Members of the Riverina equine community at a Charles Sturt University (CSU) Equine Influenza (EI) forum have been urged to work together so that NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) quarantine restrictions, imposed in response to Australia’s first EI outbreak, are upheld by everyone in the community. Participants emphasised that the disease poses a threat to all horses, ponies and donkeys. Around 130 people attended the forum which was organised in Wagga Wagga by the CSU School of Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences. A panel of CSU equine health experts, led by Director of Veterinary Science Professor Kym Abbott, outlined the status of the EI outbreak, how the highly contagious virus is transmitted and ways to prevent its spread through the nation’s equine population. CSU veterinary science lecturer Dr Sharanne Raidal stressed the importance of community vigilance and compliance to halt the advance of equine flu, which can be transmitted by humans, vehicles and equipment.

Happiness is desired by all, yet achieved by only a few. But according to Dr Timothy Sharp, it does not always have to be like this. Dr Sharp will show participants how to get more out of life using principles from positive psychology during a seminar hosted by Charles Sturt University (CSU) on Friday morning 7 September on its Albury-Wodonga Campus. “My colleagues and I are achieving some wonderful results with individuals and organisations all over Australia, and I look forward to sharing the knowledge and experience we’ve gained over the last few years to Albury,” said Dr Sharp, who has three degrees in psychology and has worked as a clinical and academic psychologist. Australia's leading expert in positive psychology, in 2003 Dr Sharp founded The Happiness Institute in Sydney, NSW. The seminar will start at 9.30am at the boardroom, CSU’s Gordon Bevan building, off Old Sydney Road, Thurgoona.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) students will put local food on show at a Sustainable Food Day to be held on Wednesday 5 September at its Thurgoona site. The event has resulted from their participation in the national 2007 Students of Sustainability Conference held recently in Perth, where as their coordinator Peter Barrett says, “We ate vegan food all week and it was pretty good!”.  The Sustainable Food Day will run from 12noon at the Gums Café on the University’s Thurgoona site and is part of the activities that the students have held since they returned from the Perth conference. “As much of the food as possible comes from local sources, making every dish as sustainable as possible. We will also have recipes and information for CSU students and staff and the public to take with them and make delicious sustainable food at home,” Mr Barrett said.

Lessons from agriculture in the Middle Ages could today help farms in Australia become more sustainable. Back in that era, farmers didn’t hold individual titles over land but farmed collectively on common property or "commons". A modern day adaptation of this concept is cross-boundary farming, where farmers agree to pool their land resource and manage it as a whole. A free one day forum on cross-boundary farming will be hosted by the Institute for Land, Water and Society (ILWS) at Charles Sturt University (CSU), Wagga Wagga Campus, on Friday 7 September. The forum will consider the opportunities and pitfalls of cross-boundary farming, the environmental benefits, property rights, relationships between and within farming families as well as workloads. There will be two panel sessions presenting various practical and political points of view on the practice.

Charles Sturt University (CSU) is contributing to the health of inland Australia through the development and funding of an Asthma Alert webpage, which will send asthma sufferers email or SMS alerts when environmental conditions pose a significantly increased risk of triggering an asthma attack. The webpage will be unveiled when the Wagga Asthma Collaboration Committee launches its 2007 Spring Thunderstorm Asthma Campaign at 10am on Wednesday 5 September at the CSU staff club, Wagga Wagga Campus. Committee Chair, Dr Bruce Graham, a lecturer at the CSU School of Biomedical Sciences, says this year’s campaign theme is Research, Education and Asthma. Professor Deidre Lemerle, Director of the E H Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, CSU and NSW DPI Research, will outline asthma research links at CSU. Rebecca Turnbull, CSU medical science & biotechnology student, will also detail research about pollens in asthma. Australian Bureau of Statistic figures show 318 Australians died from asthma in 2005.

The most recent Department of Primary Industries (DPI) figures suggest that, in NSW, there are 835 horses infected with Equine Influenza on 119 confirmed properties. An additional suspect 2900 horses on 319 locations are also in quarantine. Charles Sturt University (CSU) senior lecturer in equine medicine, Dr Sharanne Raidal says most importantly, the NSW Deputy Chief Veterinary Officer reports that every one of these cases has been traced from known contact with affected horses. This means that, to date, the disease has not escaped surveillance measures. Dr Raidal warns that only by containing the virus within a small proportion of the total horse population, and allowing the disease to "burn itself out", will "we succeeded in eradicating EI". Continued careful attention to quarantine restrictions and prompt identification of new cases is required for this to happen. A number of horses with high temperatures, but no known risk of disease, have been tested negative. It is important that all such horses are examined as part of routine, ongoing surveillance for spread of the disease.

The art of Charles Sturt University (CSU) lecturer in Art and Design Julie Montgarrett is part of on-going research into themes of transition and chance, fragility and flux, using drawing and embroidery. Otherwise: images from another place, an exhibition at the HR Gallop Gallery on CSU’s Wagga Wagga Campus, begins with a sense of deliberation to explore a specific preoccupation. But as the process unfolds, chance occurrences and new elements change the emphasis and shifting meanings arise that are often modified, consolidated or overturned. The drawings and embroideries evolve erratically, relying on particular material encounters or hybrid images suspended or floating in ambiguous, improbable spaces. Both processes emphasise fragility and impermanence. The exhibition runs until Friday 15 September.

Rice is the world's most important cereal crop and the EH Graham Centre for Agricultural Innovation, on the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Wagga Wagga Campus, is researching the genetics of rice and how gene variations affect its cooking. Rice contains about 90 per cent starch, comprising amylose and amylopectin. It is the amount and structure of these two starchy chemicals that dictate its properties, while a number of  genetic variations in rice starch enzymes also affect its cooking qualities. Visiting scientist at the CSU School of Wine & Food Sciences, Dr Arun Aryan, will present an overview of these genetic variations and the development of DNA markers to predict rice cooking properties at a seminar to be held on Wednesday 12 September at the Wagga Wagga Agricultural Institute conference room.

Charles Sturt University’s (CSU) Professor Shahbaz Khan, Director of the International Centre for Water, Senior Principal Scientist and Research Leader with CSIRO Land and Water and Regional Coordinator of the Asia Pacific office of UNESCO IHP-HELP, continues to attract accolades for his world leading water research. Professor Khan has been awarded the Modelling Society of Australia and New Zealand (MSSANZ) Biennial Medal for Natural Systems, after also recently winning a prestigious Eureka Award. Based at the CSU Wagga Wagga Campus, Professor Khan says, “The recognition is great news for CSU and CSIRO research”. CSU Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Vice-President (Research) Professor Paul C Burnett says, “It is fantastic to see that Professor Khan’s work and contribution to new knowledge in this area is being so widely recognised. He and his team should be proud of what they have achieved.” The Biennial Medal will be presented in December at the MSSANZ 2007 conference in New Zealand.