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Advances Wales contactTo receive a regular free copy of Advances Wales, change contact details or to obtain free back issues please complete and return the reader reply card or contact Alyson Smith, Welsh Assembly Government, Plas Glyndwr, Kingsway, Cardiff CF10 3AH, Wales, UK (tel +44 (0)29 2082 8735, fax +44 (0)29 2036 8229, email [email protected]).

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Organisations featured in this issue

In the previous issue – Advances Wales 55

Advances Wales publishes news and features in the following sectors

Materials

Agriculture

Environment

Renewables

Food

Engineering

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Earth Sciences

Electronics

Communications

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THE JOURNAL FOR SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY IN walesadvances

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Leading the way in opto-electronics 8

Is global warming really to blame for the collapse of an Antarctic ice shelf? 14

Interactive software is changing educational practices for health professionals 20

A new window into the body

Revolutionary technology that changes the way we can view the

body’s fine structures

Aberystwyth University 14, 22Authentic World Ltd 20Centre for Alternative Technology 16Eriez Magnetics Europe Ltd 10OsteoTronix Ltd 18

Stevens Vehicles Ltd 11Swansea University 23Swanturbines Ltd 13Technium® OpTIC 8University of Glamorgan 12

A case of good breeding? New gene technology boosts UK sheep sector 20

A WIN–win strategy for bright ideas 10Bad vibes? An objective view 12Bangor University buys Nano eNabler system 5Biodiesel initiative recognised in national climate

change report 5Carbon capture to be tested in Wales 6Cementing links 8Developing the drugs of tomorrow 14Doors to withstand attack – that’s tough 26Enter the dragon: why a Welsh company is

rapidly becoming a big fish in an even bigger pond 22

Explaining disease patterns 7Funding awarded to establish Low Carbon

Research Institute 6

Geoscience company to treble workforce 8Global licence for anti-hepatitis drugs 4Has solar power finally come of age? 24Innovatek by name, innovative by nature 16Measuring with MAVIS: monitoring

chronic wounds 18MediWales Annual Innovation Awards 3New Alzheimer’s disease study 3New R&D manufacturing plant for Econotherm 8Nobel award for Welsh scientist 4Performance engineering in Wales 9Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Cardiff University 8Spreading light 3University builds on funding success 7Wales Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience 4Welsh company finds new oil 7World’s largest biomass plant 5

engineering

Advances Wales is a high-quality, quarterly ‘transfer of technology’ journal produced by the Welsh Assembly Government to showcase new developments in science, engineering and technology from Wales. Devoted to concise reports and commentary, it provides a broad overview of the current technology research and development scene in the Principality. Advances Wales raises the profile of the technologies and expertise available from Wales in order to facilitate collaborative relationships between organisations and individuals interested in new technologies and innovation.

To receive free copies of Advances Wales or to change your mailing details please contact Advances Wales, Welsh Assembly Government, Plas Glyndwr, Kingsway, Cardiff CF10 3AH, Wales, UK (tel +44 (0)29 2082 8735, fax +44 (0)29 2036 8229, email [email protected]).

Editorial board Dr David Bembo, Eirion Jones, Dr Alastair Davies, Tracey Mayes, Dr Gwion Williams, Marcia Jones, Luc Brown, Dr Peter Hodges, Dr Sharon Thomas and Alyson J Smith. For information on how to contribute features contact the editor, Catriona Vernal (tel +44 (0)1738 450494, fax +44 (0)870 164 0124, email [email protected]).

Advances Wales is published on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government by Prepress Projects Ltd, Algo Business Centre, Glenearn Road, Perth PH2 0NJ Editor Catriona Vernal Lead Designer Kelvin Carlos Publisher Helen MacDonald. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Welsh Assembly Government or its employees. The Welsh Assembly Government is not responsible for third-party sources cited such as web sites or reports. ISSN 0968-7920. Printed in Wales by The Westdale Press Ltd, Cardiff. Crown Copyright.

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advances wales

THE JOURNAL FOR SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY IN WALES

It is only halfway through but already 2008 is shaping up to be another very successful year for Welsh companies and institutions. In particular, an emerging theme is the high level of innovation demonstrated not only by the private and academic sectors but also by individuals.

For example, two hugely successful events were held during March: the BioWales 2008 Conference and Biopartnering Event and the Innovation into Action 2008 Event. Both demonstrated innovation across a variety of sectors, and these events are now firmly in the calendar of researchers and commercial organisations throughout the UK and Europe.

In addition, Gaynor Morgan of Swansea, a member of the Wales Innovation Network (featured in Issue 55 of Advances Wales), received further national recognition at the British Female Inventor Awards, held recently in Cardiff. She received the Innovator of the Year Award for her IncoStress device, which is used to control stress incontinence in women.

However, innovation in Wales is not only confined to just a few innovative companies, university departments and individuals. Innovation is now embedded in the Welsh infrastructure: being innovative is seen a natural way forward.

Take, for example, Technium OpTIC in North Wales, which has recently won the prestigious European RegioStars Award 2008 in the category of Supporting Clusters and Business Networks. �e jury said: It is a particularly good example of a successful industry-led cluster which was built on a pre-existing industrial strength in the region, i.e. Opto-electronics (see p. 8).

In Mid-Wales, the Centre for Alternative Technology is leading the way in energy-saving construction techniques, as demonstrated by its new Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (see p. 16).

All in all, not a bad result for half-time. And there is everything still to play for.

Catriona Vernal Editor, Advances Wales

contents and editorial

COVER IMAGE The OsteoTronix fineSA technique is being applied to in vivo measurement of osteoporotic bone and other fine structures. With kind permission from Alan Boyde ([email protected]).

PHOTOGRAPHY Sourced from organisations featured, their representatives and iStockphoto.

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2 23

news 3

special featureTechnium® OpTIC 8

manufacturing The power of attraction 10Driving in a new direction 11

biotechnologyHair of the dog 12

environmentThe tide is turning for renewable energy 13Breaking the ice 14A WISE move towards environmentally

friendly building 16

medicineA new window into the body 18

information technologySafety in numbers 20

agricultureThink global, act local 22

engineeringBreath test for disease diagnosis 23

Breath test for disease diagnosisWho would have thought that researchers of printing processes could develop ways of diagnosing diseases? Scientists in Swansea, South Wales, have done just that

�e Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (WCPC) is a world-class research centre which focuses on investigating printing and coating as a manufacturing process. But a new study is demonstrating that the WCPC’s work can be applied to more than just print.

Dr Masood Yousef is using gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal desorption (GCMS-TD) to analyse the concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breath. �e subsequent identification of these VOCs can then signify the presence of disease.

�e GCMS-TD equipment was originally used in the WCPC to research the level of solvents and other VOCs inhaled by operators of printing machinery. In this study, however, high concentrations of certain VOCs in breath were found to correlate with the presence of disease – for example, esters and acetone (which also cause ‘pear drops’ breath odour) indicate diabetes, while ammonia is diagnostic for hepatitis and dimethyl sulphide for cirrhosis. �ere are also certain compounds that appear to mark out particular types of cancer.

Diagnostic techniques based on exhaled breath are much less developed than traditional blood or urine analysis tech-niques and are not widely used in clinical

practice. However, due to improved analytical methodology, volatile marker-based diagnostics offer new potential in the rapid diagnosis and monitoring of illnesses. �is new method is also far more convenient and requires minimal medical intervention.

It is hoped that the research will lead to the development of simple diagnostic tools such as test strips that give positive

results for specific illness markers, thereby reducing the cost of, and level of expertise required for, diagnosis.

�e WCPC, housed within Swansea University’s School of Engineering, has purpose-built laboratories for the measure-ment of printed and coated products and offers a unique facility in the UK and Europe for the realisation of cutting-edge flexible printed electronics, displays, light-ing and sensors – allowing, for example, the development of a roll-up television or e-newspapers.

In May, Dr Tim Claypole, director of the WCPC, was presented with a prestigious award from the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts, recognis-ing his outstanding contribution to the international graphic arts industry and his role in establishing the WCPC as one of the world’s top five research centres for printing. Dr Claypole was delighted with the award and its significance for the WCPC: “It is a great privilege to receive this award and it shows the international esteem in which printing research at Swansea is held.” ■

ProfileProduct GCMS-TD breath testApplications Detection of diseasesContact Dr Tim Claypole, Director, Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating,

School of Engineering, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK Tel +44 (0)1792 295214, email [email protected], web www.swansea.ac.uk/printing

For more information please circle 5611 on the reader reply card

“If unique markers for specific diseases can be recognised earlier than with traditional techniques, then there is immense potential to revolutionise early disease diagnosis before any symptoms have developed, and without the need for invasive procedures.”

Dr Masood Yousef Senior Research Assistant

WCPC

Technology used in printing, such as spectrometry, has inspired the development of the breath test

issue 56 ■ summer 2008


news

…Canadian computer ‘thinks’ in Welsh…The first successful trial has taken place of the Konrad system, a radical new approach to artificial intelligence computing

Software being developed at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff (UWIC), is able to ‘think’ in a rudimentary way about a test sentence and then respond appropriately.

This first trial is significant because the software, built around what is known as a ‘network database’, responded in Welsh to a question put to it in English.

New R&D facility for global drug manufacturerSuccessful innovation through collaborationthe collaboration between academia and induStry was celebrated recently with the Cardiff University Innovation Network annual awards for innovation in May.

Three main awards were presented to collaborative projects that have led the way with their innovative research.

The Innovation Prize was awarded to Inhibitex plc and the Welsh School of Pharmacy for their development of a drug targeted specifically to treat shingles. If this drug successfully passes through the final trial stages, it could improve the lives of 2.5 million people worldwide who are afflicted by this condition.

The award for longer-term collaboration went to TerraDat (UK) Ltd and the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences Geoenvironmental Research Group for their portable, cost-effective rapid-response system to assess landslide risks within unstable areas.

Atkins Middle East and the Welsh School of Architecture were presented with the award for Early Stage Collaboration. Their project, based in Dubai, used cutting-edge techniques to design a 65-storey low-energy, low-emission iconic building which reduces the normal energy consumption of such a structure by 60% and water consumption by 35%.

www.innovation-network.org.uk

The project is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Derek J. Smith, a lecturer in UWIC’s School of Health Sciences, and John T. Abell, a systems engineer at International Software Products, Toronto.

Mr Smith attributes the software’s ability to behave in a comparatively lifelike manner to the fact that its basic design incorporates many of the known features of the human mind.

The task for the coming months is to increase the system’s language skills until they start to display the sort of self-directing qualities which characterise human cognition.

Derek J. Smith

www.uwic.ac.uk

penn pharmaceuticalS’ new research facilities have been officially unveiled by First Minister for Wales Rhodri Morgan.

Penn has created the high-potency suite at Tredegar in South Wales in response to a growing demand for new treatments, including anti-cancer drugs, that require highly potent compounds.

Penn is a leading global developer of drug manufacturing for clinical trials, and such potent compounds need to be specially contained to avoid contamination and exposure to operators. The new facility has been designed to allow fully contained manufacture of these ingredients.

Wales is now home to a thriving community of bioscience and pharmaceutical businesses and Penn Pharmaceuticals is leading the way in developing this internationally important sector for Wales. This new facility will allow Penn to further develop the range of services it offers to other pharmaceutical companies and thereby grow the business and increase jobs.

Rhodri Morgan First Minister for Wales

www.pennpharm.co.uk

advances wales4

news

Expansion in Wales for black box producera company which produceS black box recorderS for military vehicles in the US and Australian armed forces has opened a new research and development base in Wales.

Dytecna Systems Engineering will design all of its hi-tech software at the new base near Welshpool in Powys, in an expansion move which has created 35 new jobs.

The firm’s technology is used to monitor and identify problems with vehicles’ electronic systems. It is also used on UK rail stock and naval vessels.

Dytecna is considered a world leader in the development of land vehicle health and usage monitoring systems.

The Assembly Government is delighted to support a company of this calibre, which is creating a significant number of highly skilled jobs and set to create a technology centre of excellence in Wales.

Ieuan Wyn Jones Deputy First Minister for Wales

and Minister for the Economy and Transport

www.dytecna.com

icertech of wrexham, a successful temperature control packaging company, has responded to calls from food producers for environmentally friendly boxes suitable for posting chilled and frozen products to customers.

The packaging industry has been seeking alternatives to polystyrene and foam boxes for some time.

Most insulated boxes keep their contents cold by having thick polystyrene or foam liners inside the box. But logistics expert and managing director David Jones has created a box that uses corrugated cardboard liners instead – and tests prove they are just as effective.

Many of our customers are organic producers and they don’t like using materials such as polystyrene to mail their food. But until now, there has been no real alternative.

David Jones

…Cardboard insulated box for mail order…A Wrexham entrepreneur has created the UK’s first all-cardboard insulated mail order box

IcerTech helps independent food and drink producers across the UK to sell their items via internet mail order, supplying the necessary special packaging and offering advice on logistics.

www.icertech.co.uk

Twelve out of thirteen Welsh inventors who exhibited at the International Exhibition of Invention in Geneva – the largest show of its kind in the world – walked away with medals. The Welsh inventors, who all belong to the Wales Innovators Network, won three gold, five silver and four bronze medals.

Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy First Minister for Wales and Minister for the Economy and Transport, congratulated the winners and said that, once again, Wales had done extremely well at the exhibition.

Gold awards went to Gaynor Morgan for IncoStress, a non-surgical device to control incontinence in females (featured in Issue 55 of Advances Wales); Andi Francis for Tic-tac-tactic, a board game based on noughts and crosses; and Dafydd Evans for Lock Fast, a system designed to take the frustration out of assembling flat-packed furniture.

The five-day show attracted more than 750 exhibitors from 45 countries and brought in more than 60,000 visitors.

www.win4wales.com


news

…Welsh scientists aid the search for life on Mars…Computer scientists at Aberystywth University are playing an important part in the new European mission to Mars

exomarS 2013, involving 14 nations, plans to send a robotic rover vehicle to Mars in 2013 to gather data to help scientists find out if there really is life on Mars.

A team involved at Aberystywth University, led by Dr Dave Barnes, had previously worked on the Beagle 2 British Mars mission, calibrating, simulating and generating the high-level commands for the robotic arm that was to be instrumental in gathering data. But contact with the craft was lost and the mission failed in 2003.

Dr Barnes and his team are now using the knowledge gained from their work on the Beagle 2 mission to help prepare the rover vehicle for ExoMars. Beagle 2’s robotic arm, which had five moving joints, is evolving into a more sophisticated arm which will be capable of much more demanding tasks.

Work is now being funded that will enable the robotic arm to work in

concert with on-board cameras and to acquire samples autonomously rather than in response to commands from the Earth.

In their laboratory in Aberystywth, the team have a scale model of the rover vehicle set in a mixture of quartz sand and olivine, which simulates the geophysical features of Martian soil.

The aim of ExoMars is to characterise the biological environment on Mars in preparation for robotic missions and then human exploration. Data from the mission will also provide invaluable input for broader searches for life on other planets.

The work done for Beagle 2 has certainly informed the research for ExoMars, and although there’s a long way to go, we are now focused on achieving a successful mission in 2013.

Dr Dave Barnes

www.aber.ac.uk/aberonline

Researchers discover protection against malarial anaemiareSearcherS at SwanSea univerSity’S School of medicine have moved a step closer to understanding why alpha-thalassaemia, an inherited blood disorder, appears to offer protection against severe malarial anaemia. The results from the study in Papua New Guinea show that the key seems to be in the abnormally large number of small red blood cells.

Alpha-thalassaemia, probably the most common monogenic disease in humans, is particularly common in people from Africa and South-East Asia. It is caused by the deletion of one or more of four ‘alpha-globin’ genes involved in the production of haemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. In people missing two alpha-globin genes, it results in a very mild anaemia.

However, people with the blood disorder appear to have some resistance to severe forms of malaria, which is endemic in the same regions as thalassaemia. Ironically, despite causing mild anaemia, alpha-thalassaemia appears to protect people from severe malaria-related anaemia.

In a collaborative study, Dr Steve Allen and Dr Angela Allen from Swansea University’s School of Medicine believe they have found a mechanism that might contribute to this protection.

The analysis of how malaria is different in people with abnormal red blood cell traits gives us great insight into disease mechanisms that are useful for both prevention and treatment of malaria.

Dr Steve Allen Swansea University

www.swansea.ac.uk

advances wales6

news

…New award will recognise innovation in Wales…a new award that aims to identify Wales’ most innovative companies and organisations has been launched.

The Wales Innovation Award is a new target for Welsh industry and Welsh organisations, which aims to set the standard for years to come.

It will recognise organisations in Wales which excel in innovation, highlighting them as examples to others and showcasing Wales as a global innovative country.

Judges will be looking for evidence of how a product, practice or service has been developed over time and how it can be distinguished from its rivals.

The award is run by the Wales Quality Centre (WQC) and sponsored by Penn Pharmaceutical Services, and will recognise innovation in three categories: products, services and people.

The first winners will be announced at a special ceremony in Cardiff in November.

We passionately believe that innovation enables businesses to thrive, develop and evolve. Without it, businesses will struggle to compete in an ever-expanding global market. Working closely with the WQC we aim to establish the Wales Innovation Award as a key diary event for organisations of all sizes across Wales to sit back and think about their innovative capabilities and to showcase what they have achieved over the years.

Peter George Chief Executive Officer

Penn Pharmaceuticals

www.walesqualitycentre.org.uk

University lecturer works on Oscar-winning filmtim allen is celebrating after a film he worked on won the award for best animated short film at the Oscars.

Tim, a lecturer in stop-motion animation at the University of Glamorgan’s Cardiff School of Creative and Cultural Industries, was one of the lead animators on Peter and the Wolf.

The film, set to Prokofiev’s classic musical piece, used stop-frame model animation and state-of-the-art digital technology.

A graduate of the Glamorgan Centre for Art and Design Technology, Tim has also worked on other high-profile animation projects such as Tim Burton’s

film Corpse Bride and Aardman Animation’s Creature Comforts America.

I am delighted to have played a part in this Oscar-winning film. Now, after 10 years of animating all around the UK and Europe, it’s a pleasure to be teaching at the ATRiuM and bring my experiences to the next generation of animators.

Tim Allen

www.glam.ac.uk

Millions invested in Airbus-led programmea £103m programme to revolutionise aircraft wing technology has received the largest-ever investment in research and development from the Welsh Assembly Government.

The Next Generation Composite Wing collaborative programme, led by Airbus, will safeguard almost 7000 jobs at the Airbus wing manufacturing plant at Broughton, North Wales.

The Welsh Assembly Government has made a £7.5m contribution to the programme. In return, Airbus will contribute to the Government’s strategy for technology learning and training across Wales and support the

development of Welsh supply chain companies.

This vital research and technology programme will give the world-class Broughton plant the skills and knowledge to remain at the forefront of aircraft wing design and manufacture.

Ieuan Wyn Jones Deputy First Minister for Wales

and Minister for the Economy and Transport

www.airbus.com

Tim Allen works with the models of Peter and the Wolf that were used in the film


news

At a glance…

A joint venture between the Welsh Language Board and the Language Technologies Unit at Bangor University has led to the availability of Welsh language tools for Mac OS X. Mac users can now access for free a comprehensive set of spelling and grammar checkers for Welsh, together with a suite of bilingual Welsh/English dictionaries.

Bangor-based intelligent sensor company DeepStream Technologies has signed an £8m deal with Moeller, a German global supplier of industrial automation and distribution equipment components. DeepStream will supply its 3-D-shaped circuit technology, used to develop a digital residual current measurement component, to Moeller for use in its circuit breakers.

Current BioData, a science information company that provides information services to the global pharmaceutical industry, is to set up a new centre for its scientific editors in Swansea, creating 45 jobs. Scientists here will work on its flagship product, the Targeted Proteins Database, which is used by pharmaceutical companies worldwide in their search for effective new medicines.

One of the world’s largest suppliers to the healthcare industry is expanding its operation at Llanberis, North Wales. Siemens Medical Solutions will double production capacity in a move creating nearly 200 jobs. The plant manufactures reagents used in hospitals worldwide to assist in the diagnosis of a range of medical conditions.

Pinacl Solutions, based at North Wales’ Technium® OpTIC at St Asaph, has won the coveted Information and Communication Technology prize at this year’s British

Council for School Environments awards. It recognises the company’s role in revolutionising the concept of ‘virtual learning’ at the Thomas Deacon Academy in Peterborough.

A team of world-leading industry and academic partners has joined forces in a £1.7m research and development project to develop new drilling fluids for offshore gas and oil explora-tion. This project includes expertise in visualisation science at the Technium® Centre for Advanced Software Technology and in the functionalisation of biodegradable polymers at the North East Wales Institute.

Revolymer, the company behind a revolutionary form of removable chewing gum, has been given a £10m funding boost to help the company put the finishing touches to and launch its non-sticky gum. The start-up company, based in Mostyn in Flintshire, has been given the funding from external investors, including IP Group.

Bangor University’s Centre for Advanced Software Technologies has become the first organisation in the UK to gain approval from the Gambling Commission to test gam-ing machines for legal compliance. The Compliance Testing Laboratory now offers testing and certification services to gambling device operators.

Next-generation solar manufacturer G24 Innovations (G24i) has won the award for Welsh Innovative Company of the Year at the Western Mail Business Awards in May. The company became the first in the world to produce commercial-grade dye-sensitised thin film cells. It has also won a grant of £100,000 from the World Bank to develop its technology to light homes in Rwanda.

…Purolite opens R&D unit in South Wales…a leading global water purification company has invested more than £3m in a new research and development unit in South Wales.

One of Purolite International’s five R&D facilities worldwide, the unit at Llantrisant will also act as the group’s European headquarters.

This investment marks an association with South Wales that goes back 23 years.

This new facility will be the cornerstone for future growth for the Purolite Group by providing innovative new products, applications and technologies to provide solutions for our customers.

Don Brodie Vice President of Operations

Purolite International

Purolite manufactures ion exchange resins, which are used in a variety of applications including the manufacture of food and drinks, industrial water and pharmaceuticals.

The company has the largest commitment to R&D of any resin producer globally.

www.purolite.com

advances wales8

special feature: Technium® OpTIC

The optimum environment for technology developmentTechnium® OpTIC, an opto-electronics centre in North Wales, is a world-class facility committed to enabling the development of a vital technology for the twenty-first centuryOpto-electronics, an innovative combina-tion of optical and electronic technology, surrounds us in our daily lives. From the barcode reader in the supermarket and the photocopier and laser printer in the office to the CD/DVD player at home, it’s a technology that is seemingly taken for granted. At the same time, it is developing quickly to become one of the most impor-tant technologies in today’s world.

At the heart of that development is the Technium® Opto-electronics Technology and Incubation Centre (OpTIC), a facil-ity in St Asaph, Denbighshire, which is dedicated to enabling business growth in opto-electronics and related technologies. OpTIC helps to build strong businesses by assisting with new product and process development through technology and thereby enabling competitiveness on the world stage. Companies ranging from start-up companies located on site to large

multinationals can benefit from OpTIC’s world-class expertise.

OpTIC, the brainchild of the Welsh Opto-electronics Forum, is located in an existing cluster of optic and opto-electronics companies in North Wales. Initially funded by the EU and the Welsh Assembly Government, the facility is unique in offering dedicated support to this highly important and innovative sector. OpTIC is fast becoming a national resource for opto-electronics and is on the threshold of engaging with national and international projects such as the High-Power laser Energy Research facility (HiPER) and the proposed European Extremely-Large Telescope (E-ELT).

The activities of the Technology Centre are complementary to work being carried out in academia and are focal points for joint near-market projects between industry and the university sector. The centre provides routes to commercialisa-tion and technology transfer as well as helping to build new businesses.

OpTIC is majoring on a number of platform technologies including: opto-

electronic materials, thin films, surface structuring and optical packaging. In sup-port of this strategy, centres of expertise have been set up: Ultra-Precision Surfaces (UPS), in partnership with University College London and Cranfield University, which strongly positions OpTIC within the UK for the manufacture of large-precision optics; Optical Polymers, which addresses and exploits this new emerging technology within opto-electronics; the state-of-the-art labs at the Centre

ProfileProduct Opto-electronics Technology and Incubation CentreApplications Building strong opto-electronics businessesContact Dave Rimmer, Managing Director, Technium® OpTIC, Ffordd William

Morgan, St Asaph Business Park, St Asaph, Denbighshire LL17 0JD, UK Tel +44 (0)1745 535100, email [email protected], web www.optictechnium.com


“OpTIC facilitates the development of new products, generates new, high-technology businesses and quality jobs, and plays a major role in sustaining and growing the existing Welsh opto-electronic cluster in the region.”

Dave Rimmer Managing Director

Technium® OpTIC

RGB lasers for holography


special feature: Technium® OpTIC

Case Study Optical Reference Systems LtdOptical Reference Systems (ORS) has a global reputation for designing and building the world’s most advanced intelligent thin-film monitoring systems.

Originally created to provide in situ monitoring solutions for academic institutions and companies carrying out research and development in the area of metal–organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD), ORS has now grown into a global solutions provider for many different types of thin-film deposition systems.

There are many applications where it is necessary to deposit or grow thin films, the main ones being electronic semiconduct-ers and optical coatings. ORS specialises in making reflectometers – devices that measure changes in reflected light intensity.

Carl Griffiths, Managing Director, says OpTIC’s assistance has helped grow ORS into a global business:

“Since relocating to OpTIC in 2005, ORS has had continuous assistance in raising significant sums of venture capital and in formulating a strong strategy for building the business. We have access to an extensive network of expertise, which has greatly assisted ORS in establishing a global presence.”

for Modern Optics (CMO), which are equipped to exploit holographic-based products; and Metal Organic Chemical Vapour Deposition (MOCVD), which will explore exciting new opto-electronic materials in light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and photovoltaics for the next generation of products, including lighting and displays, cementing the strong and grow-ing relationship with North East Wales Institute (NEWI).

Prestigious European awardRecently, OpTIC won a prestigious European RegioStars Award 2008. The award was presented at the ceremony

in Belgium to First Minister Rhodri Morgan, who said: ‘This demonstrates how our nation can be a leading light in innovation.’ The awards honour Europe’s most groundbreaking initiatives and innovative regional projects. OpTIC won an award in the category of Supporting Clusters and Business Networks, demonstrating the knowledge-based regional economy that has emerged from the set-up of OpTIC. ■ ■ ■

Case Study Solus Sensors LtdSolus Sensors provides innovative sensor solutions for the chemical, petrochemical and water industries (featured in Issue 46 of Advances Wales). It specialises in distributed fibre-optic sensor technology for the detection and location of liquid spills over long distances, using advanced polymers and developing novel uses of existing technologies.

Pilot projects currently under way in association with manufacturers and suppliers of petrochemical products include the detection of crude oil and diesel leaks in tankers and double-skinned pipes. Its sensor systems are designed to give early warning of leaks to help companies reduce clean-up costs and meet increasingly stringent environmental legislation regarding the storage and transportation of petrochemical products. Large tank farms can be easily monitored using a single-distributed fibre-optic sensor system, and Solus has recently designed a new multi-fibre sensing cable which could, for example, monitor fluid leakage providing intruder detection with a single cable installation.

John McCormack, Managing Director, says being a part of OpTIC has been extremely beneficial to Solus Sensors:

“OpTIC is an excellent place to begin life as an optical start-up company as you are immediately immersed in the well-established optical community of North Wales and can make use of excellent facilities as well as draw on friendly help and advice.”

Transitional hologram

advances wales10

manufacturing

The power of attractionEriez Magnetics Europe Ltd, based in South Wales, celebrates its 40th birthday this year with the release of the latest groundbreaking model of POWERFLUX, the only cryogen-free superconducting magnet in the world

From humble beginnings in Bedwas, South Wales, Eriez Magnetics has grown to become the leader in manufacturing magnetic separation, metal detection, vibratory and sampling equipment. It is also the first company in the world to have developed the only cryogen-free superconducting magnet presently available, POWERFLUX.

Eriez began as South Wales Switchgear in 1968, when it manufactured simple lifting magnets. South Wales was the ideal base for the company because of the local coal-mining and engineering industries. From this company, Eriez Magnetics would emerge, boasting technological achievements such as POWERFLUX, the RevX Eddy Current Separator and the Suspended Superconducting Magnet, the most powerful suspended magnet ever built.

Eriez is firmly established as the UK’s premier supplier of magnetic separators, metal detectors, vibratory feeders and sampling equipment. This applies espe-cially to the non-metallic minerals and ceramics industries, with Eriez supplying

several unique high-intensity magnetic

separation systems.

POWERFLUXIn February this year the latest version of the cryogen-free POWERFLUX was unveiled – completely funded, designed and manufactured in Wales.

POWERFLUX is used for the purifica-tion of mineral slurries, notably kaolins, containing weakly magnetic impurities. It is a more compact, more efficient and more affordable system than traditional superconducting magnets, which neces-sitate huge initial capital investments and continued high operating costs. Presently, many other superconducting magnets used for mineral processing consume large quantities of helium (used for cooling the coil). This is a problem because as helium reserves are diminishing, the costs are escalating.

POWERFLUX, a 25-tonne magnet with a central bore diameter of 1 m and a background magnetic field of 1.5 tesla, removes weakly magnetic contaminants from mineral slurries. In operation, min-eral slurry is fed upwards from the bottom of the central canister and passes through a specially designed stainless steel matrix. The high-intensity magnetic field, gener-ated by the cryogen-free superconducting coil, is focused into the matrix, resulting in magnetically susceptible particles being captured and held. Following a set period of processing, the feed is then stopped, the magnet turned off and the matrix

flushed to remove entrapped magnetic particles. The cycle is then repeated.

Magnets for recyclingEriez has also designed and built a unique variant of the RevX Eddy Current Separator to support the recycling industry in its aim of increasing levels of metal recovery.

Another development for the recycling industry is the ProSort airless metal separator, an innovative non-ferrous metal reclamation system that reclaims valuable materials currently unrecoverable with traditional sorting equipment.

Whether being applied to the ceram-ics, non-metallic minerals or recycling industry, Eriez is in pole position with its innovative magnetic solutions. ■

“The primary design feature of the POWERFLUX was for the superconducting magnet to be cryogen-free. Many experts quite vocally stated that this would not be possible, but we were undeterred and ultimately we succeeded.”

Paul Fears Marketing Director

Eriez Magnetics

ProfileProduct POWERFLUX cryogen-free superconducting magnetApplications Mineral processing and metal recyclingContact Paul Fears, Marketing Director, Eriez Magnetics Europe Ltd, Bedwas

House Industrial Estate, Bedwas, Caerphilly CF83 8YG, UK Tel +44 (0)29 2086 8501, email [email protected], web www.eriez.com



manufacturing

Climate change is an issue now firmly on the public agenda, with many people concerned about their carbon footprint. One of the biggest contributing factors to carbon footprints is carbon dioxide (CO2) from vehicle emissions. But with 27.8 million cars on the road (Department of Transport 2006 figures) in Britain alone, how can our carbon footprints be reduced?

The pressure is now on vehicle manufacturers to reduce CO2 emissions. Various strategies have been devised, including hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), the most common of which combines an internal combus-tion engine with an electric motor. Although growing in popularity, HEVs can be considered expensive, with complex mechanisms and engineering.

The electric alternativeThere is another alternative – a vehicle run only on electricity, emitting no CO2.

Port Talbot-based Stevens Vehicles Ltd has created the only fully elec-tric five-seat car available in Britain today. The Zecar® (the ‘Ze’ stands for zero emissions) was launched on St David’s Day, 1 March 2008, together with the Zevan®. Drivers

can reap the benefits – both vehicles are affordable and are not subject to road tax or costly fuel charges – while safe in the knowledge that their carbon footprint from driving is practically eliminated.

The Zecar® reaches a top speed of 56 mph and can run for up to 50 miles before the lead-acid battery requires recharging from the mains for six to eight hours. There is no problem of an idling engine, and it should

cost less than 2p per mile to run – a fifth the cost of petrol. It is hoped that this car will find a good market response in London, where it will be exempt from congestion and parking charges.

Design simplicityThe design of the vehicles incorporates few components and minimal complexity, leveraging existing proven technologies as far as possible. This design approach, combined with the vehicles’ light weight, means that they emit half as much CO2 as the best petrol and diesel engines over their lifetime – even assuming that their electric power is sourced from coal power stations.

The Zecar® and Zevan® have been designed, created and developed by Professor Tony Stevens, who has over 30 years’ experience of engineering, design and marketing in the motor industry. His son, Peter Stevens, has taken his father’s designs and used his own background in banking and business management to finance, set up and manage a new opera-tion to manufacture Zecar® and Zevan® in Port Talbot.

The futureSeveral other variants based on the ‘Ze’ design are planned, including a taxi cab, a pick-up truck and long wheelbase derivatives. The vehicle has also been designed to accept alternative drivetrains (the group of components that generate power), including a bio-diesel hybrid, and fuel cell technologies. Stevens Vehicles is working with various developers of these new technologies to ensure that the company stays at the forefront of electric vehicle manufacturing. ■

ProfileProduct Zero-emission electric cars and vansApplications Environmentally friendly and cost-efficient drivingContact Peter Stevens, Managing Director, Stevens Vehicles Ltd, ECM2, Port

Talbot SA13 2EZ, UK Tel +44 (0)1639 864730, email [email protected], web www.stevensvehicles.co.uk


“I am delighted to be setting up in South Wales. I chose Wales because everyone here has been so helpful and keen to develop this sort of business, providing help from funding through to expert technical consultancy. I am looking forward to growing into a large business for Wales, and helping Wales become a centre of excellence for environmental technology businesses.”

Peter Stevens Managing Director

Stevens Vehicles Ltd

Driving in a new directionSouth Wales-based Stevens Vehicles Ltd produces fully electric cars and vans – practical vehicle solutions which won’t cost the earth

advances wales12

biotechnology

Hair of the dogResearchers at the University of Glamorgan and TrichoTech Ltd have developed a test that analyses hair to identify longer-term trends in alcohol consumption

Chronic alcohol use is an area of growing concern. Traditionally, alcohol consump-tion is monitored using blood or urine testing, which can only provide details of very recent consumption. Researchers at the University of Glamorgan, in collabora-tion with TrichoTech Ltd, a leading drug-testing company based in Cardiff, have developed a new test which overcomes this problem by using hair analysis.

The new testing procedure for alcohol in hair samples provides a retrospective history of long-term alcohol consumption and/or abuse. When substances such as drugs or alcohol are consumed, small traces of these compounds can enter the hair follicle through the bloodstream, where they become permanently bound. It is then possible to take a small section of hair for analysis, typically using a sophisticated technique known as gas chromatography–tandem mass spectrom-etry (GCMS–MS).

Ethanol itself is not a suitable com-pound for hair analysis, so research has focused on the detection of a metabolite of alcohol, ethyl glucuronide (EtG). EtG is very useful as it is produced in the body only following alcohol consumption. It can be used as a marker for chronic

alcohol use in hair. Using this new test, it is possible to interpret the concentrations of EtG found in hair and detect whether individuals abstain from alcohol, are moderate or social drinkers, or are heavy or chronic alcohol users. It is recommended that results from the EtG hair test be treated as a guideline, and best results are obtained when the test is used in conjunction with a clinical assessment.

ApplicationsMarket sectors for the test include work-place testing – including pre-employment screening and as part of drugs and alcohol policies and in monitoring safety-critical workers. It will also benefit the criminal justice system – specific examples include corroboration of suitability for custody of children and determining the alcohol

habits of drivers involved in road acci-dents. Schools could follow the example of the drug testing which is used to moni-tor students in some schools in the US and the UK. In the healthcare sector, tests could be used to assess patient suitability for treatment or surgery, for example screening prior to liver transplant, or in alcohol treatment facilities to determine the extent and duration of abstinence or reduction in consumption.

Steroid analysisIn addition to alcohol testing, the researchers at the University of Glamorgan and TrichoTech plan to inves-tigate the hair-testing technique for use in steroid analysis. Current testing methods utilise blood and urine screening, which provide only short-term evidence of use. It can be easy for athletes to abstain from drug use briefly to avoid being caught. A hair-testing procedure for steroids and other doping compounds would radically alter drug testing in sport, making it difficult for people to evade the testing process because the steroid compounds can remain in the hair for months after the initial use. The long-term goal of this research is to develop new steroid testing services with the aim of providing this service to the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in London.

This area of research is currently very underdeveloped. More work is required to make steroid analysis in hair a viable alternative to blood and urine testing for major regulatory bodies such as the World Anti-Doping Agency.

The research team, led by Dr Richard Paul and Dr Anthony Berry, is currently looking to expand this research into an international collaborative project. ■

ProfileProduct Alcohol testing from hair samplesApplications Diagnosis in the workplace, criminal justice system, and sports and

medical sectorsContact Dr Richard Paul, Lecturer in Forensic Science, Division of Chemistry

and Forensic Science, Faculty of Health, Sport and Science, University of Glamorgan, Pontypridd CF37 1DL, UK Tel +44 (0)1443 480480, email [email protected], web http://hesas.glam.ac.uk TrichoTech Ltd (a Concateno Plc company), Tel +44 (0)29 2054 0542, email [email protected], web www.trichotech.com


“This new analytical test has wide-ranging applications and could have a major impact in Wales and beyond.”

Dr Richard Paul University of Glamorgan


environment

The tide is turning for renewable energySwansea-based Swanturbines Ltd is harnessing ocean energy to generate electricity in a sustainable and harmonious way for generations to come

Swanturbines Ltd is preparing to harness the ocean’s power with global-scale tech-nology innovation. Tidal stream turbines – which are like wind turbines but which work under water – capture energy to generate electricity. The underwater wind is caused by the movement of the moon and occurs every day, predictably, 365 days of the year.

This is renewable energy in its purest sense, with no waste, no by-products and no pollution. It is local to communities, and provides security of supply through distributed generation. What’s more, it is totally invisible, completely submerged beneath the waves, maintaining the beauty of our coastline whilst providing power to businesses, factories and homes.

Tidal stream renewable energy is an embryonic industry with five or six main players worldwide, and is quickly expanding with the potential to become a trillion-dollar global industry.

Simple technologySwanturbines, a spin-out from Swansea University, uses simple technology – a ver-sion of a floating horizontal axis turbine. The complexities found in similar wind turbines have been removed to improve reliability, which reduces maintenance costs and provides far cheaper electricity.

This turbine extracts energy from moving water in much the same way as a wind turbine extracts energy from moving air. Devices are mounted to the seabed with a gravity-based foundation system, removing the need for expensive offshore drilling rigs.

To minimise expenditure, offshore specialists CB&I John Brown transferred standard offshore technology and opera-tions to form the basis for a new support structure concept. In collaboration with Swanturbines, using rotordynamic modelling, the concept was designed to allow simple installation and maintenance retrieval in both shallow and deep water and to minimise vibrations, hence increas-ing the maintenance-free period.

A gearless low-speed generator offers a high efficiency over a range of speeds with minimal maintenance demands through the use of novel structural and electro-magnetic topologies. Also, a simple, robust and serviceable yawing mechanism is used for maximum flow capture.

Orkney projectSwanturbines is involved in a project to install and operate a medium-scale technology demonstrator – a 330-kW machine which features scaled versions of all the aspects of a commercial machine. This is taking place this summer in the Orkney Islands, where the European Marine Energy Centre (EMEC) is based. The EMEC was established to help the evolution of marine energy devices from the prototype stage into the commercial marketplace. The Centre provides the world’s only multi-berth, purpose-built, open-sea test facilities for wave and tidal marine energy converters. With this assis-tance and backdrop, Swanturbines is able to test and further develop its technology, paving the way for a new source of energy for the world. ■

“There are two main benefits over wind turbines: predictability and invisibility. Predictability is particularly good because conventional generation can be planned around it, and you are guaranteed power at certain times.”

James Orme Managing Director

Swanturbines Ltd

ProfileProduct Tidal stream turbinesApplications Electricity generation through a renewable energy sourceContact James Orme, Managing Director, Swanturbines Ltd,

Technium® Digital, Singleton Park, Oystermouth Road, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK Tel +44 (0)1792 295217, email [email protected], web www.swanturbines.co.uk


advances wales14

environment

Breaking the iceA leading glaciologist at Aberystwyth University claims that global warming is not entirely to blame for the dramatic collapse of an Antarctic ice shelf

When the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica collapsed in 2002, the event appeared to be a sudden response to climate change, and this long, fringing ice shelf in the north-west part of the Weddell Sea was assumed to be the latest in a long line of victims of Antarctic summer heat waves linked to global warming.

However, in a paper published in the Journal of Glaciology, Professor Neil Glasser of Aberystwyth University, working as a Fulbright Scholar in the United States, together with Dr Ted Scambos of the University of Colorado’s National Snow and Ice Data Centre, says that the shelf was already teetering on collapse.

The Larsen ice shelf consisted of three segments: A, B and C. Larsen A disintegrated in 1995, and Larsen B in 2002. Although

Larsen C remains stable and there are at present no signs that this shelf is likely to collapse, Professor Glasser’s paper will play an important role in informing future study focusing on this shelf.

Surprise disintegrationThe 500-billion-tonne B shelf was 200 m thick and covered an area similar to the size of Rhode Island. The speed of the break-up (around three weeks) surprised glaciologists, despite observations and numerical modelling by other scientists at NASA and the Centre of Polar Observation and Modeling that had pointed to an ice shelf in distress for decades previously.

It was assumed that increases in air temperature were to blame. In the Antarctic Peninsula, the temperature has been rising by 0.5°C every decade since the late 1940s – probably the fastest rising air temperatures anywhere in the world in the last 50 years. But this new study shows that ice shelf break-up is not controlled simply by climate, and Glasser emphasises that global warming is only one of a number of contributory factors.

How was the study carried out?Professor Glasser’s research has benefited from the up-to-date technology available at Aberystwyth University, including remote sensing hardware and software and the department’s geographic information system (GIS) software.

Using this technology, Professor Glasser and his team analysed repeat satellite images of the ice shelf. Images were imported into image analysis software to manipulate their quality using multiple-band combinations and standard image enhancement procedures. Surface features and structures in the


environment

Larsen B ice shelf area and its tributary glaciers were then mapped from the satellite imagery, with detailed map-ping carried out by on-screen digitising features. Features mapped include the location of the ice shelf front, the

location of rifts (fractures that penetrate the entire ice shelf thickness), longitudinal surface structures, individual flow units, medial moraines and other areas of surface debris, open crevasses and surface meltwater features.

Rising sea levelsThe study is important because ice shelf collapse contributes directly to global sea level rise, albeit indirectly. As Glasser explains, the ice shelves serve a very important purpose because

they buttress the feeder glaciers from the oceans:

‘Ice shelves themselves do not contribute directly to sea level rise because they are floating on the ocean and they already displace the same amount of water. But when the ice shelves collapse, the glaciers that feed them speed up and get thinner, so they supply more ice to the oceans, ultimately raising global sea levels.’

If we are to make accurate predictions of future global sea level change, then we need to know the range of probable future behaviour of the remaining ice shelves – so Glasser’s study feeds into this bigger picture.

Further researchThe keen interest expressed in Professor Glasser’s paper has been a springboard to gaining Research Council funding to extend the scope of the work. In April he was awarded funding of nearly £350,000 from the UK Natural Environment Research Council under their Antarctic Funding Initiative for a new project. The aim of this project is to extend the temporal record of ice shelf collapse in this region by reconstructing the outline and evolu-tion of the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet over the last 2 million years. This will be done using methods such as remote sensing and mapping of glaciers and dating samples of rock using cosmogenic isotopes, and will enable researchers to make predic-tions about the possible future behaviour of the ice sheet. ■“Ice shelf collapse is not as

simple as we first thought. Our new study shows that ice shelf break-up is not controlled simply by climate. A number of other atmospheric, oceanic and glaciological factors are involved. For example, the location and spacing of fractures on the ice shelf such as crevasses and rifts are very important too because they determine how strong or weak the ice shelf is.”

Professor Neil Glasser Aberystwyth University

ProfileProduct Glaciology researchApplications Monitoring ice shelf collapse and the effects of global warmingContact Professor Neil Glasser, Professor of Physical Geography, Institute of

Geography and Earth Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Aberystwyth SY23 3DB, UK Tel +44 (0)1970 622785, email [email protected], web www.aber.ac.uk/iges/staff/glasserneil.shtml


advances wales16

environment

A WISE move towards environmentally friendly buildingA variety of energy-saving techniques are being used to build a state-of-the-art educational facility in Mid-Wales, which strives to be sustainable in every possible way

A new £6.2 million building which will form part of Europe’s leading eco-centre is being constructed to the highest environ-mental standards using only renewable sources, to inspire and embody the principles taught within it.

The Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (WISE) will act as a training and conference venue for the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT), near Machynlleth in Powys. It is CAT’s

biggest-ever building project, part-funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, and is due to open early in 2009.

‘All the heating and electricity in the WISE building will come from a range of renewable sources,’ explains WISE project officer Phil Horton. ‘This includes a combined heat and power plant burning woodchips, solar panels for electricity and hot water, hydroelectric turbines and several wind turbines.’

Construction materialsA variety of energy- and carbon-saving techniques have been used to create the three-storey, 2000-m2 building. Hempcrete (environmentally friendly concrete made from hemp stalks, lime and a small quantity of cement), a product which produces less carbon emis-sions than conventional concrete (cement is energy-consuming because it is fired at

high temperatures), has been applied to the walls. The building will generate electricity from photovoltaic solar panels and hot water from a large solar water heating array.

Energy-saving techniquesIn common with most of the buildings at CAT, WISE will further develop the organisation’s thinking on sustainable construction and push new and innova-tive technologies to the fore. The focus is on minimising the energy used during construction (the embodied energy) and the energy in use. There are a number of ways in which WISE is implementing this philosophy.

Firstly, the main lecture theatre is a 15-m-diameter circular structure of rammed earth (a low-energy material that buffers the interior against temperature changes and makes best use of solar energy gains), encompassing the highest rammed earth walls in the UK. Secondly, the main structure of the building is a glue-laminated timber frame. Laminating the timber produces high-strength and high-stiffness beams whilst making use of small timber sections. To add to this, the

“WISE is a brilliant idea which will help the centre to cater for so many more people seeking practical solutions to environmental challenges.”

George Monbiot British environmental activist

ProfileProduct Wales Institute for Sustainable EducationApplications Educational facility promoting sustainable livingContact Alex Randall, Media Officer, Centre for Alternative Technology,

Machynlleth, Powys SY20 9AZ, UK Tel +44 (0)1654 705957, email [email protected], web www.cat.org.uk/wise



environment

external walls are a 500-mm-thick mixture of hemp and lime, with a small amount of cement. The aim of using this technology is to produce a breathing, highly insulat-ing wall using a single material that is easy for a conventional contractor to handle. Furthermore, a material called ‘glaster’ is planned to be used as a finish on some of the walls – a plaster made using recycled glass. Finally, water systems also minimise resource use. Low-flush toilets, a com-posting toilet, low-water-use showers and waterless urinals all minimise demand. All of CAT’s waste water will be treated by existing reedbed systems.

Monitoring and researchIn order to measure the impact of the building, both in construction and in use, CAT has a comprehensive monitoring programme in place. A part-time data officer measures energy and water use on site, the travel impacts of meetings and deliveries, and the embodied energy of the main building

components. The aim is to produce a compre-hensive measure of the carbon footprint of the building.

The hemp–lime walls are of particular interest to researchers. Their insulation performance in use is better than was anticipated by simple laboratory tests, so CAT is researching the reasons for this. The building will have extensive monitoring systems built in to the structure. This will enable ongoing research into the energy performance of the building and enable the measurement of the

impact of people’s stay in the building.

Educational facilitiesWhen building is complete, WISE will have 24 hotel-style rooms, classrooms, workshops, a laboratory, offices, lecture rooms, a restaurant and bar and a 200-seat circular lecture theatre.

WISE will cater for educational visits, conferences and the increasing demand for CAT’s courses, which cover all aspects of sustainable living, including sustainable

architecture and solar power for electricians.

CAT is a pioneering research and demonstration centre that inspires, informs and enables people to explore new ways of living. Since its opening, it has established a worldwide reputation as one of the leading organisations demonstrating ecological technologies and lifestyles. CAT presents practical solutions to environmental problems in a fun and informative way. In 2000 its Information Centre was built completely without using any cement. ■

“From the day it first opened its doors, the CAT has always been an inspiration and a pioneer – and in that respect the WISE project is just the latest in a long line of mind-altering marvels.”

Jonathan Porritt Chairman

UIC Sustainable Development Commission

Hemp has been mixed with lime and cement to create environmentally friendly concrete

advances wales18

medicine

A new window into the bodyOsteoTronix Ltd, based in South Wales, has created a simple, elegant and highly effective technique for the diagnosis of bone disease and cancer

Advances in medical imaging have allowed researchers and doctors amaz-ing ability to view the inner workings of the body. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and computed tomography (CT) scanning enable diagnosis and monitoring of a huge range of diseases. However, a problem arises when the structures of interest are less than a millimetre in size. The long scan times required to acquire sufficient image data place a limit on the resolution achievable, making assessment of fine structures in the body (e.g. bone microarchitecture) impossible to achieve. Lacking an in vivo means for characterising these fine structures, diagnosis is reliant on removal of pathology samples from the body – tissue or bone biopsies – and subsequent imaging. Invasive and often painful, these procedures are not practical for ongoing testing such as that required for diagnosis and monitoring of disease progression and response to treatment.

Now a company based at the Technium® in Swansea is set to change all that. Using a novel approach to signal gen-eration and analysis, OsteoTronix’s MR-based diagnostic technology allows characterisation of biostructures in the size range that has proved so elusive to previous imaging techniques. The proprietary OsteoTronix characterisation tool gathers the data it needs in a hundredth of the time required to generate a standard MR image, thus enabling extremely high-resolution measurements. Furthermore, since the measurement is made in vivo and doesn’t rely on ionising radiation, it makes ongoing and frequent monitor-ing of response to treatment possible. Not only will this allow much quicker evaluation of new pharmaceuticals, but it will significantly reduce the need for animal testing. The pharmaceutical industry needs tools that will allow it to make ‘go/no go’ decisions earlier in the development cycle, potentially saving hundreds of millions of dollars.

How is this done?An MR image is generated by taking data to generate contiguous pixels in three dimensions over a scan time that is often well in excess of 15 minutes. Patient motion over the longer time periods puts an upper limit on the resolu-tion achievable (even normal breathing causes blurring). OsteoTronix’s software tool derives a direct bio-index measurement from a small subset of the data needed to create an image. By skipping the image-generating step entirely, OsteoTronix has significantly shortened the time needed to collect data, thus greatly

increasing the achievable resolution.The company’s first product, fineSA, is a software package

that is easily deployed and can be run on any of the 25,000+ MR imaging systems worldwide.

“I strongly believe that OsteoTronix’s unique technology has a very real chance of impacting on the evaluation of a number of diseases in ways that cannot be done by any other technique, and the ability to do this fast and repeatedly without X-rays is a real plus.”

Dr Anwar Padhani Consultant Radiologist

Mount Vernon Cancer Centre

Micrograph of stained pre-cancerous mammary ductal strucure. With kind permission from T. Dale

Micrograph of angiogenesis. With kind permission from Erik Wassberg


medicine

A rapidly expanding list of applicationsAs the company name suggests, the founders originally saw their tech-nology as a way to assess

bone structure, specifically to provide an improved diagnosis of osteoporosis, a crippling disease which affects a large percentage of the over-50 population. Currently, osteoporosis is diagnosed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), an X-ray-based technique capable of measuring only bone mineral density (BMD). BMD correlates very loosely with fracture risk and, within the vast majority of the at-risk population, is incapable of identifying those patients who are most prone to experience fracture. The more pertinent meaurements needed to adequately assess bone health are trabecular bone micro architecture and the thickness of the surrounding cortex. The OsteoTronix measure-ment technology provides a high-resolution quantitative measure of these structures. A doctor’s office-based benchtop device, currently under development, will allow low-cost point-of-care diagnosis and monitoring of osteoporosis.

OsteoTronix has been taken by surprise by the rapidly expanding list of diseases and biological processes in which their unique capability makes diagnosis possible, notably oncology diagnosis and treatment. Tumour metastasis is marked by a sudden increase in microvasculature – a structure that is now assessable in vivo with OsteoTronix’s new technology. One collaborative study, with Professor Trevor Dale and Dr Richard Clarkson of Cardiff University’s School of Biosciences, is monitoring the sudden change in ductal formation and branching in mammary glands, suspected biomar-kers for breast cancer onset.

Many takersThere has been an extremely enthusiastic response among medical researchers wishing to take part in the initial studies aimed at develop-ing the protocol for use of fineSATM in these different disease applications.

Dr Michael Stone, head of the Bone Research Unit at Llandough Hospital in Cardiff, is applying the technique to study whether osteoporosis is a systemic or site-specific disease. A group at Leeds and Sheffield University is using the technique for a similar study to determine the cause of the increase in bone fracture rate found among women being treated for breast can-cer. Furthermore, a study at Cardiff University will look at the role of diabetic medications on bone loss. These last two studies highlight one of the major benefits of OsteoTronix’s revolution-ary technology – the ability to track drug effects over time, an invaluable tool in verification of drug efficacy and safety.

The non-invasive nature of the measurement also enables tracking of study subjects. One study will track players from Cardiff City Football Club, and compare the structure of their bones with age-matched subjects who lead a sedentary lifestyle, in order to explore the role of exercise in bone health.

The company is also collaborating with Professor John Crues of the University of California in San Diego (also head of RadNet, one of the world’s largest radiology networks) to investigate the use of trabecular bone loss as a marker for tumour severity in bone cancer.

Future collaborations include studies with Cancer Research UK looking at angiogenic development in tumours; a study evaluating fineSATM’s ability to assess limb viability in the treat-ment of diabetic wounds; and a study with Professor Graeme Bydder of the University of California, which will monitor the

development of the cirrhotic structure in liver disease, a common precursor to liver cancer.

An enabling technologyAdvances in medical science are made possible by the ability to ‘see’ how diseases function. Along with chemical analysis of body fluids, the ability to look inside the body to monitor the specific modes of disease functioning is paramount. Through its collaborations with an expanding list of world-renowned medical researchers, OsteoTronix is working to expand the list of ‘visible’ disease processes. The company’s hope is that its technology will enable improved understanding of a large range of diseases, the treatment of which was previously hampered by the lack of an available diagnostic tool. ■

“OsteoTronix’s ability to evaluate trabecular structure will have a huge impact on skeletal MR imaging, saving thousands of patients from unnecessary biopsies, and could substantially change the treatment of a disease that can cost over $20,000 a year in drug costs alone.”

Professor John Crues University of California

ProfileProduct Diagnostic technology for characterising fine structures in the bodyApplications Diagnosis and monitoring of a range of diseasesContact Peter E. Taylor, Director of Business Development, OsteoTronix Ltd,

12 Technium® 1, Swansea Waterfront, Swansea SA1 8PH, UK Tel +44 (0)1923 828167, email [email protected], web www.osteotronix.com


advances wales20

information technology

Safety in numbersA company in South Wales has devised web-based, interactive software programs to help health professionals master the vital skill of calculating medication dosage

Accurate medication dosage is vital to patient safety. Authentic World Ltd, a spin-out company of Glamorgan and Cardiff Universities, aims to reduce medication error through the develop-ment of innovative educational software solutions. The company’s work in this field is increasingly changing health professional educational practice in both the UK and the USA.

Its Medication Dosage Calculation Skills (MDCS) and Authentic Diagnostic Assessment (ADA) software programs are internet-based applications designed to facilitate the learning and assessment of the key skills of problem-solving and calculation.

International research has dem-onstrated that medication dosage calculation errors are related to dif-ficulties arising from problem-solving and numeracy skills, and require a multi-factorial solution. Typically, the classroom-based ‘chalk and talk’ methods traditionally used for teaching these skills have been met with limited success in supporting students’ understanding of the problem-solving process. This problem has been further compounded by the demands of the clinical practice setting, where there is often limited time for clinical experts to externalise their approaches to calculating drug dosages.

In response to these identified phe-nomena, research undertaken by Dr Keith Weeks, one of the company’s founding directors, resulted in a software prototype that made a significant contribution to resolving these problems. Evaluation with nursing students demonstrated that the software significantly improved medication dosage calculation skills; made significant advances in establishing a platform for predicting performance

in practice settings; and provided an authentic diagnostic assessment of the nurses’ problem-solving skill performance in a virtual and high-fidelity simulated practice environment.

Subsequently, under the technological directorship of chief executive officer Norman Woolley, and utilising the education environment and multimedia design expertise of Dr Weeks and Matt Brown, the knowledge and technology transfer process was employed to refine and extend the software prototype into two high-quality and commercially viable products.

Bringing theory to lifeBy recreating the clinical context through the use of high-quality images of the main components of the medication dosage problem-solving process (e.g. prescription charts, medication containers and labels, tablets and syringes), the MDCS software uses interactive exercises and assessments that help learners develop the necessary

“Our interactive computer-based technologies facilitate authentic modelling of medication dosage problems and promote the active engagement of healthcare practitioners in the learning of these critical calculation skills. Essentially, these processes combine to create a unique and authentic environment that acts as a bridge between theory and practice settings.”

Dr Keith Weeks Research and Design Director

Authentic World Ltd

ProfileProduct Medication dosage calculation softwareApplications Teaching and assessing drug calculation skills for health

professionalsContact Norman Woolley, Chief Executive Officer, Authentic World Ltd, Unit

25, Cardiff Medicentre, Heath Park, Cardiff CF14 4UJ, UK Tel +44 (0)29 2076 2936, email [email protected], web www.authenticworld.co.uk



information technology

calculation skills. Meanwhile, the ADA software provides a platform for integrating formal assessment into a health professional curriculum and is also used for the periodic audit of registered clinical practitioners’ skills. These software applications are now being used by a significant number of higher education institutions and NHS trusts across the UK.

Domestic collaborationsAgainst this background, a number of divisions of the NHS in the UK are collaborating with Authentic World in the further research and development of learning and assessment environ-ments within the domain of teaching medication dosage calculation. NHS Education for Scotland has commis-sioned Authentic World, together with an interdisciplinary group of subject experts from across the UK, to explore the key issues associated with determining achievement of competence in nursing numeracy. The project is focused on exploring the essential features of a framework within which a medication dosage calculation benchmark could be articulated. The outcomes, due to be reported in 2009, will further inform this critical domain of healthcare practice.

Within Wales, expert pharmacist and nurse clinicians employed by Cardiff

and Vale NHS Trust and Cwm Taf NHS Trust are partnering Authentic World in a new development commissioned in direct response to the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) Safety Alert 20. This focuses on facilitating the learning and diagnostic assessment of registered clinicians practising within the domain of complex intravenous therapy dosage calculation and problem-solving. Subject to completion of requisite product testing, the program is expected to be released at the end of 2008.

International alliancesFollowing its formation in 2004, Authentic World has continued to extend its international research and strategic alliances. Between 2005 and 2006, collabora-tive research with Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, demon-strated the positive relation-ship between exposure to MDCS and US nursing students’ development of medication dosage calcula-tion skills.

This year, Authentic World has entered into an international collaboration with Medical Education Technologies, Inc.® (METI®), a US-based company and international industry leader that develops high-quality learning tools for use in the education of health professionals. This partnership will bring Authentic World’s portfolio of products to the world stage and will offer excellent opportunities for a collaborative research and development programme aimed at further advancing the medical education agenda. ■

“Authentic World’s story provides an example of how application of the knowledge and technology transfer process has the capacity to transform important research outputs into innovative software solutions for global problems.”

Norman Woolley Chief Executive Officer

Authentic World Ltd

advances wales22

agriculture

Think global, act localTwo of Wales’s leading research institutions have come together to create a new world-class centre that aims to tackle some of the major global problems of the twenty-first century

The recent merger of the Institute of Grassland and Environmental Research with the Institutes of Rural Sciences and Biological Sciences at Aberystwyth University has created a major new research and teaching institute – the Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences (IBERS), based at Aberystwyth University – which has sustainable land use, climate change and the security of food and water supplies firmly on the agenda.

The director of the institute, Professor Wayne Powell, says he is committed to helping IBERS become ‘a national asset with global impact’. He also says the IBERS will be ‘an organisation with a high profile’ which will ‘have an impact on the global economy by being applied to practical circumstances around the world’.

Around 300 research, teaching and support staff are now based at the institute, and their combined knowledge allows them to conduct basic, strategic and applied research in biology from the level of genes and other molecules to the impact of climate change and bio-energy on sustainable agriculture and land use.

Such an example of world-class research at IBERS is the four-year interna-tional collaborative research project into the genetic mapping and marker-assisted breeding of pearl millet. The project’s

aim is to research the genetic potential for improving pearl millet productivity ultimately to benefit subsistence farmers in Africa and Asia. The research team, led by Dr Rattan Yadav, has received financial support from the Biotechnology and Biological Research Council and Department for International Development.

Pearl millet is the staple crop grown by subsistence farmers in the hottest, driest regions of sub-Saharan Africa and the Indian subcontinent. Although it is adapted better to water stress than other cereals, drought remains one of the most important factors in reducing yield and yield stability.

However, declining water resources and unpredictable rainfall pose serious threats to crop productivity. Climate change scenarios indicate that water shortage and shortening of the effective growing season will be more likely in these areas, increasing the need for short-duration cereals, such as pearl millet, with enhanced drought tolerance.

While immediately applicable to pearl millet, much of the information generated for this important agricultural trait will have benefits to other cereals and forage grasses due to the close genomic relation-ships among these species. It will also indirectly benefit other agricultural crops.

This project demonstrates that within the bigger remit of the IBERS is the simpler aim of offering practical help to farmers across the world. ■

ProfileProduct Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural SciencesApplications World-class research in agriculture and environmental issuesContact Emma Shipman, Publicity and Events Officer, Institute of Biological,

Environmental and Rural Sciences, Aberystwyth University, Plas Gogerddan, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3EB, UK Tel +44 (0)1970 823000, email [email protected], web www.aber.ac.uk/en/ibers


“This merger is a development of truly major significance for the science base in Wales.”

Ieuan Wyn Jones Deputy First Minister for Wales and Minister for the Economy

and Transport

engineering

Advances Wales is a high-quality, quarterly ‘transfer of technology’ journal produced by the Welsh Assembly Government to showcase new developments in science, engineering and technology from Wales. Devoted to concise reports and commentary, it provides a broad overview of the current technology research and development scene in the Principality. Advances Wales raises the profile of the technologies and expertise available from Wales in order to facilitate collaborative relationships between organisations and individuals interested in new technologies and innovation.

To receive free copies of Advances Wales or to change your mailing details please contact Advances Wales, Welsh Assembly Government, Plas Glyndwr, Kingsway, Cardiff CF10 3AH, Wales, UK (tel +44 (0)29 2082 8735, fax +44 (0)29 2036 8229, email [email protected]).

Editorial board Dr David Bembo, Eirion Jones, Dr Alastair Davies, Tracey Mayes, Dr Gwion Williams, Marcia Jones, Luc Brown, Dr Peter Hodges, Dr Sharon Thomas and Alyson J Smith. For information on how to contribute features contact the editor, Catriona Vernal (tel +44 (0)1738 450494, fax +44 (0)870 164 0124, email [email protected]).

Advances Wales is published on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government by Prepress Projects Ltd, Algo Business Centre, Glenearn Road, Perth PH2 0NJ Editor Catriona Vernal Lead Designer Kelvin Carlos Publisher Helen MacDonald. Opinions expressed in this magazine are not necessarily those of the Welsh Assembly Government or its employees. The Welsh Assembly Government is not responsible for third-party sources cited such as web sites or reports. ISSN 0968-7920. Printed in Wales by The Westdale Press Ltd, Cardiff. Crown Copyright.

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THE JOURNAL FOR SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY IN WALES

It is only halfway through but already 2008 is shaping up to be another very successful year for Welsh companies and institutions. In particular, an emerging theme is the high level of innovation demonstrated not only by the private and academic sectors but also by individuals.

For example, two hugely successful events were held during March: the BioWales 2008 Conference and Biopartnering Event and the Innovation into Action 2008 Event. Both demonstrated innovation across a variety of sectors, and these events are now firmly in the calendar of researchers and commercial organisations throughout the UK and Europe.

In addition, Gaynor Morgan of Swansea, a member of the Wales Innovation Network (featured in Issue 55 of Advances Wales), received further national recognition at the British Female Inventor Awards, held recently in Cardiff. She received the Innovator of the Year Award for her IncoStress device, which is used to control stress incontinence in women.

However, innovation in Wales is not only confined to just a few innovative companies, university departments and individuals. Innovation is now embedded in the Welsh infrastructure: being innovative is seen a natural way forward.

Take, for example, Technium OpTIC in North Wales, which has recently won the prestigious European RegioStars Award 2008 in the category of Supporting Clusters and Business Networks. �e jury said: It is a particularly good example of a successful industry-led cluster which was built on a pre-existing industrial strength in the region, i.e. Opto-electronics (see p. 8).

In Mid-Wales, the Centre for Alternative Technology is leading the way in energy-saving construction techniques, as demonstrated by its new Wales Institute for Sustainable Education (see p. 16).

All in all, not a bad result for half-time. And there is everything still to play for.

Catriona Vernal Editor, Advances Wales

contents and editorial

COVER IMAGE The OsteoTronix fineSA technique is being applied to in vivo measurement of osteoporotic bone and other fine structures. With kind permission from Alan Boyde ([email protected]).

PHOTOGRAPHY Sourced from organisations featured, their representatives and iStockphoto.

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2 23

news 3

special featureTechnium® OpTIC 8

manufacturing The power of attraction 10Driving in a new direction 11

biotechnologyHair of the dog 12

environmentThe tide is turning for renewable energy 13Breaking the ice 14A WISE move towards environmentally

friendly building 16

medicineA new window into the body 18

information technologySafety in numbers 20

agricultureThink global, act local 22

engineeringBreath test for disease diagnosis 23

Breath test for disease diagnosisWho would have thought that researchers of printing processes could develop ways of diagnosing diseases? Scientists in Swansea, South Wales, have done just that

�e Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating (WCPC) is a world-class research centre which focuses on investigating printing and coating as a manufacturing process. But a new study is demonstrating that the WCPC’s work can be applied to more than just print.

Dr Masood Yousef is using gas chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal desorption (GCMS-TD) to analyse the concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breath. �e subsequent identification of these VOCs can then signify the presence of disease.

�e GCMS-TD equipment was originally used in the WCPC to research the level of solvents and other VOCs inhaled by operators of printing machinery. In this study, however, high concentrations of certain VOCs in breath were found to correlate with the presence of disease – for example, esters and acetone (which also cause ‘pear drops’ breath odour) indicate diabetes, while ammonia is diagnostic for hepatitis and dimethyl sulphide for cirrhosis. �ere are also certain compounds that appear to mark out particular types of cancer.

Diagnostic techniques based on exhaled breath are much less developed than traditional blood or urine analysis tech-niques and are not widely used in clinical

practice. However, due to improved analytical methodology, volatile marker-based diagnostics offer new potential in the rapid diagnosis and monitoring of illnesses. �is new method is also far more convenient and requires minimal medical intervention.

It is hoped that the research will lead to the development of simple diagnostic tools such as test strips that give positive

results for specific illness markers, thereby reducing the cost of, and level of expertise required for, diagnosis.

�e WCPC, housed within Swansea University’s School of Engineering, has purpose-built laboratories for the measure-ment of printed and coated products and offers a unique facility in the UK and Europe for the realisation of cutting-edge flexible printed electronics, displays, light-ing and sensors – allowing, for example, the development of a roll-up television or e-newspapers.

In May, Dr Tim Claypole, director of the WCPC, was presented with a prestigious award from the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts, recognis-ing his outstanding contribution to the international graphic arts industry and his role in establishing the WCPC as one of the world’s top five research centres for printing. Dr Claypole was delighted with the award and its significance for the WCPC: “It is a great privilege to receive this award and it shows the international esteem in which printing research at Swansea is held.” ■

ProfileProduct GCMS-TD breath testApplications Detection of diseasesContact Dr Tim Claypole, Director, Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating,

School of Engineering, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea SA2 8PP, UK Tel +44 (0)1792 295214, email [email protected], web www.swansea.ac.uk/printing


“If unique markers for specific diseases can be recognised earlier than with traditional techniques, then there is immense potential to revolutionise early disease diagnosis before any symptoms have developed, and without the need for invasive procedures.”

Dr Masood Yousef Senior Research Assistant

WCPC

Technology used in printing, such as spectrometry, has inspired the development of the breath test


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Advances Wales contactTo receive a regular free copy of Advances Wales, change contact details or to obtain free back issues please complete and return the reader reply card or contact Alyson Smith, Welsh Assembly Government, Plas Glyndwr, Kingsway, Cardiff CF10 3AH, Wales, UK (tel +44 (0)29 2082 8735, fax +44 (0)29 2036 8229, email [email protected]).

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Organisations featured in this issue

In the previous issue – Advances Wales 55

Advances Wales publishes news and features in the following sectors

Materials

Agriculture

Environment

Renewables

Food

Engineering

Manufacturing

Earth Sciences

Electronics

Communications

Information technology

Opto-electronics

Physics

Chemistry

Medicine

Biotechnology

THE JOURNAL FOR SCIENCE, ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY IN walesadvances

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Leading the way in opto-electronics 8

Is global warming really to blame for the collapse of an Antarctic ice shelf? 14

Interactive software is changing educational practices for health professionals 20

A new window into the body

Revolutionary technology that changes the way we can view the

body’s fine structures

Aberystwyth University 14, 22Authentic World Ltd 20Centre for Alternative Technology 16Eriez Magnetics Europe Ltd 10OsteoTronix Ltd 18

Stevens Vehicles Ltd 11Swansea University 23Swanturbines Ltd 13Technium® OpTIC 8University of Glamorgan 12

A case of good breeding? New gene technology boosts UK sheep sector 20

A WIN–win strategy for bright ideas 10Bad vibes? An objective view 12Bangor University buys Nano eNabler system 5Biodiesel initiative recognised in national climate

change report 5Carbon capture to be tested in Wales 6Cementing links 8Developing the drugs of tomorrow 14Doors to withstand attack – that’s tough 26Enter the dragon: why a Welsh company is

rapidly becoming a big fish in an even bigger pond 22

Explaining disease patterns 7Funding awarded to establish Low Carbon

Research Institute 6

Geoscience company to treble workforce 8Global licence for anti-hepatitis drugs 4Has solar power finally come of age? 24Innovatek by name, innovative by nature 16Measuring with MAVIS: monitoring

chronic wounds 18MediWales Annual Innovation Awards 3New Alzheimer’s disease study 3New R&D manufacturing plant for Econotherm 8Nobel award for Welsh scientist 4Performance engineering in Wales 9Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Cardiff University 8Spreading light 3University builds on funding success 7Wales Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience 4Welsh company finds new oil 7World’s largest biomass plant 5

advances summer 2008e-newspapers. in may, dr tim claypole, director of the wcpc, was presented with...

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