networks winter 2008

8/7/2019 NETWorks Winter 2008

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THE SCIENCEENGINEER ING &TECHNOLOGYMAGAZINE FOR

NORTH EASTENGLAND

A SAFER WORLD

ISSN 1753-6677

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2/21

LETTER FROM THE ED ITOR

Making things saer is one o the overriding preoccupations in our society today we

seem to live in a world under threat whether rom terrorism, crime, natural disasters

or nancial meltdowns.

The theme o making things saer in this issue o NETWorks arose rom a chance

comment in the Printable Electronics expert panel debate (eatured in the last issue) about

a light currently in development that would stop you alling asleep at the wheel o a car.

And the choice turned out to be quite prescient.

At NETPark, there are a number o companies working in this feld such as Kromek (p 16

and 17) who will make air travel so much saer and more convenient, ANTnano which

is developing products to detect biohazards and Roar Particles, which takes fngerprint

detection to a whole new level. And once we started exploring this theme within the

region, we uncovered a whole range o research and technologies all designed to make

our lives saer.

What also turned out to be ascinating were the ethical questions we all want to live in asae world but how much are we prepared to trade our privacy and civil liberties or that?

We all want crime detection to be eective but everyone having their DNA on a national

database seems pretty OTT to most people.

Like most things, fnding the balance is key. This is the issue that was discussed at the

Expert Panel Debate on nanotechnology (which eatures on pages three to fve) where the

necessity to regulate new technologies needs to be balanced against the need to innovate

and create new products. O course, the reality is that, here in the UK, we currently live

in one o the saest societies in histo ry and we have to accept that t he world can never be

100% sae, much as we would like that or ourselves and our children. But that doesnt

mean we sit back and do nothing and, as we discovered, it is an area where some o the

most ground-breaking technology is being developed.

EditorCatherine JohnsScientic AdvisorProessorJohn Anstee

Deputy EditorRob Heslop

NETWorks is published by Distinctive Publishing Ltd, Aidan House,Sunderland Road, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE8 3HU

Telephone 0191 4788300

Managing DirectorJohn GrahamCreative DirectorMartin Williamson

Sales DirectorJohn Neilson

For all enquiries including editorial, subscription andadvertising please contact Distinctive Publishing.

With thanks to all our contributors.

NETWorks is supported by NETParkwww.uknetpark.net


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CONTENTS

02. COMMENT

03. A CURE FOR CANCER COULD BECOME A REALITY

07. IP RIGHTS PREVENT COSTLY DISPUTES

08. KEEPING TRACK OF THINGS

10. TATTOOS, BONES AND MINIATURE DEVICES

13. PARTNERSHIPS DRIVE MARKET SUCCESS

14. FUTURE FORENSICS

16. A QUANTUM LEAP IN THE QUALITY OF X-RAY IMAGING

18. ABOUT NETPARK

20. NOW YOU CAN CREATE YOUR OWN SCIENCE PARK

22. BREAKTHROUGH LIES BETWEEN RADIO AND LIGHT

24. LEADING THE WAY IN MEDICAL DIAGNOSTICS

26. LATEST HEADLINES

27. NO SMOKING IN THE OPERATING THEATRE

30. MAKING YOUR IP WORK FOR YOU

32. BIOGAS FILTRATION

34. FINAL WORD

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4/21

COMMENT

DURING the 1980s and early 1990s, County Durham like many other regions

in the Western world that had been dependent on the old heavy industries - went

through a painul period o readjustment in adapting to the new economic situation

We came through that, creating new jobs and industries to replace those lost and, at

the same time, made our county a greener and much more pleasant place. This was

achieved through imaginative solutions, hard work, some experimentation and a lot o

collaboration between partners. In all o this, we were ortunate in being able to build

on a tradition o innovation, an enthusiastic and industrious workorce, and excellent

universities which are trail-blazers in so many areas o science and technology. Having

said that, we are acutely aware, looking at the current world economic situation, that

considerable new challenges lie ahead. It would also be idle to pretend that the painul

years o readjustment did not leave scars in parts o the county and its economy which

have yet to heal. County Durham is rebuilding its sel-confdence and with that a sense o

aspiration and a conviction that it can compete with the best on the world stage.

This is where the North East Technology Park (NETPark) is so important. It provides acilitiesand support to enable high tech world-class businesses to develop and grow. This is

essential to we are to compete globally. Already, some o the businesses at NETPark are

setting an example or the whole o North East England to ollow.

However, NETPark is only one part o County Durhams knowledge economy. What we

must ensure is that its vibrancy and sense o excitement spreads to all corners o the

county. This is where NETPark Net is so important. This new venture enables knowledge-

intensive businesses throughout County Durham to interact to mutual beneft, sharing

ideas and knowledge as they judge appropriate.

Being in business can be a lonely existence. An oten unappreciated, but common cause

o business ailure, is isolation isolation rom advice, encouragement and up-to-date

inormation on what is happening in your sector. NETPark Net will not only oer a solution

to end that isolation, it can be your businesss bridge to a new and exciting uture.

PROFESSOR JOHN ANSTEE

Proessor John Anstee, Emeritus Proessor o Biological Sciences atDurham University and the Scientifc Director or NETPark.

Until his retirement in July 2004, Proessor Anstee held the positiono Pro Vice Chancellor and Sub Warden at Durham University. Heis a graduate o the University o Nottingham, ellow o the RoyalEntomological Society, ellow o the Zoological Society o London and a

Member o the Society o Experimental Biology. He holds directorshipsin a number o companies associated with scientifc research andtechnology transer. He is Chair o the County Durham EconomicPartnership Knowledge Economy Advisory Group, a member o theCounty Durham Economic Partnership Business and Enterprise WorkingGroup, and Deputy Lord Lieutenant or County Durham.

Proessor Anstee is one o the ounders o NETPark. When he wasthe Pro Vice Chancellor or Durham University he was responsibleor initiating the NETPark Research Institute, the frst building to beconstructed on the Park.

03

A C U R E F O R C A N C E RC O U L D B E C O M E A R E A L I T YNanotechnology is widely seen as having the potential to change our lives butin what ways? In the latest o our quarterly debates an expert panel examines whatnanotechnology is, how it has actually been used or decades and how it could bedeveloped urther.


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Finding a cure or cancer is usually top o anyones scienticor technological wish-list and, i some o the early hopes ornanotechnology bear ruit, it could become a reality.

Proessor John Anstee, Emeritus Proessor o Biological Sciences,Durham University, and Scientic Director or NETPark explains justhow this might come about.

Some applications in the medical area are only just beginning tohappen, he comments, We are seeing the targeting o tumoursusing nanoparticles that bind onto tumours and which then can beactivated by, or example, radio waves so that they then heat up andcook the tumour. These are the kind o developments that willbecome increasingly important in the uture.

This is an example o the exciting possibilities that might be deliveredby nanotechnology an incredibly broad range o areas o researchand development which is widely talked about, but very oten notdeeply understood.

And even dening what it is, is not terribly straightorward.

Harry Swan, managing director o Thomas Swan and Co, explainsthat nanomaterials have been around or a long time in applicationssuch as paint or stained glass and Proessor Ken Snowdon, managingdirector o INEX at Newcastle University agrees, citing the use onanotechnology in car tyres.

Nanotechnology does, o course, deal with the incredibly small andusually below the size o 100 nanometres, a nanometre being onebillionth o a metre.

As Proessor Anstee puts it (quoting Wikipedia): A nanometre is theamount o growth that takes place in a mans beard in the time ittakes him to lit the razor to his ace. We are talking about next tonothing.

It is, however, not just a matter o size. In the past small particles havebeen obtained by breaking down larger units by various means, theso-called top-down approach, but nanotechnology means buildingup rom the molecular and even atomic level. The diculty is that atthat level, particles behave dierently and unpredictably due to thelaws o entropy and Brownian Motion.

Getting molecules to behave is a great challenge and mostlyits one that we have so ar ailed to address, says David Parker,Proessor o Chemistry at Durham University.

Nanotechnology is, however, already out there and it is alreadyaecting our everyday lives, or very soon will be.

Chair o the panel, Dr David Robbins, director o Atomic LayerDeposition at the Centre or Process Innovation, says: The siliconchip has eatures below the 100 nanometre scale and has hador many years. Now people are designing them with about a 45nanometre space between the metal conductor lines on the chip.The transistor which does the switching is about 20 nanometres insize and the thicknesses o some layers that go into making that

transistor are just a ew nanometres. These chips will be in the nextgeneration o mobile phones that you buy.

There is general agreement that it is not possible to put a denitivevalue on the global market or the potential global market ornanotechnology and a reported current value o US$150bnis generally not accepted by the panel. There are problems odenition, o counting and, in some cases, o sheer hype.

Its not truly a large market yet; we still have a long way to go,says Proessor Parker.

And one o the problems still to overcome is that o quality control.Proessor Parker adds: In manipulating molecules and controllingthe molecular environment, chemists know what they are dealingwith. Using mechanical tools to move single molecules around isdicult, we need much better tools to do that, and thats goingto be very dicult to undertake on a larger scale. We also needeective quality control chemical purity is a key issue.

A urther issue, identied by Proessor Snowdon, is that it is oten tooearly to identiy which developments or areas o exploration will, inthe end, prove to be commercially viable.

He says: We will see a repeat o the experiences o those inthe microtechnology eld. Very many exciting applications inmicrotechnology have not made it to the market place because thecosts o development were out o all proportion to the market size.

We could sit here all night envisaging exciting applications which willnever make it to the market place because the costs o developmentto really test them will be so high it will never be justied.

That is not to say that there is not exciting work being done whichshows promising signs o resulting in viable and lie-changingapplications. Proessor Anstee again points to the medical eld oran illustration o real progress and work being done in tissue welding,where a thin layer made rom nanomaterial is placed between twolayers o tissue and a laser is then used to weld them together.

We are looking at applications in surgery, particularly arterialbleeding which is extremely dicult to stop using stitching. Weldingo this nature will become increasingly important, he explains.

In a non-medical context, he also cites work being done to makereusable adhesives, using carbon nanotubes to mimic the hairs onthe eet o geckos. A our millimetre square piece o this geckotape could hold a weight o one and a hal to two kilograms. Thiscould have application in term o robots which can climb walls ormove over dierent types o surace, he says.

Mr Swan describes the possibility o nanotubes being used to makecomposites sixty times stronger than steel but at one sixth its weight.This will have a huge i mpact on things like aeroplanes where youllget weight saving or an equal amount o strength, so lighter meansless expensive and more uel ecient, allowing us to replace existingtechnology with something more sustainable, he says. We willalso see lighter composites or wind turbines. The problem at themoment is that as they get bigger and bigger they start to experiencestructural ailures.

But, while there will undoubtedly be real benets to come romnanotechnology, there is a warning note, which Mr Swan sounds.Nanotechnology is not going to be a cure-all. There is a tendency or thepublic to see it as a solution to everything and that is a great danger.

And it is the possible dangers o nanotechnology to which DrRobbins draws the panels attention.

Where people might have concerns with nanotechnology is thatyou are making something very small and when it becomes verysmall it has the potential to go where you might not want it to go. Isthis something we should be concerned about and how is this beingmanaged? he asks.

Proessor Snowdon takes up the point. I dont think nanotechnologyis not being managed. With any new technology or material wehave a responsibility to proceed with caution, identiy what is new,and ensure the potential impact o those new aspects orm part oour consideration o ethical or health and saety issues.

Mr Swan says: Im all or regulation to ensure companies aremanuacturing products saely and that those products are beingused in a sae way, but you have to allow room or innovation. Nocompany wants to go out and make a product that is going to causeharm. We have to recognise that there are many nanotechnologyproducts which are not regulated because they are not recognisedas nanotechnology and have a history o being used s aely.

Companies will want to make money and the regulatory authoritieswill want to regulate; there has to be a balance between the two.The next step is going to be understanding exactly what you havegot, as you cant assess the risk o a product until you nd out whatit is, which is a great challenge or nanotechnology.

Dr Robbins points out that the human body is conditioned to dealwith nanoparticles, but that with smog, or example, it is recognisedthat the most damaging elements are the ultra-ne particles andsmall groups within a population can always be vul nerable.

Mr Swan cites sulphuric acid as a hazardous product that industry

has learnt to handle saely. He says: Sulphuric acid is a dangerouschemical to handle but it can end up in a product thats completelyharmless. We just have to ensure that, or those who are exposed toit, the level o hazard is properly managed.

Proessor Zulqur Ali, assistant dean in the University o TeessidesSchool o Science and Technology, sees dangers in how technologydevelopments can be communicated to the lay public.

He says: There are some dicult issues. Sometimes we putourselves in a position o making claims we cannot properly justiy.We are asked to generate a certain amount o interest in terms o thework we are doing which can raise some dicult ethical issues. Forexample, theres a lot o work around medical implants where theidea o the man/machine interace is going to generate concerns.We have to be careul to engage the public in terms o science butnot to sensationalise.

During questions ater the debate the panel members are askedwhat their dream application o technology would be.

Proessor Anstee says he hopes the technology will allow advancesagainst major diseases, while Proessor Parker believes the couplingo molecular diagnostic and therapeutic agents would also representa major benet. Mr Swan looks orward to an alternative energysource and a way o increasing water res ources.

Pro Ali says: I would like to see some sort o implanted system orglucose monitoring and regulating insulin.

Dr Robbins says that the past 40 years top-down engineering withsilicon has meant huge advances in microchips but that the end othis process is in sight. He adds: I hope that a bottom up approachstarts to work to continue progress that extends this process oranother 50 years.

The next Expert Panel debate will be in February to attend pleaseemail [email protected]


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07

I P R I G H T S P R E V E N T SC O S T L Y D I S P U T E SEvery business uses intellectual property be this the name ittrades under, the products or services it provides, or the processesit uses. In todays marketplace, it is becoming increasinglyimportant or businesses in the North East to recognise theseintellectual assets and ensure they are properly protected.

Registered ownership o intellectual property rights not only addsvalue to companies and provides advantages over competitors, italso prevents costly disputes in the uture.

Sometimes only a small improvement to a product or process canproduce a huge benet to a business. In such cases, i a patentapplication is led, a competitor may need to work twice as hard tocome up with an alternative solution.

Similarly, research eorts or time and money spent on branding ormarketing can be wasted i a company is unaware o its competitorsintellectual property. It is possible to watch a competitors patentand trade mark activity, to nd out about new products and services,sometimes beore they are even launched.

Hargreaves Elsworth is Newcastle upon Tynes independent rmo patent attorneys advising clients in relation to patents, trademarks, designs, copyright and intellectual property licensing. Ourproessional expertise is backed up by properly trained support staand the latest oce management technology, allowing us to leapplications electronically and advise our clients ecientl y.

Since Dominic Elsworth ounded Hargreaves Elsworth in 2001,the practice has built up an impressive client portolio in the NorthEast, other parts o the U K, Europe and the United States, handlinga variety o patent, trade mark, design, technology transer andconsultancy work.

Using the latest technology and o ce management methods allowsus to provide a very high standard o advice and service, whilstkeeping our costs down to moderate levels. We are condent thatour ees will always be very competitive.

Some examples o recent work undertaken by Hargreaves Elsworthinclude: providing strategic advice to an organisation developing noveluels, acting or one o the worlds leading developers o solutions inenvironmental technology, providing advice on the intellectual propertyaspects o employment and other commercial disputes, and negotiatingpatent licence agreements in the oil and gas sector.

Hargreaves Elsworths overriding goal is to ensure that the advicegiven to its clients is not only legally correct, but is tailored to theirbusiness requirements, and delivered at reasonable cost.

For more inormation, contact Dominic Elsworth o HargreavesElsworth, 6 Charlotte Square, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 4XF or call0191 211 1974.

[email protected]


7/21

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K E E P I N G T R A C KO F T H I N G SImagine a world where the things that are important to us can neverbe misplaced or lost! Not only would we be able to nd things assecurely as a library keeps its books, we would also save the losthours spent in searching or the missing car, bicycle or valuableitem. When the item is a child, elderly relative or amily pet thenthe emotional security against loss is perhaps greater than moneycan buy.

So whats new you might say? Surely we have been able to trackthings or years, ever since James Bond in Goldnger activated histracking radar screen in that silver 1960s Aston Martin! Furthermore,surely GPS in car Navigators have no problem these days innding out where they are? What is new is that such devices cannow be made so incredibly small, sensitive and sustainable thatthey can remain alive or long periods, long enough to nd thepeople and things that matter. The message is that tracking is nowaordable and can save you time and money.

The Centre or Electronic Systems (CES) established in 1995at Durham University has been involved in many R&D projectsconcerned with making things saer. Local SMEs involved in makingrobust wireless locks and security lighting, under-the-carpet ootprintimaging and RFID tags, or example, have been assisted by ourspecialist team with a vast knowledge o how to put the latestelectronics research to good use. Through a range o services andacilities CES continues to serve an international market place withcustomers and sponsors including Agilent, Intel, BAe Systems andGEC to name but a ew. Keeping track o things is j ust one o thelatest ventures.

A new company (Di13 Ltd) rom Durham University has beenunderpinned and unded by two recent business contracts and iscurrently developing new applications. Di13 Ltd had its early originsin contract work or Cenamps, the regional centre or excellence innano & micro systems that has now merged with CPI. The experience

gained led on to a new design to miniaturise the tracking conceptand apply it to (a) road transport usage in partnership with DurhamCounty Council and unded by the Dept or Transport and (b) Assettracking o Cargo in the USA. The business structure or the latterproject led to the creation o a Durham University Joint venturecompany IRTHPIX LLC unded by American capital alone.

As a result o these investments Di13 Ltd, the core R&D company,has demonstrated that tracking is possible across all the populatedcontinents as the devices beam back their tiny signals rom acrossthe world to the computers in Durham. Expeditions to New Zealand(Mt Cook), the Himalayas (Duhd Kosi rapids), Iceland (Jules VerneCrater) and Sri Lanka (Galle coral beach) have all beneted romand stretched the resilience o our invention to the limits such that itis now ready rom practical everyday use.

Trackers dier rom in car navigators in that they dont just tell the cardriver where he is but they can relay that position to the world-wide-web such that anyone logged in with the correct permissions can seewhere the navigator is too. Trackers can be powered by batteries orenergy scavenging devices and equipped with high sensitivity GPSantennas and receivers.

Tracking indoors is even possible as the device picks up refectedsignals coming through doors and windows. The technology is alsodependent on the wwww (wireless-world-wide-web) where even thetiny tracker has its own IP address and identity on the network, nomatter how remote it is. The complexity being solved by Di13 Ltdis the negotiation o 3G wireless protocols to enable the tracker toroam on any countrys wireless network.

Every country has protocols in place to protect its telecommunicationsconnectivity. In the past we were aware o this by way o the multiplearray o telecom plugs needed to access the internet when youtravelled. What we are eectively doing is building a universal

wireless adapter to allow the trackers to send their inormation backto our computers in the North East o the UK rom any locationin the world by hopping on satellite, optical and wireless linkswhere possible. From the Universitys computers we then orwardthe inormation to any computer, mobile phone or web browserwherever you are, even i its in the space station!

O course position and time are not the only kind o inormationthat we can send; temperature, vibration, humidity, noise level andCarbon Dioxide concentration can all be relayed back. Even medicalinormation can be captured and transmitted. With heart rate, bloodpressure, blood sugar level recorded not only can we know wherea person is but whether they are under stress and need support orintervention. The opportunities or new business are clear. What wehave done so ar is to deploy our trackers on two projects:

Road Trac Usage statistics: Here, a number o trackers tracethe paths o cars taxis & buses through and across a city at variousrandom times to build up a map o the city trac fow like tracerparticles might diagnose airfow through a jet engine. Statisticallyit doesnt matter that the sampling is random on unplanned routesas a picture evolves showing anticipated journey times and tracjunctions requiring attention. Typical commute times into a city couldbe dened and the eects beore, during and ater major roadworkswould be clear. We could then ask, did it make a di erence? Parkingmight also be improved by way o a park and go scheme, suchthat the tracker knows where you have parked and or how long andthe parking ee is an add-on charge to your phone bill.

Cargo Logistics: as distinct rom tracking a vehicle, it is nowpossible to tag the loaded crates and items carried by the deliverylorry. This is not just a bar code scan o the parcels when they arriveon route to a depot (a service currently advertised as tracking) butthe ability to tell you exactly where your goods are at any time intransit. The security o high value items is now assured, even i the

lorry is stolen and the goods removed and dispersed, the Durhamtracker keeps on beaming out its signal. Drugs, explosives, goldand time embargoed merchandise can all be monitored saely intothe customers hands. No longer will you have to wait in all day, butarrive home to greet the delivery van as he pulls up on your drive.

Electronic Systems Engineering is a key enabling research discipline.New sensors and materials are the jigsaw pieces that need integratinginto a useul, man-machine riendly system. The pennies that can bemade rom the sensors turn into pounds i you also develop and sellthe complete system. I you (the reader) have any ideas or productsthat you would like to see demonstrated or manuacture or can seea need or an instrument and dont know how to make it happen,please contact us.

The Centre or Electronic Systems at Durham University would behappy to help.

[email protected]

PROFESSOR ALAN PURVIS Alan studied Physics and Radio Astronomy at Jesus CollegeCambridge and was an SRC Research ellow at the CavendishLaboratory beore joining the academic sta at Durham Universityin the School o Engineering. He is interested in the application oelectronics, chemistry and physics to make new things possible. Since1995 he has directed a Technology Translation Centre at Durhamcalled the Centre or Electronic Systems which provides ocus orIndustrial-Academic research.


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T A T T O O S , B O N E S A N DM I N I A T U R E D E V I C E SDespite the act that we live in one o the saest societies inthe world, public protection and security are still amongst ourmost signicant concerns. The current socio-political climatehas sparked much discussion o this area, and how best totackle its complicated and challenging nature. The Schoolo Science and Technology at the University o Teesside hasa long history o research in these elds o applied science,rom tattoos to Lab on a Chip.

As an applied biological anthropologist, the ocus o Dr TimThompsons research is the members o the public themselves. PhDresearch unded by a Leverhulme Trust grant is exploring the useo body modications or identication purposes. Tattoos, bodypiercings and other modications are a much under-used resourcein human identication, yet they have great potential and thereorethere is much scope or urther work.

The key here is that, on the whole, body modications are sel-selected, and they can thereore tell us a great deal about thatperson. Currently this research includes:

1. understanding the nature o the increase in modication adoptionin modern British society through a large-scale national survey othe public;2. investigating the contents o tattoo inks with a view to associatingtattoos on human bodies to ink manuacturer and then subsequentlygeographical location o tattoo uptake, and;3. the enhanced recovery o such arteacts rom crime scenes, whichmay well be over-looked because scene investigators do not knowwhere to inspect or such material.

Other key work by Dr Thompson ocuses on identication romskeletal remains, specically those that have been burned. Forexample, new methods o osteological analysis using FourierTransorm Inra-red Spectroscopy are currently being developedwithin the School o Science & Technology at the University oTeesside. Such approaches are extremely useul in many massatalities incidents where the creation o a prole o a deceasedindividual is notoriously dicult.

Crime scene investigation can be a laborious task that can ultimatelyresult in the destruction o the very thing that it seeks to investigate.In an attempt to resolve both o these issues, Dr Meez Islam, DrLiam OHare and Peter Beveridge have begun a university-undedresearch project to develop an automated, intelligent and non-destructive spectroscopic chemical imaging device or use in securityapplications. This novel device will be based on the technique o

hyperspectral imaging in dierent parts o the electromagneticspectrum, which enables the quantitative and spatial identicationo chemical species. It will then be combined with a mode allowingspatial image capture and subsequent image analysis. In essence,this would allow the capture o vital inormation o a crime scene,across 360 degrees, without the need or an investigative ocer toenter the delicate, or potentially dangerous, crime scene.

Other related research areas include the micro and nanosystemsactivity at Teesside which is supporting the public protection andsecurity sectors through the development o miniaturised diagnosticdevices or orensics. The multi-talented Lab on a Chip canmassively shorten the time taken to detect hidden explosives andchemical and biological warare agents, thus protecting personnelin the eld as well as civilians stepping onto a plane. Traditionally,chemical and biological analysis is perormed by skilled personnelusing large specialised equipment in central laboratories. Thepotential now exists or such measurements to be made in the eldby non-specialists or integrated within critical inrastructure. The Labon a Chip is eld-deployable and can carry out all o the stages oanalysis such as sample preparation, separation o components anddetection to be carried out on a single chip in a highly automatedmanner. In the case o biological warare agents, ast and sensitivepathogen detection systems could provide early warning o theirrelease and minimise urther spread and human casualties as wellas protecting water resources and ood supplies.

The School has also been developing new research lines in otherareas o public protection, security and investigation that have, todate, been sorely over-looked. These include work on blood patternanalysis, the examination o diatoms, extraction o DNA romdegraded specimens and the analysis o glass ragments. Work inorensics also includes the development o miniaturised diagnosticdevices or DNA and drugs analysis.

The potential o these elds to expand the capabilities o orensicinvestigators in the region and country is immense. Successulresearch and the thriving application o this work to the elds odeence and security requires a strong, multi-disciplinary team. This isone o the strengths o the team working in the School. Engagementbetween government departments, business and academe oers thegreatest potential or resolving many o these issues and concerns,both in the immediate and more long-term timerames. It is alsoexpected that many o these will result in new technologies becomingavailable or exploitation in the market.

www.tees.ac.uk/schools/sst/

ABOVE: Dr. Tim Thompson


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P A R T N E R S H I P S D R I V E

M A R K E T S U C C E S SFrom establishing market trials or cancer diagnostic tools tobuilding global market channels or new microchip technology,think M.s clients all have one need in common....a practical andapplied approach to strategic marketing and routes to market.

think M. is a specialist research and marketing consultancy witha proven track record in supporting science and technology. Mosto the agencys work not only requires the development o marketintelligence to help dene customer needs and market entry strategy;but practical help in implementing marketing operations, buildingpartnerships and channels.

The skys the limitThe think M. team are currently working on an important projector EOL Logistics, looking into the potential or establishing aircratrecycling acilities in the North o England. The project is multiacetedincluding:

n The denition o a needs based commercial service modeln Development o the technology supply chainn Introductions and establishment o technology and channel

partnershipsn Creation o a co-operative special interest group linking to

national and international agendasn Denition o research and technology development priorities or

the co-operative.

With expert industry and technical input secured rom both Newcastleand Teesside Universities, the think M. team have dened opportunityand developed a strong proposition or the new enterprise, as wellas orming a consortia o likeminded organisations, some o whichwill potentially become part o the new recycling process supplychain. Dr. Colin Johnston o Faraday Advance and The TransportNode o the Materials KTN at Oxord University said: There is areal need or ocus on feet recycling in the UK. A number o R&Dinitiatives exist but there is limited cohesive recycling delivery. Thework being done in the North East is o great interest.

The result o our project so ar has been development o a cohesivebusiness strategy or our client, but also the development o an R&Dagenda relating to aircrat vehicle recycling. Further, CLEMANCE,the environmental research centre or the University o Teesside areundertaking a project in support o the initiative, exploring areas ormaterials recovery improvement in the aircrat recycling supply chain.

Kevin OHare o EOL Logistics said: Working with think M. hasbeen a real eye opener. They have an unwavering commercialocus. The team dont perceive research reports to be the producto their work. Research is thorough and eeds into strategic thinking,commercial decisions and action.

I you have an initiative that requires market insight and strategicmarketing ocus, give us a call on 0191 211 1957, or [email protected] to nd out how we can help you.


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F U T U R E F O R E N S I C S :A P P L Y I N G S C I E N C E &T E C H N O L O G Y T O T A C K L E C R I M EI youre a an o CSI, you know that, in TV land, there isalways a way to catch the criminal Proessor Julie Mennell,Dean o Applied Sciences at Northumbria Univ ersity, takes usthrough some o the real lie technologies that are makingour world saer.

The current threats acing society are both numerous, complexand fuid. Society is not conronted with a single threat, hazard orvulnerability, but a variety o challenges such as terrorism, organisedcrime, regional instability and natural disaster that demand acorresponding variety o non-technological and technologicalactions, o a preventative nature as well as counter measures.(European Security Research Advisory Board, 2006).

Current UK Government policy and strategy is clearly ocused onresponding to these challenges. Forensic Science, the applicationo science to the recovery, analysis and interpretation o evidence tosupport criminal investigations, clearly has a key role in achievingthese aims and eecting a saer society; particularly by ocusingon crime detection, crime prevention and understanding criminality.It is already playing a crucial role at the laboratory and an everincreasing role in the custody o ce and at the crime scene.

In the last ten years we have a witnessed a huge increase in thedevelopment and use o technology one o these is the the uni versalintroduction o Livescan, a system or scanning the ngerprints oarrestees within police custody suites that permits real time searchingthrough the national ngerprint database system IDENT1 to conrmthe identity o suspects and to alert the police to those that may havegiven a alse name and may be wanted or outstanding crimes.

This technology can be deployed in rontline situations throughthe introduction o Lantern, a hand held device that permits thescanning o suspects nger marks and secure searching against

the national ngerprint collection in operational situations such asstop and search.

The development o new visualisation techniques to obtain imageso latent ngermarks or identication purposes is also advancing,particularly in providing intelligence inormation about the leavero a print.

Nanoparticles unctionalised with antibodies have been used todierentiate prints rom smokers and non-smokers and i nvestigationo the chemistry o latent ngermarks has shown important dierencesbetween adults and children which has already been used in orensiccasework. As advances are made in instrumentation, we can expectto see urther advances not only in visualisation o latent prints butalso in additional liestyle inormation which can be gleaned aboutindividuals rom their prints.

Alongside developments in ngerprint recovery and identicationmethods, custody oces are also being brought into the 21stcentury to deliver enhanced evidence recovery & identicationcapability; to provide the police with rapid access to data such asDNA, ngerprint, palmprints, ootwear, mobile phone, credit cardand weapons - again to enable identications to be conrmed andrelated inormation about possible criminal activities o suspects tobe obtained quickly. This will lead to signicant benets, particularlyin eecting a step change in the ability to identiy suspects and linkcrimes; leading to aster identications, increase in identications,and increase in oences brought to justice.

Developments in biological and chemical sensors are providingopportunities or Crime Scene Investigators (CSI) and police ocersto carry out remote locating, presumptive and analytical testing ortraces such as explosives, accelerants, drugs, biological fuids, DNAetc. This oers the potential or police ocers o the uture to carryout a range o detection and screening tests on the street, as theyperorm their normal duties.

Perhaps multi-unctional chemical and biological multi-unctionalversions similar to CCTV might be deployed in the uture, linked to

biometric scanners and mapping technology, where devices are outin the open (either static or deployed with police ocers or CSIs),continually scanning or particular traces, and substances togetherwith associated biometric identication markers. It is important tonote that in this case the eective background noise (which is likely

to be highly variable) could be signicant and devices may need tobe congured to pick up variations against space and time e.g. orthe identication o drugs or presence o recently laid ngerprintscontaining chemical markers.

However, while all these technologies help us catch the criminal,the current ocus is not necessarily the technologies, but how theyare used this is Proessor Mennells particular area o interest. Thepotential capabilities and use o technology in the uture raises anumber o questions, not only in terms o identiying what the newtechnologies are and when they are likely to become available,but in terms o determining their potential to impact on crime i.e.what will these technologies enable us to do and how might they beexpected to deliver real benets in terms o crime reduction and/orcrime prevention?

It is also important to consider how these technologies might bedeployed e.g. or proactive crime identication as well as reactivecrime detection, and who will be using them? Custody Ocer,Community Saety Ocer, Crime Scene Investigator, ForensicScientist or even members o the general public? Will they require tobe operated in a controlled laboratory environment or will they beable to be used in a real-time operational policing environment suchas the crime scene or on the streets.

What sorts o databases, particularly those storing biometric data, willbecome available, or should be developed, to maximise the beneto new technology, and how should inormation be integrated acrossa range o dierent databases to provide a more holistic picture?

Or might the ocus on technological solutions be best concentrated

on designing out crime? The benets arising rom technologicalenhancements to vehicle security such as the development oimmobilisers, supported by government initiatives requiringmanuactures to install such devices on new vehicles has, arguably,had a much greater impact on reducing vehicle crime than the use

o orensic science to investigate the thet o vehicles.

Finally, in exploring all these issues and opportunities to maximise theimpact o orensic science on tackling crime, there is an importanttrade o between increased security and loss o privacy which willinfuence technology development (European Security ResearchAdvisory Board, 2006). The respect o privacy and civil libertiesmust underpin new approaches and applications o technology,which must be proportionate, high utility and ocus on high leveragecustomer driven outputs.

www.northumbria.ac.uk

PROFESSOR JULIE MENNELLA Physics and Mathematics graduate rom the University o Leeds,Proessor Mennell is Dean in the School o Applied Sciences,Northumbria University and the ormer Director o the Centreor Forensic Investigation at the University o Teesside. She is amember o the Home Ofce Forensic Science Advisory Council;Chair o the UK Forensic Science Education group; a Fellow o theForensic Science Society, Higher Education Academy and Instituteo Measurement & Control; Convenor o the Higher EducationAcademys Special Interest Group in Forensic Science and a membero the Skills or Justice Forensic Science Occupational Committeeand North East Regional Science Learning Centre Board. ProessorMennells research interests include: maximising the contribution oorensic science to crime detection and investigation; the impact onew scientifc and technological developments on orensic science

practice; and the identifcation o current and uture education andtraining needs or orensic science practitioners.


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A Q U A N T U M L E A P I N T H E

Q U A L I T Y O F X - R A Y I M A G I N G . . .means ewer delays and saer travelling or all o us. ProessorMax Robinson, Founder Director o Kromek, explains howKromeks revolutionary 3D X-ray technology can tell airportsecurity i that bottle in a suitcase is harmless water orsomething much more deadly.

Anyone travelling through todays busy airports will be only tooaware o the dreaded security check. The queuing, rustrationand inconvenience are now sadly all part o the fying experience.However, things are due to change.

The workhorse technology at the heart o this process is the x-rayscanner. These machines have been deployed in this role or over25 years and during that time have provided good service but therehave been little in the way o major improvements taking placedespite the ever more sophisticated threat posed by internationalterrorism.

But consider or a moment what the machine is asked to do. The bagto be searched is oten a bulky three dimensional object containinga variety o dierent types o material. The purpose o the screeningis to ascertain whether there are any items contained within the bagthat would be a threat to the aircrat, such as explosives. The decisionhas to be taken by an operator viewing a monitor s creen which hason it a fat, 2-D image containing shape and material inormationwhich broadly classies objects as either organic or inorganic. Nowonder thereore that as the bad guys become ever more cunning

the job o the security screener becomes more dicult.

A real example o this was the attempt in 2006 to smuggle liquidexplosives onto aircrat in what appeared to be innocent looking

bottles. This has led to the situation that only containers o liquido less than 100ml in volume are allowed in hand baggage. In theearly days o this ruling many people were having to abandon babyood, expensive cosmetics and alcohol at the s ecurity check point.

There is a very real demand or improvements in a technologythat has been static or too long. X-ray imaging will continue toull the screening role or the oreseeable uture since there is noother alternative technology on the horizon that can cope with thedemands.

Fortunately, thanks to new developments in x-ray detector productionand the evolution o system architectures that can produce moving3-D x-ray images, things are about to change in quite a revolutionarymanner.

Kromek, ormerly known as Durham Scientic Crystals, haspioneered an innovative and commercially viable way o producinga compound semiconductor material whose unique properties areset to make a real quantum leap in the quality o x-ray imaging. Thematerial, cadmium telluride, has long been regarded by many asthe ideal material o choice or the detection o x-rays and gammarays. A key eature o this material is that it is able to detect andseparate out the entire energy spectrum emitted by an x-ray source.Analyzing the intensity o the x-rays across the whole spectrum aterthey have passed through an object can provide a unique materialsidentication ngerprint o the objects composition. It is this

capability that is at the heart o a new range o x-ray imaging systemswhich are set to create a step unction change in the way that thistype o technology is used. This i mprovement will have an impact onmedical imaging, security screening and non-invasive inspection.

But wait a moment! The cadmium telluride amily o materialsalong with their important properties have been known about oralmost 50 years, so why has it not been more widely used? Quitesimply it is dicult to make. This is where Kromeks world-widepatented growth technique comes in. The material is grown usingan elegant vapour phase production process which enables largevolumes o single crystal material o uniorm characteristics to bemade. This method was pioneered over a period o some 25 yearsin the Physics Department o Durham University. All other producerso this material use a liquid phase growth technique which is dicultto control and has led to an unreliable supply chain o materialwith quite variable quality. It is this that has caused industry to shyaway rom its mainstream use despite knowing o its exceptionalcharacteristics.

Durham Scientic Crystals was set up in 2003 to commercializethe Durham University process and positioned itsel as a producero high quality detector material. Indeed the rst customer was theEuropean Space Agency, not a bad endorsement or a fedglingbusiness. However it soon became apparent that the Companycould leverage much more value rom its material by moving up thesupply chain to produce detector modules, sub-systems and evencomplete imaging platorms. To refect this change in emphasis theCompany has recently undergone a complete re -branding exerciseand is now known as Kromek.

Ater this change o business model the Company was soon awarded

a 350,000 Home Oce contract to develop a completely newtype o x-ray scanner or security applications. As well as using theCompanys multi-spectral detectors and materials identicationalgorithms, the machine was to be built using an advanced system

architecture which could provide rotating 3-D x-ray images on anormal viewing monitor.

So or the rst time since Roentgen discovered x-rays in 1895 animaging platorm is being produced which can provide spatialinormation as well as materials identication o a screened object.Both o these eatures assist each other to make it much easier tointerpret complex radiographs.

The implications that these developments have across a numbero key market sectors is huge, however it is the security technologysector that has been targeted rst. Following are examples o theKromek amily o products which are either available now or are inthe pipeline.

The rst o these is a simple to operate, compact unit that can identiyliquids in containers made rom glass, plastic or metal in just tenseconds. This bottle scanner is or use at security check points and isaimed at addressing the threat o liquid explosives being smuggledaboard aircrat. It is also capable o detecting illegal drugs dissolvedin bottles o alcohol. There is also an application in some countriesor detecting alcohol being illegally imported. Another use mightwell be in checking or countereit pharmaceutical products beingmoved around the world.

Kromek is a rapidly growing company based at NETPark to keepyour eye on developments please visitwww.kromek.com


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ABOUT NETPARK

From green elds to dynamic science

park in next to no time. This year

NETPark will be the astest-growing

science park in the UK. Phase 1 o the NETPark Incubator

ollowed a year l ater.

1600 sq m o oce, work and

laboratory space and meeting

rooms. Already 100% ull.

The rst building, the NETPark Research Institute was opened in 2004.

2200 sq m specically designed or R&D and low volume complex

equipment prototyping and manuacture. Leased to Durham University or

two world-class research groups: the Centre or Advanced Instrumentation

and the Semiconductor Crystal Growth and Ceramics Group.

Construction o the Printable Electronics Technology

Centre (PETEC) is now complete.

A 3,000 sq m UK national fagship acility or the

development and exploitation o direct write technologies

and fexible unctional materials (FFM); revolutionary

technology that independent orecasts predict will be a

$16 billion industry by 2015 . Managed by CPI, the centre

is one o only our currently being built in the world.

Phase 2 o the NETPark Incubator is on schedule.

Total projected size 2252 sq m, unded by Durham

County Council, One NorthEast and ERDF.

The Innovation Village will also commence this year.

5 bespoke R&D pods or growing and/or investing

companies, developed by Helios City. The total size will

be 2500 sq m - units in multiples o 250 sq m

NETPark is North EastEnglands science, engineering and

technology park or the commercialisation o cuttingedge R&D. Companies thrive at NETPark because o:

State o the art acilities and room to grow on a prestige site

lLow operating costs l Excellent transport links l A skilled workorce

Companies at NETPark have access to cutting edge research rom veuniversities within 30 minutes drive and tailored business support that enablesthem to achieve their potential. They are part o a like-minded community that

enables each company to fourish, grow and compete with the best in the world.

NETParks ocus is on the physical sciences, particularly printable electronics,microelectronics, photonics, nanotechnology, and their application in the elds o

energy, deence, and medical-related technologies.

13 hectares (Phase 1) are already ully serviced and another three hectare area is inthe process o being made available.

NETPark is developed by a partnership led by Durham County Council includingSedgeeld Borough Council, One NorthEast and all ve regional universities.Management and promotion o NETPark is in the hands o County DurhamDevelopment Company, Durham County Councils inward investment arm.

Helios City is the preerred developer or Phase 1.

For more inormation, visit www.uknetpark.net or [email protected]


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B R E A K T H R O U G H L I E SB E T W E E N R A D I O & L I G H TOver the last ew years we have all become increasinglyaware o the appalling consequences o terrorist actions atairports, railway stations and other public l ocations. The eventso September 2001 in the USA and o July 2005 in the UKchallenged scientists, engineers and the police authorities tothink careully about new ways o identiying explosives andother contraband substances in as ecient, sae and discretea way as possible.

The security industry standard or personnel and baggage screening

is o course based on X-ray scanners, which have been in use ormany years. However, despite their eciency, they do have certaindrawbacks. For example, X-ray scanners cannot specically detect thepresence o drugs, plastic explosives or a new range o weapons maderom ceramic materials. Furthermore, they are potentially hazardousto security personnel as they involve a dose (albeit low) o high energyradiation over a long period o time.

X-rays are, o course, just one o the many types o electromagneticradiation and are amiliar to almost all o us. X-rays are, in act,at one end o the electromagnetic spectrum and have very shortwavelengths, typically around a nanometre, i.e. one thousandmillionth o a metre. Visible light, in contrast, has a typical wavelengtho around one hal a millionth o a metre.

At the other end o the spectrum, so to speak, are the long wavelengthscharacteristic o radio waves. It turns out that a portion o the spectrumbetween radio and light has some remarkable and very applicableproperties that make it a valuable tool or scanning baggage andpeople: it can pass easily through clothing, plastics and many othercommon packaging materials.

What is even more appealing about this type o radiation, knownas terahertz radiation, is that can detect the presence o drugs andexplosives as it resonates with the characteristic rocking, rolling andvibration o the large molecules that make up these contrabandmaterials. Terahertz radiation has typical wavelengths o one tentho a millimetre or so, in contrast to both radio waves (with perhaps awavelength o metres or centimetres) and light.

Unortunately, it turns out that terahertz radiation is ar rom easyto make in way that makes sense or practical applications. Thereare a lot o reasons or this, but the basic problem is that becausethis part o the spectrum is between radio and light, neither o thetraditional methods or making sources o light or radio are actuallymuch use in this requency band.

This situation relates to both inescapable matters o basic physicsand the current state o play in materials research and semiconductorprocessing technology. However, a number o solutions to thesediculties are now appearing and, as a consequence, we are nowbeginning to see the emergence o a new brand o scanner, basedon terahertz radiation.

Already, there are a number o scanners on the market that operatevery close to the terahertz region in what is known as the millimetre-wave region (with wavelength, as the name implies, o the ordero one millimetre). This equipment can provide inormation aboutthe shape and position o objects that cannot be seen using X-raysand is now in place in a number o airports and sensitive locationsaround the world.

Terahertz scanners, which operate at a shorter wavelength (or higherrequency), have the additional advantage that they can determine

the actual nature o a drug or explosive - using the resonant responseo molecules to terahertz radiation mentioned earli er.

Furthermore, the smaller wavelength o terahertz scanners (incomparison with millimetre-wave scanners) means that they can s eesmaller objects secreted inside a bag or behind clothing. And, as anal advantage, terahertz radiation has such low energy that asar as we can see- it is completely sae to security personnel andtravellers.

Researchers at Durham University Physics Department, and at their newspin-out company Durham Photonics (www.durhamphotonics.com), arevery active in the area o applied terahertz science and technology.Martyn Chamberlain heads up the multi-million euro EU ProjectTeraNova (www.teranova-ist.org) which brings together manygroups across Europe (drawn rom academe and large- and small-scale industry) to address many o the undamental science andengineering problems that need to be solved beore terahertzscanners can be commonplace at points o departure or at sensitivelocations.

The TeraNova group has addressed such issues as how to increasethe power and decrease the cost o the sources o terahertzradiation that will be needed to realise all o the advantagesdiscussed above. In particular, Durham University has produced acomplete understanding (based on theory and experiment) o theway terahertz radiation passes through clothing, powders o the typethat are used to cut drugs and common materials that are used toembed explosives. Durham Photonics, the new spin-out company,

is using some o the developments made in the TeraNova project inits own programmes to develop systems or non- destructive testingand or research use in biol ogy and medicine.

There is no doubt that the nal part o the electromagnetic spectrumis beginning to be conquered or use in a range o potentialapplications, not just in the important eld o security but also inbiology, medicine, communications and non-destructive testing.Technology specialists at Durham Photonics will be driving orwardmany o these new developments in this exciting eld.

www.durhamphotonics.com


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N E W P A R T N E R S H I P

B R I N G S J O B SHart Biologicals Ltd began lie selling blood testing reagents chemicals which are mixed with patients blood samples to test howquickly it clots. Clinicians need this vital inormation to ensure theyprescribe the right doses o blood thinning drugs. Too little, and theblood wont clot and kick-start the healing process; not enough othe right drugs can lead to lie -threatening clots.

Supplying diagnostic reagents led to a partnership with two Germancompanies manuacturing blood testing machinery DynabyteMedical and Pentapharm. The machines are proving so popular withUK hospitals, Pentapharm is now building premises in Hartlepool towork specically with Hart.

And all this is happening ater just winning the National MedilinkAward or Export Achievement. Medilink is a national network oregionally-based independent organisations which aims to raise theprole o healthcare technology.

Im going to Vienna at dawn tomorrow morning to meet withPentapharm. Its crazy, but in a good way because our amilybusiness is moving orward, says Alby Pattison, MD, rom his oceon the Newburn Bridge Industrial Estate. We have establishednew markets in Germany, the USA and Spain, which has increasedturnover by 47 per cent and Pentapharm has recruited 3 nationalsales people who will have oce space in Hartlepool.

Hart Biologicals products have the potential to save the National

Health Service many thousands o pounds, says Alby. The reagentshalve the time needed or laboratory analysis saving two hours onurse time per sample.

Dynabytes Multiplate Platelet Function Analyser and ROTEM, madeby Pentapharm, give quick results which benet patients and, again,saves the NHS money. Peri- and post-operative bleeding canlead to complications and the need or expensive blood productsand because blood only remains stable or a short time, the quickmeasurement o clotting potential acilitates specic, evidence basedtherapy rather than a general solution.The Multiplate Platelet Function Analyser was trialled at the FreemanHospital in Newcastle or the study o bypass surgery. The hospitalhas now bought one or cardiac patients, as have hospitals in Sussex

and Manchester. The Edinburgh Royal and St Marys Hospital inLondon, amous or celebrity patients, both have the machines orgeneral surgery.

Says Alby: This instrument is now in constant use at the GreatOrmond Street Hospital or Children. It only needs 0.3 ml o bloodper test to see how platelets are unctioning so its very useul orsmall, seriously ill children.

I showed the machine to the Haematology laboratory there. Theyhad a three- year- old girl with a Berlin heart (an articial externalpump) who was on the transplant list and they needed to monitorblood clotting around it or the weeks leading up to her successultransplant. On the back o that they bought the instrument.

The ROTEM, currently on trial at a number o UK hospital sites, has anumber o key advantages. It can conduct our tests simultaneouslyon one sample and it can be used at the point o care, not just ina laboratory. Also, it is robust in operation, being resistant to theeects o vibration or knocking o the instrument when in operation,a problem with the competition.

The ROTEM instrument is already in use in Edinburgh RoyalInrmary, Jubilee Hospital in Glasgow, St. Thomass Hospital inLondon, Porton Down Research Facility and Brighton CardiacSurgery Department and the company expects a signicant increasein placements during 2009.

This year, 2008, has been a particularly successul year or HartBiologicals, with turnover increasing over 50% on 2007 and exportsincreasing even urther, through additional contract manuacturingorders during the year.

Hart Biologicals will be working to continue this growth in 2009and will be promoting their specialist knowledge in both bloodcoagulation manuacturing under its own name and developingurther their contract manuacturing capabilities, which has beenstarted through the purchase o a new reeze dryer, worth 100,000,or delivery in the rst quarter o 2009.

www.hartbio.com


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L A T E S TH E A D L I N E SNETPark company scoops two awards

A technology company based at County Durham DevelopmentCompany-managed NETPark has scooped two national awards.

Kromek (see pages 16 and 17 o this issue or the companysrevolutionary work in colour x-ray technology and scanners) scoopedboth the security and the transport awards at the recent Institution oEngineering and Technologys Annual Innovation Awards 2008.

Kromeks technology will be released during the coming monthsand will be installed in airports in the near uture - making a majorcontribution to improved security.

Dr Arnab Basu, Kromeks chie executive, said: We are delightedand honoured to have won these awards.

Proessor Max Robinson, one o Kromeks ounders, added: Weemploy a team o very talented people, and winning these awardsis a great endorsement o all their skill, dedication and hard work.This truly is innovation on an international scale.

Be prepared

A UK Government website provides a guide to how you can help yourseland others in emergencies.

www.preparingoremergencies.gov.uk provides a gateway or adviceto UK business rom government about emergency preparednessand response, it carries inormation to help businesses o all sizesto prepare or emergencies, and when they do happen, to ensurethat disruption is minimised and recovery is eective. Among a widerange o issues covered by the site are:

n Business continuity planning;n Storms, fooding, gales, snow, high and l ow temperatures, and

water shortages;

n Epidemics and pandemics which might aect humans, such asinfuenza;

n Advice on malicious threats, including CBRN attack, and linksto Home Oce and Security Service advice.

You will also nd useul inormation on transport emergencies;industrial action; and energy and power supply ailure.

In our region, the Government Oce or the North East providesthe intra-regional link with emergency planning services. I you wantto know more, or have any concerns, contact Regional Resilience tel 0191 202 2227, or e mail [email protected]

Hospital inections

In the decade 1997 to 2007, the two virulent inections MRSA andClostridium dicile claimed 36,674 lives in the UK. O these, morethan two-thirds ell victim to C-dicile.

Experts have so ar uncovered 17 strains o MRSA, with dieringdegrees o immunity to the eects o various antibiotics. Under toughnew manslaughter laws which came into orce in April, corporationsace unlimited nes i it can be shown that deaths occurred as aresult o ailures by senior management at hospitals.

Loops, whorls and arches

Ground-breaking work being carried out at NETPark by ROARParticles Ltd is set to revolutionise the market or latent ngerprintpowders which record and dene ngerprints.

Its a ar cry rom the Portable Fingerprint Kit introduced by Sir FrancisGalton in 1892. Designed by Galton and made by T. Hawksley oOxord Street, the kit consisted o ink, a blotter, a roller, a glass slide,turpentine and record books. It wasnt until a decade later that therst conviction based on the new s ystem was made.

Innovation in Danger

This is the alarming headline that sums up the ndings o a recentmeeting o Thought Leaders rom the IEEE. In Western Europe,Australia, Japan and even in India, the numbers o students attracted

to engineering and computer science are declining.

Drexel University engineering Proessor Moshe Kam, 2007 IEEE VicePresident or Educational Activities, said: We have two aims. Wewould like to increase the propensity o young people to chooseengineering as a career path, and we would like to increase theunderstanding that engineering provides young people with a viableand exciting uture, among the parents, school counselors andteachers who provide young people with guidance about courseselection and career choices.

27

N O S M O K I N G I N T H EO P E R A T I N G T H E A T R EThe use o laser and electrocautery equipment to perormlaser and electrosurgery has gained widespread acceptancein recent years as an eective method or certain treatmentsincluding gynaecology, neurology and urology. However,concern continues to mount over the potential hazards osmoke and odour plumes that are produced by these types osurgery to medical sta and patients.

Internationally, and in the UK, there are guidelines which validatethe hazards relating to surgical smoke plume. However, legislationinsisting upon the use o smoke evacuation systems has not yetbeen implemented. As poignantly stated by Brenda Dawes, RN,MSN, CNOR in her article, Stop Smoke Campaign Begins WithYou published in November 2000, I given a choice, perioperativenurses would not volunteer to inhale air with known levels ohazardous materials. Perioperative nurses should not wait orregulations to be enorced.

Alarmingly, research studies have conrmed that surgical smokeplume contains toxic gases and vapours such as benzene, hydrogencyanide and carcinogens. More controversially, these airborneparticles are small enough to penetrate deep within the respiratorytract posing a real threat to those exposed. Reports indicate thatheadaches, nausea and airway infammation are the most commonsymptoms experienced by medical sta and patients when laserand electrosurgical procedures are carried out. Traditional surgicalmasks have proven virtually ineective in protecting against surgicalsmoke plume due to the minute nature o the particulate matter.

North East based ltration expertsWalker Filtration Ltd recogniseda requirement within the medical sector or eective smokeevacuation and developed the Laservac product range to addressthe issue and protect medical sta and patients.

With over twenty ve years experience in the design and manuactureo ltration products, Walker Filtrations Laservac product rangenot only serves to improve the working conditions o operating sta,but also allows patients to be treated in a saer environment.

The Laservac machines use high eciency three stage ltration toensure removal o all contaminants, with each machine having thecapability to remove bacteria and viral sized particles down to 0.01micron, including odours.

The Laservac range has received critical acclaim within thehealthcare arena with testimonials rom surgeons conrming thatusing Laservacmachines can signicantly improve the quality oair within the operating environment, as well as helping to reduceanxiety among medical sta and patients alike. Eciency in laserand electrosurgical procedures has also improved as surgeonscan now work or longer periods o time, increasing the number opatients that can be treated each day.

Laservacmachines are now in use in hospitals and clinics worldwide.For more inormation or or a trial use o the Laservac please contactthe Walker Filtration Ltd Sales department on 0191 417 7816, oremail [email protected].

www.walkerltration.com


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An opportunity oten missed by IP owners, and Patent owners inparticular, is generating revenue by obtaining overseas patentscorresponding to their UK patents. The overseas patents canthen be licensed in order to obtain royalty payments and createnew income streams. Successul patent licensing is also a wayo making patents pay or themselves.

Even in countries in which you do not have any signicant businessoperations, there are likely to be companies operating in your sectorwho would be able to exploit the Intellectual Property that you havegenerated. The patent system is geared towards providing a certainamount o time beore you have to incur signicant overseas patentingcosts, and this time can be used to research countries o interest andnd licensees.

For example, the Patent Co-operation Treaty (PCT) enables the lingo a single patent application at a relatively low initial cost that covers139 countries. A period o 2 years rom the priority date o thePCT application is given until the more costly step o splitting thePCT application into individual national applications has to be taken.Consequently, this 2 year period can be used to seek out licenseesin countries o interest.

IN WHICH COUNTRIES DO YOU SEEK LICENSEES?When you have led your PCT application, how do you decide in whichcountries to seek potential licensees? You will probably know yourselcountries in which there are established industries corresponding toyour own in which you are not operating. You may also have contactsin countries which indicate to you that there is a potential or a licenceto be taken in that country. However, how do you identiy countriesin which there is an opportunity o a licence, and more importantly, ia licence is taken or your patent, that the Intellectual Property Rightsaorded by that patent will be respected?

One way o potentially identiying whether a country will respectyour IP rights is given by The Economic Freedom Network (www.reetheworld.com), who publish an annual report which rates theeconomic reedom o 141 nations. The denition o economicreedom is given as:

Individuals have economic freedom when property

they acquire without the use of force, fraud, or theft is

protected from physical invasions by others and they are

free to use, exchange, or give their property as long as

their actions do not violate the identical rights of others.

An index of economic freedom should measure the extent

to which rightly acquired property is protected and

individuals are engaged in voluntary t ransactions.

James Gwartney and Robert Lawson et al.Economic Freedom o the World: 1996 Annual Report

The Economic Freedom o the World 2008 Annual Report (byJames D. Gwartney, Robert Lawson and Seth Norton, published bythe Economic Freedom Network) provides a rating on a countryby country basis o the extent to which governments are perceivedto respect property rights and the rule o law. This can oer anindirect gauge o whether patent rights are respected in that countryand how enorceable those patent rights are in the courts o thosecountries. For example, China is ranked 59th in the world withregard to Legal Structure and Security o Property Rights whereasthe United Kingdom and the United States are ranked 15th and21st respectively. The website www.reetheworld.com also providesa handy tool which enables you to view economic reedom on acountry by country basis.

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HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY POTENTIAL LICENSEES?The Economic Freedom o the World report can thereore give youan indication o the likelihood o enorceability o a patent in acountry which you would not normally consider. Consequently, whenyou have decided to pursue patent protection in a country in orderto nd a licensee, how do you nd licensees in that country?

The principal way in which this can be achieved will be through yourknowledge o your industry and knowledge o overseas competitorsand companies with which you have relationships. International tradepublications and events such as trade airs can give you an indicationo who is operating in countries o interest who may be interested ina licence. However, there is another tool related to the patentingprocess that can be used to not only identiy companies who operatein your line o business overseas, but also identiy companies whohave a direct interest in Intellectual Property and are thereore likelyto be interested in a mutually benecial patent license.

When you apply or a patent application, part o the bargain youmake or obtaining a monopoly on your invention is that your patentapplication is published in order that the useul technology you haveinvented is added to the public pool o knowledge. When your patentapplication is published, it is said to enter into the state o the art.

When a patent application is examined, it is compared with the stateo the art to see whether it is novel and non-obvious in view o thestate o the art. I it is not, a patent wil l not be granted. For example,i you apply to patent something which is already part o the state othe art, you will not be granted a patent because your invention willlack novelty over the state o the art.

Consequently, it is possible that your published patent applications,which are part o the state o the art, will be used by Examiners

during examination o other patent applications in the same eld otechnology. In eect, patent Examiners will compare new applicationsagainst your own previously published applications as part o theexamination process. The owners o those new applications maythereore be attempting to patent technology similar to and inthe same eld o technology as your own patents, and may alsothereore be interested in patent li censing.

We can search to see whether your patent application has beencited against a later patent application by perorming what is calleda orward citation search. A orward citation search can revealoverseas companies who are applying to patent technology similarto your own and thereore who may be also interested in exploitingyour technology in their country or mutual benet.

In summary, tools exist which not only enable you to determine thelevel o enorceability o Intellectual Property rights overseas, butalso enable you to identiy potential licensees or your patents andother IP in order to create new income streams. The initial costsand risks are low and the majority o the work involved is investingthe time required to identiy and approach licensees in countries ointerest. We are happy to provide an initi al ree consultation meetingto discuss this, and other aspects o IP protection.

www.udl.co.uk

IAN BYWORTH, MPhys (Hons), CHARTERED AND EUROPEANPATENT ATTORNEY, UDL LLPIan specialises in mechanical, sotware and electrical patents anddrats and prosecutes patent applications or a wide range o localSMEs. Ian also requently obtains patent protection in a large numbero countries through the Patent Cooperation Treaty.

M A K I N G Y O U R I PW O R K F O R Y O U


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B I O G A SF I L T R A T I O NOrganic waste decomposes to produce biogas comprising,primarily, methane and carbon dioxide. Methane has 20 timesmore potential than CO2 or global warming so not only is itsdestruction, through burning, environmentally advantageous,but its use as a uel or engines producing electricity can also becommercially rewarding.

Sewage or landll derived biogas us ually contains siloxanes, water,chlorine, fuorine and sulphur compounds which can cause signicantdamage to engines. Strong acids orm in the engine oil and ashbuilds up in combustion chambers. The inevitable consequences othis include irreversible damage to valves, pistons, cylinder liners,bearings, turbochargers, catalytic converters and prematuredestruction o engine oil.

Gas treatment options include chemicals, dehumidication,deliquescence, rerigeration etc. However, these are oten labourintensive, over specied and so costly that operators oten ignorethem and install only basic water knock out acilities. Morerequent oil analyses are necessary in order to identiy rapidlychanging oil and engine condition due to inconsistent, poor gasquality. Oil changes are oten based on predetermined limits orTAN, TBN, Si, Cl etc.

CC Jensen Ltd had successully demonstrated in several eld trialsthat a CJC HDU27/54 Fine Filter will remove potentially damaging

particulate, including SiO2, rom biogas engine oil and alsocontribute to longer oil lie in biogas engines.

Our experience also showed that siloxane generated upper cylinderproblems in biogas engines could not be solved by engine oilltration alone, and that the biogas should also be ltered, using atried and tested CJC lter medium.

A simple trial was arranged at a sewage works, where siloxanecontaminated digester gas was a major problem, and our brie wasto prove the CJC gas lter, at the l owest possible cost, using a 90kw/hr 6 cylinder MAN biogas engine. We demonstrated conclusively,over twelve weeks, that our smallest CJC VOC57/57DB gas ltercould successully remove siloxanes rom biogas and, thereby,protect engine components and signicantly extend engine oil li e.

Immediately, a second trial, using a VOC57/57DB gas lter, wasbegun on a larger 300kw Caterpillar 3412 engine at anothersewage works. The previous success was repeated here with Sivalues remaining very low throughout the trial, resulting in thepurchase o a larger CJC VOC127/160LF gas lter to permanentlyprotect this engine.

Landll sites generally employ larger engines with higher gasconsumption, typically, 16 or 20 cylinder Caterpillar or Jenbacher.In addition to siloxane contamination, landll gas oten contains

chlorine, fuorine and sulphur compounds and our rst landllgas trial was with a Jenbacher 320 engine on the point o ailure,suering badly rom both siloxane and chlorine contamination. Thechallenge or CC Jensen was to coax this engine, and its oil, aurther 800hrs to a planned overhaul and a CJC VOC127/80DBgas lter was supplied or the task. Although the Service Managerwas convinced that the engines ailure was imminent, it was stillrunning two months later and was overhauled, eventually, duringOctober instead o summer.

This success prompted a second trial - a similar problem on adierent site. Heavy chlorine contamination in the gas had reducedengine oil changes to 60hrs, making it almost nancially prudent toshut down our Jenbacher 320 engines.

We supplied a CJC VOC41/200AB gas lter and connected intothe main biogas supply. Gas fow rate was approximately 2,200m3per hour and the lter was saturated ater one week but we had,eectively, trebled oil lie and the engines continued to produceelectricity.

On the same site, siloxane and chlorine contamination had reducedthree Caterpillar 3516 engines to 400hr oil changes. Again, a CJCVOC41/200AB gas lter was supplied or the trial but connected onlyto Cat3, leaving the other two engines unprotected or comparisonpurposes. Cat3 achieved 1150hrs, again approximately trebling

engine oil lie, whilst the two unprotected engines still only managed400hrs.

This customer has, to date, installed seven CJC gas lters ondierent sites as part o an ongoing plan to protect expensive biogasengines.

For any operator, extra costs reduce the net prot per kilowatt oenergy produced.

Most operators have budget costs or engine planned maintenance,including oil changes, service visits, overhauls etc., however, theunpredictability and inconsistency o gas quality means that theirbudgets are oten optimistic.

The CC Jensen range o CJC gas lters can realise operatorsoptimism by reducing engine oil and component costs whilstincreasing engine service and overhaul intervals, and increasingproductivity and protability in other words the extra cost, inreality, becomes no cost.

www.cjc.dk


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networks winter 2008

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