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Jaye and JohnChance encounter changes the path of history and modern medicine.

Conquering KilimanjaroMeet Ms Adventure: Alicia Fang from Macquarie International.

Play it again SamBiologist drums up a win at international Taiko competition.

14 March 2012

If you think you could be the next JK Rowling or just have some information on a subject that you’d like to share with a wider audience, MQAS – or Macquarie University Accessibililty Services – can now help you publish your own eBook.

The MQAS staff have been converting a range of learning materials into electronic formats to assist students with learning and sensory challenges since 2004.

Now, with eBooks firmly entrenched in mainstream use, MQAS are expanding the services they offer beyond the conversion of academic and educational publications normally produced for their clients. They plan to develop and publish a full range of eBooks through the newly established Macquarie Lighthouse eBook Publishing.

Their eBooks will still be fully accessible to everyone with the universal design features MQAS clients are already familiar with such as the ability to enlarge the screen, enlarged and/or changed font capability, note-taking features, and embedded audio and video. The eBook also automatically repurposes to fit the scale and format of different types of electronic devices.

MQAS has published its first Macquarie University eBook with the Vice-Chancellor, Steven Schwartz as their initial author.

Steven’s book, 10,000 books, 10,000 Miles: the journey

towards wisdom, is a collection of his thoughts while at Macquarie, including lectures and speeches, blogs and videos.

David Myton, who edited the collected works and liased with MQAS on the project that started last year, is enthusiastic about the experience.

“MQAS were terrific to work with and were responsive to our needs. They gave us good feedback and advised on

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(L-R) Sharon Kerr, Michael Grant and Andrew Lovell-Simons. Photo: Peter McDonald.

Macquarie University

publishing

joins the

eBookrevolution

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Dr Jaye McKenzie-Clark wasn’t supposed to be in the ancient cultures museum on the day that Professor John Magnussen stopped by. Fortunately, after letting him in and showing him around, a new cross-disciplinary partnership started to emerge from the happenstance.John explained how he had some machinery at his imaging centre, Macquarie Medical Imaging, which might be of interest to Jaye.

He told her about his previous work in scanning Egyptian mummies, and that now he was interested in learning more about the artefacts on Macquarie’s campus.

With interest piqued, Jaye gave John a couple of samples of pottery from Pompeii and asked him to provide a compositional report – a trial, of sorts.

He passed with flying colours – confirming, within minutes, the exact makeup of the pottery with a level of detail that would traditionally have taken months of destructive grinding and testing.

Fast-forward to 2012, and Jaye and John are now working with over 260 precious fragments of ancient Roman pottery,

exported specifically from Italy for the very first time.

“These fragments predate the birth of Christ. To be allowed to study them here in Australia, using techniques that the original potters and artisans could not have dreamt of, is incredible,” said Jaye.

As part of the Australian Carsulae Archaeological Project, Jaye was invited by the Superintendent of the Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici dell’Umbria, Dr Mario Pagano, to study these samples in Australia.

“With the help of Dr Pagano we were given the rare privilege by the Italian Ministry of Culture to export these samples, bringing them back to Australia to use techniques unavailable elsewhere,” said Jaye.

The ceramics will be studied using both traditional and innovative techniques:

• visual analysis of the potters’ stamp, aided by the use of 3D laser scanning equipment

• compositional analyses of the pottery with a state-of-the-art Dual X-Ray Computed Tomography (DECT) scanner at MMI.

The results will provide a compositional fingerprint of the pottery and assist in identifying trade sources to the ancient city of Carsulae.

Jaye and John are excited about starting the scanning process, and hope to create a knowledge base of as-yet unrecorded potters’ stamps. They hope that the database will tell a story of the region, its consumers, tradesmen and economy, to be used by today’s research and in the future.

“The potters and artisans of 2000 years ago could never have imagined the incredible technology which we are bringing to bear to find out more about their lives and their craft,” said John.

This isn’t the only interdepartmental project John is working on – he’s also bringing sharks into the imaging lab (“well, pieces of shark”) and contributing to functional MRI brain scanning with the Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders.

“These collaborations bring out the best in us – we may get stuck in one area and not think of new ways to approach our work, but with collaboration, you can keep things interesting,” he says.

Chance encounter changes the path of history and modern medicine

Introducing a world-first

non-destructive method

In contrast to traditional ceramic analysis techniques, which result in the destruction of the ancient pottery, DECT is totally non-destructive and produces highly accurate results.“These techniques were critical to gaining access to this invaluable collection, and we hope to see more interest from other organisations and institutions in the future,” says Jaye. “This technique is a conservator’s dream come true.”

In future, museums could send their artefacts to MMI, and between the co-expertise of Jaye and John, could find out exactly what their chemical composition was, without even Jaye and John taking them out of their box.

Even through layers of dirt and glaze, they can identify areas that have been replaced in modern times, any forgeries or ‘quick-fixes’ that have occurred – just by recognising the different chemical compositions within an item.

The assessment begins. After only a few seconds in the machine, John is able to analyse the results of the scan.

John and Jaye. Photos: Peter McDonald.

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playagain

it samWe have a diverse selection of musical talent here at Macquarie; however, Samantha Newton’s has to be one of the more surprising and unusual musical interests on campus.Sam works part time as an Administrator in the Department of Biological Sciences as well as in Sustainability where she coordinates Aboretum activities and leads tours. But in her other life, Sam’s passion is playing Japanese Taiko drums.

Sam has been drumming her way to fitness for about nine years – Taiko drums deliver a serious whole-body–workout while practicing and performing.

She says her passion first began in 2001 when she saw a Taiko group perform.

“It was the amazing sound and feeling. I became an instant fan,” she said.

From there she found a Sydney-based group called TaikOz that plays professionally but also trains people who are interested in learning.

Even though she’s now an associate teacher with TaikOz, Sam is quick to point out that after nine years, she continues to learn and is still a student.

Her school has about 150 students, but out of that group Sam and some of her fellow members of the TaikOz school formed their own Taiko group known as Taiko no Wa – which translates in English as Circle of Taiko. The group whose members range in age from early 20s to in their 70s, practice every Sunday and perform at community and cultural events around NSW.

Taiko drums come in all sizes ranging from small hand-held instruments up to the huge 250-kilogram o-daiko drum. Members of the ensemble must learn to play the whole range of instruments.

The drums also produce a variety of sounds depending on size and what they are made of. A Japanese flute can also be included to provide a melody. Usually any song involves three to four players but the number of people playing at one time can go up to 12 people, Sam said.

Sam describes the feeling of playing Taiko drums.

“You feel it through your whole body because it’s such a big sound, but it’s really resonant,” she said.

Taiko no Wa’s talents took them to Japan where last year where

they were invited to enter a contest in Tokyo and became the first Australian Taiko group to win the competition.

“It is an international contest that has been going for about 10 years but not that many non-Japanese groups compete so it was a major achievement for us,” she says.

Having notched up their first win in an international competition, they’ve been invited back by the contest’s organisers to perform in August along with winners from previous years.

If you’re interested in learning to play Taiko or to find out more about Taiko and dates of performances, you can go to the TaikOz website.

AUdIology ClInIC offerDo you have to yell so your parents can hear? Does your partner have the TV too loud? Does your father’s hearing aid whistle all the time? Then bring them into the Macquarie University Audiology clinic for a review. With dedicated staff teaching Audiology students best practice, your loved ones will be well looked after. Take advantage of our special discount for family members of Macquarie University staff. Quote Staff News and get 10% off all audiology appointments for your family (offer does not include discount on hearing aids). Call 9850 8746 or email audiologyclinic@mq.edu.au.

Find out how to submit your bulletin board notice by visiting staffnews.mq.edu.au.

Samantha Newton. Photo: John Leung.

Hot toddy sHotsServes four

4 shot glasses

60ml brandy

20ml honey

10ml fresh lemon juice

boiling water

Evenly split the brandy, honey and lemon juice between four shot glasses and top with boiling water. Do not

consume too many shots: legend has it that leprechauns and pots of gold appear after one too many.

For A TrADITIoNAL IrISh rECIPE WITh A TWIST Try ThIS ChAMP WITh

PEAS rECIPEhistorically peas would not have been used in this dish; the

original recipe only used potato, butter, milk and onions.

Serves four

Cook time 20-25 minutes

Ingredients480g potaoes washed and peeled

(best types to use are Sebago or Dutch Cream)

120g butter

120ml warm milk

120g green peas cooked and drained

20g of roast garlic paste

1/4 of a bunch of scallions (spring onions)

cracked pepper and salt to taste

Method1. Cook potatoes in a small pan until tender. Drain and set

aside in the pan.

2. In small saucepan melt butter and add the garlic and onions cook for for one minute. Remove from heat and

set aside.

3. Return the pan with the potatoes to medium heat and cook for one minute. Begin to mash potatoes and add the

peas then the milk gently.

4. To finish, add the butter onion and garlic mix. Taste and season further if necessary.

5. Remove from heat and serve in bowls by itself or topped with roast chicken.

Chefs Tip Any leftover mash can be used the next day. Shape into

bite size potato cakes, seal on a hot pan and top with smoked salmon.

“St Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and there’s no more traditional start to the day than a Hot Toddy,” says

Peter Brewty, Executive Chef, Crunch Events and Catering.

how the book should look. There was technical guidance at every stage and we were able to change things around if we needed. Basically, you come to them with an idea and ask them how it can be done,” he said.

MQAS Manager Sharon Kerr who intiated the eBook production project, adds that MQAS assigns an ISBN once the book has been completed and can provide help and advice regarding distribution channels.

Sharon Kerr says “it is just fantastic that the Vice-Chancellor has come onboard with this project, providing an example of best practice in universal design for eBooks.”

Sharon attributes the success of the Vice-Chancellor’s book to the efforts of Michael Grant and Andrew Lovell-Simons, two educational developers who work at MQAS.

“Michael and Andrew are responsible for helping authors to realise their ideas, developing and organising content while creating the look and feel of the eBook and making it accessible to everyone,” she said.

Both Sharon and David see the possibilities for many future eBook projects around the university.

“Apart from textbooks or an entire course in an eBook, it could even be a classroom exercise to use for publishing students projects,” Sharon said.

“In many ways, eBooks are a learning package,” David said.

“you can make them whatever your discipline is. If you were a lecturer in science for example, you could film, write and talk about all your experiments. I think academics could really benefit from it. With eBooks, the only limit is your imagination,” he said.

Visit the Accessibility Services website for more information about the project or to download your copy of the Vice-Chancellor’s eBook.

MQAS is a unit of the Learning and Teaching Centre. Sharon can be contacted on ext. 1480.

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Alicia Fang, Internships Program Coordinator at Macquarie International, is a familiar face at the Sport and Aquatic Centre.As a regular participant in spin and body attack classes, she’s become quite the networker, connecting with people from across the University.

“I’ve made so many contacts from my fitness and training. I might have been in a meeting with someone, and then we recognise each other up at the gym and start talking about what’s going on in our areas.”

What these contacts might not know, however, is that Alicia is on a mission.

She’s got a wishlist of impressive treks, and this January, ticked one off the list when setting off to the top of Africa.

Here’s Alicia’s photo diary of her climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.

conquering kilimanjaro

[Above] We slept in thermal gear on our way up. This photo was taken at 4200m, and

the wind chill was incredible. At -20c I had windburn on my lips, nose and cheeks, but

was still excited!

There were times up the top where I wore every item of clothing I’d brought with me,

but on the way down we peeled off the layers to adjust to ‘normal’ weather.

[Left] This was taken the night before we climbed to the summit, at 4623m. We did the last part of the climb in the dark, so we could arrive for sunrise.

It was bit of a mistake to look up as we walked in the dark, because you could see all the torchlights snaking up the mountain of the trekkers ahead of us – so far to go! But it was a pretty beautiful sight.

[Left] I went on the trek with another Macquarie alumnus (far right), who I met while trekking Everest Base Camp in Nepal.

[Right] On the top of Africa!!! WOOHOO. After our seven-day climb, we made it!

My tip for anyone considering this is to train train train, and to get into the best physical shape of your life. Do not underestimate the mountain.

[Right] For my next big trek, I’m thinking South America… maybe Chile, Patagonia, the Amazon…

But first, I’m participating in a 60km outrigging challenge from Molokai to Honolulu in Hawaii, and aiming for the NSW and national titles in outrigging!

[Right] Tarangire National Park was amazing. We saw elephants, giraffes, a wildebeest migration, met Masai tribes and even tried some banana beer.[Below] After our trek we added on six days

of safari in the Serengeti.

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for rEnTthree-bedroom house

About: Furnished three-bedroom house available from June for a maximum 10 weeks. Features: three bedrooms plus study, hardwood floor, fast internet, large garden with BBQ, direct frequent bus at door to Macquarie Uni, Eastwood and Parramatta train stations. Suit visiting scholar with family.

rent: $650pw (expenses included).

location: Dundas Valley.

Contact: Ron at ron.steinfeld@mq.edu.au or call 0404 452 729.

for rEnTthree-bedroom house

About: Renovated three-bedroom, two bathroom home available from May. Situated on a quiet street with off street parking. Also features a study, large living area, deck and garden.

rent: $850pw plus bond and garden maintenance (negotiable).

location: Lane Cove (close to transport, aquatic centre, shops and 10 minute drive to the city) .

Contact: Chris on 0414 687 056.

Find out how to submit your classified by visiting staffnews.mq.edu.au.

For your diary

march

SCIenCe reSeArCh leCTUre SerIeS

tuesday 20 marchThe Department of Physics and Astronomy will present two lectures on current research projects.

1. Planetary nebulae: The death shrouds of lonely stars or the aftermath of binary interactions?

Planetary nebulae, are currently taught as gas ejected by dying intermediate mass stars. However their beautiful shapes that display all manner of symmetry tell us that this picture is too simplistic and may even be wrong.Speaker: Associate Professor Orsola De Marco.2. diamonds: The smaller the better.Besides being a coveted gem, diamonds are also used in electronics, lasers and may even contain the key to quantum computing. PhD student Jana Say will discuss the research she does with some very tiny diamonds used as “trackers” to gain an insight into biological processes in the human body.Speaker: PhD student Jana Say.Time: 6pm.

location: Level 3 Function Rooms (C10A).

Information: Please visit the Faculty of Science website.

nATIonAl ‘CloSe The gAP’ dAy free lUnChTIMe BBQ And Info STAnd

thursday 22 marchThe Equity and Diversity Unit (Social Inclusion) and Warawara - Department of Indigenous Studies, invite you to join the Indigenous staff and students of the University on National Close the Gap Day to help raise awareness of Indigenous health issues.

National Close the Gap Day is an OXFAM initiative campaigning for Indigenous health equality. It offers all Australians the opportunity to pledge their commitment to “Closing the Gap” in the life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation.

Time: From 12pm.

location: Central Courtyard.

Information: Please visit the OXFAM website.

BAlMAIn SInfonIA: bruckner symphony no.4 (romantic)

sunday 25 marchJoin Balmain Sinfonia conductor Gary Stavrou for an afternoon with Schumann, Mozart and Bruckner.

Time: 2.30pm.

location: Lotus Theatre (W6D).

Tickets: $20 ($15 concession).

Information: Please call 9810 5080 or visit the Balmain Sinfonia website.

Find out how to submit your diary entry by visiting staffnews.mq.edu.au.

We welcome your comments and suggestions. For all enquires please contact the communications team at staffnews@mq.edu.au or by calling 9850 6766.

For more information about how to submit content, please visit staffnews.mq.edu.au.

Contributors:Golda Mitchell Joanna WheatleyLyn Danninger Paul Wild

Editors:Paul Wild Peter McDonald

Designer:Peter McDonald

For a long time economists have worked on the belief that when making financial decisions, generally human beings are capable of being rational.However, according to Dr Frank Ashe from the Applied Finance Centre, research in behavioural finance suggests that while this might be the case for long-term financial decisions, short-term decisions are made with entirely different parts of the brain.

“When making short-term decisions, we use the part of the brain that retains links to our ancient lineages - the part of the brain humans have in common with reptiles and birds,” explains Ashe. “Only when we make long-term decisions do we use the part that is unique to humans: the rational part of the brain.”

So how could this ‘bird-brain’ phenomenon help us understand the reasons behind the Global Financial Crisis (GFC)?

For many the GFC shattered their faith in standard economic theory and as a result, turned to behavioural finance for an explanation as to why it happened. Behavioural finance is the discipline that looks at how our basic brain structure affects the financial decisions we make. Drawing on aspects of psychology, neuroscience and economics it attempts to find the cognitive biases that often prevent people from making rational decisions, despite their best efforts.

Behavioural finance expert Dr Ashe says understanding why people make the decisions they do is key to understanding the events leading up to the GFC and understanding how to stop investors behaving badly in future.

“A misunderstanding in economics is that given the option, people will make the rational choice,” explains Ashe. “This is fine if we only ever use the rational parts of our brain, but we are going to succumb to temptation when a short-term decision is to be made and act on emotion rather than rationality,” says Ashe.

How investors and financial organisations could have made such bad decisions is what Dr Frank Ashe will consider when giving his free public lecture as part of the Movies at Macquarie program which kicks off this weekend.

Dr Ashe will be discussing the mindsets of the major players implicated in the continuing meltdown of financial systems

across the world and explaining the psychological biases for their actions. Using his expertise in the field he will

cover questions such as - what was happening in the minds of those involved in the GFC and what is

the psychology behind decision-making that led them to think they were infallible?

“We will look at what lead these people to believe that the Great Depression couldn’t happen again and why those who were congratulating themselves in the early 2000s are now sitting in the ruin, with their hands still on the levers,” says Ashe.

Visit the Movies at Macquarie website for more information.

were the players

GFC acting likebehind the

BIrDBrAINS?