Report of the NBFGR-BOBLME Indian mackerel genetics harmonisation training workshop, Kochi, India, 20-27 August, 2013

This workshop was held at the National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources and followed on from the Indian mackerel Working group meeting in Colombo (28-29 May, 2012). Activities included; DNA extraction; PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) for microsatellites; genotyping microsatellites; data analysis; emerging technologies; and an action pla

Swarm-based adaptation: wayfinding support for lifelong learners

Please refer to the orinigal publication in: Tattersall, C. Van den Berg, B., Van Es, R., Janssen, J., Manderveld, J., Koper, R. (2004). Swarm-based adaptation: wayfinding support for lifelong learners. In P. de Bra & W. Nejdl, Adaptive Hypermedia and Adaptive Web-Based Systems (LNCS3137), (pp. 336-339). Heidelberg: Springer. http://www.springerlink.com/index/UW0DUG7KHTU0KBX9.This article introduces an approach to adaptive wayfinding support for lifelong learners based on self-organisation theory. It describes an architecture which supports the recording, processing and presentation of collective learner behaviour designed to create a feedback loop informing learners of successful paths towards the attainment of their learning objectives. The approach is presented as an alternative to methods of achieving adaptation in hypermedia-based learning environments which involve learner modelling

Swarm-based adaptation:wayfinding support for lifelong learners

Please refer to the orinigal publication in: Tattersall, C. Van den Berg, B., Van Es, R., Janssen, J., Manderveld, J., Koper, R. (2004). Swarm-based adaptation: wayfinding support for lifelong learners. In P. de Bra & W. Nejdl, Adaptive Hypermedia and Adaptive Web-Based Systems (LNCS3137), (pp. 336-339). Heidelberg: Springer. http://www.springerlink.com/index/UW0DUG7KHTU0KBX9.This article introduces an approach to adaptive wayfinding support for lifelong learners based on self-organisation theory. It describes an architecture which supports the recording, processing and presentation of collective learner behaviour designed to create a feedback loop informing learners of successful paths towards the attainment of their learning objectives. The approach is presented as an alternative to methods of achieving adaptation in hypermedia-based learning environments which involve learner modelling

Pronounced warmth during early Middle Pleistocene interglacials : investigating the Mid-Bruhnes Event in the British terrestrial sequence

The Mid-Brunhes Event (MBE) is a climatic transition occurring between MIS 13 and 11 that separates two climatic modes: (1) early Middle Pleistocene interglacials (780–450 ka) that are characterised by only moderate warmth and (2) Middle and Late Pleistocene interglacials (occurring after 450 ka) that are characterised by greater warmth consistent with, or warmer than, the Holocene. This event is observable within a variety of long climate records, such as SPECMAP and EPICA, but its effect on terrestrial systems is poorly understood. The impact of this event is examined in the British terrestrial sequence by comparing the occurrence of a range of thermophilous plant and animal species, and climate reconstructions derived from assemblages containing them, from interglacials of the early Middle Pleistocene with those from the late Middle and Late Pleistocene. This comparison reveals that interglacial climates during the early Middle Pleistocene in Britain were as warm as, and in some cases warmer than, those that occurred during the late Middle and Late Pleistocene. This interpretation is supported by sea surface temperature records in the North Atlantic, which show that temperatures during early Middle Pleistocene interglacials were at least as warm as those experienced during the Holocene. There is, therefore, no evidence in climate records of Britain and the North Atlantic for a Mid-Brunhes Event. This suggests that the MBE is not a global climatic transition but is restricted to specific regions, in particular the higher latitudes of the southern Hemisphere. Further work is needed to understand the regional variability and cause of the MBE

Introducing FACETS, the Framework Application for Core-Edge Transport Simulations

The FACETS (Framework Application for Core-Edge Transport Simulations) project began in January 2007 with the goal of providing core to wall transport modeling of a tokamak fusion reactor. This involves coupling previously separate computations for the core, edge, and wall regions. Such a coupling is primarily through connection regions of lower dimensionality. The project has started developing a component-based coupling framework to bring together models for each of these regions. In the first year, the core model will be a 1 1/2 dimensional model (1D transport across flux surfaces coupled to a 2D equilibrium) with fixed equilibrium. The initial edge model will be the fluid model, UEDGE, but inclusion of kinetic models is planned for the out years. The project also has an embedded Scientific Application Partnership that is examining embedding a full-scale turbulence model for obtaining the crosssurface fluxes into a core transport code

First results from core-edge parallel composition in the FACETS project

FACETS (Framework Application for Core-Edge Transport Simulations), now in its second year, has achieved its first coupled core-edge transport simulations. In the process, a number of accompanying accomplishments were achieved. These include a new parallel core component, a new wall component, improvements in edge and source components, and the framework for coupling all of this together. These accomplishments were a result of an interdisciplinary collaboration among computational physics, computer scientists, and applied mathematicians on the team

The earliest known humans in Northern Europe: artefacts from the Cromer Forest-bed at Pakefield, Suffolk, UK

The human colonisation of Eurasia is a key event in the dispersion of early humans out of Africa, however details about timing and ecological context of the earliest human occupation of northwest Europe is uncertain and strongly debated. The southern Caucasus was occupied around 1.8 million years ago (Ma), and early representatives of Homo dispersed to the Mediterranean regions before the Brunhes-Matuyama magnetic reversal, 780 000 years ago (ka) as human remains from Atapuerca-TD6, Spain (>0.78 ma) and Ceprano, Italy (~0.8 ma) show. Up to now, the earliest uncontested artefacts from northern Europe were much younger (~500 thousand years ago), suggesting a climatic reason why early humans were unable to settle in northern latitudes. The recent discovery of flint artefacts from the Cromer Forest-bed Formation at Pakefield (52 N), UK, from a sequence of beds with rich palaeontological remains, proves that the earliest human colonization of Northern Europe was much older than previously expected. A multidisciplinary approach, involving sequence stratigraphy, palaeomagnetism, Amino-Acid geochronology, and biostratigraphy, indicates that the artefacts date to the early part of the Brunhes Chron, predating any other human unequivocal evidence north of the Alps

The earliest known humans in Northern Europe: artefacts from the Cromer Forest-bed at Pakefield, Suffolk, UK

The colonization of Eurasia by early humans is a key event after their spread out of Africa, but the nature, timing and ecological context of the earliest human occupation of northwest Europe is uncertain and has been the subject of intense debate1. The southern Caucasus was occupied about 1.8 million years (Myr) ago2, whereas human remains from Atapuerca-TD6, Spain (more than 780 kyr ago)3 and Ceprano, Italy (about 800 kyr ago)4 show that early Homo had dispersed to the Mediterranean hinterland before the Brunhes–Matuyama magnetic polarity reversal (780 kyr ago). Until now, the earliest uncontested artefacts from northern Europe were much younger, suggesting that humans were unable to colonize northern latitudes until about 500 kyr ago5,6. Here we report flint artefacts from the Cromer Forest-bed Formation at Pakefield (528 N), Suffolk, UK, from an interglacial sequence yielding a diverse range of plant and animal fossils. Event and lithostratigraphy, palaeomagnetism, amino acid geochronology and biostratigraphy indicate that the artefacts date to the early part of the Brunhes Chron (about 700 kyr ago) and thus represent the earliest unequivocal evidence for human presence north of the Alps