playing with time

No. 80
PLAYING WITH TIME
THE POLISH SCIENCE VOICE
FROM THE PUBLISHER
A
revolutionary new bridge made of special composite materials is being built at Błażowa near the southeastern city of
Rzeszów in a project co-financed by the National Center for
Research and Development (NCBR) using European Union funds.
In two years this hi-tech bridge will replace the existing steeland-wood structure, which is in poor condition, and will be the
first such bridge in Poland and one of a few facilities of its kind
in Europe.
The new bridge will be lighter and more durable than traditional bridges. It will be made from carbon and fiberglass materials embedded in a polymer resin matrix. Such materials are used
in aviation. For example, the Boeing Dreamliner range of airlines
is built from composites.
The project is being carried out by a consortium led by the Mostostal Warszawa company with the participation of the Rzeszów
University of Technology and the Warsaw University of Technology
as well as the Promost Consulting company from Rzeszów.
In another innovative project, Polish information technology
professionals are working to develop a breakthrough method for
eliminating errors from computer software. The project is called
Time Machine because it aims to enable software engineers to go
back in time in a sense and find the source of errors right where
they emerged.
If you have ever worked at a computer you are probably familiar with the frustrating feeling when a program crashes and the
results of your work are destroyed. Such occurrences are often the
result of software errors. Companies that create computer soft-
ware not only employ staff tasked with writing new applications
but also whole teams of people whose job is to diagnose and repair errors.
Kamil Kupcewicz, manager of the software development department at IT company TKomp and head of the Time Machine
project—which is co-financed by the National Center for Research and Development under its Innotech program— says
removing errors from computer programs takes time and money
and involves many people with specialist skills. A method to deal
with errors by nipping them in the bud could make things much
cheaper and faster.
It seems no one in the world has taken this route before and it
must be a real pleasure to be a trailblazer, especially as success
could include handsome financial rewards.
No. 80 THE POLISH SCIENCE VOICE
Time Machine for Software Engineers3
Bridge to the Future
6
Oxygen Maps for Cancer Treatment 8
Fuel Cells Under Water10
Analyzing Aneurysms 12
Double Whammy Against Breast Cancer
14
Scrutinizing Superfruit16
Smart Glasses Offer Enhanced Vision 18
2
Published by WV Marketing Sp. z o. o.
Publisher: Andrzej Jonas
Editors in Charge: Danuta Górecka,
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Address: Warsaw Voice S.A.
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A publication co-financed by
THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
Science vs. Nuclear Smuggling
20
www warsawvoice.pl
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22
All Rights Reserved ®
SPECIAL GUEST
TIME MACHINE FOR
SOFTWARE ENGINEERS
Kamil Kupcewicz, manager of the software development department at IT
company TKomp and head of the “Time Machine” project co-financed by the
National Center for Research and Development (NCBR) under its Innotech program,
talks to Karolina Olszewska.
What is the Time Machine project?
It is an innovative idea to facilitate and improve the
work of programmers, particularly in terms of spotting and fixing problems. Let me give you an example.
Anyone who has ever worked at a computer is familiar
with the nasty experience of a program crashing and
your work being lost. Such frustrating events are the
result of software errors. These stem from errors that
are present in every programming product. Therefore
companies that create them not only have staff tasked
with writing new applications but also whole teams of
people whose job is to diagnose and repair errors.
Computer programs have millions of lines of code
describing the operations that a processor should perform. Sometimes for a simple result on the screen you
have to write hundreds of lines of program code. This
leads to a situation in which the diagnosis of a problem
is difficult and time consuming. And fixing it is even
more difficult. At the moment, to diagnose a software
3
SPECIAL GUEST
F
A
C
T
F
I
L
E
KAMIL KUPCEWICZ has been managing software development projects, including R&D, for nine years. He
began his career as a software developer and then became a team leader. He is currently head of the software development department at the TKomp company
and manages the Time Machine project.
TKomp, founded in 1996, is based in the northcentral Polish city of Bydgoszcz. The company designs,
produces and implements software for managing information flow in businesses.
TKomp has carried out IT projects for some of the
largest companies in Poland, including PGE, KGHM
Polska Miedź, PKN Orlen and PZU.
4
error it is necessary to run the program repeatedly in
special conditions.
So how can the Time Machine project help?
We want programmers to be able to find the source
of an error at its first occurrence—in a sense to enable
them to go back in time and find the actual place where
it emerged. Plus we want to give them an opportunity
to introduce changes to the program and determine
whether the error has been fixed without rebooting
and entering data. Often this takes much longer than
correcting a single line of code. This can be compared
to an airplane flight and black box recording when
something bad happens. Thanks to our Time Machine
we can go back to a second prior to or to the very moment of failure and diagnose the cause of the problem
based on all the flight parameters. And, most importantly, it is possible to carry out repairs in the course of
the flight and safely continue with the program.
SPECIAL GUEST
We want programmers to be able to find the source of an error at its first
occurrence—in a sense to enable them to go back in time and find the actual
place where it emerged.
Do you think a small company like yours will be
able to revolutionize the work of programmers
worldwide?
We have been creating software since 1996. We are
pioneers in the field of electronic support for quality
management systems. That’s what we started out with.
Then we created a platform for the comprehensive
management of information flow in businesses—NND
Integrum. Our applications are used by more than 200
Polish and international organizations. In Poland alone,
this currently means about 230,000 users for our main
product. From the very beginning we’ve been creating original solutions. Innovation is part and parcel of
the company’s strategy. The experience in developing
and testing software we have collected over the years
provides a strong basis for the creation of tools such as
the Time Machine. Dealing with this is a team of eight
programming enthusiasts who think outside the box.
How did the idea for the Time Machine come
about?
Every now and again we hold brainstorming sessions at our company that are expected to result in
the development of the applications we create. At one
such session we pondered ways of how to more accurately measure the performance of one of our solutions. My colleague Adam Kruszewski came up with
an idea that was completely unrelated to that. He proposed the Time Machine concept. We started to analyze this issue and it turned out that we knew how to
approach this topic. To our surprise, we learned that
no one in the world had done this before. Then, in collaboration with consultants from PwC, we examined
the market potential and looked for opportunities to
finance our research.
Your concept was a good fit for the NCBR’s Innotech program...
The project involves co-financing from our own resources and from the NCBR. We are sharing the cost
of the project, which comes to over zl.2.5 million. The
National Center for Research Development has allocated zl.1,457,000, and we are contributing zl.1,097,000. I
think the project has been singled out for co-financing
[by the NCBR] not only because of its scientific potential, but also because it has considerable commercial
potential. I think the experts evaluating our proposal—
who are familiar with how software is created—simply
saw it as an opportunity in the same way as we did. In
Poland we have the best programmers who have been
winning international competitions for years. It’s high
time that Polish programmers start creating innovations for the whole world.
Who will buy your product at home and abroad?
This will be a product for software developers
whose work is needed in almost every field of business. Software development companies form a market that has been growing at a rate of several to more
than 10 percent a year. In the United States alone
there are about 45,000 independent software development companies. Of course, we have no intention
to limit ourselves to the U.S. market. After all, software
is produced all over the world. So the demand is
enormous. The program began in June this year and
will last two years.
Project co-financed
by the European
Union under the
European Regional
D e ve l o p m e nt Fu n d
5
TECHNOLOGY
BRIDGE
TO THE FUTURE
An innovative bridge from composite materials is being built at Błażowa near the
southeastern city of Rzeszów in a project co-financed by the National Center for
Research and Development (NCBR) using European Union funds. This hi-tech bridge
will replace an existing facility that is in poor condition and will be the first such
bridge in Poland and one of a few facilities of its kind in Europe.
T
he project is being carried out by the Com-bridge
consortium led by the Mostostal Warszawa company with the participation of the Rzeszów University of Technology and the Warsaw University of
Technology as well as the Promost Consulting company from Rzeszów. The National Center for Research and
Development has allocated zl.5,150,000 for the project
under its Demonstrator+ program.
The bridge will be lighter and more durable than traditional bridges thanks to the use of special composite
materials, says the project manager, Juliusz Żach from
Mostostal Warszawa. “These materials have better mechanical properties than steel and are more resistant to
corrosion,” Żach says.
The project includes the design and construction
of the bridge as well as static and dynamic tests and
monitoring services. All of these tasks are divided between the four partners in the consortium. Researchers from the Warsaw University of Technology are testing in their laboratories samples of the composites
from which the bridge will be built. Researchers at the
Rzeszów University of Technology, in turn, are testing
the actual bridge components produced.
“The composite materials from which the bridge will
be made were tested earlier,” says Żach. “We already
know what profile of the bridge beam—which means
its geometry—will work best. Mostostal Warszawa carried out all the work as part of earlier projects financed
6
by both the NCBR and from funds available under the
[European Union’s] 7th Framework Programme. The results of this work were used as the basis for designing
the Com-bridge technology demonstrator.”
The bridge will be made from materials containing
carbon and fiberglass, embedded in a polymer resin
matrix. Such materials are used in aviation. For example, the Boeing Dreamliner range of airlines is built
from composites. No one before has built a similarly
sized bridge using this technology in Poland—though
small footbridges have been constructed. The problem is that no standard guidelines exist for composite
bridges. The design must be accompanied by a study
confirming that the bridge will be safe. The Promost
Consulting company is responsible for handling these
procedures.
Many practical dilemmas need to be solved when
building such an innovative bridge—for example
how to combine components to ensure durability.
Researchers at the Rzeszów University of Technology
are responsible for carrying out such tests. Prof. Tomasz
Siwowski heads the team from that university.
The bridge will be based on four beams. Before Mostostal Warszawa manufactures these, it will first produce a trial beam for tests. The beam will be tested at
the Rzeszów University of Technology using a special
machine. It will subjected to heavy loads until it is destroyed. In this way, the researchers will determine the
TECHNOLOGY
strength of the future bridge component. Only then
will it be possible to embark on the production of the
four beams that will form the supporting structure of
the bridge. The Rzeszów University of Technology will
also test some smaller components of the bridge, including the joints and the bridge deck.
The Warsaw University of Technology Research Center managed by Rafał Molak, Ph.D., is testing finished
materials designed by Mostostal Warszawa and Promost Consulting.
Composites are materials made from two or more
constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties that when combined, produce a material with characteristics different from the
individual components. The individual components
remain separate and distinct within the finished structure. The new material may be preferred for many
reasons: common examples include materials that
are stronger, lighter or less expensive than traditional
materials.
Composite materials are generally used for buildings, bridges and structures such as boat hulls, swim-
ming pool panels, race car bodies, shower stalls, bathtubs and storage tanks. The most advanced examples
are used on spacecraft in demanding environments.
The properties of a composite can be determined
theoretically. But laboratory tests are needed to ensure
certainty. Also the conditions under which a composite is produced influence its final performance. Therefore materials studies are necessary, and the Warsaw
University of Technology has performed a series of
such studies.
The old road bridge at Błażowa was built in 1958.
Its steel-wooden structure no longer meets modern
technical requirements. Due to the poor condition of
the bridge, its capacity has been limited to 15 tons. The
Com-bridge consortium undertook to dismantle it and
build a new composite bridge. The work will be carried out from March to November next year. After the
bridge is built, its operating parameters will be examined. The whole project covering industrial research,
development and manufacture of a demonstration
installation runs from November 2013 to March 2016.
Karolina Olszewska
Project co-financed
by the European
Union under the
European Regional
D e ve l o p m e nt Fu n d
7
MEDICINE
OXYGEN MAPS FOR
Scientists at the Jagiellonian University in the southern city of
Cracow are working on a method to draw up special oxygen
maps of tissue in a patient’s body. Such maps are needed in
cancer treatment. A doctor referring a patient for radiotherapy
can use such a map to determine just how high a radiation dose
must be applied to increase the effectiveness of treatment.
C
ancer tumors have much less oxygen than healthy tissues. The degree of oxygenation of individual
cells in a human body also varies. Research
conducted by a team led by Martyna Elas,
Ph.D., from the Department of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology at the
Jagiellonian University, has shown that
the less oxygen in the tumor, the more
difficult the radiation procedure is and the
greater dose of radiation is needed.
The scientists have conducted an experiment on mice. They implanted an
identical cancer tumor in different mice.
When the tumor reached a certain size,
they administered a specific dose of radiation to the mice. It turned out that the lower the concentration of oxygen
in the tissue, the less effective treatment was. When all the cancer tumors were
treated with the same dose, depending on the concentration of oxygen at the
time of irradiation it was possible to predict which mouse would be cured, and
which would not.
“We want our oxygen maps to be used in clinics to enable precise and quantitative determination of the concentration of oxygen in tissue. Its influence on
the efficacy of radiotherapy is particularly evident in the case of tumors of the
uterus, as well as of the head and neck,” says Elas.
Cancer treatment is just one of the areas where such oxygen maps can be
useful. Another is sleep apnea, or snoring, which may lead to severe hypoxia —a
condition in which the body is deprived of adequate oxygen supply—and accelerate the development of cancer. Oxygen maps are also useful in the treatment
of stroke, limb ischemia and damaged vasculature, for example in patients with
diabetes and hard-healing wounds.
Olga Majewska
8
MEDICINE
CANCER TREATMENT
9
TECHNOLOGY
FUEL CELLS
UNDER WATER
A doctoral student from the Naval Academy (AMW)
in Gdynia, northern Poland, is working to improve
the efficiency of robots that are used to check the
condition of pipelines at the bottom of the sea and
to detect sea mines and enemy ships.
10
TECHNOLOGY
J
ust how long a robot can stay underwater and how
many tasks it can perform depends on the fuel cell
that powers it. Adam Polak, a Polish doctoral student from the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
Faculty at the Naval Academy, is working to optimize
fuel cell cathodes used underwater. His research has
been singled out for praise in the sixth round of the
Innodoktorant scholarship program for innovative
doctoral students.
A fuel cell is typically a device that uses hydrogen
and an oxidant to create electricity from an electrochemical process. Much like a car battery, a fuel cell
converts chemical energy into electrical energy.
Each fuel cell uses an electrolyte and two electrodes.
There are different types of fuel cells, based mainly on
what kind of electrolyte they use. Many combinations
of fuel and oxidant are also possible. The fuel could be
diesel or methanol, while air, chlorine, or chlorine dioxide may serve as oxidants. Most fuel cells in use today,
however, use hydrogen and oxygen as the chemicals.
The efficiency of a fuel cell is key. It influences the
running costs of equipment, and how long and how
efficiently it performs.
“A fuel cell converts chemical energy into electricity,” says Polak. “This requires the installation of auxiliary
equipment such as pumps, humidifiers, and condensers. An important role is played by a pump for the recirculation of oxygen in air-free systems. It causes a continuous circulation of oxygen in a fuel cell. I’m going to
eliminate this recirculation stage to save energy. If this
pump is removed, there will be no need to power it,”
adds the researcher.
Polak also aims to develop an algorithm to control
the flow of oxygen in the system. His work involves
both developing the theory and conducting laboratory tests using a model.
Polak says his research should be of interest to defense industry enterprises and companies that use a
range of underwater devices.
Karolina Olszewska
11
MEDICINE
ANALYZING
ANEURYSMS
A young researcher from the Łódź University of
Technology in central Poland aims to help doctors
precisely diagnose patients with aneurysms—
balloon-like bulges in arteries that can be
highly dangerous.
A
neurysms form
due to inflammation, injury
or disease. Arteries have thick
walls to withstand normal blood
pressure. However, certain medical
problems, genetic conditions, and trauma
can damage or injure artery walls. The force of
blood pushing against the weakened or injured
walls can cause an aneurysm, which can grow large
and rupture or dissect. Both a rupture and a dissection
can be fatal.
Some aneurysms do not cause any symptoms. A rupture of
an abdominal or thoracic aortic aneurysm can lead to death and
requires surgical intervention, involving the implantation of a vascular prosthesis, a so-called stent graft. This is a cylindrical scaffolding in an
impermeable jacket. In smaller vessels, stents without jackets are routinely implanted.
Andrzej Polańczyk, D.Sc., a young scientist from the Łódź University of Technology,
is working on a project called “The development of a non-invasive method for the selection and optimization of intravascular prostheses.” The project has received zl.1.2 million in
co-financing in the fifth round of the National Center for Research and Development’s Lider
(Leader) program. The project will get under way in January.
Polańczyk became interested in the formation of blood clots in vascular prostheses after being inspired by research conducted at the Medical University of Łódź. He developed a model of thrombus formation that makes it possible to predict potential dangers before surgery involving the implantation of a vascular
prosthesis. The model also enables doctors to assess the risk of post-graft complications.
After collecting and analyzing detailed medical data, a team of researchers including Polańczyk wants to construct three-dimensional fragments of a patient’s cardiovascular system, using 3D printing technology. This will
make it possible to test various types of vascular prostheses in blood flow conditions specific to a particular patient.
The next step will be to develop a mathematical model to simulate blood flow in a patient.
“By using our diagnostic system we can help companies that produce vascular grafts, highlighting areas at risk of
post-graft complications and thus facilitate the choice of a particular type of prosthesis for a specific patient,” says
Polańczyk.
Danuta K. Gruszczyńska
13
MEDICINE
DOUBLE WHAMMY
AGAINST BREAST CANCER
Angelika Kaczyńska, a young researcher from the Faculty of Biology at the University of
Gdańsk in northern Poland, is exploring the possibilities of combining pharmaceuticals
with natural biologically active substances in the treatment of breast cancer.
K
aczyńska is taking part in a project led by Prof.
Anna Herman-Antosiewicz that involves studying
biologically active compounds of plant origin for
their anticancer properties.
Some cancer cells exhibit resistance to drugs from
the start, others may acquire such resistance with time,
Kaczyńska says.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women
worldwide. Patients with a high level of HER2 receptor
protein have a poor chance of recovering. This applies
to 25-30 percent of all cases of the disease.
Kaczyńska aims to change these statistics. To this end,
she proposes a combined therapy in which anti-cancer
drugs are supplemented with natural biologically active
substances. She is examining how the substances combined impact breast cancer cells overexpressing HER2
protein.
The first group is commercial drugs used in therapy.
The second group are plant-based biologically active
compounds called isothiocyanates. These occur naturally in cruciferous plants such as Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, radish and arugula.
“Isothiocyanates are formed through the breakdown
of larger organic compounds called glucosinolates under the influence of an enzyme called myrosinase. Additionally, they are easily absorbed by the body,” says
Kaczyńska, who is a winner of the sixth round of the
Innodoktorant scholarship program for innovative doctoral students.
The innovativeness of the project lies in the fact that
the new kind of treatment will be directed at several targets at the same time. There is a chance that this combined therapy will reduce the invasiveness of cells overexpressing the HER2 receptor and the speed at which
14
they spread in the body. For now, the research is being
conducted on a cell model in a procedure called in vitro
simulation. This allows researchers to track the process
whereby cells develop resistance to drugs. The tests are
being conducted on human cancer cells grown in laboratory conditions.
The HER2 protein, which is present in the cell membrane, belongs to a family of receptors related to growth
factors. It is one of the regulators of growth, migration
and differentiation of cells as well as formation of capillary blood vessels. The most popular drugs prescribed
for women with breast cancer exhibiting overproduction of the HER2 receptor exclusively block the action
of the receptor. However, they do not target certain important proteins that are responsible for the transmission of signals from HER2. The increased activity of these
proteins enables cells to develop resistance to drugs.
In her method, Kaczyńska is aiming to target not only
the receptor, but also these particular proteins. “This is
supposed to be a double impact kind of effect. The drug
targets the receptor, and the vegetable compound targets receptor proteins. I’m researching several different
combinations. Each involves the use of a very small
dose of one of the commercial drugs in combination
with one of the isothiocyanates: sulforaphane, erucin or
sulforaphene,” says Kaczyńska. She adds that the smallest possible amount of the traditional drug should be
used. This is important because currently used doses
cause many undesirable side effects, such as fever, rash,
vomiting and diarrhea.
“My goal is to develop a method that on the one
hand will produce a stronger effect compared with
the effect of the drug itself, and on the other hand
minimize the risk of adverse effects. There is a long road
MEDICINE
from in vitro studies to treatment for patients, one that
involves a series of analyses and tests. However, isothiocyanates seem to be a promising anticancer agent,” says
Kaczyńska.
Earlier findings suggested that sulforaphane, one of
the best known isothiocyanates, prevents the formation
of cancer cells. Research by the Herman-Antosiewicz
team showed that sulforaphane effectively inhibits the
growth of breast cancer cells belonging to many different cell lines. However, nobody earlier used isothiocyanates for commercial drugs or tried to develop such a
therapy method. It is already known that such a method
inhibits the growth of cancer cells, including those resistant to drugs, more effectively than the drug itself. The
combination of the compounds used effectively inhibits cell division and migration of cancer cells. If the treatment proves successful in in vivo conditions it could not
only inhibit the growth of the primary tumor, but also
prevent drug-resistant metastasis.
“The results of my research suggest that the tested
combinations are far more effective than any of the
compounds tested separately. I already know that this
kind of therapy works in in vitro conditions. The next
stage will be tests on laboratory animals. They will confirm whether or not this kind of therapy using isothiocyanates has the potential to enter a phase of testing on
humans in the future,” says Kaczyńska.
Karolina Olszewska
15
HEALTH
SCRUTINIZING SUPERFRUIT
Researcher Magdalena Kupska from the Gdańsk University of Technology in northern
Poland is developing tools for evaluating select types of fruit with strong health-promoting properties.
S
ome of these naturally occurring and genetically
unmodified types of fruit are changing the food
market, the cosmetics industry and the pharmaceutical sector.
One of these wonders of nature is Physalis peruviana,
a small, orange-colored fruit with an intense flavor reminiscent of kiwi, strawberry and gooseberry. Physalis peruviana is a genus of plants from the nightshade family
and native to the Americas. The plants produce small
orange fruit encased in a lantern-like husk and similar to
the tomato. Since it has a mild, refreshing acidity similar
to the tomato, it can be used in much the same way.
Many Physalis species are called groundcherries.
Much like the chokeberry and Kamchatka berry, Physalis peruviana is regarded as a superfruit that contains
healthy bioactive compounds. These compounds neutralize free radicals and heavy metals and have an antiinflammatory, anti-cancer, antibacterial, antifungal and
anti-allergenic effect.
16
There are many types of superfruit. To learn which
of them have the most biologically active compounds,
precise analytical methods are needed. Kupska, who
won a scholarship in the sixth round of the Innodoktorant program for innovative doctoral students in Poland, is working to develop such methods under the
supervision of Prof. Jacek Namieśnik and Justyna Gromadzka, Ph.D. Kupska’s research provides information
about the contents of selected fruit compounds.
“Until now, no methods were available to make it
possible to detect, identify and quantitatively evaluate a broad spectrum of compounds in food products,”
says Kupska.
Some of these compounds are difficult to put a
finger on because they undergo various transformations. The process of isolating these compounds from
the fruit is not an easy task, either. This is done with
the help of modern analytical techniques and topclass equipment used by the Department of Analyti-
HEALTH
cal Chemistry at the Gdańsk University of Technology’s
Faculty of Chemistry.
Among fruit rich in health-promoting compounds,
chokeberry has proved a hit on the Polish market,
especially as the climate in Poland is conducive to its
cultivation. Chokeberry is widely used to color food
products, especially fruit juices, because it has an intense red color. The tart taste of this fruit makes eating chokeberry straight from the bush a somewhat
daunting experience. But it can be used to make jams,
especially when combined with apples, for example. It
is also perfectly suited for use as a key component of
liqueurs or wines. Moreover, like other superfruit, it can
be used for the production of dietary supplements.
Though many juices in Poland are colored with
chokeberry, it is not always possible to find this information listed among the ingredients. Nevertheless, chokeberry has a lot of health-giving properties and even
small amounts of it add to the health value of juices.
The analytical procedures being developed by Kupska are expected to allow for a quick and comprehensive evaluation of healthy compounds in fruit. This will
facilitate the introduction on the market of new foods,
rich in health-promoting ingredients. The results of the
research will be used not only in the food industry, but
also in the cosmetics industry. Bioactive compounds
include essential oils (terpenes) such as menthol,
which is used in chewing gum, for example. Pleasant scents found in fruit and flowers can be isolated
and added as natural ingredients to perfumes, shower
gels, lotions and creams. And the super-antioxidants
contained in fruit can be used for the production of
cosmetics.
Kupska has authored several publications in international scientific journals and papers delivered at international conferences.
Karolina Olszewska
17
INNOVATION
SMART GLASSES OFFER
Young Polish inventors from the western
city of Poznań have developed a computer
imaging system using a pair of special glasses
that make it possible to see farther and in
more detail than with one’s own eyes. The
system, inspired by virtual reality technology,
can come in handy in road traffic, field
observations, and even when going diving.
T
he glasses make it possible to see yourself from the
back and see a much larger area than normally—at
least twice as large or three times larger. Today divers wanting to see large areas of the underwater world
often use expensive cameras that they place on a spe-
18
cial extension arm. The glasses designed by the Poznań
inventors could enable divers to observe a wide area in
real time.
The invention also helps improve traffic safety. “By
placing the camera behind the vehicle, the driver can
see more, for example, when parking the car,” says one
of the inventors, Bartosz Barłowski. He adds that the system also makes it possible to deal with the problem of
blind spots—the area around the vehicle that cannot be
directly observed by the driver through either the rearview or side mirrors. “In video games such technology is
used when we want to follow a vehicle or a player. The
camera is then positioned behind the figure in question.
Our glasses work in much the same way,” Barłowski says.
It all started with a competition held by the Intel company for innovative technologies that will be entering
use in the coming years. The Poznań inventors made a
INNOVATION
ENHANCED VISION
video for the competition in which they showcased their
glasses.
“We made the prototype after working away for two
days in a garage. We then posted this video on the internet and got a huge response,” says Barłowski, who,
together with four other inventors, runs several online
“knowledge platforms,” including www.mepi.pl, where he
posts content such as instructional video courses.
After the release of the video the inventors received a
proposal of collaboration from Facebook, which had previously invested in virtual reality technology using special
glasses. The inventors also received a lot of questions
about when the product would be available. For now,
they are at the prototype stage. If large companies take
an interest in the project, the system can be quickly put
on the market. Then virtual reality glasses could appear in
stores within half a year, the inventors say.
The inventors did not create their product from scratch.
They used existing virtual reality technology and attached two wide-angle cameras to their glasses. There is
also a computer controlling the system. The computer is
placed in a backpack.
The designers now plan to miniaturize their device so
that the technology can be controlled by an application
in a smartphone without the need to carry a backpack
with a computer.
If a user wants to look to the right or left, it is necessary
to move a joystick. But the joystick is only a temporary
component of the prototype version of the device. The
designers intend to modify the system so that a movement of the head will be enough to point the camera in
the desired direction. There are also plans to improve the
performance of the camera.
Olga Majewska
19
NUCLEAR RESEARCH
SCIENCE VS. NUCL
An international research team including Polish physicists has developed a prototype
mobile detector of radioactive materials that could help prevent terrorists from
carrying out a devastating attack using a nuclear bomb.
T
he system, which can be used to help prevent illegal trade in radioactive materials, is referred to as
MODES SNM. Polish physicists from the National
Center for Nuclear Research (NCBJ) in Świerk near Warsaw
were responsible for research into innovative pressurizedgas-based radiation detectors as part of the project.
The MODES SNM (Modular Detection System for Special Nuclear Materials) project started in January 2012 and
is nearing completion. It is a collaborative project funded
by the European Commission under its FP7 Security program. Teams of scientists from Italy, Britain, Switzerland,
Ireland and Poland’s National Center for Nuclear Research
have been tasked with developing a new-generation system capable of detecting weak or shielded radioactive
sources. The prototype is designed to help quickly and
easily detect radioactive sources, identify hazardous fissile
materials, and provide information on shielding used to
conceal such sources.
The MODES SNM project, with a budget of 3.3 million
euros, has been co-financed from EU funds to the tune
of 2.4 million euros. The prototype has been successfully
tested in some major cargo hubs in Europe. A specially
adapted van fitted out with state-of-the-art equipment
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has traveled more than 6,000 kilometers and visited the
seaports of Rotterdam and Dublin as well as London’s
Heathrow airport, and some logistic centers in Zurich and
Brussels. The prototype was tested in those places during
routine operations performed in each port and center.
The collected data confirm results earlier obtained during
simulations in R&D labs and paves the way to deploying
the system in sites such as customs and border service
checkpoints.
“Special Nuclear Materials, which means materials
containing enriched uranium or plutonium, are not
easily detectable,” explains Prof. Marek Moszyński from
the Detector Physics Department at the National Center for Nuclear Research. “They can be identified by the
weak neutron and gamma radiation they emit, however the detectors must be sensitive enough to identify
these signals against a natural background, especially
when such materials are concealed in radiation-shielded containers in places like cargo containers or truck
trailers. MODES SNM-performed screenings are of a
short duration and exceptionally effective. We are convinced that the MODES SNM system will find plenty of
applications.”
EAR SMUGGLING
According to Moszyński, who is an internationally recognized expert in the field of nuclear electronics, “illegal
trafficking in special nuclear materials that may be used
to construct nuclear bombs or even smuggling nuclear
bombs themselves are among the most dangerous terrorist activities that pose an unimaginable threat to the
world.”
Innovative radiation detector technology based on
high-pressure gas scintillators was used to build the
MODES SNM system. Gas in such detectors can be compressed to a pressure as high as 200 bars. In comparison
to classical scintillating crystals, such gaseous detectors
are much more robust and cheaper to operate, researchers say.
Łukasz Świderski, Ph.D., head of the Detector Physics
Department at the NCBJ, says, “The MODES SNM prototype consists of nine detecting modules. Five of them
are responsible for detecting fast neutrons; each of them
is composed of two cylinders filled with helium-4. Two
modules are responsible for the detection of slow neutrons; each of them is also composed of two cylinders
filled with helium-4. However, to be able to detect slow
neutrons, internal surfaces of the walls of the latter cylinders are coated with lithium-6. Finally, two modules responsible for the detection of gamma radiation are filled
with pressurized xenon. Such a setup, coupled with innovative electronics and combined with dedicated data
analysis algorithms, makes it possible to identify radioactive materials very accurately.”
The MODES SNM system can work for a few hours without an external power supply. Users also value its userfriendly human-machine interface (HMI) that can be synchronized with smart phone and tablet applications. Visual
and acoustic alerts inform the user that a threat has been
detected. The device meets all International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) requirements for mobile radiation scanners.
The project was carried out by a consortium of R&D
institutions including researchers from Italy, Switzerland
and Britain as well as Irish customs services, in addition to
Poland’s NCBJ. Work was coordinated by Padua University.
The Polish scientists were involved in research focusing
on the innovative detection system. They were responsible for tasks such as verification of detector sensitivity,
estimation of the time needed to detect a specific activity
and optimization of operational parameters.
The MODES SNM project should help prevent illegal
trafficking of nuclear and radioactive materials, which
is particularly important now that EU borders are open
and cargo can be freely transported from one country to
another. In 2012 alone EU customs authorities processed
139 million import declarations (250 million items), 105
million export declarations (224 million items) and 17 million transit declarations. Fast and effective detection of
hazardous materials helps prevent terrorist attacks.
21
SPACE RESEARCH
POLISH MARS ROVER
WINS AGAIN
A robotic vehicle built by students from the Wrocław University of Technology in
southwestern Poland won the first European Rover Challenge competition for Mars
rovers Sept. 5-7.
T
he European Rover Challenge
is the European equivalent of
the famous University Rover
Challenge competition organized
by the Mars Society in the United
States.
The European Rover Challenge
was held in Podzamcze near
Chęciny in Poland’s south-central
Świętokrzyskie province. The competition was targeted at university students, graduates and faculty
members. The participating teams
were expected to design and build
a Mars rover. A total of 10 teams took
part.
The rovers were expected to
perform a series of tasks, including
reaching a designated place using
GPS and a compass, completing a
course as fast as possible, and collecting a soil sample. The designers
were not allowed to see their rovers
during the contest tasks and had
to rely on images from a camera
on the vehicle and GPS data. The
idea was to simulate the conditions
with which a rover must cope during a mission to Mars as closely as
possible. For this reason, a special
course was prepared for the rovers
reminiscent of the surface of the
Red Planet. Competitors could score
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additional points during a presentation before the competition jury.
The Wrocław University of Technology team won the competition
with its Scorpio robot. The runnerup was the Impulse team from the
Kielce University of Technology in
south-central Poland.
The Wrocław students have taken
part in the University Rover Challenge competition in the United
States four times, with a continually
upgraded version of their Scorpio
rover.
Overall, Polish teams regularly win
the U.S. competition. Students from
Białystok in eastern Poland won the
University Rover Challenge in 2011
with their Magma2 rover. They won
again in 2013 with the Hyperion rover, outclassing rivals and scoring a
record 493 points out of a maximum
of 500 possible. This year in early
June, the team from the Białystok
University of Technology proved to
be the best again, while the Legendary Rover Team, made up of students from the Rzeszów University
of Technology, finished third.
“In fact, the rovers designed by
the students are not intended to
fly to Mars. But they can be useful
in testing other devices that are
intended to fly to the Red Planet,”
said Łukasz Wilczyński of Mars
Society Polska. One example is
the Magma White rover designed
by a team of Polish students from
Białystok and Toruń. That rover was
used for testing the Wisdom groundpenetrating radar (GPR), which is
destined to fly to Mars as part of the
European Space Agency’s ExoMars
(Exobiology on Mars) mission.
Many countries were interested
in hosting the European Rover Challenge. Because of the repeated victories of Poles in the University Rover
Challenge in the United States, the
organization of the European competition was entrusted to Poland.
Organizing the competition in Europe opened it to teams that cannot
afford to travel to the United States.
“Sometimes the trip to the U.S. cost
twice as much as the rover itself.
Representatives from some countries also find it difficult to get an
American visa. Holding the competition in the center of Europe made
it possible to significantly reduce
the budgets of some projects,” said
Wilczyński.
The competition was organized
by Mars Society Polska in association with the Planet PR agency, the
PHYSICS
Świętokrzyskie Province Chairman’s
Office, and the Regional Center for
Science and Technology in Podzamcze near Chęciny.
The University Rover Challenge
competition in the United States
aims to select the best robotic vehicles that could be used to explore
the universe in the future. The winners receive prizes and their robots
are presented to NASA as potential
designs for a Mars exploration vehicle. The annual competition is held
in the Mars Desert Research Station,
a simulated Mars base in a desert in
the state of Utah.
Mars Society Polska is a division
of the Mars Society, an international
organization that aims to promote
the idea of a manned mission to
Mars and Mars research. Founded in
mid-1998, the organization brings
together scientists; aerospace engineers such as Robert Zubrin, who
has mapped out a plan for the colonization of Mars; astronauts like
Buzz Aldrin, who took part in the
first landing on the Moon; filmmakers like James Cameron; and writers
and other enthusiasts—all of whom
share the vision of a human presence on Mars.
Olga Majewska
23