Genome size variation in deep-sea amphipods

Funding: This work was supported by the HADEEP projects, funded by the Nippon Foundation, Japan (2009765188); the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), UK (NE/E007171/1); Total Foundation, France; National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), New Zealand (CO1_0906); Schmidt Ocean Institute, USA (FK141109) (A.J.J. and S.B.P); Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS) (HR09011 and DSSG15) (H.R., A.J.J., S.B.P); and the Leverhulme Trust (S.B.P.). Acknowledgements: We thank the chief scientists, crew and company of the New Zealand RV Kaharoa (KAH1301 and KAH1310) and the United States RV Falkor (Cruise FK141109). From NIWA, we thank Malcolm Clark, Ashley Rowden, Kareen Schnabel, and Sadie Mills for logistical support at the NIWA Invertebrate Collection. We thank NOAA Marine National Monuments, Richard Hall and Eric Breuer for their support and collaboration. We also thank Attila Bebes and the Iain Fraser Cytometry Centre (IFCC) for technical assistance. Electronic supplementary material is available online at https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3868216.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Planning decision-making: Independence, subsidiarity, impartiality and the state

This paper explores recent changes that involve the Planning Inspectorate in England, considering as part of this the relevance and value of independence and impartiality in effective decision-making, together with a consideration of the significance of these changes in the context of localism and the subsidiarity narrative. To inform this debate, this paper focuses upon the value of having an independent body for planning decisions through a comparison with the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) in Northern Ireland. The paper points towards the potential need for change in the structural approach and arrangements of the system in England, drawing particularly upon the PAC as a potential model for consideration

Putting people at the centre of marine governance across the UK and Ireland: 20 years of society and the sea

Once considered a scientific, technocratic activity, marine governance has shifted from a top down, state directed process toward participatory and deliberative approaches. In parallel, there has been increasing acknowledgment of the need to consider the human dimensions of marine and coastal issues, and the role of citizens in delivering the sustainable management and protection of the marine environment. By doing so, a more complete understanding of the complex relationship between society and the sea may be achieved. Research has shown that marine practitioners recognise that higher levels of civic involvement and citizenship in the management of the marine environment would be beneficial. Despite this, questions are raised as to whether existing governing institutions, legal structures, and planning instruments enable this to readily happen in practice. This paper explores the extent to which existing marine governance instruments are positioned to engender a society of marine citizens to meaningfully engage with marine stewardship behaviours in the UK and Ireland. A multi-phased research approach critically analyses existing relevant legislation, legal and policy frameworks, focusing on themes associated with the human dimensions of marine governance, including marine stewardship. This evaluation highlights a limited inclusion of terms relating to marine stewardship nationally, but recognises the foundations are there a more strategic and cognisant recognition of human-ocean relationships within marine governance across a range of scales and contexts

The use of non-intrusive user logging to capture engineering rationale, knowledge and intent during the product life cycle

Within the context of Life Cycle Engineering it is important that structured engineering information and knowledge are captured at all phases of the product life cycle for future reference. This is especially the case for long life cycle projects which see a large number of engineering decisions made at the early to mid-stages of a product's life cycle that are needed to inform engineering decisions later on in the process. A key aspect of technology management will be the capturing of knowledge through out the product life cycle. Numerous attempts have been made to apply knowledge capture techniques to formalise engineering decision rationale and processes; however, these tend to be associated with substantial overheads on the engineer and the company through cognitive process interruptions and additional costs/time. Indeed, when life cycle deadlines come closer these capturing techniques are abandoned due the need to produce a final solution. This paper describes work carried out for non-intrusively capturing and formalising product life cycle knowledge by demonstrating the automated capture of engineering processes/rationale using user logging via an immersive virtual reality system for cable harness design and assembly planning. Associated post-experimental analyses are described which demonstrate the formalisation of structured design processes and decision representations in the form of IDEF diagrams and structured engineering change information. Potential future research directions involving more thorough logging of users are also outlined

Phylogenetic relationships among hadal amphipods of the Superfamily Lysianassoidea : Implications for taxonomy and biogeography

Date of Acceptance: 30/8/15 Acknowledgements We thank the chief scientists, crew and company of the Japanese RV Hakuho-Maru (KH0703 and KH0803), the RV Tansei-Maru (KT-09-03), the RV Kairei (KR0716), the German FS Sonne (SO197 and SO 209) and the New Zealand RV Kaharoa (KAH0190, KAH1109, KAH1202, KAH1301 and KAH1310). This work was supported by the HADEEP projects, funded by the Nippon Foundation, Japan (2009765188), the Natural Environmental Research Council, UK (NE/E007171/1) and the Total Foundation, France. We acknowledge additional support from the Marine Alliance for Science and Technology for Scotland (MASTS) funded by the Scottish Funding Council (Ref: HR09011) and contributing institutions. We also acknowledge support from the Leverhulme Research Fellowship granted to SBP. Additional sea time was supported by NIWA’s ‘Impact of Resource Use on Vulnerable Deep-Sea Communities’ project (CO1_0906). From NIWA we thank Malcolm Clark, Ashley Rowden, Kareen Schnabel, Sadie Mills for logistical support at the NIWA Invertebrate Collection. We also thank Fredrik Søreide from Promare, USA, for supply of the Puerto-Rico samples, Marius Wenzel for helpful comments on manuscript drafts, and Dr. Tammy Horton (NOCS, UK) for identifying some of the earlier amphipod samplesPeer reviewedPostprintPostprin

Investigating the effect of nanolime treatment on the drying kinetics of Clipsham limestone

Climate change poses an ever-increasing risk to our stone built heritage. Among conservation actions, the use of consolidant products is considered a possible response to this challenge, and the adoption of nanolimes has been widely studied showing promising results. However, while the effectiveness and method of application has been assessed, few studies have probed the changes in drying kinetics following treatment. In fact, a drastic alteration of the water transport might lead to further anomalies. This study investigates the influence of nanolimes dispersed in ethanol on the drying kinetics of Clipsham limestone using cavity ring-down spectroscopy. The degree of treatment was assessed by gravimetry, Raman spectroscopy, optical microscopy, colorimetry, optical profilometry and thin section analysis. Results showed an increase in the dry mass, observable colour changes and decrease in surface roughness. Small but reproducible increases were observed in the evaporation flux for phase I behaviour following treatment, however, no changes were observed in the total mass of water released or the phase II diffusivity. Determination of the activation energy associated with phase II drying was unchanged following treatment . These results indicate that following treatment there has been little-to-no change in the internal surfaces and structure of the stone to affect vapour transport

The Octagon Values Model: community resilience and coastal regeneration

This paper considers efforts to build community resilience through bottom-up responses to socioeconomic and environmental change in coastal communities on the island of Ireland. The discussion adds to a growing body of research which suggests that regeneration initiatives which do not consider a community’s resilience to change will fail to catalyse the changes needed to put that place on a more sustainable trajectory. The Octagon Values Model is presented as a heuristic device for exploring this potentially complimentary and co-influencing relationship between regeneration and resilience building. When applied to two case studies of coastal Transition Towns, the Model illustrates how, in practical terms, resilience may be used to tap into personal concerns to mobilise civil engagement in specific local regeneration initiatives. The discussion highlights some of the perennial practical obstacles confronting voluntary-based, community-level activities which raise questions for the generation of proactive community resilience responses and modes of governance. In capturing environmental, economic, social and governance value domains, the Octagon Values Model illustrates that reconciling values and resource use is critical to both regeneration and resilience ambitions