Understanding the Investor Bonello, Antonietta; Grima, Simon; Spiteri, Jonathan
Emerald Publishing Limited eBooks,
2019
eBook
Odprti dostop
In finance, understanding investors and their motivations is key for any business and policy-maker. Understanding the Investor: A Maltese Study of Risk and Behavior in Financial Investment ...Decisionsoffers a nuanced view of the Maltese investor and the Malta Stock Exchange, and its implications on the wider financial world.
Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) combine the impact of morbidity and mortality, allowing for comprehensive comparisons of the population. The aim was to estimate the DALYs due to Covid-19 in ...Malta (March 2020-21) and investigate its impact in relation to other causes of disease at a population level.
Mortality and weekly hospital admission data were used to calculate DALYs, based on the European Burden of Disease Network consensus Covid-19 model. Covid-19 infection duration of 14 days was considered. Sensitivity analyses for different morbidity scenarios, including post-acute consequences were presented.
An estimated 70,421 people were infected (with and without symptoms) by Covid-19 in Malta (March 2020-1), out of which 1636 required hospitalisation and 331 deaths, contributing to 5478 DALYs. These DALYs positioned Covid-19 as the fourth leading cause of disease in Malta. Mortality contributed to 95% of DALYs, while post-acute consequences contributed to 60% of morbidity.
Covid-19 over 1 year has impacted substantially the population health in Malta. Post-acute consequences are the leading morbidity factors that require urgent targeted action to ensure timely multidisciplinary care. It is recommended that DALY estimations in 2021 and beyond are calculated to assess the impact of vaccine roll-out and emergence of new variants.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
We performed geophysical investigations in the northwestern sector of the island of Malta to reconstruct velocity-depth models and provide shear-wave velocity profiles. We have chosen two sites, one ...located in Rabat (Malta) and another in the Golden Bay area. We used both active (seismic and electrical 2D-tomography, Multichanel Analysis of Surface Waves – MASW) and passive (2D arrays and single-station measurements using ambient noise) geophysical methods. Consistently with previous studies performed in this part of Malta, we have found that both sites are characterized by site resonance in the frequency range 1–2 Hz as an effect of the local lithostratigraphic succession that shows an impedance contrast at about 60–90 m depth. This resonance effect can have important implications on both seismic hazard as well as seismic risk evaluation of the region since the amplified frequency range coincides with the resonance frequencies typical of 5–10 storey buildings which are very diffuse in the Maltese Islands, especially after intense recent urbanization.
We also highlight the importance of performing seismic velocity measurements even at rock sites. As an example, the Golden Bay site would be classified as class “A” following the EuroCode EC8 when considering only the outcropping lithology represented by limestone rocks. Conversely the subsoil characterization provided by this study has revealed that this site falls in the EC8 class “B”, stressing the importance of direct geophysical measurements since the a-priori assignment to A-class could lead to wrong estimates in evaluating the site response.
•We performed seismic and electrical geophysical investigations in Northern Malta.•The reconstructed shear-wave velocity profile shows an impedance contrast.•The impedance contrast causes a resonance peak between 1 and 2 Hz.•This resonance effect can have important implications on the seismic hazard.•We stress the importance of performing velocity measurements even at rock sites.
Historically, the Maltese islands have been totally controlled and administered by a central government, except for two short periods: during the French occupation of Malta when there were efforts to ...introduce a form of local self-government and between 1960 and 1973 when a civil council was created in Gozo. Modern local government was established in the Republic of Malta in 1993. Since 2019, it has a two-tier structure and the units of territorial division are the region and the municipality. Subsequent self-government reforms increased the powers of local authorities, although the scope of their tasks still does not constitute a very extensive catalogue. A significant problem is also the financial dependence of local self-governments on the central authorities. Nevertheless, the analysis of changes introduced so far through successive amendments and reforms indicates that taking action is changes in the right direction and should be continued. The aim of the paper is mainly to present the legal grounds and the form of the current Maltese local self-government. The methods used while writing this paper were the analysis and the comparative methods. Keywords: decentralisation, local council, local self-government, Malta, mayor, region.
Quad-module characterization with the MALTA monolithic pixel chip Dachs, F.; Zoubir, A.M.; Sharma, A. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
07/2024, Letnik:
1064
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The MALTA silicon pixel detector combines a depleted monolithic active pixel sensor (DMAPS) with a fully asynchronous front-end and readout. It features a high granularity pixel matrix with a 36.4 μm ...symmetric pixel pitch, low power consumption of <1 μW/pixel and low material budget with detector thicknesses as little as 50 μm. It achieves a radiation hardness to 100MRad TID and more than 1 × 10E15 1 MeV neq/cm2 with a time resolution of <2 ns (Pernegger et al., 2023).
In order to cover large sensitive areas efficiently with a minimum of power and data connections the development of modules, comprising of up to 4 MALTA detectors, is studied.
This contribution presents the beam test performance of parallel and serial powered MALTA 4-chip modules in an effort to characterize the sensor’s chip-to-chip data and power transmission and prepare the production of a first prototype of an ultra-light weight 4-chip module on a flexible circuit with next generation MALTA2 sensors.
Genetic risk for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is highly elevated in genetic isolates, like the island population of Malta in the south of Europe, providing a unique opportunity to investigate ...the genetics of this disease. Here we characterize the clinical phenotype and genetic profile of the largest series of Maltese ALS patients to date identified throughout a 5-year window. Cases and controls underwent neuromuscular assessment and analysis of rare variants in ALS causative or risk genes following whole-genome sequencing. Potentially damaging variants or repeat expansions were identified in more than 45% of all patients. The most commonly affected genes were ALS2, DAO, SETX and SPG11, an infrequent cause of ALS in Europeans. We also confirmed a significant association between ATXN1 intermediate repeats and increased disease risk. Damaging variants in major ALS genes C9orf72, SOD1, TARDBP and FUS were however either absent or rare in Maltese ALS patients. Overall, our study underscores a population that is an outlier within Europe and one that represents a high percentage of genetically explained cases.
El extranjero en pandemia González, Fernanda
Revista question,
05/2020, Letnik:
1, Številka:
mayo
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Escribo desde Malta, una isla ubicada en el mediterráneo en medio de Europa y África o más claro aún, entre Libia e Italia. Vivo en este país hace tres años. Desde entonces han pasado varios sucesos ...nacionales relevantes: el asesinato de la periodista Dapne Caruana con un carro bomba, Valletta como capital europea de la cultura, el apuñalamiento mortal a Hugo Chetcuti, uno de los empresarios más rico del país, justo al frente de su emporio, y la renuncia del primer ministro, Joseph Muscat, tras la judicialización de su jefe de gabinete por la muerte de Caruana.
Estos hechos mantuvieron a la isla en una conmoción tras otra por un período de tiempo. Hasta ahora fue un lugar dinámico con disputas políticas y sociales comparables con las de cualquier otro país remoto. En estos tiempos, la isla también coincide con el resto del mundo en la extensión de la Pandemia del Covid 19 y en la consigna implícita: cualquiera puede ser sospechoso. Todos podríamos tener el virus, desconfiamos unos de los otros.
Introducción: La producción de cerveza artesanal genera residuos sólidos en cantidades importantes, a los cuales no se les da un uso adecuado. El Trüb (desecho cervecero) tiene nutrientes ...importantes, como proteínas y carbohidratos, y compuestos físico - químicos; sin embargo, sus aplicaciones se ven obstaculizadas por el sabor astringente. Objetivo: Estimar el enriquecimiento de harina de maltas procesadas en cerveza artesanal mediante agregado de Trüb (sedimento) fermentable. Materiales y Métodos: La metodología aplicada fue de tipo experimental, realizando la caracterización físico- química de muestras procesadas de residuos de cerveza artesanal, evaluando la humedad, cenizas, grasas, acidez, proteínas y fibras, basándose en las normativas establecidas. Resultados y Discusión: Como resultado se obtuvo que la mejor mezcla de malta con sedimento fue la de malta oscura con sedimento kveik con una proporción del 25 %, obteniendo valores de incremento de proteína 26,73 %. Conclusiones: Con un incremento de proteína la mejor muestra de malta y sedimento fue la de malta oscura - sedimento Kveik desde 12,95 – 26,73 % p/p, sin adición y adición al 25 % del sedimento.
The presence of perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in sediments and groundwater on the Maltese Islands is reported here for the first time. Sediments and soil samples were collected from 24 sites and ...groundwater was collected from 10 boreholes. PFASs were extracted from water and solid samples using solid phase extraction. The extracts were then analysed using ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry in tandem (UPLC-MS/MS). All sediment, soil and groundwater samples were contaminated with at least one PFAS. PFOS (<LOQ – 5.91 ng/g), PFOA (<LOQ – 0.58 ng/g) and PFDA (<LOQ – 1.05 ng/g) were the major PFASs being detected in 100% of the sediment and soil samples. Meanwhile PFOA (<LOD – 2.68 ng/L) was the PFAS detected in all groundwater samples. The concentrations of PFASs observed in groundwater on the Maltese Islands were below the parameters set by the Directive 98/83/EC.
Display omitted
•Occurrence and distribution of 7 perfluoroalkyl substances in the Maltese soil, sediment and groundwater were investigated.•PFOS, PFOA and PFDA were the most abundant PFASs in soil and sediment with the highest PFAS concentration always being PFOS.•All PFAS analysed were found in groundwater with PFOA being the most abundant.
PDF
