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Today's date is Thursday, March 28, 2024
Events for the public
 November 2012
Tuesday 06
18:00 - PUBLIC LECTURE - Social responsibility in/of technology transfer Website | More Information
A public lecture by Ashley Stevens, President, Focus IP Group, LLC Lecturer, School of Management, Boston University.

Over a decade ago, the President and Trustees of Yale University woke up one Monday morning to find themselves portrayed in a very unfavorable light in the lead story of the Business Section of the New York Times. A license they had granted Bristol-Myers Squibb to develop d4T to treat AIDS, which BMS had successfully developed into Zerit, was now being used to prevent Médécins sans Frontiéres from purchasing generic d4T to treat the poor in sub-Saharan Africa. BMS quickly backed down and agreed not to assert their South African patent, and the socially responsible licensing movement was born out of this incident.

However, despite the fact that the policies and procedures Yale followed were and still are the norms in academic licensing, few academic institutions have included protections to prevent such incidents in the future. Why not? Should they?

Free, but RSVP essential via http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/stevens
Wednesday 07
0:00 - CONFERENCE - THE TWENTY-FIFTH PhD CONFERENCE IN ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS : Annual PhD Conference in Economics and Business Website | More Information
The annual PhD Conference in Economics and Business attracts national attention and has significantly enhanced PhD studies for a large number of students.

The Confererence was established as a response to the widespread feeling that PhD students could benefit from interacting with their peers at other universities and being exposed to a broader group of scholars. The students present papers on their research and receive comments from prominent scholars in the area. The tone of the conference is scholarly and highly professional, but constructive and supportive, with the students the focus of attention.

The conference was initiated by the UWA Business School in 1987 and is now a joint venture between UWA, the Australian National University, the University of Queensland, and from 2012 Monash University. The 25th Conference will be held at UWA in November 2012.

Over the last 25 years, the Conference has provided the opportunity to gain valuable exposure for, and feedback on, the work of around 700 PhD students from most Australian and New Zealand universities, as well as a number of prominent universities such as Chicago, MIT, Queen’s, Cambridge, Oxford and the London School of Economics. The Conference also acts as an informal job market with major employers sending representatives to the event.

One important feature of the conference is the outstanding quality of the discussants’ comments. The student papers are circulated beforehand and discussants prepare written comments, typically devoting several days to this task. As there is substantial professional prestige in being invited to be a discussant, there are strong incentives for discussants to work hard at the conference and help the students by proving detailed comments and advise. Additionally, there is the highly-valued “Best Discussant Prize” for which the competition is vigorous.

Please see below link for more information.

16:00 - SEMINAR - CWR Presents : Hydrological and biogeochemical pathways in hillslopes of coastal plain catchments: How does seasonality affect phosphorus fate and transport processes? Website | More Information
Nutrient loss from terrestrial ecosystems causes nutrient enrichment in receiving waterways (eutrophication) threatening their water quality and biodiversity values. The Peel-Harvey estuary (WA), RAMSAR-listed wetlands and their contributing waterways in coastal plain catchments in the Peel-Harvey area are an example of the above issues. Fertilizer application on sandy soils has been targeted for Best Management Practices (BMPs) for phosphorus (P) due to their poor nutrient retention ability. Traditionally, conceptual and numerical models for catchment hydrology and P transport processes have been used to assess and implement BMPs that achieve “targeted P loading” at the catchment’s outlet. Validity of the model results is often questioned as model internal structures and process representations cannot be contrasted due to lack of comprehensive datasets.

New field sampling strategies, based on eco-hydrological concepts, have recently become a stepping stone in unlocking key first-order control processes in nutrient cycling (nutrient availability, pathways and transport mechanisms) in catchments by simultaneously monitoring water movement and nutrient cycle processes along a topo-sequence (from uplands to riparian and stream zones). In this talk, I will present results of the implementation of such approaches to investigate the effect that the seasonality on rainfall inputs, plants, and soil types exert on hydrological and biogeochemical pathways for P within hillslopes of coastal plain landscapes (Mayfield drain catchment, Harvey River, WA). Detailed documentation of water movement in surface and shallow subsurface pathways, passive tracers, biogeochemical parameters and P concentrations (total, total dissolved, and soluble reactive P) was undertaken from April 2011-October 2012 at several hillslopes representative of different land uses and soil types in the area.

The preliminary results highlighted: 1) significant differences in the way and timing at which the hydrological connectivity of upland-riparian zones via shallow subsurface flow takes place in different landscapes, 2) seasonal changes on the interaction of shallow subsurface flow in riparian zones with surface water in the drains, and 3) changes on biogeochemical functioning of upland and riparian zones in relation to P cycle and P forms (organic or inorganic). The implications of the findings for our current understanding and previously proposed conceptual models for hydrological and P pathways in coastal plain catchments in the Peel-Harvey area will be discussed.

This work was conducted within a trans-disciplinary project (plant-soil-water sciences) during 2011-2012 founded by Greening Australia-ALCOA Foundation US to investigate the use of novel plants to mitigate P losses towards sustainable landscapes in the Peel-Harvey catchment, and it will continue (2012-2015) under an ARC Linkage Project “Farming in a biodiversity hotspot – harnessing native plants to reduce deleterious off-site phosphorus flows” (J. Lambers and M Ryan, School of Plant Biology, UWA).

Bio

Dr Carlos Jorge Ocampo is a Research Assistant Professor at the Centre for Ecohydrology (UWA). Carlos holds an Engineering Degree in Water Resources (Hydrology/Hydraulic) from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral (UNL, Argentina) and a PhD in Environmental Engineering from UWA on the topic of hydrological and biogeochemical controls on catchment nitrate response.

On completion of his PhD, Carlos returned to Argentina where he was an Assistant Professor at UNL and a Research Scientist at the National Research Council (CONICET). He returned to UWA in 2010. Carlos is a field-oriented hydrologist (hillslope-catchment hydrology) but he has a strong background in numerical modelling in urban hydrology, catchment hydrology, and historical flood reconstruction in large river systems.

His research interests lie in linking hydrology and biogeochemistry (nutrient cycles) at catchment scale, by using a combined approach of hydrometric, passive and isotopic tracers, and numerical modelling. He has conducted field work in a number of sites in Australia and Argentina on nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, hydrological connectivity of shallow-transient groundwater systems, and surface/groundwater interactions.

PS* This seminar is free and open to the public & no RSVP required.

****All Welcome****
Thursday 08
18:00 - PUBLIC LECTURE - *SOLD OUT* Night of 100 Objects Website | More Information
A public lecture by Dr Jeremy Hill, Head of Research, The British Museum.

Following the internationally successful British Museum & BBC Radio 4’s History of the World in 100 Objects, JD Hill offers a rare behind the scenes look at the making of this series. JD led the team who helped Neil MacGregor write this landmark BBC Radio 4 history. As well as looking at how the project grew, he will explore the challenges of writing history aimed at a very wide audience, and how telling this through objects is both harder and easier than writing more conventional history.

J D Hill PhD, MPhil, BA, FSA is Head of Research for The British Museum and is responsible for all the research at the Museum across a wide range of disciplines. From 2007 to 2010 he was the lead curator the British Museum/ BBC project A History of the World in 100 Objects. A visiting lecturer at the Centre for Maritime Archaeology at the University of Southampton, where he previously was based, he is also a member of the executive of the Nautical Archaeology Society. His own research has included studies of the archaeology of religion, social change and foodways in Iron Age and early Roman Britain. His current interests concentrate on interface between archaeology, world history and the sea.

SOLD OUT

18:00 - ORATION - The Lloyd's Register Educational Trust Oration, Australia : Geotechnical engineering on and off the North-West Shelf of Australia More Information
The Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust (The LRET) funds education, training and research programmes in transportation, science, engineering, technology and the safety of life, worldwide for the benefit of all.

The Centre for Offshore Foundation Systems carries out fundamental research in the areas of the mechanics of seabed sediments, offshore geohazards and of offshore foundation and engineering systems and use our expertise to service the offshore petroleum and renewable energy industries. We currently host The Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust Centre of Excellence and Chair of Offshore Foundations.

Following the talk there will be an informal cocktail function outside the lecture theatre until 9pm.

RSVP by 18 October to Eileen Rowles.
Friday 09
9:00 - SEMINAR - *SOLD OUT* Day of Ideas 2012 Website | More Information
'It is one of the singular weaknesses of our mind that we can’t judge objects and see them in the clear light of day unless we place other objects next to them.' - Alexis de Tocqueville

Cultural institutions such as galleries, archives and museums can have long or short histories, but all have heritage – of their origin, their mission, their successes and failures and their place in our society. The 2012 Day of Ideas will explore cultural institutions thinking in two directions to the past and the future.

Some of the ideas we will examine include: How does the heritage of institutions play a role in their functions? What is the legacy of collections? How does the weight of context make objects ambassadors from the time of collection? How do cultural institutions become agents for social innovation? What is the future of objects? Shall museums and galleries become increasingly virtual and digital? Does social media offer a radical future, or more of the same? What is the future for collecting?

SOLD OUT

13:30 - SEMINAR - Kimberley Marine Science Seminar 9 November : Free seminar about current and planned marine research in the Kimberley Website | More Information
The final of 3 FREE seminars on past, current and planned research in the Kimberley

Afternoon tea provided.

SEMINAR 3: FRIDAY 9 NOVEMBER

Dr Chris Simpson (DEC) The WAMSI Kimberley Marine Research Program: A once in a lifetime opportunity

Recent resource development proposals by oil and gas companies to process and export Browse Basin hydrocarbons on the Kimberley mainland and offshore islands have recently put the entire Kimberley region under the spotlight. Although the number of people living in the Kimberley and visitors to this region is still relatively small, the natural and cultural values of the Kimberley region are very well known by Australians.

The Kimberley region is considered widely as one of the world’s last great wilderness areas, a biodiversity ‘hotspot’ and a centre of Aboriginal culture. The resource development proposals provided impetus for the State Government’s Kimberley Science and Conservation Strategy (KSCS) that would help ensure that any development would be compatible with the maintenance of the natural and Aboriginal heritage values of this region.

The WAMSI Kimberley Marine Research Program (KMRP) is a key element of the KSCS and is a once in a lifetime opportunity to undertake and integrated program of marine research in this region. The KMRP is focused on providing the scientific information to underpin the conservation and management of the marine environment of the Kimberley in general and the proposed regional network of marine parks and reserves in particular. The KMRP began formally with the endorsement of KMRP Science Plan by the WAMSI Board in December 2011. The KMRP Science Plan was preceded by several other documents and reports, including the 2008 WAMSI a turning of the tide report, highlighting the urgent need for a program of marine research in the Kimberley coastal waters.

The presentation will briefly outline the history, objectives, geographical focus, research directions and outcomes of the KMRP. The operational and logistical difficulties of undertaking marine research in such a large and remote location will also be discussed.

Mr James Brown (Kimberley Marine Research Station) An insider’s perspective on marine research in the Kimberley

The Kimberley Marine Research Station (KMRS) was first established in 2009 with guidance from WAMSI in an endeavour to support and contribute to an enhanced marine science effort throughout the remote Kimberley region of the far north-west. KMRS was founded upon the overarching ethos of generating the highest standard of truly independent, peer-reviewed scientific output for the greater public good, working towards bridging relevant knowledge gaps on this remarkable yet largely under-studied marine region. Located at Cygnet Bay Pearl Farm on the tip of the Dampier Peninsula, 200km by road north of Broome, the KMRS venture was pioneered by Kimberley born-and-bred marine biologist and third generation pearl farmer James Brown. Today, KMRS represents one of only five marine research stations along WA’s 27,000km coastline; the first and only fully operational marine research facility along the 13,500km contours of Kimberley coastline; and the only privately funded marine research facility in the country. Along with resident marine scientists based permanently on-site year round, the Station offers a mainland base, vessels, infrastructure, support personnel and 65 years’ worth of local knowledge and marine expertise to researcher teams with boating, diving and aquarium facilities available for research use. This talk will provide insight into the opportunities, logistics and exciting potential for marine scientists interested in operating in and on Kimberley waters through KMRS.

15:00 - PUBLIC TALK - Aesthetics/Ethics/Catastrophe : Public talk with Michael Levine Website | More Information
There are two extreme positions traditionally taken with respect to the relationship between art and morality; one is autonomism, or aestheticism, which is the view that it is inappropriate to apply moral categories to artworks, and that only aesthetic categories are relevant, while at the other end of the scale is moralism, the view that aesthetic objects should be judged solely with respect to moral standards. Both autonomism and moralism are problematic, as they are based on inadequate conceptions of art and aesthetic value. I examine Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph of the Will and Jacque Callot’s Miseries of War both to illustrate the issue and to come to some conclusion about it.

Michael Levine is professor of philosophy at the University of Western Australia. He is author of the following books: Prospects for an Ethics of Architecture, with Bill Taylor (2011), Doing Philosophy, Watching Movies, with Damian Cox (2011), Politics Most Unusual: Violence, Sovereignty and Democracy in the “War on Terror,” with Damian Cox and Saul Newman (2009), Integrity and the Fragile Self, with Damian Cox and Marguerite LaCaze (2003), and Pantheism: A non-theistic concept of deity (1994). Levine has also edited Racism in Mind, with Tamas Pataki (2004), and The Analytic Freud: Philosophy and Psychoanalysis (2000).
Tuesday 13
19:00 - VISITING SPEAKER - Friends of the Library Speaker : Shakespeare: Anonymous or Synonymous? More Information
“Shakespeare: Anonymous or Synonymous?” is a presentation developed in response to a fairly recent film entitled Anonymous in which the authorship of Shakespeare has been challenged. In the nineteenth century, when very little was known about Shakespeare’s life, a number of theories grew up around the authorship of plays attributed to Shakespeare. So much is now known, however, that to most people familiar with the works there is no doubt: quite simply the plays were by William Shakespeare of Stratford. Rather than seeking to validate Shakespeare as author, which is not difficult, the presentation will be more directed towards the phenomenon of conspiracy theories, with special reference to Shakespeare. More specifically, the following question will be addressed: why do some of the world’s literati, including a number of distinguished Shakespearean actors of today, still subscribe to outmoded theories of alternative authorship in the face of powerful arguments to the contrary?

About the Speaker

Christopher Wortham retired from UWA as Emeritus Professor in 2005 after 30 years in the Department of English and remains active as Senior Honorary Research Fellow. He has published extensively, chiefly on topics concerning medieval and Renaissance poetry and drama. Since 2009 he has held the position of Professor of Theatre Studies and English Literature at the University of Notre Dame Australia in Fremantle. His most recent publications include a co-edited volume of essays entitled This Earthly Stage (2011) and chapter in European Perceptions of Terra Australis (2012), which he also co-edited. He is a former President of the ANZ Association for Medieval and Renaissance Studies and was editor of its journal, Parergon, during formative years of its development. Among other activities, he is Chairman of the Board of Directors of Shakespeare WA.
Wednesday 14
12:30 - PERFORMANCE - Free performance - Ramayana: Indonesian Dance-Drama More Information
Combining music, dance and story-telling, this performance will be an unforgettable opportunity to experience the riches of the Balinese performing arts.

Featuring some forty musicians and dancers from the Indonesian Institute of Arts, Denpasar.

Presented as a free ticketed event by the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia in partnership with The University of Western Australia.

Wednesday 14 November 2012, 12.30pm - 1.30pm, The Sunken Garden, UWA

RSVP essential: [email protected] / 08 6488 7836

16:00 - SEMINAR - CWR Presents : Numerical modeling of the Long-term transport, dispersion, and accumulation of Black Sea Pollutants into the North Aegean coastal waters. Website | More Information
The present ecological situation of the Black Sea in relation to increased shipping from ports in the Black Sea, the prospect of considerably high tanker traffic carrying Caspian and Central Asian oil through the Aegean and the excessive loads of nutrients and other harmful substances flowing from rivers such as Danube, Dniper and Dnister has generated fears in Greece and Turkey, as well as among environmentalists throughout the world, of still more acute threats to the ecosystem and cleanliness of the Aegean Sea.

A numerical simulation of the surface buoyant mega plume that is formed from the Black Sea brackish water discharge into the North Aegean Sea, through the Dardanelles Straits, has been performed using the ELCOM hydrodynamic model after validation with laboratory model results and available field and remote sensing data. Important climatological factors, such as air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, wind direction, solar radiation, atmospheric pressure and rainfall that affect the water circulation in North Aegean as well as the Coriolis force effect, are taken into account. The choice of the 3D hydrodynamic model ELCOM was made due to its advanced ability to monitor and predict the Black Sea pollutants that outflow in the North Aegean Sea using passive non-dimensional computational tracers.

The simulation was conducted for a total flow time of 16 years. Suitable tracers are introduced in order to predict the long term fate and distribution of pollutants that are transported from the Black sea into the North Aegean. The overall results of the present investigation indicate that the BSP concentration is very high at the coastal waters of Thassos, Samothraki, and Limnos islands, as well as along the mainland coastal waters between Alexandroupolis and Strymonikos Gulf, during summer and autumn when strong water column stratification occurs. In general, the BSP concentration in the North Aegean surface waters reaches considerable high values (47– 58 % of the initial pollutant concentration at Dardanelles outflow) within 16 years. Even for depths more than 500 m the BSP concentration is still remarkable, slightly increasing with time. The increase of the BSP concentration with respect to time at various depths (from free surface up to 750 m) was also investigated.

Biography

Kyriakos received the BEng Degree of Civil Engineering in 2000 and the MSc Degree in Concrete Technology, Construction and Management in 2002 from the Department of Civil Engineering at Dundee University in Scotland. He then received his MSc Degree in Hydraulic Mechanics in 2007 and his Ph.D. Degree in 2012 from the Department of Civil Engineering at Democritus University of Thrace in Greece. He is currently working as a researcher at Democritus University of Thrace and he is member of the Technical Chamber of Greece (TEE) and the ECRR (European Center for River Restoration).

His research interests are mainly in the area of Environmental Fluid Mechanics, CFD Modelling, Experimental Modelling and Physical and Chemical Oceanography and Limnology.

PS* This seminar is free and open to the public & no RSVP required.

****All Welcome****

Monday 19
17:00 - PUBLIC LECTURE - A distinguished panel of guests discussing the issue of "Australia in the Asian Century Beyond the White Paper" : A panel of experts would explore these ideas and beyond to answer the question: How does Australia sustain cooperative and mutually beneficial relations with its neighbours in the Asian Century. More Information
The Australian Government has acknowledged the rise of Asia in the 21st century as the paradigm through which it will shape its relationship with its neighbours. The recent White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century by Dr Ken Henry has outlined a roadmap for greater engagement by strengthening economic, educational, cultural and personal links with the Asian region at all levels of Australian society and government.

A panel of experts would explore these ideas and beyond to answer the question: How does Australia sustain cooperative and mutually beneficial relations with its neighbours in the Asian Century.

The panel discussion commemorates the active role played by Mr Sadiq Bux (1930-2010) in building strong personal and commercial links between Australia and the Asian region.

The centre acknowledges the contribution of the Bux family for organising this seminar.
Wednesday 21
16:00 - SEMINAR - CWR Presents : The role of inland aquatic ecosystems on green house gas fluxes. Website | More Information
Inland aquatic ecosystems, including rivers, lakes, ponds and reservoirs, occupy a small part of the landscape, but play a key role as a conduit for gas exchange with the atmosphere.

This is dependent on a much larger active surface that previously recognised, intense metabolism in aquatic ecosystems, and imports of carbon from adjacent land ecosystems derived from groundwater and runoff.

Here I will report on the rates and drivers of gas exchange between inland aquatic ecosystems and the atmosphere and identify a number of questions that need be addressed in order to further our understanding of this role.

Biography

Professor Carlos M. Duarte is Director of the Oceans Institute at The University of Western Australia and Research Professor with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (IMEDEA) in Mallorca, Spain.

Professor Duarte’s research focuses on understanding the effects of global change in aquatic ecosystems, both marine and freshwater. He has conducted research across Europe, South-East Asia, Cuba, México, USA, Australia, the Amazonia, the Arctic, the Southern Ocean, and the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans, spanning most of the marine ecosystem types, from near-shore to the deep sea.

Professor Duarte currently leads the Malaspina 2010 Expedition, a Spanish circumnavigation expedition that sailed the world's oceans to examine the impacts of global change on ocean ecosystems and explore their biodiversity (see http://www.expedicionmalaspina.es).

He is co-leader of a large EU-funded project on Arctic Tipping Points. He is also working closely with the United Nations (the United Nations Environment Programme and FAO) to develop strategies to increase the sustainable production of marine aquaculture, as well as the restoration and conservation of coastal habitats to mitigate climate change and protect coastlines.

Professor Duarte served as President of the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography between 2007 and 2010. In 2009, was appointed member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council (ERC), the highest-level scientific committee at the European Level.

He has published more than 400 scientific papers and two books, and was editor-in-chief of Estuaries and Coasts, as well as associate editor for a number of journals.

He has received many honours for his work including the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award from the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography in 2001, the National Science Award of Spain (2007) and the King James I Award for Research on Environmental Protection (2009). In 2009, he received the Silver Medal Cross of Merit from the Guardia Civil, Spain, for his service to environmental protection. In 2011, he also received the Prix d’Excellence, the highest honour awarded by the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas (ICES). He has received honorary doctorates from the Université de Québec a Montrèal (Canada) in 2010 and Utrecht University (The Netherlands) in 2012.PS.

* This seminar is free and open to the public & no RSVP required.

****All Welcome****
Thursday 22
18:00 - PUBLIC LECTURE - Re-Reading Christina Stead Website | More Information
A Public Lecture by Louise Adler, CEO and Publisher-in-Chief, Melbourne University Publishing.

In 2010, Melbourne University Publishing (MUP) acquired the rights to a collection of titles by one of Australia’s most outstanding novelists, Christina Stead, including her masterpiece, 'The Man Who Loved Children', and her remarkable novels 'Letty Fox: Her Luck' and 'For Love Alone'.

Christina Stead, who grew up in Sydney but spent much of her life overseas, is renowned for her penetrating psychological characterisations and satirical wit. Amazingly, many of her works were not published in Australia until the 1960s and soon fell out of print, despite the critical praise that 'The Man Who Loved Children', in particular, received internationally.

In this talk Louise Adler will discuss MUP’s decision to bring Christina Stead’s remarkable literary oeuvre to a new audience.

Cost: free, but RSVP required via http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/adler

18:30 - EVENT - Barbara Arrowsmith-Young: The woman who changed her brain : Hear her story and learn examples and practical applications of neuroplasticity Website | More Information
Barbara Arrowsmith-Young began life severely learning-disabled. She built herself a better brain and developed a brain training program that has helped thousands of others do the same. Hear her incredible story and learn an example of the extensive and practical application of neuroplasticity.

Arrowsmith-Young's learning disabilities caused teachers to label her slow, stubborn or worse. As a child, she read and wrote everything backwards, struggled to process concepts in language, and was physically uncoordinated. But by relying on her formidable memory and iron will, she made her way to graduate school, where she chanced upon research that inspired her to invent cognitive exercises to 'fix' her own brain. She has now gone on to change countless lives.

In the past five years, the idea that self-improvement can happen in the brain has caught hold and inspired new hope. Now, thanks to brilliant path breakers such as Arrowsmith-Young, rather than worrying about how our brains shape us, we can focus on shaping our brains.

PRESENTER BIOGRAPHY: Barbara Arrowsmith-Young is the director of Arrowsmith School and Arrowsmith Program. She holds both a B.A.Sc. in Child Studies from the University of Guelph and an M.A. in School Psychology from the University of Toronto (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education). The Arrowsmith cognitive training program originated in Toronto in 1978, but is now being implemented in schools in Canada and the U.S.

THINGS TO KNOW: The talk will be approx. one hour with some time for questions at the end. Books will be available for sale.
Friday 23
9:30 - SYMPOSIUM - Christina Stead and literary ownership - a research symposium Website | More Information
The Institute of Advanced Studies at UWA and the Chair of Australian Literature are pleased to present this research symposium.

Starting out from Sydney, Christina Stead lived and worked across Europe, England and the United States, only returning to Australia at the end of her long life. Recently Stead has been the focus of renewed debates about the status of Australian writers in relation to the greater world of literature: does Stead belong to her native Australia or to the world republic of letters? Where does such a great cosmopolitan belong?

Underlying these debates is a set of cultural changes in literary proprietorship, in the ways writers, including their lives and works, are subject to ownership. What does the history of Christina Stead and her work tell us about the cultural domains, including the national, within which we read her life and work? How are Stead’s proliferating fictions of twentieth-century politics, society and sexual relations valued now?

This symposium will also explore the ‘unofficial’ or unrevealed aspects of literary proprietorship including ownership of and rights in archives, biography, letters, executorship, as well as the contradictions of critical work, such as introductions, essays and prefaces, designed to maximize the circulation of books and the understanding of fiction, and the restrictions of the copyright regimes, past and present. The symposium aims to progress our understanding of Christina Stead’s value in the global literary system.

Cost: Standard - $70, Students/Concession Card Holders - $65. Register online http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/conf/stead
Monday 26
12:00 - SEMINAR - LIWA Medical Research Seminar Series: : W/Prof John Newnham presents "Improving lung health by preventing prematurity" Website | More Information
LIWA invites you to a free seminar on: "Improving lung health by preventing prematurity" by W/Prof John Newnham, Head of School, School of Women's and Infants' Health, University of Western Australia. A light lunch will be served from 12.00pm with a 12.30pm – 1.30pm presentation.
Tuesday 27
18:30 - PUBLIC LECTURE - 'Defining good outcomes for autistic people: What are "we" striving for?' : Free public lecture by Dr Liz Pellicano on defining what is a "good" intervention or outcome for individuals with autism More Information
At present, there is little consensus between policymakers, scientists, and advocacy groups as to what defines a "good" intervention or a "good" outcome for individuals with autism.

Scientists often concentrate on narrowly-defined outcomes such as changes in IQ scores, autistic behavious or language skills. Others, such as those in public policy, focus instead on life adjustment and social inclusion: whether a person is in paid employment, has friends and social contact, and achieves independence. And parents and people with autism themselves may focus on states of subjective wellbeing such as happiness and quality of family life.

In this talk, Dr Pellicano will discuss some of the social and ethical implications of issues surrounding what is a good intervention or a desirable outcome for autistic people and further consider who should get to make these decisions.
Wednesday 28
12:00 - VISITING SPEAKER - Oxygen for non-hypoxemic patients: too much, too soon : Visiting speaker Prof Steve Iscoe from Physiology and Medicine, Department of Biomedical and Molecular Sciences Queen’s University, Ontario More Information
Most guidelines concerning the use of O2 for cardiopulmonary disorders recommend the rapid administration of 100% O2 regardless of the patient’s arterial O2 saturation. This reflects the view that 100% O2 is considered safe. However, recent randomised control studies indicate increased mortality in patients with acute exacerbations of COPD or myocardial infarction and treated with high flow O2.

These results are not surprising because the results of older studies raised concerns about the safety of high flow O2. Prof Iscoe will review these studies and indicate other aspects of O2 administration that suggest its use is based on inertia rather than evidence. He will also suggest a simple way -- a breathing circuit -- by which one can retain the benefits of high flow O2 while preventing its adverse consequences.

16:00 - SEMINAR - CWR Presents : Agricultural land management strategies to reduce phosphorus loads in the Gippsland Lakes, Australia. Website | More Information
A target to reduce phosphorus flows into the Gippsland Lakes in south-eastern Australia by 40% in order to improve water quality has previously been established by stakeholders. This target, like many others worldwide, has been set mostly on the basis of environmental concerns, with limited consideration of issues such as technical feasibility and socio-economic constraints.

This talk will outline an integrated analysis at the catchment scale to assess the agricultural land management changes required to achieve this target, and to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of these changes. It appears technically feasible to achieve a 40% reduction in P load entering the Lakes. However, there is little or no chance of investment in a 40% reduction being cost-effective. On the other hand, a 20% P reduction could be achieved at much lower cost.

The major implications of this work for agriculturally induced diffuse-source pollution include the need for feedback between goal setting and program costs, and consideration of factors such as the levels of landholder adoption of new practices that are required and the feasibility of achieving those adoption levels.

Short Bio,

David Pannell is Winthrop Professor in the School of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Western Australia, Director of the Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, and a Federation Fellow of the Australian Research Council.

His research includes the economics of land and water conservation; environmental policy; farmer adoption of land conservation practices; risk management; and economics of farming systems. He was President of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society in 2000.

Author of 170 journal articles and book chapters, David’s research has won awards in the USA, Australia, Canada and the UK, including the 2009 Eureka Prize for Interdisciplinary Research.

PS* This seminar is free and open to the public & no RSVP required.

****All Welcome****

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