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Academic Events
 September 2013
Tuesday 10
13:00 - SEMINAR - Lipid replacement of myofibres in dysferlin-deficient muscles : School of Anatomy, Physiology & Human Biology Seminar Series Website | More Information
The Seminar: There many forms of muscular dystrophy that affect skeletal muscles; some manifest in children e.g. Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD), whereas the onset for others is after adolescence e.g. dyferlinopathies, or in older adults. Thus age and growth influence the onset and severity of different dystrophies. The first part of this seminar will discuss the consequences of growth on the long multinucleated contractile skeletal muscle cells (myofibres) and implications for manifestation of DMD and dysferlinopathies. The second part of the talk will present new data related to understanding the mechanisms that lead to the pathology of dysferlinopathy. Dysferlin is a membrane associated protein involved in protein vesicle trafficking and fusion, with genetic defects leading to dysferlinopathies that are evident in males and females soon after the cessation of growth. Dysferlinopathies include the human Limb Girdle Muscular Dystrophy type 2B and Miyoshi Myopathy, plus animal models such as dysferlin-deficient A/J mice. The precise basis for the disease pathology is not understood: to date much research has focussed on issues of membrane resealing and stem cells as well as the role of inflammatory cells. We have recently demonstrated striking lipid accumulation that replaces myofibres in muscles of dysferlin-deficient mice, without conspicuous myofibre necrosis (Terrill J et al, 2013). Our recent data will be presented from studies using a range of techniques including electron microscopy and Oil red O staining to investigate the high lipid content of mature dysferlin-deficient muscles of humans and mice. These novel observations implicate major metabolic disturbances within mature dysferlin-deficient muscles that may be central to the pathological features of dysferlinopathies.

The Speaker: Miranda Grounds graduated from the University of Western Australia (UWA) with a Bachelor of Science (Biochemistry) with Honours in 1969, gained a PhD from the University of London in 1978, returned to UWA to become an independent researcher funded by the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia (in Pathology) in 1980 and was appointed in 1994 as Professor in the School of Anatomy, Physiology and Human Biology. For over 35 years, her research has focussed on in vivo cell and molecular studies of skeletal muscle using various mouse models of normal, diseased and ageing muscles: this involves two broad areas of research interest. One investigates the factors controlling the damage, repair and maintenance of normal skeletal muscle, including tissue engineering and age-related loss of skeletal muscle mass and function. The second approach applies these findings to understanding the molecular basis for a wide range of muscle disorders, and developing potential treatments for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and dysferlinopathies. MG is involved in various international muscle agencies and parent groups related to these muscular dystrophies, along with the Treat-NMD network with membership of the clinical trial evaluation committee (TACT). This research is widely recognised internationally and has generated about 170 publications: http://school.anhb.uwa.edu.au/personalpages/grounds/
Wednesday 11
12:00 - EVENT - What matters to me and why : A conversation with Erika Techera, Dean of the Faculty of Law More Information
Lunch time talk: What Matters to me and Why (with Erika Techera, Dean of the Faculty of Law)

When: Wednesday 11th September, 2013 12pm to 1.30pm

Where: Science Library – 3rd Floor meeting room

'What Matters to me and why' is a series of lunch time talks and conversations with UWA Academics. The talks explore personal stories of family, place, formative influences and how such factors continue to shape people's lives and academic work.

Professor Techera will share some of her story and then there will be the opportunity for questions/conversation. BYO Lunch. Tea/Coffee will be available in the meeting room. At the request of the Science Library, please don’t carry drinks through the library.

13:30 - WORKSHOP - What Counts as Evidence of Good Teaching? Website | More Information
This session will examine what constitutes robust evidence. This workshop is intended to provide the evidence basis for the workshop on Developing your Teaching Portfolio.
Thursday 12
9:30 - WORKSHOP - Using SPOTs in your Promotions applications Website | More Information
This workshop will examine: Why it is important to set out a proper case with respect to teacher and unit evaluations. How you go about demonstrating a case. Key elements in showing the effectiveness of your teaching. What other evidence can be included to support your teaching.

16:00 - EVENT - Archaeology Seminar Series : Space and Place: Using Geographical Information Systems to Assess Theories of Late Holocene Economic Landscape Use in the Eastern Hamersley Ranges of Western Australia More Information
The current paradigm of arid zone landscape use in Australia during the late Holocene focuses on the opportunistic exploitation of ephemeral resources by flexibly sized social groups. This generalized model of landscape use has been adapted to explain human behaviour patterns in a wide variety of different ecological zones. I argue that further refinement of this generalized theory is possible on a regional scale and intend to illustrate this through innovative use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to model landscape use from an ecological perspective. By quantifying the habitats of economically important species, I intend to spatially depict places of energy exchange in the landscape that do not necessarily manifest in the archaeological record. This will enable the elaboration of information available for an area lacking in other more traditional information sources. The “Ideal marriage” between GIS and archaeology envisaged more than 20 years ago remains unrealised in an Australian context. Of the uses to which GIS can be put in archaeology, until recently only questions of “where” have been addressed in Australia rather than using GIS as a tool to explain questions of “why” and “how”. By spatially articulating idealized notions of landscape use from Optimal Forager Theory and Human Behavioural Ecology I intend to investigate the contrast between the ideal and the real as observed in the archaeological record. This will highlight cultural behaviours and practices that have not been accessible in other ways. Using this approach, “the whole, will indeed, be more than the sum of its constituent parts”.
Friday 13
12:00 - SEMINAR - Economics Seminar : Religion, Minority Status and Trust: Evidence from a Field Experiment More Information
It is now well accepted that trust is crucial for economic and social development. There is also evidence that religion strongly affects how individuals act when interacting with others. The same is true of status. Using a field experiment conducted in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, two regions, which are similar in terms of socioeconomic characteristics, ethnicity and language but have different religious composition, this paper examines whether religion or minority status affect trusts among different segments of the population. Our results show that it is minority status rather than religion that drives behavior. In both countries individuals belonging to the minority group (Muslims in West Bengal and Hindus in Bangladesh) exhibit positive in-group bias in trust behavior, while individuals belonging to the majority group in both countries (Hindus in West Bengal and Muslims in Bangladesh) show positive out-group bias in trustworthiness. The driver of this bias is however different across the two countries. Finally we find that the extent of in-group bias is systematically higher for religious individuals than non-religious individuals.

13:30 - EVENT - Asian Studies Seminar Series : The Javanese University in Uncertainty: Between Neoliberal Globalisation and Islamisation More Information
This research will explore how neoliberalism and Islamic resurgence intersect and interact within a secular Javanese higher education institution that I will call The Javanese University (TJU). In keeping with anthropological commitments to understanding the world from the ground up, I will focus my attention mainly on the daily practices of individuals (administrators, lecturers, staff, and students) in the institution and how these are affected by the broad trend of neoliberalism and the cultural imperatives of a revitalised commitment to Islamic principles. I will explore the ways in which neoliberalism is institutionalised within the university, becoming dominant in shaping the university system, governance and direction, and spreading its influence to most individuals in the university. I also want to explore how the rapidly growing Islamic resurgence in Javanese society has been internalised, strengthening Islamic practices among university individuals,and see if it is emerging as a counterforce to the hegemony of neoliberalism. In this project I will explore if and how the intersection of neoliberalism and the Islamic resurgence not only produces negotiations, mediations and accommodations, wherein they understand and complement each other, but also sparks contradictions and contestations, which lead to the university becoming an ideological battlefield.

15:00 - SEMINAR - Groups and Combinatorics Seminar, On The Non-commuting Graph More Information
Abstract:

In this talk, we will consider the non-commuting graph of a non-abelian finite group G; its vertex set is the set of non-central elements of G, and two distinct vertices x and y are joined by an edge if they do not commute together. Actually, we study some properties of the non-commuting graph such as connectivity, regularity, etc., and we show that, for many groups G, if H is a group which has the same non-commuting graph of G, then they have the same order. We determine the structure of any finite non-abelian group G (up to isomorphism) for which its non-commuting graph is a complete multipartite graph. We also show that a non-commuting graph is a strongly regular graph if and only if it is a complete multipartite graph.
Monday 16
13:00 - EVENT - Rose Lucas poetry reading : Rose Lucas will read from her new book, Even in the Dark Website | More Information
The Westerly Centre and UWA Publishing will host a poetry reading by visiting poet, Rose Lucas, from her latest book, Even in the Dark.

In this, her first book of poetry, Lucas distills years of writing into an impressive debut. Even in the Dark contains delicate poems of the lives of women and the exquisite beauty contained in the act of observation.
Tuesday 17
13:00 - Colloquium - Some Results From the Motivational Leadership Training Program : Psychology Colloquium More Information
Organizations need to know how to motivate and engage their employees in a healthy fashion (i.e., preserving or enhancing their well-being). A large number of organizations send their managers to leadership training, even though we know surprisingly little about its impact on employee motivation, performance, and well-being. We developed the Motivational Leadership Training Program, based on existing and popular training programs, to examine the mediational role of work motivation in the relationship between leadership training and changes in employee performance and well-being. Grounded in the theory of full-range leadership and self-determination theory, the program was tested through a quasi-experimental design including pre/post-tests to evaluate its impact on subordinate motivation, performance, and well-being. Preliminary results showed little improvement in leadership style and in employee motivation following training, though some moderators were found. However, it is clear from longitudinal multilevel path modeling that the leadership style adopted by managers had a strong influence on their employees’ work motivation.

17:00 - SEMINAR - School of Music presents International Research Seminar - Stephen Benfall and Naomi Smout Website | More Information
Stephen Benfall: The Music of John Exton: An investigation into the factors that shaped his compositions in the years 1972 - 1979.

Naomi Smout: Reflections on performing 20th cenury Argentine Piano music
Wednesday 18
9:00 - WORKSHOP - OII PhD Retreat 2013: Developing Commercialisation Skills Workshop : 18 and 19 September 2013 Website | More Information
This two day workshop will be structured into discrete modules along the following lines and will be presented in an interactive manner, by both UWA and external presenters:

• UWA IP Policies and Processes

• IP and IP Protection

• Assessing Commercial Potential

• Commercialisation Models and Leveraging your IP

• Agreements - Why are they Important?

• Case Studies

• Break-out session “What’s the Commercial Potential of my Research?”

TARGET PARTICIPANTS The workshop is aimed at UWA postgraduate research students who are keen to learn more about research commercialisation.

COSTS The Office of Industry and Innovation will cover the costs of the workshop, meals and accommodation. Please note that a cancellation fee of $100 may apply for non-attendees.

TIMING AND LOCATION The ‘Developing Commercialisation Skills Workshop’ will be held on 18 and 19 September 2013 at the Club Capricorn Resort and Conference Centre, Two Rocks Road, Yanchep.

NOMINATIONS Students will need to obtain approval from their supervisor and Head of School. The number of participants is capped at 30.

REGISTRATION Complete the registration form available from Rosanna Marchesani ([email protected]) or on the OII website (see link below) and submit by Friday 19 July 2013 to Rosanna Marchesani, OII UWA M462.

16:00 - SEMINAR - CWR Presents : Inflow controls on the spatial distribution and composition of phytoplankton in Marina Reservoir, Singapore Website | More Information
Understanding the drivers of phytoplankton composition and abundance is important for the management of water quality in reservoirs. In the Republic of Singapore, the construction of coastal barrages in recent years has seen several low-lying estuaries converted into shallow reservoirs to secure water supply. However, research on these types of systems has been limited to date.

Marina Reservoir became operational in 2008 following the completed construction of a barrage that separates the former Marina Estuary from the Singapore Strait. Subsequent to a two year adjustment phase during which saline water from the former estuary was flushed from the reservoir, the nutrient concentrations in this shallow reservoir stabilised and the downstream waters became dominated by nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria.

However, in the upstream regions of the reservoir, which are more influenced by inflow waters, the phytoplankton composition is dominated by green algae and diatoms. The CWR field team surveyed Marina reservoir in February 2012, which was a period of low inflow. Results from these measurements will be presented to demonstrate the relationship between inflows and short-term changes in phytoplankton composition and abundance.

In particular, by using fluorescent spectral data and principal component analysis (PCA) to measure phytoplankton composition at fine spatial scales, it will be shown that the distributions of different phytoplankton assemblages in the reservoir are closely related to transitions between inflow waters and reservoir waters.

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

****All Welcome****

Thursday 19
9:30 - WORKSHOP - Assessment : Learning's Destination or Journey? Website | More Information
When making assessments, questions such as the following are often not examined: What is the difference between an exceptionally good piece of assessment and a poor piece of assessment? Over and above testing, what have students learned and retained, and what should assessment offer the students? How often and in what form should assessment take place? What is the relationship between feedback and assessment? When and how often should formative and summative assessment be utilised? What role does well-designed assessment have in minimising the potential for plagiarism? These and other crucial elements of good assessment will be examined in this workshop, for the purposes of critiquing (for better or worse) actual assessment.

13:10 - EVENT - FREE Lunchtime Concert : Reedefined Clarinet Ensemble Website | More Information
Free 50min Concert every Thursday during Semester at 1:10pm
Friday 20
12:30 - SYMPOSIUM - Archaeology Symposium : New Approaches to World Rock Art More Information
Mini International Rock Art Symposium

We are pleased to announce the following speakers:

Dr Sam Challis, Rock Art Research Institute, South Africa "Rock art, interaction and creolization on the South African colonial frontier"

Dr Catherine Namono, Rock Art Research Institute, South Africa "Understanding Meaning in the Pygmy rock art of Central Africa"

Dr Fernando Berrojalbiz, UNAM, Mexico "La Cueva De Las Mulas and the Tepehuans of Northern Mexico: new times, new messages and new landscapes"

13:00 - EVENT - Economics Seminar : Collective Selling by Farmers More Information
Abstract: In general, it is illegal for businesses who are in competition with one another to jointly negotiate with suppliers or customers. However, in some jurisdictions, farmers are exempt from these rules and can form 'collective selling groups' to negotiate with processors.

There are two types of farmer seller group. In the US, seller groups are able to act like cartels, and restrict members' output. In the EU and Australia, seller groups have limits on their size and are not allowed to restrict output. However, they can jointly bargain on behalf of members.

This paper considers the economic effects of collective selling by farmers under EU and Australian law. We develop a simple model involving imperfect competition between processors to buy farmers' output and allow farmers to form a seller group, subject to a legally imposed constraint on size. We show how collective selling effects the market outcome for both members of the seller group and for 'outsiders'. In particular, we show that collective selling by some farmers can either benefit or harm farmers who remain outside the seller group, depending on the interaction between processors and spot markets for farmers' output. We also analyse the welfare implications of collective selling.

13:30 - SEMINAR - Asian Studies Seminar Series : Environmental outreach: Japanese non-profit organisations in China's desertifying regions More Information
During the last twenty years, over one hundred citizen’s voluntary organisations have travelled back and forth from Japan to desertifying areas in Northern China to plant trees. The arrival of these groups in Northern China in the 1990s coincided with increased international engagement by Japanese citizens’ organisations, and by the proliferation of organizations specifically dedicated to addressing global environmental problems. Japanese observers have claimed that environmental good-works such as ryokuka katsudo (literally, ‘greenification activities’) by Japanese citizens in China can have a softening influence on Japan-China relations, in addition to their positive environmental impact. To better understand the above claim, between April and June 2013 I participated in ryokuka katsudo with three Japanese non-profit groups (in Shanxi province and Inner Mongolia) and interviewed leaders and participants from Japanese environmental (mostly ryokuka) citizens organisations responding to China’s desertification, Sino-Japanese civil society experts in Tokyo, and officials from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) based in Beijing. In this presentation I will draw on material from these interviews as well as my book- and internet-based research to distinguish ‘transnational’ and ‘national’ aspects of Japanese environmental outreach in China (outlining the problems and achievements of Japanese citizen’s environmental groups there in terms of these two general categories), in order to help to both explain and question its potential role in Japan-China relations.

15:00 - SEMINAR - Groups and Combinatorics Seminar, Generalised quadrangles constructed from groups More Information
Abstract:

This is just a survey talk of various ways to construct all of the known finite generalised quadrangles starting with a group and a configuration of subgroups of that group. In particular, the speaker will give a summary of where one of the "retreat" problems is at.
Monday 23
8:45 - WORKSHOP - Postgraduate Workshop 2013 : The Office of Industry & Innovation will be hosting this workshop for UWA research postgraduates on Monday 23 September 2013 Website | More Information
If you want to explore the commercialisation opportunities for your research, we can help.

Come along to the Office of Industry and Innovation’s free postgraduate full-day workshop and find out more.

The objectives of the workshop are to provide UWA postgraduate students a good understanding of intellectual property and commercialisation practices as they relate to university-based research. The workshop will feature both UWA and external presenters.

The day will be structured into discrete modules along the following lines and will be presented in an interactive manner:

. Introduction to Technology Transfer

. Pathways to Commercialisation

. Intellectual property and Patents

. Research at UWA - the Importance of Postgraduate Research

. Invention Disclosures Explained

. Workshop style case studies

The Workshop is free for UWA postgraduate students. Lunch and refreshments will also be provided.

RSVPs are essential by Friday 14 September 2013 to Rosanna Marchesani, [email protected], or 6488 7172.

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