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Images of Research 2016 Gallery

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 Global Impact

<span class=heading><b>But the rocks remain - above ground</b> by Richard Lord (Civil & Environmental Engineering)</span><br />We marvel at the collective power of ice and geological time to carve through granite. Underground nuclear-waste repositories must be able to withstand the effects of future ice ages, unloading and removal of the strata above. Can the drainage and refilling of this Swiss reservoir provide an analogue we can study?<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Richard Lord</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: R Lunn, Z Shipton, S Pytharouli</span>
<span class=heading><b>But the rocks remain - below ground</b> by Richard Lord (Civil & Environmental Engineering)</span><br />In a tunnel bored out of solid granite in the Grimsel Test Site below we can detect minute changes in groundwater chemistry as the water is drained from the reservoir above.  Have we found a way to study the effects of glacial erosion on the long-term integrity of nuclear-waste repositories?<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Richard Lord</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: R Lunn, Z Shipton, S Pytharouli</span>
<div><div style="float:left;padding-left:5px;width:70%"><span class=heading><b>Contusion Confusion</b> by Heather Black</span><br />Current forensic interpretation of bruising is subjective and unreliable. Our research aims to establish the relationship between force of impact and bruising, a holy grail for forensic investigations. This image depicts a human thigh impacted by a plastic ball travelling at 160 mph. We have used red, blue, green and yellow as these colours are observed as a bruise (contusion) develops and heals.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Heather Black</span></div><div style="float:right;padding-right:5px;"><iframe width="280" height="170" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jctz_0-wHuE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>
<span class=heading><b>Creative Hands Solve Social Problems</b> by Jaleesa Wells</span><br /> How can creative individuals challenge entrepreneurs to think in new ways when starting up a social enterprise? This research will set a group of creative people the goal of identifying and implementing a business idea, embedding itself in the process to observe the interactions and results.The aim is to discover how creativity challenges current practice around social enterprise, and brings disruptive innovation to the Third Sector.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Jaleesa Wells</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Peter Morphew, Creative Practitioner</span>
<span class=heading><b>Engaging Light: Let’s Shine</b> by Michelle Morrison</span><br />Light-emitting diodes (better known as LEDs) have revolutionised the quest to illuminate our lives - and our devices - while conserving energy. By studying the characteristics of LEDs and other nitride semiconductor-based materials, we can optimise their production. This research is part of a vision to develop an advancedmanufacturing methodology for use in UK industry within 10-15 years, to establish the economic and innovative production of nanostructured III-N devices.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Michelle Morrison</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Carol Trager-Cowan, Strathclyde.</span>
<span class=heading><b>Feeling moved</b> by Areti Damala</span><br />The multimedia and audio contents in this museum exhibition in Museon, The Hague, are activated by using “intelligent” objects equipped with radio frequency identification devices tags that imitate real museum artefacts. By using an armband, just like the one used by this visitor, objects like a beer mug, an officer’s ID, a box of sugar, a surrogate tea-bag, a German-Dutch dictionary, become keys that bring to life different World War II stories.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Areti Damala</span>
<div><div style="float:left;padding-left:5px;width:70%"><span class=heading><b>Glasgow and Financial Markets</b> by Daniel Broby</span><br />People don’t often associate Glasgow with financial markets. Not only does the city have a long history with financial markets, but the University of Strathclyde is undertaking cutting-edge research into them. Market efficiency provides the basis for price discovery and continuous restructuring of the economy, supporting economic growth. Sound implementation of financial theory improves the efficiency of capital decisions, therefore favouring a better allocation of scarce economic resources.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Daniel Broby</span></div><div style="float:right;padding-right:5px;"><iframe width="280" height="170" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KQS9MUoG7cM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>
<span class=heading><b>Our Waste, Their Tomorrow</b> by Stephanie Anderson</span><br />Global waste includes more than just our plastic bags and bottles that we recycle each day – buildings also become obsolete and require disposal. This project examines the economic, social and cultural value of these buildings in global communities, and asks: ‘How do we harness cultural sustainability for architecture?’ This research highlights issues of collective memory and cultural loss for future generations by listening to forgotten voices of once cherished architecture.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Stephanie Anderson</span>
<div><div style="float:left;padding-left:5px;width:70%"><span class=heading><b>Patent Landscapes and Applications</b> by Gokula Annamalai Vasantha</span><br /> The last thing a designer wants to hear is ‘Someone else has ‘patented this before’. Considering millions of patents are filed each year around the world, it is tedious work for anyone to understand the prior art. This research aims to generate a new, visual form of patent map or gallery that incorporates measures of patent commercialisation activity and technical metadata through a crowd-sourcing approach.     <br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Gokula Annamalai Vasantha</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Andrew Wodehouse, Ross Maclachlan, Jonathan Corney</span></div><div style="float:right;padding-right:5px;"><iframe width="280" height="170" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uKxKSPVXgXk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>
<span class=heading><b>Powering the future </b> by Qiteng Hong</span><br />While renewable energy brings significant benefits, it also introduces challenges to power system operation, decreasing inertia and thereby increasing sensitivity to disturbances. With a much shorter response window when things go wrong, we need greater amounts of reserve power. This research aims to develop a monitoring and control system which rapidly detects disturbances and deploys reserve power almost instantly, ensuring system stability and providing potential annual savings of £200 million.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Qiteng Hong</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: National Grid, GE Grid Solution, BElectric, Centrica, Flexitricity and the University of Manchester</span>
<div><div style="float:left;padding-left:5px;width:70%"><span class=heading><b>Using the Cause to Produce the Cure</b> by Ian Fraser</span><br />There are 350 million people at risk of the devastating parasitic disease leishmaniasis, endemic in Central &South America, Africa, India and the Middle East. The parasite, transmitted by the sand-fly, cause 20-30,000deaths per year. Treatment options are limited and, in themselves, toxic. Our research is investigating whetherthe cause could produce the cure – whether a vaccine compromising of an enzyme from the pathogenicLeishmaniasis species could be delivered by inhalation.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Ian Fraser</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Muattaz Hussian, Ian Fraser and Loraine Clarke</span></div><div style="float:right;padding-right:5px;"><iframe width="280" height="170" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b9x-ihP4Lgk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>
<span class=heading><b>Water in a thirsty world</b> by Catalina Silva Plata</span><br />  Water is critical for sustainable development but what happens when conflicting interests and agendas compete? This research aimed to identify existing and emerging water conflicts in the Goiás state of Brazil. Results indicated that activities such as large-scale agriculture, biofuel production and energy generation pose challenges to rural communities regarding water quality and quantity. It also identified a grave absence of publically available data and independent monitoring in this field.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Catalina Silva Plata</span>


 Well-being

<span class=heading><b>Bombyx mori Silk Cocoons</b> by Osama Ibrahim</span><br />Stem cells can be used to treat patients that have suffered brain damage caused by a stroke. This image shows silk worm cocoons that could help to make treatments safer and more effective. By using silk in structural gels, we can test whether stem cells can survive and have the right function to work in the brain.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Osama Ibrahim</span>
<span class=heading><b>Cancer Trap</b> by Philipp Seib</span><br />With time, cancer cells leave the initial tumour and set up a new ‘home’ at a distant site. This is a process known as metastasis. In the case of breast and prostate cancer, bone is a preferred site of metastasis. We have developed an approach to lure and trap metastasising cancers cells into tissue-engineered bone. This now opens up the opportunity to remove these cells permanently from the body.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Philipp Seib</span>
<span class=heading><b>Empowering Adolescents through Health Education</b> by Rebecca Laidlaw</span><br />Facilitators are completing questionnaires with adolescents for baseline data collection and showing them how to register for our SMS messaging service, which will provide reproductive health information to their personal phones. The project is part of the Scotland Chikwawa Health Initiative, working in the Chikwawa District of Malawi. We are looking at the feasibility of using mobile phones to increase the accessibility of health education in the area. <br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Rebecca Laidlaw</span>
<div><div style="float:left;padding-left:5px;width:70%"><span class=heading><b>Formation of Bone-Eroding Cells</b> by James Doonan</span><br />Inflammatory, bone-eroding cells are responsible for the destruction of bone in diseases like Rheumatoid arthritis. Inflammatory diseases lead to increased formation of these bone-eroding cells that ultimately result in disability. Our lab is focusing on using drug-like compounds to reduce inflammation during disease to stop the loss of bone by preventing these cells from getting the inflammatory signals that lead to increased bone erosion.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 James Doonan</span></div><div style="float:right;padding-right:5px;"><iframe width="280" height="170" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/10oHz_MgOzQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>
<span class=heading><b>Measure for Measure </b> by Fatma Mohsin</span><br />This image represents the analysing screen of Prosthetics and Orthotics data software (SiliconcoachTM). Videos captured can be uploaded into this 2D software and subsequently analysed. Research is carried out to prove the reliability and accuracy of this system in measurements of joint range of motion. These measurements are mandatory in the field of Prosthetics and Orthotics for planning appropriate treatment, and now advances in technology can easily be applied outside the lab, even in a garden!<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Fatma Mohsin</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Dr Anthony McGarry and Mr Roy Bowers</span>
<span class=heading><b>My Life, My Choice</b> by Tara Beattie</span><br />Young people from Mfera Secondary School, Chikwawa, Malawi, took part in an event designed to empower their choices with regard to not only their future but also that of their community. The event used sport, drama, dance and peer conversation to address life issues including career options, further education and sexual-health education.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Tara Beattie</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Tracy Morse, Scotland Chikwawa Health Initiative (SCHI) Malawi Programme Manager, Tara K. Beattie SCHI Scotland programme manager, Sarah Rippon, SCHI PhD student, Sothin Ziba and Rossanie Daudi, SCHI field co-ordinators</span>
<span class=heading><b>Neighbourhood Tales</b> by Amy Goode</span><br />What impact does urban regeneration have on community and everyday practices, particularly in the use of space? To find out, I conducted a study in a community which has undergone radical transformation. Recruiting participants can be a researcher’s toughest battle, but by using alternative methods of capture, I appealed to residents’ creativity and secured buy-in. This research is of global importance, and could influence future policy decisions around urban planning<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Amy Goode</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Paul Hewer and Kathy Hamilton</span>
<span class=heading><b>The Brain Untangled</b> by Graham Robertson</span><br />This is a picture of human neurons, showing hair-like processes that the cells use to communicate with each other. These come from induced pluripotent stem cells, which means they started as a different cell type in a patient, and were transformed into neurons that we can study under a microscope. We use these cells as a tool for understanding how brain disorders occur and to try and find treatments for diseases.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Graham Robertson</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: The cells were provided by Dr Selina Wray and Teresa Sposito from University College London, and the project is supervised at Strathclyde University by Dr Michele Zagnoni and Dr Trevor Bushell.</span>
<span class=heading><b>Visualising the Road to Recovery</b> by Ivan Shorokhov</span><br />Heart attacks are a major cause of death in modern society, affecting more than 3 million people annually. This research focusses on producing 3D visualisations of the heart, to assist accurate damage diagnosis and therapy planning. Here you see images extracted from a movie of a patient’s heartbeat, overlaid with each other and with arrows indicating movement. This information is then used to develop the final 3D visualisation.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Ivan Shorokhov</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Prof John J. Soraghan</span>


 Size Matters

<span class=heading><b>Engaging with Really Small Science</b> by Joy Leckie</span><br />Researchers engage with members of the public about ‘ReallySmallScience’ research being undertaken within the University of Strathclyde. The ReallySmallScience group engage with audiences from toddlers to teenagers and adults, through fun, interactive and hands-on activities based around real research. The ‘nanoglow’ workshop illustrates the fundamental properties of light and fluorescence, and how light is key to a number of current research projects.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Joy Leckie</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Sarra Tiernan (PhD Student) collaborator and photographer</span>
<span class=heading><b>Manufacturing the right crystals</b> by René Steendam</span><br />These microscope images depict a compound which forms a mixture of left- and right handed (bright and dark) crystals. Like only one of your hands fits a right-handed glove, only one of the two forms of a pharmaceutical drug has the desired biological effect. At CMAC in TIC, technologies are being developed to continuously manufacture the right (or left) crystals. <br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 René Steendam</span>
<span class=heading><b>Nanotechnology: A Golden Oppurtunity </b> by Anastasia Kapara</span><br />The use of gold functionalized nanoparticles makes it possible to produce highly specific optical imaging probes and detect molecules that indicate certain types of cancer. Combining molecular biology and nanotechnology, this research focusses on imaging breast cancer biomarkers to monitor the effect of anti-cancer drugs which could provide non-invasive, targeted therapy. Facilitating long term monitoring of patients could eliminate the possibility of resistance to drugs used to treat the disease.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Anastasia Kapara</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: N/A</span>
<div><div style="float:left;padding-left:5px;width:70%"><span class=heading><b>Physisorption on Graphite</b> by Paul Rapp</span><br />Harmful gases are released into our atmosphere every day by industrial processes. These emissions escalate the critical problem of global warming and pollution. Physisorption is a process which could enable us to cheaply and effectively capture these gases, by binding them to activated carbons. However, to capitalise on carbon capture we need to better understand and improve the process. This research seeks to achieve this through simulation and experimentation.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Paul Rapp</span></div><div style="float:right;padding-right:5px;"><iframe width="280" height="170" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jmSJoWmAMZA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div>
<span class=heading><b>Reaching agreement... quickly</b> by Ruaridh Clark</span><br />Networks exist everywhere, often complex and occasionally vast. Achieving agreement across a complex network is a non-trivial task, but my work is developing efficient and effective methods for identifying the best leadership for fast consensus. The twitter network surrounding the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department account (MAE-strath) is shown as an example. The best leadership nodes are all in the department with a research group, a lecturer and a couple of PhD students highlighted.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Ruaridh Clark</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Dr Malcolm Macdonald</span>
<span class=heading><b>The Mighty Scots Pine</b> by Gillian Robb</span><br />With a lifespan of over 250 years in the Caledonian Forest, the mighty Scots pine is an important species in the ecosystem. Plants, insects, birds and animals benefit from it and, in the case of mosses and lichens, even live on the pine itself. Microscope images of the pine tree stem reveal information on diseases affecting the tree, and enable treatment at an early stage in order to preserve our diverse natural environment.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Gillian Robb</span>
<span class=heading><b>Tiny world in nanoscale</b> by Peng Gu</span><br />This image shows nanostructures each made up of a gold nanorod surrounded by a mesoporous/microporous silica shell. This can trap drugs and carry them to specific areas of the body, thereby delivering targeted personal medicine with fewer potential side effects. This technology might also be used in other areas of research such as bio-imaging and nano-sensing.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Peng Gu</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Prof Catherine J. Murphy, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign</span>


 Innovative Engineering

<span class=heading><b>Electrical maps for healing hearts</b> by Ian Holland</span><br />Cells with specific characteristics line arteries in the heart and sometimes disease can cause the arteries to malfunction. We can grow these cells in the laboratory over a dark, electrically conductive surface. By measuring changes in their electrical properties we can generate 3D maps that may help reveal insights into the cells’ behaviour in different heart disease states. Integrating these engineering principles into implanted devices, such as stents, will be able to provide alternative methods of disease diagnosis.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Ian Holland</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Dr Chris McCormick</span>
<span class=heading><b>Hidden Colours of Crystals</b> by Vaclav Svoboda</span><br />This image shows the results of co-crystallisation, where two compounds are processed to make a new structure that has certain desirable characteristics. The new structure can then be used to make products which are more effective for their intended purpose.The research seeks to develop a manufacturing process for the co-crystallisation method which is continuous, easily scalable and selective - producing only the required compound with the desirable characteristics.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Vaclav Svoboda</span>
<span class=heading><b>High Flying Inspection</b> by Charles MacLeod</span><br />The world relies more and more on large infrastructure and assets such as wind turbines to supply electricity. To keep these structures operating at capacity, modern robotic systems such as drones allow for safer, lower-cost, and more reliable inspections. Our research investigates the sensors, control algorithms and robot systems needed to perform meaningful inspections in all weather conditions keeping our assets operational 24/7.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Charles MacLeod</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: G. Dobie, R. Summan, K. Baumanis, G. Punzo, S.G. Pierce, G. Fleming</span>
<span class=heading><b>Innovating the look towards heritage</b> by Clara Gonzalez Manich</span><br />Our research proposes a new methodology for surveying and assessing historic buildings and will facilitate frequent surveys with minimal disruption to the general public in cities. The project embeds architects’ expert knowledge into intelligent algorithms for automatically analysing images of facades. The combination of technologies will allow for an efficient data capture while minimising the requirement for manual data analysis as well as more accurate estimates of its cost.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Clara Gonzalez Manich</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Steven Marshall (Professor, Deputy Head of Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineeringand Director of the Hyperspectral Imaging Centre); Cristina Gonzalez Longo (Lecturer, Director: MSc in Architectural Design for the Conservation of Built Heritage Architectural Design and Conservation Research Unit); Paul Murray (Research Associate) ; Timothy Kelman (Researcher); Fraser Coutts (PhD student); Bowen Qiu (PhD Student)</span>
<span class=heading><b>Making robotics simpler</b> by Carmelo Mineo</span><br />ERIC - the Engaging Robotic Interactive Cell - is a multipurpose robotic demonstration cell designed to engage youth, public and businesses with the leading automation, robotic and sensing work being undertaken at the University of Strathclyde. Here ERIC is showing his talents drawing caricatures of children at the Riverside Museum, Glasgow. A photograph is taken on the webcam and ERIC draws an image from this.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Carmelo Mineo</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Charles MacLeod (ERIC concept creator), Gareth Pierce (supervisor), Rahul Summan (software developer) and Gordon Dobie (software developer)</span>
<span class=heading><b>Robots Work In Nuclear Environments</b> by Rahul Summan</span><br />In nuclear power stations, evaluating the structural integrity of components is too dangerous for human operators. Through an EPSRCfunded Impact Acceleration Account project, the Centre for Ultrasonic Engineering has successfully developed a way to search for cracks and near-surface defects in nuclear product containers. The objective of this project, carried out in conjunction with Eddyfi (sensor manufacturer) and National Nuclear Laboratory, was to demonstrate the benefits of   robotic technology for increased throughput, accuracy and reliability.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Rahul Summan</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: William Jackson, Charles Macleod, Maxim Morozov, Gareth Pierce, Carmelo Mineo</span>
<span class=heading><b>Standing on giants’ shoulders</b> by Anna Serafini</span><br />The picture shows a detail of the timber roof structure of Glasgow Trades Hall, built in 1791-94. Scotland has a great amount of historic timber roof structures, often forgotten and not valued because they are hidden behind ornate ceilings. My research aims to search for adequate solutions for their conservation, in order to allow present and future generations to learn from these examples of the cuttingedge timber engineering of their time.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Anna Serafini</span>
<span class=heading><b>The Irreversible Evolution of Buildings</b> by Valentina Bonetti</span><br />With traditional energy resources running low, it seems natural to preserve as much energy as possible and design hyper-technical airtight buildings, isolated from their surroundings. This research proposes a more sustainable practice, based on natural processes, which embraces the irreversible loss of energy by allowing interaction with the surrounding environment. This approach, based on the thermodynamic principle of entropy, should ensure a more effective use of the energy available to us.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Valentina Bonetti</span>
<span class=heading><b>Tunable solid-state lasers</b> by Alan Paterson</span><br />The image shows part of a typical solid-state laser cavity involving a prism to disperse the light. This research aims to put micro-devices into solid-state lasers to tune the nature of the outgoing beam of light. Such devices are smaller and cheaper than conventional methods and can be designed to perform any desired function.<br /><span class=small>Image: © 2016 Alan Paterson</span>.  <span class=small>Collaborators: Dr. Ralf Bauer (assisting), Dr. David Wilson (assisting) and Mr. Graham Wilson (photographer)</span>