swinburne magazine - march 2011

www.swinburne.edu.au

Issue 12 | March 2011

End to surgery's waking nightmares

Herding nanoparticles to make light

Monster business success

Magazine of Swinburne univerSity of technology

Behind these doors

tHE FuturE

swinburne march 20112

insideIssue 12 | March 2011

cover story

04 See-through centre puts knowledge on show swinburne’s new centre is designed to showcase 21st century technology | dr Gio Braidotti

Our futures bound by knowledge shared“ In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” – Charles Darwin

What was apparent to Charles Darwin is truer than ever today. In our increasingly competitive, complex and connected world

we need to work together to get things done.This is why the notion of a university being exclusive is just

as out of date as exploring uncharted lands by spending years on a sailing ship. Our collective future depends on our collective ability to generate wealth, wellbeing and security through the exploitation of new knowledge. Today, universities work with industry and the broader community to tackle the things that matter: advancing our standards of living, our health and our ability to live together.

At Swinburne University of Technology we are known for our engagement with others. The stories in every edition of Swinburne magazine demonstrate the value of working collaboratively.

This imperative to engage is at the core of what we do now and our future plans. On our Hawthorn campus we have just opened our $140 million Advanced Technologies Centre, specifically built to encourage others to collaborate with us.

And work has begun on the equally impressive Advanced Manufacturing Centre, which will house a Factory of the Future and our major collaborations with Suntech (the world’s largest producer of solar panels) and Boeing.

Our future as a university is bound to our future as a society. I invite you to engage with us in shaping our future.

Professor andrew Flitman

acting vice-chancellor

03 the challenge to plug the human leak | Melissa Marino

06 Brain monitor puts patients at ease | Mandy thoo A Swinburne scientist has found a way to allow both patients and doctors to rest easy

08 Light harvesting offers new vision | Catherine norwood Amplifying light in a nano-landscape is the key to a new generation of super sensors

10 Greener by numbers | aleXandra roGinsKi

11 Industry meets academia through engaged learning

12 monstrous idea spawns industry giant | aleXandra roGinsKi Dazzling commercial results for the Swinburne graduate who brought dinosaurs back to life

14 healthy living switch a tough solo ask | susan finnis Support groups are the key to helping many Australians delay the onset of type 2 diabetes

16 accelerating the digital researcher | Professor leon sterlinG Computers and the internet are changing research in ways never thought possible

17 social media’s workplace evolution | aleXandra roGinsKi

18 Democracy's watchdog alert but not alarmed | susan finnis Taking the pulse of Australia's electoral laws

20 Big Bang survivors send astronomy back to the drawing board | Julian CriBB A new set of galaxies has the world’s astronomers rethinking cosmic evolution

22 In brief

SwinburneIssue 12, march 2011Published three times a year by swinburne University of technologyJohn street (Po Box 218), hawthorn, victoria, 3122, australiacIrcos provider code 00111DIssN 1835-6516 (Print) IssN 1835-6524 (online)

Written, edited and designed by coretext, www.coretext.com.au Printed by hannanprintPhotography by Paul Jones unless otherwise stated

copyright © swinburne University of technology. all rights reserved

FeatUres

Enquiriesmagazine manager: Liz tunnecliffetelephone: 1300 275 788 / +61 3 9214 8144email: [email protected] for free access to current and past issues: www.swinburne.edu.au/magazine

the information in this publication was correct at time of going to press, march 2011. views expressed in Swinburne are not necessarily the views of swinburne University of technology.

www.swinburne.edu.au

Issue 12 | March 2011

End to surgery's waking nightmares Herding nanoparticles to make lightMonster business success

Magazine of Swinburne univerSity of technology

Behind these doors

tHE FuturE

08 2014

The International Association of Business Communicators awarded Swinburne magazine a 2010 Gold Quill Merit Award.

march 2011 swinburne 3

InForMatIon SEcurIty

The challenge to plug the human leakstory by Melissa Marino

BEHInd tHE SEnSatIonal wikileaks controversy and political fallout lies a simple human action. in short, without a leaker, Julian assange would have no information to publish.

it is this very human propensity to want to share information, so starkly illustrated by the wikileaks saga, that new Swinburne university of technology research will address. a new australian research council linkage Project will examine people’s behaviour with a view to strengthening information management systems within government agencies.

Professor Suresh cuganesan, who is heading the project – Management control Systems for effective information Sharing and Security in government organisations – says the greatest risk from an information security perspective is people: the staff and officials who manage and deal with information as part of their day-to-day duties.

Professor cuganesan, Swinburne’s centre for enterprise Performance director, says it is well established that humans are the weakest link when it comes to information control.

there are numerous examples of the deliberate leaking of information for financial, political or personal gain, but disclosures can also be made through inadvertent errors.

losing portable data devices such as uSb sticks is one example: a high profile case emerged in 2006 when a cD containing a report into the death of an australian soldier in iraq was left in an airport lounge computer. accidental disclosures can also occur through general conversation or simply when an employee is unaware of procedures.

Behaviour change“our project will look at how government agencies can design effective controls that generate appropriate information-management behaviour,” Professor cuganesan says.

and he emphasises that ‘information management’ not only applies to keeping information secure but also helping government agencies to effectively deliver information. this is the project’s flipside – a study of ways to better share information that needs to be circulated.

“if we get it right, it has a significant upside, if more information gets to the right people, resulting in better government service delivery.”

Professor cuganesan will be examining the use of management control systems (McS) that consider an organisation’s culture and values, policies and procedures, and which can measure an employee’s information management performance.

“it’s not about putting firewalls in place to prevent hackers,” Professor cuganesan says. “it’s actually about trying to get government staff to engage in appropriate information-management practices.”

recent auditor-general reports in victoria and western australia suggest this is currently not the case, highlighting serious deficiencies in the control and security of government-held information. reasons why government information needs adequate security – and any number of examples have come to light over the years – include protecting the privacy and the security of individuals, as well as protecting databanks from fraud or other criminal activities.

the challenge is that there is increasing pressure on government agencies to improve information sharing through channels that are more open and functional. however, Professor cuganesan says at the moment there are gaping inconsistencies between the policies and operations of different government departments and their private sector partners when it comes to information management.

real-life research sites Designing and operating a management control system that improves information security as well as information sharing is going to be complex.

to this end, Professor cuganesan will be working closely with project partner Professor yun yang from the Swinburne centre for computing and engineering Software Systems (SucceSS) as well as government partners victoria Police and the Department of transport (victoria).

Professor cuganesan will design management

control systems and study their effects on organisations and employees, while Professor yang will develop and analyse the technology that will be critical to supporting these systems. Part of Professor yang’s work will examine how it-based controls can help enforce, track and monitor information sharing and security. it will also investigate how it-based controls can measure trust, risk and threat in the workforce.

the university’s government partners, Professor cuganesan says, will be real-life research sites and test-beds for the systems. they will also provide crucial insights into the issues and challenges that departments face in trying to control ‘information behaviours’.

“we want to analyse what is going on now, identify what works well and where the opportunities are for improvement. we will then start to design refinements and test them.”

both informal and formal controls are among a range of McS elements that could be tested. informally, this could be through connecting people’s information-management behaviour to the organisation’s broader values, such as integrity or respect. More formal measures might include physical or electronic controls on document access, or staff performance indicators for information behaviours.

“we are looking at both sides of the coin,” Professor cuganesan says. “we are not just looking to clamp down on information and build technology to restrict it. yes, we do need to look at security, but information also needs to move.” nn

More InforMatIonthe centre for enterprise Performance conducts research and

customised investigations in partnerships across the private, public

and not-for-profit sectors.

to find out more visit www.swinburne.edu.au or call 1300 275 788.

key poInts�Firewalls not the cure-all for data protection �research assesses the role of human

behaviour in information security

Professors Yun Yang and Suresh Cuganesan want to find balanced ways for organisations to secure information without becoming inefficient.

swinburne MARCH 20114

ARCHITECTS often claim that a building’s design should reflect the spirit of the human activity it houses. Heroic sport stadiums and voluptuous opera houses are cases in point. But what happens to a building when the residents study the impact of extreme loads on concrete and steel, create images of brain activity, or work on aerospace technology?

That question had to be asked and answered by Swinburne University of Technology when it funnelled $100 million into the construction of its new technology centre.

The building was needed to house $40 million of advanced, unique or iconic research equipment and a

teaching spaces, including a 500-seat lecture theatre that will also host public forums and community events.

The building’s transparency is a deliberate design feature, says Dr Andrew Smith. He is director of Swinburne’s Facilities and Services Group, which oversaw completion of construction on budget and on time.

“It is about the university inviting the public to gaze in and participate for a moment in Swinburne’s long-standing love affair with the technology needs of industrial and post-industrial societies,” he says.

Behind this three-storey glass wonderland are two towers, each 10 storeys high. One is dedicated to research and sits behind the Smart Structures

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES CENTRE

Swinburne’s new centre houses $40 million worth of advanced research equipment in a building designed to excite a sense of wonder in 21st century technology BY DR GIO BRAIDOTTI

key points�The first of Swinburne’s $140 million technology centres has opened to students,

researchers and industry�The Advanced Technologies Centre houses some of the most advanced research equipment available�The building sets new benchmarks in environmental sustainability

See-through centre puts knowledge

growing body of researchers and students. Rather than hide such intensely technological endeavours in the back lot as many universities do, Swinburne opted for a bold, up-front gesture.

Situated on busy Burwood Road in Hawthorn, the street frontage of the Advanced Technologies Centre (ATC) is dominated by a massive engineering laboratory encased by transparent walls. Called the Smart Structures Laboratory, it houses the means to apply extreme loads to a one-storey building. Here, as scientists test the construction materials of the future, the public and passing traffic can watch.

Alongside the laboratory are transparent social and

MARCH 2011 swinburne 5

Laboratory. The other is reserved for the education of tertiary, postgraduate and TAFE students. Holding up the education tower is the amazingly column-free void of the lecture theatre. This engineering feat is made possible by massive horizontal transfer beams that are allowed to peek through the walls and be seen by all from the entrance foyer.

Interlinking the cluster of buildings is a series of hanging bridges, cobbled alleyways and landscaped lanes that give the feel of inner city Melbourne.

“Research and teaching activities have been growing so quickly that the university needed a significant investment in space,” Dr Smith says. “But we wanted to do it in a way that captures what Swinburne is all about and where it is located.

“We like producing work-ready graduates and being involved in pragmatic, socially relevant R&D. Where applicable, we encourage lots of linkages with industry, including industry-based learning for our students. It is an ethos that goes right back to the origins of Swinburne. That’s the spirit we tried to capture in the building’s design.”

Ideas and disciplines convergeSince land is at a premium on the Hawthorn campus, the design had to maximise the available space within a 2000-square-metre footprint. Following a competition among six architectural firms, the winning bid by H2o delivered a 20 per cent increase in campus size. The architects responsible are Mark O’Dwyer and Tim Hurburgh, aided by engineers from Waterman AHW, builders Kane Constructions and quality surveyors Wilde and Woollard.

The design brief, however, created exquisitely complex challenges when it came to housing – in close proximity – so many electromagnetic and vibration-sensitive pieces of research equipment.

Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences, Professor John Beynon, explains that the ATC includes a basement spanning the entire site to accommodate most of the advanced equipment. Where necessary, it sits on concrete slabs that isolate the equipment from the rest of the building.

This is the case for the Smart Structures Laboratory and the neuro-imaging facility, which contains magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) machines used to visualise and map brain activity. Copper and silicon metal sheaths in the walls and floor provide required insulation.

“There are a lot of instruments in the basement sitting in isolated areas,” Professor Beynon says. “But the advantage of situating them in one place is that it allows the ATC to bring together an interesting mix of disciplines and research goals … from engineering, space science and laser physics to biology, social science and brain research.

“It is a space where ideas, technology and problem-solving are not separated by neat disciplinary boxes but have the opportunity to mix, cross-fertilise and hybridise. The design is meant to encourage collaborations. And we intend to expose students as much as possible to that environment.”

Given that so many collaborations deal with the development of more eco-efficient technology, the university also opted for a design that embodies sustainability principles.

“One of the other features of the building is its five-star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia – the first education building in Australia to have achieved this level of environmental sustainability,” Dr Smith says.

“It was a challenging process given the nature of the equipment it houses and the need for energy-hungry escalators to help move students around. So we worked on other aspects of the building for green credentials.”

Recycled materials – such as bricks from the knocked-down building – were used in the construction. Rainwater is captured and used to flush toilets. Light shafts are used in stairwells and lights are controlled with timers. While windows can open to let fresh air in, they automatically switch off the air conditioning.

In fact, the building’s management system is accessible by remote control and linked to the Bureau of Meteorology to pre-empt changes in weather. And

Investment in leading-edge technologiesThe Smart Structures Laboratory may be the most visually impressive of the new research facilities within the Advanced Technologies Centre, but the centre also houses an eclectic mix of research facilities designed to create an interdisciplinary melting pot of ideas and collaborations: �The Smart Structures

Laboratory for large-scale testing of civil infrastructure, aerospace, automotive and mining engineering components. The combination of strong walls and strong floor is unique in Australia and allows for the application of massive forces to structural components in three dimensions using a complex hydraulic jacking system.

�The Nanophotonics Applications Lab, developing technology for the transmission, control and detection of light (photons). Collaborators include Suntech, the world’s largest producer of solar panels (see page 9).

�The Microfabrication and Microanalytical Facility, comprising two scanning electron microscopes with

energy dispersive X-ray facilities to prepare and examine surface deposited films used in industrial materials.

�The Brain and Psychological Sciences Research Centre, aiming to improve understanding and treatment of brain and psychological disorders including autism, dementia, depression and other serious mental health problems. Researchers and collaborators have access to the latest magnetoencephalography (MEG) and 3 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technologies, as well as electroencephalographic and psychometric techniques for the study of brain function, facilities to conduct clinical trials, and an online psychological treatment centre.

The Robert Simpson High Temperature Laboratory, studying methods that dominate materials and metals production, recycling and sustainable industries. It was funded in tribute to the founder of Furnace Engineering.

�The Surface Science and Interface Engineering Facility,

developing surfaces and new materials that help solve challenges faced by engineering industries. Applications include high-temperature and wear-resistant coatings for aerospace and manufacturing, new materials and systems for medical devices and diagnostics, and novel strategies for the welding, connecting and resurfacing of materials. The research focuses on finding cost-effective ways to manufacture and analyse these materials, and encompasses a wide range of technologies from lasers and plasma-based strategies though to automation and control engineering and spectroscopy.

�The Advanced Molecular and Proteomics Facility, supporting pharmaceutical drug development from drug discovery to formulation.

�The Centre for Ageing: Assistive Technologies, researching and developing products and technologies that enhance independence and quality of life for the elderly and people with disabilities and their carers.

each tower comes sheathed in an eye-catching facade that provides an insulating thermal mass.

“Sustainability drives a lot of research in engineering these days,” Professor Beynon says. “The typical mantra is: leaner, greener, cheaper, faster. It is the environmental issues that are driving innovation and we wanted to reflect that in the design.”

As impressive as the ATC is – and it amounts to the single largest investment in the university’s history – it is soon to be matched by the construction of the $100 million Advanced Manufacturing Centre (see page 22).

“With five smaller building projects also underway, the university intends a major transformation of its campuses over the next six years,” Dr Smith says. “Ultimately, we want to create a high-technology teaching and research hub dealing in some of the most current design, manufacturing and engineering challenges facing Australia.” nn

more informationFor more detail on collaboration opportunities, accessing the research

skills and equipment within Swinburne’s Advanced Technologies

Centre, or arranging to inspect the facilities and meet research groups,

call 1300 275 788 or email [email protected].


BraIn ScIEncES

Brain monitor puts patients at ease

“I FElt My cHESt being cut open and blood being mopped away. i heard and felt the saw cutting through my chest bone,” norman Dalton told the uK's The Independent newspaper in 2004 in a harrowing account of his heart bypass operation. “i could feel every cut and saw the doctors made. i couldn’t scream out to tell.”

Dalton’s horrifying experience – known in medical jargon as ‘intra-operative awareness’ – is one of the most common complications of anaesthesia. annually, about 2000 patients have some form of awareness during surgeries performed in australian hospitals, according to the Medical Journal of Australia, and

Swinburne university of technology and cortical Dynamics ltd.

the bar monitor improves on the currently used electroencephalogram eeg monitors by incorporating the latest advances in our understanding of the mechanisms responsible for brain activity, allowing doctors to better optimise anaesthetic delivery. it has the potential to improve the patient experience, reduce recovery times and lower the costs of anaesthesia, creating a significant global market opportunity.

Pain monitoring gapthe bar monitoring system has taken 10 years

awakening during surgery is a nightmare that haunts patients and doctors alike, but swinburne scientists have found a way to allow both patients and doctors to rest easy By maNDy thoo

key poInts�a Swinburne researcher and his commercial partner have developed a brain monitoring system to

improve the safety and recovery of people undergoing surgery �anaesthetists are constrained by current technology, which cannot separately monitor consciousness

and pain in patients �Investors are being sought for the technology to be on the market by 2013

45 per cent of the insurance claims lodged against anaesthetists relate to this phenomenon. the lack of technology to accurately monitor the state of the brain during anaesthesia is considered to be the main reason for over- and under-sedation. while surgical patients fear the trauma of ‘feeling the knife’, hospitals and medical staff are equally afraid of ensuing litigation.

now, a team of researchers and entrepreneurs with the vision to end this angst has developed a technology called the brain anaesthesia response (bar) monitoring system. the bar monitor, a world-first device to replace existing electroencephalography (eeg) monitors, results from a joint venture between


to develop and was originally the brainchild of Swinburne associate Professor David liley with louis Delacretaz, founding managing director of cortical Dynamics, also involved in its development.

“in any application of anaesthesia, we always try to achieve a balance between unconsciousness and pain relief,” associate Professor liley says. “current anaesthetic methods involve giving the patient a combination of opioid and hypnotic drugs and monitoring their status with eeg-based monitors.

“however, the downfall of these eeg monitors is that they use arbitrary, rule-of-thumb determinations to analyse brain signals and translate them into something that tells us about consciousness. in most cases the monitors can only tell if the patient is awake or asleep, but not if he or she is in pain.”

associate Professor liley is the lead researcher and originator of the bar monitor. his research on the topic has appeared in peer-reviewed journals such as Anesthesiology, Physical Review E and Network: Computation in Neural Systems.

associate Professor liley explains that the way anaesthetists determine the amount of anaesthetic used on patients is based on a ‘black box’ system in which the internal workings are largely obscure.

“research has gathered thousands of eeg responses from surgical patients and produced an average of what a patient needs. this is a top-down approach where the estimation is based on rule-of-thumb data-mining and not on the requirements of the individual as determined by scientific principles.”

Meanwhile, he says the question of how the brain reacts to analgesic agents – painkillers – has remained unanswered, and this is what has limited conventional eeg monitors: “Standard eegs also lack the ability to monitor the effects of other anaesthetic drugs, such as nitrous oxide, better known as sleeping gas.”

return to fundamentalsassociate Professor liley took the view that the logical way to solve the anaesthesia challenge was to return to fundamentals: find out what mechanisms underpin the generation of the brain’s electrical activity to determine how it is affected by hypnotic and analgesic agents, and develop a scientific way to measure this.

his solution was to develop a technology that defines the patient’s hypnotic and analgesic states separately.

a 10-year research program has subsequently pioneered a new method for detecting and monitoring the brain’s physiological reaction to sedative drugs.

in the course of this research, associate Professor liley analysed brainwave data provided by clinical collaborators in belgium. forty-five patients were anaesthetised with propofol, a common hypnotic drug,

and a synthetic opioid, remifentanil, a powerful, short-acting analgesic agent. the group used two measures derived from their understanding of the eeg to explore brain reactions: cortical state (cS), to measure the brain’s responsiveness to stimuli, and cortical input (ci), to quantify the strength or magnitude of such stimuli reaching the brain.

“the results showed that our bar algorithm was able to detect the effects of remifentanil – the analgesic opioid – separately from the effects of the hypnotic drug propofol,” he says.

“we found that cS was affected only by the propofol action, whereas ci was systematically affected by the amount of remifentanil, the pain killer with which the patient was administered.

“because cS reflects hypnosis, and ci reflects the level of analgesia, we have been able to develop a method that will allow doctors to monitor both of these states independently of one another. this will supply what is missing in current eeg monitors. Doctors will be able to tell if the patient needs more hypnotic drugs or sedative agents, whereas conventional eeg monitors can’t separate these two states, making optimal drug delivery more difficult.”

associate Professor liley says the innovation combines a better scientific understanding of how the brain responds to anaesthetic drugs with development of the best mathematical algorithms to measure its responses.

he says that the bar monitor is also able to detect anaesthetic drugs that are currently unidentified by existing eeg monitors.

Elderly will be major beneficiaries with the science sorted, the next step in developing a useable technology was its commercialisation, which is where cortical Dynamics ltd has been crucial.

louis Delacretaz, who raised the initial capital for the company, says the first question is always whether a good research idea will also be a good business opportunity. he says that by addressing something lacking in the operating theatre and the medical marketplace, the bar monitor was seen as a brilliant idea and potentially viable commercial product.

Mr Delacretaz says the market need is partly driven by the ageing population and a subsequent increase in the number of surgical interventions on frailer people.he says there are two million general anaesthetics performed each year in australia and 1.3 billion worldwide, and the company plans to distribute the product as widely as possible.

cortical Dynamics was established in Melbourne in 2004 by Mr Delacretaz and associate Professor liley to raise funds to commercialise the technology.

Louis Delacretaz (left) and Associate Professor David Liley (right) demonstrate use of the device that will save patients from waking surgical nightmares on compliant collaborator Dr Bruce Whan.

“it’s quite difficult to raise the capital for a start-up company in australia and it took us 12 months,” Mr Delacretaz says.

it has long had the support of Perth-based bPh energy ltd (formerly bPh corporate ltd, formerly biopharmica ltd), which commercialises a portfolio of australian biomedical technologies. cortical Dynamics is now working towards making an initial public offer (iPo) of its shares to fund further development. if the iPo is successful, cortical Dynamics hopes to apply for admission to the official list of the australian Securities exchange in 2011.

Dr bruce whan, Director of the Swinburne Knowledge commercialisation unit and a director of cortical Dynamics, says the technology is expected to offer substantial financial benefits to hospitals and healthcare systems that choose to adopt it. “being able to finetune the application of anaesthetic agents can avoid issues of under- or over-sedation, potentially reducing side-effects and their impact on the patient experience, including recovery times and after-care expenses,” he says.

“hospitals on the other hand can avoid litigation and run more efficiently due to the earlier mobility of post-anaesthetic patients. this leads to higher turnover rates in surgery. by reducing use and wastage, it also reduces the costs of anaesthesia.”

Mr Delacretaz says market research carried out at the company’s start-up revealed medical professionals were concerned about the credibility of conventional eeg monitors for monitoring the state of anaesthesia.

“anaesthetists thought that the workings of the normal eeg monitors were not robust,” Mr Delacretaz says. “they felt that there wasn’t much scientific evidence to support their mechanisms and that the monitors are sometimes inaccurate.

“apart from addressing the biggest drawback with conventional eeg monitors, the bar technology has the potential to expand research into neuro-diagnostic fields like alzheimer’s dementia and other degenerative neurological illnesses.

“this is because our system is based on basic research into how the brain operates and how it responds to drugs.”

he also says that the device will not cost more than current eeg monitors.

“our next step is to perform clinical trials to test the technology and, if all goes well, the bar monitor should be available to the market in two years,” Dr whan says.

“ten years in the making, we have been through the journey of having an initial concept to actually holding the bar monitor in our hands. we hope that it will bring a new day to the world of monitoring the function of the brain.” nn


advancEd tEcHnology

BouncE lIgHt around in a small enough space and you can magnify its intensity a thousand-fold, maybe more. the secret, says Professor Saulius Juodkazis, is having the right ‘landscape’ for the lightwaves to bounce around in.

this is the principle behind Professor Juodkazis’s research, which aims to develop the next generation of super sensors. it’s something like catching dust motes in a beam of sunlight, shrunk down to nanoscale and magnified many times over.

Professor Juodkazis says in the right environment, redirected and amplified light waves could be capable of detecting just a few molecules of targeted substances in either liquid or gas. to create this environment he uses gold particles, each only 10 to 100 nanometres in size (one nanometre is one-billionth of a metre).

“when you shine a light the nanoparticle acts as

having worked in this field in Japan for the past 12 years at the universities of tokushima and hokkaido.

“Plasmonics is a bit of a jargon term. it simply means very small particles and how they interact with light. those small particles are usually metals like silver and gold. Swinburne already has a strength in optical microphotonics and microfabrication. now we are going even smaller,” he says.

a new plasmonics laboratory is under construction as part of the recently opened advanced technologies centre at Swinburne’s hawthorn campus. it will be the first laboratory in the world to combine both two- and three-dimensional fabrication and modification of nanoparticles by techniques using focused electrons and ions. the equipment that makes this possible is worth about $4 million and was jointly funded by the university and victoria’s Science agenda investment fund.

amplifying light in a nano-landscape provides the key to a new generation of super sensors By catherINe NorWooD

key poInts�light-based nanotechnology to underpin next-generation sensors�Swinburne is applying new nano-production capabilities to the environment�light-induced micro-explosions test ‘new materials’ theory

Lightharvestingoffers new

visionProfessor Saulius Juodkazis herds electrons to create intense light using multi-million dollar technology based within the Advanced Technologies Centre.

an antenna. it collects light from a much larger area than the particle itself,” he says. electrons within the nanoparticles follow the oscillations of the lightwaves and can be driven towards sharp edges or gaps in the nanoparticles. this ‘herding’ of electrons enhances the light field.

these ‘hotspots’ of light can reveal molecules passing by simply because they are exposed to light thousands of times more intense than ambient light. his current research is identifying the most effective shapes and arrangements of nanoparticles to help ‘harvest the light’.

Big home for tiny particlesProfessor Juodkazis leads Swinburne university of technology’s applied Plasmonics group at the centre for Micro-Photonics. he joined Swinburne in 2010 to develop the university’s expertise in plasmonics,


Professor Juodkazis says different wavelengths of light react with nanoparticles in different ways, so tailoring the nanoparticles in different shapes and sizes will generate different intensities of light and sensing capabilities. adding a third dimension creates more corners and therefore more opportunities to amplify the light field.

although Swinburne’s plasmonics laboratory and research centre are still in the capacity-building phase, Professor Juodkazis says the research has the potential to underpin the next generation of sensors. Development of a new sensing device is already in the design stage as part of a collaboration with Swinburne’s surface chemistry and sensing research group, which is involved in the detection of herbicides in soil and water pollutants.

Minute sensors, big challenge Professor Juodkazis says fabrication of functional sensors to include the nanoparticles will be a major challenge. “the sensors will need to be in the order of one millimetre square which is huge when you’re talking about nanoparticles.”

using gold particles of 10 to 100 nanometres, a one-millimetre-square sensor could contain many tens of thousands of nanoparticles – even more in layered or three-dimensional configurations.

next-generation sensing devices will require nanoparticles to be embedded into a substrate or patterned over the surface, which must then be attached to electrodes and incorporated into more complex micro-architectures. this will allow the simultaneous delivery of light while performing electrical measurements.

Professor Juodkazis says current electrochemical sensors lack this functionality. but adding light-based sensing capacity will significantly enhance both detection capacity and functionality.

“our vision would be to have a sensor that works in air, where the concentrations of molecules are usually much lower than in liquid. the sensor on a microchip device would detect what’s passing the sensor, what’s in the environment.”

he offers a possible futuristic scenario based on research priorities from his years in Japan, where there are strong initiatives to address issues of an ageing society: a new-generation sensor that people could use for the personal testing of blood or urine samples in their own home. Sensors would be capable of detecting a wide range of variables, and results could be uploaded directly to medical centres for interpretation and advice to patients. “it would be on-the-spot, fast, with no need to travel, which is very important for an ageing society, and it could be sensitive to so many things,” he says.

in another context, the light-enhancement technology using nanoparticles could also be applied to solar power generation and design of new solar panels. novel concepts of trapping light by nanoparticles can be tested using smaller areas, although the scaling problems from nanometres to the size of actual solar panels represents a significant increase in difficulty for fabrication.

delivery energy in the fastest possible way. the resulting pressure within the crystal is 20 to 30 times the pressure that exists within the earth’s core.

the australian research team is led by Professor andrei rode at anu and the crystal of choice is sapphire – the hardest of nature’s oxides. Professor rode says publication of some very promising research results is pending.

while there is growing excitement about a possible scientific breakthrough and the potential to create a previously unknown material, it could be between eight and 20 years before any laboratory discoveries are implemented in any real way.

Professor Juodkazis says the technology involved in the experimentation has been driven to its maximum limits in generating micro-explosions.

“we are looking at those spots within the crystals that have been irradiated. if we create new materials there may be potential new uses, although we are dealing with nanoparticles in very exotic phases.”

he says it is a big jump from where they are now, still in the proof-of-concept stage, to creating applications for new materials. “but it is important that we are starting to develop a fundamental understanding of how new nanomaterials can be synthesised.” nn

Explosive findingsamplifying the power of light on a nanoscale is also behind another project Professor Juodkazis has been working on, initially in Japan and now at Swinburne, in conjunction with the australian national university (anu).

an australian research council Discovery grant has funded this project, which seeks proof of experimental and theoretical work, published in 2006, which has the potential to create materials never before found on earth.

the theory is based on using tightly focused laser pulses on crystals. it was developed by anu’s Professor eugene gamaly to explain the results of laser experiments conducted in Japan in 2006.

research teams in australia, Japan and the uS are testing predictions of laser pulses applied to different crystals and glasses. a standard bench-top laser common in many research laboratories and manufacturing operations is used to generate a high pressure ‘micro-explosion’ within the crystal.

the process mimics at a nano-level the kind of seismic forces that have shaped the earth and other planets, melting and reforming materials under intense pressure. the laser is focused tightly and single short pulses of light are directed into the bulk of a crystal,

Fellowship recognises optical leadershipSwinburne University of Technology’s Centre for Micro-Photonics has been recognised as a world-class research centre with the awarding of an Australian Laureate Fellowship to centre director Professor Min Gu.

Professor Gu is a leading international authority on three-dimensional optical imaging science. The fellowship will provide support for five years for his work to develop a new generation of optical recording technology.

The aim is to extend the storage capacity of a compact disc to as much as a petabyte of data – 20,000 times more than can be stored on current Blu-ray high-density optical discs.

The technology he is developing will record data in five dimensions – including on layers of three-dimensional nanoparticles on the disc. The other two dimensions will be information coded by light color and information coded by light oscillation direction.

Professor Gu says the fellowship provides significant

recognition for his research and for Swinburne and Australia.

“It means we are doing the best work in Australia, and probably the best to a worldwide standard. It also means that the research project we put in the fellowship is absolutely world-leading science.”

His research is being conducted in collaboration with Oxford and Southampton Universities in the UK, MIT and University of California (Berkley) in the US, the Max Planck Institute in Germany, Osaka University in Japan, and Tsinghua University in China.

It is supported by the establishment of the state-of-

the-art three dimensional super-resolution nanofabrication facility in Swinburne’s new Advanced Technologies Centre. Funded by the university, with a $360,000 contribution from the Australian Research Council, it is the first nanofabrication facility to be able to achieve optical resolutions far beyond the diffraction limit.

The Commonwealth Government initiated the Australian Laureate Fellowship scheme through the Australian Research Council in 2009 to support excellence in research. Professor Gu is one of 15 leading researchers awarded a total of $35.5 million in 2010.

Professor Min Gu is developing technology that will record data in five dimensions.


story by alexandra roginski

SuStaInaBIlIty

Greener by numbersPrEvEntIng Food waStE by ‘rescuing’ it from businesses that would otherwise send it to landfill is already one form of environmental sustainability. in this case it is inherent to the operations of vicrelief foodbank, which donates millions of kilograms of food each year to around 550 relief and community organisations who then distribute it to people in need.

but the charity's project manager lisa Shaw felt there was still a lot more the organisation could do to

carbon emissions it produced during the 2008–09 financial year.

the success of this initial work prompted Mr Downie to put the vicrelief foodbank in touch with course coordinator tony hodgson to arrange the subsequent year’s reporting. recent graduate glenn bailey, owner of green box consulting, took on the task, spending the equivalent of about 10 days over several months conducting a carbon inventory and producing a report with Mr hodgson acting as independent verifier.

in november the results were in: the vicrelief foodbank team had reduced emissions per kilogram of food processed by 18 per cent in just 12 months. in that same period, the amount of food rescued and distributed increased by more than a third.

“i wanted to show other people in the community sector that it’s possible to do a carbon inventory, and that it doesn’t have to be expensive,” said Ms Shaw, who oversaw steps such as retro-fitting the vicrelief foodbank warehouse in the Melbourne suburb of yarraville with eco-friendly technology. improvements were also made to logistics by encouraging client agencies to order greater quantities of dried goods to avoid future trips. origin energy provided a free efficiency audit.

Depending on available funding, future measures include fitting solar panels on the roof, and one day even buying carbon credits to offset emissions.

Mr bailey, whose background is in it and engineering, was an early convert to sustainability. “it was a realisation, when my daughter was born, that there was someone after me, and i wanted to leave the world a better place … that was 18 years ago.”

the Swinburne short course in carbon accounting, established in 2008, was the first of its kind to be accredited according to australian Quality training framework standards. it has now trained 400 students from a range of backgrounds and interests – some seeking a career change, some adding sustainability skills to their role, some wanting to consult on sustainability matters, and some incorporating the knowledge into standard accounting practices. Students from Dubai, belgium, Kenya and new zealand have completed the course online.

it has been so successful that Swinburne is now licensing it to registered training organisations around australia. last year, the national centre for Sustainability launched the Diploma in carbon Management, which integrates both subjects from the short course.

“it is through examples such as the work with vicrelief foodbank that we see the difference that knowledge about carbon accounting can make in the real world,” said Mr hodgson. nn

Glenn Bailey, Lisa Shaw and Tony Hodgson take stock of the fresh produce in VicRelief Foodbank's Yarraville warehouse.

Skills for sustainability Swinburne University of Technology has won national acclaim for its initiatives to build student, business and community capability to improve sustainability performance.

The university won the ‘Skills for Sustainability – Educational Institution Award’ category at the latest Australian Training Awards.

The award recognises Swinburne’s commitment to sustainable educational practices and to transforming the way people live, work and learn. Swinburne’s sustainability achievements include:

�Development of a university-wide sustainability strategy, including a commitment that sustainability will be embedded in the learning objectives of all programs by 2015.

�Growth and development of sustainability education and training programs, mostly through the National Centre for Sustainability.

�Opening of the $10 million Green Trades Complex at Croydon campus in 2010 to focus on sustainability skills for apprentices

and construction workers. Funded by the Australian government, it is the first facility of its kind in Victoria and has strong industry support.

�Implementation of the Business Transformers Program, which has helped 35 businesses save more than 4000 tonnes of greenhouse gases.

�Signing of the Talloires Declaration, committing the university to raising awareness of the need to move toward an environmentally sustainable future.

reduce its carbon footprint as part of truly embedding an environmental ethos into the organisation’s culture.

as has been shown time and again in many businesses, chasing environmental goals tends to result in an increase in operational efficiencies.

in 2009 Ms Shaw contacted student John Downie from the carbon accounting short course, run through the Swinburne-based national centre for Sustainability, to help the organisation calculate the


lEarnIng

Industry meets academia through engaged learningAs a university of technology with a dual sector role, Swinburne has a proud history of strong relationships with industry. Now Swinburne is introducing a new suite of programs that embed industry engaged learning (IEL) into every undergraduate degree.

Leading this move is Professor Michael Clements, who was recently appointed to the first Chair in Industry Engaged Learning in Australia.

As his first task, Professor Clements has completed a comprehensive review of existing Swinburne higher education programs, assessing them against international best practice, and has recommended significant enhancements.

Professor Clements says the focus is on creating the best possible learning experiences for students. “Industry wants university graduates who can demonstrate initiative, learn from experience and be adaptable in the workplace. Students with these qualities contribute more quickly and effectively and can be placed in more demanding positions than students who have solely classroom-based training,” he says.

“Academic rigour coupled with real-world experience are the hallmarks of IEL. Put simply, IEL will expose students to real-world environments and contexts with a direct link to their academic study.

“Industry-Based Learning was successfully introduced into Swinburne engineering programs almost 50 years ago. IEL builds on the Swinburne tradition of working alongside industry.

“IEL is a step up from ‘work experience’ programs, which assume that a work-based placement automatically converts into learning. Swinburne IEL students take part in a structured program. They are encouraged to critically reflect on their experiences in industry and to question how these experiences fit with the theory they have learned in the classroom.

“Students also develop generic skills through IEL, including their ability to work within teams and communicate effectively in work situations. These are essential skills that are in high demand across all sectors and professions.”

Professor Clements stresses that IEL is very much part of the academic program

rather than vocational. He describes it as a robust academic model of “reflective learning from practice” that equips Swinburne graduates with the ability to adapt to change in the work setting and to become workplace leaders.

“Program design, which includes elements such as supervision, guided reflection and relevant assessment, is essential to enable students to convert their experience to learning and professional development,” Professor Clements says.

The CEO of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINSIA), Dr Martin Fahy, says that students who have experienced a well thought-out program will have gone through “deep cognitive changes” to make them more open and flexible.

“Whether you’ve learned to use the latest piece of software or latest sophisticated technique is not the issue. The issue is that you’ve gone into a complex social system and you’ve learned to adapt and understand and be responsive to it,” says Dr Fahy, who has experience in both industry and academia.

“When we listen to employers, we hear that students who’ve had time in well integrated industry placements as part of their study exhibit a level of comfort with their working environment. That means that not only is their productivity higher, but their long-term career trajectory is better,” Dr Fahy says.

Research on developing best practice in IEL will be a major focus for Professor Clements and his team. “As a university of technology, we are passionate exponents of research-based practice. That philosophy underpins everything we do in IEL.”

Professor Clements brings an international perspective to his new role, having taught and presented in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and Scotland. Like many Swinburne academics, he has had significant industry experience as a senior manager in industries such as defence and the electrical, chemical and food sectors. nn

More InforMatIonProfessor mike clements ([email protected])

or Dr Jay hays ([email protected]).

or phone (03) 9214 5749.

Professor Michael Clements

CRICOS Provider: 00111D

University and TAFE courses.

When it comes to preparing our students for the career world, Swinburne is the leading university for combining academic theory with practical experience through our applied courses and Industry Based Learning opportunities.

If you are interested in pursuing studies at Swinburne, contact us directly to apply for mid-year intake.

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crEatIvE InduStry

the swinburne graduate who brought dinosaurs back to life regards himself as more pragmatist than artist. and the commercial results are dazzling By aLeXaNDra roGINsKI

spawns industry giant

'Roar' talent. Sonny Tilders (right) has fathered many dangerous creatures, but none more menacing than the anti-hero of the Walking with Dinosaurs arena show, Tyrannosaurus rex. Swinburne student Nathan Autumn is learning the business of making monsters as part of his industry placement at the workshop.


Sonny tIldErS doesn’t become attached to his extraordinary creatures. any mystique held by his dinosaurs and dragons is gradually lost in their protracted birth.

Mr tilders, creative designer behind the box office hit Walking with Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular, oversees early sketches, the stitching of skin, welding of bones and the first ‘baby steps’ on an arena floor.

he admires the unseen mechanics of the creatures in the live show much more than their artificial sentience – that illusory capacity for feeling that has helped make the arena show an international celebrity in the field of animatronics, or electronic puppetry.

but as seven million ticket sales worldwide will attest, others are awestruck at the sight of these saurian beauties, some standing up to 11 metres tall. they stomp the ground, necks weaving fluidly, muscles rippling, every movement powered from within by a framework of hidden hydraulics and camouflaged performers.

the realism, technology and artistry behind Walking with Dinosaurs has made the arena show and global creatures, the company behind it, one of australia’s most phenomenal business and creative success stories. the creature technology company (ctc), which Mr tilders leads, is the animatronics arm of global creatures. the show is now in its third incarnation, having travelled to 198 cities across the uS, britain, europe and asia.

in 2009 it was the highest grossing family show in the world, and in 2010 its primary investor, prominent Melbourne businessman gerry ryan, overtook ac/Dc as the top earner on the BRW entertainment rich list. owned mostly by ryan, ctc employs 35 full-time staff and about 15 freelancers, making it one of the largest animatronics workshops in the world.

and it has happened quickly. the company was only founded in 2007, the same year the arena show was launched in australia and north america. the show’s 16 dinosaurs were designed and built in a year.

but planning began long before that. in the early 2000s, a Sydney theatre producer approached the bbc with an outlandish idea for their Walking with Dinosaurs documentary series, which featured breathtaking computer-generated graphics. what if the dinosaurs could really walk – in front of an audience?

the team had $50,000 in seed funding from Mr ryan, founder of caravan manufacturer Jayco and part-owner of 2010 Melbourne cup winner americain.

Mr tilders, who was hired to manage a team of freelancers recruited for the bbc job, recalls how it started: “we just made a show. it’s kind of bizarre, but the bbc had nothing to lose. they didn’t invest a cent, thinking that if it bombed in australia no-one would ever know. So they were lovely and hands-off and we just developed the best show we could.”

because of australia’s small population, success on the international stage was critical to make the show financially viable. “we’re like most manufacturers in that way,” Mr tilders says.

the fame and extraordinary inventiveness and skill behind the dinosaurs led to uS production company Dreamworks animation seeking to collaborate with ctc. he and his team are now developing the characters for a stage adaptation of the popular animated film How to Train Your Dragon.

the ctc’s west Melbourne warehouse is also humming with the development of fantastical beasts for global creatures’ stage production of King Kong, based on the original 1933 film directed by Kong creator Merian c. cooper.

“Kong is being made for broadway,” Mr tilders says. “that’s no small ambition. it is big thinking for a little country, but we’ve reached the point where we just can’t afford to go backwards.” nn

The latest evolution of Walking with Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular will start touring Australia in April this year, with shows in Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, Newcastle and Brisbane.

From tinkerer to industry leader It seems an unexpected trait for an internationally successful creative designer, but Sonny Tilders of the Creature Technology Company doesn’t consider himself a brilliant artist.

“I’ve always been a tinkerer,” says Mr Tilders when explaining his proficiency in the mechanics that underpin animatronics. “I used to pull apart toys as a kid. I had technical Lego and Meccano and that sort of thing.”

He chose the Swinburne University of Technology Bachelor of Graphic Design degree because of the diverse career paths of its graduates. At the end of his course in 1988, a lecturer directed Mr Tilders to Mother’s Art, a Melbourne company specialising in props, models and special effects. “I offered to work for free for a couple of weeks to get experience,” he recalls. Those few weeks extended to nine years of paid work.

At Mother’s Art, he honed his craft on everything from museum installations to models and sets, and ended up managing all of the company’s film and television work.

In the late 1990s, Australia was becoming fertile ground for feature films – including The Matrix and Star Wars – and Mr Tilders left Mother’s Art to try his luck as a freelancer. This led to work on the US series Farscape where, with the freedom of American money, he made sometimes two or three creatures (generally aliens) per episode and tapped into the expertise of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. It was the ideal training ground, leading to other credits including Peter Pan, The Chronicles of Narnia and Star Wars – Revenge of the Sith.

The establishment of the Creature Technology Company (CTC) from the success of Walking with Dinosaurs – The Arena Spectacular, and the fact that it can provide so many employees with a livelihood, is the career highlight for Mr Tilders, so far. He believes that his talent lies in being able to step back and see the work of the team as a whole.

“My role is not to be the idea generator. It’s actually to be the person who’s thinking about how everything comes together. For example, when I see the creature on a computer screen I’m calculating how heavy it’s going to be, how fast it has to go, what the character has to do in the script, what it has to do ‘emotionally’.”

This includes making sure that these constructed creatures ‘work’ biomechanically in the real world.

“Everything, even if it’s a dragon, even if it’s an alien, has a foundation in the natural world, because that’s everyone’s point of reference. It has to look like something that could exist. We all have an innate sense of that. And so even if it has two heads, the heads still have to have the right musculature.” The invention and execution lies with a motley crew of professionsals: graphic designers, welders, model makers, software engineers, scenic artists, puppeteers, seamstresses, fabricators, electrical engineers and mechanical engineers (steelies), including two from the car racing industry. Many have been with CTC from the beginning.

“We’re unusual in that we throw them together,” Mr Tilders says. “We try, for example, to get the steelies to understand what happens next, how the muscles are going to work; how what they do has another life after it leaves the steel shop.”

Remembering his own student days, Mr Tilders provides industry-based learning opportunities to Swinburne students.

He also draws on the university’s rapid prototyping expertise and has formed a partnership with Swinburne’s National Institute of Circus Arts to explore new performance techniques that could be applied to both current and future creature productions, including the stage production of King Kong. – ALEXANDRA ROGINSKI

More InforMatIonFor information on swinburne design courses call 1300 275 794.

For information on business–university collaboration opportunities call 1300 275 788.


HEaltH

Healthy living switch a tough solo ask

coMMunIty meetings may be just as good for your health as they are for making friends. australian preventative health experts say a new victorian study shows that local group support meetings can have a powerful influence on lifestyle, in particular changes that can help ward off the onset of diseases such as type 2 diabetes.

Most australians are by now well aware that a healthy diet, weight control and exercise are the keys to reducing their chances of acquiring this disease as they age, but a recent research project has also looked at the influence of regular local support meetings in boosting personal motivation, mood and confidence. in fact, a study run between 2005 and 2009 by the victorian Department of health, and evaluated by

medically non-diabetic within the same time frame.there was also evidence that being depressed,

lonely, anxious, socially isolated or having a negative state of mind thwarted efforts to help people ward off diabetes, one of the fastest growing chronic diseases in australia.

So marked were the contrasting impacts of the community support and the more individual approaches that results are already being incorporated into australian preventive health thinking and strategies.

the results are also regarded as having financial implications for cost-effective prevention of diabetes in a society in which obesity and sedentary lifestyles are on the rise.

the study involved 300 people from three communities, centred on the Melbourne suburbs of box hill and Dandenong, and the rural victorian city of Shepparton.

all participants had been diagnosed as being at extremely high risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the next five years, testing positive to the condition known as pre-diabetes.

blood tests showed these patients, most of whom were aged over 50, had impaired glucose tolerance and high levels of fasting blood sugars. this biochemical state was often accompanied by high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a combination of factors known as ‘metabolic syndrome’, typically linked to obesity, poor diet and lack of exercise.

Professor Susan Moore, from Swinburne’s faculty of life and Social Sciences, helped the victorian health Department design the methodology behind the trial and the surveys completed by participants during the six-month study, including questions about mood, motivation and mental attitude.

the Swinburne team comprised chief investigator Professor Moore, Dr elizabeth hardie, associate Professor christine critchley, Professor Mike Kyrios, Dr Simone buzwell, Dr naomi crafti and project manager Dr naomi hackworth.

the team also evaluated results from the two different treatment groups – one featuring ‘community healthy lifestyle meetings’, and the other comprising people left to their own devices for six months in the control group.

wake-up call Professor Moore says a unique feature of the study was that both quantitative and qualitative data about how participants were faring in their attempts to improve their diet, weight, exercise levels and overall health was collected as the trial progressed.

“we decided very early on that we needed to look at what the participants were like, and what their diet and lifestyles were like, both before the program and after it,” Professor Moore says.

“everyone, even those in the control group, had had the pre-diabetes diagnosis or wake-up call from their doctor, so what we needed to evaluate was if that diagnosis by itself was enough to encourage and motivate participants to take action and change, or if a community ‘healthy living’ group program could be

community support groups promoting healthier lifestyles may be the key to helping thousands of ageing australians delay the onset of type 2 diabetes By sUsaN FINNIs

key poIntsMore and more australians are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes �a study shows people are more likely to reverse this condition by participating in community-based

healthy living courses�the outcomes are being integrated into preventive health programs in victoria

Professor susan moore, Dr simone Buzwell, Professor christine critchley and Dr elizabeth hardie from

the swinburne research team visit an archetypal lifestyle venue – the gym.

Swinburne university of technology, has found community support can almost double the chances of high risk australians beating-off the disease.

the study found that people who attended regular meetings of a community-based healthy living education and support program had a 43 per cent success rate in reversing their at-risk pre-diabetes condition within six months of diagnosis.

Stark contrast spurs actionin stark contrast, only one quarter of patients medically diagnosed as pre-diabetic and left to tackle their diet, exercise and weight control issues alone or with the sole help of their local gP were able to change their at-risk diabetes status to become


an additional motivation.“and then we wanted to find out,

using psycho-social variables, why people had changed and how much that was to do with their mood, attitude and the ongoing support they received.”

two-thirds of the participants, all volunteers, were randomly selected for the healthy living intervention group program. the other 100 patients were allocated to the control group reliant on their own actions with little outside assistance beyond their standard gP care.

the healthy living course gathered between six and 12 participants, all diagnosed as pre-diabetic, in a group meeting once a week for the first four weeks.

the basic structure of how to live healthily and improve fitness, diet and weight was communicated in the first four weekly sessions. the groups then reassembled after intervals of three months and six months.

Prior to the first meeting and again at the end of the program, all participants were asked to fill in questionnaires about their levels of stress, anxiety, happiness, mood and readiness to take on lifestyle change, as well as about their level of knowledge of diabetes and what they needed to do.

even Professor Moore admits she was surprised by the extent to which those involved with the group-based lifestyle intervention programs benefited so much more than those given the current ‘standard care’ treatment for pre-diabetes.

at the end of the study, the same blood tests taken when doctors had diagnosed the participants as being pre-diabetic, revealed nearly half (43 per cent) of those involved in the healthy lifestyle group courses had successfully reversed their condition, becoming non-diabetic.

only 26 per cent of the control group achieved the same result.

the average weight of those in the lifestyle program group dropped from 81 kg to 78 kg, and their waist circumferences reduced from 97 cm to 94 cm. the weight of the control group changed minimally from 82 kg to 81 kg, while their waist measurements stayed fixed at an average 97 cm.

words are not enoughProfessor Moore now believes simply supplying patients with educational information and emphasising the need for lifestyle change – even if it follows the warning of a pre-diabetes blood result –

may not be enough for many people.Just as important may be each

person’s psychological make-up, their motivation to change and their self-belief in being able to alter their medical fate.

Professor Moore also suspects the social aspect of the group support programs could be a key to the excellent outcomes.

“the participants seemed to really enjoy the meetings and the opportunity for social interaction and the support they offered, which was clear by the very few people who dropped out of a program that was six months long. clearly, the facilitators did a great job at involving everyone and communicating their message in a positive and supportive way.”

the trial reinforced how much the overall cost to the health system of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes can be lessened or mitigated by preventative community health programs.

More broadly, the results also suggest that tackling social isolation, anxiety and depression may have the unexpected consequence of improving long-term health outcomes.

applying the findings the victorian Department of health is taking the findings of the study a step further. together with Diabetes australia in victoria, it is now rolling out similar six-month-long healthy living courses across the state under the banner of ‘life! taking action on Diabetes’, aimed at preventing and reducing the health impact of diabetes.

victoria is the first state in australia to implement this approach on a systematic basis.

Professor Jim hyde, Director of Prevention and Population health at the victorian Department of health, said the findings of the initial study will now inform diabetes prevention and early intervention programs in victoria.

“as with the healthy living course, the ‘life! taking action on Diabetes’ group course is based on the same principle that building self-efficacy is an essential element of supporting lifestyle change,” Professor hyde says.

“relationships developed with the facilitator and other group members build a support network that fosters positive attitudes and increased self belief towards goal attainment, thus helping to reduce the health impact of chronic disease.” nn


REACH TO THE HIGHEST DEGREE.

SUCCESS

PhD scholarships available now.

We assist PhD candidates in the pursuit of doctoral research through our scholarships.

Swinburne offers a wide selection of awards valued up to $48,000 per annum to subsidise living and study expenses. In addition, students have the opportunity to choose from highly focused areas of research which include Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Brain and Psychological Sciences, Computer Software and Systems, Engineering and Industry, Optical Physics, Social Research and Business.

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erESEarcH

Accelerating the digital researcher on the information superhighwayby Professor leon Sterling, Dean of the faculty of information and communication technologies

tHE IntErnEt has grown over the past 50 years from a network connecting computer science researchers funded by the uS military, to a network connecting two billion people worldwide.

internet users span all ages, abilities and interests, and the web has equally transformed the world for scientists and researchers. wikipedia’s 3.5 million articles were assembled in less than 10 years. in contrast, the hundred thousand entries for the oxford english Dictionary were assembled over 100 years. we can tackle problems with a scale and speed previously impossible. the famous australian mathematician terry tao described in a 2009 lecture tour how, over a few days, considerable progress was made on a challenging problem by mathematicians across the world sharing thoughts on a website.

universities and government are ensuring that

the internet’s possibilities for transforming the way we work are made available for large-scale research of a global, collaborative nature. the current focus on supporting the use of the internet to facilitate big science started 10 years ago in the uK with advocacy for eScience – the ‘e’ standing for ‘enabling’ rather than ‘electronic’. in australia, the term was generalised to ‘eresearch’ five years ago to cover the complete spectrum of research, including humanities, social sciences, medicine and all branches of science.

the australian government supports eresearch. its Super Science initiative, announced in 2009, is providing $1.1 billion from the education infrastructure fund. the initiative encompasses critical areas of science including space science and astronomy, climate change, marine and life sciences, biotechnology and nanotechnology.

government investments depend on collaboration between universities, government research agencies, independent research institutes and business.

capabilities of eresearch include the following: high bandwidth network access to research instruments, data repositories, sensor networks and advanced computational facilities, and to research collaborators worldwide; software applications and services that enable secure connectivity and interoperability between research infrastructure at differing institutions; and tools for developing applications in specific disciplines such as genetics and astronomy.

Perhaps the largest driver for the prominence of eresearch is the emergence of extremely large datasets in areas including computational biology, astronomy and high energy physics. Some researchers go so far as to say that we now need to think about scientific discovery differently, the case made in a recent book, The Fourth Paradigm: Data-Intensive Scientific Discovery, edited by tony hey and colleagues from Microsoft research.

there are many global problems that render essential the ability to absorb, process and analyse large amounts of data – climate change, water quality and accessibility, sustainable agriculture, and even searches for life on other planets. the ability to make genetic sequences available holds open the prospect of personalised medicine. the publication of data for worldwide scrutiny can potentially remove heat from some political issues. for example, there are divergent views on global warming, and ensuring researchers can access data is the best way of advancing understanding. while high-definition videoconferencing makes it possible for researchers from across the world to discuss the datasets in real time.

an interesting aspect of making the datasets available is the possibility of ‘citizen science’. there is now a complete map of the night sky available for all to ponder. People are conscripted to classify galaxies. in a way, it updates the history of science by enthusiastic amateurs once described by bill bryson in A Short History of Almost Everything.

Swinburne university of technology is developing a strategy for eresearch. we are formulating policies and procedures to share data generated from our research across the world (in a way that still means the research is acknowledged and intellectual property protected). while we lead eresearch in astronomy – and to a lesser extent in brain sciences – other areas of our research will benefit from the strategy. it will lead to investment in eresearch infrastructure such as mass data storage and high-speed networks. improvements in access to data and knowledge will assist our researchers to conduct and disseminate their research more creatively, efficiently and collaboratively. nn

we are formulating policies and procedures to share data generated from our research across the world (in a way that still means the research is acknowledged and intellectual property protected). – PROFESSOR LEON STERLING

17march 2011 swinburne

worKPlacE

Social media’s workplace evolutionkey poInts�the average employee spends up to 60 minutes a day on personal web searches�online networking during office hours is not necessarily bad for business

Facebook may not be the black hole of workplace productivity many consider it to be, as research conducted by Swinburne University of Technology with web security company MailGuard shows.

The research partnership between MailGuard and Dr Rajesh Vasa, a lecturer in the Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies, has revealed that the average employee spends between 30 and 60 minutes online for personal reasons each day.

Although 40 per cent of people in the sample of approximately 50,000 used Facebook in the six-month period analysed, the average time spent on the site was just a few minutes.

While other studies have drawn on consumer data and qualitative research, this is the first to scrutinise individual behaviour over an extended period.

The uses of internet for personal reasons tend to be comparatively banal: people check the news, weather and transport timetables. Sports news sites are particularly popular and online shopping is rising.

Only 20 per cent of staff were classified by the researchers as ‘heavy explorers’, exceeding a baseline of ‘normal’ that was set at 200 websites a month. It’s at this level that staff productivity is considered to deteriorate.

Dr Vasa’s primary research at the faculty

focuses on the behaviour of computer programmers when they build software. He helps companies who subcontract computer work to assess whether billing is correct and if the project is being managed at the declared pace. But the methodology easily transfers to web usage.

“I study how people use tools to build software and the browser is just another piece of software. The data that we store and the maths we use for analysis are identical. It’s the same maths that economists use to detect whether people are getting richer or poorer,” Dr Vasa says.

The anonymous data, provided with the consent of client companies, tracked staff browsing habits from 2009.

MailGuard CEO Craig McDonald expects the usage patterns to continue to evolve. Twitter was used by just 2.6 per cent of individuals in January 2009, but that had grown to 17.1 per cent by year’s end.

Mr McDonald does not believe the information warrants employers tightening the screws on their staff: “How do you harness the experiences of heavy explorers who also achieve high productivity for the benefit of the business? It’s about working smartly in the new terrain, rather than banning social media and frustrating some of your best performers because one or two employees are misusing Facebook.” – ALEXANDRA ROGINSKI

Dr Rajesh Vasa and Craig McDonald analysed huge data sets to find out the sites staff are browsing in the office. PHOTO: EAMON GALLAGHER

Postgraduate studies.

Swinburne is the standout university for putting theory into practice, and that’s because it works. So, whether you’re looking to advance in Business, Engineering & Science, IT, Social Sciences or Design, count on learning from top professionals in your field. Our courses are developed directly with industry to ensure you are provided with the most current ‘real-world’ skills and knowledge.

Individual course advice is always available to assist you with enquiries and decisions. Easier yet, our courses are designed to be flexible to fit with your busy schedule.

If you are interested in advancing your career through postgraduate studies at Swinburne, contact us directly to apply for mid-year intake.


THE HEIGHT OF YOUR IS WITHIN REACH.

CAREER


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PolItIcal ScIEncE

DemocrAcy’S wATcHDoG

wHEn the australian electoral commission announced in July 2010 that the electoral roll would be closed off on the same night the election writs were issued, many were outraged – enough to galvanise a challenge.

about one million australians, most of them teenagers who had turned 18 since the previous federal election, were suddenly to be denied their democratic right to vote.

an online protest campaign began, headed by activist group getup, but run behind the scenes by the Democratic audit of australia (Daa) – a little-known but influential collaboration of constitutional and political specialists. Mostly from academia, the Daa provided the intellectual muscle to test the matter in the high court.

Professor brian costar is director of the Daa and Swinburne university of technology’s first chair in victorian State Parliamentary Democracy. he says the high court found that the electoral act changes made in 2006 to allow the roll to close on the day writs were issued did not accord with the spirit of the constitution. consequently, almost another half a million voters, most of them young, were eligible to vote at the 2010 federal election.

the decision may have changed the outcome, with voters returning a hung house of representatives, owing largely to a record vote for independent candidates and the australian greens.

the indelible right of every eligible australian to vote – accorded under the australian constitution – has been quietly championed by the Democratic audit of australia project since it was formed in 2002.

“we are the ones who keep issues such as the early closing of the roll and the right of prisoners to vote bubbling along for years when there’s no real media attention, and are there with the background, with credibility, when it does become part of the public debate,” says Professor costar.

the audit emerged from the work of researchers at the australian national university in 2002, with the team led by social sciences head Professor Marian Sawer. Since 2008, however, it has been based at Swinburne’s institute for Social research, with

continuing input from researchers and political experts at anu and other universities.

the audit’s goal is to assess australia’s strengths and weaknesses as a democratic society, and to provide commentary and research – rather than pressure – from a non-partisan perspective. Professor costar says the audit has no fixed position other than a belief in the need for greater and faster transparency and more uniformity across jurisdictions.

comprising a loose team of 16 political and constitutional academics from across australia, it follows a framework pioneered in the uK and further developed through the international institute for Democracy and electoral assistance (iDea) in Sweden.

the audit’s charter draws explicit attention to potential or actual conflict between the democratic values it champions – political equity, popular control of government, civil liberties and human rights, and the quality of public deliberation.

Members of the audit team are often called as expert witnesses before relevant parliamentary committees. “we try to put forward suggestions based on research, not on emotion or knee jerk reaction, and over the years i think we have come to be regarded as non-partisan and pretty even-handed,” says Professor costar.

campaign finance laws on fix-it listSo what is his team’s assessment of how australia and its states fare as a democracy?

generally, he feels democracy in australia is in good shape; as one might expect of the world’s oldest democracy (together with new zealand). australia’s record is world best-practice in terms of running elections, voting systems, electoral laws and administrations.

but it is a less rosy picture for electoral funding and enrolments, areas continually pinpointed by the audit as deficient.

top of the Daa’s ‘fix-it’ list is the need for greater transparency in campaign finance laws and political donations, combined with the need for

the head of an influential group that keeps an eye on australia’s democratic health says our strong scorecard leaves room for improvement By sUsaN FINNIs

faster disclosure of who is funding political parties. currently only political donations made by individuals or companies greater than $11,200 have to be reported in federal elections, and are only made public 12 to 18 months later.

then there are corollary issues such as should political donations be allowed at all, should all elections and candidates be totally publicly funded to avoid any whiff of favour-buying, and should there be restrictions on which type of companies can or can't donate?

“australia is unusual in that there are no caps on donations and no limits on campaign spending by parties or candidates,” Professor costar says.

“it is strange that australia, which has been such a leader in other areas of democratic reform, is so unregulated and perhaps even permissive in this regard.”

the second big issue identified by the audit is the large number of australians who are eligible to vote but are not on the electoral roll. there were 1.6 million australians who should have voted in 2010. Most are ‘lost’ voters who have slipped off the roll after changing addresses. Professor costar says that if australia is to retain compulsory voting, something must be done to ensure all eligible voters are on the mandatory electoral roll. options include automatic enrolment updates when addresses are changed, based on power company, driver’s licence or post office address changes.

also, should the 900,000 australian citizens living overseas have the right to vote – they currently don’t – and what about permanent or new australian residents with visas waiting for citizenship?

then of course there are the myriad democracy issues associated not just with elections but how government functions, such as the pecuniary interests of politicians, the transparency and availability of government documents under freedom of information laws and the potential for corruption within politics.

“while democracy in australia is going well, and our standards and benchmarks are good by world standards, it still has to be nurtured,” says Professor costar.

“we can’t afford to sit on our laurels.” nn

19march 2011 swinburne

rESEarcH

upturn in Swinburne’s fortuneSomething remarkable has happened to Swinburne’s research in the last decade, says Acting Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Flitman.

Although Swinburne only incorporated as a university (with associated research mandate) in 1992 and is relatively small, by 2010 it achieved one of the highest Australian Research Council competitive grant outcomes in the state, with overall success rates among the top universities in Australia. It was also listed as one of the world’s top 500 universities in a leading league table, the Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Ranking of World Universities.

“To get to this point we built critical mass – groups of talented people working together on strategic areas,” Professor Flitman says.

Swinburne was listed in the world’s top 500 universities in the influential Shanghai Jiao tong academic ranking of world universities.

“We then implemented an engagement strategy. For example, Victoria accounts for about 39 per cent of Australia’s manufacturing output. So we engage across that sector by housing the headquarters for research centres like the Advanced Manufacturing CRC and the Defence Materials Technology Centre.”

It is a theme that carries over into the Advanced Technologies Centre (ATC) that will house many of the projects recently funded by the Australian Research Council (ARC).

“In the last round, our success rate for ARC Linkage grants, which involve industry-partnered applied projects, was 80 per cent while the national average is 47 per cent,” Professor Flitman says. “Then we received 15 ARC Discovery grants for pure research.”

That is in addition to $40 million from the Education Investment Fund towards the construction of the Advanced Manufacturing Centre, and operating funds from various public and private sources including the Victorian Science Agenda, numerous corporate partners, and universities interested in using facilities within the ATC.

Projects related to urban and regional planning, media and communications, information technology, business, psychology and alternative medicines are affected. Other projects involve pursuing technological advancement in areas such as biochemistry, engineering, astronomy, physics and nanotechnology, and their industrial applications. – GIO BRAIDOTTI

“We can’t afford to sit on our laurels,” says Professor Brian Costar of Australia's current democratic climate.


SPacE and tIME

Early In ItS lIFE the universe underwent an epoch of explosive star formation, its infant galaxies sparkling with vitality as stars clumped and supernovae crackled amid swirling penumbras of gas and dust. after a few billion years things settled into a more stable state – the cosmos we largely see today.

now a team of astronomers from Swinburne university of technology has opened a startling new window into the early story of the universe, with the discovery of a unique set of galaxies close in space and time to our own Milky way – yet resembling in every way the turbulent, rumbustious galaxies, bursting with fresh energy, of that bygone era more than 10 billion years ago. it’s a finding that promises to take astronomy a broad leap closer to one of its grails: understanding the processes that give rise to star formation and galactic development.

their discovery was remarkable enough to earn them one of science’s most coveted laurels – a cover story in the international scientific journal Nature – rare at any time, but doubly so for the fact that it was lead author and doctoral student andy green’s first published scientific paper.

behind any important scientific discovery nowadays is an ocean of hard slog, frustration and voluminous data crunching and, just occasionally, the odd, blissful eureka moment. it was no different for

or so galaxies assembled by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which spans about a quarter of the night sky visible from earth in the general proximity of our Milky way. being much closer and more contemporary, the astronomers expected to see galaxies much like ours – mature, stable, structured, predictable. but to give themselves the best chance they picked out, for closer scrutiny, a ratbag handful of galaxies that seemed far more agitated than their stately peers.

between the team and the answer also lay the bane of optical astronomers: the weather. ten nights of their precious observing time on the anglo-australian telescope (aat) and the australian national university’s 2.3-metre telescope at Siding Spring, nSw, were lost to cloud and drizzle, andy recalls. “but it gave us time to think in more detail about what we were really hoping to find.”

when the skies finally cleared and the telescope was at last able to harvest the meagre photons from galaxies a billion or so light years distant, the results were startling. the team was using one of astronomy’s most potent instruments, an integrated field spectrograph, which essentially gathers the full spectrum of light emitted by the object in every one of its pixels. in optical astronomy, colour equals information: in particular the red- or blue-shift of

the discovery of a unique set of new galaxies has the world’s astronomers rethinking cosmic evolution By JULIaN crIBB

key poInts�discovery of galaxies that should be ‘dead’ opens new chapter in cosmic science�Swinburne Phd student makes the cover of Nature�Science may have stepped closer to learning how stars are born

andy and the team led by Professor Karl glazebrook at the Swinburne centre for astrophysics and Supercomputing. they began by asking themselves a very difficult question: how did the vigorous star-forming galaxies of 10 billion or more years ago really work – what was driving the phenomenal burst of vitality at this critical juncture in the life of the cosmos?

Quest leads to eureka momentbetween them and the answer stood the enormous lapse of time and space since the universe was young. the fact that these youthful galaxies were no more than indistinct blobs of light on the far horizon of space-time scarcely detected by the most powerful of telescopes and sensitive of instruments. their solution was to switch the focus of the search to a far more recent set of galaxies, barely one-tenth the age of these primal furnaces of star formation, to see if they could spot signs of similar vigorous internal activity and perhaps connect the evolutionary dots between the universe of then and that of now. “nobody had thought to look at local galaxies in quite this way before,” Professor glazebrook explains. “we were studying galaxies with a red shift of 0.1 – in other words only about 1.3 billion years in look-back time. less than a tenth the age of the universe.”

this involved a quest to search through the million

send astronomy back to the drawing board

Big Bang survivors

"It was then we realised we'd found

a new class of galaxies," says andy

Green (right), who co-authored

the paper with his PhD supervisor,

Professor Karl Glazebrook.


hydrogen ions reveals whether they are moving away from or towards the observer, and this in turn signals how turbulent are conditions in their vicinity.

the first few galaxies studied yielded two results in particular – one showing pockets with high rates of star formation and the other strong turbulence in the gas and dust around them. taken together they revealed a seething furnace in which stars were being born at impetuous rates. to the astonishment of the team nearly a third of their hand-picked sample objects turned out in both respects to resemble the giant firecracker galaxies of the early universe. “it was a eureka moment for us – really quite exciting,” andy confesses.

“we compared the data from the first galaxy with that of others, and we saw the same trend in about 20 out of the 65 we were studying. it was then we realised we’d found something really unusual, a new class of galaxies. it was one of those times when you go ‘a-ha!’

“we had simply no idea that these highly turbulent star-forming galaxies still existed in the more recent universe,” he explains. “until then we had considered them to be a feature of this much earlier and more energetic phase following the big bang. yet here they were – rare, but nevertheless active.” although it is hard as yet to make a precise estimate, such galaxies probably comprise less than one per cent of all those in our own galactic neighbourhood, puzzling survivors from a cosmic era long gone.

galactic ‘fossils’ key to evolutionary insights Just as palaeontologists study ‘living fossils’ such as the coelacanth and lungfish to trace the evolutionary pathways from early fishes through to land animals, the Swinburne team now plans to use these highly turbulent galaxies to observe the processes that drive star formation and galactic evolution and to gain insight into the processes that established the early universe, Professor glazebrook says. being so much closer at hand, they are easier to resolve with today’s most powerful instruments. in time they will provide fodder for next-generation devices such as the giant Magellan telescope and the thirty Meter telescope, both due for completion in the 2020s.

one of the most important questions that the Swinburne team is seeking to answer is how turbulence and star formation are linked. are the gigantic swirls of gas and dust a precondition for many stars to form or a consequence of their forming – or both? the two are certainly related, but which drives the other? how is the process regulated? and if the swirling gas provides the primary material, where does it come from?

“Discovering these odd galaxies has raised more questions than it answers,” andy admits. “another is why they are still behaving this way, 10 billion years after the universe’s peak period of star formation. are they simply late bloomers and something has held them back? or have they been triggered by recent events, such as a collision between two or more galaxies?”

the work of finding out has already begun, using the world’s most powerful telescope, the 10-metre Keck ii atop Mauna Kea in hawaii, where Swinburne

astronomers enjoy the rare privilege of regular observing time. here, says Professor glazebrook, the team will enjoy resolutions 10 times or more greater than on the australian instruments. each incremental advance in observational power will unlock more detail of how stars are born, and so the journey to enlightenment will continue.

the team’s report, ‘high star formation rates as the origin of turbulence in early and modern disk galaxies’, was unusual enough to catch the eye of the editors of Nature, but what set the seal on their report was some remarkable artwork by theoretician rob crane, who uses the Swinburne supercomputer to model galactic evolution. “i asked rob what images he had that might illustrate the kind of conditions we were studying – and he found a really good one,” andy recounts. the editor was impressed – and the almost unheard-of event of a graduate student making

A bestiary of galaxiesSince the advent of radioastronomy in the 1930s, astrophysicists have been able to observe galaxies not merely through the brilliance of their visible light – but increasingly across every accessible wavelength in the electromagnetic spectrum, from high-energy gamma rays and x-rays to the infrared and longest radio wavelengths. This ability to view galaxies in all their moods, revealing the potent energies at work within them, is the inspiration for a unique new atlas compiled by Swinburne astronomer Dr Glen Mackie.

The Multiwavelength Atlas of Galaxies, published by Cambridge University Press in 2010, presents an in-depth view of 35 of the best known galaxies. Its images have been contributed by Dr Mackie and more than one hundred astronomy colleagues using the Hubble Space Telescope, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Australia Telescope Compact Array, Spitzer Space Telescope, Parkes 64-metre dish and many other space- and ground-based telescopes.

The atlas is a visual feast of more than 250 colour images to delight both aspiring scientist and lay reader alike, and is the first to display the extraordinarily contrasting faces of the same

object viewed at different wavelengths.

It has four parts. The first introduces galaxies, discusses the atlas sample, categories of galaxies and properties of the sample. Part two describes the various origins of radiation emitted by galaxies and presents some important galaxy research topics that use multiwavelength observations. Part three discusses multiwavelength radiation from the Galactic Centre and finishes with all-sky multiwavelength images of our Galaxy. Part four comprises the multiwavelength atlas images with scientific explanations of what is going on within each galaxy. The book also has appendices describing the telescopes and instruments used, image sources, technical descriptions of each image, a cross-referenced list of galaxies, and plots of spectral energy distributions.

“As a young postdoc at Harvard I was studying one galaxy – NGC1316 – in particular detail in the optical spectrum, and it became clear it had recently, in the past one to two billion years, consumed several smaller galaxies,” Dr Mackie explains. “In

order to work out their types I went to data from X-ray, radio and other wavelengths.”

The result, he remembers, was a rather beautiful suite of images, each contrasting dramatically with the others and, in total, providing important new information on the evolutionary history of each galaxy. Dr Mackie promptly created a web page and began to add views of other galaxies across the electromagnetic spectrum – and this soon caught the eye of Cambridge University Press.

“Historically, we’ve tended to look at galaxies mainly at optical wavelengths – but that is really only about 10 per cent of the full story. Looking across the full spectrum you see what’s going on not only with stars, but with gas, dust, even electrons.”

Dr Mackie envisaged the atlas originally as a textbook for astronomy students and a reference for professional astronomers, but it quickly became apparent that its potential audience is far larger, including members of the general public hungry to learn more about the processes that have shaped and structured our universe.

More InforMatIonThe Multiwavelength Atlas of Galaxies went on sale internationally via the cambridge

University Press catalogue in December 2010. a sample of its visual and informational

delights can be viewed via www.swinburne.edu.au/astronomy.

the cover of Nature with their first paper came to pass, albeit backed by an international team of eight distinguished astronomers.

“it was a great moment for andy and for Swinburne,” Karl glazebrook reflects. but you can just tell his focus is on the great moments still to come, as the team penetrates further into the mystery of how suns are born. nn

More InforMatIon‘high star formation rates as the origin of turbulence in early and

modern disk galaxies’ by andrew W. Green, Karl Glazebrook, Peter J.

mcGregor, roberto G. abraham, Gregory B. Poole, Ivana Damjanov,

Patrick J. mccarthy, matthew colless, and robert G. sharp, was

published in Nature vol 467, october 2010.

view an animation of star formation at www.swinburne.edu.au/

astronomy. the same link takes you to details of swinburne’s

upcoming free astronomy public lectures.

www.swinburne.edu.au/astronomy

http://astronomy.swin.edu.au/~gmackie/MAG/


Engineering for the future Leading international corporations Boeing and Suntech Power Holdings are foundation partners in a centre of manufacturing innovation to be built by Swinburne University of Technology in Hawthorn. Construction of the $100 million Advanced Manufacturing Centre is due to start in November 2011.

The building will be a focal point for researchers and industry to carry out world-leading research, education and training in advanced manufacturing, said Swinburne Dean of Engineering and Industrial Sciences Professor John Beynon.

“Equipment, knowledge and commercial outcomes will be shared and joint ventures and collaborations will be developed.

“This will enhance Australia’s ability to develop an internationally competitive,

qualifications they need to take their next career step or change career direction.

“Swinburne Direct will increase our overall capacity to offer education to a larger cohort of students, fitting in with the Federal Government's goals to increase participation in higher education.”

Iraq agreementSwinburne has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Iraqi Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to host up to 80 Iraqi scholarship students a year.

Under the agreement, Swinburne will provide research training on-campus for masters and PhD students undertaking their studies in Iraq and will conduct joint research with Iraqi post-doctoral fellowship recipients.

SwarM BotS tacKlE MarSa team of swinburne students has developed a multi-robot system that won them first place at the australian national iNexus robot competition and second place at the world final in mumbai, India. to meet the competition challenge, the team built two robots that communicated through radio frequency waves. one robot would go and measure the dimensions of the grid while the second started its mission of picking up blocks in the prescribed order after getting the information.

Professor Zhihong Man with the Swinburne team's prize-winning robots, which talk to each other via radio waves.

in brief

the team of hoang Le, tuan Lu, anh Nguyen, Farshad Zarean and abtin mahdavi built and tested the robots, applying knowledge they gained from their course under the supervision of Professor Zhihong man, head of robotics and mechatronics from the Faculty of engineering and Industrial sciences.

the iNexus robot competition aims to equip students with robotics skills that can build on the success of Nasa’s 2008 Phoenix mars Lander space expedition.

The Advanced Manufacturing Centre will contain a ‘Factory of the Future’.

highly productive and technologically advanced manufacturing sector,” Professor Beynon said.

The federal government has committed $40 million towards the cutting edge teaching and research facilities.

SEEK and Swinburne partnerSwinburne University of Technology and online recruiter SEEK Limited have joined forces to significantly expand tertiary study options.The joint venture, Swinburne Direct, is a 50:50 public–private partnership with an initial $10 million investment.

Swinburne Direct will deliver quality online degree programs specifically designed to meet the educational needs of working Australians. Course details will be available later this year for the first student intake in early 2012.

“Our goal is to offer as many of our programs through Swinburne Direct as possible,” Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) Professor Shirley Leitch said.

“This partnership will give people access to flexible, high quality online study options so they can gain the


Scheme program.The rapid growth of their business in

its first two years earned the previously unemployed couple an award for the best growth business at the 2010 National Small Business Development Conference.

Iraq has implemented the five-year scholarship program to help rebuild the country’s higher education system and introduce students to new technologies and modern research.

National business awardA Melbourne small business that provides specialised massage chairs to shopping centres and workplaces has won a national award for best growth business.

Ben and Kylee Spencer developed their business, Relaxation Station, after enrolling in the Certificate IV in Small Business Management course at Swinburne as part of the Federal Government’s New Enterprise Incentive

gEt InvolvEdAutism studyParticipants are being sought for a new study that aims to establish the first reliable biological marker for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Researchers with Swinburne University's Autism Bio-Research Initiative hope the study will lead to earlier and more accurate diagnoses of the disorder.

They are seeking families with children between two and six years of age to participate in the study, which can be conducted in the home. They are looking for families that have: �children who are normally developing

(‘neurotypical’) �a child or children diagnosed with

ASD a combination of the above.Swinburne alumni and supporters of the university’s annual community appeal have funded the study.

fInd out Moreto participate, contact chief Investigator Kerrie

shandley on [email protected] or visit

www.swinburne.edu.au/magazine.

Online bulimia treatment trialBulimia and anorexia rank among the top 10 causes of injury and disease for Australian women aged 15 to 24.

Although eating disorders are believed to affect a significant number of Australians, many sufferers are reluctant to seek face-to-face treatment.

To help people with bulimia nervosa, Swinburne doctoral research student Jacqueline Baulch has developed an online treatment program in conjunction

with the university’s National e-Therapy Centre.

“Bulimia is a psychological eating disorder characterised by episodes of binge-eating followed by vomiting, fasting, enemas, laxatives, or compulsive exercising,” Ms Baulch said. “People often binge in response to stress, overwhelming emotions and self-esteem issues.”

Bauch said research studies had found online treatment programs to be an effective, safe and acceptable way of delivering treatment for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, social phobia and eating disorders.

fInd out MoreJacqueline Baulch is seeking people with

bulimia to take part in a trial of Bulimia online,

email [email protected].

What is a galaxy? While the term galaxy is commonly used in the scientific and broader community, there is no clear definition for what constitutes a galaxy.

Swinburne astrophysicist Professor Duncan Forbes and his colleague Professor Pavel Kroupa from the University of Bonn have called on the astronomy community to give them a widely accepted definition. Within the first month they had 500 responses.

“Hopefully, the results of the survey will help the scientific community come to a consensus about what a galaxy is,” Professor Forbes says.

fInd out Moresee the survey and paper, ‘What is a galaxy?

cast your vote here…’:

www.swinburne.edu.au/astronomy.

In the big chair: Ben and Kylee Spencer's massage chair business has won a major small business award.


RECONNECT.REDISCOVER.REINVIGORATE.SWINBURNE

jOIN NOW.ALUMNI

RECONNECT WITH SWINBURNE

(03) 9214 4768swinburne.edu.au/alumni

If you’re a graduate of Swinburne, we would like to invite you to join Swinburne Alumni. It’s your invaluable opportunity to network with other alumni, be involved in exclusive university events and further your professional career. Best of all, it’s FREE.

As an Alumnus, you will be kept up-to-date with Swinburne news through our online quarterly magazine. You will also enjoy invitations to reunions and faculty activities, discounted use of the library and recreation facilities, plus ongoing access to careers and employment resources.

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Mid-year studies.There is still time to steer your career in a new direction for 2011 with mid-year studies. Swinburne offers you industry-based, job-focused learning across a broad range of fields. Enter University or TAFE, and progress as far as you choose through our guaranteed pathways.

So, join us for our Mid-Year Information Evening. It’s a great opportunity to speak with staff and find out how you can apply.

Mid-Year Information EveningWednesday 1 June, 4.30pm – 8pmHawthorn Campus

MID-YEAR STUDY SOUNDS BETTER THAN NEXT YEAR.


1300 275 794swinburne.edu.au/midyear

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swinburne magazine - march 2011

Documents

collective future

future plans

swinburnes new centre

exploitation of new

swinburne scientist

swinburne graduate

new set of galaxies

edition of swinburne