Events
UCAS Open Day - Environmental Science schemes
Saturday 11th February 2012
Lancaster Environment Centre
Environmental Science schemes open day.
The Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme - assessing chemical threats to biodiversity
Professor Richard Shore, CEH Lancaster
Wednesday 15th February 2012, 1600-1700
LEC Training Rooms 1 And 2
Sustainable Water Stewardship - Gaps and Opportunities
Professor Tim O’Riordan OBE FBA, Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia
Monday 20th February 2012, 1530-1630
LEC Training Rooms 1 And 2
Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, Professor O'Riordan has recently contributed to the Sustainable Water Stewardship: The Next Big Step Forward - a summary of the workshop organised by the Universityof Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership and sponsored by Anglian Water.
Generalised Models for Uncertainty with Applications in Engineering
Professor Michael Beer, University of Liverpool
Wednesday 22nd February 2012, 1200-1300
LEC Training Room 2
Uncertainty and imprecision in structural parameters and in environmental conditions and loads are challenging phenomena in engineering analyses. They require an appropriate mathematical modelling and quantification to obtain realistic results when predicting the behaviour and reliability of engineering structures and systems. But the modelling and quantification are complicated by the characteristics of the available information, which involves, for example, sparse data, poor measurements and subjective information. This raises the question whether the available information is sufficient for a probabilistic modelling or rather suggests a set-theoretical modelling. The framework of imprecise probabilities provides a mathematical basis to deal with these problems which involve both probabilistic and non-probabilistic characteristics of information. A common feature of the various concepts of imprecise probabilities is the consideration of an entire set of probabilistic models in one analysis. But there are differences between the concepts in the mathematical description of this set and in the theoretical connection to the probabilistic models involved. This seminar provides an overview on selected concepts of imprecise probabilities, which are increasingly adopted for the solution of engineering problems. Specific features and relationships between the models are discussed. Particular attention is devoted to the concept of fuzzy probabilities. Examples of applications in engineering underline the usefulness of the concepts discussed.
What does rural-urban migration mean for Amazonian people and forests?
Dr Luke Parry, Lancaster Environment Centre
Wednesday 29th February 2012, 1600-1700
Furness Lecture Theatre 3
Rural-urban migration has contributed to the rapid growth of urban areas in developing countries, including in tropical forest regions. The consequences of urbanization for conservation and development goals are highly contested. Rural depopulation and land abandonment may facilitate forest recovery and prevent the extinction of forest species. Alternatively, the increased demand for forest resources by migrants with strong rural ties could increase the ecological footprints of expanding cities, undermining the potential benefits of rural depopulation for threatened forests. We examined the well-being of rural-urban migrants in two rainforest cities in the Brazilian Amazon. We also assessed food security and household reliance on rural areas for income and food. Our results from 156 randomly selected households indicate that the majority of families in the two cities along the River Madeira had migrated from rural areas, motivated by a desire for education and other factors, including extreme climatic events. Compared to non-migrants, migrant households had low cash incomes and often lacked access to reliable water and electricity supplies. We found that recent migrant households frequently maintained a rural livelihoods portfolio although rural-urban linkages reduced over time since arrival in a city. All households consumed wild forms of animal protein, particularly fish. For the first time we document widespread consumption of hunted forest animals and river turtles by urban consumers in the Amazon. However, recent migrants consumed particularly high quantities of forest and river-sourced animal protein and gradually switched to farmed foods. We consider the policy levers available to facilitate poverty alleviation in growing urban centres and minimize the ecological impacts of urban consumption in rainforest regions.
UCAS Open Day - Environmental Science schemes
Saturday 10th March 2012
Lancaster Environment Centre
Environmental Science schemes open day.
Nitrogen and Phosphorus dynamics in a groundwater-fed river from high-frequency automated sampling. River Leith, Cumbria
Dr Magdalena Bieroza, Lancaster Environment Centre
Tuesday 13th March 2012, 1200-1300
LEC Training Rooms 1 And 2
LEC Semainar
SPEARS Seminar: Modelling solar energetic particle propagation through interplanetary space
Doctor Silvia Dalla, Jeremiah Horrocks Institute, University of Central Lancashire
Tuesday 13th March 2012, 1600-1700
Lecture Theatre, Charles Carter Building (A15)
Solar energetic particles (SEPs) are accelerated during flares and coronal mass ejections at the Sun. They can escape from the solar corona into interplanetary space and reach eg near-Earth locations, where they pose a significant radiation risk to humans in space and satellite hardware. This talk will review our understanding of the origin and propagation of SEPs, based on a large body of data gathered by spacecraft detectors and theoretical models of energetic particle propagation. It will focus in particular on recent modelling work analysing the role of cross-field diffusion in SEP transport, by means of test particle simulations.
The Big Bang UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair
Thursday 15th - Saturday 17th March 2012
Birmingham NEC
The biggest single event of its kind in the country, The Big Bang Fair moves to Birmingham for 2012.
Progress in Nuclear Energy and Education
Conference Chair: Professor Malcolm Joyce, Lancaster University
Tuesday 20th - Thursday 22nd March 2012
Church House Conference Centre, Westminster, London
Join international delegates at the Progress in Nuclear Energy and Education Conference - Learning from the past, preparing for the future. The conference provides a forum for nuclear scientists to discuss the cutting edge science and engineering aspects of nuclear energy together with increasingly more important safety, policy, resource and educational requirements of the industry.
SPEARS Seminar: Comparative review of ion pickup at various solar system bodies
Professor Andrew Coates, Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College London
Monday 16th April 2012, 1500-1600
Lecture Theatre, Charles Carter Building (A15)
Ion pickup provides the key mechanism by which comets interact with the solar wind. Following ionization of neutral particles, the new-born ions are accelerated in the convection electric field and gyrate around the magnetic field -- forming a cycloid in real space and an unstable ring in velocity space. Pickup is also present at most other planetary objects, and there are recent data from Mars, Venus, Titan, Enceladus, Rhea, Dione and Saturn's neutral-dominated magnetosphere. Here, we briefly review the pickup process and present examples of pickup ions at all these objects. We also consider their role in atmospheric escape. We look forward to future missions where pickup will play a key role such as Rosetta and JUICE.
The human brain: why is bigger better?
Colin Blakemore FMedSci Hon FRCP Hon FSB FRS, Professor of Neuroscience , University of Oxford
Friday 4th May 2012
Venue To Be Confirmed
The next Science and Technology lecture of this academic year will take place on Friday 4 May 2012 and will be given by Colin Blakemore, FRS, Professor of Neuroscience in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at the University of Oxford.
LEC Postgraduate Open Day
Saturday 12th May 2012, 1200-1600
Lancaster Environment Centre
Find out about the Lancaster Environment Centre's taught and research-based postgraduate courses.
QFS2012: International Symposium on Quantum Fluids and Solids
Co-chairs: S.N. Fisher and G.R. Pickett
Wednesday 15th - Tuesday 21st August 2012
Lancaster University
The 2012 International Symposium on Quantum Fluids and Solids will be held next August in Lancaster, UK.