What's On at UWA

The aim of this course is to introduce you to basic statistics. It will cover descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations); data exploration; basic categorical data analysis; simple linear regression and basic analysis of variance (ANOVA).

Subsidised rates are available for UWA Graduate Research Students.

Please register online.

You are invited to an informal Open Day at the UWA Turf Research Facility to see how different water allocations, in combination with wetting-agents, have influenced the development of dry-patch. A brief presentation will commence at 10:15am sharp. Please remember to wear sturdy footwear, as the site is very sandy. RSVP appreciated

You are invited to join us mark the 100th anniversary of the first meeting of the University of Western Australia’s Convocation.

The First meeting was held on March 4th 1913 in St George’s Hall, Hay St near the corner of Irwin Street. The historic façade including the portico, steps and tall white columns were restored when the new Perth District Court was constructed behind it at 500 Hay Street. To celebrate the Centenary of this meeting, a photo-shoot of 100 'graduates' will take place on the steps of the façade at 10am on Monday March 4th 2013.

The UWA Historical Society would be delighted if you could join us.

If you have academic robes, please bring them. If not please come anyway, as having just a few robed members will provide the ‘flavour’. Balloons for a joint release will be provided.

Monday March 4th is a public Holiday (Labour Day). There should be nearby street parking available and there is a public parking station across the road at King’s Hotel.

The UWA Centum will be there

The “21st century microscope” will not be a single instrument; rather it will be an orchestration of specialised imaging technologies, data storage facilities, and specialised data processing engines. This presentation will detail two complimentary national projects that are creating an integrated computer environment for researchers who work with imaging data. The Multi-modal Australian ScienceS Imaging and Visualisation Environment (MASSIVE – www.massive.org.au) is a specialised high performance computing (HPC) facility for computational imaging and visualisation. This facility provides the hardware, software and expertise to drive research in the biomedical science, materials research, engineering, and geoscience communities, and it stimulates advanced imaging research that will be exploited across a range of imaging modalities, including synchrotron x-ray and infrared imaging, functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging, x-ray computer tomography (CT), electron microscopy and optical microscopy. MASSIVE is a unique Australian facility with a focus on fast data processing, including processing data “in-experiment”, large-scale visualisation, and analysis of large-cohort and longitudinal research studies. The facility runs an instrument integration project to allow researchers to more easily process instrument data, and provides a remote desktop environment for researchers to use desktop tools to process, analyse and visualize their data. A major undertaking under the MASSIVE program, is the NeCTAR-funded Characterisation Virtual Laboratory (CVL), a project that is developing software infrastructure on the cloud to provide easier access to the tools and techniques that researchers use to process, analyse and visualise imaging data. The CVL is developing three exemplar platforms for multi-modal or large-scale imaging in neuroscience, structural biology, and energy materials. This presentation will describe MASSIVE and the CVL, highlight research that is being conducted using these environments, and describe how researchers can access them. Wojtek James Goscinski is the coordinator of the Multimodal Australian ScienceS Imaging and Visualisation Environment (MASSIVE), a specialist Australian high performance computing facility for imaging and visualization, and he is the External Collaborations Manager at the Monash e-Research Centre a role in which he promotes effective and creative applications of technology in research.

Vegetation activities sensitively responsd to topological conditions and a changing climate. To better understand vegetation dynamics under varying environmental conditions, we analyse observations of vegetation indices, Land Surface Temperature (LST), air temperature, and precipitation of a deciduous broadleaf forest in Korea over an eleven year period from year 2000 to 2010. While a positive relationship between EVI (Enhanced Vegetation Index) and LST is established for all seasons, independent of elevation, the EVI-LST relationship exhibits a threshold above which the rate of EVI change over LST changes significantly. This transitional point is associated with the condition that the air temperature triggers the start of the growing season, while soil moisture is more critical during the growing season. The EVI-LST relationship above the threshold exhibits a hysteresis loop, i.e., rising limb differs from falling limb. We identify two types of hysteresis patterns, i.e., a single loop and a twisted loop. The variation in loop width between the ascending and descending paths contains a signature in annual precipitation from the concurrent year. In our analysis, annual precipitation above 1,600 mm is associated with an LST difference of more than 5 oC in the loop width.

The analysis was extended to Bosnia, West Virginia (USA), and Tasmania (Australia) with similar climate regimes i.e. temperate but varying in rainfall patterns and vegetation composition. Inter-annual EVI-LST plots in Kor, Bos, and WV exhibit a similarity in the threshold, but the threshold is absent in the Australian sites. This trait is attributed to extreme low winter temperature in Kor, Bos, and WV, but all sites essentially exhibit a similar response rate, which suggests that vegetation in similar climate regimes displays a convergence in response to temperature, independent of species composition. The annual EVI-LST relationship exhibits hysteresis loops at all study sites. The shapes of the loops well depict annual rainfall variability in Kor but not in Bos and WV. The loop trajectories are very likely to display a photosynthetic response to moisture availability. This response pattern in the EVI and LST relationship further highlights the sensitivity of EVI to assess biophysical conditions of vegetation.

UWA Enviro Fest aims to empower UWA students and staff to reduce their environmental impact, and increase their appreciation of the natural environment.

Each year Enviro Fest provides opportunities to indulge your interest in the natural environment and learn more about sustainable initiatives on campus. From gardening workshops, to live animal demonstrations to public discussions of important environmental issues, there’s something for all staff, students and their children. If you'd like to get involved with the Enviro Fest event, by holding an sustainability-related information stall or educational activity contact UWA Sustainable Development or the Guild's Event Manager.

With the added benefit of being held in common lunch hour, Enviro Fest '13 promises to be one of the year's biggest, most diverse, exciting, and unique events.

Image contrast arises in conventional X-ray radiography due the differential absorption of X-rays throughout the sample. Many objects of interest, for example, soft biological tissue, possess weak absorption contrast. Furthermore, by definition, absorption contrast is directly correlated with the radiation dose received by the sample. X-ray phase imaging was developed, initially using synchrotron radiation, in order to overcome the limitation of weak absorption contrast. This technique develops contrast based upon the difference in X-ray propagation times through a sample, which, in general, results in greater contrast than absorption based imaging. In this seminar I will discuss how X-ray phase imaging can be performed using conventional X-ray sources such as those used in clinics and give examples from a variety of fields including mammography, non-destructive testing, security screening and small animal imaging.

An increase in human activities in river catchments is resulting in increased muddiness of estuaries in many regions of the world. This increased muddiness has management implications, such as -increased turbidity and decreased quality of life for the human population, -storing pollutants (e.g. heavy metals) for decades to centuries and then liberating them when the mud is eroded or dredged, -changing some coasts from sandy to muddy, which is a significant and usually permanent environmental change -modifying the net nutrient budgets of estuaries - transferring seaward the occurrence of Harmful Algae Blooms if the light regime becomes the limiting factor in the estuary In recent decades, much of the knowledge of fine sediment (mud) dynamics, and its modelling, came from the engineering community. Modelling mud dynamics by engineers seemed so ‘simple’, the belief was that mud was just a messy fluid and that its behaviour could be modelled by adding a few equations for erosion and deposition to models calibrated in laboratory experiments with the belief that the models could then easily be ‘fine-tuned’ against some field data for the collection of which ingenious probes were designed. Experience has shown that these engineering models are unable to reproduce much of the field observations for muddy estuaries. A reason for this failure is that these models largely neglect the biology and chemistry, which has a major influence in controlling: • the settling of mud flocs • the resuspension of settled mud • the dewatering (consolidation) • the patchiness • the nutrient dynamics • the fluidization of mud by waves • the dynamics of tidal creeks

Pollutants in turn can modify these biological feedback processes and lead to another trajectory for the ecosystem health of estuaries. We quantify, using the LOICZ estuarine nutrient budget model modified for mud, the role of mud in the nutrient dynamics. Mud and muddy waters must be studied as a living body, not just a messy fluid as originally seen by engineers. This highlights research priorities to advance the knowledge of mud dynamics by quantifying the physics-biology links.

Book your financial advice appointment on campus at the University of Western Australia with a Unisuper Financial Advisor.Whichever type of advice you choose, your first appointment with UniSuper Advice is complimentary. If you wish to proceed, a fixed quote will be provided at the conclusion of the meeting.Contact Unisuper to make an Appointment

Building on the theme of the UWA Future Farm 2050 Project

The biggest issue facing humanity: how to feed 9 billion people in 2050 without destroying the planet. What science and technology is needed to meet this challenge?

Time: 1:00pm – 5:15pm followed by refreshments

Cost $40 + GST - RSVP for catering purposes by 2 April 2013 purchase tickets online at http://www.ioa.uwa.edu.au/industry-forum/

****************Program**************

1.00pm Welcome: W/Professor Kadambot Siddique, AM FTSE, Hackett Professor of Agriculture Chair, Director,The UWA Institute of Agriculture (IOA), UWA

1.10pm Why are we here?: Mr Graham Laitt, Managing Director, Milne Agrigroup Pty Ltd

1.28pm Future Food and Health: W/Professor Peter Leedman, Deputy Director, Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR)

1:40pm Food Security or Food Quality for Australia?: Professor William Erskine, Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA), UWA

1.53pm CGE animal food production: W/Professor Graeme Martin, Head, School of Animal Biology, Deputy Director,Chair of Animal Science, The UWA Institute of Agriculture

2.05pm Farming and Biodiversity: Mr Chris Curnow, Program Manager – Southwest Australia Land Manager Engagement WWF-Australia

2.17pm Energy Independence: W/Professor Dongke Zhang, Director, UWA Centre for Energy

2.30pm Valuing Water: Asst/Professor Nik Callow, School of Earth and Environment, UWA

2.43pm Soils alive and productive: W/Professor Andrew Whiteley, School of Earth and Environment, UWA

2.55pm Afternoon Tea

3:22pm Food provenance: W/Professor John Watling, Centre for Forensic Science, UWA

3:35pm Instant monitoring of food quality: W/Professor Laurie Faraone, School of Electrical, Electronic and Computer Engineering, UWA 3.48pm People/Rural Communities: Professor Matthew Tonts, Head, School of Earth and Environment, UWA

4:00pm Farmhouse Design for the Regions: Asst/Professor Patrick Beale, Chair of Architecture, School of Architecture, Landscape and Visual Arts, UWA

4.12pm Rural Enterprises: W/Professor Tim Mazzarol, UWA Business School

4.25pm Financial World View

4.38pm The Oxford Example and US Examples: Dr Annie Kerr, 3E Farming; Catherine Marriott, Influential Women,2012 WA RIRDC Rural Women’s Award recipient and the National Runner-up

4.50pm Summing Up and Discussion: W/Professor Peter Davies, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research)

5:10pm Refreshments

This presentation combines the Retirement Planning seminar with an additional presentation from a Centrelink representative. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from both UniSuper and Centrelink experts on key retirement planning and Centrelink issues. Members wishing to attend the seminar must register with UniSuper refer web site link.

In this lecture, internationally renowned and highly cited plant scientist, Prof Rana Munns, will show how the combination of fundamental plant biology and targeted plant breeding can produce significant outcomes for crop production in saline soils.

Saline soils restrict plant growth in a large proportion of the Australian wheat belt. Plants exclude most of the salt from the water they take up from a saline soil, but with time it can build up to high concentrations in older leaves, and kill them. This reduces the supply of carbohydrates to the growing leaves or developing grain.

In a search for genes that reduce the rate of sodium accumulation in leaves, Prof Munns and her team discovered novel genes for controlling sodium transport in an ancestral wheat, crossed them into modern durum wheat, and showed that one of them increased yield in saline soils in farmers’ fields by 25%.

This event is sponsored under the 'Hector and Andrew Stewart Memorial Lecture'.

This event is open to both new and more seasoned staff who would like to gain a wider perspective on the joys and challenges of supervision from an Education perspective.

Topics include: Supervising at a distance/Supervising international students; and Balancing the fine line between supervision and intervention.

BYO lunch, tea and coffee will be provided.

The metabolic theory of ecology (MTE) as applied to the plant sciences, aims to provide a general synthesis for the structure and functioning of plants from organelles to ecosystems. MTE builds from simple assumptions of individual metabolism to make predictions about phenomena across a wide range of scales, from individual plant structure and function to community dynamics and global nutrient cycles.

The Graduate Education Officers will outline the UWA rules on formatting your thesis as a series of papers. The advantages and disadvantages of this format will also be discussed.

Special talk during Honey Week 2013

Pelagic fishes and sharks have been the target of an expanding industrial fishing fleet for the last 60 years, leading to depletions and in some cases, trophic cascades. Following widespread collapse of coastal fish populations, no-take marine protected areas (MPAs) are increasingly recognised as an integral part of ecosystem based management strategies, in combination with fisheries management. Empirical evidence of biomass recovery in coastal MPAs is now ample. With the relatively recent establishment of large open-ocean MPAs, there is a need to establish effective monitoring approaches to establish how pelagic species respond to this new protection. Here we demonstrate a novel approach to the sampling of pelagic species in two recently implemented MPAs, following mid-water baited camera trials in Shark Bay, Western Australia. These include:

1) A mid-water baited camera survey conducted in Australia’s newly established MPA in the Timor Sea, the Oceanic Shoal Commonwealth Marine Reserve (>70,000 km2), to assess spatial heterogeneity in pelagic species and their distribution relative to seabed features. A hundred and seventeen moored mid-water baited cameras were successfully deployed in seabed depths to 165 m.

2) A multidisciplinary sampling regime undertaken in a large (>500,000 km2) MPA, the British Indian Ocean Territory Marine Reserve, to establish techniques for monitoring pelagic species with respect to their distribution, abundance and biomass. Our approach combined mid-water baited cameras, hydro-acoustics and seabird surveys. A hundred and forty-four mid-water camera deployments were made, both moored to the seabed (n=30) and drifting in a long-line formation (n=105).

Our approach establishes that information on spatial heterogeneity and long term monitoring of pelagic species can be attained using non-extractive means only. The implementation of large-scale open-ocean MPAs closed to extractive activities means that monitoring methods and metrics pertaining to the efficiency of closures are needed. Ideally, such methods would also become standardized between regions and oceans. We recommend similar multifaceted, and non-extractive approaches in other large open-ocean MPAs.

from the wheatbelt to the Murchison in the path of Surveyor Robert Austin’s 1854 expedition.

An Inquiring Minds Lecture by Stephen Hopper, Winthrop Professor of Biodiversity,The University of Western Australia.

In this talk, Professor Hopper will present a modern journey taken from the central wheatbelt to the Murchison goldfields in the path of Surveyor Robert Austin’s 1854 expedition. The team comprised staff from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Kings Park and Botanic Garden, a consultant landscape ecologist and a Noongar elder.

Cost: Free, but RSVP essential.

To register a place visit http://www.ias.uwa.edu.au/lectures/stephen-hopper

My Seminar deals with two Aurecon Projects on opposite ends of the African Continent that might appear widely divergent, but which are actually closely related within the domain of IWRM.   Nile Basin DSS:   Aurecon is the lead consultant on Pilot Studies on the development and establishment of the NB-DSS, the primary objective of which is to ensure that the NB-DSS becomes a reliable and sustainable software system. This entails demonstrating and showcasing the NB-DSS capabilities within the context of transboundary, integrated water resource planning and management in the Nile Basin.

Aurecon and its multi-disciplinary team of experts are intricately involved with all aspects of the project, including hydrological and system analyses, the quantification of environmental, social and economic impacts associated with large-scale water resource developments, advanced multi-criteria analysis across various pilot case areas and extensive training of NB-DSS representatives from all of the Nile riparian countries. These include, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.   Western Cape Water Reconciliation Strategy:    This long-term Project involves a review of the rising future water requirements within the supply area of the Western Cape Bulk Water Resources System, which supplies water to more than three million people in the Greater Cape Town Region (photo below). The Project further continuously evaluates a wide range of soft and hard options for meeting these increasing demands.

Further to the Reconciliation Strategy with its Action Plan, the Project identifies the most favourable intervention options and recommends a programme of feasibility studies and other investigations to improve the operation and planning of the system, and to ensure that the necessary infrastructure or other interventions were implemented timeously so as to reconcile the supplies with the future demands.

The reconciliation study also involves scenario planning of alternative development options and the development of a Reconciliation Planning Support Tool (RPST) which enables the ranking of alternative water resource and water demand intervention options.

SHORT BIO:

André holds BSc, BEng and MEng degrees from the University of Stellenbosch and a PhD in engineering from the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. He is currently a Technical Director in the Cape Town Office of Aurecon, a global consulting firm, as well as the Water Resources Management Leader globally in Aurecon. He has 39 years of Water Sector experience in academic, research and consulting roles.

In the latter part of his career he was a full-time and later part-time Professor of Hydrology and Water Resources at Stellenbosch University. During recent years he has been deeply involved in strategic water resources management projects related to bulk infrastructure planning and design, institutional development and policy implementation support, optimisation of the operation of multi-purpose water resources schemes; and flood and drought management. His research focus has encompassed various themes in hydrological, hydrodynamic and water resources systems modelling and related decision support tools, as well as design flood hydrology. He has produced more than 50 papers, publications and research reports.

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

****All Welcome****

Through the UWA Health & Rehabiliation Clinic a variety of Clinical Pilates options are now available to staff and general public!

Clinical Pilates is a form of physical exercise that focuses on posture, balance, control, strength, flexibility, and breathing. It incorporates mat and equipment based exercises to optimise function, improve fitness and aid the management or rehabilitation following pain or injury. Using the experitse of Physiotherapy and Exercise Physiology trained staff to tailor exercises, Clinical Pilates is able to ensure optimal gains whilst minimising risk of injury or aggravation.

Initial assessment may be required prior to starting classes. Sessions are available Mon-Fri at various times between 6am-6pm. Private Health Rebates May Apply.