Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1345126
3 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 FEBRUARY 2021 Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications A bizarre marriage LIKE other so-called "mystics", Cath- erine of Siena indulged in all kinds of fantasies and delusions. She imagined that she was married to Jesus in a ceremony performed by his mother, and attended by St John, St Paul and St Dominic. Music was provided by the Jewish, Bronze Age harpist King David. According to Catherine, Jesus con- firmed her betrothal "not with a ring of silver but with a ring of his holy flesh, for, when he was circumcised, just such a ring was taken from his holy body". Paul of Tarsus, supposedly a guest at her wedding, would not have ap- proved of her wedding "ring". In his lifetime, the proselytizer of Christian "caritas" did not always practise what he preached. He cursed "those who do not love the Lord". He wished his enemies – "the party of circumcision" – to "get themselves emasculated". While Paul railed against circumci- sion, the Catholic Church, until 1960, celebrated the feast of the circumci- sion of his "Lord"! John Guillaumier St Julian's Prosthetic hand research OVER the last two years, researchers at the Robotic Systems Laboratory of the Department of Mechanical En- gineering at the University of Malta have been working in collaboration with two other UM departments (Sys- tems and Control Engineering, and Artificial Intelligence), and with in- dustrial partner Orthopaedic Centre Malta, to develop an innovative, dex- terous prosthetic hand that challeng- es the current approach that is taken by the major global manufacturers of these devices. The project is entitled MAProHand: Development of the Mechanical and Control Framework for a Minimal Anthropomorphic Prosthetic Hand. It is intended to lead to a new pros- thetic device that is more accessible and acceptable to persons who have suffered the devastating loss of their natural hand, and that is more intui- tive in its use. The new approach is centred around "minimal anthropomor- phism", a term defined by the group itself to describe an artificial device that mimics a human body part or feature in appearance and function, but that achieves acceptable perfor- mance using the simplest possible engineering design. The researchers have conducted detailed experimental and analytical studies to determine the essential features of the human hand that enable it to carry out the various complex grasps and motions that are required in the normal ac- tivities of daily living. The research findings are being transposed into an efficient mechanical design for a prosthetic hand, aiming to achieve high dexterity while being relatively simple, light and inexpensive. Another important feature of the prosthetic hand is its usability, and in this regard as well, the research group is working on a new approach to the interpretation of muscular electrical activity that can be detected through the skin (surface electromyography signals) of the forearm. The MAProHand project is funded by the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) under its Fusion Research and Innovation programme, and is scheduled for completion in early 2022. Prof. Michael Saliba University of Malta