Don Giuseppe Zammit detto 'Brighella' : vita, opere e rapporti con la realta italiana e maltese dell'ottocento

Don Giuseppe Zammit detto “Brighella” non è noto oggi come lo era nei suoi tempi soprattutto perché scrisse poesie occasionali di tono minore che furono poi dimenticate con il passare degli anni. Lo scopo di questa ricerca è di fissare le tappe più importanti della sua vita: nascita, infanzia, gioventù, primo amore, studi, presbiterato, prime pubblicazioni, studi a Roma, il ritorno e la ripresa dell’attività letteraria e giornalistica, il carcere, la sua fama come poeta latino e italiano, la vecchiaia, la sua morte e le sue connessioni con l’Italia e con la realtà storica, sociale, politica, religiosa, letteraria di Malta sotto gli Inglesi nell’Ottocecento. Si cercherà anche di elencare le sue pubblicazioni, libri, giornali in latino, italiano e maltese che gli procurarono il nome di poeta famoso. Si vedrà anche quanto questo scrittore prolifico fosse intelligente e aperto a tutte le influenze del suo tempo di Malta e dell’Italia e quanto fosse impegnato quando lodò o criticò persone importanti dei suoi tempi. Molti suoi lavori sono sparsi in giornali e spesso non sono firmati ma fortunatamente il manoscritto 33 della Biblioteca maltese e il manoscritto “In Hebreos” della collezione del Cavaliere John Frendo Azopardi contengono raccolte ampie delle sue poesie italiane. Inoltre esiste un libro di cento sonetti tronchi dedicati ad un certo Pasquino. Esaminando la sua produzione in italiano si nota che il poeta è collegato alla tradizione letteraria italiana contemporanea. Nei suoi scritti notiamo che la sua posizione ideologica si manifesta sempre a favore della dottrina cristiana, del gesuitismo, dell’antiliberalismo, del papismo e del nazionalismo. È sempre accanito contro gli esuli italiani, Garibaldi e Vittorio Emmanuele II e si schiera contro la corruzione delle istituzioni dell’Ottocento maltese. Alcune poesie che saranno citate e analizzate sono i sonetti Ritratto dell’Associazione Patriottica, Ad un predicatore insulso – che fece la predicina di S. Antonio, un altro contro Gaspard le Marchant, il governatore inglese, un sonetto contro Don Marforio (Quod superest date pauperibus), i cento sonetti contro Pasquino, in cui ricalca Li Tre Giuli di Giambattista Casti, fra cui i numeri LX e C che ricordano il Petrarca, il XXXIV che menziona il tema famoso della libertà di stampa, il LXXXIV, un’ invettiva feroce, e il XLVII che ricorda Rustico da Filippo. Inoltre troviamo stilemi danteschi ed alfieriani in O stupidi costumi imperversanti. Interessante l’inno A nostra donna del Carmelo e A Sant’Elena imperatrice che si possono inserire nella tradizione arcadica e manzoniana. Ci sono inoltre le poesie amorose, fra cui L’invito, una canzonetta arcadica con modulazioni metastasiane, rulliane, frugoniane e montiane. Va notato che durante la sua vita e anche anni dopo la sua morte, per molti anni Zammit fu noto come il più grande umanista maltese.peer-reviewe

Applying an SOM Neural Network to Increase the Lifetime of Battery-Operated Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks have garnered significant attention in recent years. According to (The Mobile Internet, 2004), more than half a billion nodes will be shipped for wireless sensor applications in 2010, for an end user market worth at least $7 billion. Wireless sensor networks are one of the first real-world examples of pervasive computing, the notion that small, smart, computing and cheap sensing devices will eventually permeate the environment (Bulusu & Jha, 2005). The combination of distributed sensing, low power processors and wireless communication enables such technology to be used in a wide array of applications such as habitat monitoring and environment monitoring, military solutions, such as battlefield surveillance, and commercial applications, such as monitoring material fatigue and managing inventory.peer-reviewe

An Analysis of Working Conditions of Filipinos in Malta

Malta is experiencing a strong economic growth which is attracting increasing numbers of foreign workers. This study investigates the working conditions experienced by Filipinos in Malta, the largest group of migrants from outside the European Union. Survey data collected from a sample of 317 Filipino workers was compared to the results of the Sixth European Working Conditions Survey. While most respondents experience positive work outcomes, a significant minority grapples with negative conditions and perceptions. Overall, the Filipino respondents in Malta appear to face more difficult working conditions than other migrants in Europe. Nearly half of the respondents report that their health or safety is at risk because of their work and over a fourth suffered from discrimination during the year leading to the research. A substantial minority of Filipinos work below their skill levels and more than 40 hours per week. About a third of the respondents are not satisfied with their working conditions, claim not to be treated fairly at work and do not find sufficient help and support from their managers and colleagues. This study indicates the need to take into consideration the realities of both the home and host countries when analyzing the working situation of migrants. It highlights the employment vulnerability of migrant Filipino workers in Malta, and points to an apparent structural deficiency in the Maltese society to protect them

Assessing urban recreation ecosystem services through the use of geocache visitation and preference data: a case-study from an urbanised island environment

Recreation is an important cultural ecosystem service and is one way in which communities experience the direct and indirect benefits arising from the experiential use of their environment. The recent rise in popularity of Global Positioning System (GPS) game applications, which combine information technology with an activity that increases mobility and encourages outdoor enjoyment, provides ecosystem service practitioners with an opportunity to make use of this georeferenced data to assess recreational ecosystem services. Geocaching is one such worldwide outdoor game. It has fixed points of incursion where people can hide and look for caches. This study explores the possibility of using geocaching data as a proxy for recreational ecosystems services in the Maltese Islands. A quantitative analysis of the georeferenced caches was used together with their visit rates and number of favourite points. This was supplemented by two questionnaires that investigated the preferences and experiences of both geocache placers (n=39) and hunters (n=21). Results show that the highest number of caches were placed and searched for in urban areas and that geocaching is strongly associated with the presence and accessibility of urban green infrastructure. The number of geocachers who stated preference for experiences in nature did not translate into high visit rates to sites of high conservation value (protected areas) but landscape value was significantly associated with recreational ecosystem services flow. The results presented here provide evidence that geocaching spatial data can act as an indicator for assessing and mapping recreational ecosystem services in urban environments and in cultural landscapes

Predictors of employment outcomes among Filipino workers in Malta

The work-related experiences of migrants vary significantly across groups and are affected by the interaction of the migrants’ characteristics with those of the host country. This study investigates the influence of a number of personal factors on the work-related outcomes of Filipino migrants in Malta. Data about seven personal characteristics and nine work-related outcomes was gathered from a sample of 317 Filipino workers and analyzed through inferential statistics. Male and female respondents experience similar work outcomes, apart from access to training which is higher among males. Older workers have better work outcomes than younger ones. They are treated more fairly, face less discrimination, take less sick leave and are less likely to exhibit presenteeism. Knowledge of local employment laws is related to higher levels of job satisfaction, fair treatment, and ability to influence decisions at work. Counter intuitively, level of education is positively related to perceived discrimination. Besides, having a high skilled job and working in the public sector are related to greater health and safety risks and more sick leave. These unexpected results may be explained through the migrants’ higher expectations and greater awareness and sensitivity towards working conditions. This study confirms the utility of a nuanced approach when examining the working conditions of Filipino migrants and highlights the predictive ability of age, skills level of job, sector of employment and knowledge of local employment laws.peer-reviewe

A novel view-level target bit rate distribution estimation technique for real-time multi-view video plus depth

This paper presents a novel view-level target bit rate distribution estimation technique for real-time Multi-view video plus depth using a statistical model that is based on the prediction mode distribution. Experiments using various standard test sequences show the efficacy of the technique, as the model manages to estimate online the view-level target bit rate distribution with an absolute mean estimation error of 2% and a standard deviation of 0.9%. Moreover, this technique provides adaptation of the view-level bit rate distribution providing scene change handling capability.peer-reviewe

Roti jduru

Ġabra ta’ poeżiji u proża li tinkludi: Kwartini ta’ C. Cassar – Dak li ħalla l-ħares ta’ Pawlu Cachia – Epigrammi ta’ Peter A. Caruana – Lill-Madonna tal-arju ta’ Mario Agius – Il-fatati li ħatfu lil Ġomu “Xewka” ta’ Ġużè Dimech Debono – Bla mħabba ta’ Ġorġ Borg – Il-bieb ta’ l-infern ta’ P. Jos. Cremona – Roti jduru ta’ C. Cassar.peer-reviewe

Vision-based tunnel lining health monitoring via bi-temporal image comparison and decision-level fusion of change maps

Tunnel structural health inspections are predominantly done through periodic visual observations, requiring humans to be physically present on-site, possibly exposing them to hazardous environments. These surveys are subjective (relying on the surveyor experience), time-consuming, and may demand operation shutdown. These issues can be mitigated through accurate automatic monitoring and inspection systems. In this work, we propose a remotely operated machine vision change detection application to improve the structural health monitoring of tunnels. The vision-based sensing system acquires the data from a rig of cameras hosted on a robotic platform that is driven parallel to the tunnel walls. These data are then pre-processed using image processing and deep learning techniques to reduce nuisance changes caused by light variations. Image fusion techniques are then applied to identify the changes occurring in the tunnel structure. Different pixel-based change detection approaches are used to generate temporal change maps. Decision-level fusion methods are then used to combine these change maps to obtain a more reliable detection of the changes that occur between surveys. A quantitative analysis of the results achieved shows that the proposed change detection system achieved a recall value of 81%, a precision value of 93% and an F1-score of 86.7%.peer-reviewe

Image mosaicing of tunnel wall images using high level features

This paper proposes a novel approach for position offset correction of images taken from a moving robotic platform in tunnel environments using image mosaicing. An image mosaic is formed by combining multiple images which capture overlapping components of a scene into a larger image. Unlike current image mosaicing methods, which use low-level features such as corners, our method uses binary edges as high-level features for image registration via template matching. This is necessary since such low-level features are absent or rare in tunnel environments. A shading correction algorithm is applied as a pre-processing step to adjust the uneven illumination present in this environment. This technique is simple and efficient while being robust to small camera rotations and small variations in camera distance from the wall. Experimental results show that our method contributes to good image mosaicing results with a low computational complexity, which is attractive for real-time image-based inspection applications