese

approach requires wheels to initially move the train, but

achieves higher speeds than German technology. Lastly,

the MDS type system is still being developed

but aims for higher

Do you recognise me?Julia Farrugia

Automatic facial recognition could change the world of

law enforcement. Profile photos of suspects are rarely available, so investigators still rely on face sketches based on eyewitness descriptions. Julia Farrugia (supervised by Dr Ing. Reuben Farrugia) implemented an automatic face recogniser that is able to retrieve a photo based on a sketch. This narrows down the number of potential criminals before trails start to go cold.

Sketches and photos have different natures (modalities)—photos are generally captured using a digital camera, while sketches may be hand-drawn or computer generated. In order to tackle this problem, Farrugia developed an inter-modal approach to sketch retrieval. Without changing the nature (modality) of the images, common features in the sketch and photo were used as a basis for retrieval. Testing was carried out using the Chinese University of Hong Kong

The Japanese MLX01 Maglev train

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TSspeeds than the German model without the need for wheels.

After this research, Spiteri built a model by using an industrial-power DC motor. Levitation was achieved by using magnets of similar polarity that repel each other. Opposing permanent magnets were installed on the track and vehicle. Permanent magnets retain their magnetic properties (North and South poles) even when no current or electromagnetic field is present. The train moved by having permanent magnets on the track and electromagnets on the vehicle.

The strength and polarity of the electromagnet varies with the size and direction of the electrical current passed through it. By manipulating the electromagnets the vehicle moved forward. The built model achieved a top speed of 1.41 km/hr. In his study, Spiteri proved the energy efficiency of these systems: the model uses the same energy as a 12 W bulb, much less than a train on wheels.

Magnetic levitation will shape the future of transportation worldwide. Monorail may be vital to reduce Malta’s transport problems to have

a less polluting and more efficient system. Fresh graduates Justin Zarb and Luke Lapira recently proposed a plan called Maltarail (elevated, suspended trains running on a single rail) to government. This project has been submitted to the European Investment Initiative. Such a project would place Malta on par with European transport leaders.

This research was carried out as part of a Bachelor of Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Malta.

(CUHK) student database, which contains 188 photo-sketch pairs.

The implementation makes use of an Active Orientation Model (AOM), which is freely available. 68 strategic points on a query sketch and suspect photo are plotted. Dots depict features like eyebrows, hairline, and nose. The distance was calculated between the respective points on the sketch and photo. The smaller the difference in distances, the closer the match. 55.85% of tests resulted in a correct

match between sketch and photo. To improve these results, texture features of the query sketch and each photo in the dataset were extracted using Local Binary Patterns (LBP). The distance was again calculated but included the texture features. The results were then merged with the distances obtained using the AOM method. Giving a higher priority to the distances obtained using the texture features increased the recognition rate to 60.11%.

Results could be improved by

filtering the photos according to gender and by experimenting on larger datasets with subjects from different ethnicities, wearing glasses, or having facial hair. Advancements in computer vision means that soon humans will not be the only eyes narrowing down possible suspects.

This research was carried out as part of a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering at the Faculty of ICT, University of Malta.

Photos used with permission: X. Wang and X. Tang, “Face Photo-Sketch Synthesis and Recognition,” IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI), Vol. 31, 2009

The model built by Spiteri, levitating over the track.

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Since the year 2000, the term periti has covered professional architects, civil, and structural engineers. But this term used to refer

to a more specific professional role in the building industry that combined the architect, engineer, surveyor, and valuer. The term is of Italian origin, meaning an ‘expert’, which is not many miles distant from the Maltese ‘mgħallem’, which refers to the skilled master builder, or the Arab for architect, ‘Għarif’.

During the time of the Knights of the Order of St John, a primary role for periti and land surveyors was to report, or adjudge, on land disputes, to measure sites or land, and to establish the value of rural or urban properties, or other damages and interests in buildings. These roles are described in the De

Worldwide, more people live in cities than in rural areas. Our daily lives are full of traffic, see us walk past blocks of buildings, and we spend most of our time working

in a rectangular office. The people that try to ensure that this urban environment provides a decent quality of life are graduating from the Faculty for the Built Environment (University of Malta). To celebrate 100 years since it was founded THINK has prepared its most diverse focus ranging from health to earthquakes.

Dr Claude Bajada writes about dementia-friendly buildings (pg. 19) and on the research predicting modern-Maltese-build seismic risk (pg. 29). Dr Rebecca Dalli Gonzi writes about a future-Marsa (pg. 23). Natasha Padfield about the traffic and water problems at the University of Malta (pg. 24), and building airflow and renewable energy design (pg. 33). But first, how were all these researchers taught?

URBAN LIFE

BUILT ENVIRONMENT FOCUS/

S P E C I A L F E A T U R E

A W O R D F R O M T H E E D I T O R

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A periti educationProf. Alex TorpianoDEAN, FACULTY FOR THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT

Rohan Code of 1782 when referencing ‘Periti Agrimensori’ and ‘Periti Calcolatori’.

Access to the professional status of perit was based on a system of apprenticeship. There was some theoretical instruction, normally in Mathematics and Surveying; but, effectively, it depended on vacancies being available with a maximum number of 12 periti, as prescribed by existing statutes like the Vilhena Code of 1724.

By 1806, ad hoc theoretical courses were being organised at the University of Malta. By 1828, access to the title of ‘Periti Agrimensori’ depended on examinations, particularly in Land Surveying and in the Italian language. During this period, there are also references to the title of ‘Periti Apprezzatori’. Around 1831–32,

a two-year course in arithmetic, geometry, mensuration, surveying, and valuations was started by the Collegio di Citta’, of the Collegio di Malta.

In 1837, His Majesty’s Commissioners of Enquiry recommended the establishment of a Chair of Civil Architecture and Land Surveying at the University of Malta, ‘on account of the general ignorance of those sciences’. In 1839, G. B. Pullicino MD, (son of the famous perit Giorgio Pullicino), was appointed Master of Geometry, Algebra, and Land Surveying, at the University of Malta. He introduced the first complete course for architects and land surveyors covering studies of algebra, geometry, trigonometry, land surveying, planimetry, stereotomy, valuation, and livellation.

By 1863, the courses had a three-year duration and added the subjects of agrimensura, arithmetic, descriptive geometry, stereotomy, perspective, architectural design, freehand drawing, and calligraphy.

Following the publication of a new University statute in 1898, the Faculty of Literature and Science was subdivided into two sections, with engineering, architecture, and pharmacy included within the scientific courses. The course in ‘Ingegneria e Architettura’ was elevated to the status of Academical Course in 1904. In 1905, the School of Architecture was incorporated within the Faculty of Literature and Science, with its own Faculty Board of Engineering and Architecture.

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The key development happened 100 years ago. A new university statute was published on 25 June 1915 that split the Faculty of Literature and Science into the three Faculties of Literature, of Science, and of Engineering and Architecture. The University now had six faculties including Medicine & Surgery, Laws, and Theology. The new Faculty of Engineering and Architecture offered the degrees of Bachelor of Engineering and Architecture, and of Doctor of Engineering and Architecture, as well as the Diploma of Land Surveyor and Architect, (translated in Italian as Perito ed Architetto). Admission took place every three years. This was not the first course that led to the degree of Bachelor of Engineering and Architecture. Records show that in August 1913 there were six new graduates.

In 1935, the Faculty was split into three departments: Architecture, Civil Engineering, and Municipal Engineering. This set-up remained until 1955. The concept of the architect-engineer was rather alien to the post-industrial revolution Anglo-Saxon tradition of complete separation between the professions of architects and civil engineers. As a result, between 1945 and 1952 some tried to split the training of these two disciplines. During the 1950s, the first B.Eng. degrees were awarded to candidates who had initially registered for the degree of engineering and architecture, but were then invited to pursue studies in the UK in the relatively new disciplines of electrical, mechanical, and structural engineering. These attempts proved unsuccessful.

In the mid-1960s, when the

Polytechnic was set up, the teaching of civil engineering disciplines was re-organised leading to a de facto geographical separation between the Department of Engineering, which offered B.Sc. (Civil Eng.) degrees at the Polytechnic, and the Department of Architecture, which (under the direction of Prof. Quentin Hughes) started to offer B.A. (Architecture) and B.Arch. Degrees up to 1971. The academic changes were not accompanied by any change in the 1920 Architects’ Ordnance, which linked the granting of the Architect and

Civil Engineer warrant with a B.E.&A. degree. The new 1971 government did not agree with the changes and refused to make any changes to the law. By 1972 the degree of B.E.&A. had to be reinstated and the other degree courses stopped.

In 1978, when the student-worker scheme was introduced, the Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering was incorporated within the Faculty of Science. The faculty lost its independent status. It was reconstituted as a faculty in 1988 with yet another change in political philosophy. The faculty was organised into two departments: the Department of Architecture and Urban Design, and the Department of Building and Civil Engineering. During this period, the five-year course was re-structured to introduce the concept of specialised study streams in the final two years: Architecture, Urban Design, Structural Engineering, and Infrastructural Engineering.

The last phase of development started in 2009. The faculty was renamed to the Faculty for the Built Environment with seven departments: Architecture and Urban Design, Civil and Structural Engineering, Conservation and Built Heritage, Construction and Property Management, Environmental Design, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure, and Visual Arts. The B.E.&A. degree was finally phased out and replaced by a multi-tier degree structure comprising a one-year diploma in Design Foundation Studies, a three-year B.Sc. in Built Environment Studies, and a selection of two-year Master’s degree courses. All that is left is updating the 2000 Periti Act.

A new university statute was published on 25 June 1915 that split the Faculty of Literature and Science into the three Faculties of Literature, of Science, and of Engineering and Architecture.

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What day is it? He cannot remember. It is awfully cold and rainy for summer. He cannot remember his brother’s name. He is his

closest friend. Each day is new and scary. It makes him sad. Why does everyone want to take him to new places? He wants to stay at home, it is familiar and comfortable. He has dementia. This is not a normal part of ageing, but it is a neurodegenerative disease, a progressive condition that affects the brain, slowly damaging it from within.

Memory loss is part of the condition that is dementia, but it is not the only symptom. People with dementia have problems with planning and organisation. They become confused when taken out of their usual

surroundings and find it difficult to control their emotions. It is a disease that can affect different aspects of brain function and is incurable.

Incurable does not mean untreatable. If doctors catch dementia at an early stage, medicines can slow its progression. But even with the best medication, disease progression is inevitable. How can our society ensure that a person with dementia can experience a good quality of life? Architect Alexia Mercieca, a researcher in the Faculty for the Built Environment (University of Malta), studies how building design can help people with dementia. Doing this requires a shift in the way we design and build structures.

‘The typical care space in Malta is a corridor with rooms double banked on both sides, and a person will just walk up and down along it.

The government recently published an evidence-based national strategy for dementia which recommends that all buildings should be designed in a dementia-friendly way. Dr Claude Bajada speaks to Perit Alexia Mercieca and Dr Charles Scerri to find out more.

I w a n t t o g o h o m e

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It is a bit like having a hamster in a wheel going round in circles,’ explains Mercieca. Places should be familiar and safe, where people with dementia can feel at home. This means understanding what the issues are and catering for them. ‘[One of the biggest] issues is wandering. We tend to think of this as ‘misbehaving’. But wandering is essential to a person with dementia. So how can spaces be designed to actually allow those with dementia to wander safely? How can all the necessary safety features be integrated [and] camouflaged within a building, while still keeping it as close to ‘home’ as possible?’

In the 1998 film The Truman Show, Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) lives in a made-up reality. Unknowingly, Burbank is the star of a reality television programme in which his entire life is

filmed by thousands of cameras. All the characters in his life are actors and even though he does not know it, he is leading a sheltered life, controlled by others. The audience sympathises with Burbank as he tries to break free from his manufactured life. But Carrey portrays a healthy middle-aged man who is in full possession of his cognitive functions. Now, what if we had to imagine that his character had dementia—would a sheltered environment be therapeutic for him?

Mercieca explains that the Netherlands have been experimenting with a similar concept for people with dementia. Just outside of Amsterdam, a nursing home called Hogewey caters for 152 patients with dementia. This is a speciality nursing home that includes a fully functioning village. There is a park, a supermarket, a restaurant, bar,

and a theatre. The only difference from other villages is that the members of staff are also the patient’s carers. It is a sheltered environment that looks and feels like a village but is in actual fact a care facility.

Mercieca is excited to implement such a project in Malta. The first step is to provide a solid evidence base to support the idea. As part of her Ph.D. at the University of Edinburgh, she is studying the situation in the UK and in Malta. She is also investigating what was done elsewhere and is working to adapt best practice techniques to the local scenario, taking into consideration cultural shifts. The aim of the Ph.D. is to produce a set of guidelines to regulate dementia design in Malta. This fulfils one of the recommendations of the national strategy. Mercieca is ardent

Mercieca is ardent to underline that research shows there is ‘less violence, less aggressiveness, less need for tranquilisers, and less medication [in adequately designed dementia-friendly accommodation].3d renderings produced by Jonathan Avellino & Christopher Azzopardi

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to underline that research shows there is ‘less violence, less aggressiveness, less need for tranquillisers, and less medication [in adequately designed dementia-friendly accommodation].’

The government is backing Mercieca’s project. In a statement to THINK, Parliamentary Secretary for Rights of Persons with Disability and Active Ageing Justyne Caruana, said that ‘Mercieca’s work ‘would have a huge and positive impact especially on individuals with dementia and those who care for them. Dementia-friendly environments are essential in creating dementia-friendly communities where individuals and their caregivers are empowered to have aspirations and feel confident, knowing they can contribute to their communities, have more choice and control decisions that affect their lives. This would be of great benefit to society in general and is a cornerstone in eliminating stigma.’ She stated that ‘when new buildings are designed, they will take this approach from the very start,’ taking into consideration the guidelines developed by Mercieca in her research.

WHAT IS DEMENTIA?

Dementia is not a single disease. It is a word used to describe a group of neurodegenerative diseases that cause a global cognitive impairment. Many people think of dementia as a disease that causes memory loss but memory is not the only brain function that is affected in dementia. In fact, in some types of early dementia, memory is usually spared. People with dementia often have problems with thinking, planning, social skills, and language. As the condition progresses, it causes problems in the person’s everyday life.

TYPES OF DEMENTIA

Alzheimer’s DiseaseThe most common form of dementia. It is the condition that comes to mind to many people when they think of dementia. People with Alzheimer’s Disease often start off noticing that their memory is getting worse. As the disease progresses, other brain functions become affected.

Vascular DementiaPoor blood circulation to the brain causes small areas of the brain to die off, leading to dementia. The symptoms of vascular dementia depend very much on which areas of the brain are affected.

Lewy Body DementiaThis is a type of dementia that has a lot of symptoms in common with Parkinson’s disease. Besides memory loss, patients with Lewy Body Dementia also shake, move slowly and they can also experience hallucinations.

Frontotemporal DementiaThis is an uncommon type of dementia. This is one of the strangest types of dementia because memory can be spared. People with this type of dementia can change their behaviour or they may stop understanding the meaning of words.

Perit Alexia Mercieca. Photo by Edward Duca

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But Mercieca does not want to wait to complete her Ph.D. to make a difference. She wants her students to design a dementia-friendly space right away. She recently approached Parliamentary Secretary Caruana who immediately welcomed her idea. ‘They were really excited about it and took it on. They gave us a garden at St Vincent de Paul [Residence] as a case study’, notes Mercieca enthusiastically. ‘One of [the students’ proposals] was a reinterpretation of a typical Maltese village [adapted from the Hogewey concept], bringing together traditional elements in a

contemporary setting that aims to provide a familiar environment and is, most importantly, safe. In this space you would have a hairdresser, a little grocery shop, a post office. [They are] structures that allow the residents to perform simple activities but which are rituals, which are very important.’

The co-founder of the Malta Dementia Society, Dr Charles Scerri, is excited about these developments. ‘Alexia is a godsend,’ says Scerri, while lamenting that Malta’s main problem is human resources. Despite this, he explains that Malta has made tremendous advances in the field of

dementia care. Ten years ago things were bleak. Families would try to hide the condition from society. Now, Malta is one of the few countries that has an evidence based National Dementia Strategy. The strategy even has a dementia-friendly version. ‘We made a difference,’ exclaims Scerri. Now, Malta must take up the challenge to go one step further to support cross disciplinary research into dementia and to create, evidence based, dementia-friendly environments like Hogeway. ‘It will happen within the next five years,’ says Scerri.

What day is it? He cannot remember. It is still cold outside but he is not sad. He lives in the new residence that has just opened. This is a dementia-friendly residence. The carers are his friends. He is about to go into the garden with them. He can also go to the little grocer shop. Their oranges are spectacular. At the end of the day he goes to bed. He likes his room. He is safe. He is home.

FACTS

• Dementia is not a normal part of ageing• Malta has a National Dementia Strategy• Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia but it is

not the only one• Dementia Helpline: 1771 (24 hour service)• Dementia Activity Centre: 2122 4461• Dementia Memory Clinic: 2208 2000• Malta Dementia Society: www.maltadementiasociety.org.mt

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Looking past derelict sites, abandoned warehouses, shifting

communities, shipping waste, and ships in disrepair Marsa’s true beauty awaits emergence—a port city with enormous potential. But can we predict what this place should offer by 2050? Final year Master's students at the Faculty for the Built Environment were asked to produce their vision for debilitated Marsa. Each concept tells its own story fuelled by the analysis of an unravelled quayside. Like Canary Wharf (London)— today a major business district, or the Port of Leith (Edinburgh)—now deindustrialised and refreshed, Marsa will slowly unravel a

younger waterside district by peeling layers of grime built up over the years.

The objective is to develop five visionary perspectives. The new spaces are meant to help trade emerge, embrace education, use multiple levels of land, build pedestrian links, and re-think derelict sites to turn them into new architectural masterpieces. Marsa is a calling card for architects and planners to define new uses for spaces to produce their full value for Malta. These projects are entering their second design phase. Expect the extraordinary.

Visit www.um.edu.mt/ben to see the projects unfold.

Marsa 2050

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Anthropolis

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The powerstation will be regenerated as a creativity hub – The workshop will allow the manifestation of creativity. Such workshop can be integrated with an educational facility (i.e Conference halls) to facilitate the creativity in the adjoining workshop. Finally, an exhibition centre can showcase innovative creations which were conceived in the neighbouring facilities. This use will embrace the research and development sector and thus provide innovative ideas for the industry in the surrounding areas.

Dr Rebecca Dalli Gonzi

PRINCESSM

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PRINCESSM

Built environments need to evolve. Unharnessed, this evolution spirals out of control: buildings spring up haphazardly, traffic escalates, infrastructure crumbles. Malta has

the highest proportion of built-up land in the EU according to Eurostat in 2013. Solutions are needed for us to continue enjoying our quality of life and natural resources. Only the strongest and most sustainable lines of action lead to a brighter future. But how do we choose which to take?

The Master Plan uses the University of Malta (UoM) as a pilot project to test cutting-edge remedies for urban problems. University suffers many issues symptomatic of a modern urban environment. Proposed residential and commercial complexes will increase the area’s mixed uses and population leading to a major restructuring. The plan intends to guide the evolution of the site over the next 20 years.

A team of ten Master's students from the Faculty for the Built Environment have brought fresh ideas to the plan. Through a design workshop, they developed solutions to traffic and water

management problems. Transport specialist Dr Odette Lewis and water governance researcher Dr Kevin Gatt supervised the workshop. I asked them what the future could hold.

TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT

Maltese drivers spend an average of 52 hours in traffic each year. Taming the traffic beast is no mean feat. Lewis explains that the workshop embraced a ‘holistic’ approach. The issue was investigated from various angles to identify the roles of different entities, from local councils to transport operators. The focus was on transport to University, parking, and circulation on campus. A mock Traffic Impact Statement was produced to test the team’s proposals. Similar reports are submitted to the Malta Environmental and Planning Authority as part of planning applications.

The team estimated that by 2020 the population will reach 20,000 with the proposed residential complex housing 158 residential units. Considering environmental considerations and authority restrictions, the number of parking spaces was

Urban areas suffer from crippling traffic issues and gross water wastage. The University of Malta could become a living experiment to test innovative solutions to these problems. Words by Natasha Padfield.

TIME TO EVOLVE

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assumed to remain at current levels. Junction modelling software was used to simulate the impact of future commuters. Effort was centred on the roundabout junction between University and Mater Dei Hospital.

The Modal Split was key to the proposals. Results from the Green Travel Plan survey showed that 66% of students and staff used private cars, 22% public transport, and just 7% carpooled. University parking also overspills heavily onto surrounding residential areas, putting pressure on the whole of the Msida and Birkirkara area. Capping parking spaces on campus is a short-sighted solution if measures are not taken to alleviate parking pressure on the whole region.

A multi-pronged approach is needed to solve the crises. Students are wary of public transport because it is unreliable. Many lectures have

been missed because of late buses. The architects used demographic projections to learn which localities will experience an increase in commuters. They studied bus frequencies to identify under-serviced routes.

Car sharing could be an easier solution to encourage. Parking restrictions and timed parking in residential areas would curb the overspill. However, limiting private car use without working on the other solutions would only frustrate commuters.

The plans give priority to pedestrians and public transport users. The entrance to campus would be a pedestrian plaza, with a public transport station. Traffic would flow from the roundabout to a route beneath the plaza and parking from the ring-road would be reallocated to underground areas. Parking

The problems are there, they will remain there, and they will probably increase unless there is a change in mentality.

Area of new and potential developments at the University Msida Campus. Design by Team 2 Architects, 2015.

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management systems could also be introduced. Levelled parking would allocate spaces for students, staff, and visitors. From a technological aspect, apps can highlight free spaces and signs could inform drivers when an area is full. Detailed plans ensured that the proposed multi-level solutions could work within the area. Once tested at University, these systems could be implemented nationwide. Malta desperately needs to solve the traffic problem.

Some plans might become real as many were well received by the University and the Green Travel Plan Committee. However, the biggest challenge is changing people’s behaviour. Lewis is adamant: ‘We agree there’s an issue with congestion and parking at University, but no one is willing to leave their car at home, no one is willing to share a car with someone else, and no one is willing to revert to public transport. So the problems are there, they will remain there, and they will probably increase unless there is a change in mentality.’ Only a joint effort will calm the traffic beast.

WATER: REALITY CHECK

Malta lands in the top 10 most water stressed places in the world. Water is Malta’s scarcest natural resource. Groundwater supplies around 45% of tap water but this source is threatened by illegal borehole use

and fertiliser runoff. Three Reverse Osmosis plants turn salt water into fresh water to alleviate the burden on other sources soaking up millions of units of electricity a day. Malta has no fresh water bodies.

‘The fact that you open your tap and water flows gives a false sense of security. We still do not understand the value of water,’ Gatt comments. There is a contrast between Malta’s arid landscape and the volume of water storms bring. The resulting flooding gives an enormous surface run off that is not collected, adding more pressure on groundwater supplies because of poor water management.

Gatt oversees the water planning aspect of the University’s Master Plan. Like traffic, he wants to use it as a test-bed for new approaches to manage water for the whole country. Storm water management and waste water treatment are the plan’s two pillars.

The team began with a water audit of campus. They investigated water usage and efficiency of fittings like taps. Their assessment saw that campus was at risk of flooding and damage because of impermeable surfaces and inadequate reservoirs.

The solution is green. Gardens, green roofs, and living walls drain storm water naturally. Local plants are ideal since they are adapted to arid summers and intense, short rainfall in cooler months. These plants are usually shunned since they might not be considered as attractive but they

Sectional drawing of a new building proposed for the Msida campus

20,000

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university occupants

parking spaces on campus

parking spaces outside campus

units within the residential building

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require less watering in summer and cope better in winter than plants that are not well adapted to Malta’s climate.

Water collection would reduce disruptive flows into the flood prone Msida Valley. Cascaded reservoirs and basins could intercept overflows from existing reservoirs to target areas prone to flooding. Collected water can be used with minimal treatment for use in toilet flushing, irrigation, and fire-fighting. Gatt comments that ‘it is absurd that we flush toilets with drinking water’. In homes, one third of potable water consumption is used for toilet flushing.

Run off water could be diverted into a water treatment plant. A grey water treatment plant near campus would process all wastewater except that from toilets and kitchen sinks, because of the heavy solid material. A challenge in implementing a plant is the daily drastic swings in campus population and the drastic drop during holidays. One solution is a modular plant that can be partly shut down over weekends and summer recess. Another possibility is to divert water into the plant from

the main sewage system. Treated water could then be used to replenish groundwater. Although low-risk technology to treat water to potable quality does exist, Gatt believes more education is needed before society will accept the value of such a plant.

The plant would provide water to the residential complex. The complex is that place where ecology meets comfort. Gatt’s research shows that in Maltese households water-saving technologies like low-flow taps and shower heads are not well received. Current building trends do not provide enough pressure to taps. New University buildings need to incorporate these technologies. Low-flow taps have a major impact: normal taps discharge around nine litres per minute while low-flow models reduce this to 4.5 litres per minute or less.

As well as showcasing water-conscious building design the Master Plan explains how to increase the sustainability of existing infrastructure. This injection of fresh ideas could save us from a water infrastructure crisis in future. But will society act on it?

The fact that you open your tap and water flows, gives a false sense of security.

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garages are becoming compulsory in new buildings. What does this have to do with earthquakes? Dr Claude Bajada meets earthquake engineers Dr Marc Bonello, Dr Reuben Borg, and Perit Petra Sapiano to find out.

Rumble, rumble, toil & tumble

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Rumble, rumble, tumble, crash! An earthquake has hit. It is a big one. The epicentre is closer to the island than it has ever been

before. Buildings are crumbling, leaving destruction in their wake. The Civil Protection Department is formulating a response. What tools can they use to ensure that their intervention is as effective as possible? How can they know which of the standing buildings are most at risk from damage? They must respond quickly to save lives but do not have the information to do so.

Hopefully, this is all set to change thanks to the members of a team of earthquake engineers at the Faculty for the Built Environment (University of Malta) who are creating a toolbox for the Civil Protection Department. Their work forms part of a multidisciplinary, EU funded, international project called

SIMIT. The project is vast in scope but the team’s remit is straightforward. The group wants to study the effect of earthquakes on Maltese buildings and to provide a quick and effective way to assess the seismic risk of every building on the Maltese Islands. This will have two outcomes. First, the authorities will have an evidence-based picture of Malta’s seismic risk, which should in turn guide policies. Second, it will provide the Civil Protection Department with a tool to be able to identify which areas are most at risk if the worst case scenario happens.

Dr Marc Bonello explains that in Malta ‘architects (periti) tend to follow international design codes when it comes to designing reinforced concrete and steel structures, but when it comes to masonry buildings […] the construction is usually based on tradition and experience.’ The

Dr Marc Bonello, Dr Reuben Borg, Perit Petra Sapiano and Prof. Alex Torpiano. Photo by Edward Duca.

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WHAT CONTRIBUTES TO SEISMIC RISK?

‘When we talk about seismic risk, there are three important components’, says team member Dr Ruben Paul Borg. ‘One is the seismic hazard, or earthquake intensity; the second is exposure, or population size and property number; the third is the building’s vulnerability‘. Property vulnerability to earthquakes is reduced by earthquake resistant construction and better disaster resilience. The earthquake of 1693 devastated south-eastern Sicily and caused extensive damage in Malta. Research suggests that a similar earthquake on the same fault could occur every few hundred years. Today, Malta has a much larger population than in 1693, with a third of the Islands built up and the 8th highest population density in the world.

Architects (periti) tend to follow international design codes when it comes to designing reinforced concrete and steel structures, but when it comes to masonry buildings […] the construction is usually based on tradition and experience.

team members explained that as a result of the ever growing parking problems on the island, underground parking facilities are being designed into most new structures. ‘Parking requires column-free space because otherwise drivers cannot manoeuvre their cars properly. This results in situations where the basements are devoid of any internal vertical [support],’ leaving the buildings vulnerable to earthquake damage.

Despite the risky building practices, there is still not much information about how these buildings will react to an earthquake—the core research question. The last recorded major earthquake in Malta was in 1693. There is no rigorous data about how that earthquake affected buildings so the engineers have to rely on numerical simulation. These simulations are performed on virtual buildings. The problem is simulating the entire island which needs too much computational time.

To solve this problem, the group has devised a survey that can quickly be applied to a building. The survey is based on similar ones that the Italian Civil Protection Department use for assessing their buildings’ seismic risk. These must then be adapted and calibrated, which is the team’s current aim. They are comparing the results from the numerical simulations to survey data. Bonello explains that ‘we cannot cover all areas of Malta at once, so we chose two specific sites which, in our view, have geological characteristics that would render their seismic vulnerability to be quite high.’

Once the surveys are pared down to give accurate results, the team can use them on every building

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FURTHER READING

• Montanaro Gauci, G. (2015) Mdina cathedral destroyed in the 1693 earthquake. The Sunday Times of Malta. [Online] 11 January. Available from http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20150111/life-features/Mdina-cathedral-destroyed-in-the-1693-earthquake.551625

on the Island. Their vision is a map of Malta where every building is coloured according to its seismic risk. They hope that this evidence will convince policy makers to introduce mandatory building regulations to ensure that new structures are built with minimal seismic risk.

The team faces substantial problems. The data collection involves enormous time investment. ‘We would like to […] complete the seismic vulnerability maps for the entirety of the Maltese Islands. That will take years!’ exclaims Bonello. ‘You would need lots of people gathering and analysing that information.’ The analysis needs powerful computer systems that can cope with the large amount of data. Funding is another problem. ‘[SIMIT wasn’t] an end in itself, it was the beginning of a process.’

The year is 2150. Hardly anyone slept last night. The earthquake was

a big one. The new stations report that it was the biggest in recorded history. The rumbling was intense but the destruction was minimal. A few buildings fell, mostly older ones. The Civil Protection Department intervened quickly and effectively because they could pre-empt which areas would be hit hardest. Much loss of life was prevented. Experts are attributing the minimal damage to the Maltese government’s foresight in the early years of the last century.

They put a university research project on high priority and funded it heavily. The project gave an in-depth account of the island’s seismic vulnerability and as a result building regulations were tightened. Every new structure was built with a seismic event in mind. The Civil Protection Department was also equipped with a map that shows which buildings are most vulnerable to earthquakes. Malta was lucky. The Government had taken scientists seriously.

WHAT IS SIMIT – WHO TAKES PART?

SIMIT is a European Union funded project that enables collaboration between the universities and Civil Protection Departments in Malta and Catania. The universities involved are the University of Malta, the University of Catania, and the University of Palermo. The entities at the University of Malta that contribute to the project are the Faculty for the Built Environment, the Faculty of Science, the Faculty of Arts and the Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development.

More information about the contribution from the Seismic Monitoring and Research Unit (Department of Geosciences, Faculty of Science) can be found in Rocking the Islands (Issue 11, p.33).

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From improving life quality to solar panels that decrease temperature, researchers at the Department of Environmental Design in the Faculty for the Built Environment (University of Malta) have come up with some ingenious ideas to strengthen modern building design. Natasha Padfield learns more.

ENGINEERING MODERN LIFE

Dr Daniel Micallef. Photo by Jean Claude Vancell.

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The modern house is a machine. Twenty-first century living demands air conditioning, ventilation, insulation, and heating. Buildings are no longer simply walls and windows.

Intelligent systems have brought brick and mortar skeletons to life powered by science.

The science behind modern building design and how it interacts with the outside environment is the subject area of Dr Daniel Micallef (Department of Environmental Design, Faculty for the Built Environment, University of Malta). He specialises in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and wind engineering. He uses computers to understand how fluids (such as air) flow in and around whole buildings or parts of them. Using specialised programs, he models airflow around and within buildings. Humans are constantly affected by fluid dynamics, whether they are shying away from a draft or wondering why their bathroom is stuffy. Our comfort and safety rests on understanding how airflow works.

CFD converts the building’s environment into a mathematical model. The geometry of the building as well as wind speeds, atmospheric pressures, and wall properties are inputted into the program. The program then generates massive volumes of data interpreted using special graphs (contour plots). From these graphs, Micallef can extract information about air velocities and pressures acting on different parts of a building or elements

like wind turbines. To verify modelling results they are checked against real-world experiments.

This research can lead to more comfortable, safer, and energy efficient urban environments. Information on wind speeds and drafts is used to see if a proposed development is comfortable for humans. Using these methods, architects can ensure a building has good ventilation when the building is being planned. Inadequate ventilation can aggravate asthma and lead to poor health. In the past, building ventilation could only be tested after construction was completed. Sub-standard buildings were either unsafe to live in or subjected to expensive, time-consuming modifications.

The models can enhance a building’s energy efficiency. They can assess a building's insulation to estimate the amount of heat flowing into and out of the building. Planning alterations ensure maximum efficiency, saving money and the environment. CFD can also be used to assess the potential of a rooftop wind turbine. Modelling helps perfect a building before it is built, maximising the latest technology.

HOT SOLAR, HOT IDEAS

Solar panels could decrease indoor air temperature. Micallef’s research has shown that panels can funnel air providing cooling airflows over the roof. Implementing his studies could help change solar panel positioning to reduce heating and perhaps

Simulated pressure (left) on a building surface and air velocities (right) across a building form.

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FLUID MECHANICS: A CRASH-COURSE

‘Fluid’ is an umbrella term for liquids and gases. Fluid mechanics studies their behaviour. Studies involve many variables and there are a few simple rules. Micallef’s research is based on fluid mass, momentum, and energy conservation equations that describe the fluid behaviour. The equations cannot be solved using direct mathematical techniques and scientists needs computers to crunch the large calculations.

BUILDING A MODEL

1. Geometrical Model The geometry of the problem is defined. For example, the dimensions of the building and the photovoltaic system, and their positions relative to each other.

2. Meshing The model gets divided into sub-sections for detailed computer processing.

3. Set Boundary Conditions Input wind speed, atmospheric pressure, and wall conditions.

4. Solve Run the program to obtain estimates.

cool a building instead. With solar energy gaining popularity in the Mediterranean, this research could lead to more innovation to synergise the other beneficial and indirect effects of solar energy systems in the built environment.

Just how important are these tools and the insights they give? Micallef is emphatic, ‘Long gone are the days when architects and engineers used (only) generic rules of thumb when designing [...] This scientific research builds our knowledge step by step. This could seem useless in isolation but when worldwide research is combined we can develop a useful system for the construction industry. If we learn what happens in nature we can then use this knowledge to build better buildings [...]. I would like to see a more scientific approach towards building energy efficiency. I think buildings have almost become a machine. We cannot simply design a building with techniques used

If Malta were to completely ignore the potential of wind energy, it would be disastrous.

Velocity field on the roof of a building in the presence of photovoltaic panels.

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100 years ago.’ Modern buildings need the application of modern science.

Alternative energy has a big role to play in building efficiency. For his Ph.D., Micallef worked on improving the performance and the modelling of wind turbine blades. The improvements have a relatively small effect on singular turbines but lead to huge savings in wind farms. In urban areas wind is even more complex to study because buildings change its direction. In such areas Micallef is researching rooftop flows.

Malta’s energy infrastructure is experiencing an overhaul with a newly installed interconnector and replacement of heavy oil power stations with gas. Malta’s renewable energy generation hovers slightly short of 5%, but where is wind power? ‘If Malta were to

completely ignore the potential of wind energy, it would be disastrous.’ Micallef concedes that wind farms can be a visual scar and that Malta has limited onshore or near-shore sites appropriate for development, which leaves offshore wind farms as the only option. ‘Malta should not miss the boat by failing to invest in on-going research related to these new deep offshore technologies.’ Malta needs to think ahead and invest in research and then build these wind farms. Wind energy can complement solar energy. Both would give a more stable and complete energy package for Malta. There have been plenty of discussions in the past ten years or so on the concept

of a renewable energy mix. This seems to have been forgotten given the predominance of solar energy uptake.

In the next few decades, with the right investment and regulations, our buildings will continue to become greener, smarter, and safer. Research like Micallef’s is forging a healthy relationship between our natural environment, building requirements, and cutting-edge technologies—our ever-increasing demands on building performance beg for turning mud into bricks into a modern smart home.

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Cities are constructed from spaces pulsing with energy. They rely

heavily on culture and innovation, which act as their lifeblood. Cities are in constant flux as they would stagnate without change. The role of the city is to drive the whole country forward. When it comes to city growth, culture is pivotal, be it in the form of art or phenomena that impact culture, such as the economy, or widespread immigration.

Culture ties with sustainability. Danish action-philosopher Dr Oleg Koefoed reflects upon the role of urban and cultural sustainability and innovation, specifically that focused on building networks mainly in the Nordic and Baltic regions. He is currently involved in the innovative Valletta Design Cluster at the Old Abattoir site, an intervention project involving Valletta, Gdansk, and Copenhagen.

Koefoed states there will always be some who fear change and others who embrace it or work for it. Within the field of migration, for example, there will be those who fear a changing social fabric. They will try to resist such change and this will cause long-term damage, because whatever they

say or do, change is inevitable and this, of course, also applies to cultural change. Koefoed asserts that ‘cultural change is not necessarily aggressive or negative.’ For us to reap the benefits of change, we need to use the differences immigration brings to develop new ideas for the benefit of the community.

Koefoed was recently in Malta as one of the speakers at the ‘Cultural Mapping: Debating Spaces and Places’ international conference, which was organised by the Valletta 2018 Foundation. He highlighted cultural mapping as an innovative tool to stimulate change.

Cultural mapping is recognised by UNESCO as a technique to preserve and promote the world’s cultural assets, drawing attention to the existence and importance of tangible and intangible cultural resources within a community. Koefoed believes that through this mapping process, cultural resources ‘become a tool, not so much to predict or control but to help bring about an evolution. This is not necessarily about the planned future but about the anticipated future.’

Koefoed believes that cultural

mapping helps better planning within an uncertain future. He explains that this is what we should be working for—to plan for the things that we presently do not know. ‘Shouldn’t we be able to stretch the type of cultural mapping model we are working with further? Let’s add more dimensions. Let’s add more versions of potential situations and possibilities of what could happen, while looking at the big waves that are actually hitting us.’

Analysis of cultural mapping is applicable beyond their territorial base. ‘The elements and results of cultural mapping are significant beyond their immediate sphere of influence. The real worth of mapping culture goes beyond a single project’s findings and is an internationally relevant tool,’ states Koefoed.

By placing cultural mapping at the forefront of a community’s cultural change, Koefoed’s argument suggests that it is also central to the cultural sustainability of the community. Apart from this, it also allows us to plan ahead when the future is unclear, ensuring a life-enhancing transition throughout the inevitable process of cultural change.

Spaces& placesWords by the Valletta 2018 Foundation

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This time last year, the Ice Bucket Challenge made ALS (Amyotrophic

Lateral Sclerosis) one of the hottest topics across the world. Who had not watched videos of people dumping buckets of ice-cold water over their heads to raise funds for ALS? ALS is a neurodegenerative disease that causes the death of the body’s motor neurons, and which in turn causes mobility problems that can lead to death in the space of just three to four years.

Earlier this year, the Ice Bucket Challenge took on a completely new meaning for Bjorn Formosa, who was diagnosed with this disease. He fought back by setting up the ALS Malta Foundation, focusing on three main aims: to raise awareness about the disease in Malta, to improve the quality of life of ALS sufferers, and to support ALS/MND (motor neuron disease) research at the University of Malta.

The University’s research trust (RIDT) has been working with the ALS Malta

Foundation. Dr Ruben Cauchi (Faculty of Medicine & Surgery, University of Malta) is currently researching the function of RNA-binding proteins (Ribonucleic acid) which, on mutation, cause a degenerative motor neuron disease that is similar to ALS. The research team needs funding to be able to overcome the particular challenges of this disease.

Many fundraising activities are being held for ALS research. The University’s Futsal Team (the University Knights) is organising a series of friendly matches outside its normal fixtures, with all proceeds going towards ALS research. The club is a daughter organisation of the KSU (Kunsill Studenti Universitarji), and a joint initiative with MUSC (Malta University Sports Club) and Mdina Knights Football Club. University students and staff from various faculties run the club which sees people from diverse social backgrounds and sportive experiences competing in the Futsal

Malta Association National League.‘RIDT favours dynamism and

talent. Futsal is a vibrant sport and our club boasts talented players and personnel,’ said Gayle Lynn Callus, Sales and Marketing Manager of the club. ‘We believe in investing in the future by nurturing potential players. In order to help the University of Malta develop tomorrow’s players, we are collaborating with RIDT to help promote its efforts towards research. As a sports team, we feel that we should be on the frontline in helping RIDT’s efforts to research the ALS Motor-Neuron disease’.

Part of the membership fee for joining the University Knights goes directly towards this fund.

For further information on matches and to join the club, follow The Mdina Knights FC on Facebook www.facebook.com/unversityfutsalmdinaknights

THE FUTSAL CHALLENGE FOR ALSWords by Sarah Spiteri

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Prof. Rena Balzan (Department of Physiology and Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine & Surgery, University of Malta) stands out as one of the first women in Malta to carve out a scientific research career. She is also the author of numerous poems and novels in Maltese. Research colleague Dr Gianluca Farrugia delves into her backstory underlying her lifelong pursuit of both Maltese literature and science, which includes research on the anti-cancer properties of aspirin using Baker’s Yeast. Illustrations by NO MAD.

OF SCIENCE LITERATUREAND

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I gently knock on the door. Professor Balzan knows it is me. ‘Idħol (Come in), Gianluca’.

I open the door and drift into the office, settling down into my usual

visitor’s seat by the enormous desk as Balzan remains glued to her computer, adding final touches to a document or email. I throw a cursory glance at the pristine office, the very same room I have stepped into countless times since I first started my Ph.D. under Balzanʼs tutorship eight years ago. Precious little has changed since then—the tall oak shelves, packed with their colourful mosaic of science textbooks, journals, folders, and dissertations (my own now included) still lean on the walls around the desk, accompanied by cabinets filled with years-worth of scientific papers. Several old calendars animate

the room with colourful depictions of artworks, photos, and the odd cartoon, such as one portrait of Charlie Chaplin hard at work on a Sudoku puzzle (easily my favourite). Add to that a motley collection of no less than six small clocks, the signatory tea kettle, and you have a room bearing the distinctive marks of a very interesting character.

Balzan easily fits that description, given her unique contribution to both science and Maltese literature. She is a well-published researcher of molecular biology and biochemistry, but has also penned numerous poems, short stories and four novels in Maltese, some studied as part of the national curriculum. Balzan is both an artist and a scientist—a seemingly dissonant combination, which always intrigued me as a

scientist and which I am very keen to discuss with her as she turns towards me, over her large mug of tea.

IN SCIENCE WE TRUST

Balzan explains how it all started, ‘I happened to discover the joy of reading at quite an early age, when I was about ten years old and this instilled in me an attraction for books that kept growing throughout my life. It was through reading that I became acquainted with the marvel of science and its ramifications. So when at grammar school we had to choose certain subjects for further studies, even though in the early sixties science subjects were not the favourite choice for girls, I opted for physics, chemistry, and biology.’

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Balzan then read for a pharmacy undergraduate course at the University of Malta, a difficult choice given the then-prevalent mentality that a woman’s role was constrained to marriage, raising children, and managing household chores. She overcame this challenge in part thanks to family support. ‘I thank God that my father was a very progressive and open-minded person and my mother always co-operated with him. They rebuffed the comments from some people in my village, who should have known better, that a girl doesn’t need to go to university to further her studies, that this would be a waste of money and effort. In those days we paid quite hefty university fees.’

Balzan then graduated, but had not seriously considered a career in scientific research until unearthing a copy of The Double Helix, James

Watson’s famous account of the discovery of DNA. The book helped spark her interest in genetics and this resulted in her travelling to Milan to start out in research. ‘It was during my specialisation in Applied Genetics at the State University of Milan that

I realised that a career in scientific research was the profession that attracted me most. Then with the boom in molecular biology and biotechnology starting in the eighties, my fate was sealed. It seemed it was all I had always wanted.’ After many years working with Balzan I can see that her love of science is as fervent as it was when she first started her career, drawn as she is to its demand for creativity, innovation, and inexhaustible challenges. ‘Science is an ever-youthful topic. It knows no ageing, and a scientist is always aware that there is so much to learn. One never knows enough.’

In 1990, Balzan began reading for her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (Cranfield University, UK). This involved molecular cloning and expression of the antioxidant enzyme, iron superoxide dismutase, in the bacterium Escherichia coli and in

Science is an ever-youthful topic. It knows no ageing, and a scientist is always aware that there is so much to learn. One never knows enough.

Dr Gianluca Farrugia with Prof. Rena Balzan. Photo by Jean Claude Vancell

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Baker’s Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae which she used as an experimental model of organisms like humans.

At the time, Balzan had to perform some of her doctorate research in Malta due to lecturing commitments. This required her to set up a new yeast laboratory in the Department of Physiology and Biochemistry (University of Malta). With the full support of the then Head of Department, Professor William Bannister, Balzan went about the huge task of assembling, from scratch, a Yeast Molecular Biology and Biotechnology Laboratory, bringing it to a standard matching advanced yeast genetics laboratories abroad. No easy feat for a Ph.D. student.

WHY YEAST?

Baker’s Yeast is what makes bread, pizza, or beer, as well as being very important to scientific research. These small, oval-shaped cells are one of

the most powerful models to study human disease and to develop new drug treatments. They have many of the same basic structures and core cellular processes found in human cells, but have many advantages over human cells for research. ‘Research work carried out on yeast cells is in vivo and not in vitro,’ Balzan emphasises. ‘One is working with a whole organism, not part of an organism, as would be the case with human cells that are derived from different tissues of a much larger organism.’ She also points out that yeast cells are easier to handle than human cells, have a short generation time and are easy to genetically manipulate, which speeds up research time.

AGENT ANTI-CANCER

All in all, given its advantages, Baker’s Yeast remained the experimental model of choice for Balzan in her studies of aspirin, the oldest known non-steroidal

anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) on the market today. ‘The use of aspirin in the prevention of thrombosis and stroke is well known,’ she points out. ‘However, in recent years another role for aspirin has emerged in its ability to prevent or inhibit the development of colorectal cancer, and even other types of tumours.’ Indeed, long-term aspirin use (subject to medical advice) has lately been shown to reduce the incidence of stomach, oesophageal, and colorectal cancers by nearly half.

‘The anti-cancer properties of aspirin have partly been attributed to its ability to cause a form of programmed cell death called apoptosis, in cancer cells. In fact, NSAIDs such as aspirin have been shown to cause apoptosis in colon cancer cell lines, thus eliminating these cells from the body’, Balzan explains.

‘It was with this in mind that Dr Neville Vassallo, while reading for his M.Phil. degree under my tutorship in the late nineties, decided to test the effect of aspirin

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on yeast cells. I remember he was very excited when he showed me the results,’ Balzan recalls fondly.

‘The cells treated with aspirin died. This really roused my interest in aspirin. There were a number of questions for which I couldn’t find an answer and I thought it would be feasible to embark on a series of experiments to study what was actually going on. It became clear to me that yeast could be a very good model to study the effect of aspirin vis-à-vis oxidative stress, apoptosis, and cancer cells.’

ALL IN THE OXYGEN WE BREATHE

After this find, Balzan carried out numerous studies on the effect of aspirin on yeast cells to understand the mechanisms behind its anti-cancer properties, many of which are not fully understood. So far her work has shown that, under certain growth conditions, aspirin causes programmed cell death in yeast cells lacking manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD-deficient cells), a key protective antioxidant enzyme usually found in cell mitochondria (the cell’s energy-generators). In these MnSOD-deficient yeast cells, which resemble cancer cells in that they are sensitive to oxidative stress (redox-compromised), aspirin shuts down the machinery of the mitochondria. This causes a build-up of dangerous superoxide radicals that trigger oxidative stress, leading to irreparable damage of mitochondria and subsequent cell death. Conversely, aspirin shows a benign, if not protective effect on normal healthy yeast cells.

These findings are clinically important since they show why, in early developing tumours in humans, cancer cells can be very sensitive to aspirin compared to normal healthy cells.

RAISING NOBEL-WORTHY AGENTS

No less than three Nobel prizes in Physiology and Medicine have been awarded in the past 15 years, to researchers who used the yeast S. cerevisiae in their work to understand how human cells work. The first, in 2001, was achieved for the discovery of the different stages of the cell life cycle and its control mechanisms. The second Nobel Prize in 2009 was awarded for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected from deterioration by protective DNA sequences called telomeres. This had an important significance for the study of ageing and cancer. Finally, the 2013 Nobel Prize was awarded for solving the mystery of how the cell organises its transport system.

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The power of aspirin goes a step further. Balzan showed that aspirin impairs the ability of yeast cells lacking MnSOD to maintain and replenish their antioxidant defences. Aspirin depletes their cellular stores of the chemical NADPH, a key substance that cells need to build new molecules and sustain their antioxidant defenses. In fact, these same defences were found to be severely depleted by aspirin working on these redox-compromised yeast cells.

These findings are clinically important since they show why, in early developing tumours in humans, cancer cells can be very sensitive to aspirin compared to normal healthy cells. The hypothesis is that cancer cells endure constantly higher levels of oxidative stress compared to normal cells, as a result of their increased metabolic rate. The increased oxidative stress induced by aspirin may be enough to overwhelm

the cancer cell’s defences during the early stages of tumour development, meaning that the cancer cells die and so tumour growth is stalled.

Balzan’s work is ongoing. ‘As a result of genetic analysis of the effect of aspirin on yeast cells, using microarray techniques carried out recently in collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Laboratories (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, we have come to understand that there are behaviours of aspirin that still need exploration, such as its effect on energy production in the mitochondria of MnSOD-deficient yeast cells,’ Balzan explains. Her laboratory is now investigating how aspirin affects energy production in the mitochondria of yeast cells lacking MnSOD function and how this leads to the death of these cells.

Balzan hopes that her research will help pave the way towards a better understanding of how aspirin prevents cancer in humans. This in turn can contribute to the future design of more effective aspirin-like drugs for cancer prevention and therapy.

CREATIVE SCIENCE, CREATIVE STORIES

Aside from her studies on aspirin, Balzan is a poet and novelist. But what major disparities are there between writing Maltese literature and science? ‘Writing science is different from writing literature although creativity is a vital factor for both,’ Balzan points out. ‘When writing literature, one can be more subjective and what is written depends to a greater extent on the authorʼs or poetʼs personal perception of things. In scientific writing one has to be very objective. Interpretation of experimental results has to be strongly backed and proved by experimental data and the results have to be absolutely repeatable. Whatever the scientist may have thought or wished to think before embarking on the experiments, has to be subdued to what is clearly observed in the results.’

On the issue of creativity as needed for both literature and science, Balzan takes it a step further. ‘In my opinion, a true scientist must first be an artist. How creativity evolves in science

A true scientist must first be an artist. In science, creativity plays an important role in the generation of ideas for research, in devising experiments, and in the interpretation of results.

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is different from how it evolves in literature. In science, creativity plays an important role in the generation of ideas for research, in devising experiments, and in the interpretation of results. Obviously this must be supported by scientific literature. One has to keep abreast with what is going on in related scientific fields.’

Curious, I then ask Balzan if she has been working on any other novels after her recent release of the English translation of Ilkoll ta’ Nisel Wieħed, into Bonds in the Mirror of Time. ‘To embark on the writing of a novel while one is deeply involved in scientific research is very difficult,’ she grudgingly admits. ‘Both are very demanding and although I hate to say it, they can well be mutually exclusive. My novels were mostly written when there was no possibility for me to do scientific research.’ Having said this, Balzan insists she does not exclude writing more literature in the future, particularly when it comes to poems. ‘When I feel the urge to write a poem, it comes like a flash. It is sudden, the process is quite quick and unless I’m quick in responding, the poem may be lost forever,’ she confesses. ‘When one is born a poet, normally one dies a poet.’

In the end, I decide to tease Balzan with one final tough question. If forced to give up either science or literature, which one would she choose? ‘I absolutely don’t like the idea of having to face a choice between science and literature,’ she admits. ‘However,’ she cryptically adds with

a grin on her face, ‘a poet you are born, a scientist you become’.

Balzan’s current research is financed by the Malta Council for Science & Technology through the R&I Technology Development Programme (Project R&I-2015-001).

FURTHER READING

• Balzan, R., Sapienza, K., Galea, D.R., Vassallo, N., Frey, H., Bannister, W.H. (2004) 'Aspirin commits yeast cells to apoptosis depending on carbon source.' Microbiology (150) p.109-115.

• Sapienza, K., Bannister, W., Balzan R. (2008) 'Mitochondrial involvement in aspirin-induced apoptosis in yeast.' Microbiology (154) p.2740-2747.

• Farrugia, G., Bannister, W.H., Vassallo, N., Balzan, R. (2013) 'Aspirin-induced apoptosis of yeast cells is associated with mitochondrial superoxide radical accumulation and NAD(P)H oxidation.' FEMS Yeast Res (13) p.755-768.

FURTHER READING (LITERATURE)• Balzan, R. (1982) Il-Ħolma Mibjugħa [The Betrayed Dream]. Malta:

Gulf Publishing Ltd.• Balzan, R. (1987) Ilkoll ta’ Nisel Wieħed [Bonds in the Mirror of Time].

Malta: Publishers Enterprises Group (PEG) Ltd.• Balzan, R. (1995) Fiż-Żifna tal-Ibliet [In Tune With City Life]. Malta:

Bugelli Publications.

Prof. Rena Balzan. Photo by Jean Claude Vancell.

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Make games, make yourself

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Game design is hard to pin down. It is a motley and multidisciplinary tangle of practices and know-how that can be recognised either as a form of art, a scientific endeavour,

or simply personal expression, to name a few. Game design can also be understood as a form of communication through which designers engage in a ‘conversation’ (so to speak) with their players. In the process of designing the game, designers must consolidate what they know about the player experience they are crafting. Game design therefore involves careful research, iteration, and game testing. It could be said that, together, these processes are in themselves a learning experience.

Game design lecturer Dr Stefano Gualeni (Institute of Digital Games, University of Malta) sees the learning potential of video game design. A recent branch of his research focuses on how game design intersects with what the French philosopher Michel Foucault calls ‘technologies of

the self’: techniques by which individuals obtain a degree of self-betterment and expertise.

In a recent study performed in an informal collaboration with the Behavioural Science Institute (BSI, University of Nijmegen, Netherlands), Gualeni gave students of the University of Malta’s M.Sc. in Digital Games the task of designing and developing computer games that would improve players’ unconscious attitudes to healthy food. Students were to work in groups and had five months to develop playable video games. The students did not know that Gualeni was, at the same time, conducting an experiment on the students themselves to see if the game design activity transformed their attitudes and eating habits.

Students could adopt two out of three methods used in psychology to provoke attitudinal changes in a digital game. The first method, called ʻevaluative conditioningʼ, involves consistently associating healthy food, such as vegetables, with positive stimuli in order to improve a player’s

Want to lose weight? Then design a game. Preliminary data by Dr Stefano Gualeni edges towards game design as a self-transformative experience that could change political views or even our capability to excel at that dreaded organic chemistry. Words by Ashley Davis.

Screenshots from the game Necessary Evil

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attitude towards it. The second, called ʻattention biasʼ, requires players to focus their attention on healthy food while dismissing unhealthy food. In the final method, called the ʻgo/no goʼ paradigm, players would need to perform a certain action when presented with healthy foods, but not when presented with unhealthy foods.

To help the research along, the games produced by the Maltese students were short, single-player, and involved frequent action on the part of the player. Students were asked to make games that were not too predictable and that ended with a ‘game over’ screen, quantitatively summarising the gameplay session.

One group of students made the game Fast Food. In the game, players select to play as one of a number of aspiring cooks. Research shows that players develop a closer affinity with in-game characters when they can choose and customise them to some extent, and that affinity normally makes the transformative qualities of the game more effective. Players

Dr Stefano Gualeni is an architect, philosopher, and game designer best known for creating the videogames Tony Tough and the Night of Roasted Moths (1997) and Gua-Le-Ni; or, The Horrendous Parade (2012).

Being both a philosopher and a game designer, Gualeni works at the intersection of continental philosophy and virtual world design. He studies virtual worlds in their role as mediators of thought: as interactive, artificial environments where philosophical ideas, world-views, and thought-experiments can be explored, manipulated, and communicated objectively.

His book, Virtual Worlds as Philosophical Tools (Palgrave, 2015), recognises computers as instruments to (re)design ourselves and our worlds and as gateways to experience alternative possibilities of being. He examines virtual worlds as the contexts where a new humanism has already begun to arise.

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then select healthy ingredients while avoiding unhealthy ones as they pass quickly down a conveyor belt. The game uses both the ʻattention biasʼ and ʻgo/no go paradigmʼ methods by asking players to react to healthy ingredients while completely ignoring those that are unhealthy.

So, did making a game to provoke healthy food choices actually improve the designer’s unconscious attitude towards high-fat and sugary foods? Did they start eating healthier food?

Before even talking to the students about the project, Gualeni performed an implicit-attitude test (IAT) on each student to determine their initial attitudes to healthy food. The test measured the time taken for each student to identify different foods as being healthy or unhealthy, thereby measuring the strength of their automatic associations to healthy food in general. Gualeni also asked students to report their weight and dietary habits. He collected the same data at the end of the experiment for comparison.

His results showed that attitudes to healthy food improved more among game design students who worked on the assignment than those of a control group. The group that worked on food-attitude related games collectively lost 6 kg over five months, while the students who did not work on these games collectively gained 4 kg. Since not

enough students were tested, no statistical correlation could be teased out, meaning that more studies are needed for any strong conclusions.

This small pilot study is not irrefutable, but does suggest something very interesting: designing a game might help transform those people’s attitudes and behaviour, a finding that would have many applications in learning and education. Gualeni plans to continue with similar studies concerning the messy practice of game design as one of the crucial ‘technologies of the self’ of the 21st century. In the next experiments, he will investigate if such change in food-related-attitudes applies to other areas of our lives. It could help change political views, make someone better at organic chemistry, help become a more aware recycler, and deepen awareness on certain ethical issues.

Perhaps, one day, game design exercises will be as common in classrooms as drawing, painting, and crafting activities. This approach could transform the classroom.

The group that worked on food-attitude related games collectively lost 6 kg over five months, while the students who did not work on these games collectively gained 4 kg.

Screenshots from the game Fast Food by M.Sc. in Digital Games students Yasmin Cachia and Rebecca Portelli.

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LITERATURE WILL BREAKYOUR HEART

TRAGEDY AS THERAPY

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Dr David Vella interviews Dr James Corby to find out how literature can help you face tragedy in your life. Illustrations by Sonya Hallett.

L iterature, cinema, and television very often present us with scenes of extreme violence, pain, and death. Brutality on screen is becoming more frequent, gratuitous, and ever more graphic. What

is puzzling and ironic is that while we tend to recoil from real-life footage of violence such as terrorist executions, many of us eagerly flock to watch a new episode of Game of Thrones or The Walking Dead. Tragedy could be one of the main reasons why we enjoy watching these TV series so much.

There could be several reasons for this. Our fear of and repulsion toward tragedy in real life can provoke a certain fascination when it happens in a movie, experienced in the familiar comfort of our homes. Here, tragedy taking place in a fictional scenario can provide a guilty-pleasure peek at what otherwise makes us so anxious and horrified in the real world.

For others, tragedy offers thrills and suspense. We love being jolted out of our seats by all the shocking imagery. We want to experience that nervous excitement, distracting us from our humdrum lives.

Perhaps, for some of us, tragedy is attractive because it feels somehow intimate. We believe that it holds certain insights into human nature. Maybe it can reveal something deep about ourselves and the world we live in.

Does this mean that scenes of violence and death can achieve more than a shock effect? If we believe there is worthwhile literature out there that deals with tragedy, are we to suppose that tragedy here is more than a sensational trick?

If that is the case, what precisely are its values? How can we distinguish this more meaningful tragedy from gratuitous entertainment?

TRAGEDY AND CATHARSIS

What does ‘tragedy’ mean? Its everyday usage can refer to a whole variety of situations. It can include school shootings, fatal car crashes, viral epidemics, suicides, and starvation in developing countries. The diversity of these situations is all too clear. There is one important quality, however, that they all have in common. They are all instances of some event which has to do with suffering and loss, and our recognition of it. When we say an occasion is tragic we are implying that its victims and/or their spectator (us perhaps?) are aware of the pain caused by the incident. A tragic event cannot be tragic if no one understands how tragic it is.

Tragedy in literature and film can go further than this. The portrayal of tragedy can be therapeutic. Experiencing representations of pain and loss can have a healing effect upon us. They can give us a new strength and enhance the way we see our lives. Tragedy can change us for the better. Many thinkers have often called this particular ‘treatment’ brought about by tragedy, ‘catharsis’.

The term ‘catharsis’ comes from the Greek katharsis, which means ‘purification’ or ‘cleansing’. The philosopher Aristotle first used the term in relation to the arts in his Poetics (c. 335 bce). For him, catharsis is the effect that Ancient Greek tragedies (or comedies and quite possibly other art forms) can have on their audiences.

This kind of theatre purifies and purges certain strong emotions that we have suppressed, emotions that otherwise would be unbalancing and destructive. Once released, equilibrium is restored leading to a new sense of relief and calm.

CARING FOR THE VICTIM

Dr James Corby (Department of English, University of Malta) has offered his own ideas on the relationship of tragedy with literature and dramatic arts. He points out that tragedy brings about catharsis only after we identify with the victim. For tragedy to have its effect, we have to care deeply for that person who will eventually meet their downfall. We almost feel responsible for their well-being.

Literature elicits these feelings well. Richard Kearney writes: ‘Literature inspires a sympathy that is more extensive and resonant than that experienced in ordinary life. And it does so […] because it amplifies the range

of those we might empathise with—reaching beyond family, friends and familiars to all kinds of foreigners. If we read Oedipus Rex, we experience what it is like to be a Greek who murders his father and marries his mother. If we

read Anna Karenina, we experience the tragic fate of a passionate woman in 19th-century Russia. If we read Scarlet and Black, we relive the life of an erratic, wilful youth in Napoleonic France.’

Literature can put us in another’s shoes by appealing to our imagination and empathy. If we feel close to a character in a story, we feel their misfortune. We can experience it almost as if it is ours. According to Aristotle, this reaction would involve two primary emotions. We respond by feeling pity (eleos) and fear (phobos) for the character we love. Their suffering can cause us sorrow and compassion. It can also compel us to be afraid for them as well as awed by the terrible things that are happening to them. In the post-apocalyptic landscape of Cormacy McCarthy’s The Road, for example, we feel sympathy for the unnamed father and his son. The endless desolation and ruin that confronts them together with the ever-impending threat of the cannibalism and cruelty of the human

survivors cannot but evoke a certain feeling of dread

Literature can put us in another’s shoes by appealing to our imagination. If we feel close to a character in a story, we feel their misfortune.

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and fascination. In Edward Bond’s Lear, human cruelty goes hand in hand with a hunger for power. Lear’s torture at the hands of his daughters with a machine that sucks out his eyeballs is another source of pity, horror, and awe for the unfortunate protagonist.

As Corby explains, our emotional response to the persecuted character above all reveals our intense concern with the persecuted protagonist's survival. Our concern about whether the character will get through their ordeal prompts an instinctive and almost visceral reaction. Will they live or die? Will they overcome adversity or succumb to it? This response is very similar to the flight-or-fight reaction we feel when exposed to danger. In moments like these, we are taken over by the impulse to run away or to defend ourselves from

an imminent threat. Our response is determined solely by a desire for self-preservation. Similarly, when we identify with a threatened character our self-defensive instincts are triggered vicariously. Will I—will that character—endure or escape calamity?

LOSING CARE; BEYOND CARING

At some point, the character stops fighting against the odds. Recognising that pain and loss are inevitable, the victim gradually begins to accept their fate. Likewise, our distress for them reaches such an intensity that it cannot be endured any longer. We give up our urgent concerns for them as they give up theirs.

This surrender is not a pessimistic attitude. The character does not simply

decide that everything is over now so they might as well dig a hole and die there. Theirs is an acknowledgement of the harsh truth, an acceptance of their tragedy. ‘Such acceptance,’ Corby comments, ‘is rarely complete, of course. It is more a recognition that the worst has happened, or is happening, and that our [and/or their] direct emotional response is at some level irrelevant’. Here one realises that nothing the character can do will save them. They cannot escape or resist what has come upon them. The consequences are inescapable, and with that recognition comes a certain release, a loosening of the bonds of care. This is precisely what Corby understands by ‘catharsis’. I would add that by reconciling ourselves with the character’s demise, our sorrow for them burns itself out.

Dr James Corby

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Acknowledging the fatality of the situation slowly exhausts our pity and fear for them. We tire ourselves of our emotions—we despair of them. Our emotional depletion also occurs in the victims once they too face their lot.

This is experienced acutely in such novels as Michel Houellebecq’s Atomised and Possibility of an Island. Here, the pervading obsession with physical illness, ageing, and death builds up toward the decline and sad endings of many of the characters. It makes these endings feel inevitable, inescapable. We realise at some point that we cannot do anything about these people we have sympathised with over the course of the story.

For Corby, in reconciling ourselves with tragedy in literature, we are released from the anguish caused by our protective relationship with the fictional person. The question of their self-preservation, for what they have lost or what they are going to lose, does not affect us directly any longer. The burden of our possessive care for them is lifted away. The unhappiness that comes from personal loss therefore disappears. What follows is a certain state of calm. We

reach a place that is uninvolved and detached from the emotional storm we have just been through. Freed from all attachments to any individual self, our being now feels unencumbered, light. There is a sense of liberation.

We see this mirrored in the characters as well. In acceptance, they surrender all care for themselves. Corby illustrates this by referring to Maurice Blanchot’s short-story, The Instant of

My Death. Here, the author recounts his close brush with death before a Nazi firing squad. At the moment of his execution, his own inescapable death is embraced and with this comes ‘a feeling of extraordinary lightness, a sort of beatitude (nothing happy, however) – sovereign elation […]? He was perhaps invincible’. Another instance can be seen in Act III of Shakespeare’s play, King Richard the Second. Here, the banished Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford, has come back to challenge Richard for the crown as his army is deserting him. Further on, Richard also learns that his close friends Bushy, Bagot, and Green have been killed. On hearing this news, his defiant front is broken. With this final straw, he talks about rejecting anything that can bring comfort to a human being: hope, success, the satisfaction of desire, safety: ‘of comfort no man speak […]’. Instead, he announces the need to talk about death and loss, the need to give in to the insufferable distress that accompanies them. Corby insists on the solace that all this talk of misery gives the deposed King. In accepting what has happened to him, Richard has finally discovered tranquillity.

In reconciling ourselves with tragedy in literature, we are released from the anguish caused by our protective relationship with the fictional person.

Dr David Vella. Photo by Edward Duca.

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ETHICS COMES FROM A CALM PLACE

Catharsis therefore purifies or purges us. It liberates us from a narrowed vision focused on our immediate concerns for an individual seen as an imaginary extension of ourselves. This does not mean that we stop caring about them. It simply means that our sense of care no longer comes from our raw self-centred emotions that accompany an anxiety over our own survival or that of the character we identify with. It comes from elsewhere. The fight-or-flight impulse does not get the better of us in our reaction to the events in the story. It no longer controls or influences us.

Our perception now comes from a place that is not engaged directly with the person we have been relating to. We become detached from their world. Our mindset is now composed. It enables us to see things from a

much broader and more sensible viewpoint. Doing so opens up new ways of responding to experiences. We find in ourselves the potential to see the story’s universe through other forms of understanding. For Corby, this is how ethical thought begins.

TRAGEDY IN OUR LIVES

So is catharsis important for our lives? Yes, if it can lead us towards a

frame of mind that can help us handle our own tragedies and recover from them. When we are struck

by misfortune, a loved one dies or our life projects fail, we need to do what may initially seem impossible: to face this reality and move on.

Intense grief is not pleasant to face. The experience of suffering can be so overpowering that it can make us despair of ever finding happiness and hope again. We might also seek to escape our pain by repressing it. In our darkest moments, anything would do, so long as we get away from the consciousness of what we have lost. In our denial, however, we can find ourselves consciously or unconsciously reliving the tragic event we are trying to forget. What happened in the past can keep haunting us time and again.

Catharsis, on the other hand, calls for the unconditional acceptance of our loss as ever present in our lives. It is the realisation that what we have lost will never come back and that the rest of our life must be lived with this fact one way or another. We must

When we are struck by misfortune, a loved one dies or our life projects fail, we need to do what may initially seem impossible: to face this reality and move on.

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FURTHER READING

• Corby, J. (2014) Of Comfort No Man Speak: Tragedy, Indifference, Consolation. Thinking through tragedy and comedy: Performance philosophy and the future of genre. Berlin. 4-5 December 2014. Germany: ICI Berlin.

• Corby, J. (2015) Ratio Essendi: Tragedy and the Scalar Therapeutics of Loss. Scale. Valletta. 15-18 June 2015. Malta: European Society for Literature, Science and the Arts (SLSAeu).

• Kearney, R. (2002) On Stories. London: Routledge.• Kearney, R. (2003) Strangers, Gods and Monsters: Interpreting

Otherness. London: Routledge.

work through it somehow. We can do so at this point because catharsis gives us the calm and disengagement required in order to decide and act intelligently when confronted with our troubles. Catharsis, Kearney writes, ‘turns passive lament into possibilities of active complaint […]. [It] transform[s] paralysis into protest […]. [It] invites the victim to resist the alienation of evil, that is, to move from a position of mute helplessness to acts of revolt and self-renewal [italics removed]’.

The serene and clear-sighted mindset we acquire through this experience enables us to make choices that are more just, prudent, and moral. No longer blinded by our self-defensive instinct, we can now think more deeply and carefully on our attitude and behaviour. Perhaps we can now find out how to make the best of what we have in order to improve our lives and the lives of those around us. Our faith in ourselves is

returned to us. We are reendowed with esteem and belief in what we can do.

This is where literature (together with film and other artforms) comes in. Literature can help us achieve this. Both Corby and Kearney believe that artistic representations of tragedy can effect a kind of catharsis in our actual lives. In other words, the mindset it

inspires through its tales of woe can, in turn, bring about the same mindset in our response to real tragedies. Literature can influence the way we look at our misfortunes. Engaging with its stories is a training of sorts. It trains us in the art of seeing our world in a more effective and enlightened way.

Good literature is an initiation.

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Atomic: The First War Of Physics And The Secret History Of The Atom Bomb: 1939–49JIM BAGGOTTQuill Rating:

by The EditorBOOK REVIEW

To date atomic war still threatens to wipe out humanity. That threat hangs at the

command of every atomic state, an ever-growing number. The argument to restrain other nations is repeatedly controversial, being perceived as oppressive, unfair foreign policy. Every aspiring country wants The Bomb.

Jim Baggott’s account starts from 1939 when Otto Frisch and Lise Meitner scribbled their calculations for nuclear fission on a tree trunk in an idyllic village, to be closely followed by the Nazi, British, Russian, and American bomb building war efforts. The book ends with an extended epilogue zipping through the cold war escalation of atomic armament that has cost the world tens of trillions of dollars, sterling, roubles, and other currencies, all to build warheads that will hopefully remain unused. Baggott leaves unsaid the obvious benefit to humanity if that money was otherwise used.

The book is richly detailed, its narrative replete with scientific and political personalities. The well-researched book uncovers many misconceptions about atomic history, from German scientists actively building or resisting the construction of the atomic bomb (neither is true), to America dropping the bomb to save lives (Japan had already discussed surrender, they just did not want the word ‘unconditional’ used). The book sets the record straight for a number of topics.

The Manhattan Project at Los Alamos was the military research project that led to the atomic

bomb. Concentration camp-like secrecy did not prevent Russian spies completely infiltrating the institution. The Russians learnt about the bomb before it was used. Spies included scientists with communist ideals and others who thought it insane that America would hold a nuclear monopoly.

Such infiltration led to the paranoia of the Carter era in the early 1950s. Jimmy Carter started a campaign against perceived communists, especially nuclear physicists, which ended up in J. Robert Oppenheimer (the father of the bomb) being stopped from further consultation and Felix Bloch (a ground breaking quantum physicist) to be exiled to Brazil. Cold War America was a place of fear.

Scientists’ reputation suffered. The bomb placed scientists on the same moral ground as politicians and other human beings. They were capable of being pushed to develop ‘evil’ weapons should they be under an oppressive regime or under the perceived threat of a greater enemy. These scientists first lost credibility then were hounded as spies because of a few defectors.

America was the other big loser. As the only country to ever use the atomic bomb, it lost credibility as the world’s policeman and peacemaker. All future political manoeuvring would be against this dark shadow. Atomic is a great, well-researched must read for anyone interested in atomic science and the story behind how the world fell in love with the most horrible weapon ever devised.

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Designers: Robert Dougherty and Darwin Kastle | Producer: White Wizard Games

Epic Card Game

by David ChircopBOARD GAME REVIEW

Collectible Card Games (CCGs) appeal to the most addictive

aspects of our personality. The adrenaline rush when opening random packs and finding "good cards", combined with the exquisite feeling of beating your opponents can be one of the more satisfying gaming experiences of your lifetime, as well as the most expensive.

Designers know this fact, especially Robert Dougherty and Darwin Kastle, who themselves had won a variety of competitions playing the flagship CCG Magic: The Gathering. Perhaps they stopped when their significant other discovered that they spent more on Magic than paying rent.

They have now designed a game of their own: Epic, a game that plays like a CCG but is purchased only once. Designed to be immediately playable,

in its basic play mode each player receives 30 random cards from the 120 that form a deck. This is quite a paradigm shift from the classic CCG model, where the players spend days or even weeks perfecting their deck. Epic manages to pull this off with a single important change. Every single card in Epic is an explosive ball of immense power. Each card is an absolute game changer. Any card that you draw opens up an extensive variety of new options, resources or lifelines. There are no cards that are just fillers, no land cards, no mana curve, no puny starter monsters, no wasting time. You have a huge monster down on turn one and so does your opponent.

There are two types of monsters: the really powerful ones, which cost zero mana to play, and the really really powerful ones, which cost

one mana to play. You get one mana during your turn, and one mana during your opponent’s—simple.

The game plays like a tug of war. The players outsmart each other through precise timings of card play and card combos. Damaging the opponent becomes a rarity, and when damage is actually done it is generally a reasonably heavy blow rather than a repetitive trickle of low damage. The game is a quick start battle of wits, where players look for cards that work together.

Epic is not Magic: The Gathering, and it never tries to replicate the immense depth of a dedicated player community. Instead, Epic is a distilled CCG-style monster duelling experience without the immense investment of time and money. If that is what you are seeking, Epic will hit the spot.

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The Colour of Paradise (originally released as Rang-E Khoda, The

Colour of God) is Majid Majidi’s fourth feature—here as director and screenwriter. It revolves around a blind boy’s return to his village for the summer recess, focusing on the widowed father-son relationship and the intense bond between the villagers and natural forces.

The film starts with a quasi-documentary look at the school for the blind in Tehran. The style alternates between long shots and close-ups, much like a blind person examining, then focusing on their surroundings. At the end of the school day, Muhammad waits for his father Hashem to pick him up, during which time he finds a fallen chick and returns it to its nest on a tree. Muhammad’s reactions to touch and sound are reflected in his actions (and the film’s editing) being broken into the smallest components.

He gauges the distance between himself, the chick’s tweets, and the mother’s calls, then follows the bird’s tweets through the rustle of fallen leaves. Bird’s eye view shots suggest that nature is watching and calling for help. As for the soundtrack, sounds are highlighted in sonic close-ups as the boy hears them, while visual crossfades suggest that time and patience were required by the boy to complete his task. This scene exposes the audience to the boy’s capacities but more importantly, to Muhammad’s worldview.

Things take a sad turn when the father arrives and asks the school principals to keep the boy for the summer. Eventually we learn that Hashem believes the blind boy to be a bad omen for his marriage plans—a case where tradition makes one blind. His request is declined and the boy is accompanied back to the village.

There, he measures the changes that went on in his absence by touching faces or noticing the growth of vegetation. Hashem eventually takes Muhammad far away for an apprenticeship with a blind carpenter, but returns for him again after his grandmother dies and the marriage is called off. While crossing back through the ominous, overseeing forest, the father’s look shifts between humble and darker aspects. An accident on a bridge ensues and Muhammad and Hashem wake up to an almost mystical experience—as if washed on the shores of an afterlife where through synaesthetic skill (bringing together sight and sound) the boy sees the colour of God through his fingertips.

Jonathan Romney argues that the film relies too heavily on beautiful scenery to communicate to the viewer the outer beauty which a visually impaired person cannot see.

by Charlo PisaniFILM REVIEW

RANG-E KHODA(The Colour of Paradise)

Year of release: 1999Director: Majid MajidiProduction company: Varahonar Certification: PG

Mario meets democracy in Super Mario Maker, a side-scrolling platform game creation system and video game developed and

published by Nintendo in which fans are provided with the tools to design and create their own levels. Players from all over the world responded to this call and thousands of levels have already been created, ranging from the brilliant to the dull, from the insane to the even more insane.

Super Mario Maker is a development tool just as much as it is a guided tour of the world of Super Mario. Devoid of enemies to beat or princesses to save, players now witness the familiar 2D spaces raw. They need to populate them with obstacles and challenges and will quickly realise how hard it is to design a good level. This experience reveals the balance and elegance reached in games such as Super Mario Bros. 3.

However, democracy has its perils: many creations will probably be ignored by the Mario community, but a few kind peers will certainly comment and play through them. If you’re good enough, you can become a Mario starchitect, respected and applauded by the community. To reach that status, you need to analyse the failures of others who play your levels.

Will you make the level harder or easier? The choice is yours.There’s no pre-made game in Super Mario Maker.

Effectively, the player creates content for Nintendo. The player will stumble

through many unremarkable levels but the experience is worth the time and will help you learn to love the

possibilities you create in the familiar Super Mario universe.

by Costantino OlivaGAME REVIEW

DIY MARIOSuper Mario MakerPlatforms: Wii UDeveloper: Nintendo

It can also be argued that sound foregrounding techniques used in the film to depict hyper-sensitivity to sound and pantheistic forces, are nothing new to filmmaking. However, Rang-e Khoda’s strength relies on a narrative cycle in which contrasting intensities shift from a quasi-documentary style, to a scenic, intimate, and mystical feel. The film reflects on a person’s relationship between the outer and inner world. It highlights the capacities and limitations of sound and sight, which are often taken for granted and which have given us cinema itself.

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THE FUTURE OF

MONEY?

by Ryan AbelaTECH NEWS

Money has evolved hand in hand with society. Early civilisations

exchanged goods, which were then replaced by precious metals, like gold and bronze that represented the value of other goods. This metal money was made efficient through banks. Banks kept a gold reserve issued to an owner against a certificate. These certificates became paper money. Today’s money revolution is digital.

The advent of the Internet and introduction of e-commerce has made plastic money even more popular. One can trade without being present. Nevertheless, plastic money is still backed up by fiat currencies, which are governed by a central entity dictating the value of money based on the economic value of the country. Transactions require a middleman to be approved,

with plenty of associated charges.In 2008, an unknown person or

group of persons under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper describing a new form of asset or currency called bitcoin. A year later they released the first open-source bitcoin software.

Bitcoin is essentially a peer-to-peer system for transferring units. Encryption techniques are used to generate these bitcoin units and to verify transactions. The innovation in bitcoin is that it is a decentralised system, meaning that there is no single entity controlling it, and no single middleman like Visa or Mastercard to verify transactions. Other people using the system perform verification automatically and collectively. Each transaction is then stored in a global ledger called the block-chain. Again,

this ledger is not kept in a single place, but is distributed and replicated worldwide. Any changes in one system are replicated everywhere.

Bitcoin is now accepted by most online merchants. It can even be exchanged for other currencies. It reduces commission charges and can be anonymous—with some effort. Attempts to discredit bitcoin keep occurring because of its supposed use for illegal activities. However, bitcoin keeps attracting investors like Reid Hoffman, who have invested in startups and innovative businesses using this currency. This month the EU court also declared that no VAT should be charged when exchanging bitcoin, placing it on par with other currencies. Bitcoin is still a new technology with some growing pains, but it is also the next step in the evolution of money.

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To see the details, to hear the sounds, to taste the flavours, to smell the scents, to feel the textures of the urban and rural environments, ecologies, and cultures that constitute the material assemblage called Malta. To be aware of the histories, to be respectful of the diversities, to be participant in

the trajectories that have shaped, are shaping, and will shape the movement called Malta. In concrete

terms, to improve Malta through the appreciation of who and where we are, which can only be achieved

through the aspiration for excellence in every aspect of society. In other words, education.

MY 100 WORD IDEA TO CHANGE MALTA

National Excellence

Prof. Frank Camilleri

Don't THINK by Ġorġ Mallia

Pain is defined by humans as a highly unpleasant physical sensation caused by illness or injury—something that humans usually try to avoid.

Plants, like humans, want to avoid illness or injury. In the light of this, plants feel pain. They have a defensive mechanism that allows them to secrete compounds that can warn nearby plants that a threat is nearby. These plants respond by defending themselves through, for one thing, the production of sour tasting toxins that cause the herbivore discomfort (meaning, for example, that go090ats end up with upset stomachs).

So plants do feel ‘pain’ and have evolved to react to it—food for thought.

DO PLANTS FEEL PAIN?Alexander Hili

MEMECULTURE GENES

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http://www.eupa.org.mt

Co�ee.

COMPUTIME INTERNSHIP

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