Academia & Research – Frankie Inguanez

Category: Academia & Research

Perceptions and Impacts of Local Education within the ICT Field

Posted on 2024-06-042024-06-04 by Frankie

I am very proud to have mentored Ms Jade Vella in her undergraduate research titled: “Perceptions and Impacts of Local Education within the ICT Field” which was also presented in the MCAST Qualitative Research Conference held between the 4th and 7th December 2023, and eventually published in the MCAST Research Journal. In this study, we applied a triangulation of perspectives starting with the use of Factor Analysis of Mixed Data on scrapped education and professional data of 200 graduates which gave initial insights shaping the subsequent surveys and interviews.

MCAST @ DaSET 2023

Posted on 2023-12-052024-06-04 by Frankie

Very pleased that our MCAST IICT undergraduate research, authored by Ms Clair Abela and myself, has been accepted and presented at the 2nd International Conference on Data Science and Emerging Technologies 2023 (DaSET 2023). Our study titled “Wound Stage Recognition using YOLOv5” focuses on the use of YOLOv5 to detect and classify pressure injuries. Clair has demonstrated great dedication and rigor in her research undertaking and excelled not just at an institute level but also at an international level, representing MCAST and Malta. The full publication can be found on Springer Link.

Abstract: Pressure injuries or pressure sores are lesions that develop over the bony prominences of the body. It is noted from professional nurses and from first-hand experience, that such wounds are often wrongly classified, making the healing process difficult and painful for the patient, when it does not need to be the case. This study aims to research the use of modern computer vision and artificial intelligence techniques to aid in the classification of pressure ulcers to a degree superior to that achieved by humans. The YOLOv5 algorithm was trained in various combinations of three data sets. Single-phase and multi-phase architecture models were developed and trained for the different data set configurations to identify the ideal scenario of classification for the different stages of pressure ulcers. A single-phase architecture model trained using the public data sets and enhanced with the novel data set improves on the current state of the art. While the single-phase architecture was deemed the better option for the wound stage classification throughout this study, both architectures had their own strong points. The multi-phase architecture was found to be better suited for smaller data sets, while the single-phase architecture was better suited for larger ones. It was also found that throughout both architectures, the combination of 3 data sets is varied enough, however, less is not. This study is further strengthened through the input of different viewpoints that complement the lead researcher’s work.

MCAST @ B2C 2022

Posted on 2022-11-142022-11-14 by Frankie

It was a great pleasure to have the opportunity to present our research at the B2C 2022 Conference in Barcelona, Spain. Mr Jake Carabott has presented our research titled “A Last Mile Blockchain Based Proof of Delivery System” in which we explore the use of blockchain technology as a solution for the last mile delivery service.

In this research, Jake has custom-built a locker fitted with a smart lock that interacts with a custom-built mobile application. This application allows the owner to manage access to the locker with a courier being allowed to deposit parcels when a human is not available to gather. Access is logged on the blockchain for transparency and auditing purposes. This proof of concept prototype has been lab-tested and validated. To further complement the research an interview with a manager in a logistics company was held to get the business point of view, as well as a survey with 100 respondents to gather the end-user point of view.

The conference was packed with various other Blockchain research by other students and various keynote speakers. Thanks to MCAST IICT for the support. Special thanks to Profs. Sergey Yurish for the organization of this conference.

RemSen 21

Posted on 2021-08-30 by Frankie

This year, Mr Daren Scerri and I have set up and organized the first Remote Sensing hackathon for MCAST, named RemSen 21. This event started in February till June of this year, during which we trained our IICT degree students in the use of the European Space Agency Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite data. For the competition, the participants were requested to research topics of local relevance and of environmental importance. Supporting this event was the Ministry for the Environment & Climate Change Planning, Environment & Resource Authority, EIC-Climate KIC Malta and eSkills Foundation Malta. On the 11th of June, we had a half-day seminar during which our participants presented their work. We wish to congratulate all participants: Abigail Vella, Dylan Luke Abela, Eman Paul Abela, Gabriel Gauci, Ismael Scicluna, Kurt Agius, Leonard Bruno, Luke Zammit, Mandy Cortis, Marc Finger, Massimo Darmanin and Robert Meli. Special congratulations go to Ms Mandy Cortis for being recognised with the best overall project for her research in the progress done in Wied Fulija; to Mr Leonard Bruno for being recognised with the best technical development with his research in Maltese coastline erosion; finally to Mr Massimo Darmanin for being recognised with the best impact project for his research in various uses of Remote Sensing in Malta. Our intention is to focus on the Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-5 satellites for RemSen 22. Thank you and well done to all.

MCAST ICT Applied Research Group

Posted on 2020-03-31 by Frankie

It is my great pleasure to announce the launching of the MCAST IICT Applied Research Group, ICTAR for short. We are a group of eight IICT academics and a senior research officer whose aim is to focus on support research at MCAST IICT. We work on research projects, deliver talks and organise workshops. We have five research themes:

We can be contacted via ictar@mcast.edu.mt.

MCAST @ WCV 2019

Posted on 2019-11-28 by Frankie

It was a great pleasure and honour to present our MCAST IICT research at the International Workshop on Colour Vision 2019, part of the ISPA 2019 conference in Dubrovnik, Croatia. The conference was very well organized and full of great research. We presented research titled “Chrovision and TrueColour: Applications for Colour Impaired Persons” authored by Charleston Attard and myself.

In this research, we created a smartphone application, Chrovision, that simulates different degrees of colour blindness and corrects the image to cater for the colour impaired individual needs. The second application, TrueColor, identifies the colour name of a specific target. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Charleston on his great work and this achievement.

MCAST @ FPDAPP 2019

Posted on 2019-09-04 by Frankie

MCAST IICT was represented by Mr Axel Curmi at the 2nd International Workshop of Future Perspective of Decentralized Applications (FPDAPP 2019) in Göttingen, Germany, during which he presented his second paper on distributed applications titled “Academic Achievement Recognition and Verification using Blockchain” which is a follow-up on his first paper publication.

The workshop was part of the Euro-Par 2019 International Conference. Axel has just finished his final year of studies in B.Sc. (Hons.) Software Development and I am very honoured and proud to have mentored him, definitely someone to watch.

MCAST @ Latvia 2019 – Erasmus+

Posted on 2019-05-212020-06-10 by Frankie

From the 28th April till the 4th May, I had the opportunity to visit Saldus Tehnikums in Latvia as part of the Erasmus+ staff mobility, on behalf of MCAST. It was a really great experience seeing how VET programs are created and run, namely the Fire Fighting program and Cyber Security Diploma.

During my visit, I also had the opportunity to deliver a couple of lectures highlighting research currently undertaken at MCAST IICT. There are some really talented students and exceptional staff such as Aiva Kiseniece who is the Project and Development Planning Specialist at Saldus Technikums. Latvia is a very beautiful country and I highly recommend the visit.