The treatment of irregular migrants in Malta is problematic from a human rights perspective, for it contravenes the principle of universalism that is intrinsic to human rights philosophy. This study investigates this treatment. Crucially, it identifies four elements of political practice in the absence of which it is contended a human rights culture cannot flourish, as well as underlying patterns in Maltese political culture which contravene these four elements. Its ultimate aim is to propose meaningful, effective and long-lasting human-rights-compliant solutions to the treatment of irregular immigrants in Malta. Based on a reading of foundational documents of the modern human rights movement, especially the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the thesis posits that human rights should be ‘located' between the political and the cultural. The four basic principles of human rights identified as framing the optimal political conditions for the nurturing of a human rights culture are related to dignity, a cosmopolitan orientation, democratic practice and a commitment to equality. This concept of a human rights culture is innovatively used as an analytical tool for examining Maltese responses to irregular migration. This is done in a two-way manner, with the examination of practice enriching the identified theoretical framework, and the theoretical framework then guiding the search for possible new human-rights-consistent policy directions which Malta could take. Drawing on a range of ethnographic methods, including in-depth interviews and participant observation, this study brings to light the difficulties of putting into practice human rights principles within an already established local culture grappling with its own ghosts like occupations and colonial experiences. Although resistance to change is often difficult to identify since it is shrouded in ‘modern' language, hidden under security arguments or bureaucratic explanations. Interviews and a range of documents illustrate the multi-layered misconceptions, stereotypes and fear that play out among the Maltese.

The purpose of this study was to develop a measurement procedure for the Maltese cross performed on still rings. Sixteen elite/international gymnasts participated. Two small force platforms (FPs) interfaced to a portable data logger (100 Hz sampling rate) were placed under the gymnasts’ hands in a simulated Maltese position (i.e., prone). Gymnasts attempted to rise a few centimeters to a Maltese position while vertical ground reaction forces were recorded bilaterally. Results indicated that the FPs had sufficient fidelity to differentiate gymnasts’ abilities to perform a Maltese. This method may serve to gauge the preparedness of male gymnasts performing this important skill.

This thesis is primarily concerned with the characteristics and effectiveness of extension and adult learning within a community of Maltese vegetable growers in western Sydney. Extension was practised according to principles of experiential learning theory, action research and andragogy. The recommendation is made that extension agents should concentrate upon experiences that are within the target group's spheres of activity and interest. Kolb's experiential learning theory was found to be applicable to extension in this context. This theory, and similar principles, involve interpretivism, reflection and interaction, all of which were found to be beneficial. It was found to be sufficient for the author to inspire growers with broad concepts, which were then applied by growers to their situations. It is suggested that extension agents concern themselves less with attempts to change clients' attitudes and instead encourage them to trial innovations and draw their own conclusions. Future research should consider characteristics of the internalisation of knowledge and the role of clients' emotional well-being. Guidelines for extension with Maltese vegetable growers of the Sydney region are listed, and many of these are generalisable to other circumstances of extension. / Master of Science (Hons) (Systems Agriculture)

The recently developed state-of-the-art models for Named Entity Recognition are heavily dependent upon huge amounts of available annotated data. Consequently, it is extremely challenging for data-scarce languages to obtain significant result. Several approaches have been proposed to circumvent this issue, including cross-lingual transfer learning, which is the leveraging of knowledge obtained by available resources in the source language and transfer it to a target low-resource language.        Maltese is one of the many majorly underresourced languages. The main purpose of this project is to research how recently developed transformer multilingual models (Multilingual BERT and XLM-RoBERTa) perform and to ultimately set up an evaluation benchmark in zero-shot cross-lingual transfer learning for Maltese Named Entity Recognition. The models are fine-tuned on Arabic, English, Italian, Spanish and Dutch. The experiments evaluated the efficacy of the source languages and the use of multilingual data in both the training and validation stages.         The experiments demonstrated that feeding multilingual data to both the training and the validation phases was mostly beneficial to the performance. However, adding it to the validation phase only was generally detrimental. Furthermore, XLM-R achieved overall better scores however, employing mBERT and English as the source language yielded the best performance.

This study examines some of the challenges that Maltese broadcasting is facing with respect to the news programming produced by the public service broadcaster and by the other two political stations. The thesis also investigates the concepts of balance and objectivity in news reporting and analyzes the extent to which Maltese TV news programmes succeed in providing balanced, impartial and accurate accounts. Special attention is paid to the role of the public service broadcaster, but consideration is also given to the part played by the two Maltese political stations competing with the public service broadcaster. A particular aim of this study is to measure how the requirement to preserve impartiality and balance impinges on the content of TV news bulletins and current affairs programmes produced by PSB and the other two political stations. The study will also consider the impact of current broadcasting regulations and will examine the degree to which such legislation is relevant in the attempt to achieve impartiality and balance in Maltese news broadcasting. As a basis for the study the thesis focuses on a sample of news programming material broadcast on the three television stations in Malta during a Local Council electoral campaign. The aim is to assess how various news messages are communicated to audiences and to consider whether such messages are perceived as impartial and balanced by the viewers. The study explores how news workers and news producers strive to achieve impartiality and balance in their day-to-day practices. Finally the thesis makes one or two tentative suggestions as to how current broadcasting legislation might be amended in order for the Broadcasting Authority can become a more effective watchdog and is able to intervene in cases where news programming is not deemed to be balanced and impartial.

Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon and Red Harvest are examples of iconic hard-boiled detective literature that reflect on the anxieties and tensions of the 1930s-1940s. With the Great Depression looming over these decades, the genre uses the hard-boiled detective as a way to communicate with and understand this time period. In our analysis of game theory, we look at how Dashiell Hammett's characters make decisions based on the actions of other players in the game, illustrating the influences of bargaining power and manipulation. With characters that oftentimes find themselves in situations where they must collude to reach maximum utility, the novels explore the various ways in which one player takes advantage of another, almost always leading towards the detective's best payoff. Game theory provides us with a unique method to looking at literature, hard-boiled fiction particularly, as a reflection of the historical period of its conception and prime.

Much has been written about various aspects of the long presence of the Knights of the Order St John on the island of Malta. Nonetheless, throughout this literature there is one noticeable omission - a study of the commercial development of the harbour area during the first decades of the Order’s rule. Despite Malta’s small size, the presence of the Order of St John (1530 -1798) ensured an inflow of foreign resources which eventually permitted very dense human settlement and an international projection beyond the island’s shores which was largely disproportionate to what would normally have occurred in such a small and sterile island. The maritime nature of the Order and the heavy dependence on imports hastened the creation of an efficient maritime communication system. The development of all these economic activities resulted in a prime economic means of generating wealth and served as a pull factor to a large number of enterprising individuals, both local and foreign. Early modern Hospitaller Malta eventually saw the consolidation of an enterprising business class, which, out of sheer necessity, grew accustomed to operating well beyond its narrow confines. In turn, this contributed to the island becoming more open to connectivity with the outside world. Hence, the main aim of this thesis is to explore in detail various economic activities taking place in Malta during this particular period which spans from 1530 to 1565. The year 1565 has been chosen as a marker since during this year there was a break in the normal chain of events due to the turmoil created by the Great Siege. In order to reach this goal the practical functioning of commerce with its agreements and disputes, its currencies, its trading posts and its nodal points shall be analyzed. Furthermore, this thesis strives to show how notarial evidence, together with that derived from records of various tribunals set up on the island at the time, supplement each other and help to fill in gaps. While discussing different methodological approaches to the study of the Mediterranean, the first chapter of this study shall also assess Malta’s place within the wider Mediterranean historiographical framework. It shall also trace the development of Maltese historiography and its contribution to the study of legal, economic and social issues relating to the sixteenth century. Furthermore, this study shall place the various series of primary sources used for its compilation in their proper context, thus allowing the reader to evaluate better the significance of the information provided. The second chapter shall evaluate how the arrival of the Order provided for the setting up of new institutions and for the promulgation of new laws in order to consolidate its authority over the island despite repeated promises to respect and honour ancient rights and privileges. The following three chapters shall each be dedicated to a particular case study which will try to address specific topics that have been largely neglected in Maltese historiography. Thus, starting with an analysis of the grain trade, which was of the utmost importance for a sterile island with an ever-increasing population, it will be followed by another case study which seeks to evaluate the role of women, their legal persona and how this affected their contribution to the island’s economic activities. The final chapter will try to establish whether there were any commercial links between Malta, often described as the frontier and bulwark of Christianity, and its neighbouring Ottoman North African territories. If such trade existed, how did merchants, both Christian and Muslim, manage to overcome religious antagonism which should have inhibited the easy flow of trade? The objective of this study shall therefore be to shed much-needed light on economic activities taking place in and around the harbour area during a largely unexplored period in Maltese history. Moreover, it shall seek to provide a better understanding of Mediterranean commercial relations since the Maltese harbour was a point of intersection not only for people of different nationalities, but even for people of different faiths, such as Muslims, Jews and Christians of different denominations. All had one common goal which unified them, that is, trading and making profit out of it.

Cette thèse doctorale consiste en une investigation sur la pénétration des différentes formes et types d’influence française sur la politique stratégique de l’Ordre de Saint Jean, et la perte graduelle de la domination espagnole à Malte. Elle examine l’influence française consécutive sur l’architecture maltaise au cours du XVIIᵉ siècle qui résulta de ce changement d’allégeance. À cette fin, les facteurs politiques, stratégiques, sociaux et esthétiques, ainsi que la formation et les carrières des différentes personnalités concernées, en particulier les ingénieurs militaires français, sont examinés afin de comprendre l’importance de leur rôle sur le développement des fortifications des îles maltaises et sur l’idiome architectural local. Les relations des chevaliers appartenant aux trois Langues françaises avec la Cour de France sont étudiées dans leur contexte historique. Cet aspect est aussi examiné à travers la fréquente correspondance entre les Grands Maîtres et les rois Louis XIII et Louis XIV. L’étude montre comment l’arrivée sur la scène locale d’ingénieurs militaires eminents, durant l’été 1645, signale le passage de l’Ordre de la sphère d’influence de l’Empire espagnol à la française. Les ingénieurs militaires français s’activent dans l’archipel maltais depuis que Vauban avait donné à la France la primauté du développement de l’architecture militaire dans la seconde moitié du XVIIᵉ siècle. L’importance de Médéric Blondel, le premier ingénieur résident français, comme catalyseur du développement de l’influence française sur l’architecture maltaise est démontrée. Ce travail examine comment son influence se reflètera sur les architectes maltais de la fin du XVIIᵉ siècle et sur les éléments classiques qui sont introduits dans l’architecture baroque maltaise imprégnée de l’école classique d’architecture française très appréciée par Louis XIV. / This doctoral thesis consists of a research-based investigation on the different forms and types of French influence within the strategic politics of the Order of St. John and the gradual loss of Spanish domination in Malta. It examines the French influence on Maltese architecture during the seventeenth century that resulted from this change of allegiance. For this purpose the political, strategic, social and aesthetic factors, as well as the study of the formation and careers of the different personalities involved, are analysed in order to understand the importance of their role on the development of seventeenth century fortifications of the Maltese Islands and on the local architectural idiom. The various connections of the Knights belonging to the three French Langues with the French Court are therefore investigated in their historical context. This is also examined through the frequent correspondence between the Grand Masters and Kings Louis XIII and Louis XIV. The study shows how the arrival on the local scene of eminent French military engineers during the summer of 1645, marks the passage of the Order from the Spanish sphere of influence to the French. The French military engineers were active in the Maltese archipelago since Vauban had put France at the helm of the development of military architecture in the second half of the seventeenth century. The importance of Médéric Blondel, the first French resident engineer, as a catalyst of the development of French influence on Maltese architecture is investigated. The study examines how his influence is reflected on the work of Maltese architects at the end of the seventeenth century and on the classical elements which are introduced into Maltese baroque architecture that is highly influenced by the classical school of French architecture so greatly appreciated by Louis XIV.

The master thesis focuses on education of immigrant pupils in Czech and Maltese schools. The aim of the thesis was to describe what particular measures the schools choose and what methods the teachers use to alleviate the impact of the language barrier in both environments and then to compare the results between each other. The research is of qualitative nature, with the research strategy being a multiple case study. The data collection was realised through observations in class, interviews with the school leadership, teachers and pupils and the analysis of digitalized materials. The case is represented by a particular school and the research was conducted at two schools in Czech and two schools in Maltese environment. The thesis consists of theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part aims its attention at the themes of appropriate approach towards the education of immigrant pupils, explanation of the Maltese education system, legislation of both countries on the issue of education of immigrant pupils and the theme of teacher training focused on education of these pupils provided at the Faculty of Education of Charles University. The practical part then develops the themes elaborated in the theoretical one and it mentions what findings the survey discovered. Last chapter of the thesis...

Syftet med den här uppsatsen är att genomföra en jämförande studie av den klassiska Hollywood-deckaren, representerad av de tre första filmerna i Thin Man-serien, och film noir. Analysen utgår ifrån Thin Man-filmerna The Thin Man (1934), After the Thin Man (1936) och Another Thin Man (1939) och noir filmerna The Maltese Falcon (1941), Laura (1944), The Big Sleep (1946) och Dark Passage (1947). Den grundläggande teorin för uppsatsen är genreteori och hur den klassiska Hollywood-deckarfilmen skilde sig ifrån film noir. Analysen är uppdelad i fyra kapitel, i vilka olika delar av innehållet i både Thin Man-filmerna och de fyra exemplen av film noir analyseras. De olika kapitlen handlar om manliga huvudkaraktären, den kvinnliga huvudkaraktären, hur de olika filmerna hanterade ämnen berörande sex och sexualitet och hur samhället och människorna representeras i filmerna. Slutsats omfattar sedan en diskussion om uppsatsens resultat och svaret på varför Thin Man-filmerna inte räknas som film noir.