Groundwater vulnerability: from scientific concept to practical application

The International conference on “Groundwater Vulnerability—From Scientific Concept to Practical Application” was the second on contemporary groundwater vulnerability issues to be organised in Ustroń, Poland. In fact, it was the third IAH conference on groundwater vulnerability organised in Poland by the University of Silesia. The first on “Karst-fractured Aquifers—Vulnerability and Sustainability” was held in Katowice and Ustroń in 1996. This conference was focused on techniques and strategies of investigation, protection and effective management of karst-fractured aquifers. Twenty-nine papers presented at this conference were published in a special volume of University of Silesia Scientific Works No. 1563 (Różkowski et al. 1996). The second one was also held in Ustroń in 2004. Eighty-six abstracts (including five keynote papers) of the papers presented at this conference were published in the conference abstract book (Witkowski et al. 2004). The best three papers were published in Environmental Geology (Volume 53, No. 3, November 2007) (Witkowski 2007), and the next 23 papers in Vol. 11 of IAH Selected Papers under the title “Groundwater Vulnerability Assessment and Mapping” (Witkowski et al. 2007)

GUARDIANS final report part 1 (draft): a robot swarm assisting a human fire fighter

Emergencies in industrial warehouses are a major concern for fire fighters. The large dimensions together with the development of dense smoke that drastically reduces visibility, represent major challenges. The Guardians robot swarm is designed to assist re ghters in searching a large warehouse. In this paper we discuss the technology developed for a swarm of robots assisting re ghters. We explain the swarming algorithms which provide the functionality by which the robots react to and follow humans while no communication is required. Next we discuss the wireless communication system, which is a so-called mobile ad-hoc network. The communication network provides also the means to locate the robots and humans. Thus the robot swarm is able to provide guidance information to the humans. Together with the fire fighters we explored how the robot swarm should feed information back to the human fire fighter. We have designed and experimented with interfaces for presenting swarm based information to human beings

Combined use of dermoscopy, reflectance confocal microscopy and ex-vivo gene expression profiling to detect a micro-melanoma less than 1 mm in diameter

.Micro-melanomas, or melanomas < 2 mm in diameter, are increasingly reported making screening methods like the ABCD(E) acronym outdated. Early detection of melanoma remains the utmost important prognostic factor, therefore understanding how to utilize different diagnostic tools is necessary to optimize detection of melanoma at its earliest, most treatable stage. Using a combination of imaging and molecular techniques, we detected and confirmed a micro-melanoma in situ measuring 0.65 mm in diamete

Cytoprotective effect of lithium against spontaneous and induced apoptosis of lymphoid cell line MOLT-4.

Lithium (Li) is still useful in the treatment of bipolar disorder. Cellular mechanisms of Li action are not fully understood and include some cytoprotective properties. Data concerning Li effect on the apoptotic mechanisms in cells other than neurons are fragmentary and contradictory. We have investigated anti-apoptotic activity of Li in a lymphoid derived MOLT-4 cell line. Spontaneous and camptothecin-induced apoptosis was analyzed in cells treated with 0-20 mM Li carbonate. Early apoptosis was identified as significant mitochondrial depolarization (JC-1 staining). Later stages of apoptosis were estimated with annexin V binding and by the proportion of cells containing sub-G1 amounts of DNA (PI staining). We have observed a biphasic effect of Li on the proportion of spontaneously apoptotic cells;namely, low (therapeutic) concentrations of Li had a significant effect stabilizing the mitochondrial membrane polarization, while 10 and 20mM Li increased apoptosis. The latter could be seen both as mitochondrial depolarization as well as an increased proportion of sub-G1 cells, accompanied by reduced proportion of S phase cells. Li at concentrations above 2 mM had a significant, dose-dependent, anti-apoptotic effect on the cells undergoing camptothecin induced apoptosis. In conclusion, demonstrated cytoprotective effect of Li is at least partially related to stabilization of mitochondrial membrane potential and to the reduction of DNA damaging effects in proliferating cells; both may form part of the mechanism through which Li is useful in therapy of bipolar disorder, but may have more general consequences