Highlands

Latest news for the Highlands

As Inverness searches for a coastal planning officer, Edinburgh based technology company WFS is to lead a consortium to develop an underwater sensor network to monitor the impact of climate change on coastal erosion. In the US concern for beach erosion and coral damage drives a data monitoring approach by Florida-based Lindorn.

As the grouse shooting season gets under way, two scientists involved in high-profile studies of hen harriers and red grouse at Langholm Moor in Scotland have called for field trials of a 'ceiling' on harrier numbers in an attempt to end the long running conflict between conservationists and grouse managers. Anyone studying the approach of large area wildlife conservation will know that predators and prey need careful 'ceiling' monitoring so an equilibrium can be achieved. The same should hopefully prove viable for Scotland's grouse moors.

In its heyday, Dounraey provided work for thousands of scientists and engineers whose children made Caithness that educational hotspot, where local schools found university places for pupils at a rate topped only by Oxford and Cambridge. Now local leaders want to use Dounreay engineering expertise to create a new high tech, possibly energy industry from tidal power.
The waters here have some of the world's fastest currents and would make an ideal tidal power centre, says Simon Middlemas, Dounreay's site director. We want to redirect our talent to devices like these. But Gerald Gordon, president and CEO of the US Fairfax County Economic Development Authority, who has spent a month as Fulbright scholar studying the Dounreay situation, has found the Scottish grid is the one critical snag.

LaCie 1TB Little Big Disk Quadra fits comfortably into the hand and is the LaCie answer for speed-capacity-demanding applications and digital content creation. Its 2.5" hard discs working together to enable up to 110MB/s burst transfer using eSATA or up to 80MB/s using FireWire 800. One eSATA 3Gb two FireWire 800 (FireWire 400 compatible with included adaptor), and one USB 2 interface, the Little Big Disk allows universal connectivity for cross-platform compatibility, bundled with backup & restore software EMC. It is plug-play with Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard (Time Machine) and Windows Vista, preloaded with the LaCie Setup Assistant, to optimises the drive according to platform. It features the well-known LaCie d2 aluminium heat sink design, developed by Neil Poulton and LaCie paid tribute to the Paris-based, Scottish designer Neil Poulton.

IT services provider Alchemy Plus, is using DataCore's SANmelody software to provide a hosted server virtualisation farm environment for small businesses, und a 'pay as you use' utility computing frameworks. The Alchemy data center is located in Dingwall in the Scottish Highlands. David Massey, CTO at Alchemy Plus, said, â€œWe wanted to bring the power and efficiencies of virtualisation to smaller organisations that typically were only running a single server or a couple of servers at most. We knew in order to succeed that we would have to develop a model that was as cost effective as it was functionality rich, using the principles of utility computing â€“ a concept where the customer only pays for what is used.â€

Northbay on Barra is to be provided with broadband access through an extension of the Connected Communities (ConCom) network, already providing 930 households with the service across the Outer Hebrides. At the request of Northbay residents, Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) evaluated the merits of procuring an ADSL upgrade for the local telephone exchange, compared to installing an extension of the ConCom wireless network.

Under the current programme schedule, BAE will deliver four production MRA4s to RAF Kinloss in Scotland by the end of 2010, when the new type is expected to be declared in-service. This will require a concerted effort by both parties to be successful, says Joe Harland, the company MD, large aircraft in an interview with Craig Hoyle at Flight Global. Other factors needed to achieve the milestone include the availability of sufficient trained air crew and maintainers, plus ground support equipment.

In Inverness, two Edinburgh planning firms have been appointed to draw up a master plan for what is considered to be one of the most important developments for the Highlands and Islands over the next 20 years. It is hoped that an outline planning application for a new Inverness College campus including research and other new facilities for UHI Millennium Institute would be submitted early 2009. Meantime in Edinburgh Jewel and Esk Â£54m redevelopment project begins to take shape with the first of two building going up across the two campus locations.

A new study found that large brown seaweeds, when under stress, release large quantities of inorganic iodine into the coastal atmosphere, where it can contribute to cloud formation, thus influencing climate. The large brown kelps of the genus Laminaria are known as the worldÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½s most effective bio-accumulators of iodine, an important element for thyroid function in humans. The chemical speciation and biological role of iodine in kelp had, however, remained enigmatic until now.

Castlehill Archaeology Research Laboratory has been developed by the Castletown Heritage Society (CHS) with the financial support of the European Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) (Caithness and Sutherland). Lcated on the most northerly coast of mainland Scotland, it has long been associated with the quarrying and exporting of flagstone paving. However it also has a richly diverse social and archaeological heritage, which the CHS hopes to preserve.

Organised jointly by Connect, Fusion and Northern Industries group this free event is the third in a series of event in association with Scottish Enterprise Energy. There can be little doubt that renewable energy sources are going to have to play a far more significant role in the nation's energy provision over the coming years, and that the need to replace carbon-based energy is becoming increasingly urgent. Renewables therefore offer a major business opportunity but there are a number of challenges involved - not least, how to secure the substantial investment that may be required.

A new Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) 2007-2013 backed by a nearly Â£800m subsidy scheme, is in one key part, only accessible online. It has been dubbed as â€œa recognised strategyâ€ to make it difficult for small operators to bid for funding, (as it is much easier to administer a smaller number of large bids from farming businesses.) Ironically of the critical 32 Rural Priorities, Priority 25 is Public Access Priorities. "These priorities focus on public access provision with a particular emphasis on creation, improvement and promotion through various means. "
But not apparently for the SRDP.

The hands-on efforts of volunteers have helped cut Â£100,000 from the cost of upgrading a Sutherland village museum which now includes a computer suite, according to the group running it. Helmsdale Heritage Society described the unpaid work painting, putting in the electrics and fundraising for Timespan as 'sweat aid'. Thousands more pounds needed to repair the 200-year-old building housing came from grants and donations.

In the Young Innovators shortlist, for ICT Young Challenge 2008, teams from Lochaber, Nairn, Wick, Keith and two from Fortrose and were chosen from sixteen teams. These six have been chosen to go on a week-long 'Hot House' at the Fairburn Activity Centre in Maryburgh, Ross-shire on 23-27 June. There, they will face specialists from a consortium of organisations including BT, Microsoft, the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UHI Millennium Institute and HIE.

The search to find the best young innovators in the Highlands and Islands takes a step closer on today when sixteen teams gather at the Strathpeffer Pavilion to battle it out in the ICT Youth Challenge 2008, pitching their ideas for the future to a panel of judges. Previous challenge winner Andrew Fraser who set up Highland Web Services based in Kiltarlity has been commissioned on behalf of the competition to develop a Facebook site where young people can keep up to date with news and events.

Oban-based marine biotechnology company GlycoMar Ltd has been awarded a Â£70,000 grant to develop new products for growing human stem cells. The process involves using blood from marine invertebrates, including worms and starfish.Products prepared from this will then be tested in stem cell culture systems supplied by Roslin Cells in Edinburgh.

Britain's race to develop wind farms to counter climate change threatens the country's security against airborne attacks, according to the Ministry of Defence. The MoD has spotted a previously-unsuspected problem where rows of offshore turbines create vast blind spots in the early warning radar network that has defends the UK shores since the Cold War. It could allow Russian bombers, such as those which have regularly been intercepted by the RAF since Moscow reinstated patrols last year, or a civilian airliner hi-jacked by terrorists, to reach the UK undetected.

The NDA will invest Â£8m in plans to create the UKâ€™s National Nuclear Archive (NNA) in Caithness, Scotland. The Archive will potentially hold between 20 and 30 million digital, paper and photographic records primarily concerning the history, development and decommissioning of the UKâ€™s civil nuclear industry since the 1940s. The money will be invested over three years and will help get the Â£20m project off the ground.

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