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 whose
water
Ian Calder
Director, Centre for Land Use and Water Resources Research
march 06
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 new
faces of science communication
march 06
Steve Robertson, Newcastle University PhD student
studying fungal degradation, aimed to 'raise the profile' of fungi
with a talk that took in beer and athlete’s foot.
The Newcastle heat of FameLab was part of the Newcastle Science
Festival and National Science week.
I can't remember who first pointed me towards www.famelab.org
but when I do I'll have to thank them. I'd guess it has to be someone
in the school because I have a memory of receiving the information
by email. Famelab is looking for the "new faces of science
communication" and
I decided to give it a go. It's jointly organised by the Cheltenham
Science Festival and NESTA (the National Endowment for Science,
Technology and the Arts)and has sponsors including The Daily
Telegraph, Pfizer, Channel 4, The British Council and the research
councils- so it had some heavyweight backing.
Competitors had to be over 21, working in science and give a 3
minute presentation for a general adult audience on a scientific
topic of their choice. I chose to talk about fungi and how there's
more going on underground than meets the eye. Seven of us were
then invited back to give a different 3 minute talk and I went
for "fungi in everyday
life- from athlete's foot to beer". The judging panel included
Roger Highfield (Daily Telegraph science editor) Kate Bellingham
(former Tomorrow's world presenter) Kash Chaudhry (deputy comissioning
editor for science and history at Channel 4) and Harry Witchel
(a physiologist and prize-winning science communicator). Despite
the "Pop Idol" comparisons,
the feedback was positive and encouraging. After the second round
of
talks, two of us were chosen to go forward to the final on June
10th at the Cheltenham Science Festival. The other finalist was
Sarah Curtis, an MChem student at the University of Leeds. Before
the final, though, we have a weekend masterclass on science communication
working with journalists, producers and professional science communicators
to develop our media and communication skills.
I was certainly surprised to win a place in the finals because
I'd gone along thinking it would just be a good bit of experience
giving a different type of presentation - no jargon to hide behind!
If anyone else fancies a shot there are four more regional heats
in Swansea (19/3) Edinburgh
(26/3) London (1/4) and Belfast (22/4) and you can find out more
at www.famelab.org |
 new
MSc Course in Petroleum Geoscience: Geoscience of Subsurface
Exploration, Appraisal and Development (GeoSEAD)
Andrew Aplin
GeoSEAD was launched in October 2005 to fulfil a pressing need
to train the next generation of petroleum geoscientists. Based
at the highly renowned Institute of Petroleum Engineering at
Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh, it is taught jointly with
the School
of Geosciences at the University of Edinburgh and the School
of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
The blend of subsurface geoscience and engineering is perhaps
unique
and ensures that students are exposed to the wide range of concepts
and computer-based methods required by today’s oil industry.
Classes are supplemented by team-based projects, individual projects
and fieldwork. Example modules include Reservoir Concepts, Petroleum
Engineering for Exploration, Formation Evaluation, Seismic and
Sequence Stratigraphy, Reservoir Geophysics and Petroleum Systems
Analysis. Industrial sponsorship means that competitively awarded
grants are available for well qualified and highly motivated
students.
More information is available at:
http://www.pet.hw.ac.uk/courses/masters/msc_geosead.htm |
 logistics
research network conference to be held in newcastle
The Annual Conference of the LRN will be organised by the University
of Newcastle and will take place there in September 2006. Papers
are invited from academics, researchers and practitioners in
the fields of logistics, transportation and supply chain management.
The theme this year is 'Sustainable Logistics in an Intermodal
Setting'.
http://www.lrn2006.com/ |
 the
long journey of particles near the ocean floor and its relevance
for carbon burial
Tom Wagner
German and British scientists have studied the ocean off south-western
Africa and have discovered that particles are transported to the deep
ocean over thousands of years before being deposited on the seabed. This
discovery may increase our understanding of how the oceans act as carbon
dioxide sinks and how oil deposits form.
Areas of extremely high marine productivity are confined to small sections
of modern continental margins. Despite their limited size, these areas
are considered to be important sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide, arguably
with relevance for global climate. The most productive coastal upwelling
area of the modern ocean is the Benguela upwelling system off south-western
Africa, an area that is considered to represent an important modern analogue
of petroleum source rocks deposited in the geological past. Off south-western
Africa, upwelling of cold nutrient-rich waters along the coast causes
extraordinary strong growth of plankton, which binds carbon in their
biomass. When remnants of dead plankton sink to the sea floor, organic
matter from their biomass is buried, as manifested by sediments exceptionally
enriched in organic carbon. This process is capable to sequester huge
amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over longer time scales.
It is commonly thought that the distribution of such carbon-rich sediments
directly links to surface water productivity through settling of particles
vertical through the water column.
In the recent issue of Geology,
Inthorn and his co-workers from the Research Center Ocean Margins in
Bremen, the University of Newcastle, and the BGR Hannover report unprecedented
process observations from the Benguela, where they collected surface
sediments and fine particles floating in cloudy water layers above the
sea floor. In determining the sedimentological and geochemical composition
as well as the age of the samples, they show that organic particles in
cloudy water layers drift over large distances from near shore to deeper
waters on the continental slope, where they get finally buried at water
depths of 400 to 1500 meters. The age of organic matter reveals that
this seaward journey can take up to a few thousand years. This journey
also effectively displaces the area of final burial of organic matter
(and thus former atmospheric carbon dioxide) from their place of production.
These results place general questions on widely acknowledged vertical
particle flux models, which apparently do not fully explain the relationship
between primary production and organic carbon burial in high productive
areas.
The broader implications of this study suggest that carbon budgets of
the deep ocean in the past and thus climate relationships may have been
much stronger affected by these processes near the sea floor than previously
thought. Inthorn contemplates that enhanced and widespread downslope
transport of organic carbon in cloudy water layers may have been much
more vigorous at times when sea level was fluctuating and lower than
today. |
 newcastle
research into action
Ian Calder
february 06
At the maturity workshop of DFID’s research projects dealing with
land and water management in India Professor Ian Calder, Director of
CLUWRR, and Professor Ashvin Gosain of IIT Delhi jointly presented research
findings and recommendations
for improved watershed management for the State of Madhya Pradesh.
The workshop, held in Bhopal, 6-7 February 2006, co-funded by DFID and
the Government of Madhya Pradesh, also aimed to lay the basis for a Sustainable
Watershed Management Strategy and Perspective Plan for Madhya Pradesh.
The workshop was part of the 'research into policy' component of the
DFID research led by Dr Jaime Amezaga.
Attendance included the Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Minister
for Panchayat and Rural Development, Narendra Singh Tomar, the Secretary
for Panchayat and Rural Development, Waseem Akhtar, the Chairman of the
Central Groundwater Board, Dr Salim Romani and prominent NGO leaders
in watershed management including Rajendra Singh and Shyamji Bhai Antala
and 300 participants representing NGOs, district level functionaries
of the rural development department and representatives of other line
departments of the State and Centre.
The recommendations which call for a greater focus on demand management,
rather than increased provision of supply, to avoid chronic problems
of catchment closure, depleting water tables, and inequity of allocation,
were accepted by the Chief Minister. The Chief Minister said that the
common people would be sensitized towards rational utilization of water.
These recommendations will be embedded in the State’s new water
conservation drive ‘Jalabhishek’, which will be implemented
in all 48 districts of the State.
Sachin Sinha, Director of the Rajiv Gandhi Mission for Watershed Development
(RGMWD), requested further assistance from the research team to help
with the implementation of Jalabhishek. This will include a GIS based
information and impact assessment modelling system for the State which
will take into account water resource constraints. The system will be ‘showcased’ on
the Madhya Pradesh Rural Livelihoods Project – also funded by DFID.
It will not only assist with the planning phase of watershed interventions
but will help monitor water resource outcomes and will link with the
RGMWD’s proposed ‘log frame’ approach for evaluating
target socio-economic outcomes.
(The Centre for Land Use and Water Resources Research (CLUWRR)
of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, is responsible for the co-ordination
and implemented of an international research programme on forest and
water issues, funded under the Forestry Research Programme of the UK
Department for International Development, with partners in India, South
Africa, Tanzania, Grenada and Costa Rica)
|
 can
hydrous minerals account for the equatorial water on Mars
Claire Fialips
Dr Claire Fialips and her collaborators at the Los Alamos National
Laboratory (New Mexico) have given a completely new insight into
the understanding of Mars’ hydrogeologic history. It is the
first time that laboratory-based results have been coupled with
global scale observations to predict minerals hydration state in
a 2X2 degree grid across the Martian surface. This cutting-edge
study has demonstrated that, though speculative, the hypothesis
that mixtures of different hydrous minerals, such as clay minerals,
zeolites or hydrated salts, may account for all the observed equatorial
water abundances on Mars is plausible. This work is characteristic
of the kind of essential knowledge we need to create before humans
ever travel to Mars, so that we can understand the martian world
once we get there.
- Fialips, C.I., Carey, J.W., Vaniman, D.T., Bish, D.L., Feldman,
W.C., Mellon, M.T. 2005 Hydration state of zeolites, clays, and
hydrated salts under present-day martian surface conditions:
Can hydrous minerals account for Mars Odyssey observations of
near-equatorial water-equivalent hydrogen? Icarus 178, 74-83
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 novel
tool for predicting the hydration state of hydrous minerals
Claire Fialips
Dr Claire Fialips and her collaborators at the Los Alamos National
Laboratory (New Mexico) have developed a thermodynamic model capable
of predicting the hydration state of important minerals under any
temperature and water-vapour pressure. Their work is far reaching
in several fields of application in Earth and Environmental Sciences,
notably with regards to the prediction and management of changes
in hydrous minerals stability as a response to natural or anthropogenic
factors (i.e., climate change, temperature gradients in landfills).
The obtained phase equilibrium data also represent a unique tool
for the prediction of minerals hydration state under extreme conditions
of temperature and/or water-vapour pressure which cannot be experimented
in the Laboratory.
- Fialips C.I., Carey J.W., Bish D.L. 2005 Hydration-dehydration
behavior and thermodynamics of chabazite. Geochimica et Cosmochimica
Acta 69, 2293-2308
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 EC
Marie Curie IRG grant 2006-2008
Bio Fe-Clay barrier
“ BIO FE-CLAY BARRIER” Bacterial reduction
of iron in clay barriers: a new technology for the remediation
of organic groundwater contaminants
Claire Fialips
None of the industrialized or developing countries has adequately
protected its aquifers against contaminations and groundwater pollution
by domestic, agricultural and industrial chemicals is at an all
time high in many parts of the world. The scale and urgency of
the problem is largely recognised and several major initiatives
have been developed to deal with pollution control and abatement.
In Europe, the EC Water Framework Directive require that surface,
coastal and underground waters meet ‘good status’ within
all the member states by 2015. With only 10 years to go, initiatives
to develop cost-effective and sustainable water remediation technologies
are crucially needed.
Dr Fialips has been awarded a Marie Curie International Reintegration
Grant of 80,000Euro to demonstrate the feasibility of a novel permeable
barrier technology – the Bio Fe-Clay Barrier – which
could be a lower-cost and more sustainable alternative to other
technologies for the remediation of diverse groundwater contaminations,
including pesticides, chlorinated aliphatics and nitroaromatics.
The proposed technology is cutting-edge in that, for the first
time ever, it will involve the in situ microbial Fe-reduction of
barrier clay materials and will take advantage of the unique ability
of reduced Fe-clays in promoting the degradation of organic compounds.
Feasibility experiments under both laboratory and field-like conditions
will be conducted, using a multidisciplinary approach, combining
mineralogy, microbiology and soil mechanics. The results are crucially
needed to inform the scientific community, policymakers, managers
and stakeholders on the relevance of the Bio Fe-Clay Barrier technology. |
 intelligent
infrastructure futures
Phil Blythe
january 06
January 26th 2006 saw the launch of the Intelligent Infrastructure
Futures (IIF), part of the Office of Science and Technology Foresight
Programme, at the IEE Savoy Place, London. Sir David King, the
Government’s Chief Scientific advisor opened the debate,
speaking to a chamber of leading industrialists, academics, policy
makers, consultants and other key stakeholders. His presentation
kicked off a day of lively and enthusiastic debate about the possible
paths our society might take over the next 50 years as a consequence
of adopting a more ‘intelligent infrastructure’.
The IIS component of the Foresight Programme was tasked to look
to the future. 50 years from now what will society be like? How
will we travel? What are the drivers for change to balance travel
and transport, environmental sustainability, personal choice and
economic growth? In trying to offer possible answers to these and
other questions, the consortium examined the predicted advances
in pervasive technologies, sensors, data communication, information
and computing science, leading them to propose a set four of possible
futures. Further details and copies of all the reports can be found
at: http://www.foresight.gov.uk/
Professor Phil Blythe, Director of TORG, was one of four leading
academics appointed as Science Experts to Dr. Stephen Ladyman,
the Minister of State for Transport and sponsor of Foresight. Dr.
Ladyman spoken eloquently and enthusiastically about the key findings
and was confident their conclusions would go on to shape government
action across a wide cross section of transport policy and the
wider society.
At the media launch event, Phil Blythe said ‘The opportunity
to call more than 300 experts to give evidence and input to a study
which is attempting to look at how intelligent infrastructure and
transport systems will evolve over a 50 year time period, has been
rewarding, albeit challenging… however, unless we look at
the future and consider how transport, energy sources, climate
change and the way we live may change, depending on technology
adoption and policy decisions that may need to be taken soon, we
will not be able to generate the right level of debate in the country
to seriously examine these issues. The window of opportunity to
foster change in a direction which will deliver a more positive
future, may well be quite short.’
IIS now moves to the action phase. This launch marks the start
of more research and further investment in the applications and
future questions to be considered. Newcastle has a key role to
play in this future work.
Press Releases
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 environment
minister visits IRES
Paul Younger
A visit to the University formed part of the schedule of a recent
visit to the region by the Minister of State for Climate Change
and Environment, Elliot Morley, who was in the North East to see
some of the best examples of organisations that are setting the
standard for sustainable living and working.
Mr Morley’s visit was part of a national tour that will
take in green housing developments, energy-saving public sector
schemes and business efforts to reduce water use, waste and power.
The Minister attended a meeting hosted by the Vice-Chancellor in the
Devonshire Building – home of the Institute for Research on Environment
and Sustainability – where he heard presentations about the University's
current energy and environmental research projects from Professor Trevor
Page, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for External Affairs and Research Liaison,
and Paul Younger, HSBC Professor of Environmental Technologies and Geothermal
Energy.
Mr Morley said: 'It is vital that everybody gets involved in sustainable
development. That goes for public authorities, who can set an example
and lead the development of new markets, for example in timber
procurement; businesses, who can save millions of pounds by cutting
waste and their use of resources; individuals, who can make more
environmental choices in their daily lives and communities, who
can come together to implement projects such as recycling and improving
local environmental quality.'
The visit to the University, which included a whistle-stop tour
of the award-winning Devonshire Building, was organised by Paul
Fisher, Centre Manager for NuEnergy, following discussions with
the City Council to explore possible research links in support
of their energy efficiency drive. Dr Chris French, Director of
NuEnergy, was invited to speak at an event as part of the City
Council's Energy Efficiency Week.
Mr Fisher said: 'The visit was extremely valuable, in terms of
our being able to give the Minister an overview of the breadth
of the University's involvement in environmental projects. He was
particularly interested in Professor Younger's work on geothermal
energy sources'.
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