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UID:1156
SUMMARY:What kind of 'sustainability' might African Anthropogenic Dark Earths and their social and ecological context point to?
DESCRIPTION:Today we face grand challenges in ensuring food security in the face of climate change. Commentators suggest that 'Anthropogenic Dark Earths' - high fertility carbon rich soils that are most well known as a legacy of pre-Columbian populations in Amazonia - could inspire solutions to achieving 'sustainable intensification,' or 'climate-smart agriculture,' especially in food and climate insecure regions such as West Africa. I will present interdisciplinary research that shows how Loma speaking Mande people in North-western Liberia have been creating and manipulating anthropogenic soils that are analogous to those in the Amazon fairly continuously since the late 1600's. I will show that these soils contribute to food security, livelihoods and biodiversity conservation; and therefore a certain kind of 'sustainability' in the region. The formation and use of these soils, however, is deeply embedded in local ontologies (think landscapes saturated with the presence of ancestors and pervasive initiation societies), in steady-state (rather than growth oriented) economies, and in a society that operates on multi-generational (rather than working-lifetime) timescales. I will argue that attending to the broader social and ecological context in which African Dark Earths form might point to alternative development pathways that are very different to our current growth-at-any-cost model.\n\n\nJames Fraser joined LEC in March 2013 as Lecturer in International Development and Natural Resources. Prior to this he taught Geography and Anthropology for a year at Universidad de Los Andes and Universidad Nacional in Bogota, Colombia. This followed 10 months research in Libeira, West Africa, on a Sussex postdoc. He received his PhD in Environmental Anthropology in 2010 at the University of Sussex, during which he conducted 2 years fieldwork in the Brazilian Amazon. He also holds an MSc (with distinction) in Management of Agricultural Knowledge Systems from Wageningen University (2003), and a BScEcon in Development Studies from the University of Wales, Swansea (2001).
DTSTART:20130522T123000
DTEND:20130522T133000
LOCATION:LEC Training Room 1
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UID:1146
SUMMARY:Barking up the right tree: what hydrological benefits can be expected realistically from tropical reforestation programmes?
DESCRIPTION:Abstract: Perceived hydrological benefits of tropical reforestation programmes have come under severe scrutiny in recent years with "public" and "scientific" views differing widely. Some would argue that the "scientific" perception tends to overemphasise the high water use of trees while downplaying or even ignoring such positive aspects of forestation as enhanced infiltration and soil protection. In this talk the state of play will be presented with regard to the impacts of reforesting (degraded) tropical land in terms of changes in annual and seasonal water yield based on examples from the literature and ongoing work by the Amsterdam Critical Zone Hydrology Group. \n\nAbout the speaker: Sampurno Bruijnzeel is a professor of Land Use and Hydrology with 38 years of experience with forest hydrological research in the humid tropics of South-east Asia and the Pacific, the Caribbean, and Central America. His main research interests include the hydrological functioning of tropical montane cloud forests, plantation hydrology, erosion and sedimentation, and ecosystem productivity and nutrient cycling issues. He heads the Amsterdam Critical zone Hydrology Group and the Amsterdam Centre for RESearch on Restoration, Reforestation and Regreening (ACRES_R3) - a recently erected platform for the generation and exchange of knowledge to promote the regreening of degraded land worldwide. In 2005 he received the Busk Medal of the Royal Geographical Society of the U.K. for his contributions to biosphere research in the humid tropics.
DTSTART:20130522T150000
DTEND:20130522T160000
LOCATION:LEC Training Rooms 1 And 2
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BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:1166
SUMMARY:Condensed Matter Physics Seminar
DESCRIPTION:Quantum Turing Test\n\nThe research community has made spectacular progress in building the magical quantum machines, develop applications, design new security platforms, and the list goes on and on up until the current state where the verification question is hunting us down. The required experiments are not beyond our reach and have been implemented, even in a basic optical setting, but these are quantum experiments simulating quantum theory. So even if we assume the correctness of quantum theory, we are not able to verify the experimental result due to the superior computational capacity of quantum systems. What makes quantum not classical, makes its verification not ?classical? either. I present a Quantum Turing Test, where a classical verifier is trying to distinguish between a classical and a quantum machine to verify any mechanism that claims to exploit quantum phenomena and report on recent theoretical and experimental developments on this topic.
DTSTART:20130524T150000
DTEND:20130524T160000
LOCATION:C1 Physics Building
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UID:1149
SUMMARY:Image Warfare: A New Security Challenge
DESCRIPTION:The research described in this talk,argues that since September 11th 2001 image warfare has replaced techno-war (first premiered during the 1991 Gulf War) as the primary warfighting model. It suggests that image warfare is a form of warfare in which al-Qaeda currently dominates while the West is still playing catch-up. Consequently there is an urgent need to better understand image warfare, rather than merely revising techno-war strategies, in an attempt to counter the new security challenges of the war on terror. International Relations theory therefore needs to engage more with and learn from Media Studies and Visual Culture - hence the introduction of three new conceptual terms 'image munitions', 'counter-image munitions' and 'remediation battles' to the lexicon of the study of war, terrorism and media. Finally, to help place these innovative terms into context and show just how they break new ground in understanding image warfare in the war on terror, this paper discusses them with reference to the 'bin Laden tapes'.
DTSTART:20130530T130000
DTEND:20130530T140000
LOCATION:C60 InfoLab21
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BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:1175
SUMMARY:LEC Seminar 4 June 2013
DESCRIPTION:Speaker:\n\nProfessor Ming-Lai Fu, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China\n\n\nTitle:\n\n'The applications of metal oxides nanomaterials in the environmental remediation'\n\n\nSpeaker:\n \nDr Jian-Qiang Su, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese academy of Sciences, Xiamen, China\n\n\nTitle:\n'Functional metagenomic characterization of antibiotic resistance genes in agricultural soils'\n\n\n\n\nTuesday 4th June, 1-2pm, \nLEC Training Room 1, Gordon Manley Building\n \nAll Welcome!
DTSTART:20130604T130000
DTEND:20130604T140000
LOCATION:LEC Training Room 1
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UID:1168
SUMMARY:Misunderstood, overweight, henpecked, too few papers and home flooded? Riverine vegetation (not you!) in a multistressor environment
DESCRIPTION:Dr. Matthew O'Hare is Senior Aquatic Botanist at CEH Edinburgh. He is interested in factors influencing the ecology of aquatic plants in the UK, especially river plants. These factors include herbivory and eutrophication but his major focus is on the interaction between water flow and the plants.
DTSTART:20130605T120000
DTEND:20130605T130000
LOCATION:LEC Training Rooms 1 And 2
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UID:1163
SUMMARY:Chasing the High Fliers: Recent Advances in the Study of Insect Migration
DESCRIPTION:Billions of insects migrate between winter and summer ranges to take advantage of seasonally-available breeding resources. To cover the distances required (100s km), many insects rely on wind assistance, and routinely ascend 100s m above the ground to migrate in fast-moving airstreams. Given that wind speeds are typically three to five times faster than the insects' airspeeds, it was not clear what influence high-flying migrants could exert on their migration direction or whether substantial 'return' migrations to lower-latitude winter-breeding areas were possible. To answer these questions, Dr Chapman has studied the flight behavior and migration patterns of the Silver Y moth (Autographa gamma) and the Painted Lady butterfly (Vanessa cardui) with specialized entomological radars. Radar observations demonstrate that an ability to select favorable fast-moving airstreams is widespread among high-flying migrant Lepidoptera, and thus migrants gain considerable wind assistance for their seasonal migrations. Comparison of moth migration parameters with those of nocturnal songbirds demonstrates that the moths' highly efficient strategies result in them achieving the same travel speeds and directions as birds capable of flying three times faster. \n\nRelevant Publications:\nChapman JW et al (2012). Seasonal migration to high latitudes results in major reproductive benefits in an insect. PNAS 109: 14924-14929.\nAlerstam T & Chapman JW et al (2011). Convergent patterns of long-distance nocturnal migration in noctuid moths and passerine birds. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 278: 3074-3080.\nChapman JW, Nesbit RL, Burgin LE, Reynolds DR, Smith AD, Middleton DR and Hill JK (2010). Flight orientation behaviours promote optimal migration trajectories in high-flying insects. Science 327: 682-685.\n\nALL WELCOME
DTSTART:20130617T160000
DTEND:20130617T170000
LOCATION:Lecture Theatre 10, Management School Building
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UID:1080
SUMMARY:Innovation Priorities for the Chemical Using Industries
DESCRIPTION:Chemicals Northwest is the industry-led, chemical cluster support organisation for the £10 billion North West chemical sector, the largest in the UK, and works in partnership with both the private and public sectors. The talk will give an overview of the innovation priorities for the chemical sector.\n\n\nOriginally from Melbourne, Carol started her career at ICI Australia where she held various commercial roles in several of the ICI businesses. Carol then re-located to Singapore when she was appointed Chief Operating Officer (COO) of ICI Paints Asia. In 1999 Carol moved to England as COO of ICI Decorative Paints Europe before joining Chemicals Northwest, a regional government initiative, in August 2003. \n \nCarol's current role is leading a team of people to connect Industry, Academia and Government in the UK. The development and delivery of the National Strategy for the chemistry-using industries is vital to the success of Chemistry innovation. Carol is also on the Advisory Boards for Chemistry World, a publication of the Royal Society of Chemistry, the Manchester University School of Chemistry, and Knowledge Centre for Material Chemistry, Intelligent Formulation Board, The Industrial Biotechnology Leadership Forum and chair of the METRC Industry Advisory Board. \n\nIn her leisure time, Carol enjoys entertaining, good food, good wine and all sports including cricket, golf, tennis, skiing, basketball, netball and of course Australian Rules Football. \n\nRegister to attend
DTSTART:20131023T130000
DTEND:20131023T150000
LOCATION:Venue To Be Confirmed
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UID:1127
SUMMARY:"Leeeerooooy Jeeeeeenkins..." - The impact of game technologies on how we learn
DESCRIPTION:Stuart is the Chief Technology Officer for QinetiQ's Simulation and Training Group. Stuart started his career at the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (then part of the UK MOD) in 1999, developing defence simulations and joined QinetiQ when it was privatised in 2001. Since then, Stuart has been responsible for the practical exploitation and application of many simulation technologies in support of a wide and diverse military user base.\n\nIn his role as CTO, Stuart provides advice and support to senior UK MOD decision makers on the impact of emerging technologies on the UK training and education policy. Through his work, Stuart has introduced the concept of Serious Games to the UK military training landscape and has developed numerous novel training applications from the technology. In particular, the fielding of two Urgent Operational capabilities based on games technologies has helped save UK military lives in current operations.\n\nStuart is currently leading the UK MOD's Training Transformation program which is developing the core MOD simulation architecture that will enable the rapid exploitation of emerging technologies. The core architecture is being used to support the delivery of future Aviation, Ground Based and Fast Air training capabilities and will enable the UK MOD to potentially realise £100M's of savings through the re-balancing of live and synthetic training. \n\nStuart is the chairman for the pan-industry research program into commercial technologies undertaken as part of the UK's Synthetic Environment Tower of Excellence, is the national lead and chair of the US, UK, Canada & Australia technical co-operation on commercial technologies and has chaired numerous NATO working groups on the use of emerging simulation technology. Stuart is also an active member of the I/ITSEC Serious Games Showcase & Challenge Project Team.\n\nRegister online
DTSTART:20131106T130000
DTEND:20131106T150000
LOCATION:Venue To Be Confirmed
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