07.02.2011.

Annual prizes for scientific research work awarded

At the House of the Serbian Armed Forces today, the annual prizes have been awarded for the best research project, a doctoral dissertation and a master thesis.

The ceremony was attended by Bozidar Djelic, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Science and Technological Development, Dragan Sutanovac, Minister of Defence, with the State Secretary, Lt. Gen. Miloje Miletic, Serbian Armed Forces Chief of General Staff, the highest-ranking SAF officers, representatives of the Belgrade University and a number of scientific workers.

The award for the best research project was received by the academician professor Colonel Miodrag Colic, who was the manager of the scientific project entitled Clinical, Pathophysiological and Molecular Aspects of Injuries and Illnesses. The best doctoral dissertation was declared the paper entitled Fuzzy Controller for Bidirectional Garaging of a Differential Drive Mobile Robot with Nonholonomic Constraints by Major Srdjan Mitrovic, PhD, from the Military Academy.

Among the master's works the paper entitled 4-aryl-4oxo-N-phenyl-2-aminilbutiramidi-Synthesis, anticholinesterase activity and 3D-QSAR, by Maya Vitorovi?-Todorovi?, MSc, a senior researchers from the Military Technical Institute. The article entitled Reform of the Higher Military Education in the Republic of Serbia – mission of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Bologna Process by Colonel Prof. Jan Mar?ek and Colonel Prof. Radun Jeremic was awarded the prize of Vojno delo magazine.

The award-winning works were presented by the President of the Commission for Awards Major General Professor Bozidar Forca, the Head of the Strategic Planning Department, while the award of the Vojno delo magazine was explained by the Chief of Planning and Development Department, Brigadier General Prof. Mitar Kovac.

Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Bozidar Djelic pointed out that our country, despite the impact of the global economic crisis, is successfully recovering at the levels of both military and civilian technologies. He said that Serbia will be both safe and scientifically advanced country.

The Minister of Science and Technology Development pointed out that there is a strong connection between the defence industry and science and technology. He expressed pride in the work of the Military Academy and the results of the defence industry, the exports of which increased in the past three years from 80 to 250 million euros. Djelic recalled that last year the MTI and the Military Academy accredited for scientific research institutions, and thus they got an opportunity to be an integral part of the science and technology of our country. He recalled that the MTI managed in strong competition to obtain to manage two projects, and that as many as 73 researchers have found a demand at the scientific and technological market of our country. On the other hand, 26 researchers from the Military Academy, as he announced, will take part in five research projects, which means that a total of one hundred scientists from the defence system will be engaged in this cycle.

The Defence Minister Dragan Šutanovac presented the letters of appreciation for the best doctoral and master's theses in the defence system in 2010 year.

On that occasion Minister Šutanovac said that the awarding of annual prizes for the best scientific papers, the Ministry of Defence has created a tradition that, in the times we live in, is experiencing a climax. He said the previous year as a success, but added that it is only the beginning. Šutanovac said the 2010 will be the year remembered as a reformist one also in the field of scientific research.

He recalled the accreditation of the Military Academy, Military Medical Academy and the Military Technical Institute, which are, as he stated, the preconditions for the creation of the Military University. Šutanovac drew a parallel between a strong state, strong economy and the military, and as the essence of the military forces he marked the human resources that must have a scientific capacity.

Šutanovac reminded of the results of exports by the defence industry which are not, as it was pointed out, only a matter of trade and production but also a development. A good team, according to him, in the system of development should make a product that will find a market. The MTI Teams, said the minister, know what they are doing. He expressed confidence that the projects and products that these teams deal with will also find buyers outside the state borders.

Šutanovac said that in the defence system, last year, 16 persons received a PhD degree, 48 received a master degree, and the title of specialist was acquired by 51. He stressed that the Ministry can be proud of these figures, but that they may be higher. The Minister expressed his confidence that the scientific potential of MoD which is to be developed in cooperation with the Ministry of Science will not be only for the purpose of the defence system but also for the whole country.

In the category of the best research project, an award was presented for the project entitled Clinical, Pathophysiological and Molecular Aspects of Injuries and Illnesses. The project manager is Colonel Academician Prof. Miodrag Colic, former Head of the MMA Institute for Medical Research, and since 2009 he is the Acting Dean of the MMA College. Within the award-winning project, last year, a total of 43 works were published, 20 of them being published fully in international journals of high rank. The most important research within the project are from the area of establishing new protocols for obtaining immunostimulatory dendritic cells as potential tumour vaccines, which may have future clinical implications in the treatment of malignant tumors.

The project is multidisciplinary and includes a large number of researchers and teachers from the MMA and the civil institutions in the country with which the MMA cooperates, and which are engaged in fundamental clinical research.

For the best doctoral dissertation was declared the paper entitled Fuzzy Controller for Bidirectional Garaging of a Differential Drive Mobile Robot with Nonholonomic Constraints by Major Srdjan Mitrovic. The original scientific contribution of this thesis is to define a new concept of navigation of differential drive mobile robots with nonholonomic constraints, primarily as a new method of mobile robot garaging, whose direct application was analysed on two types of vehicles. The research related to mobile robots is relatively new and its implementation is an area that is intensively investigated, and the advantage of mobile robots is that they reduce or eliminate the risks to the crew in high-risk tasks. The risk is taken by the technique.

Master's thesis, which was declared the best, is 4-aryl-4oxo-N-phenyl-2-aminilbutiramidi-Synthesis, anticholinesterase activity and 3D-QSAR, by Maya Vitorovi?-Todorovi?, MSc, senior researcher from the Military Technical Institute. The paper describes the rational design and synthesis of congeneric series of 26 new, so far not sintethysed compounds of 4-aryl-4oxo-N-phenyl-2-amynylbutyramides. The quality of work demonstrated by the fact that it was published in the world's leading journal Bioorganic and Medical Chemistry.

The Decision by the Minister of Defence of 2008 established also the annual award of Vojno delo journal for the best article published in the Vojno delo scientific and technical journal. During the last year, 39 texts were in competition, and according to the decision by the Commission for the Awarda the article which was declared the best was named Reform of the Higher Military Education in the Republic of Serbia – Mission of the Serbian Armed Forces and the Bologna Process by Col. Prof. Jan Mar?ek and Colonel Prof. Radun Jeremic. The paper analyzes the impact of doctrinal and normative and educational determinants of the reform of higher military education, shows the adopted model and lays down the phases through which the reforms of the system will be implemented.