A call for parental involvement in state schools

Parental involvement (PI) in the education of children is an important element of effective education (Horby, 2017). The setting of School Councils regulated by LEGAL NOTICE 135/1993 is one way to encourage PI in State Schools in Malta. However, the role of School Councils is fluid and participation is not promising. This paper provides an overview of the current PI based on Hornby’s (2000) models from the perspective of the author’s experience originating from her involvement with School Councils since 2008 and her role as president of the Maltese Association of Parents of State School students (MAPSSS) since 2012. The call for parental involvement comes from policy makers and the parents themselves, but, in practice, there are various gaps and barriers that hinder parental participation in the schooling of their children. The changes in the social dynamics challenge the traditional role of parental involvement schools which teachers are bound to. The teachers’ and parents’ understanding of parental involvement may not be congruent, creating a sense of suspicion that conditions the possibility for collaboration. Moreover, the changing context of the education system and the demands on teachers side- lines further parental involvement. To translate the call for parental involvement in practice, the necessary support through training and guidance to all parties and the required structure should be embedded in the system, so as to allow a gradual paradigm shift.peer-reviewe

A new low cost, elastic and conformable electronics technology for soft and stretchable electronic devices by use of a stretchable substrate

A growing need for ambient electronics in our daily life leads to higher demands from the user in the view of comfort of the electronic devices. Those devices should become invisible to the user, especially when they are embedded in clothes (e.g. in smart textiles). They should be soft, conformable and to a certain degree stretchable. Electronics for implantation on the other hand should ideally be soft and conformable in relation to the body tissue, in order to minimize the rejecting nature of the body to unknown implanted rigid objects. Conformable and elastic circuitry is an emerging topic in the electronics and packaging domain. In this contribution a new low cost, elastic and stretchable electronic device technology will be presented, based on the use of a stretchable substrate. The process steps used are standard PCB fabrication processes, resulting in a fast technology transfer to the industry. This new developed technology is based on the combination of rigid standard SMD components which are connected with 2-D spring-shaped metallic interconnections. Embedding is done by moulding the electronic device in a stretchable polymer. The reliability of the overall system is improved by varying the thickness of the embedding polymer, wherever the presence and type of components requires to. Manufacturability issues are discussed together with the need for good reliability of the stretchable interconnections when stress is applied during stretching

Laparoscopic omentoplasty and split skin graft for deep sternal wound infection and dehiscence patient

Treatment of sternotomy dehiscence secondary to infection is complex. We describe a case where following debridement and negative pressure therapy the greater omentum was harvested laparoscopically, pedicled on the right gastroepiploic artery and transposed through a subxiphoid window and laid into the chest wound. The omentum was covered with a split skin graft. The omental transposition provided a healthy vascular bed for the skin graft to be laid on top of. This technique allows for larger defects to be closed when due to the amount of bone loss the sternum cannot be brought together. Such procedures are normally performed when all other measures have failed and myocutaneous flaps cover the omentoplasty. Our case is novel in that the laparoscopic harvest and the use of direct skin grafting make this an option to be considered earlier as a single definitive procedure.peer-reviewe

At the crossroads of chemical pathology and bariatrics

Obesity afflicts a high number of individuals worldwide. Also, looking further into the local situation in Malta, there are alarming national statistics with regards to Maltese prevalence of obesity. This in turn poses a significant burden on health care given obesity is associated with multiple co-morbidities. Notable examples include type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and sleep apnoea. When dietary, exercise and pharmacological regimes fail, certain patients may meet the criteria for Bariatric surgery which usually encompass those with morbid obesity having a BMI greater or equal to 40kg/m2 or a BMI greater or equal to 35kg/m2 which is medically complicated. Bariatric surgery has the potential to result in remission of type 2 diabetes.peer-reviewe

Helmet and active streamers from radio observations

Large coronal regions disconnected from any calcium plages and identified by their thermal emission at 169 mHz play a basic role in the sector structure of the interplanetary medium. It was concluded that these coronal regions are to be interpreted as streamers

In situ observations on deformation behavior and stretching-induced failure of fine pitch stretchable interconnect

Electronic devices capable of performing in extreme mechanical conditions such as stretching, bending, or twisting will improve biomedical and wearable systems. The required capabilities cannot be achieved with conventional building geometries, because of structural rigidity and lack of mechanical stretchability. In this article, a zigzag-patterned structure representing a stretchable interconnect is presented as a promising type of building block. In situ experimental observations on the deformed interconnect are correlated with numerical analysis, providing an understanding of the deformation and failure mechanisms. The experimental results demonstrate that the zigzag-patterned interconnect enables stretchability up to 60% without rupture. This stretchability is accommodated by in-plane rotation of arms and out-of-plane deformation of crests. Numerical analysis shows that the dominating failure cause is interfacial in-plane shear stress. The plastic strain concentration at the arms close to the crests, obtained by numerical simulation, agrees well with the failure location observed in the experiment

Smart nanotextiles: materials and their application

Textiles are ubiquitous to us, enveloping our skin and surroundings. Not only do they provide a protective shield or act as a comforting cocoon but they also serve esthetic appeal and cultural importance. Recent technologies have allowed the traditional functionality of textiles to be extended. Advances in materials science have added intelligence to textiles and created ‘smart’ clothes. Smart textiles can sense and react to environmental conditions or stimuli, e.g., from mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, or magnetic sources (Lam Po Tang and Stylios 2006). Such textiles find uses in many applications ranging from military and security to personalized healthcare, hygiene, and entertainment. Smart textiles may be termed ‘‘passive’’ or ‘‘active.’’ A passive smart textile monitors the wearer’s physiology or the environment, e.g., a shirt with in-built thermistors to log body temperature over time. If actuators are integrated, the textile becomes an active, smart textile as it may respond to a particular stimulus, e.g., the temperature-aware shirt may automatically roll up the sleeves when body temperature rises. The fundamental components in any smart textile are sensors and actuators. Interconnections, power supply, and a control unit are also needed to complete the system. All these components must be integrated into textiles while still retaining the usual tactile, flexible, and comfortable properties that we expect from a textile. Adding new functionalities to textiles while still maintaining the look and feel of the fabric is where nanotechnology has a huge impact on the textile industry. This article describes current developments in materials for smart nanotextiles and some of the many applications where these innovative textiles are of great benefit

The impact of IPS‑funded scholarships on beneficiaries, the public service, and Maltese society

The public service offers financial sponsorships to public officers with the aim of helping them continue their formal education, in order to acquire higher qualifications and develop their human capital. These sponsorships, which vary from short training courses to PhD programmes, are administered by the Institute for the Public Services (IPS), which provides courses specifically for the public service through a collaborative venture with two higher education institutions: the University of Malta (UOM), and the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST). Additionally, IPS is also responsible for the administration of scholarships funded by national funds and the European Social Fund (ESF), which is obtained through the EU to support employment and social inclusion. The public service has grown substantially in recent years, and it is only through trained, qualified, and dedicated employees that it can offer an efficient and effective service to the general public. Now more than ever, public service employees need to engage in policy and research, embrace new technology systems, and adapt to growing and shifting demands. To strengthen such a workforce, employers needs to ensure that the skills of their employees are nurtured, and that they are in line with the respective objectives and needs.peer-reviewe

New Particle Formation in the Mid-Latitude Upper Troposphere

Primary aerosol production due to new particle formation (NPF) in the upper troposphere and the impact that this might have on cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) concentration can be of sufficient magnitude to contribute to the uncertainty in radiative forcing. This uncertainty affects our ability to estimate how sensitive the climate is to greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, new particle formation must be accurately defined, parametrized and accounted for in models. This research involved the deployment of instruments, data analysis and interpretation of particle formation events during the Mid-latitude Airborne Cirrus Properties Experiment (MACPEX) campaign. The approach combined field measurements and observations with extensive data analysis and modeling to study the process of new particle formation and growth to CCN active sizes. Simultaneous measurements of O3, CO, ultrafine aerosol particles and surface area from a high-altitude research aircraft were used to study tropospheric-stratospheric mixing as well as the frequency and location of NPF. It was found that the upper troposphere was an active region in the production of new particles by gas-to-particle conversion, that nucleation was triggered by convective clouds and mixing processes, and that NPF occurred in regions with high relative humidity and low surface area. In certain cases, mesoscale and synoptic features enhanced mixing and facilitated the formation of new particles in the northern mid-latitudes. A modeling study of particle growth and CCN formation was done based on measured aerosol size distributions and modeled growth. The results indicate that when SO2 is of sufficient concentration NPF is a significant source of potential CCN in the upper troposphere. In conditions where convective cloud outflow eject high concentrations of SO2, a large number of new particles can form especially in the instance when the preexisting surface area is low. The fast growth of nucleated clusters produces a particle mode that becomes CCN active within 24-hours

Development of a thin-film stretchable electrical interconnection technology for biocompatible applications

Stretchable electronics technologies have gained a lot of interest for reasons such as user comfort and reliability. Key aspect in these technologies is the fabrication of stretchable electrical interconnections. These are realized by patterning an intrinsic, non-stretchable gold film into a sequence of horseshoe shapes, acting as "2D" springs when embedded into PDMS. Polyimide is used as a supporting material, successfully enhancing reliability during mechanical loading. This was illustrated by application of various cyclic uni-axial strains to test structures which were fabricated in this technology. A lifetime over 130'000 and 500'000 cycles has been shown at strains of respectively 20% and 10%