STR3324 SMH Research Supplement 2012_11

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    UWS RESEARCH

    C: Glig i the Dark

    Puttig the Preure

    Preeclapia

    Tacklig ur HealthChallege

    EucFACE at Hakebury

    InsIde:

    ADVERTISING FEATURE

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    The University o Western Sydney

    has taken a strategic approach to

    the development o its research

    capabilities in recent years, and

    it is paying dividends in terms o

    research output and perormance,

    as well as in attracting a new

    generation o research stars.

    Proessor Andrew Cheetham,

    Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research),

    says, As a relatively young and

    growing university, we are able to

    be more dynamic in selectivelyconcentrating on our research

    strengths.

    The Universitys strategic

    approach to research

    concentration has resulted in the

    development o a number o highly

    regarded research institutes:

    Institute for Culture andSociety (ICS)

    Hawkesbury Institute forthe Environment (HIE)

    The MARCS Institute Institute for Infrastructure

    Engineering (IIE)

    We have been recruiting highquality proessorial sta, as well as

    talented, enthusiastic early career

    and postdoctoral researchers, into

    these four Institutes and in ourdeveloping research areas says

    Proessor Cheetham.

    In January 2011 the outcomeso the inaugural Excellence in

    Research or Australia (ERA)

    illustrated that in its key areas

    o research specialisation, UWS

    received the highest ranking or

    research quality in the national

    assessment. The University

    received a ranking o 5 in Cultural

    Studies, related to the work o the

    ICS, and in Plant Biology relatedto the work of the HIE, indicatingperormance well above world

    standard. In addition, UWSearned a ranking o 4 or Civil

    Engineering, above worldstandard, or research aligned

    with the IIE. Rankings of 4 werealso received or Perorming

    Arts and Creative Writing, and

    Literary Studies, related to the

    work o the Writing and Society

    Research Centre.

    Of the 21 broad researchdisciplines in which UWS is

    research active, the majority

    o our ratings indicated UWS

    research was perorming at or

    above world standard. This was a

    pleasing result that demonstrates

    the strength o the UWS researchconcentrations, and we believe

    that in this years ERA, we will

    see urther improvements, says

    Proessor Cheetham.

    To add to the high perorming

    Research Institutes, UWS isalso building a strategic ocus in

    health research.

    In the future, Greater WesternSydney will have signicant health

    issues, and we want to be able

    to make a major contribution to

    managing these, so we are growing

    our research capabilities in this

    area, says Proessor Cheetham.

    The Universitys ocus on

    investing in areas o research

    strength is exemplied by the

    intensive recruitment program

    that has seen over 200 newacademic sta join UWS in thelast two years a program which

    will continue into the years ahead.

    Proessor Cheetham says that

    having strong proessorial sta in

    its research institutes naturally acts

    as a magnet or ambitious early

    career researchers. The University

    also oers a range o positions

    to early career researchers that

    encourage and help them build

    and establish their research prole.

    We are attracting the most

    remarkably capable early career

    researchers rom all over the

    world, including the US, the UK,Spain, Italy, and Germany. We arerecruiting the best and brightest

    there is. It is a very exciting timeor the University in many areas,

    and particularly so in research.

    For more inormation on UWS

    Research visit

    www.uws.edu.au/research

    UWs

    Photo: Professor Andrew Cheetham

    Front page cover: Scolymia

    tentacles, Lord Howe Island coral.

    Full story page 13.

    BUIldIng on researCh strengths

    2 ADVERTISING FEATURE

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    Preeclampsia is the most commoncomplication o pregnancyaecting one in 10 pregnantwomen, with over one millionwomen aected worldwide everyyear. Preeclampsia is the leadingcause o premature birth and canresult in both inant and maternal

    mortality, causing the deaths oapproximately 780 babies everyday in the world.

    Proessor Annemarie Hennessy,Dean o the UWS School oMedicine, is leading the cross-disciplinary Preeclampsia ResearchTeam, which is investigating thelinks between high blood pressureand cardiovascular disease inwomen especially around the timeo pregnancy.

    The team brings togetherscientists, doctors, midwies,pharmacologists, and even

    veterinarians to gain new insightsinto a range o research areas rom how the placenta unctionsto outcomes or women whohave had high blood pressure orpreeclampsia in their pregnancy.

    Preeclampsia is essentiallya placental disease, and in2011 the UWS team publisheda breakthrough nding on theway a placenta reacts in a toxicenvironment.

    What our lab has been ableto demonstrate is that the toxic

    compounds that aect the way theplacenta grows and develops arenow easily identied, and that hasbeen due to a real breakthrough inpreeclampsia work in the last ewyears, says Proessor Hennessy.

    Preeclampsia is not onlydangerous or mothers and babiesduring pregnancy the associatedhigh blood pressure can alsocause vascular damage, leading tohealth problems later in lie.

    By examining the health owomen who have been involvedin large epidemiological studies

    conducted over the last 20years, Proessor Hennessy andher team are seeking to nd outwhether women who have sueredrom high blood pressure andpreeclampsia during pregnancy

    are more likely to have moreaggressive blood pressure issueslater in lie, and the eect dierenttreatments have on their long-termhealth outcomes.

    It is hoped this inormation willhelp to identiy women at higherrisk o heart attack or stroke.

    The UWS team is alsocollaborating with Canadianresearchers to study the eectso dierent levels o bloodpressure control or women whoare currently pregnant and havepreeclampsia.

    While being able to identiywhich pregnancies are high-riskor preeclampsia is a helpul rststep, being able to recommendtreatment options or managementstrategies is the ultimate goal.

    I we know the mechanismso the disease, which is what

    were nding out by identiying thetoxins, then hopeully it will give usa much better chance o ndinga treatment, says ProessorHennessy.

    The natural progression

    is that i you can get the

    pregnancy to be as healthy

    as it can be, then it would

    diminish the impact o that

    pregnancy on any long-term health outcomes, in

    terms o increasing the

    risk o stroke or heart

    attack.

    For more inormation on research

    at UWS visit

    www.uws.edu.au/research

    PUttIng thePressUre on

    PreeClamPsIa

    Photo: Professor Annemarie Hennessy

    ADVERTISING FEATURE 3

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    Experimental psychologists,linguists, psycholinguists,

    musicians, engineers, computerscientists, and neuroscientistscollaborate at the MARCS Instituteto answer some o the mostcrucial questions about brain,behaviour and computation, andto provide a better understandingo human communication.

    MARCS Institute, led byProessor Denis Burnham, has vekey research programs Speechand Language; Music Cognitionand Action; Bioelectronicsand Sensory Neuroscience;Multisensory Processing; and

    Human-Machine Interaction.MARCS researchers usehigh-tech acilities includingElectroencephalography(EEG), Transcranial MagneticStimulation (TMS), motion capture,Electromagnetic Articulography(EMA), a perormance studio, ahuman-machine interaction labwith virtual reality, conversationalagents and robots, and thespecialised Baby Lab.

    Among the projects underwayat MARCS is the Seeds oLiteracy longitudinal study,investigating precursors todyslexia that might be seen invery early speech perception andlanguage acquisition.

    In the Music Cognition andAction program, researchers areinvestigating how elements omusic assist in the memory o adance routine.

    Were very interested in

    what music and dancetell us about things such

    as learning and human

    memory, says Proessor

    Kate Stevens.

    Researchers in the MultisensoryProcessing program areinvestigating how the speechperception o people with onesensory modality loss suchas hearing impairment mightbe augmented through another

    modality such as vision, while inthe Human-Machine Interactionarea, the Thinking Head projectprovides a research platorm ordierent experiments designedto create more realistic avatars.These avatars can be used ininormation kiosks, as companionsor the elderly, and as virtuallanguage tutors. Finally, theBioelectronics and SensoryNeuroscience program aims toreverse engineer the brain, andis setting about doing so usingthe combined skills o electrical

    engineers, and computational andsensory neuroscientists.

    For more inormation on the

    MARCS Institute visit:http://marcs.uws.edu.au

    the Way We CommUnICate

    Udertadig baby

    talkResearch underway in the MARCSBaby Lab demonstrates theimportance o inant-directedspeech or baby talk.

    Proessor Kate Stevens saysthat ar rom being detrimental tochildrens language acquisition,inant-directed speech is highlyunctional and used by caregiversin almost all cultures.

    It has very distinct eatures it has a higher pitch, positiveemotion, and hyperarticulation o

    vowels. It attracts and maintainsthe attention o inants, it allowsthe inant to start to model turn-taking and social interaction, andit scaolds language learning.So theres almost a teachingprocess that we all do withouteven realising were doing it, saysProessor Stevens.

    Other projects build on thisresearch to examine, or example,how caregivers speak to inantswith hearing impairment.

    There are some subtledierences that caregivers might

    not be aware o, but whichperhaps provide an impoverishedinput to an inant with hearingimpairment who already has animpoverished signal. There arereally important things we canlearn rom looking at clinicalpopulations and comparing themwith the way parents talk to theirhearing siblings.

    Recrdig Autralia

    EglihNever beore has there been alarge-scale collection o audio andvisual speech data in Australia but that is about to change, as theAusTalk project nears completion.

    A collaborative project between11 universities, AusTalk is headedby researchers rom MARCS andinvolves 30 o the top speechscience and technology expertsrom around Australia.

    Three hours o speech byeach o 1000 Australian English

    speakers in various contexts romall around the country are beingcollected in a database which willrepresent the regional and socialdiversity and linguistic variationso Australian English, includingAustralian Aboriginal English.

    AusTalk will act as a catalogueor Australian researchers anddevelopers to improve ourinteraction with devices suchas telephone-based speechrecognition systems, hearing aidsand computer technologies orlearning-impaired children.

    Photos L-R: Professor Kate Stevens and Professor Denis Burnham,

    Steve Fazio and Lei Jing programming software for the

    AusTalk black box at MARCS Auditory Laboratories,

    Mother and baby at MARCS Baby Lab

    4 ADVERTISING FEATURE

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    UWS is a partner in a pioneering

    research centre that will help

    to interpret health research

    evidence to assist agencies in

    developing policy on some o

    our greatest health challenges,

    such as Indigenous health andobesity prevention.

    The Centre for InformingPolicy in Health with Evidencefrom Research (CIPHER) was

    established with $2.5 milliono unding rom the National

    Health and Medical ResearchCouncil (NHMRC), as one of 11Centres o Research Excellence

    around Australia. Proessors

    Louisa Jorm and Sally Redman,rom the UWS School o

    Medicine and the Sax Institute,are CIPHERs lead investigators.

    CIPHER is all aboutdeveloping and testing ways

    to increase the use o research

    in policy, Professor Jormsays. This is really the rst

    large-scale trial o methods toincrease the use o research

    evidence in policy, so it will

    actually provide inormation

    that currently isnt available

    about what the best strategies

    are for doing this. It has a greatdeal o potential to improve the

    planning and delivery o health

    services.

    The rst stage of CIPHERslie has seen the recruitment o

    sta, the development o new

    measurement methods and the

    design o a web portal. A trial o

    strategies or increasing the use

    o research in policy, Supporting

    Policy In Health with Research:an Intervention Trial (SPIRIT) isnow underway.

    Because were involvingquite a number o agencies in

    the trial, it wont just develop

    methods, it will also hopeully

    have both short- and long-termimpacts in terms o better health

    policy through those agencies,

    Professor Jorm says.One o the great strengths o

    CIPHER is the collaborations itenjoys with institutions across

    Australia and around the world,

    enabling its researchers to

    draw on diverse knowledge

    and expertise, and utilise their

    geographical reach.

    Having an interstatepartner in Melbourne gives usopportunities to pilot some o

    our methods in Victorian policyagencies to make sure that

    they work across the country,

    Professor Jorm says. Similarlyhaving a Scottish connection

    means that the methods we

    develop will potentially be

    applicable in the international

    context as well.

    For more inormation on

    research at UWS visit

    www.uws.edu.au/research

    taCklIng oUr toUgh

    health Challenges

    Photo: Professor Louisa Jorm

    Associate Proessor Hilary Bambrickis an environmental epidemiologist

    rom the UWS School o Medicine,and was named the 2011 YoungTall Poppy.

    The annual Young Tall PoppyScience Awards, run by theAustralian Institute o Policy andScience (AIPS), aim to recognise thecontributions o young Australianresearchers and communicators.

    Whats valuable about thisaward is the public recognition othe value o knowledge gainedthrough scientic endeavour,Associate Proessor Bambrick says.

    For me personally, its broader

    recognition o my small contributionto an important eld o research thatis becoming increasingly relevant.While the health impacts o climatechange have only really come to theattention o mainstream media inthe last ve years, this research areahas been developing or more thantwo decades.

    Associate Proessor Bambrickis the Universitys ourth Young TallPoppy, joining previous winners:Proessor Ian Anderson rom theUWS Hawkesbury Institute orthe Environment; and Dr LeighSheppard and Dr Maria Nowotny,both rom the UWS School oScience and Health.

    She is currently working ontwo major projects. The rst is onunderstanding climate changeimpacts and adaptation in majorcities, especially as these relate toheat waves, as part o the CSIROClimate Adaptation Flagship

    Collaboration on Human Health.The second is on investigating

    the health impacts specic toIndigenous communities, whichhas received National Healthand Medical Research Council(NHMRC) unding.

    Associate Proessor Bambrickexplains the advantage o sciencedispelling myths about climatechange.

    In Australia, misperceptionsabout scientic uncertainty havebeen exploited by certain groupsto misrepresent the science oclimate change, giving a alseimpression that there is a debate

    about its existence or whetherit is caused by human activity,Associate Proessor Bambricksays. Under these circumstancesit is especially important to be ableto describe how science works totest hypotheses, and to presentresearch clearly, and describe whatit means in reality.

    Proessor Ian Anderson, nowDirector o Research at the UWSHawkesbury Institute or theEnvironment, says winning a TallPoppy Award undoubtedly helpedspringboard him into his currentrole.

    Winning a Tall Poppy Awardhas opened numerous doors orme and has resulted in rapid careeradvancement since winning theaward, he says.

    For more inormation on research

    at UWS visit

    www.uws.edu.au/research

    researCh tall

    PoPPIes floUrIsh

    at UWs

    Photo: Associate Professor Hilary Bambrick

    ADVERTISING FEATURE 5

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    Associate Proessor Zhong

    Tao from the UWS Institute forInfrastructure Engineering hasbeen awarded several Australian

    Research Council grants,

    including a Future Fellowship, to

    investigate how steel-concrete

    composite structures can be

    made more cost-eective, aster

    to construct and with higher

    structural perormance compared

    with traditional reinorced

    concrete and steel structures.Associate Proessor Tao

    is researching whether the

    conventional carbon steel can

    be replaced with stainless steel,

    which oers corrosion resistance

    and ease o maintenance.

    In structures, stainless steeloers benets in terms o strength

    and stability under loading rom

    wind or seismic actions, says

    Associate Proessor Tao. The

    major benet o this research is that

    the maintenance capacity o key

    inrastructure could be increased.

    Though stainless steel isrelatively expensive, costing

    around three to our times the

    price o carbon steel, stainless

    steel tubular columns can be

    combined with concrete to lower

    construction costs while still

    getting the benets o this material.

    Because these columns willbehave dierently to standard

    composite columns, the study

    will assess the behaviour o

    the columns under a variety o

    conditions and loads, with the

    results used to develop a new

    composite construction material.

    Associate Proessor Tao says

    his research is greatly assisted

    by having access to one o

    the best equipped laboratories

    in the country at UWS. A new

    1000-tonne test rig, the largest in

    Australia, is being installed at theInstitutes facilities on the Penrithcampus to be used in the studies.

    Also underway at the

    Institute is a project investigatingenvironmentally riendly

    alternatives to Portland cement,

    which is currently used in

    concrete-lled steel and stainless

    columns and generates large

    amounts o greenhouse gases

    during manuacture.

    Researchers are testing low-

    emission alternatives, such as fy

    ash, slag and geo-polymers, to

    nd the optimum concrete mix toreduce Portland cement content

    while maintaining the strength o

    the columns.

    For more information on the

    Institute for Infrastructure

    Engineering visit

    www.uws.edu.au/iie

    UsIng neW materIals

    for greater strength

    Photo: Associate Professor Zhong Tao and PhD student Kamrul Hassan

    6 ADVERTISING FEATURE

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    reUsaBle

    BUIldIngs a

    steP Closer

    With a series o literary

    events, the UWS Writing

    and Society Research

    Centre is working with

    other countries to

    oster high-level cultural

    exchange, says Director,Proessor Anthony

    Uhlmann.

    The China Australia

    Literary Forum hosted by

    the Centre in August 2011brought together ten major

    Australian writers and ten

    major Chinese writers to

    discuss the translation and

    reception o their works.

    The forum led to the translation of Alexis Wrights MilesFranklin award-winning novel Carpentaria, which was launched

    by Australian Ambassador to China, Francis Adamson, as partof the 2012 Australian Writers Week in Beijing.

    Proessor Uhlmann says the success o the orum has

    prompted discussion about urther collaboration with China,

    including a second orum next year with a dedicated session

    for literary criticism at the Australian Embassy in Beijing.

    The Centre has also initiated the forthcoming India-AustraliaLiterary Forum, which will be held at the State Library o

    NSW in September.

    Literature opens doors between cultures.

    Proessor Uhlmann says the high level o diplomatic

    interest highlights the importance o such interaction.

    Literature opens doors in ways that arent otherwise

    possible between cultures, and allows you to think about

    and discuss dicult issues.

    The idea o linking critical thinking and creative work is a central

    tenet o the Writing and Society Research Centre, and the

    Sydney Consortium exemplies this concept. It offers a newway of thinking about postgraduate work, by linking a Mastero Arts in Cultural and Creative Practice with industry partners

    such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, the State Libraryof New South Wales, the Australian Museum and the SydneyWriters Festival. Students can work with some o Australias

    leading writers, editors and critics to develop creative works.

    Several o the Centres sta have been honoured with

    awards this year, with poet and translator Dr Chris Andrews

    awarded the 2011 Anthony Hecht Poetry Prize for hiscollection Lime Green Chair, while Fiona Wrights collection

    Knuckledhas been shortlisted for the Dame Mary GilmoreAward, to be announced in July.

    For more information on the Writing and Society Centre

    visit www.uws.edu.au/writing_and_society

    WrItIng

    WIthoUt

    BoUndarIes

    Imagine being able to assembleand disassemble major structuresin the same way a child might puttogether a Meccano creation.

    By investigating the wayconcrete is connected using steel,researchers at the UWS Instituteor Inrastructure Engineering aremoving a step closer to this inreality.

    Proessor Brian Uy, FoundationDirector o the Institute or

    Inrastructure Engineering, andDr Olivia Mirza, are undertakinga three-year Australian ResearchCouncil-unded project to developconnections which would allowthe creation o truly demountablestructures.

    Proessor Uy says currentAustralian Standards dictate thatstructures must have a 50-yeardesign lie.

    At the end o that time, i thebuilding needs to be demolished,its usually a airly intricate process.Even a controlled implosion can be

    quite dangerous, he says.By using a blind boltingtechnique, the elements in thestructures the steel beams,columns, and concrete slabs could be unbolted, removedand potentially used again. Thisnot only removes the need ordemolition, but it could also seesteel being reused rather than

    recycled, which is energy-intensiveand generates greenhouse gasemissions.

    This technique could also beused to rehabilitate structures.

    For example, i you have abridge that now has insucientload-carrying capability, we couldgo out to a site, drill through theconcrete slab, and bolt it to a steelbeam, and you may be able toget another 25 years o lie rom

    that particular structure, saysProessor Uy.

    Another key research programwithin the Institute or InrastructureEngineering is inrastructurehealth monitoring, and ProessorUy says that in the uture, thesemonitoring techniques could alsobe incorporated into demountablestructures. Part o the projectspreliminary phase saw theresearchers collaborate with theDepartment o Main Roads inWA, to use sensors to assess thecondition o a bridge or example,

    and potential damage to dierentparts.When youve identied where

    that damage is, you can use theblind bolting technique to repair it.

    For more inormation on the

    Institute for InfrastructureEngineering visit

    www.uws.edu.au/iie

    Photo: Professor Brian Uy

    ADVERTISING FEATURE 7

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    The nal piece o the multi-milliondollar climate change research

    facility at the UWS HawkesburyInstitute for the Environment (HIE)has been completed.

    The Eucalypt Free Air Carbon

    Dioxide Enrichment (EucFACE)

    acility enables scientists to track

    and study the impact o elevated

    atmospheric CO2 concentrationsunder totally natural climatic

    conditions on terrestrial

    ecosystems, including plants,

    insects and soil microbes.

    Similar previous experiments

    internationally have been

    conducted in plantations or

    planted woodlands, but this is

    the rst ree air experiment in the

    world on native woodland. It isalso unique in terms o the height

    o the trees being studied.

    Proessor David Ellsworth,

    who is senior scientic advisor

    on the EucFACE experiment, says

    it expands the research already

    underway in the tree chambers

    of the Hawkesbury ForestExperiment a hundred-old, to

    examine an extensive ecosystem

    at the atmospheric carbon

    dioxide concentrations expectedin about 35 years.

    It allows us to get a look at auture we might want to avoid,

    says Proessor Ellsworth. One

    thing we expect to learn is how

    native woodlands actually deal

    with carbon dioxide will they

    take up the excess carbon dioxide

    that we emit or not? Thats a really

    critical question nationally and

    internationally.

    This research will improve our

    understanding about the potential

    o native trees to absorb and store

    CO2, and the amount of waterrequired to maintain high growthrates. The results generated will

    provide data to enable accurate

    accounting o carbon storage in

    orests under climate change and

    rising CO2 essential informationor participation in a national

    emissions trading scheme.

    At the HIE, the EucFACEacility joins the whole treechambers and FACE acility,

    designed to simulate uture

    CO2 levels and climate, rainoutshelters that simulate seasonal

    drought, an Eddy fux tower that

    measures water and CO2 uxesat the orest ecosystem level,

    and an insectary or investigating

    the interaction between plants

    and insects under environmental

    change, to orm the worlds most

    comprehensive climate change

    research acility.

    EucFACE will also orm part o

    the terrestrial ecosystem research

    network (TERN) that includes a

    site in every state in the country

    that will be conducting long-term

    monitoring o plants and animals

    as a bellweather site to assess

    the impacts o climate change.

    Proessor Ellsworth says its a

    very exciting time for the HIE.

    Certainly many o us eel verylucky to have not only such

    innovative acilities, but also

    the scientifc expertise to dothese experiments. UWS is

    really open to collaborations

    both nationally and

    internationally, so people fnd

    an open door here.

    For more information on the

    Hawkesbury Institute for the

    Environment (HIE) visit

    www.uws.edu.au/hie

    exCItIng

    neW faCe of

    haWkesBUry

    Photo: EucFACE site at the Hawkesbury Institue for the Environment

    8 ADVERTISING FEATURE

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    For Proessor Peter Reich,

    Foundation Director o the UWS

    Hawkesbury Institute for theEnvironment (HIE), the ofciallaunch of HIE in April 2012signalled the start o a new

    collaborative research culture or

    UWS.

    HIE is a new institute withimportant, ambitious goals to

    help progress Australian and

    global science by becoming one

    o the worlds most advanced

    research sites or studying how

    terrestrial ecosystems respond toenvironmental change, he says.

    Proessor Reich has been a

    research scientist and proessor

    for more than 25 years,ocusing on impacts o global

    environmental change on orests,

    grasslands and agricultural

    systems, and will remain a

    proessor at the University

    of Minnesota through a jointafliation with the HIE.

    Bringing extensive experiencein developing and running

    large, long-term collaborative

    experiments, Proessor Reichwas attracted to the role primarily

    by the work being undertaken at

    HIE to enhance understandingo terrestrial ecosystems and

    global geophysical and climate

    sciences.

    Such experiments are rareelsewhere on the planet, so

    or me, personally, becoming

    involved at HIE was anopportunity to engage in

    important world-class science,

    says Proessor Reich.

    I hope that my focus on bothbroad, holistic system-scale

    processes as well as on the

    underlying mechanistic details

    will help guide the evolution o a

    similarly broad yet rich approach

    to ecosystem science at HIE.The planned research

    direction for HIE, ProfessorReich explains, is grounded in

    three main aims: to improve

    understanding o how terrestrial

    ecosystems respond to climate

    change and other environmental

    drivers; to better understand the

    implications o those responses

    or Australian natural and

    agricultural ecosystems, and help

    develop eective strategies or

    managing such ecosystems; and

    to collaborate with others who will

    be able to utilise HIEs ndings forpractical purposes.

    The importance o climate

    change in this Australian contextlies in protecting an already

    sensitive continent.

    As climate change will make

    droughts, res and foods even

    more common in Australia, it will

    place an ever greater burden on

    people and nature to sustainably

    cope with such challenges, in an

    already oten harsh landscape

    and climate.

    Professor

    sIgnals neW era

    for researCh

    Photo: Professor Peter Reich

    ADVERTISING FEATURE 9

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    Author and Doctor of Creative Arts candidate JesseBlackadder travelled to Antarctica last year, followingin the footsteps of Ingrid Christensen, who in 1931

    became one o the rst women ever to lay eyes on theicy continent.

    Chosen as the 2011/2012 Australian Antarctic ArtsFellow, Ms Blackadder made the trip on boardicebreaker Aurora Australis, as research or the novel

    she is writing on Christensens voyages.

    Ms Blackadder is undertaking her Doctorate at the UWSWriting and Society Research Centre.

    The journeys o the earliest emale visitors have been

    largely orgotten in Antarctic exploration history, tending

    to be overshadowed by the great heroic era explorers:

    Mawson, Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen.

    Integrating history and ction, Ms Blackadders novelChasing the Light (due out in February 2013) aims tooer insights into the lie o a woman on board a male-

    dominated Antarctic whaling ship in the 1930s.

    Theres a long history o women being prevented rom

    going to Antarctica, and their stories not being recorded

    or considered worthwhile, Ms Blackadder says. Themythology o the heroic Antarctic explorer is so powerul

    that it drowns out every other story. But these womensstories are ascinating in their own right.

    While Ms Blackadder had previously travelled toAntarctica as a tourist, the Fellowship enabled her to

    be part o a working ship and station lie, providing a

    dierent perspective. She was also able to visit the parto Antarctica that Christensen actually travelled to.

    Simply landing on Antarctica was another highlight or

    Ms Blackadder, particularly as it is not always possible.

    We came so early in the season that a lot o thesea ice was still rozen. Its this incredible duckegg blue colour and you can hear it cracking andmoving underneath you. Its a beautiul thing,she says.

    In addition to the Fellowship, Ms Blackadder was also

    recently awarded the 2012 Guy Morrison Prize forLiterary Journalism for her piece, The rst woman andthe last dog in Antarctica describing her research into

    Ingrid Christensen.

    For more information on the Writing and Society

    Research Centre visit

    www.uws.edu.au/writing_and_society

    a PIoneerIngWoman

    Photo: Jesse Blackadder in Antarctica

    10 ADVERTISING FEATURE

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    VoICe

    sIgnatUres

    DR JAson

    sHAwEver wonder why voicerecognition sotware otenstruggles to capture speechaccurately? Its because individualtalkers each have their own

    speech characteristics like avoice signature.

    Phonologist Dr JasonShaw, rom the UWS School oHumanities and CommunicationArts and the MARCS Institute,is investigating some o thecommonalities and dierences inindividual voices, to understandhow humans recognise bothwords and talkers.

    Using his DECRA unding,Dr Shaw is building a model ohow, or a speaker o AustralianEnglish, the movement o the

    speech articulators such as thetongue and lower lip are timedrelative to one another. This willprovide insight into how peopleare able to perceive dierencesbetween individual talkers.

    When you listen to peopletalking, you know the meaning othe words that they are saying,

    but you can also sometimesrecognise the identity o thetalker, Dr Shaw says.

    This project recognises thatthe same physical dimensionscarry inormation about bothwords and talker identity.

    A key insight o the projectis that dierent phonologicalstructures (which allow usto recognise words) can bedistinguished in the speechsignal because they structurevariability in dierent ways.Because phonological structure

    is contained in the pattern ovariability, the absolute values ophysical dimensions can carryinormation about talker identity.

    Dr Shaw says the model willenable him to simulate temporalpatterns in words producedby dierent talkers and makepredictions about which talkercan be distinguished by humanears on the basis o temporalpatterns, and which talkers cannot.

    This could have majorimplications or evaluating ear-

    witness testimony in court cases,or example, and or the uturedevelopment o voice recognitionsotware.

    For more inormation on the

    MARCS Institute visit:http://marcs.uws.edu.au

    early Career researChers make theIr mark at UWsUWS researchers Dr Jason Shaw and Dr Emma Waterton are among the frst recipients o the Australian Research Council (ARC)

    Discovery Early Career Researcher Awards (DECRA). Launched in 2011, the prestigious program supports promising early career

    researchers in Australian universities, providing recipients with unding to kick-start their research careers.

    herItage

    on sIte

    DR EmmA

    wATERTonWhen Dr Emma Waterton visitedAuschwitz, she elt an intensesadness resonating rom thesite. It started her on a path othinking about aect and the way

    we behave at heritage sites astourists, which is one o the keystrands o her DECRA project.

    Dr Waterton, rom theSchool o Social Sciences andPsychology and the Instituteor Culture and Society (ICS) atUWS, has received unding o$375,000 over three years toexplore the way visitors constructand express identity at a range otourism sites in Australia.

    The project will examinehow the heritage eld is used toshape present social and cultural

    debates, the ways that Australianhistory is remembered andorgotten, and communicated atheritage tourism sites.

    Dr Waterton hopes toinclude sites in her research thatrepresent Indigenous narratives,such as Uluru-Kata Tjuta NationalPark and Kakadu National Park,

    and others which present asettler historic narrative. Shealso plans to use innovative datacollection methods or the projectsuch as auto-photography andperormative ethnography, askingtourists to take photographs atthe sites and later recall theirimpressions and memories.

    Though her eld o researchis heritage studies, Dr Watertonsprevious contributions to researchon the 2007 Bicentenary o theAboli tion o the TransatlanticSlave Trade in the UK showed

    that the investigation o issuessuch as the inclusion orexclusion o dierent groups inthe management and decision-making processes or heritagesites contains broader insightsinto areas such as racism andmulticulturalism.

    It allows me to think abouthow and what we choose toremember rom the past, andwhat that can tell us aboutcontemporary debates and theway we think about ourselves.

    For more inormation on theInstitute for Culture and Society(ICS) visit: www.uws.edu.au/ics

    Photo: Dr Jason Shaw Photo: Dr Emma Waterton

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    Research shows that o the

    approximately 140,000 peoplewho die in Australia each year,

    around 80 per cent wish to dieat home, but only between 16and 20 per cent do so.

    Associate Proessor

    Debbie Horsfall is leadingan interdisciplinary team o

    researchers rom the UWS

    School o Social Sciences and

    Psychology, Calvary Centre or

    Palliative Care Research, CSIROand Cancer Council NSW to

    understand what happens to

    individuals and communities

    when people come together to

    care or each other as someone

    is dying at home.

    The preliminary phase o

    the Caring at end o lie study

    showed that people can and

    do die well at home, but caring

    is an immense task which

    requires a complex networko community and service-

    based support riends, amily,

    neighbours, work colleagues

    and community members

    willingly pitching in to help.

    Some people sat with the

    dying person to give the carer a

    break. We heard about bedside

    happy hours or helping to

    continue amily rituals and

    celebrations, says Associate

    Professor Horsfall. What wasmost important was that people

    provided what was actually

    needed by the carer and thedying person not what they

    assumed, or thought was

    needed.

    Contrary to perceptions

    that supporting people to care

    or a dying person is always

    draining or isolating, the people

    involved in inormal caring

    networks ound the experience

    transormational and it built

    social connections.

    Caring can contribute to

    social capital with carers and

    the cared or being part o a

    vibrant and growing network o

    relationships, she says. When

    caring generates social capital,

    it no longer just addresses a

    private need but potentially

    contributes to a public good.

    The study is progressing

    into its second phase in

    2012. Service providers andvolunteers have already been

    recruited or a series o ocus

    groups that explore the ways

    that they provide assistance

    to the community. Now we

    want to talk to carers, says

    Associate Professor Horsfall.Associate Professor Horsfall

    hopes that the research will

    inorm palliative and publichealth policy, with the aim o

    positively impacting carers and

    caring practices, giving dying

    Australians a supportive, loving

    and more meaningul death in

    the place that they chose.

    The issue here is that

    these things are not spoken

    about: we dont speak about

    where we want to die; we dont

    speak about the joy and love

    and laughter associated with

    supporting each other; we dont

    speak about death and dying

    much at all. Yet its going tohappen to all o us.

    Carers who are interested in

    being involved with the study

    can contact Niki Read on

    02 4736 0368 or 0437 877 232, or

    by email at [email protected]

    Digital technologies are, bit by bit,changing many aspects o the waywe live and work, but what are theimplications o this change? Whatdoes it mean or the way we relateto one another? And how mightsociety be aected in the uture?

    Questions such as this are atthe heart o the work o the UWSInstitute or Culture and Society(ICS).

    Bringing together researchersrom a range o disciplines todevelop a big picture researchprogram, the ICS is alsoinvestigating changes such asthe shit o geopolitical power toAsia, population expansion, andthe impact o urbanisation onthe natural environment. It bringstogether academic scholarshipand grounded, engaged researchin partnership with communitiesand other organisations.

    Proessor Brett Neilson says,While we are very interested intraditional academic outcomes,we also want to do things that areuseul to society.

    One o the key elementso the ICSs mission is theAustralian Cultural Fieldsresearch, which examinestransormations in the socialorganisation o cultural activities incontemporary Australia in the lighto its changing place in globalprocesses and relations.

    We are looking at a wide array

    o cultural institutions in Australiarom the 1970s rom museums,to the Australia Council, to theAustralian Institute o Sport andhow they took on a specic kindo national ethos in moulding adistinctively Australian culture.We are also interested in whatthat means in terms o a more

    globalised Australia, and what isthe role o social distinctions in theway that people consume variouscultural products, ProessorNeilson says.

    Other research is beingconducted in collaboration withthe recently established Youngand Well Cooperative ResearchCentre. Dr Philippa Collin romthe ICS is studying the role oonline and networked media orsupporting young peoples mentalhealth and wellbeing, while DrAmanda Third is investigat inghow technology can be leveragedto reach, connect and engageyoung people who are vulnerableto the development o mentalhealth diculties.

    Meanwhile, the Cool livingheritage in Southeast Asia:sustainable alternatives to air-conditioned cities research, led

    by Dr Tim Winter and ProessorDonald McNeill, is turning to thepast or potential solutions todependence on air-conditioning.

    These researchers arecoming rom a cultural heritageperspective to think about ways inwhich people in tropical climateskept cool or centuries, what kindo technologies they used, andwhat kind o architecture wasinvolved. Theyre looking at howthose past practices might berevived or updated in ways thatcould save energy through their

    reintroduction, says ProessorNeilson.

    For more inormation on the

    Institute for Culture and Societyvisit www.uws.edu.au/ics

    ImPaCtIng on

    the Way We lIVe

    BrIngIng the

    dyIng home

    Photo: Professor Brett Neilson Photo taken by Ossie Emery

    12 ADVERTISING FEATURE

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    In Australia, Islamic law or Shariais not ormally recognised by ourlegal system, but Muslims whowish to abide by this law otenturn to the internet to seek rulingsor atwas rom scholars, imamsand mullahs on issues relating toproperty, divorce and custody.

    Partly because o itsunderground nature, Sharia isnot well understood in Australiaand is oten portrayed in asimplistic way in the media.

    Proessor Bryan Turner andAssociate Proessor AdamPossamai rom the UWS Religionand Society Research Centre arenow seeking to understand moreabout how Sharia is lived byMuslim communities in Australiaand the United States, through athree-year project unded by theAustralian Research Council.

    Sharia can be very culturally

    based, and given there are morethan 70 ethnic Muslim groupsin Sydney, there can be variousunderstandings o what Shariameans, Associate ProessorPossamai says.

    By exploring Muslimexperiences o Western andSharia courts, and how Shariais treated within Western courts,the study will make innovativeconceptual and empiricalcontributions to the debate aboutpost-secular societies throughthe study o legal pluralism in the

    West.

    The US was chosen orcomparative study as it has somesimilarities to Australia in termso being English-speaking anda relatively new country largelypopulated by migrants, as well assome dierences relating to thelaw and the treatment o religiousdierences.

    With research to beconducted in Sydney and NewYork, the project will incorporateethnographic eldwork onlineto understand the discussionsconcerning Sharia, interviewswith Muslim lawyers and imams,and observations and analysiso cases in both secular andinormal Sharia courts.

    There is hardly any socialscientic research on how Shariais understood and applied inthe everyday lie o Muslims inAustralia. So wi th th is research

    we want to make data availableabout whats really happening,which will inorm the media,government and other research,says Associate ProessorPossamai.

    For more inormation on the

    Religion and Society Research

    Centre visit

    www.uws.edu.au/research

    UnderstandIng

    sharIa laW

    Fluorescence in coral doesntjust look pretty it may act as adeense mechanism against theimpact o warming oceans andclimate change. Dr Anya Salihrom the UWS School o Scienceand Health, is exploring thephenomenon.

    When high light interactswith temperature, the impacto photosynthesising algae oncoral tissues can kill the coral.The coral expels the symbiontsand turns white as a result.Thats cal led coral bleaching,Dr Salih says. Im looking at howfuorescent proteins reduce thesestressul eects o this process.

    Collaborating with otherscientists rom around the world,Dr Salih is also investigating anumber o other aspects o howcorals utilise light energy and thebiological unction o these unique

    fuorescent proteins in coral reeorganisms.

    The investigation o theseprocesses, however, has awider benet. The geneticallyexpressible properties o theproteins enable scientists to beable to attach them to othermolecules to be studied.

    I, or instance, you havea cancer cell and you want tostudy the activation o a particularcancer-related protein or how adrug might aect its activation,we can colour that protein with a

    coral fuorescent glow, Dr Salihsays.

    The UWS Conocal Bio-Imaging Facility, equipped withhigh-end microscopes and lasers,enables scientists to look insideliving cells and tissues.

    We can grow tissues andcells in culture dishes, expresscoral fuorescent proteins anduse them to the molecules thatwe want to study, and theninvestigate their activity in livingcells. Using laser microscopes,we can even track moleculesand uncover cellular processesin whole corals or other livingorganisms, which is a verypowerul technology, Dr Salihsays. We get a three dimensionalunderstanding o where and howthese molecules move insidecells.

    While already thousandso laboratories use fuorescentproteins rom jellysh and coralsin biomedicine and cell biology,their potential is only beginning tobe understood.

    Even in organic computingand solar energy generation, we

    may be able to create advancedbio-photonic devices based onfuorescent protein rom corals,says Dr Salih.

    In June, Dr Salih was aninvited presenter at the premiereo the Coral ReKindling Venus lmat the World Science Festival inNew York, which eatured someo her coral fuorescence imagery.

    For more inormation on this

    research visit

    www.uws.edu.au/research

    gloWIng In the

    dark

    Photo: Professor Bryan Turner, Associate Professor Adam Possamai and

    Dr Selda Dagistanli

    Photo: Flourescent corals

    ADVERTISING FEATURE 13

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    The Biomedical Magnetic

    Resonance acility with very high-resolution magnetic resonanceimaging (MRI) is enabling UWSscientists to understand better adiverse range o problems includingpreeclampsia in pregnant women,breast and prostate cancer,development o animal brains, grapedevelopment and how to build betterbatteries.

    Led by Proessor Bill Price romthe UWS School o Science andHealth, the Nanoscale ResearchGroup uses equipment similar to ahospital MRI, except it can produceimages with more than 10,000 times

    better resolution.MRI is such an enormously rich

    source o inormation. In the clinicalworld, its one o the major toolsused by clinicians when investigatinga patient, Proessor Price says.Importantly, it is non-invasiveand does not involve high energyradiation or radioactivity.

    MRI is just one branch o the verylarge eld called nuclear magneticresonance (NMR), and its potentialapplications spread ar beyond themedical eld and medical physics.

    For example, the UWS team

    is using an NMR spectrometer tounderstand more about how lithiumpolymer batteries can be made moreecient, how anticancer drugs bindto DNA and to probe the associationo proteins.

    In a lithium polymer battery,or example, there has to beionic conductivity or the batteryto work, says Proessor Price.This results rom the motionso the various ions and NMR issupremely able or probing how eacho the dierent types o ions andmolecules move around and interactwith each other.

    Proessor Price says whilethe types o problems they areinvestigating may seem poles apart,the techniques and rules they applyhave much in common.

    Whilst our applications toa layman might appear to beunrelated, or us, the thinking andexperimentation at the molecularor the nano level is very similar.

    For more inormation on research

    at UWS visit

    www.uws.edu.au/research

    seeIng the fUtUre Clearly

    Researchers rom industry

    and universities around

    Australia are focking to UWS

    to use its Secondary Ion MassSpectrometer (SIMS), the mostsophisticated tool o its kind in

    Australia.

    The SIMS provides analysiso the surace and near-surace

    composition in materials.

    Dr David Nelson, SIMSoperator at UWS, says, The

    instrument has an extremely high

    sensitivity, so we can analyse

    almost every element in the

    periodic table to the parts per

    billion level.

    The SIMS is specicallydesigned as a tool or

    developing new and improved

    semiconductors a critical

    component or many types

    o modern electronics and

    understanding the processes

    behind them.

    Its being used for a hugerange o dierent applications inthe nanotechnology and materials

    science areas, such as looking at

    corrosion rates or new types o

    metals, developing new light-

    emitting diodes, and creating

    micro-switches, Dr Nelson says.

    The UWS Solar Energy

    Technologies Group isinvestigating methods or

    producing clean solar-hydrogen

    energy, and the SIMS is a vitalpiece o equipment or this work.

    Most current solar cellshave an eciency o 4 per

    cent. But the latest technologyis approaching 50 per cent

    eciency, says Dr Nelson. Sothey are ar more ecient at

    converting sunlight into electricity,

    and the SIMS instrument isthe tool that is required or

    understanding how we can make

    materials like that.

    With many specialised

    semiconductor companies

    located in Sydney, the SIMSis certainly attracting plenty o

    interest.

    Were at the cutting edge

    o innovation with this piece o

    equipment.

    For more information on

    research at UWS visit

    www.uws.edu.au/researchCreatIng a neWgeneratIon of

    semICondUCtorsPhoto: Dr David Nelson

    Photo: Professor Bill Price and PhD researchers

    Photo: Dr Tim Stait-Gardner with MRI

    14 ADVERTISING FEATURE

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    Complementary medicine mayprovide some relie. AssociateProessor Caroline Smith, rom theUWS Centre or ComplementaryMedicine Research, is evaluatingthe use o acupuncture as apotential treatment methodor women undergoing cancertreatments and suering romatigue.

    Previous research in this areahas only involved small numberso women, with mixed results as towhether acupuncture was benecialin relieving atigue.

    Associate Proessor Smithsstudy, unded by the CancerInstitute or New South Wales,involved 30 women who wererandomly allocated to groupsreceiving acupuncture, a placebotreatment and a control group.

    Over six weeks, the women in theacupuncture and placebo groupsreceived nine treatment sessions.

    We ound that women werevery interested to participate inthis study, and on entering thestudy, reported signicant levels oatigue, Associate Proessor Smithsays.

    The results showed that womenwho received acupuncture reporteda reduction in their levels o atigueater two weeks compared with thecontrol group. Ater six weeks, theirwellbeing improved urther.

    The study also includedinterviews with some o the women,which allowed the researchers toexplore their experience in greaterdepth.

    For those women experiencinga benet, they were better able toengage in other sel-care activitiesand to start to undertake moreday-to-day activities, AssociateProessor Smith says.

    While the study was not largeenough to show statisticallysignicant results, it does provide aplatorm or urther research.

    The ndings are encouraging

    and indicate we should plan a uturestudy involving a larger number owomen, and seek unding to enableus to do this.

    For more inormation on the

    UWS Centre or Complementary

    Medical Research visit:www.uws.edu.au/complemed

    With 62 patent properties and17 projects in the processo commercialisation, UWS

    is building a reputation or

    delivering pioneering research

    which results in practical,

    commercially accessible

    innovations.

    UWS Innovation, led byDr Fiona Cameron, aims to

    ensure that UWS research

    ultimately reaches and benets

    the public. It works withresearchers to protect their

    intellectual property, and match

    them with suitable commercialpartners.

    One o the biggest

    success stories rom UWS

    Innovation is Relok, aunique steel technology

    which is incorporated into

    steel ormwork proles and

    used in structures such as

    oce high-rises, residential

    apartments and airports to

    improve their perormance.

    Since being introduced to the

    market in 2005 in conjunction

    with Fielders Australia, it hassecured a 60 per cent marketshare. Fielders and its partner

    M-Metal have signed a dealwith UWS to introduce the

    technology into Singapore,

    Malaysia and Hong Kong,accelerating the products

    already impressive market

    penetration. The deal will allow

    the University and the Institutefor Infrastructure Engineeringto urther invest in research,

    education and innovation.

    Another commercialisation

    success is Qcide, a newenvironmentally riendly

    treatment or household and

    agricultural pests, which

    was developed as part o a

    collaboration between UWS,

    Southern Cross University

    and Bioprospect Ltd. Thetreatment ormula is based

    on tasmanone, a natural

    insecticide derived rom

    the leaves o a rare type o

    Eucalyptus cloeziana, a foresttree species naturally ound in

    limited areas o Queensland.The intellectual property has

    been assigned exclusively

    to Bio-Gene Technology.As a greener alternative to

    established products such as

    synthetic insecticides, Qcide

    has the potential to make

    signicant inroads in the global

    market.

    UWS has also developed

    Ion Exchange Lactose (IEL)purication technology with

    Dairy Australia and CSIRO-Food Science Australia, which

    allows or the purication olactose rom whey permeate

    in dairy processing plants.

    This lactose is then used in

    ood and pharmaceutical

    production. The IEL technologyhas been licensed non-

    exclusively to biotechnology

    company Novasep.

    For more information on

    innovation at UWS visit

    www.uws.edu.au/research

    Can aCUPUnCtUre helP fatIgUe?

    BrIngIng knoWledge to lIfe

    Advances in medical knowledge, screening programs and sel-detection have markedly improved the survival rate or suerers o

    breast cancer. But treatments such as chemotherapy can have debilitating side eects such as nausea and atigue.

    Photo: Dr Rosalie Durham,

    Dr Robert Sleigh

    (CSIRO) and Associate

    Professor Jim Hourigan

    ADVERTISING FEATURE 15

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    Eucalypts in the endangeredremnant Cumberland PlainWoodlands (CPW) in westernSydney are currently under threatrom a massive inestation opsyllids commonly known asjumping plant-lice.

    Psyllids are plant-sap eedinginsects, with the current inestationcaused by a species o Australiannative lace lerp.

    Dr Markus Riegler, senior

    researcher rom the HawkesburyInstitute or the Environment (HIE),is working with local councilsto investigate the cause o thelace lerp outbreaks. He saysthe species o lace lerp inestingthe CPW is specic to GreyBox Eucalypts (or Eucalyptusmoluccana), and in large numbers,cause oliage and canopies toappear burnt or dead.

    Its currently unknown howmany o the thousands o aectedtrees will die.

    Psyllid inestations causing area-wide tree deoliation have previouslybeen reported or South Australia,Victoria, and New South Wales,with a similar outbreak in WesternSydney being reported about 15years ago. However the exactcauses or these inestations are stillunknown.

    It has previously beenspeculated that rapid changes owater availability or example,extensive rainall ater long periodso drought may lead to increasedconcentrations o amino acidsin eucalypt plant-sap that canthen be rapidly exploited by thepsyllids and result in their extensiveprolieration, Dr Riegler says. Thisis a question that we are interestedto nd answers or.

    Though most eucalypts canrecover rom a single deoliationevent, repeated complete deoliationover several years will stress trees,resulting in dieback. Because othese devastating eects, localcouncils and communities are keento understand the causes, how tomanage inested trees, and possiblepreventative measures to guardagainst uture outbreaks.

    Given that the Grey Box is adominant tree in the endangeredCumberland Plain Woodlands, any

    dieback is seen as a concern orecological and also saety reasons,in particular i deoliated andstressed trees are in recreationalareas, close to houses and streets,says Dr Riegler.

    The research is supported bythe UWS-Blacktown City CouncilPartnership Program.

    For more inormation on the

    Hawkesbury Institute for theEnvironment visit:

    www.uws.edu.au/hie

    Why are so many

    trees dyIng In

    Western sydney?

    Lace lerps produce waxy secretions that act as aprotective shield under which the psyllids can eed on plant-sap by puncturing leaves with their mouthparts. This plant-

    sap eeding activity results into the injection o toxins thatcauses necrosis in lea tissue, says Dr Riegler.

    For more inormation contact

    www.uws.edu.au/research

    UWS Research Services

    Locked Bag 1797 Penrith NSW 2751+61 2 9852 5222

    Photo: Dr Markus Riegler

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