Academic, Researcher, Data Specialist
Under these difficult times due to the COVID-19 pandemic we have all learnt to appreciate the importance and value of data and visualisations. For that reason at Lobeslab Ltd. we have taken the John Hopkins University dataset and empowered it with additional information, giving a focus on time-series visualisations and projections. Check the full article here.
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.
After more than a 2 year experience with ensquad Ltd., I am proud to announce that we shall be opening a new joint venture together with Business Leaders Malta as Lobeslab Ltd. Would like to thank all those that supported us, clients and family.
Check out our launching article, here.
MCAST IICT has presented five research projects at the 9th IEEE International Conference On Consumer Electronics in Berlin, Germany also known as the ICCE-BERLIN.
Irisann Marie Agius has presented her B.Sc. 2nd Year research project titled “Re-purposing computers as a cluster for academic institutions” in which we explored the performance benefits of clustering single-board computers as a proof-of-concept to re-purpose workstation computer systems during out-of-office hours as a High Performance Computing system for research purposes.
Damiano Nicastro presented his B.Sc. 2nd Year research project titled “Brand usage detection via Audio Streams” in which we explored techniques, limitations and determining factors when monitoring brand usage in audio streams of videos.
Ricardo Sciberras has presented his B.Sc. final year project which is a continuation of our previous publication. This year’s project is titled “Automated traffic congestion estimation via public video feeds” where we present our findings in estimating traffic congestion in an automated manner from the various video feeds directed on Maltese roads.
Mr Daren Scerri presented the research project of his final year student, Mattea Cauchi titled, “Enriching Tourist UX via a Location Based AR Treasure Hunt Game”, in which they created an AR game located in the capital city of Valletta and researched the experience benefits that Augmented Reality brings.
I presented the research project of my final year student Deborah Catania titled “Creating AR models for challenging sizes”, which we did in collaboration with the Malta Aviation Museum to explore challenges, techniques and factors to consider when created Augmented Reality models of very large and delicate objects such as plane engines and others.
These are just a sample of the various MCAST research projects that have been presented at international conferences this year. Really proud of our students and colleagues for our collective achievements.
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 IICT just held its EXPO on Tuesday 2nd July and it was a great success. A great team made up of students, lecturers, management and administration supported by our sponsors came together to share the achievements within our institute.
The event was well received and covered extensively within the media, a real motivational booster to our students and a validation of the great work being done.
During the same event a parallel EXPO was held by the Institute of Electrical Engineering. Currently the ICA Festival is being held by the Institute of Creative Arts.
Proud to be at MCAST IICT in such interesting and positive times with great and talented individuals (students, lecturers, technical staff, administrative staff and managerial staff alike).
On the 12th June 2019 a series of presentations were delivered by my 2nd year and 3rd year IICT students to share their research advancements with 1st Year BSC students and lecturer’s alike.
Damiano Nicastro, a 2nd Year B.Sc. Software Development student presented his research in Brand Identity Monitoring using Audio Streams.
Irisann Agius, also a 2nd Year B.Sc. Software Development student presented her research in Clustering Raspberry PI Devices for Advanced Processing Power needs which is a growing need due to the growth in research being experienced at MCAST IICT.
Axel Curmi, a 3rd Year B.Sc. Software Development student, presented his research in Automated Academic Achievement Verification via Blockchain and Image Processing. The first part of this research was presented in a Springer conference last year and exhibited at the Delta Summit 2018.
Ricardo Sciberras, a 3rd Year B.Sc. Software Development student, presented his research in Automated Traffic Congestion Estimation via Public Video Feeds. The first part of this research was presented in the ICCE-Berlin IEEE Conference last year.
Eman Sammut, also a 3rd Year B.Sc. Software Development student presented his research in Blockchain Based Car Park management system for Automated Vehicles.
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.
For the fifth consecutive year MCAST IICT has hosted PingFIN, an International e-Payments Workshop organised by Odisee and currently in its tenth iteration. Also, co-hosting this event, in their respective campuses were Colchester Institute, UK and Fachhochshule FH Salzburg, Austria.
This event has become a staple in MCAST’s calendar and interest by our sponsors is growing, which this year included MITA, eSkills Foundation Malta, Microsoft Innovation Centre Malta, ccBill EU Ltd and RS2 Software PLC.
This year we had the highest attendance yet, with 24 local students and 15 visiting students and thus the change of venue. During the four day event from the 1st to the 4th of April all students were split into groups to work on the SEPA Credit Transfer and SEPA Recall Process using Oracle PL/SQL.
It most definitely was a unique experience for our participants working as a team, networking and learning new skills, whilst also getting feedback from professionals among our sponsors.
This was an unforgettable experience and I look forward for next year. I thank our sponsors, Kevin Picalausa from Odisee, all staff from MCAST for making this possible. Special thanks to my team: Alan Gatt, Daren Scerri, Luke Vella Critien and Robert Abela for their invaluable support. Finally and most of all, thanks to the students for taking our offer and making this experience special.
It was a real pleasure and proud moment to see MCAST IICT alumnus, Chris Borg, Nicole Borg and Steve Scerri who have formed Vioside Ltd., deliver a talk to our B.Sc. 2nd year students. Their story and talk was very motivating and encouraging, inspiring our young talent to work on what they really love.
Luke Benjamin Cassar, delivered a presentation about his research project on Augmented Reality in Catering, which he had the opportunity to presented in Germany, earlier this year, at an IEEE conference.
A heartfelt thanks on behalf of MCAST IICT for accepting this invitation, taking time from your work, to motivate our students.
