The project will research a radically new approach to cleaning surfaces that uses pulsed electric discharges to efficiently regenerate engine exhaust particulate filters. It has class-leading features that make it potentially both commercially and technically very attractive.IC engines are the major source of motive power in the world, a fact that is expected to continue well into this century. Whilst diesel engines emit low CO2 emissions, and have good fuel economy and good durability, they emit significant amounts of particulate matter (PM) emissions that are potentially harmful. Engine and vehicle legislation introduced in the EU, US and Asia can only be achieved with the use of diesel particulate filters (DPFs) with further reductions proposed for 2013. Without regular cleaning (regeneration) DPFs become clogged after about 150 miles of vehicle operation leading to a high exhaust back-pressure on the engine, resulting in poor performance and fuel economy. Whilst current DPFs yield >95% reductions in PM by forcing the gas stream through a porous ceramic wall, to-date the regeneration systems suffer from high power consumption, unreliability, unacceptably high cost and limited choice of materials, or are simply too bulky and complex. The step-change in regeneration technology proposed here will achieve a more ideal system and could enable wider application of DPFs to a greater number of engines and applications.The research proposed here will achieve the advantages of a non-thermal non-oxidative regeneration system without either the sensitivity to filter geometry and pore structure or a prohibitively high power consumption, bulky, heavy and noisy regeneration system. The new concept uses pulsed electric discharges to rapidly and very efficiently remove the PM from the filter surface without oxidation. Preliminary results suggest that shock waves produced by pulsed electric discharges within the filter overcome surface forces to break the bond of the PM with the filter surface using as little as 10 W electrical power for a whole filter. The combined effect of the pressure waves within the filter and the electric field accompanying the discharge break up the agglomerated particulates and allow efficient removal of the PM from the filter using a small reverse flow. The PM is then captured in a container, from where it can be subsequently destroyed, e.g. by a robust and easily controlled electric heater, or compacted and stored, reducing carbon emissions. The result is the rapid, low power, durable, effective and low cost regeneration of diesel particulate filters without ash accumulation. A very significant additional advantage of electrical discharges are that they are attracted to the most electrically conducting sites within the filter, i.e. once the discharge has cleaned one region it will self select a region with higher PM loadings.The research is strongly supported by key partners Caterpillar and 3DX-Ray Ltd., who will be providing substantial support in terms of cash, equipment, staff time and exploitation paths. This will enhance the impact of the research, which is expected to be high in terms of new scientific and technical knowledge, commercial value and societal benefits to the environment.

This project aims at transferring an established synchrotron radiation (SR) technique with extremely high potential, X-ray phase contrast imaging (XPCI), into its practical application through the full development of a novel method devised by the fellow.Over the recent years, SR studies have demonstrated that XPCI could substantially change the face of X-ray imaging, as it would provide dramatic image improvements in fields as diverse as medicine, industry, security, scientific research and others.Early diagnosis of breast tumours, detection of faint lung lesions in planar images instead of CT scans, imaging of blood vessels without contrast agents, detection of microfractures and dilamination in composite materials are just a few examples of results obtained through SR XPCI which are currently not accessible by means of conventional x-ray imaging techniques.The problem so far is that XPCI was considered to be restricted to SR environments, which prevented its diffusion despite the impressive potentials. All XPCI techniques devised so far suffer when implemented with conventional sources, making its practical use substantially impossible.The applicant has recently devised a novel XPCI technique, based on the use of coded apertures, which solves most limitations of previous approaches. Proof-of-concept experiments have demonstrated beyond doubt that this new technique can provide results comparable to those obtained with SR while making use of diverging, polychromatic beams generated by conventional sources currently available off the shelf. As a consequence, this approach has the concrete potential to take XPCI out of SR environments and into its practical application for the first time. This would have an enormous impact both from the economic (the x-ray imaging market was estimated to be over 10B Euros already in 2005 - S. Rusckowski, CEO imaging systems, Philips) and the social point of view, as the general public would benefit from improved healthcare and security.The present project aims at achieving this important result through the development of the new XPCI technique. At the same time, it would target relevant application fields (breast imaging, plus others to be agreed with the end-users), and quantitatively assess the advantages that the new technique would bring in each of them.To achieve these objectives, the new method would be fully modelled by expanding simulation tools developed by the fellow during the proof-of-concept work. These models would be experimentally validated to guarantee reliability, and the output used to design an imaging prototype. On the basis of the resources available at the proposed host institution (two extra long optical tables plus two high-powered x-ray sources with different targets, and some detector prototypes), it would actually be possible to realize two separate prototypes, to target a wider range of applications. This imaging prototype(s) would then be thoroughly evaluated, and eventually used to image typical samples from the targeted applications. The analysis of these images, alongside the comparison with images of the same samples obtained with conventional systems, would allow the quantitative assessment of the advantages of the new technique on the targeted applications. In order to perform all tasks required by the above plan, the collaboration of ten partners from relevant fields have been sought. The appropriate input from physicians (two radiologists and a pathologist), detector developers (RAL, MI3), scientists with unique expertise in the field (ELETTRA, where the only in vivo station for mammography with SR XPCI has been built), and industrial companies active in related fields (Canon, e2v, X-Tek, 3DX-ray) has been secured and is documented through letters of support. To provide training to young scientist on the new topic and help the fellow on the everyday running of the project, the team would be completed by a PDRA and a PhD student.

This project aims to build a research group to drive a transformation in the use of x-rays in science and society by replacing the mechanism upon which this has been based for over a century, x-ray absorption. X-rays are electromagnetic waves, and are therefore characterized not only by their amplitude, which is changed by absorption, but also by their phase. Pioneering experiments carried out in the nineties at large and expensive facilities called synchrotrons showed that phase effects can solve the main problem of x-ray imaging, low image contrast due to small absorption differences. This both enhances the visibility of all details in an image, and allows the detection of features invisible to conventional x-ray methods. The benefits this could bring to fields as diverse as medicine, biology, material science, etc were immediately understood, but an effective translation into real-world applications failed because it looked like using a synchrotron was necessary to obtain significant image enhancements.Recently, the PI developed a technique (coded-aperture phase contrast imaging) which showed that this is not true. This technique allows achieving advantages comparable to those obtained at synchrotrons with conventional x-ray sources. This makes the above transformation a concrete possibility for the first time.Although a complete transformation will take longer than the five years of the project, we will seed it by running a series of pilot experiments which will:1) explore the potential of the proposed approach and adapt it to applications in a variety of important fields;2) develop new scientific instruments allowing studies which until now were only possible at synchrotrons to be carried out in conventional labs;3) develop new x-ray methods which will allow the investigation of new scientific fields currently inaccessible.The technique invented by the PI will be applied in new areas of medicine, security, material science, and others. In medicine, we will tackle problems such as imaging blood vessels without contrast agents, enabling earlier detection of breast and other cancers and of osteoporosis, and developing new contrast agents to allow physiological studies with x-rays. We will develop strategies to substantially reduce x-ray dose, which would make radiology safer and allow the expansion of screening campaigns. In security, we will improve threat detection and material recognition. In material science, we will develop tools to detect defects in new materials (e.g. composites, the basis of future aerospace and transport industry, currently posing a challenge to existing test tools) and to allow earlier detection of cracks and corrosion in metals and defects in plastics.Phase-based x-ray scanners will be developed to enable microscopic studies of cells and detection of plaques and metal concentration in tissues in a conventional laboratory setting. X-ray phase methods will be combined with other, functional imaging modalities to develop a new generation of small-animal scanners which will be used in biology and drug development.At synchrotrons, we will combine the increased phase sensitivity of the method developed by the PI with other, cutting-edge methods to push the sensitivity of phase techniques further. These methods will be used to study important scientific areas currently inaccessible, e.g. the mechanisms of tumour invasion.The group will disseminate the obtained results both to specialized audiences (through scientific publications and conference presentations) and to the general public (through public engagement activities). We will collaborate with industry to ensure that the outcome of the applied elements of the research programme are taken to the exploitation stage, and therefore that its full impact is realized. The group will become a world-leading team and produce a step change in x-ray science and its application, to the benefit of society as a whole and UK plc in particular.

Broad ThemesCrime and terrorism threaten States, businesses and individuals; they increasingly exploit technology, sometimes more effectively than the security forces that oppose them. Our proposed Security Science DTC aims to promote fundamental science and research but to do so in a training environment that will provide a broader understanding of these threats; the pace at which they evolve, and the extent to which holistic responses are increasingly required if we are to contain them or to recover more rapidly from attack. We aim to prepare a future generation of security scientists better able to face these rapidly emerging new threats in crime and security. To do so this DTC will catalyse a truly interdisciplinary research effort that brings together multiple domains in security science to focus on the physical and cyber security of the State (borders and critical infrastructures, broadly construed, including financial, transport, energy, health and communication), business and the individual. Need and impact on the research landscape Science and technology have been utilized to protect against the threats outlined above, yet it is now widely accepted that security must be integrated, with a much greater awareness of the environmental operating contexts. This need has been expressed by governments (through policy papers and the creation of new bodies with interorganisational mandates such as the Serious and Organised Crime Agency), industry (through their increasing engagement with academic institutions to develop a new generation of security technologies that take into account factors such as behavioral response and ethical sensitivity) and research councils (eg. through their new 'Global Uncertainties: Security for all in a changing world' programme which cuts across all research council remits). The EPSRC is in an ideal position to invest in a national DTC where a critical mass of researchers can foster innovation and encourage and nurture an integrated systems approach that recognizes the importance of environmental context, human factors, and public policy to security solutions. This vision is based on the observation that the benefits of introducing advanced technologies into the security arena are significantly enhanced by engagement with the broader social, political and economic contexts within which those technological solutions apply. It is clear that disciplines as far apart as psychology and electronic engineering should come together in new ways to combat security threats in a holistic manner. This enhanced sensitivity to interconnectedness and multidisciplinary will lead to more effective science and encourage synergies to develop, increase knowledge transfer and facilitate engagement with end-users. Security is a challenging domain that drives adventurous research in a wide range of disciplines represented in this proposal (e.g. cryptography, radiation physics, nanotechnology). A DTC that helps secure the future supply of researchers with strong links to and appreciation of problems in the security context will help support the long term vigour of these disciplines. The DTC will also provide the UK with a hub to spark synergistic collaboration with other centres working in these areas such as the US Centres for Excellence (eg. National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), University of Maryland). We further believe that this DTC in integrated security science will act as a prototype for future similar activities around the world. Ultimately, research associated with this DTC will help to position the UK as the international leader in the development of a uniquely equipped generation of security scientists, delivering innovative research to meet one of society's greatest challenges.