Challenges and opportunities for early-career Teaching-Focussed academics in the biosciences

Twenty-seven percent of academics in UK Higher Education (HE) are in Teaching-Focussed positions, making major contributions to undergraduate programmes in an era of high student expectations when it comes to teaching quality. However, institutional support for Teaching-Focussed academics is often limited, both in terms of peer networking and opportunities for career development. As four early-career stage Teaching-Focussed academics working in a variety of institutions, we explore what motivated our choices to make teaching our primary academic activity, and the challenges that we have faced in doing so. In addition to highlighting the need for universities to fully recognise the achievements of teaching staff, we discuss the role that the various biosciences learned societies have in supporting Teaching-Focussed academics. We identify that there is a need for the learned societies to come together and pool their expertise in this area. The fragmented nature of the Teaching-Focussed academic community means that clear sources of national support are needed in order to best enable the next generation of bioscience educators to reach their full potential

Towards a Distributed Runtime Monitor for ICS/SCADA Systems

Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems are typically used in industries such as electricity generation and supply, gas supply, logistics, manufacturing and hospitals and are considered critical national infrastructure. The evolution of these systems from isolated environments into internet connected ones, in combination with their long service life and realtime nature have raised severe security concerns in the event of a cyber-attack. In this paper, we review the current literature surrounding the threats, vulnerabilities, exploits and existing approaches to securing vulnerable SCADA systems. We then focus specifically on the development of a distributed online runtime monitor to detect violations of safety properties. We conclude with suggestions for further research needed to progress the state of the art in the area of distributed online runtime verification of SCADA systems

Additional file 3: Figure S3. of Why do different oceanic archipelagos harbour contrasting levels of species diversity? The macaronesian endemic genus Pericallis (Asteraceae) provides insight into explaining the ‘Azores diversity Enigma’

Discriminant Analysis of Principal Components showing the genetic clustering of populations of Pericallis lineages analysed in the Canaries for K = 3 (a) and K = 4 (b). Each bar represents one individual plant (69 individuals from the Canaries). (PDF 90 kb

Additional file 6: Table S3. of Why do different oceanic archipelagos harbour contrasting levels of species diversity? The macaronesian endemic genus Pericallis (Asteraceae) provides insight into explaining the ‘Azores diversity Enigma’

List of bioclimatic variables analysed and factor loadings in the (a) Azores and (b) Canary Islands. (DOCX 19 kb

The breeding population of Peregrine Falcon <i>Falco peregrinus</i> in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Channel Islands in 2014

<p><b>Capsule:</b> Overall numbers of Peregrines are higher than previously recorded, due primarily to the growth of lowland populations, despite declines in many upland areas.</p> <p><b>Aims:</b> To estimate the breeding population of Peregrines, and changes in this population over time, as well as to relate variation in trends and observed breeding success to variation in region, breeding site type and other ecological influences.</p> <p><b>Methods:</b> Two types of survey methods were used. Site-based visits focussed on locations where Peregrines were known to have bred previously, while area-based searches aimed to find all Peregrines breeding in randomly chosen 5 km × 5 km squares. Findings from each method were used to estimate population size in different parts of the survey area. Breeding outcome and site type were assessed for most of the pairs found during either survey.</p> <p><b>Results:</b> In 2014, the breeding population of Peregrines in the UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands was estimated at 1769 pairs. This is 22% larger than the population estimate from the previous survey in 2002. Most of this increase is accounted for by increases in lowland England. Populations in some upland areas have declined.</p> <p><b>Conclusions:</b> The gap between the fortunes of lowland and upland Peregrines has continued to grow, along with the overall UK population. Likely reasons for the continued success of Peregrines in the lowlands include increasing uptake of breeding sites on human structures, abundant availability of prey in many lowland situations and, in many areas, a relative lack of conflict with humans. Factors likely to be limiting upland Peregrine populations vary between different regions, and include ongoing illegal killing and deliberate disturbance, and food supply.</p